papajoe222

JCfishing mentioned something in the fall turnover thread about fishing the fog on the lake early in the morning. This got me wondering about fishing early on fall days as I've always waited until the sun was up for three or four hours. My thinking was the cool evening temps had cooled off the surface layer of water and the sun would warm it up a little if given the chance. I've even waited until mid afternoon on days when the air temp and cloudy skies worked against that train of thought. What say you? I know, get out whenever you can, but if you have a choice?

I had the opportunity to fish Lake Geneva for the first time in years, with my nephew in his jon boat. It has a little kicker outboard, no trolling motor or depth finder. It didn't matter, this lake is known for its steep drop offs and I fondly remember some awesome smallmouth action on one that's on the north shore. I began throwing a short arm spinnerbait and hooked up with a nice SM just after we got there. Two hours and four SM later, he still had nothing to show. We were throwing the same Booyah spinnerbait, but I hadn't noticed that when I did the modification, I'd added a second skirt to mine. The extra bulk and slower fall rate was the difference and upon adding a second skirt, he was finally into fish. We ended up with ten fish combined. I recall doing this (adding a second skirt) to jigs years ago to slow the fall rate. Don't know why I hadn't thought of it sooner for S/Bs. does anyone else make this modification to jigs or spinnerbaits?

I am just looking to extend my season and was thinking I might hook up with Mike @Siebert Outdoors as he is about 350mi. south of me. I’m getting way up in years and don’t know how many fishing seasons I have left. Hoping to extend the ones I do.

Well, I didn't expect this for a couple of weeks, but my home lake is in the process of turning over. It's a small, shallow body of water and it doesn't take long for this to happen. Given the colder than normal nights we've been having, I should have expected it. Once things settle down, I have a strategy for getting some of the big gals to commit, but the lake closes at the end of the month so I won't have many opportunities left to do so. How far south would I need to go to find a lake that doesn't turn over, or is it common, just further down the calendar?

Congrats! I know what it's like to endure a long dry spell. My home waters haven't given up anything over 3.5lb since mid June. The powers that be decided to kill off all the weeds. Catching was excruciatingly difficult and then some invasive form of pondweed took hold and I had to learn tricks to get them to bite, but still no big girls until late September. Once the water temp dropped into the lower 70's, I was finally able to put together some nice catches.

Be him then? No Know what he knows now (and be able to remember it). YES! I know what it's like to target the biggest fish in a lake. That said, I forgot most of what I learned then, not only about trophy size bass, but bass in general. What I haven't forgotten is the days that my efforts produced nothing but frustration and questioning myself as to why I still do (did) it? I do have plenty of memories of what I consider trophy bass from lakes in Wisconsin and Minnesota that I revisit in my dreams. Thankfully I don't have nightmares about the time I wasted chasing them.

It's actually one of my favorite presentations when the bite is tough. I really don't like finesse fishing, so I'll try burning a crank, or a razor bladed spinnerbait through hard cover, or just above vegetation. I don't have to guess when a fish bites. My favorite crank for that is a Speed Trap.

Anything below 32 and it gets tough. For me, it seems that smallmouth will hit topwater in late fall when water temps drop less than in the spring when the surface temps are rising. I don't normally throw topwater unless the water temp is above 50.

I've fished everything from small, subdivision ponds to the Great Lakes. I'll fish a rain puddle if it's my only option. Picking a favorite is fairly easy for me........a Minnesota or Wisconsin natural lake. I get overwhelmed by big impoundments and small ponds are like cheating. Give me the challenge and the reward of figuring out the secrets of a natural lake and I'm in my element.

I've heard that when using Tsi321, you need to relube frequently. Any truth to that? IMO, how smooth a reel feels is dependent more on how well the drive gears match up more than the grease used. I do know that some companies use a high viscosity grease on their reels so they 'feel' smoother, but I have two Sols that are super smooth and have been since the first day I got them. The third one needed some polishing of the main gear to get it on par with its sisters.

I'm red/green color blind. Until I began keeping my soft plastics in their original packaging, I couldn't tell you if I was throwing a green pumpkin or watermelon worm. Of course I mainly throw purple worms (they look blue to me), so the problem rarely raised its ugly green head. or is it red? 😜 This is why I rarely concern myself with what color to use.

