rocknfish9001

which lake are you going to? We went out to kabetogama last summer, and did pretty well without sonar. We had a 16' aluminum boat with no anchor or trolling motor. Another HUGE problem, it was smack in the middle of the mayfly hatch. Nobody on are resort caught much of anything. We ended up outfishing every person in the resort about 2-1, or more. Except for the owner who had an 18' lund with a 200 horse and trolling motor/sonar, lived on the lake for 20+ years. Anyways, the secret was to use a lake map, and find the depth the walleyes were at, by trial and error and also asking other people. In our case it was 20'. We would justback away from the islands and rock piles in the middle of the lake until we were about 20' deep, and then toss over a bottom bouncer and a crawler harness on a 7' leader with 1/2 a crawler. Caught about 5 fish a day bewtween us. Not much, but pretty good for the conditions. (remember the hatch) Anyways, we caught 2 five pound walleyes and almost all were in the slot. Other bonus fish included about 10 northerns 2 sauger

I havent noticed a difference in quantity, but the night bite seems to have bigger fish. I caught my pb steelhead aroun 10:30 at night. (32" 13lbs)

Yea, i have the okechobee fats tackle bag that muddy mentioned. I love it. IT actually has 4 giagantic cases, and the pouches are big enough to fit some smaller cases in, and the back and front pouches can hold another big case each! As for your plastics, buy a worm binder.

Dont worry, my young eyes picked it all up. Now it just seems your problem is that your leader is interferring with the cast. Here are my suggestions- either scrap the braided/floro combo, and put just one line on it all the way to the lure with no leader. I recomend yo-zuri hybrid or hybrid ultra soft. Now about tying that knot, i would not know, and can not help you there. But if i splice line together, i usually do a type of back-back clinch knot. Tie one knot around the other line, and simply tie another one..... now if anybody can understand what im trying to tell them to do with that knot, i would be a little surprised, but dont worry, because i can almost garentee you there is a better way to do it. Roadwarrrior- he said that he has a st. croix coming, and is practicing with the ugly stick until season comes up.

They are fairly boyant, and very lively, i like them on drop shots and shakey heads.

i dont have a favorite brand, but i pretty much only use a craw imitation. Like craw papi's gycb fat craw, yum craw tubes, 3x craws, and gene larew

I just bought a few the other day. Ice out silver buddies is an outstanding way to catch ice-out bass. I have suggested this technique many times on this site, and it seems to be catching on!

Big huskey jerks. I like firetiger colors, but try something flashy as well, i have done good with gold/black ones. A little secret i have heard is that pink is absoloutley deadly when it comes to pike

I prefer a baitcaster for worms. For some reason, the setup feels better for hopping a bait. I think it is how the reel sits in your hand. But if you want great accuracy and unequaled quiet presentations, get a baitcaster. You have to play around with them both before you can make a good choice.

Lets see, i always use 6lb on my spinning gear, and have landed fish up to 25 lbs. on it. My budy is ALWAYS breaking fish off. First of all, weak knots on braided line, and they slip, second, he does not let the fish run. He always tightens his drag, and thumbs the spool way too much. I have broke off 2 fish that i can recall in the years of my fishing- a largemouth that went under some weed mats, and a carp that i just didnt really care about. Some of my light line accomplishments 25lb carp on 6lb 15lb carp on 6lb 15lb carp on 6lb 13lb steelhead on 6lb 10lb walleye on 6lb Numerous 8-10lb steelhead on 6lb A few 8-10lb carp and suckers sorry, just felt like bragging a little bit! ;D

My fishin buddy hooked into a "monster steelhead", which turned out to be a 15 lb+ carp. Put up a helluva fight.

Was at the st. joe river today, fishing for walleyes with grubs. Air temp was 30 degrees, and it was windy and sunny. The water was heavily stained. Anyways, i was there for a little while, and eventually switched up a little, with a lighter jighead, and different grub. First cast, fish on! Thought it was a decent walleye, but turned out to be my first smallie of the year! No measurements/weight, but im guessing close to 3 lbs. The bass usually dont move into this section of the river (below the dam) until the spawn/pre spawn.

yea, it is mostly geared towards deep fish on sandy bottoms, not rocks and boulders like you would find in most good rivers.

One of the absoloute deadliest presentations for ice out bass (large and smallmouth) is yo-yoing a silver buddy. You toss it out and let it settle, then yank it about 1-2 ft. off the bottom, and repeat all the way back to the boat, kind of like a kastmaster. It produces well when nothing else will. I have seen people take 5-6 lb. bass in 35 degree water using this technique.

im thinking about getting one, they are very popular with the members on this site

says the people who havent broken from the mold and tried it otherwise enough!

Absoloutley 100% firm believer in horizontal 60 degree heads. That all i use on shakey heads, and all my other jigheads for grubs, paddle tails, craws, etc.

Dont get stuck just following the "rules" Example: i was fishing pipestone lake for the first time. I have been there 3 hours, and havent caught a thing (the lake is know for being very tough, but has GIANTS in it) I was using a t-rigged worm after failing with wacky rigged senkos, spinnerbaits, topwaters, frogs, and cranks. I was hopping it along the bottom, but kept snagging in the weeds, i tried something a little out of the ordinary. I casted out, and swam it like a swimming jig above the weeds, and guess what? A 4 lb. fish! I also tried a craw style plastic on a shakey head, on the same lake, later in the year. I was using a trick worm on it with no resultys, the craw got about 5 bites that day, but i missed them all. (the air temp wat around 30, my hands were numb.) So in short, use it!!!!

I watched a presentation by KVD, and he mentioned this. He said it was one of his more productive techniques, but like most shakey head rigs, it mostly numbers, and an occasional big fish. He was using a zero, strike king's senko knockoff. I would probably use the zero before the senko since it is more boyant.

In the spring, i have had a couple of 20 fish days on their xps minnows. Also, i love most of their topwaters.

strike king bitsy bugs start at 1/16th oz. I have one and plan to fish it thouroghly. My favorite 1/8th oz jig by far is terminator's finnesse jig.

Our season is closed for some of the spawn, and then there is a strict "catch and immediate release" season, and then when bass season opens, the bass usually are off their beds.

I have the 7' medium power rod on my baitcasting setup, and i love it. Its my all around rod, no specific techniques. I dont fish too many crankbaits, but it will work, its just that there are better options for specifically fishing cranks

If your looking for a rod that made for crankbaits, get a fiberglass one

I know generally speaking that 10' is fairly shallow water. But its a lot deeper than 4', which might be as deep as my bait is running. Also, most lakes (about 90%) have a max depth in the 20 foot range, and an average depth around 5'. Except for a few large lakes i can think of.