papajoe222

Buzzbait, prop bait, floating minnow (Rapala type), Spook and a popper. You could substitute a Plopper for the prop bait, but I prefer the thinner profile of a Devil's Horse to them.

My problems with jigs in cold water is what type of skirt material is best. I settled on a combination hair/feather tied on a stand up, or ball headed jig. I've used living rubber skirted jigs with some success before the water temp drops below 40. From then until ice over, that hair/feather with a minnow is the best combo I've found.

Depending on the cover a C-rig can be an excellent choice, even for a hump that tops out at six feet. I would work it up the hump. There are a couple of other options I would try before going vertical in that situation, for soft plastics that is. A drop shot can keep your bait above vegetation as can a split-shot rig with a floating soft plastic. For humps that top out at 10ft. or more, most any presentation that works for that type of cover can be used as long as it can be presented at a targeted depth. The advantage of using a type of weighted soft plastic is that you can work the drop from its deepest to its shallowest without changing baits and then switch to a faster presentation once you find the depth to target.

I ordered some custom painted cranks from a guy on that auction site. Sent him a pic of our local summer craws and he did a fantastic job reproducing them. Got one each for shallow square bill, and knock offs of LittleJon and some Normans. The pricing was on par with store bought cranks and they do produce. I just pick one that will run deeper than the bottom depth I'm fishing, reel it down until it's bouncing bottom and slow crawl it along the bottom. Had him make up some bluegill ones too.

I love all the sounds of nature, but the sound That gets my heart pounding is the sound line makes when its peeled off the reel and through the guides as a big fish makes a run. Braid has the sweetest sound.

I keep my kill switch lanyard attached to my PFD so that it’s always hooked up.

Never, in my 60+yrs of fishing have I ever seen a blue/green algae bloom until today. Two weeks ago we had an algae bloom that turned the water pea green. That didn’t stop me from launching, but when I saw this today, I didn’t venture out. Anyone know what the name of this is and if it’s detrimental to the fish?

What kind of fishing is that? I consider a C-rig a fast moving bottom contact presentation, but I wouldn’t consider it a search bait.

I will always try changing retrieve speed, or action that I impart on a bait before I change to something different. When I do change,I will go to something similar, but having a different profile, or smaller size. I have confidence in my initial choice of baits, so I stick with what I started with longer than I care to admit. ‘Dance with the one you came with.’ doesn’t mean you can’t go home with somebody else.

Hopefully, for you, you released it as there is a length and creel limit on batfish and that one is undersized.

I rarely run leaders longer than the length of the rod for baitcasters, so I rarely have to deal with the knot going through the guides. For that reason, I use the Albright because I can tie it on the water with ease.

I'm partial to a short arm single blade spinnerbait in the fall. I fish it more as a drop bait than a spinnerbait, but I know fishing one more horizontal can be very productive too. Would I be better off throwing an A-Rig over a S/B with multiple blades, or am I overthinking things?

I recommend going with a long rod like the SC 7ft. MH/F. The length will assist in throwing those tubes as will the action. Tough to do with an extra fast 6'6" rod.

Two things. Set your brakes halfway and stop trying to cast for distance. The latter is the number one reason guys getting into baitcasters have problems with backlashing. You'll find that the beginning of your cast is where the biggest problem lies and your brakes or magnets target the end of the cast, so set your tension a bit tighter. You'll get there sooner than you think.

Is there anything worse than attempting to figure out fall bass movements? Consider spring, if you will. The bass begin moving shallow after a warming trend and then a cool wave swoops in and they move. We know where they move, back to where they were. Summer? Shallow or deep, if a cold front moves in, they stay right where they were, they just move tight to the cover and get lockjaw. Winter? You'd know better than me because I dislike ice fishing. Fall? Ha ha ha...... They'll move up from their deep summer homes, but let a cold front move in and poof, they disappear. They don't move back down from whence they came. They don't hide tight to the cover where they were. They don't move shallow because their forage hasn't made that move yet. I know the general rule is: Find the baitfish to find the bass. Maybe that works in waters where there is shad, but up here you can't find the forage either. You may find a clueless dink here or there during the course of a day's fishing, but those groups of fish that get you all excited to be out there in the fall are off somewhere unknown to you laughing their combined butts off. Rant over

I really can't answer to the size as I choose mine based on its weight. I will, however, point out that you're attempting to push the jig's head too far up into the tube to facilitate rigging it weedless. The best advice I can give you is to pick a jig and lay it along side the tube you intend to use it with if you were rigging it conventionally (hook exposed). If the hook point extends past the body and into the appendages, it won't work for Stupid rigging.

Guilty, at least when I fish alone. To me, it's just being lazy and that's exactly what I am.

I've always given those factors a lot of consideration and not only for presentations and potential locations, but for what mood I think the fish will be. Actually, that is my first consideration and I base potential locations and presentations on it. I've had to adjust my initial 'guess' at times, but it's, more often than not, from neutral to active. I should mention I look at recent history of those factors, too. Wind from the east just means I gotta work for a handful of fish.

I believe my peers would rate me higher, but I'd say somewhere between 5&6. A little better than average, but a lot more persistent than most.

St.Croix MojoBass Jig and Worm rod. $119 at BP or Cabela's and if you wait until spring, you should be able to get one under $100.

Fishing tube baits on casting gear. I fished a one day tournament back in '89 and placed second. My non boater only scored one dink that day fishing a tube, I was using an original Culprit worm behind a 1/8oz sinker. He picked my brain afterword and I mentioned that he was likely using too heavy of a jig for the shallower water we were fishing. We got together the following week-end and fished the same body of water, both using 1/8oz. tube jigs. We slayed 'em and I'm sure that I would have finished in first a week earlier if I'd been using a tube. I never liked tubes until then and now, they're right up there with jig/trailer and worms as my confidence baits.

Thanks guys. It's a MBC70MHF made in June of 2010 and the blank is an SC ll. I contacted the guy I purchased it from and he has a MBC66MHF Jig and worm and a MBC70MHM Crankin rod. Offered both for $50. Couldn't pass that up. I know the Jig and Worm rod will get plenty of use as the Quantum Tournament I've been using has good sensitivity, but a stiff tip section and I like to throw smaller worms with light weights at times.

Not that I needed another rod, but I got a deal on an older St.Croix Mojo Bass 7ft. jig and worm rod. I was pleasantly surprised at the sensitivity and the action of this rod. I’m guessing this rod is maybe eight years old. Does anyone know what blank they used to make that rod?

I view rocks and rip rap the same as I do apples and tomatoes. While I love jigs and tubes for fishing rock bottoms, I avoid them for rip rap. While my favorite for fishing either is a crankbait, when I want a slow presentation for rip rap, I break out my walleye sinkers to make a walking C-rig. A Rage tail craw on a short leader behind a needle weight produces when the bite is tough.

I do just the opposite of most. I set my drag on the loose side and use my thumb to add more drag. It’s second nature to drop my thumb on the spool when setting the hook and if the fish makes a run for cover, I add enough pressure to turn it. The only time I lock down my drag is when I’m actually flipping and my hand isn’t on the reel.