Nick

Don't see this reported much, but here's a neat winter project. For several years I had a treasured long A floating Bomber A with the usual three hooks with a screwed in tail. (These baits were common in the 80's.) What made this one bait such a treasure was that in a heated tacklebox the girth of this lure had swelled a bit making it visibly fatter. The extra air inside really made this lure dance and shimmy with its greater buoyancy like no other long A I had. I could even kick its tail out of the water and make it stand on it's head with very little forward movement. What a spawn bait it was! It was truly an awesome fish catcher. My others Long A's just didn't look or perform anywhere close to the "blowed up" one. Finally, I got the nerve to try fattening up some other screwtails to get this desired action. So here's the recipe that worked for me. Bring water in a 2 qt. saucepan to a boil or near boil. Take the middle ring off it's eyelet and attach a decent pair of hemostats to the middle eyelet at an angle comfortable for inserting all of the model A except the lip into the hot water. After about 25 seconds you should start to see very tiny bubbles forming on the outside of your lure. For me that was a sign that I needs just five or ten seconds more of heating. Pull the lure out of the water to inspect it. You should see the lure fattening up a bit. Let it cool still secured with the pliers. A couple of more 20-30 second dips may be necessary. I want a lure that is noticably larger in diameter perhaps by 1/8 inch. Go slow as this process can't be reversed. One good thing is the dipping will not harm any of the finishes. Again, do not dip the bill into the hot water. Unfortunately, the newer model long A's are made of different plastics which I could not blow up. Lot of pro's use the A as a wake bait, and the blowed up model will outwake just abouty anything else. Fiddle around with the line tie, eyelets, hooks and line to get the action that works for you. Nothin' like fishin' in the kitchen in winter! And let me know if you were successful.

Been using this technique lately with great results. Using an old style watermelon regular Fluke 4" on a 1/8 oz. shakey head and deadsticking it on the bottom in a very clear environment. Results have been awesome for both smallies and largies. Hard to believe they eat this thing, but they do. The strike is hard to tell usually, but the bass do not spit this thing out.

I fish a lot during the fall to winter transition in a stream that has Kentucky, largemouth, and smallmouth bass. The topwater bite does slow down when the water temps drop below 55, but the bass can still be caught down to about 48 degrees with a fair amount of success. Use much longer pauses even with a stick (walking) bait or a popper. I've caught some real good bass pausing the lure for 4-10 seconds over a likely looking snag, bluff wall, or rock pile. I learned long ago to fish the deeper, slower holes, not the moving water at this time of the year. The usual topwater strikes now will be in a superslow rolling motion much slower than the "big bang" of a summer topwater strike, but success can still be had with topwaters and even slow buzzbaits at times. In these Ozark streams, I often note that one species get active while the others are not feeding. Always fun to watch the rise and fall of aggressiveness (activity)of all the species during a day's fish.

Has your water turned clearer this fall? Most times when bass start nipping at baits of any kind, it's often becaue of one or two factors 1. Clear waters. We've had low clear water this year to the point that cranks are a poor choice of bait right now. The bass get too good a look at them except very early and late in the day.( Now I'm talking about 10 ft. visibility and don't know your local conditions,) 2. Cooling waters. When the temps drop into the lower 50's and esp. into the upper 40's it;s usually time to slow down one's retrieve. If the water color hasn't cleared, it's time to put away the crank in favor of the suspending jerkbait. The jerkbait profile and speed is more conducive th strikes during the cool to cold water periods which most of us are about to enter. Last, it could just be the mood of those finicky bass based on local weather conditions, and they could even be telling you that they have seen your crank lots of times and are conditioned to it now. It does happen. Try a few different cranks at different times of the day to check on that theory.

Marty, Will it back up like the sweet ole bait that I throw? If not, try making it just a bit thicker top to bottom. Balsa should give it the sought after bouyancy, I reckon anyway. Might wake with it too! Keep up the good work!

