crank

busted! at least give me credit for the imagery. Looking forward to getting back out there with you and ripping some buzzbaits!

...so take advantage of whatever window in you get, and don't question it because it doesn't fit the season, the report, whatever. I've had great results this winter on the bottom with jigs and hogs...but when my fishing buddy's spinner gets pounded, first cast, it's probably a good idea to give it shot. I caught my best fish (7 10) on the observation that they wanted to react that evening, rather than sticking with the bottom feeding game that had been producing. The lesson for me was read the fish first, and don't question it based on history, season, report, etc...or I might miss a good window of activity. Good luck!

you bet...took my line (12 mono) across the bricked-in drain she was tucked behind, and had to snake her through some timber too. I'd already determined I was going in, phone and all, to get her if she got hung in the sticks! Thanks for all the congrats! It's double digit time!

My daughter fishes with me pretty regularly. In fact, she got me back into it after many years...pestered me regularly "can we go fishing!"...One day it dawned on me how much I loved it as a kid, and realized it would be a blast to fish with her...and it has been. We both just caught our biggest fish together last night...Can't think of a better way to spend the time.

My daughter pulled one on an inline spinner, while I was fishing a hog on the bottom. switched over to a spinnerbait. Glad I did. She grabbed it almost right when it hit the water. Great fight, monstrous head shakes. 7 lbs. 10 oz. of fun...woo!

I like to look at my nice collection of Stanley minnow-heads, and Terminators. However, my .50 cent Wal-mart clearance collection I bought start the SB box have been the most productive for me, with the mixed colors (yellow/red, green/yellow) being the most productive of those...go figure.

if you moved him 20 feet, it sounds like he may have shook it off. was there any slack during the fight? braid, good quality hooks and a good backbone on a rod should help with hooksets I lost him at a transition point where I realized he was coming back at me from the direction he'd been pulling. So yeah, didn't have as much pressure on him. Rod was probably good (St Croix Premier 7MF) but 12 pound mono didn't help. We were sight seeing the wall/cliff that Jacob mentioned with the kids, and just happened to see some big balls and arcs on the graph so started jigging on them with whatever was handy. I would think braid on a clear lake like Jocassee would scare them off. Fluoro leader?

+1 on the Jitterbug. The $1.50 Strike King Bitsy Bug. Deep, shallow, bright, overcast, heavy cover, open water, bounce it, swim it, dead stick it, tipped w/ a craw or not, big fish, small fish, SMB, LMB, spots...doesn't matter. Sometimes I wonder what all my other lures are for.

Recycling to the max... Start with oldest daughter's book satchel that is not "cool" enough anymore to hold it all.Then raided the pile of shaving kit bags I get for Xmas/B-days. Currently those bags are organized as: 1) Worms/sticks 2) Tubes 3) Creature/Hog/Lizard 4) Flukes go in the front of the satchel for quick access. Craws, chunks, and Beavs, stay in a 3700 box dedicated to the jig game, in my big tackle bag...Then there's the BPS shopping bag full of "duplicates" I can't seem to stop buying when they're on clearance. That one stays hidden, or I'm in trouble...

on a recent BassPros episode, they said that the spot can be fished slower than other rattlebaits because its slower fall. ...which seems to translate to it sailing pretty badly on me, especially with longer casts. Anyone else?

Nothing compared to those northern fish, but have to represent GA. Smallies! We don't have many left. Caught at Lake Blue Ridge. This was my first, and only last year. 2lb. 13. oz...

I managed to beat the typical problem..spooky fish in gin-clear water. Lost two solid fish due to bad hook sets. One grabbed a swarming hornet at SIXTY FEET and jumped off 20 feet later. The other was up shallow, you know...like 35 feet. I got to see the three pound-ish LMB before he spit it at the surface and gave me a tail wave on the way back down. How does one get a good hook set on light line into a fish that deep!?

I'm still rooting around for an inexpensive drop shot rod that will only get occasional use but still be sensitive enough to make it worth dedicating to the technique? The length and action option here seems to "lean" in that direction, no? Any opinions on President rods specific to DS or in general?

