bigbill

The first year me and my sons got into bass fishing one spring after trout fishing only for many years it wasn't until the weeds grew that tried to stop us till we regrouped and did some research into the weedless baits. Our success continued even when the weeds were out of control. My point is never let the weeds stop us from fishing and send us home a beaten fisherman, fisherwoman. We can beat the weeds with the right stuff. My favorite weedless lures are; 1. Mister twister top prop (slow reel, reel / pause, pause presentations) 2. mepps timber doodle (just drop it into the weed pockets and let it do its thing as it falls, let it dance baby dance) 3. Plastic grub on a jig head (2" or 3" in size and yellow, white, milktruese or chartruese in color) 4. Spinnerbaits (fished fast enough so the blade slaps the topwater) 5. weedless winged spoons Do you have any i didn't list???

But mother nature has the early morning temps at 30 degrees with the 20's expected soon. I'm ready to go and jones'n to drown my lures. I've never been this ready as i am this year.

Is there s stencil for applying the bluegill or sunfish patterns on the sides of the crankbaits?? The ones i have look to be a photo thats printed and applied to the side of the cranks. Where can i find them or how do i make them??

I lost terry's email / sight address when my last puter locked up and dumped. Does anyone have his email address???

Hotdogs for bait only if they get passed me....kidding. I think that any sandwich meat will work since most of them are salted anyhoo. I like chicken livers wrapped in bacon and baked in the oven yummy.....

I did purchase some of the higher priced lures on clearance "once" and they caught nothing. There marketed with one of the pro fisherman's name too so i figured i had a fish catcher on my hands. Soon its time to weed out my tacklebox of the non producers and bag and tag them for future use. So i'm kind of lure shy now as the prices go up with lures. Years ago i purchased the "flying lure" on clearance, i haven't seen this lure in many years then it popped up on clearance. Me and my son took them out and guess what the darn things work. I think they were a $1 a package at the time on clearance. Silly looking stuff.

With some of my lures being discontinued recently i been browsing for replacements in different brands. I got sticker shock today at one sight. The lures are between $10 to $20++++ in cost for just "1". You have to be kidding me right?? I ask who are the lure manufacturers really targeting?? You would think there are more kids / youth purchasing fishing lures than adults or its really a close call in numbers. When i see the higher lure prices its limited to a certain few thats going to purchase them. I'm not going to purchase any of the higher priced stuff thats not me i'm way to frugal. I started bass fishing using live minnows and was up to $50 ++ a week with using them. We fish almost everyday. Seeing this cost i got into using lures. The money i saved on buying live minnows purchased new lures. The numbers of fish caught was equal and even increased during my newly aquired knowledge on how to use lures. Now i wonder how many fisherman actually use the higher priced lures???

My oldest son won't accept losing any lures when there hung up. He and my youngest son went fishing. Of course he climbed out on a fallen log to retrieve his hung up lure. He showed up at home all wet. My youngest son was still laughing at him. He fell off the log and went into the water while trying to get his lure back. He does this all the time too. But its the cheaper stuff that he is trying to save.

For me its yes, i use the ball bearing snap swivels which allow the crankbait to move more freely side to side and possibly it gets a little more movement/action too with the snap swivel. Plus i have a hard time changing baits in the dark. Heck i can't tie in the light too.

That one looks awesome. I had a metal frog that the rear legs moved forward and rearward when you cranked it in the early 60's. I fell one night on a rock getty and all my stuff went into the rocks and water. I lost it.

How many of you guys/gals use the sight line to our advantage?? I find under certain conditions the bass can be very shy and won't strike above the sight line. I throw out my spinnerbait and reel it fast enough to keep it near the surface. After a few casts with no success i will slow down reeling it so its below the sight line just out of my sight but its in the fishes face when they will hit it. Ever fish using the sight line??

Are you sure you want to sell them?? I got into collecting old fishing lures and tackle. Its a good fun hobby i can do with the misses while going to tag sales and flea markets. You have a good head start there already.... That heddon fish thats yellow with the lightening z on it was the very first lure i caught a bass on one sping. Checkout ebay to see what some are worth.

I just purchased another larger frog from www.bogbaits.com to try with his scent. I purchased every frog made to test them to see which one works better. I also have the rebel frog R on order too. I'm going to stay away from my normal crankbaits when its slow and try the frogs and more plastics this year.

I get dressed the sameway everytime before i go fishing. I have to have my poloarized glasses and my favorite hat too. If i do it the sameway everytime this means wether i have a good day of fishing or not. Without my glasses and hat the trip is over before i start. How about you guys and gals??? I still say its skill not luck in fishing. Thank God i can never leave my skills at home or forget to bring them with me.

I just took on two more torpedo's two more of my favorite lures are discontinued. I just dropped more $$ buying up what i can on clearance. I just took two more hits. I'm not crazy about these new colors that are comming out. Plus one lure is totally different. This older stuff still works awesome...... This is also funny the garcia 5 star rods and the DAM Quick spinning reels I purchased in my teens are in antique shops now. I still use this stuff for trout. Does that mean i'm an antique too? Not only did i get old so fast my fishing equipment did too....I need to accept change i guess. With old age I can't do anything about it.

