Triton_Mike

Water Temp 44 Water Clarity Clear to Stained Water Level 4.58 low Water temps have dropped like 7 degrees over night from 51 to 44 and even with that the fishing was still pretty good today. It was definitely toasty as it was 8 degrees this morning and it warmed up real nice to a balmy 28 degrees LOL. I got out with Chris today and as always we had a great time. Man it was nice not seeing another boat the entire day. Trust me it was there loss today as the fishing was great and we even stayed until almost 4pm before putting the boat on the trailer. At our first stop Chris almost had a limit by himself in less than an hour. He whacked 3 fish right off the bat and lost 2 others all on the Float N Fly off pea gravel rocks and one of them was very nice. I made some changes and bam I caught one and lost a pretty darn good fish right at the boat. Dang Ice in my guides prevented my drag from working smoothly. Yeah thats my excuse . LOL. The key for us was fishing peagravel banks that were facing the sun. Looks like the fish were taking advantage of the heat bouncing off the rocks. We crank up to go to another spot and Chris wanted me to run over an area to check for some spoon fish and it was loaded. The first fish I got was a whale striper in the 8 to 10lb range. I got several more stripes/hybrids and Chris got a few as well all on spoons all off the bottom in 72 feet of water #emoticons13# . One of the hybrids we caught spit out a half a dozen threadfin at the surface. Yeah they were feeding LOL. After a few of the white fish we went back to spot fishing and caught another half dozen or so all keepers on the same pea gravel type baits. All in all it was a good day with about a dozen spots and half dozen white fish especially with it being severe post frontal and blue bird skies. Oh and this is pic for all of you that had to text me and see if I caught anything besides pnemonia and frost bite LOL. ;D Mike

By the way, I blame you for putting the SI bug in my head. That screen on your boat is bigger than the freakin' TV in my bedroom LOL. Thats right you were the first one to see my 1197SI right?? It's nice.... You'd be decked out with one of those on the jon 8-) LOL Mike

Chris, 4mph is plenty fast. The GPS system is built into the unit. All you would need is the GPS cord with the dome at the end and your good to go. Might as well get the GPS to make sure your actually going 4mph . The only downside of a SI on a non gas motored boat is when you turn the trolling motor head it will smear/distort your picture. Mike

We fish alot of for deep fish in the winter here in North GA mostly with spoons. The biggest key revolves around finding them on your electronics and being able to decipher what is catchable and what isn't. To be honest there will be very little doubt when you see this on your electronics. (forgive my water temp readings I had a temp sensor go on the ritz:) ) OR SI if you prefer

I looked and looked but I can't seem to find any little smiley faces giving the finger... I have one with TWO "FINGERS" but I don't think I would be the Moderators favorite person after posting it . :-/ You go back to dropshotting ledges on your lake and I'll keep catching them shallow on mine. Come to think of it. I need to get up there and spend a day on your boat Mike. I'll shoot you a line when I'm in the area. Let me know and be sure to give me a notice . Things are hairy around here (busy).. Mike Mike

I looked and looked but I can't seem to find any little smiley faces giving the finger... I have one with TWO "FINGERS" but I don't think I would be the Moderators favorite person after posting it . :-/

Glad to be of help. If your shop doesn't take it and your local to a Bass Pro try it there. They are usually more lenient on returns. Either way we will get things squared away. Mike

I just winterized my boat by taking out a few topwater boxes and adding in a few spoon and float N Fly boxes and sprinkled in a few extra swimbaits and then went . Worked good. Do you need pics of fish to remind you what they look like????

Believe it or not Catch and Release can be DETRIMENTAL to a fisheries as well. There are alot of lakes out there that need some culling of the smaller fish. Catch and Release has been a double edged sword to the point where it has hurt some fisheries whereas in the past we used to keep a few small fish for the table. Not as many people do that anymore (me included). Let me be clear I am not saying to keep medium sized to trophy fish.. Each lake has different needs and requirements to make it a better fishery. Mike

cotterboy, If your new store deals in Lucky Craft bring them the receipt and they should handle it in good faith. Lucky Craft reimburses the new store with a new lure so they don't lose anything other than sending it in. If the new store declines to replace it you will need to ship it to Lucky Craft. Just to be honest it will take a while (4 to 6 weeks) for your lure to be replaced if you have to mail it in. Any questions email me mbucca@luckycraft.com Mike

Glenn, While those types of structures are ideal. YOu can always modify it. A suspended bass is a suspended bass regaurdless of depth so the concept remains the same whether your leader is 13ft deep like mine or 5 ft deep. You can use the F n F around docks, long tapering points, creek channels or in any open water. If you got smallies it will work for ya but the key is the subtle presentation at the right depth so you might have to improvise the rig some. In post frontal conditions it's hard to beat as both smallies and spots tend to suspend alot in those types of conditions. Some of the best tactics I use are spin offs of the present ones . Fun tactic! Mike

Water Temperature: 49 Water Clarity: 4 feet or greater Well it was the last day of 2008 and I wanted to go fishing one more time since it was such a great year for me. I didn't get to fish long today as I tried to make myself go fishing while having a sore throat. That wasn't my smartest move as it just made things worst, but I did manage a chunk spot on the big swimbait and had a few other followers in the short 2 hrs I was on the lake. My fish are still holding on main lake structures and suspended fairly deep so you have to get that swimbait down to their level as they aren't chasing very far if any. This cold front is going to make things interesting.

