Triton_Mike

natanestaban, That fish is cute

Well you asked for my favorite techniques for catching spots so by a landslide my FAVORITE techniques is fishing for them with BIG 10 inch Swimbaits . I guess you weren't expecting that one. I accidently (don't ask me how) fished a 3 fish tournament on Lanier 2 weeks ago and had 3 fish going 16.2lbs . Lanier will spoil you for sure. Allatoona will turnyou into a man tho Mike

I would also choose the Powells over the Avids. But I have to say that Croix is better with Warranty that I have found thus far. I have a handful of friends that have had rods sent in for warranty for several months now and no luck. T Mike

I'm gonna disagree with the stretch results primarily because fluorocarbon polyvinylidene flouride...PVDF for short is a closed cellular flouropolymer. Meaning it does not absorb water. Nylon monofilament absorbs water. Thats why your nlyon lines doesn't last as long as fluorocarbon lines do hence they stretch more. Once you add water into the equation the outcome is different. If you have been fishing a pure 100% fluorocarbon for any lenght of time there will be no doubt which one is more sensative. It's night and day, apples and oranges ie it's not even a disputable fact. Technically the lines with higher abrasion resistance handles more poorly. So to get to one extreme you have to give up another extreme. Most like a middle ground. Mike

First off let me say that I am on the Ardent Pro Team. I am one of the select few that has gotten to play with all of the Ardent Reels before they even hit the public. The 2007 XS and the spinning reels are both a home run. I am very impressed with the spinning reel. I have been playing with it since November of last year and both of mine are still going strong. Heck you can't beat the 129.99 price point. I fish 100% fluorocarbon on all of my spinning reels and I have to say that I am getting significantly less twists than I did with my Stradic and my Daiwa Capricorn which in my opinion were the best bang for the buck until the New Ardent spinner came to. Mike

I don't think I own a gold or silver blade anymore. In clear water white and chart blades have out produced the gold and silver. My favorite blade is made by www.soblures.com (mini Me) in Allatoona Special color. It has a dirty bird skirt and one chart and one white blade. Mike

Thanks Raul, I think I'm gonna play with you guys more in the future. BFHP is getting a little rowdy after 12 years LOL. Mike

Captain Chaos, Not sure where you are located but most shops that have Powell have the Dobyns Rods as well. Fondle each of them and do a side by side comparison before you purchase. Gary Dobyns desgined the Powell Rods for Powell. So his Dobyns Rods are second generation rods (new and improved). Mike

JoMatty, I guess you could use your swimbait setup for shark fishing or big cats LOL. OTher than that thats pretty much it. You definitely need to see if your going to get on the swimbait bandwagon before you invest in a swimbait rod. Do keep one thing in mind. The reason people get BIG BASS on swimbaits isn't because they fish swimbaits. It's because they fish BIG swimbaits. Something to think about here. It's always a good idea to start small then get bigger as you go. Just be sure to erase your hard drive on what you think you know about big bass and what size baits they will eat. I catch 14 inch fish on a 10 inch swimbait REGULARLY!!! A 10 inch bait is a morsel to a 4-5lb fish. Mike

Dan, That Kistler rod is only rated for 1oz baits??? Tiny by most swimbait enthusiast. Need more beef

mikebat, Mike Long not only uses the Dobyns Rod swimbait rods he designed them for Gary Dobyns. ;D Here is a pic of part of the rod http://www.swimbaitnation.com/forum/toast.asp?sub=show&action=posts&fid=1&tid=9153 Mike

Your problem is solved!! Here is your secret. http://allatoonaguides.proboards101.com/index.cgi?board=tipstalk&action=display&thread=1175893302 T Mike

