papajoe222

I still have some time on my hands before the season gets into swing and was wondering what the most wierd (or is it wierdest) modification you've done to a hard or soft bait that worked so good, you've done it to more than one lure? I'm not talking changing out hooks or dipping plastics in SpikeIt. I'm talking drilling holes in crankbaits to add weight or glueing two curly tailed worms together at the heads and hooking the result wacky style and buzzing it accross the surface. I've tried cutting the diving lip on a crank to reduce it's running depth, adding a buzzbait blade and arm to the front of a Spook to give me a buzzer I could use a stop and go retrieve with, drilling holes in a buzzbait blade to add bubbles to the trail, and many others. Some caught fish, and some were just a waste of a perfectly good lure, but other than shortening the spinner arm of a spinnerbait, I haven't attempted to reproduce any of those modified baits. So it's time to share your secrets. Don't be shy, you'll only be sharing with a few thousand die hard fisherman and if nothing else, you gotta give a penny to take a penny once in a while.

There is a small strip pit among the ones that are part of my rod and gun club's property. It is accessable on foot, but the best shorline is bordered by a bluff. It's easily 200 yards from the nearest vehicle access point so very few members even bother fishing it except in the spring when the accessable shorline becomes the prefered site for spawning bass. I love to fish this pit at night during the dog days of summer as these fish will hammer a black Jitterbug. My solution is to carry my 'belly boat' the entire distance to the water before dark and fish for three to four hours. Accessability is a little difficult as I'm getting up in years, but getting back to my vehicle in the dark and tired from both kick paddeling and fishing becomes an exercise in persistance and being able to avoid getting torn up by the wild brush that grows wild along the narrow trail back. Most nights, it's well worth the exhaustion and multiple cuts. On other nights, I've left that float tube near the waterfront and returned after a good morning's sleep to retrieve it.

The only time I use a plastic trailer is in the spring pre and post-spawn periods. It's usually a Kalin's grub or the tail section of a G-Tail worm. The reason I do this is to slow the bait down more than to add attration/action to it. I shorten the arms on most of my spinnerbaits and don't find a need for a trailer hook. The few times that I've felt a bump and added a trailer hook, I ended up catching crappie.

My favorites are small,natural colored baits. Zara Spooks for top-water, RocketShads for small profile spinnerbaits, suspending FatFree Shad and Fingerlings for cranks and french fry worms suspended under a slip bobber with the weight below similar to a drop shot. The difficulty with fishing quarries and deep clear strip pits is the lack of cover. The fish tend to use the available structure in their movements and if they're moving, they're very catchable. The problem lies in the fact that they don't move around frequently, but will suspend just off any structural breaks such as ledges or rock piles rather than close to or on the breaks. They could be thirty feet off a ledge, but suspended at the same depth as the break, if the water is clear and light penetration is good. Oh yea, If you can, avoid noisy baits. If you swim a jig, go rattleless. This is one situation where making long casts and keeping a low profile will up your chances a little.

I fish both the Bandit and Bomber square bills. There are differences in sound, body shape, bouyancy etc. as with most companies, there are big similarities and small differences. If you are confident in a particular brand, the only reason to try something else is if it give the fish something different. I'm not big on subtle color differences, so I stick with those two brands.

Any one of the 3,000 or so that I currently have. I really don't care. There was a good sized puddle in the neighbors front yard last week and I was seriously considering working a jig and craw through the grass in it. Anyone have a crying towel?

My favorite lure presentation after ice out is a blade bait. I'll keep it in the upper water column pumping gently on a steady retrieve. The other way I've had success is letting it fall to the bottom and using a similar retrieve, but letting it fall before continuing to reel. This are the two ways I'll use it while there is still ice on the water out from shore. I've even cast on to the edge of the ice and hopped it into the open water and caught fish as it fell toward bottom. Rarely is the water depth over 8-10ft. so when I say upper water column, I'm talking just far enough under the surface where I can't see the flash when I pump it. Once the water is ice free and I'm willing to launch my boat, I'll target the first drop at least a casting distance from shore. I'll sit on the shallow side of this structure and cast to the deep side of it. Once I contact fish, I'll move out to that depth and parallel the structure trying to keep in the strike zone. If I can't maintain fish contact I'll move back to the shallow side and repeat. Sometimes the fish will be active and aggressive and other times contact may only occur once an hour. In the latter case, I'll switch back and forth between the blade bait and a squirrel tailed Mepps pumped ever so gently during the retrieve.

