bigbill

Smart shopping.....

My son and his wife offered to take me fishing last night. My back pain acted up so I sat and watched them. The fish were hitting the bugs on the topwater. My daughter in law was throwing a chartreuse crank but I told her to switch to a panther Martin spinfly dressed. As the rain started she caught a pickerel. On her first cast. She was shocked that a lure change and picking the correct lure for the conditions and action could do this. I'm thinking the bass are on the beds by now. It's a good feeling to be passing the knowledge to her. She's a killer with a torpedo too. The kids are grown up and still fun to fish with. Fishing with the family doesn't get any better. Do you have any family fishing stories to share?

Awesome catch, on bomber cranks too citrus shad is a killer color. You need to contact bomber about this catch with there lure. Contact the reel, the rod and your line manufacturers too. They might offer you $$ or free tackle when they use your pics. Contact your boat and motor manufacturers too they got you out there I would. You earned any reward.

With our $12 & up lures we can use the correct pound test lure saver were we won't lose fish but it will unlatch the hook when it's snagged saving our expensive lure. I may try some. With 17# test we use a 20# or 25# lure saver it makes sense to me. Maybe higher 30#? I use a lure retriever from shore when I'm above the water but on even ground the snagged lure is lost. I depends on the depth and if you hold your rod tip up in the shallows too. The lure companies don't want you using this so you purchase more replacement lures. I use my more expensive lures Where I know it's safe to throw them. But the smart link could change that. I don't lose that many lures. Most of the time it's one or zero per year. But we never know.

I do find the tensile strength much higher that the rating with most copolymer line. Has anyone done a tensile strength test with fishing line? Some 4# seems a lot strong in some brands over others. I can cast farther using 6#, 8# & 10# test lines. When I use the same lures with the 12#,14# & 17# lines my casting distance shortens up quite a bit. Do you consider the line diameter when picking a line over another brand? Smaller the line diameter line the farther I can cast if it's wimpy and flexible. It might not mean much to a boater but ever added foot means a lot to a shore fisherman.

Jerry McKinnis was one of the first trail blazers bass fisherman on tv. We have the bass masters because of him. All the rest that followed took the gauntlet and raised the bar even more.

Uncle Josh pork chunks we use them on jigs and spinnerbaits.

Does anyone use these? There called "smart link" These lure savers go in place of the split rings on your treble hooks. They have a break away poundage. When your lure gets snagged i figure it will give so your only losing a treble hook and not the lure? They come in different pound test too. It makes sense to me when where throwing expensive lures. I heard cabelas has them. Has anyone used these "smart links"???

I was recording the moon phases too when the success was awesome.

They always strike my worms at the head. Where I insert the rattle depends on what bait it is. With the bigger worms its near the head were it won't interfere with the hook depending on the bulge it's after the hook. I usually don't use rattles in anything other than worms and jigs mainly. But in the center of the blizzards body.

In salt water that's the roughest test a reel can endure. I wished I purchased ten of those fin-nor lite reels back then there awesome. Heavy usage in time does take its toll on cheaper equipment that's not really designed for 24/7 usage. My rod was bending at the lower section at the upper handle were it finally split. I just used my PB setup as an example the line is the weakest link in our setups. I been looking for a new fin nor spinning reel too.

If painting then preperation is the key so it won't peel. I been using the laqure model spray cans on some lures then I clear laqure them.

Be aware of noises that go bump in the night. Be careful out there. Don't forget the topwater props. Like the mister twister top prop. It's my best producing topwater churning bait. With a slightly moving current use a bass scent. I use to give the water a shot too.

My two top reels for me so far have been the okuma epixor and the fin-nor lite models. The fin-nor lite is no longer offered but the fin-nor are awesome reels. The okuma epixor is another awesome spinning reel. I been using these spinning reels for over a decade now probably two decades. If using these reels for three months straight fishing everyday for years it should count and say something about there quality and reliability. I pounded these reels and they came back wanting more. I still have my Wal-Mart quantum too these were my first decent spinning reels. I do have a box of junk which I refuse to mention the brand but they were good for trout only. My best spinning reels for under $100 are, 1. Okuma Epixor spinning reel. It's a 10 Ball bearing reel. 2. Fin-Nor spinning reel 3. Globe spinning reel it's a clone to the okuma 4. Viva spinning reel These four reels have performed flawless for me. I'm still using them today. I can't say I fully life tested them because they haven't failed me yet. It's an on going test every year like I said for over a decade now. Keep in mind just because there not popular doesn't mean there not a quality reel. Fin-nor manufactures those heavy duty saltwater gold reels we see used on tampon to sail fish to sword fish. I like to test spinning reels priced between $50 to $100. My PB of 10# was caught on a black beauty 6' spinning rod, with a Wal-Mart quantum spinning reel, using Excalibur silver thread copolymer line. Don't forget the number one thing that's most important is the quality of the line we use. I wore out this rod to the point the foam upper handle had a vertical crack in it from bending at the handle. My very first trout fishing quality reels were the D.A.M. QUICK 110 & 110N UL spinning reels from the early '70's. These were flawless in operation and still like new. I stopped using them and put them away when I seen these $30 reels when they were new in an antique shop selling for $70 each. This tells me if we purchase good equipment it maybe worth more down the road when it becomes antique. I got old so fast my early fishing equipment is antique. Who knew?

