papajoe222

The most important area of improvement, IMO, is in finding fish/ eliminating unproductive water. Skill level, when it comes to presenting lures, or even determining which style lure to use in what conditions/under what circumstances is something that can be achieved with practice and time on the water. I've fished with guys, and if I'm honest I'm one of them, that had what I consider have average skills yet consistently placed high in tournament standings. What separates them from the others is how quickly they can find fish and determine their activity level.

If the wind has been blowing in the same direction for some time, I'd concentrate on where the water is being pushed under the bridges. Those neck down areas will provide more current. The same goes for rain. The influx and out going water creates current with the bonus of water coming in to the pond having increased oxygen and nutrients. Lacking either of those situations, I'd concentrate on areas offering shade and cover.

I'm curious as to why you feel the backing would make a difference it casting distance?

I consider a few things when choosing the size, color and type of trailer. First is the cover and/or structure I'll be targeting. A trailer with a lot of action is a great choice for rock or gravel, sparse weeds, or flipping deadfalls, but it's a poor choice for heavy vegetation. Second, and a lot of guys don't understand this, or are unaware, matching your jig and trailer combo to the predominate bottom or cover color. Lastly, the size of the trailer adds to the bulk of the presentation along with slowing its overall rate of fall. A light jig with a bulky, action trailer will give you a big bait that falls slowly and a heavy jig with a slender or one with less bulk is going to fall faster. The second two are ways to tweak my presentation when I'm looking to find out what the fish want, but when it comes to a vertical presentation, I don't feel color to be as important.

This is a little off topic, but changing bait styles to something like a swim jig will not only get you more distance (less wind resistance), but will enter the water with less splash and also get your presentation down to the big girls lurking below the schooling fish. Really, any compact bait is going to cast further than a bigger one of the same or relative weight. The same goes for baits with weight transfer technology.

Tenn. Shad, or Nutter Shad

I have a whole peg board full of baits that haven't been used, but I only have them to replace the ones I loose, or tear up. I would venture to say that over half of the tackle I actually carry with me has never gotten wet. Mostly cranks and topwaters as I have my favorites and rarely venture outside my comfort zone. Add to those, Swivel head jigs. Chatterbaits, Money Minnows, a couple of Lucky 13's and I likely have an extra 20lbs. of stuff I just have to take along 'just in case'

Take the rod with you on your next trip to BPS. They may replace it for you even though it's only warrantied for one year. I had one of their MicroLite rods for almost four years. Lost the insert on one of the guides and took it with when I went shopping for a replacement. While talking with an associate I told him the reason I needed to replace the rod. He picked out the current edition and replaced mine with it. No charge. Great customer service. I ended up using the money I'd set aside on some tackle.

I'm not familiar with a Daiwa RG. I do, however have two Regals and I would rate my Pfluger President much higher in overall performance. Not that the Daiwa isn't quality crafted, but the drag and rotor balance is superior on the Pfluger.

My worst was a non-boater I drew in a tournament. All day long he kept casting forward of the bow, the majority of the time over my line. When I lost a fish because he'd done it again, I mentioned to him that I was leaving plenty of targets for him and to kindly stop doing it. He said he was tired of guys 'front ending' him as he put it and I assured him I wouldn't. Thirty minutes later he was at it again, so I just started waiting for him to cast and then proceeded to cast over his line. I already had my limit. What goes around, comes around and just after I'd cast over his line for the fifth or sixth time, he hooked a nice fish. He didn't loose it, but he was not happy. I let him run the TM for the last two hours and started culling fishing behind him. He never got his limit. There's a lot to be said for Karma

It'd be a tough decision between a worm and a jig/pig. I'd be happy with either.

If I catch a couple stroking a jig deep, I'll switch up to either a Diamond Shad (I wish they still produced them) or a Red Eye and work it the same way. They really suck it in then. Otherwise, it's a spring and fall bait for me.

A lot depends on how you fish. From shore? In a boat? Standing? Sitting? How tall are you?

I use them, but retrieve them more like a crankbait than a jerkbait with an occasional twitch. Spoonbills are for trolling and I rarely use them for bass fishing.

Heddon, Zoom, Norman, Stanley, Northland and a friend that hand pours drop shot worms for me.

My regular carry is a 19, but for summertime carry (T-shirt and shorts) I go with a 43. Depending on my activity level for the day it's in either a belly band worn in any number of positions, or an IWB Kydex. I was surprised how well it hides under a T-shirt without printing.

With me, it was a bunch of guys that wrote for Fishing Facts magazine back in the day. Them, Buck Perry and some contributions by the Linder brothers.

For me, it's more; When don't you fish tubes. I have been on a tube 'kick' for the past four or five seasons. They have replaced the majority of soft plastics that I was using. Versatility and action are the main reasons I use them. Even when rigging them with external weights, drop-shot, C-rig, T-rig, or weightless, there is plenty of action from the tentacles. Rig it with an internal weight and it falls like no other. About the only times I use another soft plastic are when the water is murky, or at night when I want a bait to move a lot of water when working it and for a jig trailer.

IL, IN, MI, WI, MN, OH, NY, KY, TN, GA, AL, FL, TX, MO, AK, VA, NC. I likely forgot one

Conditions were almost perfect for a great outing today, so I was on the water at sun up. Four hours later I had zip to show for getting up and out early, but I kept at it. I'd built a couple of new rods over the off season and was really giving one of them a good work out with a SwitchBackShad on a flat just off the beach area on my home lake. About the time it started digging bottom, it just stopped like I'd buried it into a thick stand of weeds. Next thing I know, the rod is literally bent in half and my line is screaming off the reel. Five minutes later I netted a catfish that went 30in. and had to be at least 15lb. New best for a cat and that M/MF blank proved to me to be worth every penny I paid for it.

Heat, whether from sitting in a hot car, or on the deck, is going to have that affect on most soft plastics. The good news is that they will regain their original density as they cool. The bad news is they can take on a shape other than the original, so try not to store them bunched up. You could try wrapping the bags, or boxes in a cool wet towel and keep them in your trunk. A cheap styrafoam cooler with a couple of cold packs is another inexpensive option.

With me, it's lipless cranks for spring and fall. I can't seem to buy a strike on one during the summer. Although I will use a jerkbait during the summer with some success (mostly floaters), they, too produce best for me in the spring and fall. And it goes without much debate (I would guess), hollow body frogs are a summer presentation.

On my last order of Norman baits, only one of the four was from Quatemala. The other tree were made in the USA. Get them before they're gone guys and gals.

I don't believe I ever caught that many on consecutive casts, but I have found a few schools of fish where I've caught ten fish in 15-20 casts. Glad you could help the owner out and have fun in the process. Did you relocate the fish you caught?

Oh, if that were the only memory problem I run across when fishing. With a rod in my hand, I forget 90% of everything I've ever learned about bass fishing. This normally only lasts three to four hours and I'm able to partially regain some. Then I'll hook into a decent fish and total memory block sets in. So my advice to you is; Don't sweat it. One of the reasons we fish is to forget.