papajoe222

I frequent a number of fishing forrums every day and the one topic I rarely see are questions about bass, northern, muskie, walleye, or whatever species the site is dedicated to. This site is one of the better when it comes to exchanging knowledge, but even here, the majority of that knowledge is related to gear or techniques and very little toward getting to know Ms. Bass. I've been fishing for over 50 years now and had the pleasure of introducing this great sport to hundreds. As a camp counselor during my college days and even now with my grandchildren and the kids in the neighborhood. My approach has changed very little over the years and it revolves around one thing. Learn what makes a fish do what it does and where it's likely to be doing it and you have an excellent chance at being successful at catching them whenever you go fishing. I'd love to see a forum catagory on this site that targets learning about this fish that we all love to catch. How many times have you read or had someone tell you that 90% of fishing success is based on the location of the fish? From seasonal movements, their reaction to changing conditions, how they relate to the forage, activity levels, etc. There is a wealth of information that is vital, not only to the novice, but even to anyone wishing to 'up their game' to the next level. Mods take note; I'll start a topic here in the general bass fishing forum with the idea of sharing some of what I consider the most valuable information one can share and watch how many views and responses it gets. If nothing else, i may possibly get guys to start sharing their knowledge on this subject.

At the very least, remove the sideplate, spool and spool bearings. Clean and lube the bearings and the spool shaft. After replacing them, clean the line guide and level wind and you have 2/3 of the cleaning process done. If you feel that you need to get into the guts of the reel, do it systematically and maybe even take pics with your smartphone of the differnt steps. Think of it as field stripping the reel rather than your weapon. A complete dissasemble isn't always warrented or necessary for that piece of equipment to perform.

Rick Clunn is a big proponent of using the same equipment. His deck is adorned with identical combos rigged with a range of baits. His thinking is that when he sets one rig down and picks up another, he doesn't need to make any physical or mental adjustments to the equipment. It's sound thinking and it works for him. I think more along the lines of one model of rod and reel in three or four different actions and gear ratios. My favorites are the Browning BoronMatrix rods paired to Daiwa reels. I have four such combos and would be hard pressed to pick a favorite among them. For me, it's a comfort that's based on familiarity.

I'm not familiar with that particular rod and any advice you get from someone that doesn't own and use one should be taken skepticly.The problem is that my MH/F rod may be stiffer or softer in the tip section although both are fast action. As a result, my rod may be great for spinnerbaits, but terrible as a jig rod even though It does sound like it'd be a great jig or worm rod, especially for target casting. My suggestion is to take the rod out and try it for some different applications. Who knows, despite traditional thinking you may find it perfect for the bigger top water baits that you use, or too much power for what you were thinking of when you bought it. Worst case, pack it up and ship it out to me. I'll try it out for a season and give you my recommendation.

I fish a slip bobber and if I'm fishing from shore, it's a pole float like Lindy Little Joe sells. The main reason is the ability to change depth quickly and easily and casting the set-up is much easier. I'll also use a BearPaw connector or tie a palomar knot above the jig and rig a drop shot bait to it. Often the lure on top will outproduce the jig.

I've been passing the down time this winter upgrading and supertuning a few of my reels, doing some decorative butt wraps on my favorite rods and I even dabbled with rod building (just finished my third). All this to avoid going ape sh!+ with FWS (fishing withdrawl syndrom) that normally has me tying a piece of yarn to the end of my line and casting for felines in the family room. I decided to do something about avoiding it, or at the very least postponing it a little. I got together with a couple of buddies and we're heading south to a lake with open water tomorrow. WOO HOO!!! I heard that Lake Geneva has open water access and that got me to thinking about a few lakes south of here that aren't closed to fishing. We decided on Shabona in DeKalb county here in Illinois and while they will be looking to catch some tablefare in the form of crappie and perch, your's truly will be christening one of my new rod builds and a suspending Fat Free Fingerling and Smithwick Rouge. Don't plan on catching anything with the posibility of a cold as it's going to be damp and windy, but who cares? Not me!

Sweet. Although I wouldn't consider it a craw, that one would produce by itself. My favorite is any version of the PacaCraw line in the same color. I'll often dip the appendages in SpikeIt to get that two tone on them.

