papajoe222

The double barb is what has me perplexed. I know it isn't a Northland or Matzuo. FishTank likely nailed it.

If you're fishing a lake that harbors muskie and pike, target those areas with thick vegetation. Even a 5lb. bass will stay in areas where those fish have a difficult time moving around. Ponds are a different animal, as bass are likely at the top of the food chain. Target those areas where one type of weed ends and another begins or grows with it, the inside and outside weed edges, and anything that is different in a seemingly endless section of weeds. With heavy vegetation, you're limited to a few presentations you can present into the weeds, especially when the fish won't commit to a topwater. A heavily salted, unweighted soft plastic and be retrieved over the weed tops and allowed to drop into pockets. A BPS magnum Flipping Tube, rigged weedless is a great choice along with some other big, heavily salted tubes. Add some weight for the sparse areas and you won't need to carry around a bunch of tackle.

Try a MagUltra-vibe Speed Worm. They can be fished from top to bottom and really shine when retrieved fast. https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/zoom-mag-ultravibe-speed-worm

I applaud your dedication. What you're contemplating is a great way to master a technique, but a very difficult plan to stick with for an entire season. Heck, I'd venture to say a majority of anglers couldn't do it for one day, let alone an entire season. My only recommendation is to limit your choice of trailers and soft plastics to a couple of styles and colors. For trailers, pick an action and a subtle one, say a RageTail and a chunk. For soft plastics,do the same. An action tail worm and a stick worm as an example. Pick a couple of colors based on water clarity and go for it.

The big difference between Yo-Zuri Hybrid and Fluorokote is the Yo-Zuri is a true copoly, having fluorocarbon as part of its formula. Fluorokote is exactly what the name implies; line that is coated with fluorocarbon. Both offer advantages over mono, but fall short of the advantages of true fluorocarbon lines.

Deep diving cranks. I all but stopped using them because of shoulder issues. Got the shoulder back close to normal, but the big cranks are still sitting in the box.

Welcome to BR. You could base line choice on the size of the hooks of the bait you’re using. Let me explain. Small, thin wire hooks don’t require a lot of force to penetrate, while larger, thicker hooks do. An easy solution would be to use heavier line for lures with thicker hooks and lighter line for smaller/ thinner hooks. That’s a good solution if you happen to have two or three combos to dedicate to top water applications. If not, you can do one of two things. Either adjust your hookset, or go with heavier line for all situations. I recommend the latter because being startled by a fish blowing up on your lure tends to distract you from thinking about how you should set the hook. In short, go with the 15lb. line. Oh, don’t forget to wait until you feel the fish, or see your line moving off before setting the hook ?

You could probably cast it, but between the difficulty of doing so and the higher possibility of missing/loosing fish, I wouldn't recommend it. A big part of the equation when fishing cranks is casting distance and with that rod/lure combination, you'll be limiting that major element.

Guilty, especially early in the season (right after ice out) for my first few outings. All winter I'll be reading articles and watching videos or programs and it takes some time to unclutter. It's even worse if I hit the nail on the head my first trip out. Takes a while for my hat to fit again.

Maybe next time we get together, appreciate the thought. Maybe my local WM will bring 'em back when the season kicks in.

Mine was a 23in. LM on a 5in. Havoc Grass Pig rigged on a Siebert jig head. I went through about fifteen packs of those baits last season. Just my luck, they're getting difficult to locate around here now.

My last bass of the year was actually caught on Oct.30. The local lakes close on Oct.31. Nothing special about it other than it was the only fish I caught that day.

I tend not to give recommendations of specific baits, so bare with me. Use visibility to determine what type of soft plastic worm to use. An action tail for that one foot visibility you mentioned and a straight worm, or fry for clearer water. Choose either worm with one thing in mind; you want the bait to rise, or stay off the bottom, so it should either float, or at the least have only a little salt. Use the bottom cover to give you an idea of how far back the hook should be placed. For rocks, you can normally go with a short length, for grass, longer will keep it above the cover. Anything over a foot and a half tall, I'd recommend switching to a drop shot.

