rocknfish9001

another

first fish, nearly 4 lbs.

My first trip of the year, i went out to pipestone lake. I got out in my 12' v hull, complete with trolling motor with little hope. The wind wouldnt let me do a thing seeing that my boat is quite easily blown around, and the rear mounted trolling motor wouldnt control the boat very well at all. I eventually got into a protected cove, where i could manage to control the boat fairly well, but only in reverse. I landed 3 bass and one crappie, and it just so happened to be the biggest crappie of my life, 1 lb 15oz!! New personal best! Anyways, the bass werent to bad either, all three were close to 3 lbs, the biggest, closer to 4. pb crappie, my expression shows my excitement.

Surprisingly, this carp was hooked on the outside of the mouth, not in it, but close. There are so many carp in the river this time of the year, i will accidentally snag about 3-5 fish per trip fishing with grubs, cranks, and pretty much anything you throw. Sometimes you get a tap, set the hook, feel a fish pull hard, and have it pop off. Then you think you lost a monster smallie, that is until you reel in and see a quarter sized scale on your hook. But i fish the berrien springs dam area. In the spring i will have 20-30+ fish days fishing for smallies. The best steelhead and walleye fishing is in january, and i have caught a limit of steelhead at 29,28, and 32 inches, and a 10 lb walleye in one week. Also have caught numerous 10+lb catfish.

My most productive rig with a tube, like the one you posted is to get an insider jighead and push it inside of the tube. Usually an 1/8th oz. one http://cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0000251112781a&type=product&cmCat=search&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&QueryText=insider+jigheadc&N=4887&Ntk=Products&Ntx=mode+matchall&Nty=1&Ntt=insider+jigheadc&noImage=0

I was smallie fishing before i had to go to work. I was on the st. joe river, which is about 2 mins. from my work, so i knew i could cut it close. I had to be there by 5, and it was 4:50. I had one fish (probably a bass) tear off, and didnt want to leave without a fish. I tied on a silver buddy, knowing that its a productive cold water lure (air temp was 48). My second cast i run into a snag, no wait, FISH! First it came in nice and easy. Thought i had a BIG walleye due to its fighting style. I continue to fight it and have trouble with it. Every time i bring it close to the surface, it bulldogs to the bottom. Good 15' runs every so often. I eventually get it close enough to see that it was a carp. Not a prize fish, but a good fish. I have caught carp up to 25lbs, and this was close to that. The crazy part was that it was probably under 30 inches, and incredibly fat! I landed it, got some congrats from nearby anglers, and leave right after releasing it. Checked my watch again, and it was 5:02. It took 12 minutes to land the fish on a ML spinning rod with 6lb test. Was lots of fun though...

Ive heard from successful local anglers that continually place high in many local and regional tournaments confess that the silver buddy is a staple in their cold weather tackle. But they also said that the secret is yo-yoing it off of the bottom. Now ive heard from other anglers (like roadwarrior) That the secret to these baits it keeping a steady retrieve for suspended bass. You have to try them both to see what works. By the way, i live in SW michigan. I feel your pain

I personally am a firm believer in using scents. But i do not believe for one second that it will help attract a bass. The whole scent trail thing that they try to play is a load of crap. I only use it for the soul purpose that i have confidence that it encourages a bass to strike and hold on a tiny fraction of a second longer. Sometimes i believe a bass will go up to a lure and stare it down, but not strike it. Maybe if the lure is really stinking, that might be enough to convince it that the thing is real and edible. I have noticed a difference in hookups in the use of scents, and i would like to say an increase in strikes, but i dont have enough details or an in-depth log to prove myself 100%.

1/8th oz terminator finnesse jig with a yum crawtube

There are several arguements here. You can say there is no such thing because the earth goes through natural hot and cold stages. But that cant prove why the earth is warming up so much faster than it has before. There is no arguement on that. That cold front didnt prove a thing either. It was simply an oddly low dip in the jet stream that brought cold air way too far south. But something that we havent looked at recently that could be a big cause is solar activity. This study is incredibly new, we just started studying the sun scientifically a short time ago and have no records of its activity. An unusual flare up of solar storms can affect the earths climate for years. So is the earth warming? yes, but its not necessarily global warming...

6 lb test hybrid will pull my 12 foot boat and its anchor if im snagged. I believe its breaking strength is actually over 10 lbs.

I am tired of buying pakages and pakages of hooks, constantly getting new sizes, and replacing ones ive lost. I found a kit for a good deal. It has a whole bunch of these matzuo sickle hooks ranging from 2/0 to 4/0, both in black nickle and red finishes. Have you used these hooks? I expect the hooking ratio to be great seeing how the point is aimed, and they are very sharp as well. They are not ewg's, and dont fit on some of my baits, like ikas. Heres a link http://cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/item-link.jsp_A&_DAV=040207_bass-home&id=0017776117557a&navCount=2&podId=0017776&parentId=cat20291&masterpathid=&navAction=push&catalogCode=IH&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat20291&hasJS=true

A piece of advice would be to use a normal offset shank hook before an ewg. Only use the wide gap on thick baits like creatures, flukes, senkos, and ikas. The ewg doesnt hold a fish as well in my experience, and the hookup ration isnt as good since the line, eye, and point are all lined up very well. If you want the optimum results in hookups, you HAVE to use straight shank hooks. They are much more efficient when it comes to hooking and holding a fish, but that also applies to hooking and holding snags.

I personally havent used them, but they were real winners on the bassmaster trail

When i think of the zoom meathead, i think of dropshotting. Looks like a good bait for a splitshot rig too.

Where im at, the spawn isnt for another month if the weather doesnt change. Its usually at the end of march-april. I live in SW michigan.

Try senkos (weightless on a 3/0 hook) or fat ikas (same rig) and fish them slowly. I fish a pond that is about 5-7 acres quite regularly. I can usually manage a few fish on many different baits, but if nothing works, this usually does. My best colors are anything that is greenish brownish or whitish silverish. Lots of colors to choose from there. Are you shore or boat fishing?

I have the wave worm bamboo stick. Its only 5" long, but about twice as thick as a senko. Havent caught a thing on it.

wait, i though catch and release started the last saturday in april....

Well it wasnt a beetle spin exactly, but it was that type of setup. There was actually about 2 inches of the plastic behind the hook. I tried changing colors, but didnt notice a difference. I was really wondering about the fish missing because i was fishing at night.

I was fishing with a beetle spin type setup with a larger willow leaf blade (size 4 i think) and a 4 inch paddle tail on a 1/4 oz jighead. I was tossing it around at night hoping to get some nice smallmouth. I have about 5 obvious strikes, but came up short every time. Is it possible that the fish are just missing the hook, or not biting the whole lure, just the tail? The hook comes about 1/2 way down the plastic.

j/w, if you catch a fish on the first cast and its bad luck, what is it if you catch fish on the first 2 casts?

I am wondering how many people have tried worms like trick worms or finnese worms as jig trailers. Should work. How about senkos?

2 people on 1 fish? Thats a first for me! Anyways, we were out on a lake and my buddy was bluegill fishing while i was bass fishing. He hooks into what is either a giant 'gill, or a bass. Fights it for a second, but because of the lily pads, it was able to break his 2lb test line. I am fishing around the general area and have a hit, and reel in a bass that to my surprise has a hook in its mouth, it is my friends gold hook with the line broken just above the split shot. I know i have caught the same fish several times in the private ponds i fish, but this is the only one im sure of.

bluegill style swimbaits are hard to beat. Just remember, not all bedded bass are easily catchable.