One of my hottest lures are the inline spinners and spin fly's. 1. Mepps 2. Strike King 3. Panther Martin 4. Joes Flies I try them all the time. On cloudy and rainy days its one hot puppy. On a sunny day the silver blade & black dress work awesome. (strike king) I can't say enough about the joes flies and the panther martin spinflys. Joes new 1/4oz bass size spinners are aweso9me to9o.

Let me clarify myself i'm disabled and can't walk into stores for long distances so i purchase most of my stuff off the net. Even the lure manufacturer is out of certain colors on this lure.

Standing in one spot during the light rain i caught 19 bass with a joes fly firetiger apache 1/4oz bass size inline spinner. I also caught some pink color looking pan fish too. They looked like pink / white sunfish. Sometime during the front, when the front is approaching or when the heavy rain slows down to a lull i can't seem to get a handle when the frenzy will start but i find it to be non stop action fish after fish no matter were i cast i catch fish. I think they would bite a bare hook too.

First thing at around 4am to 5am i throw my BPS topnocker in chartruese(spook) I put a good shot of scent on it and toss it as far out as i can in the channel along side the weedline. I will walk it all the way in. After a few casts in the channel in different directions I switch to a Rebel BIG Claw crawfish crank that dives 10' its the D74 model in green chaw black black. I throw this along side the weedline as far as i can throw it and give the rod a sweep so it dives befor i crank it. I reel it slow keeping in bouncing on the bottom. I work this one with a few casts also. As the sun comes up I switch to my bomber FAT A in apple redcraw. I go from the channel into the submerged weeds since this one floats. I pause it over the weed pockets were i can. The fish can hear the rattle but it takes time for them to find it. When all else fails i go to the inline spinners (#3) and spinnerbaits (1/8oz) using different presentations. Next i go back to basics with a rapala orginal floater in blue/white. My chartruese cranks are next. Most of the time this plan will work. But if all else fails i throw everything in the two 9606 tackle boxes. If all else fails i throw everything a second time changinmg my presentations with everything. I do switch to my plastics often too like my swimbaits and senko's. The last time this happened it was a tough day and i wasn't giving up yet. When i put on a bomber in chartruese crank that runs deeper i landed my first bass. I was tired and about to leave it was just one more cast. My point is stay focused and motivated when using lures. Its a learning process everytime i go fishing even now too. Fishing from shore i have the option to run and gun between 4 or 5 places that are fed by the same river i'm just down stream.

How about a senko type bait under a crappie rattle float?? There's nothing like ringing the dinnerbell. I mainly use the senko type baits on a 1/8oz brass weighted carolina rig with a 24" to 30" leader. I either follow it down keeping the line tight to the rod tip or shake the rod tip as it falls making the senko twitch as it falls. I use no scent on the first cast. If i get a strike and a miss one shot of scent on the second cast is a positive hookup on the next cast. Take a kid fishing we need the next generations educated in fishing too. We need more TV shows like Jerry McKinnis too. We just don't have that anymore.

Locating the beds there on the north side were the spring sunlite shines the longest time of the day. Look for sandy spots along the shoreline too. I would try all colors of cranks. In slightly stained water its the smaller sized lures brighter colors fished between fast and slow like a medium speed. You may want to try the natural colors too fished slower. Its size, color and the speed that matters. My favorite colors are; 1. redcraw 2. browncraw 3. green craw 4. fire craw With the bass on the beds isn't a plastic lizzard there worst enemy??

My two hottest spinnerbait setups from shore are; 1. 1/8oz brass blade up sized from the orginal with a glimmer blue skirt with a trailer hook and a mister twister split double tail white trailer. I trim the larger skirt to fit the 1/8oz spinnerbait and then trim the 2'' MT split double tail trailer to size it to the spinnerbait. You need to adjust the trailer till it runs exactly straight. Then one shot of YUM. 2. 1/8oz brass blade up sized from the orginal with a chartruese skirt with a trailer hook and a mister twister chartruese trailer. Again you need to fit it all and adjust the trail so it runs straight. Presentation is a big factor too. Depending on how active the bass are you can run it above or below the sight line. Either way you should have success. With my two successful setups posted how about some more tips on your setups for the bigger spinnerbaits?? Bill

All i'm going to say is don't go fishing with out them. You need to constantly scan the water and you will see the bigger fish follow the one thats hooked or the bigger ones will come in close to see what the littler ones are doing during there frenzy. At this time i upsize my lure for the larger ones.

In the past I walk my shallow crankbaits alot with success with the hooks hanging down. Over submerged weeds and pausing over the deeper pockets is where i've had lots of success. The presentations are limitless. I also have one main tacklebox for my weedless stuff too. Since the bass are going to be a tad sluggish in the northeast withy the weather patterns constantly changing from hotter mild weather to cold weather again its going to take sometime so the bass will motivate from the mud to maybe getting ready to spawn. I think it just maybe a slow year but i hope not as the weather wrams up. I will test the rebel frog R up against my BPS topnocker, bomber FAT A and my rebel BIG Claw crawfish cranks. The Frog R will be up against a tough successful crowd. But i have one monster bass at one spot that already ate a few of my topnockers and left with them. Thats the only problem i see fishing from shore over the weeds. She took my lure down so fast I tried for 15 minutes to move her but she is a monster in size. I did see her mouth when she striked it. No one fishes these smaller places correctly for the bigger bass.

When to use firetiger colors; stained and muddy waters At dusk / before dawn in low light situations When nothing else is working.......