These are my go to baits. I now use the shallow A in replacement for the FAT A. These colors still work. When I tested the combo c elector I used the bomber craw cranks. I did notice the original plain one solid cranks they had at the time were so ugly how could they work. I'm not sure if these solid dull colored cranks caught fish.

Who do you trust? Quote in the Iron Will movie trust the dogs the creator will guide you.

Mepps Anglia #3, #4, #5 silver blade gray dressing, gold blade Brown dressing, white red blade gray or brown dressing. Panther Martin silver blade yellow fly #4 /#6 Joe's fly 1/4oz bass size firetiger apache, blackgnat, glo tiger, white Miller, March Brown, mellow yellow. Wordens white dialmation silver blade white body black spots. Strike king. Silver blade black dressing.

My favorite fish catching lures is all of them. I find that sooner or later they all catch fish. 1. BPS TOPNOCKER in chartreuse #25 2. Bomber crankbaits. Fat A, model A, shallow A in redapplecraw, dark green craw, baby bass orange bottom, citrus, shad, etc. 3. Mann's classic 1/4oz spinner bait blue glimmer Colorado blade. 4. Mann's classic 1/4oz spinner bait chartreuse colors of blade. 5. Rapala original floating minnow f7 in blue or black. 6. Mepps Anglia inline spinner #3 7. Mepps XD 3 silver,white bucktail. 8. Strike king inline silver black bucktail. 9. Rebel BIG CLAW crawfish crank. Dives to 10' 10. C-rig senko 11. C-rig brushog 12. Split shot rig 6" worm black, purple, red or black shad. Pick one I use more than this. I figure out the pattern the fish want with the presentation that is skill that turns into success. Don't forget the bass scents. Never limit yourself to one lure. Try one then another and repeat till you get action. It's fun. Learn your presentations so there picture Oscar winning perfect. The more you do increases our skills, and that catches more bass. To me the most important thing is matching the lure color to the light and water conditions.

I notice in fishing swamps there are bigger fish making the bass fry too? We have bigger DD bass up here there not being caught. Not everyone fishes for bass up here. Only one place listed in ct? Candlewood lake. It has more productive bass fishing lakes than one. The bassmasters can only rate the Tornies they fish. The ct river is probably one of the best fish producing rivers in the country if not the northeast.

Add a scent, bass shad scent or garlic scent. Since they can smell around 20ppm there very keen on smells. I have a ritual were I wash my hands with big orange before I go on every trip even at 4am. To remove my natural oils from my hands. I don't touch gas pumps too.

I did the same thing in my younger days raising a family was more important. But as my young family became older I took them fishing right away. We did the boy scout and cub scout thing too. I regret no doing more with them but they had a roof over there head, a warm bed and food. That's our job right. God bless bigbill

Rainy days I'd rather be fishing, it's fishing at its best. I love bear hunting and go every year at my property. Hunting is awesome too. But I like bass fishing too. It's the thrill of catching a bass on a lure. The challenge of it. I love tracking bears in the fresh fallen snow too. It's the danger I seek.

Nice, congrats just ten feet from shore that's what I'm talking about. Listen up shore fisherman. Trust me there are bigger ones out there still. Bruce424 stay fishing there. Let this hog motivate you. That's an awesome bass no doubt about that. These bigger gals hang out together.

Great info. I been here since the very beginning I knew he was an ok guy back then.

The different sizes and depths are no longer listed. I talked with them about discontinuing there model FAT A and they said the older colors aren't selling. . These are my hottest crank colors. Well we're. All the square A colors aren't listed too. I wish I'm wrong but it doesn't look good.