papajoe222

Sorry I can't help with the reel issue. I just wanted to welcome you.

The only downside to these baits, for me, is locating a supply of them in my area. I fish them on spinning tackle and 6lb. line and end up loosing half of the ones in my box to snags or toothy fish.. My favorite is the Sonic, but I really like the look of Capt Jay's. Too bad it only comes in one size.

I love fat girls. I wish I could find a t-shirt with that phrase. I don't think I'd wear it around my wife though.

I think most of us that have been fishing for more than a decade or so either had or still has at least one 5'6" pistol grip rod. I still have and use two of them, one for target casting (I can't pitch worth a you know what) the other is my Spook rod.

If the line isn't slipping or digging in and the spool is indeed turning, chances are someone put the drag stack together in the wrong order, or the drag washers are shot. I've taken my reels apart numerous times and will occasionally assemble the stack incorrectly. The other thing that may have happend during reassembly is the drag tension washers weren't installed correctly. They should be opposite facing )( or () . If it's a new reel, take it back to your POP. They will likely either replace the reel or fix the problem.

Those are the two things I concentrate on when I begin my search. The season will determine where I start, but during the search, I'll try different speeds while attempting to maintain a certain depth. Sometimes that involves changing lures. For bottom, or topwater it's a little easier as lure choice will help maintain the desired depth. Then it's just a matter of finding the right speed, or interruption of speed, that will trigger a strike. I don't experiment much with color, even after I find the depth and speed. If activity slows, I'll search for other areas that offer the same criteria the one I'm on has rather than try to milk a couple of extra fish off the spot. Keep in mind that if you don't have mobility, changing color, or even brands of the same style lure can increase your catch rate, but if numbers are what you're after and you have that option, move. To me, that's what pattern fishing is all about. As far a Buck not making mention of changing or bad weather conditions, "moods" of the fish, size, color, action, oxygen, pH, odor, casting ability, traffic, rigs, "method," "technique," or "patterns: He is refering to catching more and bigger fish, not finding them. Most pros echo him when they say that after catching a fish you'll need to replicate what you were doing if you intend to catch another. If you aren't concentratiing on depth and speed, you'll never be able to do that. That's why whether I'm still searching, or I've caught a fish, this two parts of the equation are most important to me.

Sorry if I'm letting the cat out of the bag, but I don't see much discussion about blade baits here. They, and in-line spinners are my top producers (hard baits) in the spring. I prefer them over lipless cranks from ice out until the water gets into the upper 40's. Now if the friggin weather would get it's act together and give us some open water here, but that's another thread.

PM sent.

My wife wants me to see a shrink over the amount of gear I've purchased. Actually, the amount I haven't purchased this off season. She asked me why the only gear I've bought so far has be a rod build kit and some replacement hooks. I told her I didn't really nead or want anything more than I already had. She asked me what I did with her husband because she was convinced I was a pod person ('Invasion of the Body Snatchers') Then called my niece the psycollogist.

The wife and I have been babysitting for some 14 years and all of those little ones refered to me as PapaJoe. Now my Grandson has picked up the handle and rarely calls me grandpa. The 222 comes from playing roulette. The first time I played the number two hit three times in a row. Like bassin', I was hooked.

I wasted 20min. of tourney fishing fighting what I thought was a big bass. It ended up being a 30+in. pike. I knew beforehand I wouldn't make the cut without it, but I was certain I'd not only make the cut, but likely win big fish. Remember that Mike?

ANYONE ELSE? If not, I'll have to ask for volunteers. I DON'T WANT TO MAKE YOU DROP AND GIVE ME 20. SPEAK UP!

It's a confidence thing on one hand and a belief in Murphy's Law on the other. Kind of like retying a perfectly good knot when you haven't hooked a fish or bumped a stump in the last 30min.

Just wondering why some of you are still undecided about attending the 2014 Road Trip. Yea, you've made your lists of pros and cons about attending, but I know one thing that isn't on either of those lists. The only way to find out is to attend, even if it's just for a couple of days. You've taken week-end fishing trips before and this isn't just any week-end trip. Besides, I still need someone to help defray my transportation costs. Unlike some of the attendees, I 'm on a fixed income. Yea, I'm a cranky old ex-military fart and I just may have to have you pump out a hundred or so push-ups if you don't get off the fence and make a decision. Check out the invitation for more information.

FYI, I got an answer from the staff at MudHole. "Always, always, always use a color preserver when using white thread no matter what composition it is. This will eliminate most fading that occurs when wrapping over a dark blank and the running, or bleeding of adjacent colored thread."

In a nutshell, I'm asking what you refer to as the water column. From most of the answers I see,it's top to bottom wherever you happen to be. The reason I started the thread is because I've refered to fishing a section of the water column in a post or two believing other anglers' understanding of it was the same as mine. Now I know different and won't make that mistake again.

