fishwizzard

Yea, I am kinda regretting going so heavy on the 7" Culprits. I randomly got a pack of the 6" Fat Maxs and think I prefer them as a small ribbon tail. But now I am thinking that lizards fill almost the same niche as a small ribbon tail worm. Maybe just a pack of the Black/reds and one of like pumpkinseed/chart tail?

I do think now that they were shad, but I am amazed at their size at that location, they had to get through some super skinny water to get to that pool. I only had Ned Rig stuff with me, I gotta start carrying some tiny panfish lures when I go wading. I also saw like three snakeheads in the same pool, coming up to breathe. They had no interest in the Ned at all and I was trying some absurd tackle combos to try to get one to hit. The silliest being a Z-man tube, totally filled with Megastrike, nose hooked on a random like #1 baitholder hook I found snagged in a bush. I was trying to pop it across the surface to get their attention, but nothing. Thinking back, I had some worm weights on me, should have gone for a hillbilly drop shot rig. I guess I also have to start making sure I have at least one spinner bait on me as well. I hit Allen Pond today and surprisingly caught a few. I am trying to pare down and simplify my tackle collection and today's trip was to work with some 7" Culprits ribbon tails that i am trying to make a go of. Well, the bass were having none of it. Then I found a bag of Zoom black/redflake lizards sitting on the bank with two left in it. I put one on and caught a small bass almost instantly. I worked the dock a little and managed these two. I will go like a dozen trips there before I catch anything, three in one day is crazy for me. Now I guess I gotta buy some lizards to go with the trick worms and ribbon tails.

Got my first smallies of the year today in the Little Pax. This guy was the best one; He jumped right away, shook the lure, then immediately grabbed it again. Jumped a few more times before I could get him in. I also saw something kinda odd. At a pool at the base of a small section of falls, I saw dozens of dozens of fish that I couldn't ID. They were quite large, ranging from 9 to like 20". Silver/gray in color, with a tallish body, almost like a white perch, but more round overall. They had noticeable pectoral fins, but I didn't notice any barbels. They had a sharp looking V shaped tail fin. I was fishing a Ned rig and they would run from it if I ran it through the school and would ignore it. They ignored it if I dead sticked on the bottom and retrieved it with slow drags. I tried to get some pictures but the glare was too bright. I thought they were fall fish, but they will often hit a Ned and I fished this pool for like a hour. They seems to be trying to get up the falls, as they we most thickly congregated by the largest flow over. Could they have been shad? It is driving me crazy trying to figure out what they are, almost enough to go back with a net.

I use them when I have to, but I hate them. Most days I make do with a sunshirt with a very deep hood, stretched over the brim of my hat. That plus a pretty full beard seem to work when I am on the bank. I managed to get the tops of my hands a little sunburned a few weeks ago, that was a new for me.

How else are you going to pick lottery numbers? If I am truly lost, I prefer a spinnerbait, the size/color/blades dictated by the specific water. I take more risky casts with them than say with a crank. However I am starting to give lipless cranks a go, I am finding that a 1/2oz Red Eyed Shad casts well on all but my lightest rods and carrying a pair of them adds little in the way of bulk or weight to my gear.

Interesting. I don't think I ever fished one without trimming it down. I think a have a few left, I will have to give them a try.

I have an 500 sized Okuma Avenger on one of my perch rods and I have been really happy with it. It has tangled with some large fish and has seen about three years of use in brackish water and it is still going strong.

I hit some ponds yesterday and managed about a dozen, all in this range; To Sadly with most at the smaller end. However, every fish came on a crankbait, which has never happened for me. I worked the first pond for like two hours with a wacky senko to no effect but as soon as I tied a crank on, it was instant action. I got most of them on one of the Booyah Prank lipped popper. I have never gotten one to pop well, but I am really starting to like them as a 12-18" running crank. They look a bit like a jointed Rapala, but with a much broader wiggle and the long flash on the rear hook makes them really stand out in stained water. No luck today, but I got to see a nice big snapper grab a bulegill off some guy's stringer.

I used to fish these all the time, but moved over to the small sized Batwingz trailer. I would cut the Punch Crawz down so the hook exited at the crotch of the "Y" on the craw's back. I find the Batwingz have a slower fall and have more action on a slow swim.

