papajoe222

The only thing I do is add ice to the water and keep the switch on recirculate, but the water temps in the lakes up here rarely get higher than 85 and I keep a white towel over the live well's carpeting to reflect the hot summer sun.

This is the article that got me started using this presentation. My son-in-law used it a few summers ago to catch his PB smallmouth. I need to switch my subscription from magazine to on-line. I didn't know you could go back that far to view articles. Awesome.

Well, I did end up in the top ten, but I didn't improve my ranking over the day one standings. Thanks for everyone's imput and well wishes. This site is tops in my book because of you guys.

Don't know how many of you have tried doing this, but this is the second time doing so has helped place me in the standings. After catching a decent limit early (rare for me) on the second day, I headed out to a sandy point that isn't very big and extends quite a distance from it's submerged beginnings. This spot isn't indicated on any maps, but is a favorite point fished by the locals. The fish were suspended just off the bottom, but weren't responding to bottom presentations, so I decided to try stroking a jig. That produced a nice fish just under 4lb., but that fish was the only one that took any interest in the jig. Before leaving, I tied on a 1/2oz. lipless crank and proceeded to boat two bigger fish. It's an exhausting presentation, but one that can produce when others are ignored.

Super Spook and Norman Deep Little N. Both fish were 7.3

I think every experienced angler has strengths and weaknesses and prefers to fish his or her strengths. It's more fun and in the long run will be the best producers of fish. There are times, however, when they just don't produce. If you're okay with going fishless on occasion, you can stay in this school. I prefer to exhaust all possibilities on every outing and will go to finess presentation if it means putting fish in the boat and believe me when I tell you I suck at drop shotting and dead sticking.

We'll after day one, I am in 5th place 1lb.3oz. Behind the leader and 11oz. Behind third place. Looks like it's going to.take 17lb. To take over third and possibly 19lb. to even considerx winning this thing.

Over a three year period I caught and released the same tagged fish eleven times. I was part of the group that tagged and released forty bass into a 60 acre pond. Members of that group then fished the pond a minimum of four times a year for three years recording information for the study the group that had purchased the fish was conducting. That same fish was caught a total of 27 times over that period!

For the applications you mention, the Sol would be the perfect answer. It will handle the lighter weight stuff easily and on the rights rod 1/2oz isn't out of the question. Not to pricey either, but there aren't a whole bunch available.

Last year it was Square bills. This year it was a StrikeBack spinnerbaits, but the bite has really been unstable on any one presentation. The only 'new' bait I've been using is a white RageTail craw on a white 1/2oz. Swim jig. It's been my bIg fish presentation since post spawn and has put more of them in the boat for me than my old fav. a Zoom Ol Monster.

I have been adding a splash of red to the gill area of my topwaters and shallow cranks for over 50 years. A friend of my dad introduced me to the relation of doing so to the amount of strikes I would get. I've been doing it ever since. I doubt the effectiveness of it in this day and age with all the fishing pressure, but continue the practice, or add a red trebel to the front hanger. I do believe red is the first color to wash out as depth increases, but the testing and test equipment use factors of human vision as reference in all of their findings. When a study is done using a fish's eyes perception and values in the testing equipment maybe I'll stop, but I don't see that happening in my lifetime. In a nut shell..................It can't hurt.

On the two lakes I frequent there is a good mix of both. The one produces more numbers in the millfoil, but more big fish from the pads and the area in close proximity. The other lake gives up very few from the pads and they're mostly dinks. I think it has a lot to do with the forage base. The first one as a broad base of minnows, crawfish, bluegill and bullheads. The second has an abundance of minnows, no crawfish and a smaller population of gills.

After the winter we went through, I was really looking forward to enjoying this summer fishing. I've been getting out plenty, but the weather has been anything but cooperative. I can't recall the last time the weather was stable for three days or more. Not only is finding the fish a task, the weather has been changing two, sometimes three, times a day and after a couple of hours searching and finally catching a few Mother Nature throws another curve ball and I have to adjust. Coach used to tell us; look for the heat and adjust to the off speed stuff. Well, I never made it past A ball and you can likely guess why, so Ms. Nature is really starting to tick me off. I guess I could look at the glass half full. After all, I'm not the only one contending with the constant change. But I don't use a glass, so forget that dodo. July has a history of being the best month for me for both numbers and big fish. What's a guy supposed to look forward to in Jan. if she doesn't stop messing around already? This is what happens when we give a woman any kind of power. Thank you for letting an opinionated old fart blow off some steam and if you agree, I have an extra couch you can sleep on when your wife finds out that you do.

