Big-O

WTG Fat G...You played her like a Pro and a really nice fish too Big O www.ragetail.com

Very Nice Fish and Congratulations...True BucketHead Big O www.ragetail.com

WTG Leo Great numbers too Big O www.ragetail.com

Excellent to hear you guys had a great time Big O www.ragetail.com

Excellent Big O www.ragetail.com

What a cool day is right And what a terrific POST as well Big O www.ragetail.com

WOW, Nice photos and fish. Reminds me of the mid 70's when I was on those waters alot. Big O www.ragetail.com

Sounded like a great fishing trip for sure and WTG... Big O www.ragetail.com

The 3 lber might have got loose....but after that, I bet Taylor is hooked forever Big O www.ragetail.com

YEP!!!! During this years Pickwick Roadtrip, myself and two of our HERO Soldiers caught around 400 quality SM and LM bass in three days with T rigged Rage Craws and 1/4 to 3/8 oz colored Tungsten. We tried to feed'em other style baits but they kept begging for T rigged CRAWS...Hate it when that happens Big O www.ragetail.com

Have you thrown a soft plastic Frog or Toad across that vegetation.... Big O www.ragetail.com

Yeah Buddy, Uncle Cliff is at it again and your little Nephew is glad you are...WTG Man, you're a fine example for all of us Big O www.ragetail.com

Here's an informative thread topic for understanding CRAW fishing techniques. I think it will help anyone who might be having trouble with any particular Craw that they choose. http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1280362730 Big O www.ragetail.com

Depending on the time of day would help determine where might be the best place to flip thick grass and Hydrilla beds. Early and late, on the outside edges might be more successful whereas in mid day heat, punching in the middle of scattered clumps could be the ticket...Main thing to consider when fishing the grass and mats, is look at them as you would a shoreline and concentrate on the various points of grass beds, wind direction and for sure where deeper water is nearby, like creek channel swings etc. Back on the original topic, very nice post Matstone7 and the bases are covered with your infomation. Another benefit to keeping your rod tip lower, is substantially reducing any wind effect on your line. Fishing a cross wind is much easier to accomplish with this technique. The majority of my deep water fishing when throwing soft plastics, football jigs or C rigs are fished in this manner. Now this doesn't mean that I won't lightly twitch the tip now and then or I will lift the tip to bump it over a limb or obstruction, then immediately let it fall back to the bottom. Big O www.ragetail.com

I think we all run into that situation at times and find ourselves too fast or too slow on hooksets and especially with the presentations you mentioned. Allowing the fish to load up on a topwater Toad or Shad while reeling up the slack before the hook set is definitely the way to go. Another switching problem happens for many is when fishing crankbaits and changing to a weighted hook swimbait. With the crank, setting the hook too hard can rip the the smaller trebles out of the fish immediately where on a swimbait a firmer hook set is essential. Thus the need for different rods with each to minimize the mistakes Big O www.ragetail.com

X2 There are times in the same area yet on different days it's a toss up as to which one will out perform the other substantially... As with Soft Plastics, adjusting weight, bulk and length, color and fall rate will also tune your jig bite. Big O www.ragetail.com

WTG TNB, you've got'em rounded up for sure...Rage Falcon Lake Craw is still hard to find but they're starting to hit more store shelves all the time. Where'd you find'em Big O www.ragetail.com

Ha! yea you got that right! I went to a local outdoor store yesterday and got some floating markers and looked at some new depth finders to put on my console so that I can really buckle down and learn how to deep water fish. That's the way to get in the game...hot pursuit Big O www.ragetail.com

Very nice Big O www.ragetail.com

Adding mineral oil to your bag of baits will cause them to soften somewhat but not to a large extent. Also allowing your bag of baits to heat up in the sun or otherwise for an extended length of time is another way to soften them and this is not a permanent condition as you probably know. Hope that helps Big O www.ragetail.com

Nice thick fish for sure and Congrats on the new PB Big O www.ragetail.com

Fantastic and CONGRATULATIONS on that Monster Bass Big O www.ragetail.com

Nice healthy Fish and a C rig in deeper water is a fine way to catch'em Big O www.ragetail.com

Sounds like a great start BFM, and if you quit getting hits fishing up the ledge or drop off...position you boat so that you are paralleling the ledge at the fish holding depth. Then your retrieve and your bait will be in the strike zone all the way to the boat. I am also a big fan of casting up on the shallow part of the ledge and pulling the bait toward the deep drop maintaining bottom contact the entire time by fishing extremely slow. I will often mark the ledge at a given depth with two or more bouys 75 yrds apart so that I can know the correct alignment. These details are time consuming but I'd rather spend much more time in the strike zone than reeling to and from it Big O www.ragetail.com

I am fishing a split shift these days...5am to 9am then 6pm to 1am unless the fish tell me to stay and play High heat and clear skies are especially tough for me on calm glass conditions. If I have good wind and the gusts are under 15mph allowing me to be able to stay on the structure, I can usually get the deep bite with regularity. I will always try to stay on the water for longer periods when there is cloud cover or scattered rain. Big O www.ragetail.com