Gangley

I was having a horrible time yesterday trying to keep the panfish off of my 10" worm. They would rapid fire tap it, or simply pick it up and drag it off. I set the hook numerous times before I actually saw one of them in the water doing this. After that, I would slowly apply tension to the line and if it was the panfish, they would generally spit it out or rapid fire tap it again. After actually seeing it happen, it made it a lot easier to detect bass from panfish. The larger of my two fish yesterday came after pulling the worm away from biting perch, and almost instantly after pulling it away, i felt the real thump, and set the hook. The best way for me to tell though, is simply applying pressure to the line during the tapping. Generally, if there is no pressure, just a bunch of taps, then its panfish. If there is weight, I set it hard.

props to you on that, but you wouldnt go waist deep in any water I fish and last long, haha.

Thanks for the help guys, I appreciate it.

Now that the summer is in full swing here, I am looking for some crankbaits that exhibit a wider wobble on a slower retrieve. Does anybody have any suggestions for a lure that exhibits a wide wobble that they have had success with?

the offset shank should just be the "z" bend in the shank close to the eye. the location of the hook point in relation to the eyelet is more of the hook style such as wide gap, extra wide gap, etc. The offset hook (z bend) was originally to be used as a "keeper" of sorts for plastics to help keep them from sliding down the shank. Though the "z" does alter the primary direction of force applied by the hook tip during the hookset, it is minimal.

look at the two hooks on the right to get the best idea of the differences between a straight shank and an offset shank.

ZOOM Horny Toad....never fails me.

ZOOM Lizard with Ultravibe legs

City Limits. Ike doesnt push products down your throat, and he really does a good job about showing how to get patterns started and how he fishes certain lures. I like it because it's instructional, and not just one long infomercial promoting Brand X products.

Two if the biggest fish I have caught this year came on blue bird skies following after a couple days of storms, in the middle of the day between 12 and 1. Simply put, most of the fish may be tight lipped, but there will always be a hungry fish somewhere that is looking for food, and big bass have big appetites.

More than my wife knows, less than I want.

haha, deep for me starts at 10 feet!

the ultravibe has A LOT more action that is considerably more rapid as well. I like the chigger craw when doing a drag and slow hop presentation but prefer the ultravibe when fishing the jig faster and looking for a few reaction bites.

worms, dont forget the worms! Trick, finnesse, shakey, etc., all great when slowing things down.

the tap, without a doubt, the tap. When your fishing a worm and the tap feels like somebody hit your rod with a bat, thats what drives me nuts. I probably spend 20 minutes a day thinking about the taps that I have felt in the past with big lunkers.

that was my second double. the smaller fish went 2.33 and i tossed the larger before realizing that I hadnt weighed it as well, but he was about the same size as the other, just a hair larger

Until this afternoon, I have never had two fish get hooked onto my lure at the same time. However, not only did i get two fish on the same lure at the same time, but within 5 casts later I had it happen again, it was WILD! Just wondering how often it happens that two fish hookup on the same lure at the same time, and if anybody has ever had a "Double-Double" like I did today?

The ZOOM Hooks and the Owner Tiwstlock are almost IDENTICAL, so close that I can't tell the difference. I love the bullfrog color, it is my best producer by far. I havent tried the pearl belly, but it seems to be pretty productive in the area.

Check your frogs, ZOOM is notorious with their horny Toads for having frogs that have been dented or bent during packaging, and when you look at them, you can see defects such as large indentations in the bellies or leg attachment locations. Boiling them will solve the problem, but I check each of the frogs in the pacage before I buy to make sure they are all properly formed and not mishaped because of packaging or improper heating/cooling rates. If the frogs are not mishapen, check your hook setup. make sure the back is not arched, this can cause the frog to submerge itself and twist during the retrieve. You want the back level or somewhat concave so that the belly of the frog creates an upward lift allowing the frog to ride on top of the water. I prefer the back to be flat so that I can run it on top of the water, or retreive it just under the water depending on what the fish are wanting. Certain colors float better as well. The bullfrog color will float much better than the watermelon red color which tends to sink fairly quickly. Basically, check to make sure the body is not mishapen on its underside, and make sure the the hook is properly placed within the horny toad. Ill check for pictuers and see if I have any that show how I rig them. This is with a Gammy 5/0 EWG before I started using the Owners (I only use the Owner Twist Locks now):

