craigco24

I guess the easiest answer would be that I'm looking to build something close to Jeff Kreits shakey jig. something with a light wire and long shank.

Hey everyone, Can anyone offer some advice on where to find a good shakey head mold? I'm looking for a mold to fit a medium to light wire long shank hook. Any help will be appreciated.

From the above post I take it that One Bass is not prosecuting. I'm sure they have good reason not to if that is the case. If he didn't walk away with the check, or admit to any other wrong doing in other tournaments it would be hard to prosecute for much. That's okay though. We fishermen know who he is now. The S O B's name will be trash anywhere he goes from here on out. I'm in Illinois and this P.O.S. would get thrown out of a bluegill tourney if he was to show up. I guess what I'm trying to say is that he will never fish another bass tournament in his life, anywhere! California to Maine, or Florida to Alaska, his name will be known. We should make it a point to re post his name each year the Open is held so we don't forget.

I'm a tournament director myself. I've heard the he said she said too much. There are 2 sides to every story. A lot of rumors are started because someone was in a bad mood,jealous, or just doesn't like the person. If you aren't confident enough of what you saw or witnessed to put it on paper and sign your name to it, then I don't want to hear about it.

Just my 2 cents, but I recall Velvick stating that he was using a prototype Duckett rod. I think its possible that a prototye may be a plane jane blank that is not white. I may be wrong, and its been a while since the tournament but that's what I thought he said.

I run a little online tackle store and I just got the spro in an all new red ear color. It looks awesome, best color yet. I can't wait to try.I have used all frogs but the perfect and will take the spro over all I have tried by a land slide.

I'm sure both have their place. I'm more worried about shallow stealthy fishing. My thinking is that the power pole is better for what I want in shallow water. The I pilot would be great for deeper fishing to stay on a way point. What is cost of I pilot? Is it the whole trolling motor, or is it an after market attachment?

Thanks for the info guys. I thought about it and with how I like to do a majority of my fishing I think it would be great. Couldn't tell you how many times the wind blew me into a lay down before I could fish it properly. I ordered one this morning, should be installed in a couple weeks.

Going to order one this week. Does any one that has one regret getting one for what they paid? Or did anyone look into them and not pull the trigger because of the price?

Is it better to use a small swivel, or attach the lines with a knot? Is there a difference between heavy,and light lines?

I lost several tungsten weights before I started tying a couple knots on top of each other on my tag end. I have a buddy that uses a lighter to burn the end. I tie a palomar and had trouble with the knot pulling through. I would keep burning.

Won a boat in tourney last week catching post spawners with jigs in 4 to 6 ft water with willows. Lake is trashed now though from the rain

Another Tennessee River lake. Those who catch early post spawn and maybe a few spawners on Wheeler and Kentucky should do well here

I think I can offer some good information on this subject. This will at least pertain to my area in southern IL. My father started fishing tournaments in the seventies, and continued on through the early nineties when I began. My dad is astounded by the number of limits, and the size of the limits we bring in today. One thing I will add is that you used to see more huge fish back then. By huge I mean 7-8 lbs which is big in our area. We still have a lot of 5-6 lb fish take BB honors, but not usually a mortal hawg. My honest opinion is that even though there are more anglers today, we take care of our catches a lot better, and the size and creel limits are such that they give each body of water an excellent chance to improve year after year. One last thing, I'm sure I'm not the only one to do this but I haven't kept a bass in tournament waters in 13 years.

I will post some results soon. I had one rigged up yesterday but the water was too dirty.

The fish should either move real tight to cover, or move to the closest drop. If there are grass mats then definitely hit them when the sun is shining on them as the water under the mat will be the warmest

A new bait I'm excited to use, and will use this weekend for the first time is the Xcite Raptor Tail Craw. It has a body like a beaver, but it has big pincher and tentacles at the end. Another feature is that it is loaded with scent, not salt, so when you stop the bait on a bed, or however you are fishing the bait will rise off the bottom like its in defense mode. Should be great to carolina rig to with its buoyancy too.

I keep my hard baits in the plastic boxes everyone uses, but I'm trying a new system with my plastics. Most of the plastics I use have scent on them, and if I just put them in regular plastic boxes they lose some of their scent. I have gotten rid of all the boxes for plastics and put the packages into freezer bags by categories. When I fish in someone else s boat I take the bags I'll be using on that body of water and put them into a duffel bag.

What are the best scales everyone has used. I don't care if it weighs heavy, or light, just that it is consistant.

I recently had a left elbow surgery so I thought there would be no better time to switch to left hand baitcast reels. I tried years ago and flopped with it, but since it was a necessity that I switched now the conversion was easy. I spent a day ripping a trap, and another day with a jerkbait, now my lefty's feel natural to me.

The term, you get what you pay for applies to fishing reels. Between cheap gear and an angler just not knowing his equipment is the reason for most backlashes. A fisherman needs to turn the brakes completely off, then adjust the cast control knob to where the bait falls slowly to the ground without an overrun of line on the spool. At that point, if you are unfamiliar, or haven't tried this before I will suggest you turn the brakes all the way on, or the highest setting, whichever your reel has. You will not cast very far in this setting, but you can back the brakes off until you have the happy medium between casting distance, and manageability.

I only break out the sissy stick when I have too. No seriously, I have been trying to use spinning gear more and more. I have been trying to down size my line on certain applications and have went with spinning gear for some of it.

I don't sink piles myself, but know several people that do. Side Imaging electronics has evened the playing field. If you are willing to spend time graphing productive water you will never run out of spots. I was going over an old map today and my mapping card shows several different contour changes then an early nineties map.

If you are looking at getting started in tournaments then I would recommend a local club. The club I'm involved with is competitive, but very friendly. I think a person needs to succeed at the club level before you go donate to the big boys in a BFL. If you haven't tournament fished before it is a different ballgame. Most people, including myself, want to fish the biggest and best tournaments around when they start off. I donated for a few years in the bigger tournaments without cashing a check. I decided to join a club and after a couple years I was just as likely to cash a check as anyone in the club. At that point I continued to fish the club along with some bigger events and now have numerous checks along with a few nice wins under my belt. Another recommendation as far as Illinois circuits go would be usa bassin. I think the closest one to you would be the Coffeen division. The reason I think this trail is a good one to start out as a team is that its only $60 per team to enter.This year their classic is on Kentucky lake and has 330 boats. You won't win a ton of money at the divisional tournaments, but you can qualify to fish their classic and win a $35,000 dollar rig, among others.

Definitely depends on where you are at and the time of year. I'm in Illinois and on certain waters a limit is expected. On the Kaskaskia and Ohio rivers you have a 12 inch limit and you can usually get it. You may have a 5lb limit, but it is a limit. I run a circuit on the Kaskaskia River and I think 75% or better weighed in limits during the 5 tournaments. I had one tournament that my partner and I caught 29 keepers, and another where we had only 2.