BaitMonkey1984

Yup. Would have put the fish out of its misery and gladly paid any cite from the game warden.

Feel the same here in MA. Their are beds but its not on like donkey kong yet. Saw a couple threads earlier this week where people were stating that the spawn was over and I was second guessing myself. Took a long hard look at the shallows and am convinced that I did not miss anything my home lake.

My home lake is just getting into the swing go things here in Northern, MA. I see beds but the shallows don't resemble a honeycomb yet. Would imagine next 5-7 days its going WOT.

Just caught a 3 lber myself on the ned rig today because i only put 2 fish in the boat in 2 hours. 2nd cast and hooked into a 3 lber. First decent fish I have caught on the ned rig, and boy am i impressed with those mushroom head jigs. I thought for sure that small hook would be bent out, but it held the fish on just as it should have .

If I don't have an adult beverage opened I will not catch a fish. The carbonation in the beer must work as a poor mans hydrowave.

Happens to everyone. Usually I try a bunch of different areas and techniques to try to get bit. On occasion, I get defeated. For example, I was bass fishing a new lake in NH last year. Very clear water, sandy bottom. Not a lot in terms of cover or structure. To make matters worse with high skies, no wind, and good glasses I could see underwater great. Ended up moving around a lot and never even seeing much of anything. I finally gave up on the fishing, cracked a cold beer, turned the tunes up and explored Ossipee lake. Had a ball doing it, all without catching a fish.

I have the crank bait rod. Love it, loads up the rod great and no issues with durability or the eyelets. Great sensitivity too.

Yup, hope this shuts up the people who doubt him. In fact, wasn't there just recently a post on him being washed up. Yup not even close. Good win, KVD.

You make me feel better about my " bad" day on Tuesday. I ran over a curb with my trailer en route to the ramp. No harm, no foul just hurt my pride a bit. Then get the boat on the water with the assistance of my girl, park trailer, get on boat and crack a cold one. Life is good. Idle to first spot, drop TM. I dip my seiko into chartreuse dip and remove the lure. Then I drop the entire full bottle of spike it die on the drivers console of my white ranger. Chartreuse dye everywhere. I am able to get some cleaning supplies from my girls parents who live on the lake. Get most of it out. Then go back to this main lake point. First cast, massive strike, feels like a 5+lber. I have him hooked good and get him halfway to the boat and he comes loose. Then I remember I got hung up the night before on a log, and it straightened up my octopus hook. I look at the hook and it needed to be bent back. Totally lost that good sized (estimating) fish because of my failure. I casted to a few high percentage areas and then took my trolling motor up, got off the lake and grilled up some steaks.

Agreed. Bet Raider will buy these things up.

Been reading these forums religiously for about three years. This is hands down my favorite post I have ever read. Funny yet 100% true.

Move to SB. I used to run into the same problems even from a boat. Catching bottom, or not catching fish with CB. Then I saw the most important tip on CB fishing, mark the depth the lure runs on every bait and organize accordingly. Now, in any given depth I have lures that I can be confident can run true in in that specific water column. For a bank fisherman, you are going to get snagged and break off, comes with the territory. But if you use the right size crank bait you may hang up less (using a 15ft CD in only 5 ft of water is going to dig a bit much) and at the same time have the correct action to deflect off cover and get bit. So check the diving depth and adjust as needed.

A boat.

This was my first bass fishing lure when I was a kid. I got a couple south bend inline spinners that flat out caught anything in the water. Have not tied one on in 10+ years. However, at a recent boat show their was lot of homemade spinners for musky and big bass that I couldn't pass up. Heres to getting back to your roots and simple times, definitely going to see how those lures still work this summer. I would practice in clear water to see how slow you can reek and still ensure that you are imparting the action of the bait. Then make a cast with freespool to the desired depth, rod tip down, and slowly reel that bait along. If this doesn't work, then you simply need to get a heavier lure.

Sounds like you got a good set-up. Not much flipping and punching in my neck of the woods, but I would recommend a high speed reel to get that thing back to the boat as fast as possible. I sped up my reel for my jog rod a few years ago and now am getting more casts in a given day.

Correct, thanks for making that point clear, as it is a very important distinction.

I like to power fish but my strength is really soft plastics. I am an alright stick with a senko or a chigger craw. And after years and 1000s of bites I can detect the bite on those baits and set the hook vis a vis muscle memory. Despite that, I still struggle with a Jig. I got a little better last year and I think two things helped. One is I made sure to trim the weed guard making it softer and used smaller trailers. Secondly, like others started I slowed down. Soaked a jig. Got me more bites, hope it helps you out too.

I dont often bank fish but I have been trying to downsize the tackle on the boat. And that is hard because I am a Tackle junkie. Have a garage full of baits. But recently, I have been trying to really get dialed into a bite and bring only a few baits. For example, if they are hitting a square bill I will pack a 3700 of square bills in the colors that are working. However, I keep a small "emergency box" which includes 5" GYCB watermelon creme laminate worms, Keith EZ shiners, Berkley Crazy Chigger Craws in Green Pumpkin, and a white spinner bait. Those lures there will cover most conditions and can fit all those in your pockets.

Yes, you are correct Denver did win this past Super Bowl. However, with what the Pats have been able to string together the past decade (dynasty) I hardly believe it improper to call the Pats the champs. O yea, btw I am a huge Pats fan but ALSO a huge Manning fan. Have been since his college days so I was ok with Denver winning to let him ride out into the sunset as a champion. In fact, during a recent ski trip out west I stopped by to see the stadium. Next... And I bet he would be great at bass fishing too. In fact, I don't think there is anything this guy can't do. Including making me look short a few months ago at a charity benefit..

I tried it once for a short period of time. I used the floor, but it was no good for me.

Everybody hates the Champs.

What lakes are you fishing? If your fishing murky water I would suggest some bait that has a heavy thumping and great water displacement.

EZ Shiners on a keel weighted hook are a must for clear water applications. Great bait. Scent is squid which is different than any other scents. Not durable whatsoever but I subscribe to the camp I want to catch fish, and can care less if I am catching fish but my bait is getting chewed up.

I picked one up at DIcks last week after mulling over whether to get one for a month or so. It looks very realistic and those hooks are no joke. I am a mustad, vmc, and gamma guy but very impressed with these hooks. The bait is actually quite a bit smaller than I had expected it to be. Will hope to get it tied on this weekend and will let you know my thoughts, but my out of the box answer would be yes its worth it .

Terminator T1 series. They aint cheap. But they sure do catch em.