I was catching a bite to eat after the first day of a tournament. Another angler, I never got his name, was talking about fishing the entire water column, in an area where he'd located fish during practice, before giving up on a spot. I didn't have the kind of free time to prefish a tourney, but it got me to thinking about structure I had been targeting. Next day out, I began with the top of the water column on a small point that didn't show on any of the maps I'd checked out. I switched to a mid depth crank, caught a limit of nice fish and moved to another, bigger point. I continued to catch and cull from that one and finished in the money. Now I don't leave a spot I have confidence in until I fish the whole water column. Or a 20lb. flathead. It's happened to me twice this year, but without FFS.

Your best bet is a rod with #5 or larger tip and running guides. For a 7ft. spinning rod,that would be the last three or four guides. That's approximately a .200 in. diameter. Smaller may work, and with a spinning rod, a little catch of your knot running through the guides isn't a big concern. My question, though, is why go braid to leader? A quality mono has the same amount of stretch as its fluoro equivalent and you don't need to concern yourself with the question of 'how short should I let my leader get before I retie. Your monkey.....your circus.

Yea, I figured it was a poor choice to ise, but like i’d said, the kid was using it, without much success I might add. It was his first tome using a baitcaster. He never backlashed, but in the super clear water, his short casts didn’t produce much. That combo is a StCroix spinnerbait rod, Fuego and 15lb. Yo-Zuri Ultra Soft.

I normally use Yo-Zuri Hybrid for fishing spinner and buzz baits, but yesterday I took a youngster out and he was using my spinnerbait combo, so I tied a buzzer on to my 7ft. MH/F combo spooled with 30lb. braid. I missed way too many fish that I felt I should have hooked up with. Is braid a poor choice for this, or was the rods action too fast, or a combination of both?

I used the Flex Coat rod finishing epoxy I have an abundance of. I removed the hardware, chucked it into my variable speed drill and let it spin @ 10-15rpm after a light application. The epoxy will even out while setting up. Once it's set (4-6hrs.), I let it dry for 5-7 days prior to adding the hardware.

I have a handful of custom painted spooks. My initial idea was to start a collection and never actually use them. I ended up putting a coat of clear epoxy on one, fished it for the better part of the season before added another coat in the areas where the hook rash was beginning to show. That custom paint job still looks like it did on the day I got it.

I was lake director at my local club. When I took over, there was a 13in. Minimum. You guessed it, an abundance of fish under 13 in. And very few over. I instituted catch and release on all bass. Three years later the fish had grown, but now there was an imbalance of forage to bass. Now there is a three fish limit in bass 12in. and under. Six years later we were able to hold weekday night tournaments because the fish were now approaching 3lb. and above. 12 years later and you’re allowed one trophy fish a year, but they strongly suggest CPR.

I currently have ceramic bearings in four of my Daiwa baitcasters. The noise never bothered me until I got my hearing aids. Now it drives me nuts. I'm looking to replace, not only the spool bearings, but I also want to replace the bushing on the level wind gear with a bearing. Other than Boca, who would you recommend?

If you don't get any suggestions of a shop in your area, spend a few bucks on shipping and send it off to DVT. I know what likely happened and if it were one of my Daiwas, I'd attempt to fix, or replace the parts responsible. I am very comfortable tearing down my reels to the bones. I wouldn't do it to someone else's reel, though or I'd offer to. If you're not completely confident in whoever will be working on your Steez, send it out to DVT and don't worry. You'll get it back working better than when you got it.

Are you certain that what you're graphing in the dark are bass? I had a similar situation a few years back and after sun-up, I began catching bass on a popper. One of them coughed up a bluegill as I was pulling it out of the water. The bass were sitting just off the area and moved in as it got light. The bluegill were still there, but scattered when it started getting light.

Not the exact color, but that's the model for sure. The belly on the one I lost was white. I had glued 3D eyes on it a few seasons ago along with enlarging the red gills and adding a splash of red to the underside in front of the hook hanger.

I believe it was a 1/2oz crank that dove to 15+ ft. I not sure what the color pattern was called, but it was a Shad imitator. It got down to running depth quick (I used it to target the 12-15ft break line on a natural lake) and had a tighter wiggle than my favorite Bomber.

I just lost a Hot Lips that I’ve had for decades. Sad to say, it was the only one I had. I’m looking to replace it, but I know that. Rapala bought them. So I’m wondering how the newer products measure up.

I have that happen once or twice every time out. It's like the anticipation slowly grows as I reel in my lure and then it happens.................................I fart, and the feeling passes.