papajoe222

I, too, live on Illinois and fished the stripmine pits for years. What I found out early was the bass there really dont have a fall migration, but will move up in the water column in Late September and October. They won’t move deep until after turnover. topwater fished over the first dropoff from shore will call them up and out. My favorite is a Spook.

I prefer the offset worm hook for its intended use, worms. It has a better bite than an EWG and like a straight shank will give you solid hook-ups in the roof of the mouth. The EWG was designed for thicker soft plastics and works well for them if you hook them in the lips. They tend to only catch the skin in the roof of the mouth and will tear and break free if care isn't taken. My preference is a straight shank for most soft plastics. Snell it and forget it.

St.Croix was known for under rating the power of their rods. That's changed, but then again, I believe the Premier and Mojo lines are not made at the same location and it very well may be the Premier line still holds to that earlier rating. Their action ratings are dead on, IMO, and unless you're not happy with the distance of your casts, I'd stick with that Premier, but I'd switch to a Mod/Fast action for your intended use.

Same here, especially in the natural lakes in my area. In those rare cases where the weeds transition to rock, my meter points north.

Those back to back to back catches of 3lb.+ fish that only happen this time of year. That and how a pattern seems to produce all day.

I've built four cranking sticks, three for myself and one for a family member They're all MHX blanks and are very good rods. However, I used a St.Croix Legend Elite series 7'6" MH/MF for deep cranking and if I were to build another cranking rod, I'd check into getting that blank.

I like to rig them on a sliding cylinder weight (mojo). Sometimes I'll put a bobber stop 8-10in. up the line from the hook. I've never split the tail on them, but next time out, I'm going to try that. I almost always dip the tail in JJ's or Spike-It, so I'm thinking I'll just split that portion and see if it makes any difference.

When the bite is tough, for me, there are two options; Slow way down, or speed up. I have a dislike for anything slow, and don't get me started on dead sticking. Not that I don't do either, I'd just prefer to go the opposite direction and speed up. It's more fun and there is no question in my mind when a fish bites. My favorite presentation combines both slow and fast. It's stroking a heavy jig with an action trailer. There is something about a craw imitator rocketing off the bottom and then back down that bass can't seem to ignore. Another good one is burning a silent crank into or past some form of cover. The last one I try before giving into the dark side, is burning a single willow blade spinnerbait repeatedly over a spot I believe a fish is parked on. When these presentations work, it's almost as much fun as topwater.

I fish hair jigs from 1/8oz.-3/8oz. I tie them myself using deer tail hair. My favorite rod is a built on a Forcast SP841 blank specifically for this presentation. AS a 3/8oz is a little over the top for that rod, I use a St.Croix PC70MLF. The Forecast is paired to a TD Alphas and the St.Croix to a TD Sol. The heaviest line I use is 8lb. Mono.

It's actually less stressful on the fish than reaching into its mouth with your hand or pliers to remove the hook. It comes out the way it went in and it's quicker. It works extremely well when a fish is hooked in the roof or side of the mouth. If you've ever used the loop of heavy line to get a hook out of yourself, you know what I'm talking about. And, NO, you don't hit the fish when doing it, you hit the line tie.

Never caught a bass trolling. That fact is ironic as I learned structure fishing from the master and trolling SpoonPlugs was the basis for learning to fish different structures. When I started fishing from a boat, it had no motor and the first accessory I added to it was a Humminbird flasher. I used it to find all different structures on our summer home lake. When I was finally able to purchase a boat with a motor, again my first addition was a depth finder, but I never got into trolling.

I never said it was the primary influence, I agree that water (the fish’s body temp) is the primary. My only comment pointed to the fact that if the temp hasn’t reached that preferable one, after a short period, the photo will. For the sake of the thread, let’s leave this for a future discussion.

Read your comment again with an open mind. Yes, the water temp. is the major influence, but the photo cycle influences how and when the water warms. The bass in that lake respond to the spawning urge the same as any lake that freezes over. Check your logs, I'd bet you'll find years when those fish spawned before the water temps reached the normal spawning temps.

I agree the water temps. drive the spawning cycle, but to say the photo period has nothing to do with the spawn? For me, that's the only explanation for bass dropping eggs in water that's only warmed to 58 degrees and it's a full moon in late May.

MIne is definately time on the water. I'm down to around four hours max. If I'm doing mostly soft plastics, I can maybe go five, but that's pushing it. Taking steps to increase my energy and stamina, I should say laps, not steps as swimming is my answer to working out. As far as limitations on my fishing skills, the only ones I have are mental and only because I allow it.