Mr. Limit, I was not trying to add or detract from your statements. My only point was that many other factors overshadow the rattles in determining the success or failure of a particular model. I kind of prefer wooden ones myself.

Last I knew he was still living in Stockton, MO. Check for a phone number there.

Stirring the pot, every crankbait makes "noise" unless it is resting on bottom or suspending. Any vibration technically is noise (as long as their is a carrier for the waves) and a moving object can be picked up through the bass' lateral lines regardless of the extra rattles a bait may have. So every bait puts out its own signature waves. A crank without rattles still makes a lot of noise from hooks and rings and its own action as it pushes water and bangs the bottom so one with rattles or one without ain't necesarily the deciding element to catching fish on a crank. IMHO rattles vs. no rattles ranks way behind a bait.s unique wiggle/wobble, depth achieved, speed, profile, hooking ability, durabilikty, color, straight running, and deflection ability. Last give me a good angler on the other end of the line, and he/she will probably catch fish on lots of different crankbaits because he/she will be fishing in the right location and has narrowed down many other important considerations mentioned above. (Sorry for the rant!)

Try them both ways and then decide which is better for you. Most walking baits work better with a ring or loop knot, but I make one that walks better with a snug tie to the lure.

I get to fish a lot so I get several opportunities to double up. One can increase the possibilities of doubling by using multiple treble hook baits (duh) and reeling in the hooked fish slowly! Other fish in the school have more time/opportunity to get the bait out of the hooked fish's mouth. I had two separate doubles in a half hour this fall holding a hooked fish in the water about fifteen feet from the boat for an extra 10 seconds while waiting for a client to get a lure near the school of followers. I wouldn't recommend keeping a hooked fish dangling until exhaustion sets in, nor will I use this tactic in warmer waters for fear of injuring the bass.

I applaud the tippers that have responded. You'd be surprised how many people just don't tip a penny! And I'm talking about return customers, not dissatisfied folks. I'd like to hear from more guides and their clients.

So did you get it fixed? Actually, if you have boat insurance, you may have coverage for free towing to a shop that can fix your bearing. Do not attempt this yourself. I blew a bearing last weekend too. Don't feel bad as this can happen to those of us who don't pay attention to the details. I should know better. Been driving trailered bass boats for 40 years!

Quillback, Funny how one bait gets hot in a lake while it's not such a big deal elsewhere. Word the last couple of years on Table Rock was the success with the McStick esp. the Norman Flake color. I took several McSticks to Lake O. and did not catch a fish on them. Went back to a LC and Megabass, and caught them. I can't figure any of this out, but it's fun to try to get it right. Because our streams run a little colder, I caught a few smallies on Husky Jerks #8 last week. River was so clear that I saw 5 bass in about 15 casts come to eat the bait some as close as 15 feet away. The amazing thing was that I did not feel any of these strikes, and had I not seen these bass bump into and mouth the bait, I would have never known they were there. Makes me wonder how many 100's of strikes I've missed over the years from bass just mouthing and nosing the bait. I'm fishing quality equipment with flourocarbon line as well, and been fishing and guiding for most of my life. I caught some jerkbait bass that day, but the ones that slammed it were largemouth. Nothing like clear water to show us how much we're ignorant of in fishing.

I really like to fish suspended jerkbaits, and the dominant season for them is just around the corner in the Ozarks. Maybe I've overlooked a couple of the lesser known makes and or colors so I am interested in your favorites. I've moved up the scale from the Rebel Spoonbills, Smithwick Rogue, Rapalas Husky Jerks and X raps, the Lucky Craft pointers, and the Megabass 110's. This year I'm going to try the Ima Flit and some smaller Yo Zuri models. I fish in highly competitive tournaments and I am amazed at how a small difference in sound, color, depth or size can make a big difference in the money won. Also if you have a favored way of weighting your bait to suspend or sink a little, tell us about it.