If line visibility becomes a concern as when using a finess bait on pressured fish, stick with the floro. Try adding floation to your leader a few inches above the hook similar to the way walleye fishermen do. Something else I've tried is adding air bubbles inside plastic baits using a heated insulin size needle. It's a bit of work, trial and error, to get it down patt, but once you do, you can inflate a pkg of baits in no time.

Send it to me. I'll try it for different applications and send you a five page report when I return it at the end of the season. If you get it back (you never know about USPS), you'll have more research done on that reel than reading a hundred post from other anglers.

No, but I tie mono to braid when C-rigging so I don't see why that combo wouldn't work, especially if you want the added abbrasion resistance. I like the extra sensitivity when using braid, but I fish a lot of soft and sandy bottom water, so I don't worry much about nicks.

Try moving this topic to the Tackle Making Forum. Some of the guys that frequent there have years of experience in building and may be able to help.

The SuperSpook is the only bait I haven't changed out the stock hooks on. All of the ones I have came with Excalibre Rotating Trebles and I absolutely love them. If you do anything with the belly hook, just replace it. Removing it will change the balance point. As for them being too big for bass, I caught my biggest bass last year on a musky size Spook style bait. I've also caught some nice fish on other 8in. baits, so no, they're not too big. At least not for BIG bass.

I tend to favor red cranks in cold, pre spawn situations and will migrate to orange bellies as the fish start spending more time in the shallows. Once the females are off the beds, I'll start leaning toward more normal colors, both crawfish and baitfish. Although I don't use completely red lures the rest of the year, all my shallow running and daytime top-water baits have a splash of red on the forward underside and a red treble hook on the belly.

I'd describe myself as a power fisherman first with deep water as my forte, however when conditions dictate (spawn, cold front, etc.) I do like to work visible cover in shallower water. I do fish a lot of shallow water structure and cover, but mostly when I have a partner (wife) in the boat.

That's what I used to use at the END of the day. I found that because I didn't spend a lot of time on my feet at work or home, I'd be hurtin' by the end of a day of fishing. I would say try standing for 20 min. or so at a time. It could be that your muscles just aren't used to prolonged standing. I'm 63 and unless I'm out on rough water, I don't even put my pedestal on the deck, I stand and I don't have a recessed well for my t/m controll. BTW the best way to force yourself to stand more is to get out on the water more

I abandon a C-rig if I feel the fish have been pressured too much. Same goes for any presentation they've seen a lot. I'd go with a split-shot rig and french fry or a 1/4oz. football jig with the skirt shortened to just past the hook bend and add a small/short trailer to it. If I feel the need to stick with the C-rig, I'll opt for a bright or contrasting color (to the bottom) and slow down my retrieve to at least half speed.

I think lure makers are taking a page out of the airlines book 'How to cut costs and improve your profits" Between labor and the cost of that ring multiplied by 100K baits in each style they've got to be saving big bucks. Besides, it's not like you or I are not going to buy the product. Heck, we pay more for the name, not the workmanship or the finished product. I smell a conspirisy involving the split-ring and lure makers.

First time braid user? If you've used the reel before and had no problems, it may be the line's fault. Are you using at least 30lb. braid? If not, that is likely the problem. Braid is thinner than mono and will catch on itself on the spool because of the way it lays. Hopefully backing was used prior to spooling the braid. If everything seems to be the way it should, try setting the tension knob so that you need to shake the rod tip a little to get your bait to drop.