Been fishing the horny toad for a while now with great results. Two Things: 1. Use a 5/0 owner twistlock, the 4/0 gammy ewg doesnt have enough clearance for good hook penetration. The twistlock feature on the owners is fantastic for horny toads, I will never use a different hook unless I absolutely have to for some unknown reason 2. Once they hit the Horny Toad, wait, wait, and wait some more. A good thing to remember is to keep doing your retrieve until you feel weight on the rod, even if they boil up right on top of it. Just keep doing your normal retrieve until you feel the weight of the fish, and then wait another second before setting the hook. Often times, you can count to 2 or 3 in your head while realing up slack after the initial blow up, and then set the hook once you feel weight. I generally count to 3 and set the hook hard on the 3 count, i try to cross the eyes. The reason you want to wait before setting the hook is because many of the bass will strike at the legs of the horny toad, take it down and then re-bite/swallow. If you set the hook on the horny toad right when you see the boil up, many times you will have a frog come at your head with no legs attached. Just give them a second to really inhale it and then set the hook, you will get a lot more hookups that way

Berkely 10" Worm in Junebug

Rice Crispy Treats, Oatmeal Cream Pies, Water Bottles, Pay Day, occasionally Gatorade. Sweets are just to give me energy, but i will go through 2 bottles of water an hour and never need to pee

Bluegill Crank or bluegill swimming jig Otherwise, go with a jig and trailer.

I agree to an extent. If you fish, you need to be responsible for the fish that get mortally injured. I hate gut hooking them, and I dislike seeing them bleeding profusely, but it happens, its inevitable, and most people have empathy for them when it happens, I know I do. When I do injure them beyond recovery though, I take them home to make sure they dont go to waste. With my 5 year old son, I tell him that since we injured the fish, its our fault that he is going to die, and so its our responsibility to make sure that he doesnt go to waste. We take him home and eat him. We dont throw him back and "hope for the best". However, I also have a daughter, and I won't be able to be as blunt with her when she comes of age because she wouldnt understand the "matter of fact" simplicity of the situation and just accept it like my boy does. The circle of life topic would definately be broached, but it would be with us taking the fish home to eat because we are the ones responsible for it's death. ps, I would never recommend staying home and playing video games with kids instead of fishing with them. Not sure I understand why a different explanation is needed for a girl, 5 years of age vs. a boy the same age. That young girl is just as capable of understanding the circle of life along with the taking of fish for consumption due to deep hooking as the young boy is. Sounds like you're ready to patronize your daughter and not give her the benefit of the doubt for her emotional capabilities compared to your son. Children, even at that young of age, boy or girl, are quite capable of handling the emotions of a situation like that if the parent takes the time to explain it to them. my daughter is tougher than my son. she doesnt complain near as much when she gets hurt, doesn't whine near as much, and can easily hang with boys older than her. Boys and girls at the age of 5 are both capable of understanding far more than the circle of life, girls in particular because they generally progress quicker mentally at that age than boys. But you missed the point, i wasnt referring to all boys or all girls, I was referring to one girl, my daughter who I am raising and interacting with every day. My circle of life comment was directed for her, not for all girls, just her. She is very tenderhearted when it comes to animals or insects. She is as advanced physically and mentally as my son was at her age, but she is far more emotional when it comes to animals and living things. Its not a matter of patronizing my daughter, its a matter of knowing how she reacts to animals/insects/any living thing getting hurt. My post was not to say that all girls need the circle of life speach because they dont, just as many boys need it as girls because its not determined by the child's sex, its about empathy, and some children have more than others. My daughter is not one to accept and listen to "its the way it is, get over it" and be fine with it, but my boy is. That is not to say she isnt tough, or isnt as resilient physically or mentally, its just that she is very tenderhearted towards living things, much more so than my son was at that age. Because of that, she will require more finnesse than he will, and its not because she is a girl! Its because she is much more tenderhearted than he is and requires a little more understanding to accept animals being hurt.

Thanks, I appreciate it.