CWB

Fallen Soldiers.

Went up to my cottage Friday night and arrived to 30 MPH + winds out of the west. I am on a narrow Peninsula between 2 lakes and have lakefront property on both sides of the house. Too windy to load the boat and go out on the west lake, which is where I moor my boat. Decided to make a few casts off the dock on the east lake and wham, third cast got a decent keeper on a Rage Shad. Got up early Sat. morn to cloudy skies with slightly less wind. Hit the pads and slop with the Rage Shad and absolutely smoked em Must have got 25-30 blow-ups and hooked and landed about 20 or so. All solid keepers but no hawgs. Went thru 10 Shads and switched to the Toad with no let-up.When the topwater bite slowed, I tried out some of the new RageTail baits in deeper water. Separate post to follow. That night I took my dad out and and got several more blowups, including nice one shown. Must have missed on 10 bites. For me, Buzzbaits might have just become obsolete. Sunday was spent fishing the new baits. Big-O, I can't say enough about your baits. Thanks! Last pic is some of the dead soldiers from the weekend.

Okay. Repeat after me. First Place Cubs. Apparently, to paraphrase a famous quote, the news of their demise has been greatly exaggerated.

Glen Lason was a geius. I always bought his dektop calander to give me a reason to look forward to going to work. He is definitely missed. Ther is one in the Chicago Tribune called Argyle Sweater that is very close and pretty darn funny.

Gator Tails. There's a blast from the past. I bought a ton of them after Larry Nixon won some Tourneys with them. Black with Blue tail. I still have a few bags. Remember Gillrakers and Mannipulators?

The Cubs is dead? I have this page bookmarked for when the season's over and the Cubs won the division by 5 games.

This bait catches fish no matter how you rig it. If you are fishing from shore and need the distance, T-Rig it. If you are targeting specific spots such as a laydown or want it to fall straight down, go Wacky style. If you want to skip it under docks etc, T-rig it. Let the conditions and target dictate how you rig it.

7" Rage Tail Anaconda hands down.

X2. Probably saw a craw or maybe a frog or bluegill dart under the log. Get a bait in front of her first, ask questions later.

R.I. used to sell the keeper as an add on to the BMF hooks. Did the keeper look like these? http://www.performancetackle.com/freshwater-fishing/terminal-tackle/accessories/bmf-barb/prodbmfBarb.html

Agree with CJ. I've noticed quite a few of the bigger bags come on the last day of the Elite tourneys. They're usually hitting the same spots hard for 3 or 4 days.

Yeah, it will be interesting. Maybe Big-O can point out where the Strike King guys were getting their fish. Where is the start point? Hope they don't take 'em all. ;D

Mega-Dog caught my eye. Mega-Stick looks alot like a Tiki-Stick, which I really like. Glenn- You sure take good care of your nails! ;D

+1!! I've been using 3/0's. X2

If you are looking for the ultimate shimmy action on the fall, the 5' Senko will be tough to beat. Criss cross 2 o-rings in the center of the bait and put your hook thru and out of where the rings meet. That way the hook will be 90 deg. to the bait for better hookups and you will get more than 1 fish from each bait.

I bought a set of Stearns jacket and pants about 10 years ago at BPS. Still good as new. Well ventilated with hood and bill built in. They are non-insulated and 1 size too big. This way I can add layers as the weather dictates. If you get them insulated and go out in 90 deg. heat, you'll regret it.

+1 and black on black buzzbaits X2. For night fishing you want something with steady retrieve the fish can home in on and smack. I like the double bladed buzzbaits in 1/2 oz. as you can slow them way down and don't overlook the big musky jitterbug. Match lure size to target fish size. A sleeper I use is Mouldys Hawg Wobbler, a musky bait. Huge wake and good noise at very slow retrieve speeds. http://www.muskyshop.com/modules/cart/products.php/nav_id/26/page/3/id/1846/name/MouldysLittleMagnumHawgWobbler I have caught a lot of good bass while targeting Musky on the surface at twilight.

Hardbait - X-Rap. Soft bait - Strike King Z-Too for surface as it floats. Slug-Go for sub-surface and for it's versatility.

Trick question. Bass magic and Shadalicious are the same identical bait. Just come in different colors.

X2 Unless you actually disassembled the gearing portion, it shouldn't be too difficult to get back together. Call BPS cust. service and ask them for the number of the reel repair dept. They will probably email you a copy.

Go together like burgers and fries. Get a hit from a hawg at the end of a long cast and you'll be glad you have braid on. First, you'll have a much better chance at a solid hookset. Second, if you can get his head up you can hoist him in quicker and if he does bury himself in the junk, stay cool, keep tension on him and go in and get him. Had too many say bye bye to me like that with mono in the old days.

As some others have said, I think the boat traffic affects the fisherman more than the fish. I'm one of the unfortunate few that usually can only get away for the weekends. Fishing is not necessarily better, but easier and not so nerve wracking during the week. It definitely is harder to fish effectively when you boat is bobbing around like a cork in the ocean but if you put all that out of you mind and concentrate, the fish will still bite. Now for the skin aspect- that's just a bonus of weekend fishing.

In plain English, does anyone know if there is one license that will cover you from dam to dam?

This bait rigged backwards has replaced Senkos and Tubes for skipping under docks and boats for me.

Slug-Gos still work. Rig them correctly and you can walk the dog just under the surface. Rig it with a slight bow to it like a banana and it comes to the top and still walks the dog. Plus alot of guys have forgotten about it. I use Flukes and Zeros but still use Slug-Go's and Fin-S Fish. Great baits.