In areas where the water doesn't get hard in the winter, some bass will remain shallow, or near the shallows all winter. They do so to take advantage of baitfish movements and also for the added advantage of rising surface temps on sunny days. Although baitfish such as shad will move to deeper structure during the cold water period, there is still forage that remains in the shallower water. By shallow water, I'm not talking about 4 or 6ft. I'm refering to water that's shallow in relation to the depth deeper holding fish are holding. Say 10ft. when the majority of the bass are using water 30 to 35ft. Docks and other cover in those 'shallow' areas will hold bass and more often than not those fish are more active and feed more often because of it. Wood and rock are your best producers vs. weeds. Although weeds provide cover for the forage fish using shallower water, it won't provide the nutrients they need. The moss and decaying timber will and that's why I don't recommend fishing weeds during the cold water period unless that is the only form of cover available at the targeted depth range. Your odds of contacting fish around docks or rock increase in natural lakes or in lowland impoundments that don't get much deeper than say 30ft. or so, but even in those shallower bodies of water, your best options are the cover closest to some vertical depth change vs. a gradual one.

Based on what you've stated, the fish's activity level should be up. The question is, what is normal activity for this time of year? Any Idea on what the water temp. is, or if the fish are still in a wintering state, or pre-spawn. If you're not sure of the answer to those questions, you have two options and seeing as you only have an hour and a half, I'd go with the first option which is throwing a crank, preferably a suspending model like a FatFree Shad. Start out working it fast with an occasional hesitation and slow down and increase your pauses (numbers and duration) until you find the right combination or are letting the bait sit for the majority of the retrieve. If the water isn't deeper than eight ft. or so, there's no need to go through this process with a deeper or shallower running bait. Your other option is to downsize and fish slow. With the little time you have, although this may be the better of the two if you had more time, I'd go with the first option.

I'd recommend the Daiwa Exceller. i have one that I use for deep cranking (it has a lower gear ratio), but I believe they also come in a 6.3:1 which is a good all around gear ratio. If the Daiwa TD Pro is still available from BPS on sale for $69 I'd jump all over that one. It's a little on the heavy side, but is built like a truck and about as smooth as you can get even at the regular price.

I have a taklebag full of StrikeKing tubes, both coffe and the older salted version, along with a tube kit I believe was from Bass Pro. The majority of them are 3.5in, but I also have some packs of five inchers I've used for flipping, I just don't recall offhand who makes them.

The shorter rod will hinder you when flipping and by that I mean it will cut down the distance of your flip, so you'll need to get a little closer. As far as pitching goes, if you're proficient at the manuver, you'd likely see little, if any change in distance. That being said, the long rods most of us use serve another purpose and that's in their ability to get the fish's head up and get them out of the cover before they can turn back and bury themselves in the cover. If you're targeting docks or downed timber, you could get away with a sub seven foot rod, but for heavy brush and weeds, you won't hear me recommend it. In fact, the only one I'd recommen anything shorter than seven feet to would be someone that cannot stand and in that case flipping or pitching would likely be avoided anyway.

My grandson is allergic to deet and loves being outside. We tried a number of different alternatives (SkinSoSoft, insect repelling wrist bands, electronic devices you wear around your neck, to mention a few) and settled on using the dryer sheets as they not only did a decent job of keeping the bugs at bay, they didn't require a bath after he came indoors. Last summer was extremely dry in out parts and without any insect repelent I only got six misqueto bites that I can recall. Biting flies and no-see-ums were another story, but rather than go home stinking of insect repelent, I opted for a dryer sheet tucked in the back of my shirt collar and another in each sock as the flies like to target our ankles. Never had a problem when I did so and I just tossed them in the trash at the end of the night, undressed and crawled into bed with no outcry from mama that I stunk. I imagine that when the skeeters get bad, I'll need to break out the good ole bug spray, but until then.....

When I want to slow a bait down, either on the fall or when steady cranking, I opt for a Kalin's grub. It has a nice wide tail for a lot of resistance and plenty of action to boot.

Been fishing for over fifty years and I have a tackle store in my den because of that #*@%ing hard water. My kids and grandkids will never have to buy a lure and will likely sell off most of it as I don't have anything other than fishing stuff that is actually worth anything. Oh yea, what was the topic????? Spawn baits, right? My #1 is a tube and #2 is a C-rigged crand on a 6in. leader with a heavy weight. Drag the weight onto the near side of the bed and let the bait back off on a little slack. When I pick up the slack the crank dives into the bed area. I've had fish that were spooked off the bed come back to hammer that crank.

