BluegrassBoy

Hey guys, I work in Memphis but live in Texas (for now). I end up with a lot of down time and choose to go pond hopping instead of sitting and staring at the walls. I’ve fished the Collierville Civic Center with moderate luck... they were bedding and could be site casted. And I have fished Central Park in Southaven... managed not to get skunked by tossing a Ned Rig. As they are all post spawn and summer is coming on in full force, what are your guys recommendations for area lakes and techniques to find those sluggish summer fish? I considered a saltwater shore rod, to get that extra distance on civic center lake, lol.

are tehse that much better than RatLTrap?

I have had good luck with a claown xrap on straight crankin retrieve. Ill add Storm Wiggel Warts to the list of cranks to try...they have a very hard thumping fast action. Great for slow rolling in spring.

Ill buy one if you can paint it to look like my Teal Green Metallic Lone Star Strat...

I was wondering if any of you guys had ever seen the old model pro qualifier from BPS?? It has a brake system i have never seen before. I got from a guy off craigslist and have no paper work to tell me how to operate it. You have to remove the left side of teh reel housing to get tto this wheel with a bunch of pins and weights... any clue???

Ditto!!! I cant count the number of times i have been hung with a floating crank, and simply let it float its way out of being stuck... GREAT ADVICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will second that statement. Just pick something that looks right and throw it. I am from a different world i guess. I learned crankin my whole life while never touching a jig....so i have all sorts of ideas on crankin... But remember these three things...Action, Depth, and Speed. Get those three right and almost any color can do the job.

I am going to throw my vote in here for the Abu C3 reels as well. My Dad has been using 4000's, 4600's, and 5000's since before I was born. As a matter of fact I use reels older than me that work like butter to this day thanks to good maintenance. The new ones are just as tough and reliable. And best of all the new ones have thumb bars. Some of dads are so old they have the release button on the side.

I use mainly 6.2:1 reels... Out of necessity. I have a limited amount of space and money for Rods and Reels, and need good all around setups that can do duty with crankbaits, worms, or spinners and buzzers. I just learn to vary my retrieve in different scenarios and with different baits. I have discovered latelyt that I like Medium Heavy rods better for crankin...actually for everything it seems...

I know I wanna try learning to flip a jig in heavy cover this summer. What do you guys recommend as a setup. Pretty set on my old proven C3 reels... so... Which Rod? Who has teh best braided line and in what pound test? Keep in mind I am on a very tight budget. Usually have less than $150 for rod and reel combined.

who here uses black lights and flourescent line?

I am a power guy, but have lately been left very disheartened by slower bites on teh lakes i frequent, so i am learning some finesse techniques.

I night fish in the summer when the heat of teh day gets too much for me. I prefer clear nights with a full moon, but can make do on any night. When the moon IS full, I like Black Buzzbaits, Black Spinnerbaits, and I paint wiggle wart crank baits black. If those dont work, I like firetail powerworms Texas Rigged.

OK, here it is. Local lake is literally walking distance from my house. It is pretty small but has a ramp for electric only. I may put my Dads glass boat in but seems overkill for the lake so i will be doing bank fishing. Problems... 1. Bank fishing is only possible from a small percentage of bank that is therefore very high pressure 2. The bottom is absolutely featureless from what i can tell 3. Hydrilla covers pretty much the entire bottom 4. Water is lighlty stained maybe...at least 4 feet visibility 5. No shad, only baitfish is bluegill really...primary foreage is crawfish. I have tried crawfish pattern cranks, Jigs, and shaky heads... Any recommendations out there???

Went to Ky Lake 3 weeks ago and hooked quite a few drum slow rolling crankbaits. It was the worst Bass Fishing trip I have ever had there, the water was way to cold for my abilities at fishing... Anywho, I caught one that would have probably weighed over 10 lbs, it was a hoss, but i usually dont bother weighin em... You can usually tell a drum before you get it to the surface. Smallies tend to head straight for deep water, Largemouths tend to come to teh surface quick, but Drum just go straight to the bottom and become dead weight. I had to stop using anything with yellow on to keep the drum away. Although one smaller drum i had did fool me. It headed for deep water like a smallie... Other fish I had issues with were d**n threadfin shad, and 1 striper that was a lot of fun to fight.

Last spring Dad and I were at Ky Lake slow rolling crankbaitsfor bass when he lands a nice 15" Crappie. We notice fish hangin on structure and decide to take a minute and try out the Crappie situation (since Bass were really slow). We tied on some White RoadRunner Jigs and cast them out and reeled em in like spinners. I guess they were feeling aggressive, because we burned em up. Fished the same structure all week, and consistently caught 13" and larger crappie, not a single smaller one. Its my best Crappie trip ever... and was completely by accident.

What maintenance do you refer to?

reading these posts makes me wonder how many Bass I may have missed waiting on that solid worm bump.

Not a first hand experience but a story my Dad and his fishin buddies tell. In teh early eighties, they were launching for labor day weekend when a man and wife were loading their runabout. The wife was backing the trailer in, while her verbally abusive husband belittled and shouted at her. She finally had enough and simply got out the vehicle while it was still in reverse...Boat still hooked to trailer...the boat managed to float the trailer and the back of the car enough to get the free wheeling wheels off teh bottom til the engine hydrolocked. And I did watch my mother get pisseed at my dad once and drop the boat keys in the lake...i found em with a pair of goggles... thank god we were in shallow clear water.

This is the exact information i needed. Thanks.

I need a step by step intro into Jig Fishin. I purchased my first Jigs a year ago from a local bait shop, and the owner was nice enough to show me how to rig it. They are local made Jogs with Ekins craw trailers. His instruction was to fish it like a TexasRig. Cst toward bank and retrieve slowly, bouncing it off the bottom on teh way to the boat. I caught some fish on it last year but feel i may be missing the good fish with this method... So...I need a step by step on pitchin, flippn, whatever... I mean dumb it down.. cuz i am clueless...

My experience is primarily crankbaits, texas rig for summer night fishin, and surface bait (torpedo/pop r) or buzzbaits in fall. I have recently started to teach myself to work a jig and some finesse techniques like shakey head and drop shot. What should i concentrate on as I fish Barren River in KY mostly. Water is usually stained or worse...

I am a die hard Stratos man, but sometimes when running Kentucky Lake in really high swells makes a man nervous with the low profile decks. In my personal opinion, the only reason for deeper V boats like Lund and Tracker Tundras is heavy water and trollin for stripers. For Crappie, Bass, Panfish, whatever...on flat water, Glass is better as long as you arent careless about operating in shallow water.

In our boats some common expressions are: Big Fish - Hawg Small Fish - PeeJib When I feel a hit while wormin, i usually just say "uh-oh.." Hard hit " he destroyed that bait" When we have a good day we "burn em down" And when we are making fun of eachother we call eachother Bill Dance in a fecetious tone ie "ole Bill Dance over here dropped the 5 pounder in the lake while takin his picture..."

I Fish that temp w/ wiggle warts, shaky heads, and jigs.