papajoe222

With buzzers, you can use whatever type of line you prefer as long as there's some flex or give in your equipment. I like mono for all topwater applications, but I go heavy (for up here), 17lb. or 20lb. which doesn't have much give, but it's paired to a MH Mod/Fast rod. There's more than enough give there to allow a fish to get it into its mouth, but not so much that I can't bury that hook. The reason a lot of guys using braid with a MH/F rod like a trailer hook is because, unless the fish crushes that bait, that front hook never gets into their mouth.

Actually, I’m an avid Muskie angler, but I only target them during the colder water periods and never fight them anywhere close to exhaustion. Same goes for bass.

I will admit that the challenge of catching bass is a big reason why I’m obsessed with fishing. I like bench rest shooting, but once I’m dialed in, the challenge it offers is minimal because the variables are minimal. Finding new loads keep my interest peaked. Fishing is similar for me. What I really love about fishing is the fight. It doesn’t matter if it’s a sunny, or a Muskie my total enjoyment comes from the time I set the hook, until the moment I’ve won the fight. This is one of the reasons I no longer compete. That ‘get her in the boat and go get another’ mentality started to creep into my every day fishing. My focus began to turn to my tournament goal and I began loosing interest. I began fishing ultra light to put the fun back into the fight and I realized I was also leveling the playing field with the fish. Now, even though I use braided line, heavy power rods and reels that can winch a 30lb. flathead out of the muck, I’m in no hurry to get it to the boat. My enjoyment of the fight has returned and although a much higher percentage of the fish I hook never make it to the net, I acknowledge that the better of us won the fight. Put the odds in your favor with the equipment you have, but don’t forget to enjoy the fight. That rod tip dancing under the weight of a head shaking 2lb. bass is true enjoyment and a trophy given a fighting chance and brought to the net is a true measure of sportsman ship. If you loose the fight, you can try for a rematch, but you will have the memory of the enjoyment of the fight and that rollercoaster of excitement.

6lb.9oz. on an 8in. hollow body. I think it was a Basstrix, but don't hold me to that.

I know the answer, but I don't have the awesome relationship with Him that you do, so I understand.

My combos are different, because I fish different cover. For what you describe, 30lb is plenty strong enough unless the weeds, or your jig hook are super thick. If you'll be using that combo for punching those weeds, I'd go with 50lb and forget the fluoro leader.

Love that pic. How did you get the water so calm for it? On the topic, I used to reel up to about 1/2ft. When I was using a leader, I was constantly banging the swivel into my tip. By the end of the season, I was stopping around 1.5ft. and casting from there. The next season, it'd take me an outing or two using leaders to adjust again.

Myth You can't catch a truly big bass from your arm chair, but you can have fun with your rod just sitting there.

Thanks for posting Glenn. Prayers going out through our prayer chain here. Please keep us informed.

As I also muskie fish, I was thinking something different when I read the title. When I first started using two split rings, it was to keep the original one ring version from pulling open. I'd run identical rings doubled up. I still do this on some of those baits, but haven't done either version on a bass bait. I do like the idea of one below the other and may give it a try on some big, two hook surface baits.

Sorry, I assumed you had previously fished the docks, or rip rap. My question to you is; why would you spend time targeting these areas if you weren’t confident that there are fish in the area??? Did you check a map prior to heading out, or have reliable, recent reports, are your electronics showing fish there? Without knowing location, everything else is speculation and you are in a search mode. If that’s the case, changing location is the option I’d go with until you find evidence of fish.

Although I’m not totally color blind, I deal with a red and green deficiency. For years I stuck to a few, obvious to me, color selections for soft plastics. When dyes came on the market, I jumped at the ability to add a splash of color to them, but was a disaster if I attempted to change a bait’s color. I started storing soft plastics in their original package and ended up with a go bag that was way too heavy when fishing as a non-boater and I reverted back to my original choices. I use both systems now and choose depending on who’s boat I fish from. I still have a big problem with hard baits, both when purchasing and when storing and then selecting. I know a guy that uses only Rapala baits and keeps them in their original boxes. How do you guys overcome dealing with this?

This I only place replacement baits on the board. When I remove the last bait, or package of plastics, it’s time to purchase more. Any ‘trial’ baits go directly into my tackle box. If they prove useful, they get a spot on the board.

Tom made a very good point and the one thing you need to determine after their location is depth. Activity level is often ignored, but has a major role in your choice of lures. In your case, you’ve already determined the location (docks), depth (shallow), and activity level (inactive,or possibly neutral). Your decision becomes; move and try another spot where you don’t know any of those factors, stay and change your presentation, or stick around an hope the fish become active. You are not fishing a tournament and unless you have a ‘milk run’ of a number of spots, stick around. Guys that only fish live bait suspended under a bobber have been doing just that, with good success, for a long time.

