papajoe222

Ask questions that pertain to fish location and presentation speed rather than; what did you catch them on, or what color bait were you using? That will focus you on what the fish are doing, which is way more important to becoming a successful angler.

Though they may not be the best presentations, once the water temp. hits the fifty degree mark I break out my Spooks and poppers. I've even caught bass on buzzbaits as early as April 4th here in the mid-west.

Yes. Most anglers only measure surface temp. and although that can be misleading (the warmest water will be at the surface), it can also be very useful. You can use the readings over a few days to determine if the water temp. is rising, or falling, if one area of the lake is a few degrees warmer than others, etc. I am fortunate to have two depth finders with temperature read outs on my boat. One transducer is mounted on the transom and gives me the surface temp. and the other is mounted on the bottom of my trolling motor and gives me the temp. about 2ft. below the surface. This time of year, rising temps. will get the fish moving and that translates into increased activity. The flip side is that a short cold spell, or even a cold night will drop the temp. That is one reason why early spring fishing is so unpredictable. It's also the reason many anglers wait until the sun has had a chance to warm up the surface before heading out. BTW, Welcome to the forums.

My two favorite retrieves for a Red Eye Shad in the summer are a steady retrieve, just ticking the weed-tops and then ripping it free when it catches them and sharp yo-yo type retrieve similar to stroking a jig. That bait is a killer on the fall.

A split shot rigged French fry. ARRRG!! It hurts just to say it Seriously, a jig and Rage Tail craw.

What CroakHunter said, although I have no idea what a Croak is.

If I'm jig fishing in 4ft. of water, it's more than likely to laydowns and it's a 3/8oz. arkie style with a bulky trailer like a Rage or Paca Craw. Because I fish a lot of clear water, I need to cast rather than pitch or flip and that style head tends to get hung up on the timber a lot less.

You're a Yankee fan that lives in Boston?

Why did you choose your screen name? i know that we’ve don this before, but we have a bunch of new members.

I select a popper over a ChugBug when I want a smaller profile bait and one without a rattle. Unlike many anglers, I don't walk a popper, I just work it two pops, pause, one pop, repeat the majority of time adjusting the speed as needed. I pick a popper over a Spook when I'm target fishing cover in fairly calm water. I like a Spook for drawing fish up from structure and a prop bait when there's a ripple on the water. Prop baits, like Torpedos , and ploppers are used in the same situations and just offer a different sound IMO When in doubt, I always start with a Spook. That's just me. I'm a Spook 'freak"

I own and use both, although the two piece rods are used mainly for topwater. The issue of two piece rods breaking is more from user error. Heavy line and too much drag accounts for rod failure. That and swinging fish into the boat instead of landing them.

Just about any treble hook lure presentation. As for the reel, I'd say something around a 7.1 gear ratio, unless you'll be doing a lot of deeper cranking and I'd stick to a Daiwa or Shimano. You don't need to spend $200 for a quality reel. Both companies offer quality reels under that.

I don't know what's going on at the Lake Geneva WalMart, but I was traveling through the area and we decided to drop in. Glad I did because they were clearing out a ton of tackle including RageTail Rage Craws, Space Monkeys and Menace Grubs for $3 a pack. Grabbed the seven they had and then decided to check out their clearance isle only to find another dozen or so. I ended up with 12 packs and a bunch of tube jigs.@$.50, Mustad EWG hooks @$1 and some crappie jigs. When I got to the register, the Rage Tails rang up $2 . I was tempted to go back and get a few more, but momma just gave me that look and the monkey left for parts unknown.

I'm not familiar with that reel, but if tightening the spool tension doesn't eliminate the problem I'd take it back to where you purchased it and get an exchange it. Don't mess with taking it apart and attempting to 'fix' it yourself, you may void the warranty and end up with an expensive paper weight.

