ww2farmer

On my wife's bad side...........constantly.

You got locked into doing what worked last time. Well...............that was last time. Fish move. What did your graph tell you? Not speaking to your body of water, as I have never been there, but this is how I generally fish the post spawn. Go up shallow and LOOK (if the water is clear enough).................. if I don't like what I see I bolt. If I can't see much because of water clarity, thickness of cover, etc.. I fish around a few high % spots, but bail on it quick if I don't "feel it" or get a bite or two. The next place I look is in the grass right outside the spawning areas, sometimes they are there, sometimes they are not. An hour will tell you all you need to know. If that's no good, I hit the deep edge of that grass, keeping my eyes glued to my graph while fishing, and making sure I hit any irregular features in the grass line (points, cuts, big bare spots, etc), and if that's not happening I look deep with my electronics. Often they will suspend out and away from the grass, or slide out to deeper isolated cover, and it doesn't have to be a massive thing either. I have found fish around a lone rock in 22 FOW. It's just something they can relate to while they recover. Post spawn fishing can be great but you have to cover water, and basically junk fish. Take the last three days for me, for example. Thursday, I found all my fish on the inside (shallow) edge of the grass line, yesterday they slid out to the deep edge, and today they were out in 15-20 FOW just "hanging out" The pattern for the next 2-3 weeks here will be, no pattern. One here, one there, a few doing this, a few doing that. Timing is key in this period too. Be where they are when the switch flips, or strike out. I tend to downsize and fish slower this time of year too, I don't know if that helps. But the last three days I have caught (for my best five) two 15+ lb bags (Thursday and today), and a 20lb + bag yesterday, ( I always keep track, even when not in a tournament.........IDK why, it's just what I do LOL) with lots of keepers to keep me busy between the good ones, when a couple of my buddies have been struggling to just get bites.

I was, like a few of the other posters, raised by my grandparents. I won't get into the reasons why they had to do it, other than my biological parents are not good people. To me, they are my parents, and nothing will ever change that. My grandmother died suddenly in 2004. Not a day goes by that I don't think of her, or my sister who died on my birthday in 2001. They both are buried in the cemetery that overlooks the lake I fish all the time. It never, for me, gets any easier. I see the way my kids interact with each other and it constantly reminds me of how my sister and I were as kids. And I also wish my grandmother would have lived to see my kids. For years she hinted around to my wife and I that she would like to have great-grandkids, and the week after we told them we were going to have our first, she died. I can't offer you any words of wisdom, as I have had a tough time with it myself, even after all these years.

On most all the frogs out there hook up ratio depends on the guy fishing, not the frog.

I have had to use a few different services from a few different mfgs. IMHO #1............St Croix. Yes it cost's money to ship it back to them, but for either $50 (if it's your fault it broke) or for FREE, they replace it. No questions asked. #2 .....Bass Pro Shops/ Gander Mtn, any time I have ever broke a BPS or GM branded rod, I take it to the store (as long as I had the receipt) and walk out with a new one. Not bad. Unranked............Fenwick, they replaced one for me a while ago, but it was kind of a P.I.T.A. even getting in touch with them, and getting any info out of them on how to proceed. But this was 10-12 years ago, they might be better now. The worst..............Kistler. Not only did every rod I bought from them fall apart or break, but they gave me the run-around via phone and e-mail on how to proceed with a claim. So much so that I gave up. I just bought some Abu, and Shimano rods, so we shall see on those. I do like the thought of Shimano's over the counter lifetime warranty, lets hope I never have to use it.

Same.

Eyeball system. Like Marty, I have done it long enough now that it works out about the same every time, give or take a few feet. I go 1/3 backing 2/3 braid. With 150 yards of Power Pro on a new spool, I usually get two fill ups to a spool. I re-spool , when on an average cast I am down to the backing, but the backing is not yet "out" in the rod, if you know what I mean.

Fishing in the rain sucks...............I never do it. LOL

I'll bump the LMB up to 4-12 with this one I caught on Silver Lake today, on a senko

I use the SK Sexy frog exclusively now. I had used Spro's for a long time, and Snag Proof "Bobby's perfect frog" before that, I have been frogging for a long time. The SK is easier to walk, casts just as well, skips under overhead cover better, has the same EXACT gamakatsu hook as the Spro, is softer, comes with a rattle (which you can.....and I often do, take out if you don't want it) and is a little cheaper. The one downside to it being softer, is it is less durable. I have worn three of them out this year so far, but have gotten at least 40-50 fish out of each one. Realistic paint jobs???? They are made to catch you, not the fish. I catch them in crystal clear water on just about every color SK makes.