Costas are good indeed. I would advise against the green mirror 580's however, if one is trying to use them during anything but high, sunny conditions. They are a bit too dark for early and late, and even cloudy use IMHO. I wihsh I had gotten the silver or amber colored lenses.

Big M can make you about any shape or color balsa plug that you like. His baits run true and his paint jobs are just outstanding. I told him he should raise his prices! OUCH!

RW, One can make a really effective weedguard on just about any jig with a tiny drill bit, some saltwater nylon covered wire leader and superglue. Drill two angled holes in the jighead just outside of the line tie with .050 drill bit. (easy to find in a good hobby shop) Hold the drill and bit so it would be on the same plane as you would like the weeguard to lay. Drill about halfway into the lead. You shuld have two symmetrically place holes in the jig. Next cut one to 1.5 inches of leader material (just a single strand is all) to glue into the two holes of the jig. Takes about 10 minutes to dry. Fine tune the guards to the angles and lenghts desired after they dry and add a little black marker to dull the shine on the guards if needed. This split weedguard works very well and keeps the jig from falling over on its side. I like them so much tht I now cut off the traditional brush guards on most of my small stream jigs. One can use stiffer materail such as weedwacker string on larger football head jigs. You'll be amazed at how well these jigs will now fish and catch.

Big M., I've been doing too much catching to be internettin'. Rain would even help more!

Could be there's not many bass in those pits.

Big M, You ever catch any bass on your baits?

Red, Flyboy hs it right. You've got tennis elbow. I finally earned this malady on both forearms this past year. Comes from lots of casting over a lifetime. We should learn to warm up better. Good thing is that both of my forearms are just about well after months of suffering. I recommend icing after exertion, warming up before, and resting the aching forearm and elbow joint when possible. I was told to work through the pain, and that was a mistake. I injured my forearm even more to the poinbt that my ulnar nerve would tingle. I cut out weight training and just stretched and massaged the forearms daily. If the pain continually got worse, I would stop everything and rest for two or three days. I feel for you, brother, because it's no fun not setting hooks! Anyway, it took me about 6 moths for the right arm to heal, and my left arm is about 80% fixed after 7 months. Good luck, and the compression bandages are also good for pain relief.

As far as consistency in catching, anything Zoom makes with salt gets mine and the basses nod. Be careful when buying tail colored Super Flukes. They don't have salt so they don't sink enough, and they even tear easier. Even though the package may say "salty," beware! Fish hold on to salty baits longer and eat them better.

I've been fishing hair for many years in winter in very clear Ozark streams with water temps ranging in the 30's to the upper 40's. Below 42 degrees I have much more confidence in hair than in a silicone or rubber skirt. I like a very sparsely tied brown or black weedless 1/16 - 1/8 oz. jig in either fox, deer, bear, or maribou. Usually I put a small split tail trailer to give it enough weight to cast with my e7 Curado and 8 lb. flouro. I guide about 30 days each winter for the "fools" who like to catch big smallies. As long as we don't get much ice on the guides, we feel pretty comfortable and pretty certain that we'll catch some solid numbers of smallies from 13-22 inches. We caught over 70 last year over 17 inches, and our Ozark streams just aren't nearly as fertile as northern streams are in summer. Anyway winter is a great time to catch the bruisers if one knows when to go and how to put together a pattern.

I've caught hundreds in 35-45 degree water in streams, and never had one go into any sort of shock when released. To me winter bass show very little stress when caught. Summer caught bass conversely, can be pIayed too long to the detriment of the fish as exhaustion sets in.

First week of June should offer some good early topwater action, and if the lake is a bit high and has some buck brush in the water, that will make the topwater bite even better. Later on in the day, it's better to locate brush piles in 10 - 25 feet of water. Fish plastic worms or jigs in the brush. Most of these are put out by the Corps and the lower lake where you are staying has plenty. On the weekend, though, the lake will get pretty crowded, so get your fishing done early or at night. It's a pretty little lake, but I'm not up-to-date on food (restaurants) around the lake.