opie

I love those soft magic swimmers. I have been getting extra life by using mendit at first and then soft bait glue when they get too shredded for mendit.

I've bought two. First one a few months ago caught about 7 crappie and a couple bass before it started running really crooked. I got it for super clear water in the end of a slough in the ca delta. Last month I had super clear water again and the bass seemed keyed on minnow type baits so I bought another. It's put about 20 pounds in the boat and is still running strait, if a little ragged. It flutters subtly when it falls and has a very finesse tail wiggle. They'll hit it falling, burning it back, and last week they were picking up off the bottom after I let it fall. This was the only thing working with the roamers on the spawning flats. I plan on never going fishing again without these in my box.

What bait is tougher?

I like the coffee scents. If the bait companies are going to convince me that I need scents on my baits, I'd really prefer they convince me that a good smelling scent works instead of the nasty smelling scents I use now. A clumsy guy like me and a scent like JJ's magic is just too dangerous a combination. I'd much rather my boat,hands and living room smell like coffee.

1/4 ounce is as small as I can go so looks like 1/8 ounce shakeyheads are out of the question. Thanks for the help.

I am wondering what size shakey head I should order if I want to cast it with my core 50/ mbr 842 combo instead of a spinning outfit.

Thanks, nice to have a definitive answer.

My buddy just bought a new 24 volt 80 lb thrust trolling motor, and the shaft is much longer (60") than were are used to. He wants to cut it down some, so it does not stick up so much when we are shallow, but we know that people like long shafts for high winds and waves. How long should we leave it? We fish the California Delta and plan on spending more time in the wind now that we have a trolling motor that can handle it. It is an 18 foot bass boat.

Thanks, I'll order some of those Mustads.

I 've been using these hooks in the 1/0 size with great success on 4 inch senko's in the ca delta. They are great on my kayak because there is no need for a solid hookset, so when I am way out of position and get a bite, no problem. But I've been told that I should be trying a larger worm for the delta, so I have some 6" 9L's to try tomorrow. Do you think that these hooks are big enough for such a big worm? Or should I try a different hook. It seems like it would not take much of a 9L sized senko to fill up these small hooks when the bass balls it up in her mouth.

It says on the Z-Bone page of their website that you can call them now and they will walk you through the order on the phone, if you don't want to wait to order through the website.

Thanks everybody, I suspected as much. I guess its time to go pick up some new line.

I am trying to learn to fish jigs, and I have 12 lb seagar abrazx on my reel. When I see the thick hooks that are on my jigs, I wonder if 12 is enough. Am I going to be able to drive that hook home with 12, or do I need to move up to 15? Does a half ounce or 3/4 oz. jig differ from a 3/8 oz. in this respect? I was fishing a 1/2 oz with a big trailer yesterday in chocolate milk, and I definitely felt under powered, but I never got a bite to test out my theory. I was using a 733 dobyns and a MH Zillion for rods. Thanks

This happens a lot to me with my revo sx. It started when I began wearing a glove on my left hand for cold weather. I finally figured out that I was keeping the thumb bar from coming all the way back up with the base of the thumb of my left hand (right hand retrieve) as I first turn the handle after a cast. If this is the case you will be able to engage the spool by manually pushing the thumb bar up the rest of the way.

I have been using braid on mine for about 4 months with no damage to the guides, but it does not get a whole lot of my fishing time, maybe twenty hours total, so this is not a definitive answer.

I bought the lowrance x50 with the kayak install kit from the Hobie catalog. I had to pick it up from a local Hobie dealer. It has everything you need, including a double A battery pack in a dry bag for a power source. It was around 200 bucks. If you get some rechargeable batteries it is a pretty convenient system. You can check it out online in their catalog. Before you drill holes you might want to find some people with your exact model kayak in kayak forums who can tell you where they put their display, and where they had to drill holes. The local forum that I learned everything from is norcalanglers.com, but there are lots. The through hull transducers are mounted inside the hull, on a flat part of the hull away from anything that would cause turbulence right under the transducer.

From shore before the marina opened the gate on a texas rigged, 5 inch, weightless, blue/black senko.

The local shops end up being cheaper since my wife sometimes sees the boxes from T.W. before I can hide them, which results in a trip to the mall for her.

...falling asleep the night before. Opie

I had trailer trouble so I did not reach the spot in time to try anything out, but my two buddies that got there on time just happened to try two of the suggestions. One threw a translucent white 3.5 inch skinny soft swimbait for three largemouth. The other saw all the surface activity and pulled out his spook for not one bite. I hope to do some more on the water research on lipless cranks, shallow cranks and buzzbaits soon. Thanks for all the ideas. Opie

My lures will easily triple their time in good water if I can improve my casting accuracy and boat (or kayak), control.

What should I throw for shad chasing bass before first light? The bass (and crappie) are chasing shad in the ca delta where I have been going. The water is about 49 degrees and 6 foot visibility, (I can see a white lure 6 feet deep during the day). Soft white swimbaits and a double fluke rig are both working great after the sun comes up, but while it is dark I have been throwing texas rigged plastics with a bead for noise, but it is only producing an occasional fish. I can see fish chasing shad, or at least some kind of baitfish, on the surface, so I know they are active. I figure they cannot find the swimbaits in the dark, so I haven't been giving them much of a chance. Am I wrong? Thanks for all the help. This site, between the forum and the articles, is responsible for most of the fish that get a look at the deck of my kayak. Opie

Thanks Everyone, I placed an order for various colors and sizes of the shadalicious and a few different keel weighted hooks so that I will be able to figure out what I like best. Since free shipping at TW took a $50.00 order I also had an excuse to try the weedless grass minnow and a few other of the cheaper brands of soft swimbait bodies. I wish I had read about the Mission fish before I placed the order. I like that they tell you which hook you need for which size bait, that is exactly I need. Nagging doubts about whether or not I rigged my bait correctly give me one more reason to put down a new bait before I give it a decent chance. Opie

I am new to swimbaits, and bought river2sea bottom walkers, (4 inch?), which are producing really well for me lately in the California delta. However, I am fishing them in and around grassbeds and they keep getting hung up. When I pull them out of the grass the tails keep getting cut off. I tried a Yum money minnow today,hoping for a weedless alternative, but it did not want to go deeper than 2 or 3 feet. Can anyone suggest a weedless soft swimbait that is closer to the action of a bottom walker? In other words, something I can fish from 4 to 10 feet deep and is close to 4 inches long.

Once I used the term "lightning tracker", which I got from swilly78's post, I got all sorts of info on lightning from the weather websites, and in some areas I can even see where and when lightning strikes have happened. I don't have a phone that is nice enough to download Mycast, but at least now I can see that lightning is not expected in the coming storm. Running for cover if I see or hear lightning, or if my line floats in the air and my fishing pole buzzes, is something I was already planning on doing. Fourbizz, I have read that Clearlake is known to generate big waves, but the weather underground says the coming storm will have maximum wind speeds of 9mph, and most of the time, Monday through Wednesday, winds will be below 7mph, so it should be manageable. Thanks everyone, Opie