ww2farmer

I remember when I only had a handfull, then that grew, now I have 300, and thats down from last year since I weeded out all the ones I never use. Stike King and Spro are like crack to me LOL, and the fish don't mind them either.

I ice fish alot, just saying you plan to go "ice fishin" tells me little, so I can help you little. What are you going to be be targetting? I mainly fish for panfish. So my equipment recomendations for that would not be suitable if you were going for pike, or walleye, or trout. The BARE ESSENTIALS that you need for any fish you target on the ice are an auger, I use a 5" hand powered one for panfish, but bigger fish need bigger holes, a set of ice creepers for the bottom of your boots, ice is slippery, and commen sense. Know when to NOT go out on the ice.

Clayton, I have seen this rig in action, AND the idiot who owns it. Keep your money.

Zoom finesse worm. The rigging options are endless. Shakey head, drop shot, Texas rig, whacky, C-rig, and on and on... They will catch numbers, and size. If you cant get bit, on that worm, in ANY color, on any of those rigs.............there are no bass in that body of water.

Blue Racer, and Ditch Craw.

Now there IS line that sucks.

It's pretty commen for bass to relate to, and feed when there is water movement in other wise slack water areas. While we don't have dams that pull/release water where I fish to make current, we have wind that move water and food, maybe not as pronounced or swiftly as river/reservior current, but its the same basic principle.

I hate the screw type worm keepers, or the push on barb type keepers like spot removers have. I like the Strike King tour grade heads. Both the football and round.

I have not had that problem, even when using pliers to unhook them in a stubborn spot.

Your lakes, sound just like the lakes (at least the ones I like to fish) here in WNY. I catch more bass out of grass (milfoil mostly) than just about any other type of cover. I can tell you how I fish it in my home lake, but I fish that place 150+ times a year, and have a way of doing things there that works for me, it may not work for you, or it may not work on lake x,y, or z. BUT, if I were to go to a new lake with lots of grass, the first thing I would do is look for an area where the deepest edge of the weeds has some sort of change to it. For example, where it makes a point, or cuts in close to shore, inside and outside bends, etc... I would work the the outside edge of those areas with a lure or bait YOU have confidence in, if you can't pick up any fish on the outside edge, don't pack up and leave the area, start looking for holes and pockets in the weeds, and put a bait in those places. Fish the weeds at multiple water depths, till you find a depth in them that seems to be holding fish, and then concentrate on that depth for a while to see if it's a pattern. Try a couple different things before you determine they are not there. I have had days where you could flip every weed pocket in the lake with a jig, or T-rigged bait and haul water, but drop a senko that falls slow into those same holes and load the boat.........and vice versa. But back to looking for fish............if fishing the outside edge or holes/pockets in the middle of the weed beds are not working, I do one of two things, either go to the bank and fish wood, boat docks, thick matted grass, and any other shore line cover, or go deeper and fish hard cover, like rock piles outside the weedsor, any kind of man made cover, etc.. If your not catching a few in any of these areas, I would question whether or not there are bass in that lake LOL. Grass lake fish can turn on and off with the flick of a switch, alot of whacking them good, or struggling for bites is nothing more than a timing thing. Don't get discouraged if your not plucking them off one after another out of every hole. Fish when the odds are in your favor, during low light times (am, pm, weather changes, windy days) outside or inside edges, or even over the top on reaction baits should (but not always) be a good starting point. And on sunny clam days, the holes, pockets, or matted stuff is the place to be looking first.

Every body of water I fish has pike in it. Buy multiples of lures that are working. Fluorocarbon leaders help, but don't eliminate bite offs. Straight braid is the worst, they cut it better than scissors. Some people, whose initials are J and F, will tell you that if your catching pike, your not around bass. I find that some what true...........that is if your looking for numbers of bass. You won't find many around them, cause pike are the kings of the food chain, and the bass know it, but the ones you do catch will be good ones. I have had it happen more times then I can remember, so it's not a fluke. I'll catch some pike, maybe get bit off a time or two, and only catch one or two bass out of the area, but they are five lbers. This is LM that I am talking about.............SM of all sizes on the other hand will be mixed with the pike, they are dummys.

I have tried many many fluorocarbons on spinning reels. I won't use it any more as main line. Power Pro braid for me, with a fluoro leader. Mono is much more managable on spinning gear than fluoro.

Trilene XL, and or Orginal Stren= rubberband strechyness compaired to modern fluoroarbons and co-polymers, but easy to use, good cheap line. Sensitivity is mediocre at best, but that's just how most mono is. I have never used any Ande line......so no comment.

Good for you. I guess I don't know how lucky I am to catch and land so many bass on sub-par hooks.

Senko, Beaver, worm, crankbait, jig, frog, etc.....

Simply put...........no.

I been using them all season, #1 for bass, #8 for panfish. No complaints. Catch as many fish with them as I did with my "old" way, which was a Gamakatsu dropshot hook, on a fluoro leader with a swivel 2 foot above the hook. I can't wait for the EWG ones to come out.

I use Gamakatsu EWG super line hooks for most all my general flipping and pitching, tied with a palomar or trilene knot and have ZERO issues with hooksets, missed bites, fish jumping off, or any of this other nonsense people claim to have troubles with that "magicly" goes away when they start using straight shank hooks or snell knots. The only times I use a straight shank hook is punching grass mats, or dropping baits in and out of cover with big tungsten sinkers looking for a reaction bite. Why??,because the big barb keeper does hold the bait in place better while punching, and the big 1oz + tungsten sinkers I use tend to blow or pop the fishes mouth open on a hookset, and the extra bite of the straigh shank hook grabs more meat than an EWG offset hook in this situation.

I like the GYCB craws, not fancy, nor super realistic, but catch lots of fish.

I will use my 7' M power, fast action St Croix LTB with a Curado 51E for 3/16-1/4 oz baits, and my 7' MH/fast LTB, also with a curado 51E for 3/8's-3/4 oz baits.

I skipped alot of school to fish when I was younger, I am amazed I even graduated. I have been at my current job for 15+ years, with my wife for 20+, and married for the last 11....I used to tell my wife I was "working late"....and tell the boss "I have to be home early" and would go fish....they never bought it anyways, so now I just go fishing when I want, as long as my work is done.

While I am not longing for it..........I welcome it. Both the break from bass fishing, and the change of pace. You will find me in the boat from ice out till ice up, and I'll be on the ice from first safe ice till last safe ice. I mostly chase bluegills, fill the freezer first, then it's all for fun. Occasionaly a perch outing creeps in to my routine as well.

Sure you can just hit the outside corners, or posts, etc....and you'll catch a fish or two here and there, but to really maximize the number of fish you can catch off docks, you HAVE to get that bait into any and all of the deep dark places you can access. Learn to skip baits, both weighted and weightless. Learn to skip with casting gear too. There is no magic bait to fish docks. Somedays they want a weightless plastic, some days they want a jig , some days they will come up and smash a frog. Only you can figure that out on that perticular day.

Then why comment on it? If your looking for an answer, fine, ask the question. But.......I suspect, you "not getting it" is your back handed way of tossing a dig at tournament fishing/fisherman.

For me, nothng beats the excitment of running a squarebilled crank through some wood and bumping it off something, having it deflect and then WHAM!!! Thats how I would attack any wood first, if they won't come up and smack that, then I flip or pitch a jig in there..........if that don't work..............I fish some other type of cover.