I also fish a natural lake/pond that's only 60 acres and has a max. depth of 45ft. and locating active fish can be a daunting task. The majority of the day the fish will stay deep and only venture up to the shoreline vegetation between dusk and dawn. Just because they stay deep doesn't mean you can't catch them, but you'll need to know two major factors in your search. The first is obvious, water clearity. In the lake I mentioned, I can see a white spinnerbait on the bottom in 15ft. of water, in 20ft. it disappears. That depth is where I begin my search. The second factor is some structural element that the fish will use when migrating to and from the shallows. There are two points on this lake, one drops sharply to 30ft and the other tapers slowly to the deepest spot in the lake. Both produce, but the slow tapering point is easier to locate fish on. Once I do, I'll target the other point using that depth as a starting point. Hope that helps

I opt for circle hooks as this is a presentation I always get beginners into using. With circle hooks, I don't have to worry about gut hooked fish if someone's attention isn't where it should be. I find myself using them even when nose hooking.

Which of the five topics are you starting with?

I use three different brands of sunglasses for fishing, all from differnt companies. They are all polarized and the ones I use most often are the cheapest. They're Berklely bi-focals with brown lenses. I can still read the display on my electronics with the brown lenses and the bi-focals help when retying. If I'm in the back of the boat, or fishing from shore, I like my Oakleys with the grey lense as they are the darkest. For low light conditions, I switch out the lenses to amber. The other pair I use also have grey lenses, but they aren't so dark that I have trouble reading the electronics. They are WileyX and I'll often opt for them over the Berkleys as they offer fuller coverage of my face. Now if I could find someplace that still sells those bi-focal stick ons, I'd ditch the cheap Berkleys.

I like to work prop baits quickly, either with short, fast twitches or long ripping movements with short pauses. I prefer a little ripple on the surface. The only prop bait that I work slow is a Torpedo and with that I'll give it subtle twitches that just get the blade spinning. At least once during the retrieve of any topwater I'll change the pace and at times that change is what it takes for a fish to commit.

This is a situation that non-boaters are often faced with in tournament situations. Often times they will outfish the guy up front as he can't hit all the spots while moving fast. You'll definately need to power fish, but you can still fish a soft plastic. A speed worm or swim jig will cover water as quickly as a crank or spinnerbait and many of the spots he misses can be fished with soft plastic frogs. I had one non-boater cast forward of the bow just as I was into my back cast. When I asked what he thought he was doing he replied that I was fishing to fast for him and that was the only way he could work his casts. I told him just say something next time and continued at the same pace. When it was his turn to operate the TM he declined but asked if we could hit some areas where his slower presentations might prove productive.

I don't use them personally, but when I'm introducing someone to fishing I'll have them use it along with a Mepps and a Beetle Spin.

You need to take the bottom composition of the area you're fishing into consideration. Bullet sinkers are the most often used, but tend to hang up in rip-rap or chunk rock. I prefer a RockRunner or Bottom Bouncer, but they are a little pricey. A Mojo or Lindy style work well for most situations.

The problem I encounter when burning cranks or trolling, is very light hook ups. By that I mean the fish are barely hooked on the edge of their lips and the first good head shake tears the hook loose. I kind of solved the problem by switching to a med power rod with a moderate tip and mono line. The combination of the two allow the fish to suck the lure further in their mouth before the speed of the retrieve pulls it out. You'll still get those light hook ups, but more will be hooked inside the mouth. The other thing I might suggest is to not reel when setting the hook, it only makes the lure move faster and possibly out of the fish's mouth.

The link is for hanging a yak on the wall. I'm not sure how you envision using them on a trailer, but unless you plan on mounting and supporting a sheet of plywood vertically, I can't picture a way to use them. If you don't mind a suggestion, a car top bracket can easily be mounted to a flat surface. Most will hold two yaks and on a trailer would give plenty of support.

I'll add the top of submerged weeds.

I'm going to add something that hasn't been mentioned and that's counting down your presentation. The first thing you need to know is how long it takes your bait to get to the bottom. It doesn't make a difference if you know the depth of the water or not, just start counting when it hits the water and stop when it hits bottom....in addition to watching your line and feeling. On subsequent casts, if you continue counting past the point where it should have hit bottom, or it stops falling before it should, one of two things has happened. The depth of the area where you just cast is either deeper or shallower, or a fish has taken it. Reel down and drop your rod tip, gently raise the tip when all slack is out and if you feel anything other than what your bait should feel like, set the hook. If you're not sure, set the hook and by all means, if you feel something pulling back.........