papajoe222

On a trip up to Leech Lake a few years ago, I stopped at Swanson's Bait and Tackle in Hackensack, MN. I wish there was a place like that within 100mi. because I'd be visiting there monthly. I have a Bass Pro and a Cabella's both within an hour drive and maybe visit them once a year.

Anyone that knows me, knows that my moods are fishing influenced. As long as I'm doing something fishing related, I'm easy to get along with. From November until March, my good nature personality goes downhill until it gets to the point they are currently dealing with. All my gear is prepped, the boat is ready and I sit here spinning the handle of one of my reels. The wife and daughter are at the other end of the house behind a locked door.

Three criteria will determine the line and combo I use when jig fishing. The first is presentation (casting, or flipping), the second is the cover, or lack of, that I'll be targeting and third is water color. I find that I can get away with heavier test line in stained and muddy water and I will always opt for the heaviest line I feel is applicable.

No matter the time of year, I like them to rest horizontally. As for rising or falling, I prefer a slow fall in colder water. In warmer water (after spawn), I don't feel it really matters, because the pause is so short, I don't feel it matters.

From post-spawn until the end of the season, if I don't throw a Spook, I don't feel like I've gone fishin'. I could be killing it on bottom presentations and put them down to cast a Spook before heading home. The opposite holds true, too. I could be getting skunked and still throw one.

The only downside to stupid rigging under the OP's conditions is that it will pick up moss at the line tie. You could bring the line tie out closer to the nose, tie it on and pull it back inside the tube, but the line will end up ripping an opening and you'll end up with the line tie sticking out. Much better under those conditions to go with either a bullet sinker pegged, or some form of T-rig with an internal weight. I've used the bell sinker rigging as BB86 mentioned and you do get some spiraling on the fall vs. a T-rig.

I had a Shimano Sienna back when and got rid of it because the rear drag sucked. I could dial it to Max and a 3lb bass could easily pull line off. I have never looked at another rear drag.

Same here

Those hooks appear to be in good shape. I'd sharpen 'em up before replacing them. If you're intent on doing so, don't remove the hook hangars. Cut the eye of the existing trebles and use split rings and #2 trebles. If they look like they will tangle, you may need to go with short shanks

Reading these is almost as entertaining as sitting at the boat launch on a busy holiday week-end!

Exactly. I carry 4 crankbait combos so I can cover the whole water column in an area without the need to constantly change out baits.

Except for finesse presentations, braid is my line of choice for jigs and worms. I will add a short mono or fluoro leader if the water is gin clear. For lipless cranks in and around weeds, I use the same combo. Mono for all topwater except frogs and fluoro for the majority of moving baits.

I prefer graphite for the sensitivity, especially when cranking over weeds. With a glass rod, my crank would bury into the weeds before I knew it. Even when fishing downfalls, I can tell when my bait is approaching a limb. Honestly, I can't say how the newer glass rods compare as I've never fished one and likely never will.

I've been a proponent of purple plastics for decades and I have absolutely no idea why they produce so well. All I can offer is: you won't know until you try.

The only two ways I will start out with small baits, or a finesse approach would be if conditions were tough and I knew the location held fish, or if I knew the fish were keying on small forage. Otherwise, I'm in search mode and that calls for faster moving presentations. I have, on more than one occasion, used small baits when searching under cold front conditions.

Don't know why I typed 5.9:1, brain fart most likely. Thanks for the replies

I got a great deal on a very lightly used Fuego CT (6.3:1). I'm looking to switch out the gears and was wondering if anyone could tell me if gear sets for a Tatula would work in the Fuego? I know there are faster gear sets are available for the Fuego, but I want to drop down to 5.9:1 and I know the Tatula was offered in that gearing.

With temps in the 30's after ice-out, the bass here are either on the bottom, or high up in the water column. They rarely suspend, so my two best producers are a jerkbait and a hair jig/ trailer. I don't twitch the jerkbait to get that darting action, but work it like a C-rig with short, slow pulls and long pauses. The jig gets dead sticked after a short drag that keeps it in contact with the bottom.

I switched from Cal's to Lucas Oil (Lew's) reel grease last season. Performance wise, I saw zero difference. Price wise, it's $10 an ounce cheaper.

Pausing a wake bait...............hmmmm.

My wife used to call it 'go go juice' and we used both the original and the offering with glitter. The anise oil was great at masking the plastic smell, so much so that I'd spray some in the bags of new plastics.

You won't get the same action on the fall, as with a tube jig, but rigging a tube with a bullet weight Texas style will all but eliminate picking up the salad. Peg the sinker and maybe add a little oil based scent.

When I fished tourneys, I'd target kicker fish with a buzzbait. There were times when I'd end up culling the majority of fish in the live well. Now, when I target big fish, big worms worked painstakingly slow and slow rolling a spinnerbait around transition areas are my most consistent producers.

I do best on steep banks early in the season. Fishing a jig, I prefer working it uphill. With a crank, or spinnerbait downhill. If I can figure out the depth and how far off or on the bottom they are, I'll switch to a parallel approach. As the water warms, I start searching out slower tapering banks or flats that taper down to some deeper water.

The pits I've fished were deep, clear, long and narrow. During the day, I could pick up a few on a split shot rig. Night fishing was a different story as they would attack a moving bait once you found them. Spinnerbaits and Jitterbugs accounted for the majority of those fish, but if they weren't producing, a medium to deep diving silent crank often did the trick.