The only time I use a snell knot is on my punch rigs. I still struggle tying it, but I've been trying a couple different ones this off season.

First, let me address the poor hook penetration using 15lb. mono. A light wire hook will improve hook penetration as will passing the hook point through the worm and then backing off to texpose it. As for bent hooks using 30lb braid; a bad batch of hooks is more than likely the reason. There should be no issue with the Mustads. I use them with 30lb and 40lb braid on my MH combos and have yet to bend a hook on the set and I keep my drag set tighter than most guys. Come to think of it, Mike uses Mustads on many of his jigs and again, I've never bent one, even setting the hook into a stump.

Although I absolutely love throwing my spooks, without a doubt a jig/trailer is my favorite. That combo accounts for a minimum of 50% of the bass I catch throughout the season. Jigs, however, only account for a very small portion of the lures in my possession. Based solely on numbers, cranks top that list.

Luckily, for me, the power plant lakes here open the first full week of March. That doesn't mean that I'll be on the water that week, but I will be before April 1st. My home lake has some open water that's accessible from shore by mid-April, so I'm going to shoot for the 12th.

I use soft plastic swim baits rigged on a Siebert jig head the majority of the time. Havoc GrassPig, BPS SpeedShad and Basstrix hollow bodies for over 6in. although I have tried some solid body hand pours, but mainly those three. On occasion I have used a belly weighted hook for a weedless presentation, but I prefer a big, thick worm in that situation.

There are very few lakes in the Chicago area that hold 9# bass. The ones that do are the power plant lakes that have warm water year round. The downside is those lakes also get above 80 degrees by mid May and bass, in general, are difficult to catch. The same baits you use in the ponds you fish have just as good a chance of catching one of those brutes as any other, but 6in. swimbaits and jigs with big trailers catch the majority of fish over 4# Painfully slow presentations produce the occasional bragger, so, big or small that fact alone should swing things in your favor. I would imagine if you hit those lakes hard for three or four years, you'd have a chance at one.

Bill Norman Thin N, for shallow presentations and the Bomber Deep Flat A for deeper. The SK flat 1.5's lip is too wide for the tight wobble I prefer and the Livingston, although I do like them, are just a little pricey for my budget.

I use a slower action rod in cold water as I impart more of a drag than a jerk then. That's also when I employ long pauses. I do agree than when quickly jerking the bait, you want an action that recovers quickly so that you're not fighting it to get the results you want at the other end. Fluorocarbon, as mentioned, is the way to go as most prefer the bait to rest with a nose down attitude and fluoro also reduces the bow in the line that accompanies mono.

First and foremost, Thank You for your service. Second, Let me add that your contribution as well as all vets in whatever capacity they served, is no less deserving of thanks and recognition than any other. Enjoy, I know you will.

I retired at age 59, nine years ago, from a job I'd held with the same company for 33yrs. I loved what I did, but the risk of potential, career ending injury increased as I got older. Like Mike, my grandson was a big reason why I chose early retirement. I still miss the guys I worked with and the driving part of the job and my body misses the daily work out. The only thing I don't miss is working out in the cold. I've done odd jobs since, just to keep busy and drive a party bus a few times a month. Yea, I still dream about the job with regularity, but they're the kind that bring a smile to my face. I was very lucky when I found that job.

Rip-rap can be both cover and structure. It's a change in bottom composition and by definition, that is a form of structure not related to bottom contour. On many natural lakes, those changes in bottom composition are one of the main structural elements. Some chunk rock that makes up the causeways of some lakes up this way are the size of a pick-up and I'd consider them a form of cover also.

Tom mentioned a big factor in determining if there are fish there; Season. From boat, or bank, you need to have a general idea of where they 'should' be. Then, three baits will cover the water column-top, middle, bottom. Start with what your confident using. Your next factor to consider is presentation speed. Do you really want to burn a lipless in 40 degree water? I'm not saying it won't work, it just isn't the first way I'd present one then. Some responses mention a trick worm, but what time of year, what depth and how it's being worked are the answers you need to focus on. They could be hitting that trick worm at any depth for all anyone knows.