CeeJay

Yeah I always fish spoons with ball bearing swivels. I use light mono line and the spoons tend to twist it up without a swivel.

The Crickhopper is great. I have one in firetiger color that has caught many a bluegill and bass. I forgot to bring it with me to the river this morning, which is a shame because the bluegill were feeding near the surface. Normally I use the crickhopper as a topwater lure, twitching it to draw strikes.

Very well said Tom.

Caught 5 bluegill of decent size early this morning on the river. 3 on a 1/24 oz white Rooster Tail, and 2 on a little homemade jig-soft plastic lure I made a while ago. Bluegill are great fish I can't wait for the arrival of my new UL rod, hopefully it'll be here by Monday.

Yep, it isn't just because they taste good that makes bluegill so popular. They're aggressive, smart, brave, playful, tough and very strong for their size. Their body shape gives them an odd leverage to pull and fight hard. I fish for them frequently and love every minute of it. Hrangelotti - Whenever the bass aren't biting at the other ponds and lakes, you might as well have some fun fishing that bass-less pond you mentioned with UL tackle and 2-4 pound line. Sounds like panfish heaven

I was fishing one of my spots on the river this morning and got to watch about 3 relatively small male carp courting a very large female right along the shore. It was pretty interesting to watch. The female seemed more annoyed than interested in them. My pb carp was caught while fishing corn under a homemade straight waggler float. I chummed the area with sweet corn, then had the float suspend the baited hook about 8-10 inches above bottom. The float lifted very slightly when the carp took it in (a lift bite, as they say)...and I would have missed it if the float had been too large or buoyant. Sensitive floats are a must for carp in my opinion. Anyway I set the hook and ended up landing a 20 pound common carp that gave me the fight of a lifetime. I'll never ever forget that battle as long as I live.

That's really strange. I've never heard of only stocking bluegill, catfish and warmouth without bass. Maybe whoever in charge of stocking simply forgot, or took the day off. And as Abuss55 said above bluegill, warmouth and catfish can and will attack just about any bass lure. I can't help but wonder if there are going to be some pretty darn big catfish in there...

I'm shore bound, always have been. But the fish are the same, as are (most) of the ways to catch them. I just don't bother reading the topics about trolling motors and such But most of the info here on BR doesn't have anything to do with boats. On the other hand, with pretty much all hard copy bass magazines it's assumed the angler has at least one bass boat, 10 rods, and lives on a reservoir.

Wow that's really cool. I can't wait to watch this summer's Shark Week in a couple weeks

A lot of anglers believe bass will only strike hair jigs when it's cold, almost like a "last possible resort lure". I'm not really sure why that is though as that has not been my experience. In the past I've caught a decent amount of largemouth with them fished under a float (or by swimming them) in the heat of summer on lakes. Hair jigs are possibly the world's oldest artificial lure, and they work the same reason a large streamer works when fly fishing for bass. Very good imitations of bait fish but with a subtler action than plastic swimbaits.

It's interesting that you're going against tradition by using casting tackle and braided line for the Golden Ghost. This is a great journal by the way, I'm really enjoying reading about your carp madness. My pb 20 pound carp was caught on hair rigged sweet corn on a #6 aberdeen hook, a few small slit shot, under a homemade waggler float. Line was 6 pound test mono, all fished on a 7 ft med-heavy spinning rod. If my old fishing log and memory serve me right I love carp.

Thanks a lot for the input. I tend to use floats quite a bit when targeting panfish in current. Hmm I think I'm going to go for the 7'6. Thanks again I'm not quite sure why I used to overlook glass UL rods before. I love to bring out the fighting side of smaller fish...and this BPS glass is going to be tons of fun.

Cool. Well I've decided to go ahead and order one Which model do you have? I'm trying to decide between the 7'6" and the 6'6". I'm thinking the longer model would give me better control of my stick and balsa floats on the river. On the other hand I've always liked 6'6" rods... EDIT- Hey Hank I'm sorry I don't mean to hijack your thread my friend.

I'm not sure why, maybe it's the neat yellow color, or the fact that it's fiberglass...but I've had my eye on that 7'6" BPS Microlite Glass for a while now. I've never caught a trout in my life, but I'm thinking that rod would be absolutely perfect as a float rod for my panfishing. And for $20...I might just pull the trigger on that rod very soon. The only rods that seem similar would be the Eagle Claw Featherlights which are also yellow, glass, ultralight, and cheap

That's a beautiful jig you tied. Great job.

Yep that's the one my dad gave me for my first rod I had forgotten it had the Wonderod label. It had an offset reel seat and was very heavy

It would definitely be interesting while it lasted Especially if it was one of the river smallies. Although most of my bass, including my PB largemouth (only 5 lbs) have been caught on 4-6 pound test. I've always enjoyed using light/ultralight tackle.

Mine was an old Shakespeare fiberglass casting rod that belonged to my dad. He originally got it in the early 1960's I believe. I matched it with the cheapest spincast reel I could find. My very first dozen or so fish were caught on it. But within a month I had a collection of brand new rods and retired the old Shakespeare.

Yep. When I first got into fishing I purchased a 12' long "bream pole". I attached 6 pound line to the pole tip and absolutely cleaned up the bluegill at my favorite little lake. Occasionally a catfish or bass would strike...talk about close-quarters battles

I like to fish the hair jigs as part of "float n fly" rigs...with a small, sensitive, pear-shaped float, just big enough to suspend the jig. I let the current take it downstream with occasional twitches. Then I swim it back. Also works extremely well with some wind when the water's nice and choppy.

haha yeah they really are fun on ultralight tackle. I need to find some 1 pound test line for some of the extremely tiny ones though

I caught this little guy on Friday, probably the smallest fish I've ever caught, on an inline spinner while fishing for Rock Bass

Cool! Fish don't really care how much the lures cost I'll have to check out the dollar stores out here, there's a bunch...I never would have thought they might carry fishing tackle.

I'd probably get out of the boat and wade in the creek bed. Inline spinners, if you can steer them around the vegetation, and spinnerbaits would be my choice.

Yeah definitely a mirror carp. They are odd looking fish