papajoe222

Pull pin and twist side plate up (clockwise) then pull outward. Reverse steps to replace it. I was a little late with this response. Glad to hear you figured it out. Now get out there and do something about that wave runner!

They are sitting on or close to the rocks because the rocks hold the heat of the sun longer than wood, or weeds. Most likely on the days you didn’t see them, it was overcast, or early in the day before the rocks warmed sufficiently. That drop to deeper water combined with the rocky shore will be a good summertime spot. Early in the year and during the actual spawn, it isn’t unusual for bass to ignore your presentations. Hang in there. Things will pick up.

I'll echo what's already been said. One type of lure/presentation will rarely be productive all the time. Two days ago, lipless cranks yo-yoed of a hard bottom put fish on. Today, a bulky jig/trailer pitched to shallow cover was the only thing that produced. You have a lot of options when it comes to fishing cranks. The bill style, running depth, flat side or egg shaped, balsa or plastic, there are so many options that one will likely produce if presented how and where the fish are and want it. Glen likes to say: "Don't fish history" Use it as a starting point, but abandon it if it doesn't produce..

First off, Welcome. When fishing deep, as with fishing from the bank, there are many factors that you take into consideration when deciding what lure and presentation to use. The first is depth, you want to use something that will get down to the depth you plan to target. Water clarity is another consideration as that factor can point you in the direction of what color to use. Water temp. will influence what presentation to begin with and last, but not least is what season you'll be fishing as that will point you in the right direction for location and bait size. All these factors and more, will help you to determine what to fish with. What is working for me now, is useless information for you because the chances of all those influences being the same for you are very slim.

The shallow end is going to warm more quickly than that deep clear end Depending on the size of the lake, there could be a significant difference until things even out. If that shallow water is on the north, or east end of the lake, all the better. Areas protected from wind and wave action, ditto. This applies to fishing now. Once the fish start looking for places to spawn, they'll abandon muck bottom areas unless that is the only bottom content available. After the spawn through the summer, those clear rocks could be a prime area, but I have no experience with them.

There is very little, published information about fishing pits and quarries, but there are some similarities to other bodies of water. You can do a search here for strip pits, or quarries. You can also check out info on bluffs and drop-offs (ledges). One characteristic common to both is the machinery access area that will have a slower taper and, or a stair step access to the deeper areas. The strip pits I’ve fished have areas where unusable substrate was dumped within the pit that adds another structural component.

Late March last year. It was only my third time on the water. It started out okay, but got progressively worse. I blew up my favorite reel, that I'd just spooled with Sniper fluoro, so bad I couldn't get it untangled. That was two casts after I broke off setting the hook on the only bite I'd get all day. About 1/2hr. later, I got hug up on an anchor rope that my lure retriever was useless on and ended up braking a custom build rod when it wedged between the boat and the TM shaft. I decided to call it a day, but the gremlins weren't done with me. The TM died a slow death on the way back to the launch (TM only lake) as the headwind picked up. As I approached the dock, my car alarm went off! I tied up to the dock, ran to the car and couldn't get the alarm to shut off. I loaded the boat in record time and headed to a local garage to see what they could do, the alarm beeping the entire way. I started having butterflies in my chest and headed home instead (15min. away), Called 911 on the way and the ambulance pulled up two minutes after I parked. Spent the night in the hospital. It only costs $22k and the Dr. suggested I avoid fishing as much as possible...................I found another Dr. I was back on the water a week later.

It also depends on the gear you're using. 1/2oz. may be a little much for spinning gear. The only time I go 3/4oz is when I want to get it deep and keep it there. My favorite is no longer made, but I still have a few, the Diamond Shad by SK. Current production lure would be a Super Spot (Copper Craw).

Bluebasser, is that a spot, or a LM? I know there's a way to distinguish by looking at the dorsal fins, but we don't have them in our waters up here and when I do go south, I can never remember.

Many of the lakes in Wisc have a combination of stained water and light colored bottom. Rather than try to match the bottom color, a smoke/purple flake seems to work better in water 10ft. and under. I can't see bottom at that depth, but the fish seem to be able to.

I've been using circle hooks for wacky rigging for a number of years. Started out in an attempt to keep the wife from gut hooking fish. I haven't gut hooked a fish since. Haven't missed many either.

I've never heard of scrubbing a grub. Care to explain?

I think you're putting too much emphasis on the lures you're using and not enough on where the fish should be. That saying; 'I'd rather throw the wrong bait in the right place than the right bait in the wrong place' sound like it may apply here. The other thing may just be that the fish just aren't active when you have the opportunity to get out. I noticed the only soft plastic you listed was a senko and I'm assuming that you weren't fishing close to or on the bottom. When catching is tough, soft plastics are your savior. Trouble is, if you only present them in one part of the water column, you may miss out.

Smoke is my #2 color for tubes and is likely to take over first place this year. I purchase the 3.5in. ones in 100pk. The larger ones in 10-20 packs when needed. I've found that they excel on overcast days and in stained water. I'll use them in deep, clear water on sunny, cloudless days on the business end of a split shot, or C-rig as a hybrid 'power-finesse" presentation. I don't know if it's the fact that the fish don't see tubes presented that way regularly, if ever, or if the color has more to do with its success for me. Funny thing is, I don't throw any other baits in this color, just tubes.