I have a hundred pounds or so of lead that I hoarded up years ago when I was looking to get into bullet casting. But as of now, I don't have the space or really the desire to get into pouring lead. It is just so odd that no one else sells heads with smaller hooks. I hope Gopher comes back, or atleast sells the molds to someone who will keep them in production.

I had the same thing happen to me. Gopher always took a while to ship but they always answered the phone. I firmly believe that even a #1 hook is too big for a 1/16oz head, but I cannot find anyone who offers, other than Gopher, a hook that small. The Zman heads are ok, but the hook is too brittle for my liking. It is killing me as the Ned was a standby and I am almost out of Gopher heads. I would love a lead on where to find some small-hooked heads. Also, for a weedless option, look at the Owner Ultrahead 1/16oz w/ #1 hook and the Decoy Nailbomb head, also in 1/16oz w/ #1 hook. The hookup rate is worse than an open hook, but they are a great weedless option and still catch a ton of fish.

I have though about doing that or replacing it with a single hook. I have not caught a ton of fish on the WP, but I do agree that the hook up ratio is extremely high.

Ok, got you. I have been erring on the side of "too tight" so I am going to try to back it off a bit more and see how that does.

I have tried the RI Big Dipper and am not sure what I am supposed to do with it. I have tried it both weightless and weighted large swimbait hooks and both ways the lure has no real "action". It just kinda flops around and has a very very hard side to side roll. What specific hooks are you guys fishing them on and what sort of action are you getting"

The WP 90 is my most used topwater. The 1/2oz weight means I can use it on a ton of my combos and I always have one on me. I have also found that keeping the tip high and tension on the line makes them run perfectly. I also enjoy popping and chugging them along. My state has no natural lakes, so any sizable body of water has a dam, they are the perfect spot to fish the WP90. I can stand like 15' up the bank and bomb cast out. It is super easy to keep the line tight and I can run down the bank when I hook one.

Wow, 2mm of side to side play? I have been keeping mine far tighter than that, just at the point where any play is detectable. Going to have to try them that loose next time I go out.

A few of the older guys I kayak fish with have turn the old family minivan into some pretty slick Mobile Kayak Command Centers. I have been thinking of buying a used one and doing the same.

Man, I, based on some positive stuff I read here, bubblegum colored lures in a few different styles of plastic. Thus far I have caught squat on any of them. I feel like someone has sent me to the store for some prop-wash for our upcoming snipe hunt.

I picked up a telescoping casting rod, a Daiwa B.B.B (sometimes listed as a "Triple B"). It is a JDM rod rated for like 5-21 grams. I have never used the upper end of the rating as it seems soft for that, but it throws 4" senkos and 1/2oz Lipless cranks very well. I have only used it for about three days, but really like it so far. It seems to have a good amount of power, but it doesn't feel up to heavy cover work. It collapses to a very short size and comes with a really cool case. There is very little to no info online about it in English, so if you are interested I can take some pictures of it for you.

They are on Ebay from time to time. I have two of the 6'8" MH/F ones. I got the first one and liked it so much I bought another one when they were blowing them out on FFO. They are great rods, especially for the $80 I paid for them.

Yea, see I will run a weightless/lightly weighted 3.8 FI on a ML rod with great success.

I think this is sort of explains it. The Rage Swimmers seem to be made of a much tougher plastic than the Keitech and I have found that the light wire hooks and light tackle that I had been using were giving me endless missed hooksets when I first tried the Rage Swimmers.

Man, I have never really looked at the color options Megabass has out there. Some of them are just beautiful. I think I wanna buy an old panel van and have it airbrushed in this pattern;

So I have some Trick worms labled "orignal" and some labled "super salt". The Orginals sink at about the same rate at the Super Salts do, but the tails do float up a bit. Am I supposed to be seeing more of a difference, or is this it?

I found a Booyah frog in a tree but it was ripped up, so I took the hook and made myself a finesse frog. I look at the hooks and fear I am gonna loose it on the first cast, but I am excited to give it a try. I have a spot in mind that is mostly duckweed, so I am going to try it there first.