papajoe222

A hack fo fishing jigs with single or double barbs, like you mentioned is to thread your wirm on and twist it 1/4 turn afterwards. The cut into the plastic allows the worm to slide off the barb(s) by twisting it you only have solid plastic surrounding the barb.

If you're going to spool with braid, I don't recommend adding a fluorocarbon leader for jigs. If water clarity, or abrasion is a concern stick with straight fluorocarbon. I use a high-viz braid on my jig rod and color the last couple of feet with a green Sharpie. You can break up the profile by using a black Sharpie dabbing every 3in. or so on the green.

-I used to have this problem when fishing (casting) for walleye just after ice-out. Ardent Rod Kleen leaves a non stick coating on the guides and also works on the reel's line guide. As soon as ice starts to build up, 30-60min., I spray the offending guide with Real Magic and am usually good for a while. Temperature doesn't seem to make a difference in their effectiveness as I've fished in every temp from 32 to minus 5.

I'm looking for a fluorocarbon line with low stretch for my tube and small soft plastic presentations. I've been avoiding FC for most single hook presentations like jigs, as I've had issues with it breaking on hook sets. For my intended use of it, I'm not concerned with breaking off as I don't attempt to 'cross their eyes' when using those presentations. So, what is a good choice? Price is a concern for me as I plan to spool up with this line, but it isn't a deal breaker. I can always back it up with cheap mono.

The ones I make over the frozen water period.

I know it's time consuming, but I'd love to see something like that again. Get us northerners blood pressure up a bit. Maybe pawn the 'work' off on one of the mods. Maybe one that doesn't fish over the winter. My guess is closer to 5lb. than 6lb. Short and fat like I like 'em.

Guilty, but I normally have three of the six rods I carry rigged the same from spring to ice over. I anguish more over where the fish will be as my time on the water has reduced significantly in the years since I retired. Spending two hours, with my eyes glued to the electronics, in an attempt to figure that out gives me nightmares.

I avoid fishing water that's under 40 degrees, but with a few nice days this week I decided to try a couple of the bigger ponds around here. My two favorite, cold water, lures are a blade bait and a hair jig. Neither attracted any attention. I reached into a box I labeled 'Papa's Skunk Repelent' and pulled out what was once called a 'FlatFish' or 'LazyIke' It's a crescent moon profile crank, possibly a copy as this one is wood and about 1.5inches. No rattles and although it doesn't suspend, it rises very slowly. I'd used its big brother and father back in the day when trolling for pike. It did the job on the pond bass with a very slow retrieve with multiple 5-10 second pauses. The all struck as I began moving the bait after the pause. I know a lot of anglers like to try some of the old school stuff and seeing as this style lure likely out dates crankbaits, I'd say it qualifies as old school. https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/yakima-bait-famous-helin-flatfish-101117568 Although this isn't the brand, it is the style I'm referring to.

Just an FYI for everyone; brakes and magnets do not have any effect when checking spool tension by letting your lure fall from the rod tip. The spool needs to spin much faster than that for them to come into play. I won a bet with a guy at my club that claimed they do.

I believe you posted this pic before and I showed it to my wife. She though I was over the top when I purchased my 15th Daiwa baitcaster.........I now have 16 as I got a second Fuego this season. I've only purchased 4 reels in the last seven years. Two Pfluger Presidents and those Fuegos. The fixed income I'm on no longer offers me the option of purchasing higher priced equipment.

About the only time I open one is to replace a soft plastic bait, or respool with fresh line. I have six rods pre-rigged on my deck and rarely loose hard baits to snags. I'll spend ten minutes getting a crank or jerkbait unstuck. I may, occasionally, change a hard bait for another of a different profile, or color, but most of the time I go with what I have tied on. Fishing from shore is the only time I sacrifice a lure and is one reason I don't do it very often.

I'm surprised there haven't been any responses that mentioned painted blades, especially for smallmouth. Sometimes, less is more and in this case less flash can get you bit when those shiny blades are being ignored.

As Catt and WRTB said, I would recommend learning to master a few and I would go further and say learn a couple of horizontal and a couple of vertical baits. Top priorities would be a jig, or T-rigged worm and a spinnerbait. They have more versatility than say a crankbait that only covers one depth range and is limited to a horizontal retrieve. A jig or worm can be retrieved both ways and a spinnerbait can be fished at almost any depth.