I bought a St. Croix casting rod off a guy on Craigs List and he threw in a Pinnacle Plus for another $10. I didn't immediately have a reel for it, so I figured it would get me through until I could replace it. I've since moved it to my spider jig rod, but it's still getting use and catching fish. In fact, there are more expensive reels I would replace, before I got rid of this one. It's no Curado, but based on the build and feel of this reel, seems like, $ for $, you're getting more for your money down in the "value" range with Pinnacle. I'd be willing to try other reels based on the performance of my $10 "find." Thanks for a decent, inexpensive little reel!

Indeed. In the shallow ponds I fish here in ATL, three sunny days followed by overcast has them right up not quite on the flats. I couldn't catch anything this winter until late January. Then the jig bite turned on big time, and its just a matter of finding the water they like for the given day or time of day. And the takers are bigger, I'm not catching many dinks...the range is like 2 to 4.5 lbs. Never been much of a winter fisherman, but I'm lovin it!

My super secret doctored Zoom Super Hog. Cut off the top down to the arms, cut the connector between the tail and cut the two flippers down the middle.

This winter was my first foray into jig fishing too and its been a blast. I understand why there are guys who could fish with nothing else. A lot of the article advice from this site has worked for me. Check them out. They're worth the time, if you want to save time on the water. Big jigs=big fish and fewer bites. If I just want to catch some fish, a quarter ounce jig weeds out the panfish and pulls 1 to 3 pounders nicely. I seem to pull more fish with contrasting colors. My local pond pretty much requires a black jig with a green craw or hog. I experiment with other colors and don't get bit. Having a good mix from the start will allow you to experiment, and they're pretty much the cheapest lures on the shelf. Buy a bunch. you'll leave some on the bottom, so you don't want to run out when you're catching fish. Slowing down was the hardest part for me. I caught my first jig fish in fall when they were hitting everything, and couldn't catch another until February, when I finally slowed down enough. I see the speed thing debated, but patience paid off for me. YMMV. Good luck!

Another overcast day, another fattie (4 Lb. 12 Oz.) out in the open looking for a crawfish lunch. Didn't have my photographer with me this time, wish I had gotten a better picture. Now if I could just figure out where they're hanging out on the sunny days...

"Well said - I didnt get the payoff last saturday" Still cold out there, isn't it!?!? The jig & craw bite really lit up for me in February on this pond though. I've been able to count on a couple fish for a couple hours invested, pretty much every time out. Working sun lit laydowns on the bright days, and deeper/open water when it's overcast has been the pattern all month. I'm not willing to stay out there more than a couple hours in 30 degrees and 10 mph wind, so I'll take it! Good luck, spring is coming...

Probably about 4 feet of water, but this pond is 7 feet at its deepest, so deeper than it seems relatively. I had just read an article on dead sticking so that's how I started out on 20 to 30 second intervals. But my patience got the best of me, and it turned to a S-L-O-W crawl along the bottom only lifting enough to get it over cover when it felt stuck. Long cast, well past an isolated stick up. Slowly weighed the line at the stick up and felt enough resistance to set the hook just to be sure. I still thought I might have pulled off some of the stick up, until I saw a small boil at the surface. This is the slowest I've ever fished and it was excruciating in the cold, so it's nice to get the pay-off!

Hmmm. I guess a drop shot or worm rod with no sensitivity really isn't worth much, regardless of how infrequently you use it. Have you fished the Triumph? I'm considering those too, so glad you mentioned it. I have a PC70MF that I use for soft jerk baits and I LOVE it. Unfortunately, I can't part w/ that kind of cash right now. How close is the Triumph? Same blank supposedly?

Thanks!...And this one has a respectable belly compared to the fish that usually come out of this pond. I wish I had the time and money to "manage" the forage in the neighborhood pond. Maybe that would help round them out more?

I've been paying my dues all winter, even slid a few across the ice into holes with very little luck. So I was pleased when this one showed up on my jig last Saturday. In freezing rain, no less. She came up so slow, I thought I may have broken off a branch. 4 lbs. 9 oz...

Any opinions on these? considering picking up a couple of these on the Inet so I can't get a feel for them. I'm looking at the drop shot and light worm rods, neither of which I do often. So they don't have to be fantastic, just adequate. But if they don't rise above the typical $30- $40 graphite rod you can pick up anywhere, I wouldn't bother. Thoughts?