papajoe222

If your assumptions about conditions prove to be correct, a lipless crank or Colorado bladed spinnerbait would be my choice for a horizontal presentation. You can't beat a jig with a loud rattle and a big trailer for vertical. Location is going to be the most difficult thing to figure out. If you've fished there before, I'd stick with the same general locations you've had success with. if not, look for clearer water and/or areas where it seems to change like a mud line. If the water level has risen recently, I'd check out any newly flooded cover.

Great bait once the fish start moving in the spring and continues to produce throughout the season. Easy to wake and a killer as a drop bait. I like to shorten the upper arm as I feel it helps with hook-ups when the bait is falling and it also reduces short strikes.

Glad to hear that things are happening as expected. You'll be back to your normal activities soon and you won't have to deal with the pain and numbness. Don't forget to

If you have a laugh like Jimmy Houston, it just might be a hit.

It sounds like the spacer under the tension knob was either missing, or severely dimpled. Many lower end reels use a plastic spacer that will deform if left under tension for any length of time.

I always back my reels with mono before spooling braid. I know some companies now offer spools that don't require it, but you only use the first 50yrd. of line so why fill the entire spool with braid? I could see getting a little extra distance using braid, which is slick, over fluoro. I can't see any benefit to backing fluoro with braid.

I use a similar one, but the stone is reversible. One end is D shaped with a grove down the center of the flat portion. The other end is round and tapered for use on hooks that have a bend at the point. It even has a pen-type clip so you can keep it in your pocket.

"I know from reading that it's also important to find structure running from deep to shallow." This is an important factor regardless of the season. The structures you need to focus on are the ones leading to spawning sites. Not all shallow flats are spawning sites. Some have the wrong bottom content, or some other condition. If you are unfamiliar with the lake, I'd attempt to acquire that information first. In some clear lakes I fish, the bigger females are found spawning in water 6-8ft. deep. Knowing that and having fished them during pre-spawn, I can eliminate some of the areas on the topo map that appear to be prime spawning areas.

Thanks

I prefer a Strike King Rocket Shad. It'll hang up more than a typical safety pin style, but if I'm concerned with that I'll switch out hooks. I change out blades a lot too. I'd rather use casting gear and it's heavy head takes the work out of it.

My goal is to be around come the end of the season, everything else that may happen is a bonus.

Berkley Havoc baits

My favorite rod for flipping is an older AllStar that I've been using for ten years or so. I need one more project to get me through the winter, so I decided to strip the guides off and replace them with titanium nitride guides. I'll only be using the rod for flipping and the occasional short pitch. Could I do an acid wrap placing the guides in the same positions as the ones I removed, or am I better off going with the original configuration?

If I know that I'll be encountering all three, I'll tie on a Terminator Pro Series. It performs well, bot if I'm looking for optimal performance, I'll use one designed for the cover.

I stopped carrying all the soft plastics I once did, but still keep way too much on board. If I'm heading out on someone else's boat, I carry one of my Flambeau 1/2 Satchels. It'll hold twenty or so bags. I keep three bottles of Spike It dye in a pocket of my tackle bag and that eliminates carrying a bunch of different colors.

Is the IPT listed on the box?

I like using a RocketShad with an Indiana blade one size up from the stock blade. It's a great combination of spinnerbait and chatterbait.

I thought the season didn't open unti May up by you. Did the DNR finally come to their senses?

A word to the wise for all you young married bucks and to al the others that, like myself, have STML (Short Term Memory Loss); NOW IS THE TIME TO GET THE HONEY DOs DONE! I needed to yell because some of us that suffer from STML are also hard of hearing. Trust me. You do not want to wait until fishing season when your better half mentions that project you've been meaning to do, especially if it will take a day or two to complete. You don't want to waste a day, or possibly more of fishing time to complete something she feels is more important. Do you? Get them done now. Then when she comes up with some other mindless project, you can always remind her that she should have said something before the season was in full swing. You're Welcome Papa

I had mine done the second week of Feb. last year and was out there chucking and winding without any discomfort on tax day. I'd been on the water a couple of weeks prior, but cut the trip short (4hr.) because of discomfort. I'm 65 and had zero physical therapy after the surgery. Deep cranking was the only thing I couldn't tolerate, even six months later. I ended up changing the way I hold the rod to accommodate prolonged cranking

I'd give the Costa top honors, but any Rx lenses are made for your prescription and I don't think you can compare them to ones that are made specifically for dealing with the sun and reflected light. The WileyX would be my choice if looking at cost. Mine are four years old and get a lot of use on the water. Take care of them and they'll serve you just as well as Oakleys.

If you're fairly confident you can find the spot AND you really want to retrieve it, go for it. If the water is only 3ft. deep, you can use a garden rake to scour the bottom. I retrieved one of my favorite combos that way a week after I lost my grip on it while casting.

My 580Gs don't have the G on the lens, just 580. I'd send them back and contact the seller and inform him why you're returning them

I have a pair of Costas, Oakley, and Wiley X all polarized. The Oakleys are for driving and the Costas and Wiley Xs are for fishing. The Costa 580G are my favorites,mainly because I have color perception problems, but on a sunny day the Wiley Xs do a great job. They will scratch a lot easier than the glass lenses, but if you do a lot of high speed running from spot to spot, I'd trust my eyes to them.

I don't have a favorite brand of tubes. I match the thickness of the tube, along with how I rig it, to the conditions. I prefer an internal weight, be it jig or tube weight, mainly because they don't inhibit the tube's inherent action. That factor isn't important when dragging a tube or flipping, but I do both with internal weights. You can even rig a tube weedless on a jig head. A tube's action occurs on the fall, so that (vertical) is the type of presentation I suggest you start with. Like most any soft plastics, they can be rigged and used differently in many situations. I'm not suggesting you only use them for a vertical one, just start there. Use the lightest weight you feel comfortable with. More so than many soft plastics, you need to be a line watcher. Let it fall on slack line and count it down. Don't hesitate when setting the hook, the fish will swallow a tube quickly because it's compact and soft. One last thing, Glenn has a video on here about tubes. It's well worth your time to find and watch it.