I ran across a situation that I didn't expect today, the big girls had started to move shallow and I don't believe it was a feeding migration. It got me to thinking about the influence the amount of daylight has on seasonal fish movements. I know that in the spring, despite cooler than ideal water temps,. a large percentage of the bass will spawn based on the angle of the sun/ length of daylight/ moon phase. I never considered it to be a factor in the early fall, but after browsing through my fishing logs, I discovered that, despite the water temp. that first movement happens right around the new moon every September here. Unlike their movements in the spring when they'll retreat to deeper water and back during early pre-spawn, what my experience shows is that once they begin that movement in the fall, they don't retreat to deeper water until the winter cycle begins. Can anyone confirm my suspicions or post links to articles that talk about the early fall migration? If this is, in fact, a general rule to follow, I and you can eliminate any areas below a certain depth after the movements begin. I don't know about you guys, but anytime I can narrow down my search, prior to getting on the water, it gives me more time to locate that zone the fish are using and at this stage of my life, time management becomes a major factor.

I like hi-viz braid for bite detection. I'll camo the last foot or so with a green or black sharpie. If the water is super clear, I'll go with straight fluorocarbon or mono.

If a C-rig isn't working, the active fish are somewhere else in the water column. It's actually the presentation I use to figure out where the active fish are. If they're on the bottom, I'll often switch to a faster, bottom presentation. If the bite dies, I'll go back to the C-rig and up in the water column before leaving the area.

I feel it's a forage issue. Simple enough, the fish start keying in on a different form of food for whatever reason. Usually it's because of availability, bass, or bluegill fry have reached a size that appeals to them, or it can be a dietary need like protein, or fat. However, often times it's just what they do or don't want at any given time. IMO, that's why frogs and lizards work well year round. The fish see them as food when they're feeding and pests when the aren't. Either option is moot to us because we're getting bit. I killed them on paddle tails for two seasons, jig heads, belly weighted hooks, underspins, they just seemed to want that action and profile. This year, I can count the fish on my hands that I've actually boated using them and believe me when I say, there weren't many bites I didn't hook up on. I switched to swimming a curly tail worm and EUREKA, I've been killing 'em most of this year with that presentation.

I've been disappointed with the hook I've been using lately for tube fishing. It's a Gammy EWG worm hook and what I feel is the reason for my disappointment is the lack of bite with this hook. The hook point and line tie are in a direct line with each other. I switched from the Trokar EWG last year, not because I was unhappy with it, but because I like many of the other hooks Gamakatsu offers. Anyway, I'm looking for a hook with more bite and ran across the G-Finesse Hybrid. Plenty of bite and if I'm not mistaken, it's a lighter wire hook which fits perfectly with fishing tubes. Anyone use them for their tube fishing, or for trick worms?

I have a number of Spooks in various sizes that are silent. I also have a couple of store brands that are, too. I don't throw many other walking baits even though I have tried others.

I carry very few black soft plastics. I don't feel I've missed out on anything. My go to dark color is black grape. However, some of my more productive topwaters are black and I've painted a few shallow cranks black. I've never experimented with other dark colors for those baits, although they'd likely work just as well.

I misunderstood the title. I thought you were asking about relationships that only share the one interest, fishing. I do have a number of those and all but one of those relationships was initiated by me. They've lasted for a while, a couple for over two decades and we are all okay with the parameter as we enjoy the sport and each others company. As for your intention, I don't have any one way acquaintances. If I take someone fishing and they ask advice or want to learn a new, to them, technique, I'm always willing to share knowledge. If this happens a few times and I haven't been invited to fish out of his boat, or just go fishing with him, that's where it ends. As I said earlier, I have more than enough acquaintances that share my passion.

Once it's actually dark, I only throw one topwater. my other two rods have a worm and a jig tied on. That topwater is usually a Jitterbug, or an Arbogast Buzz Plug. The worm is always a ribbon tail with a sliding sinker and the jig is a football with rattles and a RageCraw.

No need to go high-end on a reel used solely for C-rigs. Go for something in the 7.3:1-8.1:1 gearing and smooth drag as the reels only purpose is taking in line and giving it out under load. Even with only a 2ft. leader, distance casting will be tricky unless that rod is in the 8ft. range. If you feel you must make long casts, go with a heavier weight. Unlike a Texas rig, a lighter weight is much less important for C-rigs.