Hey Brian. Welcome to the board. We're always happy to see inquisitive newcomers. As mentioned before, a deep diving crank will give you a ton of information if you don't loose it to a snag. Even then, you've learned something. You can start with a shallow diving one, then a medium, and finally the deep diving one to determine the depth. Once you start bumping bottom, check the lip of the bait. Muck or nicks on the lip can help in determining bottom comtent. The other thing you can do is count down a jig or T-rigged worm. After casting, count slowly until you see your line go slack. Most baits will fall about one foot per second. As you retrieve it, pause occasionally, or cast to a nearby area. Any change in depth will result in a longer or shorter count. I have a ton of used equipment, including graphite and composite rods. PM me and we'll see about hooking you up with one.

You mention two things that I considered when answering. You are new to the sport and you do the majority of your fishing from shore. My answer is also twofold. First and foremost, learn to cast. Every cast you make be it for distance or accuracy should build your confidence in your ability to repeat the accomplishment. Because you'll be fishing mostly from shore, you'll want to start with a technique that is both easy to learn and has the ability to cover the limited water available to you completely. By that I mean from top to bottom far left around to far right. By process of elimination, crankbaits, worms, jigs and top-water are poor choices. Notice I didn't say bad choices. This leaves a couple of choices of which spinnerbaits would be my choice in your situation. You can cover the entire water column with one bait,count the bait down until it hits bottom and begin there occasionally stopping your retrieve to let the lure fall down. You'll get a feel for how fast to reel this way. On the next cast, start reeling a couple of seconds sooner, etc. until you're beginning your retrieve when the lure hits the water. It's vairly weedless and doesn't hang up on timber easily. A simple chuck and wind retrieve is easy to master and can be modified once you gain confidence. There is very little doubt about when a fish hits a spinnerbait vs. say a Texas rigged worm or a jig. Oh yea, did I mention they're effective spring, summer, and autumn?

Adding a bulky trailer to a BitsyBug will add a lot to the total weight, but it will also slow the drop or fall speed. Add a twin tailed grub and you have a finess alternative to a spinnerbait. Nose hook a small pork trailer and you have a great shallow water presentation that you can keep on the bottom without too much effort. You can also go with any number of different bare jig heads in that weight class and add anything from small swim baits to beaver style plastics for something the fish don't normally see.

There is also a difference in the way each displaces water, so not only is the side to side movement different, so is what a bass will interpret via it's lateral line. Kind of like the difference between a flat sidded bait and a fat bodied one.

If I know I'll be moving around a lot and the runs will be ten minutes or more, I'll pack some kind of sandwich. I'll normally stop on the way to the lake and pick-up a good sized meal and then just stay hydrated until I'm on the way back. If I bring anything, it'll be snack sized fruit or baby carrots and sweet peppers along with some ranch dip.

I am not a big fan of the C-rig, but like any presentations, it has it's strong points and times when it's the only one that will get results. Yes, it can be used in the summer for probing deep structure. It can also be used in the winter as an option in either season to drop shotting or using a jig. Like the drop shot rig, it lets you present your offering off the bottom. Unlike the drop shot, however, the fish feel very little, if any, resistance when taking your offering as the weight is ahead of it and not behind. I personally like using a tube stuffed with a packing styrafoam 'peanut' to really float it. It's a great dead sticking presentation as the tube will stay off the bottom. If catching weeds and other junk with an exposed hook isn't a concern I'd suggest nose hooking your soft plastic using a circle hook to avoid gut hooking fish when using long (over 2ft.) leaders. I actually prefer split shotting to C-rigging and often use a heavy split shot to maintain bottom contact while still using a fairly fast presentation.

Ask anyone that has done or has had a bearing upgrade done how many bearings were replaced. If they answered more than three, they were wasting money. Bearings in place of bushings add weight and the performance enhansment is so negligable that the majority of anglers wouldn't be able to tell the difference in either weight or performance of the same reel with or without those bearings. Many quality reels are still made with only two spool bearings and one shaft (cranking) bearing. The Abu C3's and 4's are examples. I'm in no way implying that reels containing more than three bearings are a waste of money, just that good, quality, corrosion resistant bearings in the right locations are more important that the number of bearings.