bigbill

Brushog black with red flakes. Oops time to get up and go fishing.

I'm a professional faller now I could be a stuntman. My dog gets tangled with his dog cable as I step over it he pulls it tight and catches one foot on me every time. Faceplant. I know how to stop, drop and roll growing up in the fifties too. I lost 70# so quickly I was over medicated. I was passing out while standing up. On the way down stop, drop and roll on my side. You can do it too.

I'm starting my ritual of fishing tomorrow at 4:30am very bad back and all. I just gotta go. I'm tired of sitting working on my tackle. I'll bring a camping chair and throw every lure I have just for fun. They did suggest exercise?

My grandfather from the old country ate plenty of garlic and wore garlic around his neck when working in the garden. I eat garlic. My buddy wears those clothes dryer softener towels n his hat. In the north country it's deet or deep woods off.

A split shot rigged 6" black worm straight natural tail. Purple 6" Baby bass 6" Green shad 6" Black shad 10" / 12" Red shad. 10" / 12" Fish it slow. What worm Color? Most will say ...... It's a tough call but these have worked for me.

If you don't want to spend alot for another rod try, "fish and save" they have good affordable rods but the better ones sell out quickly

That surely popped off very quickly I wonder what's in the water there? It looks weird the way the TM just took a dive. I look at it this way we can replace material things. No one got hurt so it's not that bad.

Bps topnocker it's like a spook. I make a very long cast from shore.

You can kid if you want but like the gator Hunter says he hears noises at night in the swamps at night that he doesn't want to know what it is. I been stalked during the day and night at my camp. It watches me.

At this time depending on where we live the bass can be spawning too. There also on the north side that's gets more Sun during the day.

Well it's time to fall back, regroup and attack again. 1. What's the water conditions, average? 2. Do you wear polarized glasses to watch what's going on behind your lures? Are the bass making runs at your lures then breaking Off the last few seconds called short strikes? 3. Have you tried 6" black plastic worms split shot rigged? 4. You have had success in this place before and the bass seem to be more off the bite than on? 5. How often do you change up your presentations? In the past if I ran through my tackle box full of baits once. I'd go threw it again trying every different presentation I know. My moto is on a tough trip throw firetiger. The water conditions could be different as we fish deeper. 6. Do you use a bass scent? 7. Does your tackle box have foul oders in it? When was the last time you washed your baits and tackle box? I soak my baits in a dish pan with a little dish soap to get rid of the foul oders. I either lightly pressure wash my tackle box or scrub it. 8. Do you wash your hands before going fishing? 9. Do you pump your own gas on the way to go fishing? I would replan my fuel stops another time I'm not going fishing. This new blend of gas smells nasty. A bass can smell 20 ppm his sense of smell is that accurate. 10. Are you too noisy when handling your tackle? If you are your warning the fish ahead of time that your there. Your warning them. Is your reel worn and noisy. Here's what I do before o go fishing it's my ritual of preparation. 1. I wash my hands with big orange hand cleaner. I'm removing any foul oders that can be on my hands. 2. I don't pump or touch gas or oil as I'm driving to go fishing. 3. Use a newer bass scent do not use the older scents. Put a shot of scent in your hands and rub it all over your hands just a little will do. 4. Try throwing a ritual of baits that has worked in the past. 5. If your fishing from shoreline walk softly don't step on any rocks or tree roots that are sticking out of the ground near the shoreline. 6. Check the PH of the water if you can. Your looking for a PH of 7 + / -. If it's not move till you find it and fish there. If you are having heavy rains it could stir up the shallow bottom and change the PH that can shut the bite down. When we do it all right we catch bass. One little thing we do wrong can change the game. After the heavy rains come thru I give the body of water a chance to settle back down so the PH returns to normal. It's skill and knowledge that catches fish not luck. Luck is at the casino. Make little changes till you figure it out.

I trust my knots I can't see the line to tie it in the dark so I use locking snap swivels.

It's funny on any given day under the right conditions even the cheap BPS crankbaits I picked up in solid chartreuse will work. If I'm close to the car I leave some boxes in the car. If I had a boat my kids tell me I need a dingy for my tackle too. I need to rethink what I really need to carry your right. I may add more tackle boxes. 1. TOPWATER 2. CRANKBAITS 0' to 12' 3. CRANKBAITS 12' to 30' 4. Plastic baits w/ hooks &c-rigs,. 5. Hard body swim baits. 6. Weedless baits. I have no clue how the pros do it or they carry just enough or a little. My problem is I'm a color freak. There are times that the bass can see certain colors. Do we need all these different colors you bet we do. Ok I need to scale down. I guess some lures will get the axe.