I'm not a river fisherperson, but would love to do battle with smallmouth that grow strong fighting a river's current. Specifically, if there is a large rock, or boulder, do smallmouth position themselves in front of, or behind it? I've read different opinions about this and I'm guessing water depth above the obstruction, how fast, or slow the current is and even the activity level of the fish would influence their position. Would you treat bridge pilings the same as debris usually collects in front of them?

Al my lakes are closed for fishing ....waterfowl season, and won't open again until open water in the spring, March for the power plant lakes. I read somewhere that leaving your on board charger plugged in over extended storage time reduces the life of the charger considerably. My outside outlet is switchable and I only turn it on for four hours. My current MinnKota is on it's eighth year of service. My last two only lasted six. Batteries are on their sixth.

The final nail in the fishing coffin for me every year is wrapping the boat up for the winter. As luck would have it, we're in the middle of a warm spell and I was able to do all the 'winterizing' over the past couple of days. One thing I'm doing this winter is setting the trailer up on jack stands to keep the weight off the tires and make rotating them in the spring a whole lot easier. Another was to put a switch on the outside power outlet, so I don't have the on-board charger going 24/7 all winter. On once a week on Sunday morning and off that night. No more baseball, no more fishing and no more happy Papa until sometime in March. I believe the reason for the invention of liquor was winter for more than one reason, but I'm in the group that blames not being able to fish as the driving factor.

I wouldn't call mine a collection, but rather just hanging on to reels rather than upgrading to new ones. I have 14 Daiwa baitcasters, including my first low profile one to the two Fuegos I purchased earlier this season. Every one of them still gets used along with a couple of Abu Garcia Ambassaduers I use for musky fishing. I have sold some duplicates over the years for money for other reels, but similar to the outrageous number of rods I own, I just can't seem to part with them. Are you like me, or do you actually collect reels?

First, I add more pauses to my retrieve with cranks, then burn it before pausing again. I rarely get bit on a straight retrieve unless it's banging bottom, or bouncing off of something. Next, I'll change colors, size and profile of the bait, in that order.

For swimming a worm, I like the Zoom Ultra Vibe on a small jig,or weighted worm hook. For swimming a worm on the bottom, I prefer a ribbon tail like a Culprit with a pegged tungsten weight.

I separate them according to style (football, swim, arkie, etc.). I use a fine tip Sharpie to mark the weight and place them in the box with the lightest in front, and the heaviest closest to the hinges. I only use a few brands of jigs and I can tell which brand they are by their style of keeper, or rattles. I also keep extras on a peg board and when I take the last one from the board, I reorder.

So do you count it down, or watch the line until it stops sinking, or is it like a suspending crank that will suspend at any depth up to its max when you stop reeling?

I don't do anything because I don't attempt to match the hatch. I fish plastic worms, jigs, cranks (some do imitate bluegill), topwaters, etc. Bass fishing isn't like trout fishing, (thank you Lord) 'matching the hatch' is a phrase straight from those guys. It helps to know the movements of the primary forage of a lake, but my take on this is that the bass see more than enough of the predominate forage, so, similar to not throwing the same bait the majority of anglers are using, I show them something different. It's worked for 60 years for me

Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida. Of those I like Minnesota the best as my strong suit is natural lakes and I prefer smallmouth over largemouth. Michigan is a close second. Believe it or don't, but Florida is at the bottom of my list. Although I've caught some big fish there, that strain of LM seem very moody (stronger response to and longer recovery from the passing of cold fronts).

There is a gear that sits atop the A/R ratchet that has tabs that fit into the underside of the main brass gear. If, during reassembly, those tabs don't fit inside, they press against the underside of the main gear leaving a gap that can allow that A/R ratchet to move up the drive shaft. In that position, it will not trip the thumb bar back into position. By tightening the drag and turning the handle you can sometimes force that gear to slide into place. I don't recommend doing this as reels differ in their placement of parts under the main gear and doing this may harm the inner workings. It's best to take the side plate off and reassemble things in the correct fashion.

I add anise oil to bags of worms that I won't be dipping in JJ's or Spike-It. Don't know if it makes a difference, but I've been doing that before I ever began using the dyes. I prefer the Magnum Bass Stopper (weedless) over the Kelly's, but have used both with success. They are an awesome presentation for introducing someone to bass fishing. Attach them with a good swivel snap and maybe a small split shot, I prefer putting it on the leader not my mainline. Kids love them because they're fairly inexpensive, they catch fish, that rear hook sticks the short strikers and they don't have to worry about threading a plastic worm on a hook.