John G.

Do you have a guide license? I would assume one is needed.

I say fish them like crazy, side imaging finds everything any way. Let me tell everyone some thing as well, those pros have dropped brush piles of their own before. We fished a lake for the college championship a couple years ago and a now Elite Series pro had won tons of tournaments on the lake and word from multiple people to have seen his map was he has a map/gps points of brush piles all over the lake that no one else knows about and that's why he won over and over and over again. Those were the days before side imaging as well so you be the judge. All of the grass in the lake was treated constantly so it was nonexistent because they draw water from it and brush piles were the key and everyone was dropping them. Also, have heard of a Bass Champs multiple winner who pays people to take pontoons and dump them on gps spots for him so I think fair game in Texas, Brush Piles in Choke Canyon, Lewisville, Fork, Rayburn, Toledo Bend, Benton, and Conroe that I know of so why let them take your money? It is illegal here in Michigan has well but you can buy a $50 permit and it is 100% free game then and violates no rule, doubt it would violate any tournament rule as is.

Thats no good about the snow! Not too long and you will be catching giant smallies one after another!!! On the Paw Paw Lake issue guys who have fished it they are trying to pass a weed treatment and dredging of the lake to stop the weeds from growing if you are concerned contact Coloma and Watervliet Townships to voice your opinion, Google them to find number. Paw Paw is one of my favorite lakes and it is a great lake and does give up some big fish but not EVERY tournament lol I have fished some tournaments out there that have been tough, real tough. However, when it is on it can be fun to fish, caught a 20 pound bag there last year and a smallie over 5 before. Biggest bass I saw in a tournament around here came out of there, a 6 pound largie. On the other side last year a 20 boat tournament took only 5 pounds to win so I would not drive a long way if you can get out on Kent, White, Muskegon, St. Clair, Saginaw Bay John G.

Welcome fell Michigan angler! You fish Charlevoix much? I wish I lived closer because it is my #1 smallmouth destination, caught one over 7 out of there last year! Caught a 5.03 in the BAU Classic up on Lelenau, however you spell that one, last fall so I will probably give that a try some other time if I come up that way as well.

Nice post! I work out every night to be in top notch fishing shape, girlfriend says I am crazy lol Small tip for jerkbaits though is use a shorter rod 6 ft if you are shorter and 6'6' if a little taller and jerk straight down instead of off to the side. Good jerkbaits are designed to be fished like this and leave a lot less stress on your hands, arms, back, etc. Jackall and Lucky Crafts work great when jerked straight down, most were designed by the same man Seiji Kato too

I agree with you but the majority of the population voted him in looking for handouts. He has some great views, and I wish we could implement them, but we can not afford to do 1/4 of them. Just think of the future taxes to pay for this stimulus package. With the deficit where it is today every man, woman, and child owes 78,000 to even us out, anyone up for forking it over? lol

Check out the jackall lures at tackle warehouse. Their lures were designed by the guy who made a bunch of lucky craft lures, pointer for example, so they are like Lucky Crafts on steroids lol I know you said you have enough plastics but one Jackall lure in particular will help you from the bank, the cover craw, you really need to check it out. You rig it from head to back instead of back towards head and it falls backwards so it slips into weird places. If you look on the cover craw thread their is a link to a video showing you what I mean and people fishing it from the bank in Japan.

Don't set the hook, lighter line, and a much lighter action rod.

K gotcha now. The cover craw thrown weightless is going to fall faster than your senko. The end of the lure is weighted out of the package so naturally the 4 inch cover craw falls faster than the 3 inch. I found a video link so you can actually see it falling. I have never seen that screw in hook they say is available for it so it must be in Japan right now. The guys are a hoot who make these videos in Japan, I have watched a few of them now.

I think you are talking about the flick shake, not the cover craw. The flick shake is a worm, cover craw , well a craw lol Both are totally different from each other and would be fished in different situations. The cover craw can be fished on a jig to get it to the bottom of any kind or texas rigged. On the other hand the Flick Shake is for wacky rigging and works best on the heads they sell for them, made of tungsten weight which falls straighter and faster than lead, so go with the 1/8 oz ones and it will get down relatively quickly. Honestly, I catch a lot fewer fish without using the heads designed for them. Hope this helps.