My tourney days are well behind me, but I'll share my thoughts on this and hope you benefit from them. When I had the opportunity to pre-fish an event, I would attempt to locate multiple spots and I'd choose the order that I was going to fish them by the size and numbers of bites I got. The majority of time, I'd start out at the most productive of spots and after getting my limit, I go to the one where I'd gotten the biggest during practice. Of the many lakes I've competed on that I was unable to pre-fish, I would get as much information as I could from maps, calling local tackle shops, checking weather history, etc, work out a game plan and then just eliminate areas when it came time to fish. In both instances, catching a limit was my initial focus and I was rewarded with many top five finishes. I should point out that at weigh-in there would always be one or two guys with two or three nice sized fish that wouldn't make the cut because they didn't limit out. 13lb-15lb bags would put me in the money the majority of time.

Reviving an old thread that I revisited recently about the importance of lure color. Some good observations, pro and con, were made. Two really struck me as important to consider. #1 ”Now one day I used just about every color in my tackle box. Nothing hit. I threw everything again with different presentations. Nothing again. The bass are there, this is a hot spot. I put on a chartruece firetiger color and caught fish. This taught me we can have different water conditions in the water column too. As the conditions on top may look clear as we go deeper it could be stained to muddy depending how much sun lite it gets too.” What struck me as important about this quote is that my first thought, if it were me in that situation, would be that conditions had changed and the fish had become active. Interesting #2 was the last post (above) where the focus was on the shape Moore so than the color of the bait. Although that falls into my way of thinking, that color is at or near the bottom of factors I consider when choosing a bait, it brings to light a factor that I rarely consider.

As water temp. is such a big factor in determining early pre-spawn movement, I suggest starting where it will warm the quickest and not cool back down at night to the point where it started in the morning. Two shallow areas come to mind. The first is a shallower, protected area of rock or rip rap, or a similar area with a dark, muck bottom. Those areas will warm quick IF a day or two of sunshine and warm temps. proceed your outing. That shallower lake, especially if it has a dark bottom would be my first choice with an area similar to what I described that's close to known winter hang out in the other. If not, I'd target the deep water, winter hang outs. If you observed ice fishermen in the same areas over the winter, any of those within casting distance of shore would be likely targets (Area C).

6.4:1 is a good all around gear ratio, though maybe not ideal for some presentations. With a little adjustment on your part, you can crank, jig, buzz, or whatever. The downside to any gear ratio different that what you're used to using is adjusting to that difference. I have three identical reels, two have the same gearing, one is faster by about 8in. per handle turn and I use them on similar rods for similar presentations. I ended up marking that faster reel so I wouldn't forget to make the adjustment for it. Personally, I find it easier to have most of my reels with similar IPT.

The problem with bobber stops is you have to put them on before you put your weight and hook on. The OP was asking for ways to peg the weight after tying on the rig. There are a number of plastic or hard rubber pegs on the market and all will get the job done. I use braid for my worm fishing and use a toothpick. I don't recommend one for fluoro or mono.

Try moving your post to the Fishing Flea Market Forum. I have two of the 3/4oz.but not looking to sell or trade as I've been unable to find them at my area big box stores. Have you tried that auction site?

Welcome. Awesome first post. Don't be a stranger to the forums and now that you're hooked, don't forget to put a little money aside to buy mom some flowers for mothers day. The bait monkey will be introducing himself in the near future and you'll have to hide some cash from him for stuff like flowers.

Who Uses Them? Obviously, I do. What size (weight) most often used? It varies between 3/16oz and 1/8oz. but I've used up to 3/8oz. Do you pour/tie your own? I tie my own. Most productive color? White/brown stripes and black/white What other species have you caught on them? Crappie, walleye, sauger rock bass, white bass, trout, bowfin and northern pike. Do you add any type of trailer? I've added everything from minnows (awesome for small mouth ) and crawlers (walleye), to curly tail grubs, drop shot worms and tubes. Most often, though, the plain hair jig doesn't need a trailer to produce. Most productive retrieve? Jigging and dragging bottom.

I don’t believe they feed during the actual spawn cycle. That being from the time they pair up until the fry hatch for the male and for the female, when she no longer assists in guarding it. With stable weather, it moves along without interruption, ,but fluctuating weather can extend that time frame considerably. When you add the fact that not all fish spawn at the same time, it may seem like they don’t feed for a month. Highly unlikely, but then again I’ve never seen scientific evidence one way or another.

I have to admit that I am not big on finesse fishing. My answer to tough conditions leans toward downsizing my power presentations, The Ned rig, to me, appears to be a downsized shakey head presentation and that's one I never considered downsizing, so......................................... The set-up I'm considering is a St. Croix 6ft. Med.Lite/Fast paired with a Pfluger President,10lb. braid and a 6lb. mono leader. It's a very similar rod to the one I use for my hair jigs, but shorter and it's a spinning combo. I figure using braid as a main line will eliminate most of the issues I dislike about spinning gear. Pros/Cons?

You could try patching, as BlueBasser suggested. Flatten and apply J B Weld from the inside an use screen patch material and fiberglass reinforced epoxy on the underside. It’s not readily available, but it can be sanded after curing. Maybe $50 for materials and 4-5hrs of work. Just an idea to throw out there.