IndianaFinesse

You can't see structure from above water (unless its a causeway or dam), for all you know there is a perfect structue leading from the shallows to the deepest water in the pond. A couple of trees thrown in the water is not structure, but if put in the correct positions they could serve as breaks.

Haven't ever fished it from a watercraft, but I have done well on the causeway from shore.

Thanks for the info, do you think they'll be up in party cove yet, or would you expect the point and island just outside would be better? The larger bass are still on points and just inside cove here, and I would expect them to be a little behind us. ILF looks like an interesting group, I hadn't heard of them before. I might look into that next year, i've always wanted to fish a tournament using the MLF format. I stopped in for the weigh in yesterday, low numbers but two nice fish brought in, one weighing 4.6, and the other weighing 5.1. Good to see someone besides Dayton and tony win, and someone fishing alone at that.

Anyone have any reports or information on Morse reservoir? Which part of the lake warms the fastest but is out of the path of all of the mud this this weeks rain is going to bring in? How tough is the fishing there, ie what does it typically take to win there? I've got a tournament there next Sunday, but the only time I will have seen the lake will be this friday prefishing. Any information on Morse would be greatly appreciated.

The "power finesse" heads aren't really a Ned rig anymore, the hook is so big and it weighs to much. The action would be killed, it would be hard to fish "no-feel", and it would snag more easily. They might be good for use as a shaky head or jig worm with a larger worm though, but for the ned rig it sounds like you'll have to order the components online.

Caught another 23 bass today, but only four were keepers. One of them was the most disproportionate bass I have ever seen, it had the head of a six or seven pounder but a puny body. The average 13 inch bass would have been thicker than it was. When I saw its head coming out from underneath the dock I got really excited thinking I had a hawg, only to realize it only weighed 3.6 pounds when I got it in the boat. Must have been an old bass on it's way out, but it sure looked strange. Caught all of them on half of a zinkerz skipped underneath docks on points and just inside coves in 2-8 feet of water. Water temperature dropped to 51 after the cold front that came through a day or two ago. The first water skiier of the year was out today, always a sad day for fishermen everywhere when the dreaded pleasure boaters return.

I have a tournament next Sunday on Morse reservoir in noblesville Indiana, I have never fished it before but will prefish it for part of the day on Thursday or Friday. Does anyone know any general areas on morse to fish, or if there's a hot bait going right now? Does anyone have any reports from Morse? From what i've heard they should be on points and just inside coves. Any and all info would be appreciated.

Yep, I started pouring my own jig heads cause I couldn't stomach paying 1$ for each head that i knew I could make for 6¢. Paid for itself within three or four months.

#1. Z-man's Zinkerz cut in half. #2. The GYCB senko. #3. Berkley havoc pit boss. #4. Keitech swing impact and fat swing impact. #5. Zoom super chunk as a trailer. #6. Zoom trick worm and finesse trick worm. #7. Zoom horny toad. #8. Rage craw. #9. Culprit original curly tail worm. #10. Zoom centipede.

"Which jerkbait has the best value?" The one that catches the most fish. Which for me, is the same one I'd reach for in a tournament, the vision 110 (unless they're out deeper, then i would reach for the Staysee 90)

Most of them are really nice guys, but there is definitely an inner circle cause many of these guys have known each other for 10-20+ years, and you're either inside it or not. Maybe I'm overly sensitive to all of the politics, and maybe that's just part of tournament fishing nowdays, but it it still ticked me off. That said most of the club members are very helpful and good guys, so I'm not slamming the whole group.

What makes me hesitant to enter any more tournaments on this lake is the amount of politics and bs I've seen and suspect. One example is in the tournament we competed in last year we arrived at weigh in just before the deadline (45 seconds), and the first thing the guy running the tourney said to us was "if you had been fourty-five seconds later I would have had to disqualify you". Wouldn't bother me except that we were the second boat out of eight to pull in, the other six were late and were not disqualified or even given a warning. First and second place literally came in 15 minutes and twelve minutes late respectively, and not a word was said about it. Then the next thing that happened was we had brought in five bass, all legitimately 15 inches, three of them only half an inch or quarter inch over but still over the fifteen inch mark. The guy "measuring" fish (who was the same guy that ran the whole thing) just dumped our bass in the sink next to a ruler and without individually placing each fish on the ruler to measure them, and threw back three of our bass. He didn't even actually measure them, just kind of eyeballed them. Then later in in the weigh in, one of his friends brought in a short fish that looked to only measure 12 inches or so. He let the fish slide, and was even ribbing the guy about bringing in a dink, and weighed it in with the rest of the bass. And the fact that there is no live well check doesn't make me feel good either, anyone could bring in a limit of bass in their live well that they had caught the day before. I mean, what tournament doesn't even have a live well check? That's one of the reasons I am competing in a different club this year, (and wanting to learn other lakes)

Do you guys think it will be an offshore tournament or do you think they'll be fishing grass?

