papajoe222

I'll be trying these out this season, but unlike most anglers I'll be using larger plastic baits so I purchased the larger 1/0 and 2/0 sizes. I'd say pick the hook size, SpinShot or other, according to the bait and how you'll be hooking it. A size 1 will do fine for nose hooking a Senko, but if you intend to skin hook it, it'd be too small. An alternative to this rig and one that I have tried, is using slip bobber stops on your main line on either side of the hook eye. The hook will spin freely around the line and you can easily change the distance of your hook to the weight. I've pre-tied a couple of rigs on floro attached to a swivel as these old eyes have difficulty seeing without my bifocals and most of the time, I don't wear them on the water.

If I'm intent on fishing, like in a tourney or when I've driven six hours to fish, I'll stick it out as long as I can maintain control with my 24volt t/m or an anchor. It may require the use of a drift sock, but if I'm still moving too fast with the drift sock, or the anchor won't hold, it's time to find someplace where they will.

A little side note about my using them. Last April I was fishing a breakline that went from about 6ft. to 15ft. and had marked the shallow side of a sharp bend in the drop off. When I went to retrieve them, I approached them on the shallow side and ended up hitting a humungus boulder with the t/m. My momentum threw me overboard into the deep water. Thank God because the water on the shallow side was only 2ft. deep and I went under at least 6ft. No life vest on, water temp was in the low 50's, it was raining and there wasn't a soul on the lake besides me. I learned two lessons that day. Always wear a vest when fishing alone and DON'T KEEP YOUR I-PHONE IN YOUR POCKET when fishing. I've had to replace two of them in less than two years because I can't seem to keep my fat rear inside the boat!

I have a har enough time finding my orange ones!!! If I painted 'em black, I'd need to add a beacon. Thanks for the replies guys. I rely on what I see as much as anyone, but watch my electronics like a hawk when fishing off shore structure. Didn't plan on disposing of the buoys, just moving them off the deck and back near the counsel (sp?)

When it comes to baitcasters, I'm partial to a particular brand, but purchasing extra spools for them is an effort in futility. I ended up purchasing a couple of junk reels off of fleabay just for the spools. Do any of you carry spare spools for the times you want to switch line types or sizes or don't have the time to spend picking our a nasty birdsnest? Where do you get yours?

Ask anyone that knows me to describe what type of fisherman I am and most will tell you I'm a structure fisherman (provided they know what that means). Very rarely have I gone out on a new lake and not canvased it, using marker buoys to give me a visual idea of the different breaklines I'm looking at. Last season I purchased a Lowrance unit with chartploting/GPS and was very surprised at the accuracy of the Navonics topo maping and being able to mark waypoints. I only fished one new body of water last year, but without using my buoys, I was able to map out a particular spot on that unit and return to it numerous times after drifting off during a battle with a nice chunk. The other thing I do with buoys is toss one out after hooking up with a fish when working deep structure. I really don't need to do that anymore, just reach over and set a waypoint for the spot. So, what I want to know is do you guys still keep and use buoys now that you have electronics to pinpoint spots or areas? I knid of like being able to see the outline of a break on the surface when using them,especially early in the year before weed growth provides a similar visual. I don't like the fact that some guys will move in and work the area. Not that I mind them fishing the same water, I just don't like it when they insist on casting along side them and catching them )the buoys}. Most of the time, I'll get them back, but at the very least they've been moved. God forbid I want to retrieve them before these guys are ready to move on!

Made my own with two bell sinkers attached with a good sized split ring. The sinkers bang against each other adding another dimension to the technique. I love the wacky rig hooks with the little weed guard on them for fishing the tops of weed beds. The other hook I've used is the one with the wire weed guard. It isn't a wacky rig hook, but works just fine in the 1/0 size. I believe Eagle Claw make them.

If you have confidence that a piece of cover holds fish and aren't getting bit, change the fall rate of the jig. You can add or remove a bulky trailer, add a trailer with more water resistance, or even change to a bigger or smaller jig. I'll do this before I start messing around with different colors as I believe color is at the bottom of the list when it comes to triggering charateristics in this situation.

Don't know what happened to my original response, but I'll either Texas rig on a 5/0 offset worm hook (they're about 2in. long from eye to bend) and if I'm getting short striked, I'll add a 3/0 straight shanked worm hook about 6in. behind it. The other way I've tried is threading my line aboutl half way into the worm with a needle and then adding the same hook at that point. This is fished weightless. The reason for using the needle to thread the line is to keep the worm from sliding down the line and balling up in front of the hook. Both of the last two rigging methods will add line twist if you don't add a swivel above the set-up. That also will allow you to use braid in any water clarity which gives you better sensitivity that using mono or flouro as a main line.

I have a 3700 series box dedicated to flukes and I seriously did'nt open it once last season. I never attempted any other rigging that the standard or double rig and I'd been having better success with tubes. Going to try some of these if just to use some of my supply .

I use two different types. Water based and oil based. I prefer the water based one in cold water as it disperses quickly and I use it on every bait I throw.. The down side is you need to reapply often. Once the water temp. gets into the mid 50's I'll switch to an oil based product which I only use on slow moving presentations. The only time I feel a scent is needed on faster moving baits in warm water is when the fish aren't holding the bait long enough for me to get a hook in 'em. Normally, I don't recommend specific products on a forum, but I am so confident in CB's Hawg Sauce that I feel I must mention them. I'm sure others here will suggest others, but keep an open mind about specific brands. Not many are available in a water based version. BTW, If no one has already, Welcome to the board.

I like a blade bait as once the water temp gets that high around here, the fish are moving and a moving bait will produce. Immediately after ice out, I find that a small hair or maribo jig like a Fuzz-E-Grub tipped with PowerBait or Gulp minnow works well on stationary fish.