I know of several guys that have fished Weiss for many many years and they still end up losing a Lower Unit or worst. Awesome lake tho. I used to fish it quite a bit years ago before the gas prices spiked. LOL. Used to go there for my flipping fix. Mike

After only eight posts... California for sure. Except for Georgia no other state has a certified 20 lb on record. Ditto and I'm not so sure about the 20lber from GA either. If we do have a shot here in GA it will be several years away but I won't hold my breath and same goes for Texas. But San Diego area by far has the best shot. Multiple 20's caught there in the past. Texas doesn't have a 20 yet nor does Mexico if I am not mistaken. There's a 5lb difference between a 18lb fish and a world record. Thats a big poundage difference. Mike

Hey Surveyor, She went 5lbs on the needle. As you can tell she's fat as a pig. I'll say a prayer for your lower unit when you fish Weiss Mike

Water Temp Upper 40's Water Clarity stained to clear Water level 15ft low The mud line is just south of Illinios and about in front of the 3 story house in the S Turn there. Everything south of there is stained almost all the way to the dam. The Allatoona arm is crystal clear. The backs of the creeks are fairly muddy. For the most part fishing isn't bad right now but as soon as this cold front hits us things will be looking really good. 90% of all my fishing has been done in the main lake and not so much inside the creek arms. There are lots of bait and spoon fish in and around the 3 story house area most where whites and hybrids. I fished from 11am to almost dark this afternoon and caught 15 spots by myself. I caught fish on a variety of tactics consisting of dropshot, spoon, and hair jigs. I am working those 45 degree shorelines as well as humps and long points for the vast majority of my fish. Seems like you need some kind of structure change for it to hold fish as of recent. Most of my spoon fish were in the 30ft range but they were fairly hit and miss. I didn't get much past Gaults looking for them but I am sure I would have found some catchable white fish if I went further north but didn't because I launched at Red Top. Here is a pic of the big fattie for the day caught on a "hair jig" (Float N Fly) on uh 2lb Triple Fish fluorocarbon line. I used a custom made fly made by master fly tyer David Lester of Natures Tackle Box Fame. The cool thing is David will make them anyway you want them and with the "special hook"

Wheel weights work great. Not sure why you need a $50 pot when you can buy one for $30.00. The deal with making your own baits with lead is to make sure you have a mold or MOLDS that you will actually use to offset the cost of the equipment needed to start. YOu can save some SERIOUS money by making your own lead baits. If you can't find what you need from Do it molds you can do a google search on Shawn Collins Custom Molds and he can literally make anything you want. It's pricey but worth it and his molds make Do It molds look like scrap aluminum. Back to wheel weights you definitely need to flux your lead. Take a candle and dip it in the lead for 2 seconds and stir your lead and the dirt and crap will float to the top and you can scoop it out. Definitely get a box or ceiling fan to keep the fumes away. I usually make lead baits ONCE per year (usually in the winter) to keep away from the fumes. Here are two videos I did on lead making. I will admit I did a bunch of No No's in the video. Use gloves and proper ventialation and I am sure there are more. http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1202387649/0#0

Boone, Store your mold over the top of your lead pot while it is heating up. Also get you one of these types of ladles and your wavy lines will go away. It's the top row in the middle.. Very safe and easy to use ladle. http://www.buffaloarms.com/browse.cfm/2,123.html Mike

will it work for 20 and 25 pound test line ???? , will the palomar knot hold also with these lines ???? , thanks ..... pgersumky, I have charter captains all over the world that fish for anything from Tuna to Marlin using this knot with lb test ranging from 10lb to 100lb leaders. I personally use that knot for everything but the dropshot. The good thing about it is you don't have to bring a bait through a loop like you do with the palomar and it's next to impossible to overlap the strands of line when you cinch it which causes flourocarbon to cut into itself thus weaken the line. Both knots will definitely work. YOu just gotta tie clean and pretty knots when you tie the palomar. Mike

What Stan said, I have 3 of the 795ML's and they are extremely versatile. Delo's has a grunt load of them in stock. Mike

pgersumky, Go to the www.triplefishlines.com page and look at the articles and knot library and take a look at the Braid and fluorocarbon Knot. I use this knot for all types of lines and techniques (minus the dropshot). Mike

I hope this is OK to post and support a board sponsor in this forum?? If not please relocated. Well Guys heres a chance to get your hands on them while they last! Looking for the MIke Long 795 swimbait sticks CHEAP!? Delos @ http://www.deloscustomtackleshack.com/ is going to be carrying these models till they are gone for these prices.. These are GREAT deals and all rods are warranted through 2009. Shoot them an email about which rods your interested in. Great rods for now a even better price. http://www.deloscustomtackleshack.com/rods/dobyn_revise_after_tdaysale.html DX705C $139 701 SF $119 702 SF $119 683C $119 795 ML SB $139 807 Mag Hvy $139 805 CB $139 805 Flip/Punch $139 706 CB $119 734 C $139 DX734C $139

Dawson, HOw about we take a post hold digger into some of the backs of the creeks and put some "standing Timber" in place? It looks like your looking for something "cheap" but effective. YOu can get access to some good areas off Hwy 20 area. Ie Clear Creek, Stamp, McCaskey, Boston etc etc. Just off the top of my head based on your post Mike

Bring the camera Gene!! . It's more than welcome . I think You Tube has a 5 minute limit. You might get all of Randalls piece on there LOL. Mike

Guys, Randall Kilpatrick and myself are going to give a FREE swimbait Seminar at Natures Tackle Box located in Hiram, GA. We thought it would be a great opportunity for everyone to hear swimbait tactics from both of us that have totally different styles of fishing them. Here is the flyer for more information and if you have any questions you can post here or call Christie at Natures Tackle Box. We will have some food and quite a few FREE giveaways from alot of head honchos in the industry such as Matt Lures, Tru Tungsten, Strike King, Uvex, Jackall just to name a few and also a new shad swimbait will be revealed as well..