Yeah pretty sweet action! It seems the designer of them stays one step ahead of everyone else. Do you get yours at D and R Sports or Michigan Tackle Specialties?

Yep they can be. If you skip them weightless then it still slides away from you though and skips pretty good. If you put them on any type of head then you want to rig it as you normally would and not the opposite way, head towards tail.

Check out the Jackall Muscle series of cranks. There crankbaits are all good but I find that series to be the best. They have a Sexy Shad color out now and it catches them like crazy. They are smaller than traditional crankbaits, have excellent hooks out of the package, dive straight and true, have weights to make them cast further and easier, and dive with less resistance in the water so you don't get worn out from throwing them. You would have to try one to see all of these things but Japanese lures seem to be better than ones made elsewhere.

The Cover Craw is really sweet! If you rig it weightless and reverse on the hook it actually falls away from you after you cast, much like the old flying lure used to but in an actual bait fish like. You can cast under logs, floating docks, ETC now because of this bait. Also, I like using the 3 inch for jig trailers or fishing it on a small jighead or texas rigged. Look at Tackle Warehouse for more information, there is a video on youtube that shows its falling action as well.

The Cover Craw is really sweet! If you rig it weightless and reverse on the hook it actually falls away from you after you cast, much like the old flying lure used to but in an actual bait fish like. You can cast under logs, floating docks, ETC now because of this bait. Also, I like using the 3 inch for jig trailers or fishing it on a small jighead or texas rigged. Look at Tackle Warehouse for more information, there is a video on youtube that shows its falling action as well.

Honestly to get any money from a fishing related sponsor you would have to really..really be able to sell the products in huge volumes. KVD sold like 10,000 sexy shad crankbaits at one opening of a Bass Pro and that is why he gets paid so much by sponsors. It is a long and hard road to that point. Companies in the industry receive tons of requests each day for sponsorship, many around 1,000 a day. If you are offered a discount or any type of product I would start at that point, although it is very hard to even get there. Don't forget to tell a potential sponsor what you will do to promote their lures and increase sales, it really does not matter how well you do in tournaments because someone could win 1,000 tournaments but do nothing to sell products. Finally, if you do get a sponsor do not jump ship to a competitor, stick it out and show them you are in it for the long run because the industry is very connected. Hope what little I have told you in a quick summary helps.

Gemini and Animal Paintball both do really good work, animal paintball might be a little cheaper though. I have a Gemini Shirt, he has an Animal Paintball and he has washed his and dried his a ton of times, which you are not really supposed to do as he does and it looks great still after a year. I never had to have permission from my sponsors to use their logo I just said put these logos here on the form and they sent me a proof and I approved, it was printed. I know some guys, not naming names, with sublimated jerseys and no approval for logo usage but they had them made because they think it is cool.

Sw Michigan. if you go to St. Clair don't fish the rivers unless it is heat of summer. The lake has been full of them for the last few years. FLW has a college tournament on the Detroit River only in July and we are going to miss out on the best fishing because it is in the lakes that time of year, everyone is going to be disappointed I think.

Hi guys I am new from Michigan, well I was a member a couple years ago but lost track. I'm a college angler from Western Michigan University and fish a ton of other tournaments. I have some fishing videos and tips and upload more frequently on youtube, which you can access by clicking on my website button. Look forward to all everyone has to say about fishing.

No list of the sort exists to my knowledge. Where are you from? Not all that many schools have teams yet. I started mine at Southwestern Michigan College but it went under when I transferred to Western Michigan University and now I am VP of our club.

Is there a section to post video links to youtube videos on here? I am new to the site, was a member a couple years ago but I wanted to come back and join the site again. I have been making a few tips videos and once the ice goes away I am going to tape my trips and turn them into 10-20 minute videos on youtube to show how I use the lures I talk about. Some of the lures are sponsor products and some are not so I don't think it would violate any rules and nothing but the link would be posted on the site in case you wanted to watch. I'm going to post my college fishing videos from FLW as well on youtube so everyone can watch that wants to check them out. Can someone point me in the right direction before posting any link?