hi_steel_basser

I beg to differ, my friend. It gets really messy when the temp. outside hits about 95. I had a tube practically explode on me this weekend. I still like mega-strike, but my al time favorite is carolina lunker sauce. I have also been impressed with jack's juice, ecxept the spray goes everywhere. Of course, the bottle of CLS I had broke somehow, so my storage locker reeked of garlic for a week. But I refuse to throw a plastic worm without some kind of goop on it- it's a confidence thing.

I have a 14' jonboat that goes in the back of my truck all the time. I have a dodge ram 1500. The back end of a jonboat weighs more than the front end, so load it with the front end sticking out. I will post pics of my boat loaded, ready to go to the lake, as soon as I can. BTW, I have driven over an hour on the interstate to a fishing hole, no problems.

HUH?!?!? ;D So you're saying that a lure ought to fall in the water until you start to retreive it right? What about if you cast it 100' and feed slack for -uh-until it touches bottom? Then reel it back real nice and slow? Would the whole time warp equilibrium stratacaster thingie lose equilibrium after 30 reel handle cranks?

I have never had a problem like yall are describing. I have caught hundreds of fish on a spot remover jig, the only fish I miss are those that shortstrike and those that break the 8-10 lb test I use.

It is quickly turning into a question of where do you go for good fish at this time of year, as opposed to what you throw. Find good breaklines, points, and humps, and fish a variety of lures across, down, and up these lake structures. Find 5 good spots, with brush and/ or stumps, and set up a milkrun. Throw a variety of lures, from swimbaits to drop shots.

I consider myself an honest man, but I know better than to seek employment at a tackle retailer. The bait monkey has been on hold since I spent about 300 on swimbaits recently. He will be back. I already know of a few more swimbaits I need, not to mention the fact that my jig box is getting ugly. And I really need more roboworms. And tungsten weights, brass beads, tube jigs, a c-rig combo, a good topwater rod would be nice, still haven't found the right line for my jig casting rod, etc. But I got that durn monkey under check.

If you are fishing weeds, as most small ponds here in GA are loaded with them, I would say a senko. If the lake is cleaner, may I recommend a roboworm in Aaron's magic. On a shaky head. These things have been a lock for fish for me the past month.

There is a place here in GA, Charlie Elliott PFA, that has a version of this junk. It turns black when the water hits about 80, and is almost impossible to fish. It wouldn't bother me so bad if it wasn't such an awesome fishery in the spring, when this grass is green and stringy- snotty.

It amazes me sometimes that fishing is actually relaxing. Here I am, running down a lake, thinking about where the fish ought to be, casting as accurately as I possibly can, presenting a lure fifty different ways in twenty minutes, and thinking about the next lure selection if this doesn't work when I'm not thinking about what I should be feeling, where the next cast should go, how I need to work the lure, if I'm fishing the right zone, am I in the right spot, etc, etc. Then I stop and admire the beauty of the place for a second, and remember why I'm really there. Sure the adrenaline when the fish loads on is great, the feeling of accomplishment when I establish a pattern is unmatchable, but just being in touch with creation is all the reward I really need. That and one good THUMP. ;D

Here are bad ethics- someone stops to fish a bank, and then you zoom in and stop to fish the bank within easy casting dictance in front of them. Then slowly retie your lure. Or zoom in on a bank fisherman, pitch the same laydown he is on, and be sure to let the tail end of your boat walk across the tree in the wind before you zoom away. Or tangle another bank fishermans bobbers with your main motor. Or put your cabin cruiser on plane less than 50' from a man in a 14' jonboat. These are all things I have witnessed, or things that have happened to me personally. What you did was completely ethical, in line with falling in a considerate distance behind another boater to fish the same bank.

Hey, Dirk, I just saw this. I will keep praying for your family, and put my life jacket on alot more.

If they met in a pure boxing match, the boxer would probably win. Anywhere else, the UFC guy beats the boxer's bleep.

I just bought an Okuma for swimbaits, and will let you know what I think of it whenever I get to fish with it.

Hey, Avid, don't waste your money. Evolution is decent line, but it is not abrasion resistant for crap. It falls apart WAY to easy, especially around rocks.

Symetre. An awesome spinning reel for the mooney.

I have the 782 ? IMX, the 6'6" version of the rod Alpster described. It is an AWESOME finesse/ jerkbait rod. I have it spooled with flouro, so I haven't used it for topwater, but I will try to get another someday, and spool the next Scorpion MG with mono, for the topwater combo. This combo is by far the best rod/reel combo I own, and love to use.

I recently bought an Okuma big bait rod, 7'6" MH, and I am waiting for Cabela's to send that Revo STX I want to put on it. Is this a good reel for this rod? None of my swimbaits weigh more than 2 ozs. yet. If the ratio is that important, I'll turn the STX into a c-rig/light pitching reel, and try a CU300 or other reel for swimbaitin'.

Get a BPS Jonny Morris combo, with the 7' M power C-rig rod. I bought it for the techniques you described, and it does the job well.

The anticipation. I love those times that I just KNOW there is a fish where my lure is, and my nerves are almost sizzling, waiting for that moment that I move the lure just right and the battle begins. The satisfaction. When I am holding the fish, admiring it, and proud of myself for figuring out where it was, and what it would take to make it bite, and knowing that I have beaten him. But above all else is just the time I spent on the water, enjoying nature.

I like to find wood on the end of a point. Or on the side of a hump.

I have a pair of Serengeti polarized glasses that cost 180ish, and a pait of WileyX that cost 230ish. They are both prescrip polarized sunglasses, and the WileyX are safety glasses. For fishing, I prefer the Serengetis. Believe me, I have been wearing glasses since I was 13, you learn how to take care of them whem they go on your face every time you're awake.

Name the reels. The quality of the bearings is more important than the number of bearings, IMO. The old Shimano Curados were only 4+1, but they were good bearings.

I catch 1 fish everytime I go to rocky mtn. pfa. Usually a 10-12"er. That's it. I don't go often.

I love the wind, as well as heavy boating activity when I am fishing from the bank. However, I have yet to figure out boat fishing in these conditions. I will usually drop anchor and fish points that the wind is blowing into, or try to troll along windy banks with a crank or other reaction bait. But as a finesse angler, it usually ruins a good day. The key is to use heavier weights in the wind, while still fishing slow.

There are several places around here that have a black version of this junk. I have found weightless plastics are the only effective way to fish it from the boat. From the bank it is a waste of time.