Two things come to mind when you mention this, First is humans messing with the ecosystem. Something similar happened to the Wisconsin River system when they introduced muskie back in the 70's. Crappie fishing was a big draw to CastleRock and Pentwell lakes prior to that. In less than a decade it all but disappeared. The second is that a river system is constantly changing and it's very possible that caused the smallies to change locations to more favorable ones.

I was a tube junkie until last season. I can actually count the number of times I tied one on and came up empty. I love 'em, don't get me wrong, I probably have 50 bags of them in my boat, but the bass in my home lake must have put the word out, so I changed my 'sausage.'

Two fish tied for that honor last season. One was on a 1/2oz jig and RageTail Craw. The other was on an 8in. paddle tail swimbait behind a 1/2oz plain jig head. There is a possibility it was the same fish as I bagged them two weeks apart.

I dislike spinning gear even though I use it on occasion and it always meets my expectations. That's why I built two casting rods using 'spinning' blanks Even so, 3/16oz is as light as I care to use them for, so I pick up the spinning rod, cuss it out and fish until the inevitable happens. Then I go home.

Catt, The first time I felt my bullet weight hit bottom at night, I set the hook! On occasion when it hits a hard bottom, I'm unaware of, I still do.

One of the best pieces of advice I can add is to go fishing at night. Take your favorite jig or soft plastic and leave everything else stored away. The same goes for flashlights and keep your stern light to your back when possible. You will then have nothing to distract you and those line twitches and line moving off to one side or the other will be felt if you concentrate (and use fluorocarbon). The other option is to close your eyes when you see a daytime bite and concentrate on what that feels like before you set the hook. Either way, you’ll be surprised just how sensitive your hands and fingers are.

I'm probably the only guy in my club that doesn't throw green pumpkin. I prefer summer, or Bama craw and tequila in the bigger size. I also don't use them as a jig trailer. More often than not, I'll rig it alone on some type of single hook presentation, a shakey head being the exception to a jig trailer. Oh yea, I hate fluorocarbon, but for these presentations, I'll use it as I feel it has some slack line tramitting (is that a word?) properties.

If you're vertical jigging, you're allowing slack in the line as the bait falls and/or you are popping the bait off the bottom, not jigging it. I vertical jig blade baits with 10lb braid and don't have this problem.

Natural lakes rarely have a ton of obvious structure, so you need to be able to identify those subtle structural elements first off. Secondly, you need an understanding of bass and predominate forage seasonal movements. Bass prefer quick access to shallow feeding areas in the post fall to early spring season, so look for steeper banks and drop offs shown as depth controur lines close together. Prespawn will get them moving toward potential spawning sights with easy access back to deeper water. Slow tapering points are a prime structure then. Hopeflully, you know where they spawn, so look for them to drop back from the spawning area after the spawn. The first significant drop out from the spawning flat. From there, they'll make their move to their summer areas and whether that's shallow cover, or deep water structure, access to a steady food supply is a necessity. b

You could try using the existing wiring after installing a breaker at the battery to protect both the motor and the wiring. You'll need to know the amp draw of the motor when used at the highest setting. If the current wires can handle that amp draw, install a breaker of that size. You will loose some power and there will be more drain on your battery if you're constantly running at full speed. I upgraded to a 24volt motor and used the existing wiring in my boat. I've only had the breaker I installed trip once in the 12years since I did so and that was because I ran it at max for too long. I checked the wiring before resetting it and it was warm, but not hot, so the breaker did its job.

Great wintertime topic Mike. I've introduced a lot of kiddies to the joy of fishing over the years, but my fondest memory is of taking my girls (4 & 9) to Table Rock for the first time. We stayed at a resort up one of the creek arms and spent the day pulling the wife and one or the other girls behind the boat on a tube. About an hour or so before sun down, I took the boat out for a little fishing and the oldest insisted on going along for the ride. I started fishing the bluff side of that arm and got into a school of 2lb. bass. My daughter wanted to know how I knew where the fish were and how I knew what they'd bite as I was using lures and she'd only ever used live bait. I showed her my Humminbird Super 60 and how I could tell how deep the water was and where the bluff stair stepped. I don't know if it was the flashing on the screen, or her recognition of what it was showing, but she stayed glued to its screen until it was well past her bed time. The whole time asking questions and exclaiming with excitement when she'd see what she thought was fish flash on the screen. By the end of the week we spent there, she was better at interpreting what that flashing screen was showing that I was! Thirty years later, when she's fishing with me, she'll switch my depth finder over to the 'flasher' screen and won't let me make a cast until she says to.