X2 If I don't, I'll cut at the swivel above the hook that I've used to prevent line twist. There are a couple of things I'll be trying out this season, one is the use of two slip bobber knots with the hook between them and not tied to the line, the other is the SpinShot set-up. With the first option, you can just slide the knots and hook down to the sinker and use the hook keeper. Another thing I think I'm going to like about that rigging is the ability to quickly change the distance from hook to weight.

I'm in the same group as you, not many fish tubes in my neck of the woods. That's fine by me as I'm always looking to throw something different than the crowd. My favorite colors are green pumpkin/red flake which I often dip in Spike-It to add a little color to the skirt, or smoke. Depending on the cover or lake of it, I'll use either a jig head or use an insert weight and EWG hook. Most often it's a JHP or SkipGap in 3/0. I don't often Texas rig them unless I'm fishing a situation that I want a straight fall as I'll normally go to a creature bait in that situation. Tubes, big ones, are my favorite for skipping under docks weightless. There is enough weight to the bigger tubes for casting and if needed, I'll rig them on a 1/8oz. swimbait hook. Add a bit of CB's crawfish gell inside and out and I can follow a line of boats down a dock filled shore and still put fish in the boat.

Welcome to the board! Glad to see a new face, oh wait, you don't have one yet. Be sure to stop by the introduction forum and tell us a bit about yourself. Now about Rogues. It's one of the only jerkbaits I throw for a couple of reasons. It's moderately priced, comes with decent hooks, is available in suspending and floating models of different sizes. The other jerkbait I like in a floating model is a Rebel, but as I said these are near the bottom of the price range of this type of bait. Oh yea, did I mention they catch fish?

The wife just informed me that I have 32 rods in my 'man cave' I wasn't really surprised, but my immediate response was I only have 14 reels, so in order to get to an equal 2:1 ratio of rods to reels, I told her I'd be purchasing a couple of reels this season. One of these will be first and the other will likely be another Sol. Anyway, I know the difference in weight and bearing count, but I was wondering what those of you that have these think. I don't put a lot of stock in bearing count, and I doubt I'd notice the difference in weight. I know, also that KVD sings the EXO's praises, but I seriously doubt he keeps any reel for more than one season and longevity IS a concern. Thanks for your input.

I don't use either one because decimal points confuse me. Is size the only difference, does one run deeper, why isn't there a 2.0, is KVD's royalty why there's a .5,????? 'Hey Mr. Cotter, I'm so confused!?

If it's a suspending Rogue, it'll have red eyes. The floater has yellow ones. The other thing that may be happening is that the bait is so out of tune, it flips on it's side and won't dive. Check to make sure it's running true and don't attempt to burn it down to running depth. Too quick of a retrieve could also be causing it to turn on it's side.

Wide range of possibilities here, so I'll give you a general answer. First off, remember that changing out hooks can effect the bait's performance. Second, use the best hooks you can afford. Third, change the split rings if they show any signs of rust, or failure to close completely and be sure the shanks of the hooks aren't so long that they tangle with the other treble. I prefer trebles with a little inward bend at the point. Not the point itself, but the gap smaller than the bend. IMO it makes it harder for the bait to come unbuttoned from the fish.

A couple of things I'd do and they're both quick and easy. Dip the tails of the rear plastic is dye like Spike It for a quick color change. If you still notice followers, pop your rod tip for a quick change of speed and/or sweep your rod to one side or the other. A quick change in direction/speed will often trigger followers. If it were a non-tournament situation, I'd make other suggestions, but these are the least time consuming and in my opinion, the most effective.

I can only speak for us northeners that deal with frozen water during the winter months. That said, the acutal temp of the water early in the season isn't as important as the direction the water temp. is trending. By that, I mean a steady increase over a couple of days will get fish moving and feeding. That could only be a few degrees say from 34-38 over three days. A steady decrease will have an adverse effect and will do so in a shorter time period, often within 24hrs. I assume this difference in time vs. fish reactions has to do with water cooling faster than it warms. Because of that, I will often take advantage of a light wind on the second or third day of a warming trend, especiallly if it's blowing into a shallow bay or accross a shallow point.

If I'm looking for a kicker and it's post spawn through fall, I break out the buzzers, hard or soft depending on the cover I'm targeting, If I'm still looking to get my limit, as much as I don't like to, I break out the spinning gear and smaller tube baits and head for some docks. Of course, if it's pre-spawn or spawn time, a whole different approach could be necessitated to fill out my limit, but I'd still give the buzzer top billing for the kicker as you can cover so much water with it in that short time frame. Yea, I'm old school.

I did this one time when I lost my LittleGeorge and didn't have a replacement. The blade I used was an Indiana and now where near as big as that monster. Guess you don't have any trouble feeling the blade thump and the fish don't have any trouble knowing it's coming their way. The question is; Do you catch anything on it and OMG, where did you find that blade?

Something I've done on a regular basis since switching to baitcasting gear decades ago, is to use slip bobbers as a means to control the depth of my presentation. I'd done it prior to then when walleye fishing and ended up with some nice catches of bass. Those big, baseball bat floats that you see a lot of cat fishermen using work fantastic with wacky rigged worms or small curly tailed grubs on jig heads and you can cast the set-up a country mile. You don't need to concern yourself with sensitivity as all hits ar visible and you can maintain exact depth coverage throughout your retrieve. This is how I've taught many beginners to present something to suspended fish and also as a way to learn depth control during a retrieve. Their ability to make a long cast has kept the interest of some young anglers long enough for them to actually catch some fish.