I love the Nitro one, but my fav is the one with KVD and Stacy King where Stacy uses a live rooster to wake up the guy at the end. Spit a mouthfull of coffee out at the wife the first time I saw it, so I don't know if it's the actual commercial that makes it my favorite, or the memory of the look on my wife's face when she got sprayed with the coffee. I've been saying Evinrude to her for a while now only to get a blank stare while she continued talking. Had to duck a frying pan the first time she saw it!

I've been saving up my gift cards from Christmas and my recent birthday and have enough for an entry level down imaging unit. My question centers around shallow water use. My favorite lake's maximum depth is only 12ft. and the average depth is somewhere between six and seven ft. I've read that down imaging units don't work well in shallower water. Can anyone explain why they don't,and which brand or model works better than others in shallow water situations? Also, as I already have an LCD graph mounted on my counsole and is readable from the front deck, is a graph/down imaging unit worth the extra bucks? Thanks

I wouldn't attempt removing material from an EVA grip, even with the aid of a lathe. An alternative that you have with foam grips vs cork is the ability to compress the foam, which is the only option I'd consider other than replacing the grip and that's a risky process. drop the good folks at MudHole a line. They may have a solution other than the ones you've gotten here.

Although I use other presentations, a single Colorado (Indiana once the fish are in pre-spawn) 3/8oz spinnerbait has produced more fish for me than any other in the spring. I'm not married to any particular brand and I modify most of my spring and cold water spinners by shortening the arm so the rear of the blade doesn't extend past the hook's point. This allows the bait to helicoopter as it falls and the colder the water, the more I use a lift and drop retrieve. I'll even add a curly tailed grub as a trailer to slow the fall rate until the water temp stays above 50 degrees.

If I'm target casting I always thumb the spool, that gives me the accuracy I can only get with a baitcaster. If I'm casting for distance, like when I'm crankin' or fishing from shore, I rely on the spool tension and magnetics.........but my thumb is always at the ready

When it comes to my lost battles with the bait monkey, I live by the motto; It's much easier to ask for forgivness than i is to ask for permission. Time spent in the dog house increases tenfold when permission is denied and that monkey tricks you into buying something anyway. Another tactic I use is to sell an item for more than I paid for it and use that money to buy my new toy. Of course, 'selling' can mean any number of different things in my vocabulary.

I use my graph to confirm what I see on my topo map and to find areas that aren't shown on the map. During cold water periods, I'm looking for quick or sharp changes in depth like a creek arm or ledge. During the summer, I'm looking for transition areas. Changes in bottom composition, sparce to heavy weed growth, points or cuts in a weed edge, etc. I rarely look for fish and will stop and fish an area I have confidence in reguardless of whether my graph shows fish there. I'll be using my down imaging unit to look for fish and bait on those areas I mentioned and I'm sure the presence of baitfish shown on it will increase the amount of time I spend on a spot, but I've yet to use that new toy. It may completely change the way I use my electronics.

X3 for the smallies and pike. I'll also use white and black painted blades when I'm looking to eliminate flash on calm, bright days going with white for baits with white or white/chart skirts. The black I'll use with darker baits and at night. Most guys only throw spinnerbaits when there's a chop on the water and that's because the wave action cuts down on light penetration (reflection off the blades). Going to a painted blade on calm bright days acomplishes the same thing and gives you the versatility of a spinnerbait under not so prime conditions.

You could practice some flipping, but now is a great time to tinker with your gear. I'm polishing the drag washers and installing CarbonTex's on my Shimano Corvalus'. Next up is a cleaning of all my reels. Then it's on to checking and changing out hooks on baits and before you know it, the power plant lakes will be opening, so it'll be time to get the boat ready. Ten weeks.......I wonder if I'll get it all done in time

I've always watched both Bill Dance and Jimmy houston. More for the entertainment value than from gaining any new knowledge. Some of Dance's bloopers are classics, but still get a roar from me and Jimmy's giggle brings a grin to every member of my family. I look for instructional shows and sadly there aren't many out there. 'The Next Bite' is about the only one I watch that I believe is returning this year.