ww2farmer

A couple "new to me" baits that I have been using this year that I really like and will probably find there way into my regular rotation are: Yum swimmin' and thumpin' dingers Yum Sharpshooter worms Yum Warning Shot Yum Christie Craw A couple "new to me" baits that I have tried and will NOT be purchased again, or added to the line up: Yum Kill shot Yum Bad Jamma Havoc Money Maker Havoc Beat Shad Big BIte Baits Real Deal Craw

This...

Yes...........evidently you live in a cave. LMAO.

Since last report: The rain out continues, just to muddy to get into the fields. So Thursday I hit the water fairly late, around 10am or so, and stayed till 2pm. It was decent with a bunch of 3lbers, and a handful of smaller fish. Finally back to work Friday, but it was short lived, as I sprayed the only "dry" fields we had, and got the mower moved to the area where I am going to start mowing again once it drys out................sooooo...I hit the lake............Again. This time I went with a plan to "eliminate" water for the opening day tournament, and I succeeded in that, then I went to "check" on what I wanted to do in said tournament , and they were still there, so I didn't beat on them anymore than I already have this week and left. So, today I fished the annual opening day tournament run by another local fish/game club. It's a 3 fish limit tournament, non-team format, everyone is against everyone else, boater or non boater, there are no divisions for each. They had 60+ entries, paid 6 spots, and I did well and cashed, my best 3 went 9.69lbs which was good enough for the 5th pay spot. 2nd-6th was pretty tight with only about a pound between top and bottom. The winner had 12lbs, and lunker with a 5+lb fish. I was pleased my "plan" worked, I just needed the elusive kicker.

Mehhh.....maybe in your opinion, but I "prefer" a 7' rod MH rod with a "little tip", and 50lb braid. Is my idea of an ideal frog set up the best??? Probably not, but it's the best for me. Only ignorant idiots, or kids speak in absolutes about tackle.

The great rain-out of 2015 continues at work. Today was the 9th time out of the last 10 days that I have fished. Hit Silver again. Not bad...not as good numbers wise as yesterday, with fairly long lulls between bites, but from 9am-2pm today, I boated 11 keepers, with the best five: 4-10, 4-4, 3-8, 3-3, 3-1.

I'll throw any and everything on a shaky head if that's what I think I need to be doing. My top producing and most often used baits are: Havoc Bottom Hopper's....both sizes Pit Boss Jr. 4" + 5" Yum Dingers

As far as my predictions go...................with no more "win and your in" for the classic, I don't think Palaniuk can afford the risk/reward situation of doing what he did last time. He needs to make up AOY ground, and if the run is brutal, and/or the fish ain't there this time he can ill-afford to go further down in the standings. Look for someone already in the top of the standings to take bigger risks. KVD, Evers or Ehrler would be my guess's on who would roll the dice.

Depends on the lake and the situation. Fun fishing on Silver lake my yearly average for "best 5" from ice out till ice up is probably 15lbs. Lots of days where my best five is in the upper teens , and lots of days where they are in the low teens, with a handful on either side where I have done terrible or knocked it out of the park with 20+. During tournaments, it's a whole different game, for many reasons, but over the years I'd say 13lbs is about average, some days it's good enough for cashing or even a win, and some days it's a "thanks for playing" donation. I don't feel comfortable without at least having 15lbs, but oddly enough the last two wins I have there have been with 14lbs and change. On Conesus, I seem to catch an 18-20+lb bag fun fishing more times than not, but again in tournaments, with more boats on the water, and more spots being combed over, that kind of weight has not been the norm for me. However, many of the tournaments I have fished there have been during rather slow bites, and have finished in the money with weights that range from as low as 12lbs, to as much as 18lbs...........I have only been there once for a tournament during one of Conesus's legendary hog fest's, but that was for a Tuesday nighter/3 fish limit deal, and we held our own and beat some of the heavy hitters, but still fell short of the money.

Carp flopping around in the shallows = Bass in the boat............I like them up there splashing around and making the water dirty. What is highly undesirable is just cruising carp in ultra shallow, ultra clear water, they are scared of their own shadow, and take off like rockets alerting every fish within miles of you. A highly trained set of senses like I have LOL...........can actually smell carp in the area before I see them.............I'm not kidding either.

Same here. But..................I didn't care for how small the guides were, but they held up to braid just fine. In fact the el-cheapo stainless steel guides on low end Fenwicks and rods like the regular Berkley Lightning rod have been some of the most trouble free guides I have ever used. No inserts to pop out, and never had one groove with braid. I have had multiple $250+ St Croix LTB's that have " better guides" with inserts that fall out, and/or crack.

Same. For me on casting gear it's 20 or 30lb braid with 12,15,or 17lb fluoro leader. On spinning gear it's 10 or 20lb braid with 8,10 or 12lb fluoro leaders.