Jomatty, WHen I got started in the big swimbaits I visited the review section of Calfishing.com They have EXCELLENT non biased reviews of alot of swimbaits and even videos for you to see the action that they have. I figured if I am going to spend $30 to $200 for a swimbait I'd like to see the action of them first. Go here and spend a couple of hours reading the reviews. In all honesty I feel like the 6 inch Triple Trout has your name on it. Althought it's twice as expensive as some of Raul's suggestions. Don't let the trout name fool you as you can get this bait in a variety of colors. http://www.calfishing.com/reviews/index.html Here is the triple trout review (watch the video it's sick!!) http://www.calfishing.com/reviews/trout_plugs/22nd_century_triple_trout/index.html Mike

Randall!!! Congrats on a GREAT FISH man!! We need to get you to invest in a good camera for these fish of a lifetime that you are catching!! Great great accomplishment!! Still no hotdog for you tho LOL Mike

Dead Sea eh?? Water is 5.6ft low and creeping slowly upward. Water clarity is pretty clear throughout the entire lake as I have covered it from one extremity to the other. Water temps are starting off at 54 first thing and warming up to 61-62ish. I've been out almost everyday this week. The Fishing is pretty good right now and will only get better. However I'm having to work hard for the bigger fish this week but the smaller fish 1-2lbs have been plentiful when I have fished for them. Lots of baits are working. Spinnerbaits, Crankbaits, dropshot, topwater, senkos, Fat Ika's, Jerkbaits and swimbaits (take your pick). I am starting to see some more schooling which signals the start of the staging period of the spawn. I would say we are probably 2 weeks (maybe sooner) on seeing spawning activity shallow. Right now I am not seeing any large quantities of largemouth roaming shallow starting to think about spawning but it should be very soon. We will probably about a month early on our spawn this year. This will probably make our summer VERY LONG but it will just depend on the air temps we get. Right now I don't see any cold weather in the next 10 day forecast (we need it to prolong our spring). But anyway back to the report. Concentrate on points right now at the mouth of spawning pockets. These are your typical staging areas where fish will gorge themselves before the spawn. Troy's picture turned out a whole bunch better than mine so I used his. My camera seems to be on the verge of taking a dump on me. Pictured is a 5lb + Speckled Belly Allatoona Spot. Robert Eidson and I have a seminar at Boaters World in Smyrna on March 24th (this Saturday) at 3pm. Boaters world is gearing up their tackle selection quite a bit. Stop by after fishing (plenty of boat parking) and join us I would love to put some names to faces. Here are the directions. http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?address=2451%20Cobb%20Pkwy%20Se&city=Smyrna&state=GA&zipcode=30080%2d3011&countr y=US&geodiff=1 T Mike

Dead Sea eh? Water temps have dropped approximately 3 degrees overnite. I was one of the few and proud that got out there in the rain and 30 mph winds today. In my tenure of fishing Allatoona I can honestly say that was the roughest I have ever seen the lake. Not that it was dangerous driving or anything it's just that there isn't many times when I have to trim down and go mid speed just to get from Point A to B LOL. I even saw some DA para-sailing (NO JOKE!!) Today was still pretty good fishing. Still lots of active fish even with the 30mph winds Most of my fish hanging around both the main lake and around the mouth of pockets. The fish that were in the shallows kinda packed their bags and headed out due to the cold front that came through. Most of my fish today were caught on a Lucky Craft Pointer and a Mini Me Spinnerbait on windblown points. Still some big dumb fish being caught and they have been pretty easy pickings for about 3 weeks now and they will continue to be as long as we keep our water temps in the upper 50's or warmer. Let's go get you a Allatoona Hawg!! T Mike

This is the best aftermarket keeper that I have found. You don't even need to know how to wrap it on your blank. http://phoenixblazerods.com/Drop-ShotWeightKeeperSystem.html Mike

Guys, I am sponsored by Lucky Craft. If you have any issues with their baits take it up with the retailer and the retailer will take it up with Lucky Craft. Roadwarrior is on the right page here. In 8 years of fishing Lucky Craft I have only broke 2 baits and they broke at the bill after I hit my windshield gaurding my console. Mike