My uncle (who lives in the upper pinninsula of Michigan) caught a cougar on video, using a trail camera. The cougar hangs around his house a lot, never seen it in person but my uncle and his neighbors see the tracks and two of his neighbors also caught it on trail cameras. I've seen the tracks in person, several times. So weather the government wants to admit it or not, there are definitely some cougars left in Michigan.

62% average, had 92% at Cherokee, bombed okeechobee with only 30 something percent, and got 61% at the classic.

I hadn't planned on it, I joined another tournament group (pending I can find a partner in the next week) so I probably won't be fishing more than one on this lake this year. My partner from last years tournament doesn't want to fish tourneys anymore anyways, so i'd be fishing solo. Although I did catch ten more keepers this afternoon, so it's tempting to see if the pattern would hold up till Sunday... I would feel good about weighing in the 10-14 pounds we've been catching lately. Picked up 33 more bass this afternoon, with ten measuring over 15 inches. Also got a bonus half a dozen white bass and a very chunky 14 inch crappie that weighed a hair over 1 1/2 pounds, one of my heavier crappie. The crappie was underneath a dock sitting in only three feet of water. My best five bass weighed about 13 pounds. They were in the same areas as yesterday, a large shallow bay on at the openings and just inside coves mostly. Caught most of them on half of a zinkerz, and some on swim baits.

Half of a green pumpkin zinkerz on a 1/16 ounce mushroom head, a booyah Popping pad crasher or pad crasher junior both in cricket frog, a 1/8 ounce shaky head with a green pumpkin finesse trick worm, a wacky or Texas rigged senko, and a deep little n. If I could have five more it would be a 3/8 ounce jig, a black or white buzzbait, a popper, a super spook, and a square bill.

Maybe down there in Mexico, but up here a hundred fish day is practically unheard of. I have never done it (record is 78 bass in an afternoon) and only know one person who has.

Water is 53 degrees and the bass are moving out of their wintering areas towards the shallows. Caught 31 bass in two and a half hours, with 13 keepers over 15 inches. They had all moved up into a shallow bay in the far lower part of the lake (where they will later spawn) near the shoreline and under docks, surprisingly sitting in only 3-7 feet of water. I didn't expect them to be so shallow, and certainly not in the size and numbers that were present. Most of the bass hit half of a zinkerz on a 1/16 ounce mushroom head, and half a dozen hit a pointer 78. No monsters, but lots of solid 15-17 inch fish.

293 bass and counting...

Keep the rod tip low when trolling, otherwise you will have a larger bow in the line (which makes it impossible to have any control over the lure) and loss of diving depth, causing a loss of control. Circle hooks will set themselves with livebait.

8 pound mono on a spinning rod, or 8-10 pound braid with a leader if you're comfortable throwing that. The braid will cast farther, but you run the risk of having it wrap around the tip miscast, which I've heard can cause the line to break.

A cheaper option than the Nichols (or z-man) is the mushroom heads from Gopher tackle. They let you choose the weight, hook brand/type, hook size, and the color of the head. Here's a link http://www.gophertackle.com/mushroomjig.html. They are quite bit cheaper, and you can get exactly what you want.

Thanks to Keith Combs surprising bomb and strador completely blanking today, I have only three inside the cut. They're in 6th, 12th, 16th, 28th, and 35th.

A small public pond near Avon by the looks of it, I used to fish there regularly. I picked up another 16 bass this morning (4 "keepers"), plus a bunch of white bass and a 6 1/2 pound walleye. The walleye was the exact same length as the one I got a couple months ago, even had the same white splotch on its tail. The walleye and a couple bass hit half of a zinkerz fished on a steed dropping shoreline in 8-12 feet of water, and the rest of the bass and all of the white bass hit a jerkbait fished fairly fast in 6-14 feet of water. Most fish were on steep dropping shorelines and off of the points adjacent to them, but a few of the whites were in the opening of a cove inside a shallow bay. Water temperature is 48 degrees and the clarity is about 3-4 feet depending on the area.