50lb..............Power Pro, or Spiderwire Stealth. Which ever one is on sale or in stock when I go to Walmart. These lines are pretty much identical, and I have no issues with either. For years I used Stealth exclusively, then for the last 5 years Power Pro almost exclusively, then this year, I have a mix of both and can't tell the difference.

I'm gonna let that one slide cause your a kid and don't know any better.

Banner is a strong word, but it was pretty dang good. I caught fish all day long, no real pattern other than stay shallow and throw something till they stopped biting it, then throw something else. No turbo hogs, but a couple over 4, a dozen or more 3+ lbers, and 2.5lbers all day long. The lake was NOT in that bad of shape, a little high, and stained, but not mud. No debris. Dock fishing was a bust, as 50% or more of the docks were under water, but that's not where they were anyways, so no big deal. Conesus was far dirtier, higher, and had more crap in yesterday. I suspect...........unless more rain falls in the next day or so, the "no wake"/"idle only" restrictions will be lifted soon. I could see on some of the break-walls, the water dropped a good 6" in the time I was there today.

Which is why I went to Conesus for the first time this year today. That lake can stay high and muddy all year for all I care.....................best five: 5-4, 5-1, 4-13, 4-9, and 4-7. Then the rest were all under 3.5lbs. All caught power fishing shallow dirty water. I'll be on Silver tomorrow, I don't make a wake anyways LOL.

VMC " Ike approved" swim bait heads, or the BOSS swim jig heads if I need something with a weed guard. An often overlooked presentation method that does quite well for me with skinny dipper and/or swimming senko style baits is just swimming it on a traditional T-rig with a sinker pegged to the nose, especially in and around shallow grass. I much prefer swimming them on that rigging method than I do any style of jig head, or belly weighted hooks.

Let me count the ways I use it: On a t-rig using 1/4 -1oz. weights for pitching docks, laydowns, weed pockets, misc. cover, or punching...............CHECK As a flipping, football, finesse, or swim jig trailer............CHECK Drop shot in open water on spinning gear, or power shot in cover.............CHECK On Biffle/wobble type heads..............CHECK IMHO they are the "duct tape" of creature, beaver, craw, and/or flipping baits, tons of uses. Do some other baits excel in other area's......sure, but not many are as versatile as the Pit Boss. BONUS............they are cheap too.

Same here, and the fact the craw fatty's claws are not very active on a slow fall with lighter weights. The pit boss is subtle enough, I bought the craw fatty's assuming they would have some flapping action for dirty water use, and they have actually been a dud for me.

Well...............he kind of did "earn" his spot and "belong" on the Elite Series in year one by qualifying for it against 100's if not 1000's of other guy's trying. BUT.....has not performed well at all in either season, and by his own merits will most likely not be back for a third year. I am not knocking the guy, he's out there, living the bass fishing rock star dream, too bad it hasn't been working out for him.

I had to do a fair amount of running around and junk fishing today, but still caught several decent fish in the 3lb range. But like yesterday mid to late morning even the junk fishing bite died, so by noonish I pulled out and headed home, and glad I did, as we have been pounded with rain almost all afternoon/evening.

This..... If you are really cracking them good on the hookset you will often pop there mouths open with the sinker causing missed hook ups. The bigger the weight I use the more I use the "lift and lean into them" type of hook set instead of really swinging hard.

I fish them both ways, but prefer wacky most of the time. The biggest fish I have caught on wacky was a 6-10, the biggest I have caught on a Texas rigged stick was 6-10......go figure.

Good cheap leader material, sucks as main line as most all fluoro does.

Since last report: Did some shop/maint. work on my hay mower Weds., got that buttoned up by mid afternoon and hit the lake. I only fished 2-3 hours, as the wife called and asked me to pick the kids up and take them to "away" from her as she didn't feel well. But those couple hours were pretty good. Best 5 were a 5-2, 4-13, 4-4, 3-9, and 3-3. With a handful of mid to upper 2lb range fish as well. Boss said wait till mid-afternoon on Thursday to start spraying so, I once again hit the lake before work. Picked right up where I left of Weds. afternoon, with the best five a 4-9, 4-3, 3-11, 3-8, and a 3-5, with again a whole bunch of small keepers up to 3lb fish. Didn't fish friday. Hit the lake about 7:30ish this morning, I wanted to get there earlier but I guess I slept in. "The bite" I had been on the past few days slowed way down, a 2 lber, a 12"er, and a 3lber were all I could scrape up on that pattern, so I went to plan "B" and, while not on fire, it did produce a half dozen fish between 2.5 and 3lb's and some smaller keepers. Then the sun came out, and that died as well. I started fishing docks and shade once the sun was bright, and that produced numbers, but not size. Then by mid afternoon the boat traffic was getting insane and I called it a day.