Montanaro, I'm betting you were familiar with the cover you were fishing otherwise you wouldn't know where the laydowns were. Juice is asking about targeting deep, muddy water that he's unfamiliar with. It's all but impossible to target specific cover under those conditions. BTW, there are plenty of rules in fishing. The fish just don't always follow the rules.

Not on spinning reels. I’ll do it on baitcasters with greased washers, but I only have two that do, so it’s easy to remember which ones to do it to.

Depends on what you consider muddy and if the water clarity improves or worsens with increased depth. Two ft. visibility is the lowest I’d go for drop shot. I would imagine that the water would clear up a bit as you move into summer, so give it a shot then, especially if you’re sure the fish are there and other presentations aren’t producing.

For exposed hook applications, I like the bronze hooks. I'm normally using lighter line then and the bronze hooks seem to penetrate easier than the thicker nickle hooks. Those I normally fish stupid style and I'm using casting gear and heavier line.

It depends on the hook. Some 3X hooks are made of thicker wire and will affect it more than others and sometimes that's a good thing. I never saw the need to up size the hooks on Rogues, but if you feel the need to, the only to be sure is to put em on and see for yourself. Just remember that water temperature will have an effect on them suspending. Not as much as changing hooks or split rings, but sometimes it's enough to make a difference.

I'm looking for a lake or two in southwest MI. Prefer something in the 250 to 1000 acre size, but I'm not particular about the lake size as much as I am about it having a decent population of smallies. I'm still looking for some decent smallmouth fisheries within a two hour drive. I live just outside Joliet, IL so something around Benton Harbor, or St. Jo would be ideal.

I don't know about weightless as that fast tip on a Kistler doesn't have a lot of flex for tossing the light stuff. Great rod for almost any bottom contact presentation. Excellent choice for C-rigs and 1/2oz. football jigs. Oh yea, if you can't decide, I'll buy it off you for what you paid plus shipping.

Do a search in the rod, reel and line forum. There are a slew of recommendations about reel choice, but first watch a couple of the videos on using a baitcaster. All you'll need to do then is decide what you want the reel to do and you'll know what type will fit your needs. One piece of advice, Quality equipment is worth the price, always consider it before affordability.

This is what I teach the kids and new anglers that want to learn about becoming good anglers (you are the type that want to learn). Don't expect instant gratification when approaching this sport. It's similar to school, you can't expect to be able to apply the knowledge of a college graduate if you're just entering high school. You can do all the research and be able to access all the information they have, but you don't have the experience off applying that knowledge. Start with bass fishing 101, how and why bass make seasonal movements and how, being a cold blooded creature, the conditions they are faced with, control their actions. From there, apply a new piece of information each time you venture into their world. If, over the course of just one season you do this, you'll be spanking those college boys in just a few years. One word to the wise, if I may. Treat other angler's advice as what it is, advice. Base your learning on facts and you won't make poor decisions. There is no best rod, reel, lure, etc. as there is nothing set in stone when it comes to this sport. Lastly, remember that even the most experienced, professional anglers are faced with conditions when they can't figure out what and why those little pea brained creatures do. You, too, grasshopper will be there someday.

My take on mid-priced vs. high end reels; If you're an occasional angler, the benefits a high end reel has to offer are likely to be lost on you as you won't be able to recognize the added smoothness, or you won't use the added features because you don't see any difference when you do. It's kind of like comparing smart phones. Unless you'll be using all the different features of the more expensive one, the only reason to purchase one is the same reason I drive a Honda and not a Chevy. Just a different monkey.

I'm a Spook fanatic and have been for years. Glad you 'discovered' them, BUT don't discount those other style top water baits, you can work them fast also even walking a popper. for that matter fishing the Spook slower around cover is something I don't see many anglers do and that's a mistake. One of my most productive retrieves when walking the dog, is to work it at a moderate to slow cadence up to a piece of cover and stop it. If I don't get bit, I'll twitch it once....still no response and I'll work it as fast as I can away from the cover. If there's a fish holding nearby, it's game on.