rocknfish9001

Its in a river, but its just below the dam, and there is very little current. We would see a hit usually, and wait until the rod starts to bow down and look as if the fish is about to rip it into the water, then hit it. I was going to buy some circle hooks today, since all of the ones we had were quite dull. It was pretty hard to get it through the baitfish with both hands, and i am almost positive that was a big reason for the missed fish as well, but we were also using 8 1/2' heavy rods. As far as resistance goes, my one friend was using the bait clicker, and it worked fairly well. I just had a slip sinker, so the line could travel through it, paired with a long rod with a fairly soft tip.

I tried hooking them with large octopus or kale hooks either in the tail, or near the head. I guess it could be gar, since we ended up catching one that went 34 inches that day. It wasnt even hooked, it just got the line wrapped around its mouth.

Me and my buddy were targeting flatheads last night. We had at least a dozen hits, no hookups, give me some help here! We were using live bluegill, between 3 and 5 inches

mudfish??? Not familiar with them

I must say, I didnt realize how fat my pb was until you put it into perspective. Mine was only 29", but almost 11lbs. Anyways, what musky bait were you using that a walleye took?

Once i caught a fish with my hands.....

Haha! Sounds exactly like me when i fish the St. joe river. Ill be along with 20 other anglers, and they all fish simple, bare, basic tecniques, and either get skunked or catch tiny fish. The most memorable day is when i caught 20 bass, all around keeper size and i didnt see another fish landed by anybody else. I had a lot of new "buddies" that day.

I went out this weekend, and caught 25 bass. 17 of them were caught on a weedless frog, and i had probably 3 fish strike for every 1 i landed on the frog. It wasnt the hookset that was the problem, it was the fight. I would hook it, fight it for a second and it would tangle in the weeds and loose me. The secret for the hookset is not to set it right away. You dont necessarily want to "feel" the fish either. Just be confident that it is in its mouth. If you wait too long and never feel the fish, im sure youll be more heartbroken than if you rip it from the fish.

If you have a heavy enough stick and heavy enough line, try to yank them out right away, if you get it out of its home quick enough, it will become disorientated, and wont know where to go.

The biggest secret to working a fluke is slack in your line. This is one of the very few baits where it helps you. In order to get a killer side to side action, you have to snap your rod to get all of the slack out of the line, and let off as soon as you feel the bait. The rod action looks fairly violent if you want a really good darting action, but you move the bait very little. Hope you catch what im saying...

Keep in mind most minnowbaits are going to be very shallow divers. Rapala originals should work great. Also, how deep the crank goes varies a lot in your retrieve. A moderate speed steady retrieve will make it dive deeper than a stop and go twitching retrieve.

from what i understand, the only way to get a 100% accurate answer is to get genetic proof from a lab.

lake- kabetogama in voyagers national park (minnesota) river- sugar creek in turkey run national park (indiana)

great pic. Usually smallies are heavier than they look. By that i mean they look 3 but are actually 4. Yours definatley looks 4+

And his second fish, last one of the day, also on a buzzbait

buddies first fish in a while, probably his smallest ever (caught on a buzzbait, too)

next fish (back to back casts)

day 2, 1st fish

last fish of the first day

crappie on a huskey jerk

2nd fish

Last week, got out twice. The first time i fumbled through a few spots with a few baits, eventually found that a silver huskey jerk was the key. I landed 3 bass and a crappie, and my partner got skunked. We were on the lake for about 2 hours. The next day we went back out, for about one hour. I tossed the husky jerk around again, got one within minutes, and caught one the next cast, back to back fish! They were the only two i got that night, but i missed a few more, missed one on a jig, twice, and lost one while fighting it on the huskey jerk. I also had one hit it within 2 feet of the boat, it was pretty cool to see it come up and grab it, but i got excited and yanked it out of its mouth. First day, first fish.

yesterday i caught a 2 lb crappie on a 1/8th oz. terminator finnesse jig tipped with a strike king 3x craw..... but i dont think thats very practical.... ;D

Generally speaking.. 1. Jig and pig 2. Large swimbait 3. 8-10" worms 4. Buzzbait of some type 5. Spinnerbait of some type However, my biggest fish have come off of 1. White 3/8 oz buzzbait 2. Weightless zoom super fluke 3. Snag proof perfect frog 4. 5" tiki stick 5. 1/4 oz. jig (brown/orange)

finally, almost 3 on the dot