Water level is 7.5ft low and water clarity ranges from heavily stained to clear. From the RR tressel towards the back of Allatoona creek is heavily stained. Most of your clear green water is in the vicinity of Iron Hill and Allatoona Landing. From Iron Hill to Kellog your pretty much a light stain. On Tuesday Little River area was MUD. On Tuesday we had some good winds and that stained up most of the main lake. The wind died last nite and the lake cleared right up almost overnite. Water temps are ranging from 46 at first light to 49-50 at midday due to the chillier evenings/mornings we have been having. If you look hard you can find 53-54 degree water temps at midday. Now for the report part. The flats bite is starting to pick up some. IT's nowhere near full bore but it's getting started. The key right now is finding those warmer thermal refuges. NW shorelines (or SE facing shorelines however you want to look at it) are the best bets right now. Those shorelines warm up the fastest and the fish know it. I'm working Crankbaits (Flat Mini's and Flat CB DR's) and jerkbaits (Pointer 100's) in these areas and working them painfully slowwwwwwwww!! I'm catching some 2 lbers but thats about it for the most part as far as quality on Tuesday but I am seeing some very very very nice followers (more on that later) . Today I had a half day trip with Matt and his 4 year old son Jake. We went with the live bait option for most of the day. We started off fishing for hybrids and caught some fairly quick. Jake caught his biggest fish and first hybrid ever. To be honest I thought the fish was gonna pull him into the drink but dad had a good grip on him at my request . After the hybrid action we went bream and cat fishing with a little success. I just wanted to thank my partner Robert Eidson of First Bite Guide Service for helping me with the white fish patterns and tactics! Thats Rob!! After my half day I went to go find more fish for a trip later this week. I have just a few areas holding somewhat reliable 2lbers so I went exploring he he. Thats when me found Moby pictured below. This was the fatest largmouth I have ever seen on Allatoona. She was literally about to pop and was in beautiful shape. DEAD SEA EH??? T Mike PS March 24th Robert Eidson and myself will be doing a seminar at 3pm at Boaters World in Smyrna, GA. Stop by and introduce yourselves!

Whittler, Man I haven't fished with 300lb line lately but there isn't anything in my waters that can pull 300lbs of pressure and open up an eyelet. Also helps to use a drag . Musky guys have used the eyelets for years. If it can handle a musky it can handle anything us bass anglers can dish out. Mike

What I do is use a screw eyelet and screw it into the bait at an angle. Once it's screwed in I bend the eyelet straight. That way you are not relying on the threads to hold your relying on the strenght of the screw itself AND the threads and the wood or whatever you screwed your screw into.. If you just screw it in straight you have a better chance of it just pulling out. This is how most of the big name swimbait makers do as well as the Musky guys. Mike

Thanks Matt, Thats a compliment coming from you ~ LOL. I need to get a video of this bad boy in action. I outdid myself action wise LOL. I got a little something else in the works but just not ready to show it yet. This one isn't a knockoff and fills a niche that I haven't seen filled in the swimbait market yet. stay tuned Mike

Hawghauler, I buy my eyelets from either Jannsnetcraft.com or staminainc.com Both specialize in tackle making and both have a pretty good FREE detailed catalog with tackle making supplies. You just reminded me I need to buy more eyelets Mike

Bassmaster, I got the joint crack by drawing it out with a pencil before I cut it to make sure I got it centered the best I could. ONce I got it drawn I cut it with a small coping saw by hand. The screws eyelets are just that they screw into the wood. I screwed them in at an angle and then bent them in so that if I get a sixable fish it's pulling against a bent screw rather than the wood holding the screw in place. Hope that makes sense. Making a swimbait is very easy to do and requires very little tools. It's actually cheaper than making plastics once you buy the plastic, melting pot, molds etc. I built the lure above with block of basswood pencil saber saw file coping saw screw eyelets spring for the screw on tail lead for the ballast and sandpaper. HOwever thats not counting the plexiglass fins but you can get a grunt load of fins out of one small sheet of plexiglass. The fins look really AWESOME on the bait during the sloww retrieve. Mike

Yeah mine's a little more modern lookin I made this one from scratch out of bass wood about 6 months ago. Mike