PhishLI

This will sound odd, but it turns out I often use my middle finger for this too while in the palming position. Just a slight rotation out of palming really. I just poked out a few quick casts and without thinking used the bird to rotate the dial. That's how much I don't think about it. Might be worth a try for you. This may feel less unnatural.

Wheeler's doing work. Already has 25 + with two 6ers in the mix. 1st Jacob Wheeler 25 - 06 (5) 6 - 06 6 - 00 4 - 10 4 - 09 3 - 13

Fixed that for you. I've never have had to flip it over to move the dial. I just slide my forefinger down and adjust it. Sometimes while I'm winding-in in anticipation of my next cast going straight into the wind.

Do you have any interest in discreet soft plastic swimmers? Even compact types? Where I fish, there are times when they're interested in nothing else in my rotation, and I run through a pretty wide progression of bait types once I've located bait and camp on a spot. Some of my best sessions have come on these baits. I can't imagine not testing a zone with them before moving on.

Midway has bulk 100 packs of 5" GY Senkos on sale for $59.99.

Pretty much, but if you select correctly sized O-rings for the worm, being not too tight and not too loose, and you don't nick the worm where the O-rings cross over, you can get plenty of casts and catches per worm. Even when using GY senkos.

Yes. Size 0 on spinning with 15lb braid Set your drag appropriately and size 0 will be fine for jerkbaits, neds, and other light baits, but is also fine for the others you mentioned. Remove the split rigs on jerkbaits. However, if you feel you must fish with locked down drag, then upsize to size 2 at a minimum for baits as heavy as a 110 and heavier gear.

Here we go, gents.

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Pretty crazy list of guys. I can imagine a regular Joe pulling up to the ramp and thinking WT.......?

I'd guess big bag today is 23 and change lbs. Hmmm. Milliken said on insta that fish were caught in practice, but with no rhyme or reason. No discernable pattern. We'll see!

I use fast rods for cranks because I'd rather get a quick hookset in the lips than have them choke the bait like they often do with a moderate. I'll live with rare losses instead of tongue or gill hooking fish and killing them. I ride the spool while winding, thumb set the hook, then let light drag take over. As far as other techniques with a fast? I prefer the feedback I get compared to the muted feedback I get from a moderate. I rarely lose fish throwing chatterbaits and other single hook moving baits since I consciously relaxed my grip and improved my timing by remaining calm and slowing the moment down when I feel the hit.

Jacob Wall's slapping 'em up good with a big shad glide.

The SK Shim-E-Stick is another good one, but I think they're either being discontinued, or they've winnowed down the color selection by a lot. There were lowball sell offs on the auction site by sellers like Shelton's last year which usually indicates they've been discontinued. Of all of the KOs out there, the Googan Lunker Log is probably the closest thing to a GY senko action-wise IMO, but durability is poop just like the senko.

bps stik o

Very soon for you. Alewife (ct.gov) Get one of these in Ginrin :Bull Nose – Livingston Lures

My son in law was at an alewife lake on Saturday. Surface temps were between 67-70. The shoreline was boiling with alewife spawning. This lake has a natural inlet from the salt, so the numbers of alewives coming in is impressive. Osprey were divebombing and pulling out big alewives whenever a zone would erupt with activity. I've witnessed this myself in the past. It's something to see.

Yes. Look at the pictures.

This particular model type has a longer than usual shank, so either one is fine. If I had to choose one, I'd go with the 5/0 simply because the shank is slightly longer which places the hook's point slightly farther towards the tail. That extra length may be negligible, but if it helps to nab a short striker... P.S. These are also great fluke hooks.

No. We fish the same waters with similar weeds. Aside from the weeds and snot algae the bend on a standard hook will accumulate, it'll also prematurely wreck the worm merely by pulling and snapping them through weeds. How many senkos have you found discarded on the ground with the nose torn? Good chance a fish wasn't caught on it either. Just get the specific hooks shown below and most of your troubles will disappear, and you'll get far more fish per worm. Left to right; 6/0, 5/0, 4/0 Top to bottom; 6" worm, 6/0 hook 5" worm, 5/0 hook 5" worm, 4/0 hook

I remember watching a video many years ago where a diver made friends with a Barracuda. When he dove in the area the fish would always visit him. He fed it by hand, and he even gave it nice scratchies, which the fish loved. They were pals. Then one day, and quite out of the blue, the 'cuda clamped down on homeboy's face.

With the big family in town for Mother's Day and birthdays, it looked like we'd have to cancel our first Jon boat trip of the year yet again, but the Phish brothers are tricky, and we worked out a deal with the powers that be. Too bad we couldn't have hit this mid-island lake 2 weeks ago because it's already topped out with weeds and the pad fields are almost fully developed which is crazy-early for May 13th. It was muggy and the swarms of gnats were overwhelming no matter where we stopped. My son in law got the same pass we did, but he headed 75miles out east with his brother to the north fork. As usual, that lake is way behind ours only 35 miles east of there. Not a Lily pad anywhere near the surface and no new grass sprouted up yet. Anyway, I spent as much time peeling weeds off the prop as I did fishing, so it'll be the yaks or nothing if we get back to this place any time soon. We had little time to develop a solid strategy, but figured out small wakes and cranks running barely subsurface was the deal. Small golden shiners were darting through the weed tops, so this made sense. The bass were just slurping or slapping at treble baits though, and we were amazed at how many managed to hit the baits but miss the hooks. The trusty Livingston Bullnose wake worked through open lanes saved our trip in the end, so we beat the skunk for our first time out which is always a good omen. Would've liked to stay longer having found the juice, but swans went to war with geese, and it was no different than if a meteor shower hit the lake, so we split.

@bulldog1935 recommended Varivas Max Power PEx8 at some point and I finally tried it on my Tatula LT3000. This braid made me like spinning gear again. Casting distance is fantastic with 1/15oz ned heads and TRD BugZ. Even better with a Finesse TRD that doesn't catch wind like the BugZ do. I bought 16lb. It's so thin that the spool is nearly filled with backer. I topped it with 165ft of Varivas in order to get 3 runs out of the spool. It's very slick too, and remains that way, so it doesn't bite in on itself which reduces distance.

Hey, I was wrangling my energizer 4 year granddaughter all day Friday. Glad it worked out! Check your pm.

Here, here! This man has some nerve, I tell ya. My enthusiasm over posting a couple of spawned out 3 pounders just shriveled faster than an ice bath would shrivel my... Magnificent!