I believe it was Buck Perry that one said: "The fish are either shallow or deep, or somewhere inbetween." Maybe it was Yogi Berra. Reguardless of who is credited with this piece of wisdom, I believe that searching the entire water column for active, or concentrations of fish is the basis for establishing a pattern. I also believe that, similar to the confusion of structure/cover, the term water column is not understood by many, even experienced anglers. I look at the water column in relation to the entire body of water (pond or natural lake), or the major portion of it (creek arm, etc.) that I plan to target. If the deepest water is, say, 30ft. I break it down into thirds. Shallow=surface to 10ft. Deep=20-30ft and mid-depth the area inbetween. Reguardless of the depth of water I'm in, this is 'my' water column. So if I'm catching fish at 12ft. that becomes my target depth whether I'm targeting structure or cover in 30ft. of water or 10ft. of water. I've eliminated water shallower than that depth and I'm concentrating on presentations that will cover that target depth the best. I'm not saying there aren't catchable fish on the flats in 8ft. or on a ledge in25ft. of water, there may be. What I'm saying is that until the fish tell me otherwise, I'll try to ignore those other parts of the water column. There's an old crappie fishing trick that I've used for years if I'm unsure where to start my search. It involved tying a string to a white coffee mug and lowering it over the side of the boat until it dissapeared from sight. That was the depth of light penetration and a great starting point. Today I use a white spinnerbait. Does anyone interperate the term 'water column' differently? If so, how do you use your understanding of the water column?

Chances are good that most or all of the gear that I've given away is gathering dust or has been discarded. That's what I feel, is unique about this outreach program vs. just donating to a charity. It's also why I plan on actively taking an interested vet out fishing for a day. First off, they are showing interest and persuing it rather than being part of a group that 'benifits' from contributions of one form or another. Second being, I have the time aside from my own fishing activities, to do so. Third, being a vet myself, I know some of the sacrifices these people have made and continue to make long after their service time has ended. It's the best way I know of to say thank you. Aside from all of that, it just plain feels good.

The only items I'll save the packaging on are ones that I think I may sell off at some time in the future and those are things like electronics,reels. Very rarely do I save the pkg. on baits that go into my tackle box. The rest I keep in their packaging hanging on a pegboard until they are put into use, or donated when I purge my excess gear around this time every year.

After I applied my FlexCoat to my recent rod building project, I noticed that to colored thread had bled onto the pearl thread. I used metalic thread for the entire wrap and was under the impression that it wasn't necessary to use a color preserver. Was I wrong in my assumption? I'm planning on doing some work for a friend and would hate to ruin his rod.

Nice. As long as it's functional, you'll likely be the only one to notice the slight imperfections. Learn from your mistakes and you'll be producing quality builds in no time. BTW, I don't know which finish you're using, but with most epoxys adding a little heat after application will remove any bubbles and will also insure thread saturation.

Sometimes it's a matter of an extra foot or two that you need and going to a deeper diver will get you more than that. That's no big deal if you're attempting to bump the bottom, but if you're looking to just tick the top of the weeds that top out a foot or two below where your crank is getting down to, that switch will get you deep into the weeds. You could go to a deeper diver with heavier line to make it run a little shalower, but going to a thinner line with the same lure lets you duplicate the action of the shallower runner a little deeper.

Most of the lakes I fish are natural lakes up here and this is the one time of the year where I believe there is a big difference between natural and man made lakes, not only in staging areas during the pre-spawn, but in productive lures during that period. Bass in the lakes I fish rarely suspend during pre-spawn as deep water is normally just a couple of flicks of their tail away and deep water on those lakes is 20ft. and under which is the reason I don't often use jerkbaits then. The most productive early spring bait has been a blade bait (Sonic, *** Blade, etc.) allowed to fall to the bottom and hopped up 1-2ft. and allowed to fall back. As the water warms into the upper 40's I slow roll it with occasional pumps of the rod will get the nod as the fish are already making short trips up the points and key structure leading toward the shallows. This is also the time I break out my flat sided and lipless cranks. Once the water warms into the low 50's it seems that any presentation can and does produce fish and I base my selection more on the fish's location, but a spinnerbait as a search tool is invaluable to me at that time as the fish tend to move around alot and it's the easiest bait for me to change depth and speed productively.

I wouldn't say I'm a die-hard jig fisherman, but it's definately one of the baits I rely heavily on. Over the years I've found that tinkering with the weedguard has helped me. I use two different styles of jigs with the Arkie getting the nod for the majority of the work. I'll adjust or trim the guard depending on the type or lack of cover. For laydowns or stumps, I'll trim the guard on an angle, shorter near the head and longer nearest the hook. I'll do the same for most weeds, but flare the strands out so they both flex easier and deflect the weeds to the side of that wide jighead. For pea gravel, shell beds and most open water presentations, I'll bend the strands down just past the hook's barb with all but a few strands on a jig that I haven't trimmed. Lastly, for a swimming presentation, I'll remove strands or, should I say trim the number of strands (I do this to the skirt also for this). Anyone else tinker with the stock weedguards on their favorite jigs, or do you all just fish 'em straight out of the pkg.?

It's that time of year again when I go through my collection of unused and new gear to donate to my favorite fishing related charity: http://www.fishingoutreachprogram.com/Home.html Last year, I posted a similar thread around this time and the guys and gals here picked up the ball and helped out immensly. On behalf of Joe and the outreach program, THANK YOU This year I plan on going one step further and contacting my local VFW. I plan to post an invitation to their membership to take any of those brave men and women fishing as my way of saying thank you. I know that many of you would like to do the same, but are unable because of time restraints. For those of you that can, could you make an effort to take a vet fishing? It's a great way to say thank you, or just hook up with a possible new friend.