Might as well get the June SMB started with a small one. 3lbs 12oz. Caught on Silver Lake on a senko.

I must be the only person in the world who likes the wire weedguards. Here is the key to them. KEEP THEM ABOVE THE BARB!!!! You also have to "flex" them a little, to soften them up. Straight out of the package they are too stiff. AND...open them up a bit too. I have a very high hooking % on both the VMC and Falcon Lures "K" wacky hooks that every one else seem to hate.

7 feet of clarity..................wow that's pretty dirty LOL. We have had 15-20 feet of clarity hear almost all spring, and then over night, thanks to an alge bloom it will go to zero. I fish the same things all year long. Top water and jerkbaits (both soft and hard) are great choices in clear water.

I use a 4/0 VMC Heavy duty flipping hook for both the exact same baits (Pit Poss, and R.I.. Sweet Beaver 4.20) OR a 4/0 Gamakatsu EWG Superline hook.

I have a pair of needle nose pliers for hook removal, and one of the Mustad KVD line cutter/split ring pliers combo tools for............well cutting line and changing treble hooks. It's all I need. I must have like 4000 pairs of scissors, but my boat compartments must eat them because I can never find a pair when I need one.

I have dropped no less than 3 phones in the lake, and ruined 2 more by getting them wet. 2 that I dropped were in the same exact spot, one year apart. Bent down to land a bass from the same laydown, slid right out of my shirt pocket. It took two to realize............maybe I shouldn't put my phone in my shirt pocket. The third one that I dropped..........I had just gotten off the phone with my wife, a buddy was in his boat right next to me, and the phone rings again. I proclaim "I'd like to just toss this thing in the water when she starts calling me every 5 mins. out here". As I reach for it, it slips out of my hand and goes in. He thought I really did throw it in. Funny thing was it seemed to hang in the air in super slow motion forever, I have never seem time stand still, but it did then. I also once tossed my scale over board. I caught a good one, a 4+ lber, weighed it. Then proceeded to just whip the scale in the water while setting the bass on the floor............whoops............wrong one went in the water.

I have had the ole' 5 bites on a senko all morning kind of day before..............but the last time I remember it, at least those 5 bites were 18+ lbs of smallmouth, so it wasn't a total wash.

I have caught plenty of fish, and big ones too on a well used senko, OR on a fresh one out of the bag. It makes no difference. It's all in your head.

Several rods. Both casting and spinning. I pick a rod based on the cover/conditions I am fishing. My 7' ML/F spinning rod while great for drop-shot, does me no good in thick weeds, or around wood/docks. I will say this, even when dropshotting in heavier cover, I like a rod with a soft enough "tip" to let me know when I am moving the weight.

I would advise strongly against the pea fowl. We had them for many many years around the farm. They are more of a nuisance then the snakes. You think a roosters crow is loud. Wait till the peacocks starting screaming. It can be heard for miles................I'm serious. They crap all over the place, and they like to fight with there reflections on shiny surfaces...............like car hoods/bumpers, windows, etc. They are not friendly, yet are oddly bold. they will get into EVERTHING, and as a bonus they breed like rabbits. We didn't have them fenced in, and if there is food and water, females for them to "guard" and a place for them to roost up high at night to avoid fox's, etc... they will not go far. I don't even recall them being fascinated by the road, they seemed to stay away from it. They taste like turkey.

As Catt said, the big ones rarely "thump" the bait. Especially senko, jig, or worm fishing. You have to be a line watcher. if you see your line "tick" but don't feel a thing (because it's falling on slack line)............set the hook. If your bait stops sinking.............set the hook, if your line slowly moves off to one direction..........set the hook, if you go to reel the bait back in and it feels "heavy".........set the hook and hold one, that's usually a good one. Macnine gun taps, usually, = bluegills..................BUT not always.

I have been really REALLY impressed with the SK S11's I bought a couple months ago. I have been wearing them non-stop....work, fishing, every where. They have not scratched yet!! And I am not easy on glasses. I am also seeing things in the water I never saw before, and stuff I did see before with much better clarity than I ever did with the $15-$20 Berkley or SK glasses I used to wear. I am convinced. And you can't beat the price of $40.

I actually still have two DT3 cranks, both with the bills broken off, and on my boat key chain to remind to never to buy a Rapala branded product again. I like Storm and VMC products that are under there "umbrella", and still buy and use quite a bit of stuff from both. But NOT Rapala.

4" senkos don't work...............move along, nothing to see here .

Except for punching mats, or flipping super nasty wood/brushy cover. I do most of my t-rigging with a 7' MH rod around cover, or a 7' M in sparse stuff.