Why not Sieberts Outdoors custom hand made jigs? Mike is the jigman. He does have quality stuff. No special eye catching wrapper but I'd rather see a low cost package and more quality in the product, Mike does just that. Sponcers first. I see so many eye catching wrappers on baits and where do they end up? All bet some of these expensive wrappers and packages cost more than the product. Why can't they keep it simple and the low cost.(like Mike does) Jig,,,3/8oz, green pumpkin with a trailer. White Blacknblue.

My $200 order of bomber cranks arrived. I put 50% of my double order in one 9606 split room tackle box. Here's what's in my crankbait box. Bomber crankbaits in all colors / sizes from 0' to 12' depth. Norman Thin N crankbaits every color (shallow) Norman Fatboy an assortment of colors(10 pcs) Rapalas jointed shad rap every size and color. Excalibur dances cranks. Most of what's available. Rebel BIG CLAW CRAWFISH crank dives 10' chartreuse, red, & nest robber. Smaller plastic boxes in the bottom with smaller crankbaits(mini) and bug cranks. I'm at my limit with this 9606 split roof box. It's as big as hard body boxes gets. I have two more filled with topwater baits and deep water cranks. I have the smaller barn roof box with needless baits. I fish no deeper from shore than 10' at my drop off spots. It's tough to leave anything home. What's next in tackle storage? I enjoy throwing different baits that I have had success with. Fishing from shore I notice what's hot this year isn't hot next year. In these smaller places I feel the fish do learn our baits that we throw over and over all season. So instead of removing last years hot baits I add more baits in different sizes and colors. Now I'm at wits end and probably are carrying too much now. I have a magnum soft sided boat bag with all the same baits in many 3600 and 3700 plastic cases in it too. Any suggestions?

I use ball bearing locking snap swivels on my crankbaits. It acts like a hinge so I get the most side to side movement much smoother. I use standard locking snap swivels on the Carolina hook end besides were my Carolina rig attaches to my main line on the rod. I have pre made c rigs in different weights. I can change them out fast. Change out the standard locking snap swivels to be safe but I never broke any yet. I'm sure the knot will wear out so I suggest a retie often more so after bigger fish are caught just to be safe.

Without any pics I'm not sure. I don't use collectable tackle if it's 40 - 50 years old.

It's never luck in fishing it's applying the knowledge we have learned, but it's really our increased skills that catches fish. Citrus Shad yup this color is in my ritual of lures I throw now too. I have the citrus color on my dancing buzz too.

I was about to pull out my newly setup first successful spinner bait when a 32" pickerel came parallel to the shoreline with 1/3 of his head and body out of the water on the rocks and ripped my spinner bait off my line as it was inches from the water at the waters edge. My jaw dropped and I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I was in shock. I don't hate picketed, pike or Muskies there probably the best game fish to catch. I love there fight. I prefer to catch bass but these toothy critters are welcome to bite too. These big pickerel can be feisty too.

I purchased the best bear and deer hunting land in vt. It mainly has the highest numbers of bear kills in the state. For bass fishing I have the hottest small ponds, small lakes and larger lakes and rivers close to me in my area. I don't need a special place. There all free. It's not the catch or kill that's the most fun. It's being out there enjoying this awesome wildlife and forests. I see things you don't see at home. Well that's kind of wrong at home I have deer on my land, bears too besides Turkey's. At my camp I have bears, deer, mountainlion, moose and birds.

When I broke and shortened my #5 fly rod it was useless. Then I installed a UL spinning reel and it's a crappie setup now. I use a rattle bobber with a 1" mister twister chartreuse grub.

My PB of 10# was caught on a rebel BIG CLAW crawfish crankbait with a shot of craw scent. At 4:30/5:00am in the low light as I casted parallel to shore at a drop off I was 2' off the shoreline as I ripped it out of the weeds into a slow moving channel when she hit it. She had a mouth like the rear opening of a garbage truck.

Mister Twister top prop. Poppers Hula poppers Jitter bugs

The difference between the higher priced reels is they have more quality manufactured parts on the inside. Some have less plastic moving parts. More metal gears. For spinning I like the Fin-nor and okuma epixor. There was a member here who once said if everyone owned a fin-nor spinning reel his reel repair business would go out of business. The fin-nor reels aren't cheap.

I often wonder about this. Most will say darker colors in muddy water with plastics. Yet they say with crankbaits brighter colors in muddy water. I don't understand why two different color selections for muddy water conditions. I always felt that brighter colored plastics should work too.