playmaker47

hays is where im from

would a real subtle bite on a shaky head rig feel the same a t-rig... kind of a mushy feeling or just a small tap??

Just got my Bass Times today and it has an article in there about what Jeff Reynolds uses for his spinnerbait trailers. he uses 10" Zoom Ol Monster worms. He said it works great around standing timber and brush. Next spring i think I am going to try using this technique with like a Zoom U-tail worm. you can even put a trailer hook inside the worm. as for colors it says that he uses contrasting colors, like he would use a purple worm with a white or almost translucent spinnerbait. just passing this information out to you guys in case you hadn't seen this.

the lifetime liscenses are a card like a credit card or your BASS membership card. all the information is saved on the Department of Wildlife and Parks computers so you just have to go in a get a new card if you lose yours. i think it might be 5 or 10 bucks to get a new card.

i have a Kansas lifetime liscence.. it was around 880 for a fish hunt combo. a regular fishing liscense here is around 23 i think... it goes from january 1 through december 31, but if you buy one after Dec. 15th then it carries over to the next year...

my favorite worm style is just T-Rigging pretty much any type of plastic (Lizard, Ribbontail, Tube, Beaver, etc) I use anything from 3/16 up to 1/2 oz bullet weights, sometimes black painted, sometimes unpainted. 4/0 Round Bend Hook. I have a much better hook up ratio on a round bend hook than on an EWG hook. I still do use the EWG on sweet beavers or tubes because they are bulky. As for the technique i use... i like to pitch out to cover, sometimes just past the cover. let it sink. tighten liine to check if it has been subtly picked up. then i just slowly drag the bait along the bottom back to the boat, giving it a small hop every foot or so. one thing to remember when doing this technique is ALWAYS watch your line.. i have had caught countless fish where on the fall you would just see the line "tick" a little bit and not feel a thing. also when dragging back to you the line shoudl be coming strait back at you... it it starts to come back at an angle different than it started a fish has picked it up and is swimming horizontally to you. set the hook. Good Luck!

I bought a Cabelas brand spinning Reel awhile back only because i could get it for like 1/4 of the price. The deal is I bought the size 3500 reel. It is a little larger than the other sizes of spinning reels i usually fish with. It is 14.1 oz., Capacity: 210 yds of #12 line. It has just been setting on my shelf for almost a year now and i havent really found a use for it. Well while going through all my stuff for the winter i found this reel and have been trying to find a good use for it. Do any of you guys use this size of spinning reel for Bass? If so what rod, line, and techniques are you fishing it with? Thanks!

I thought of this but this particular lake wooden cover and brush is pretty much the only place that you can find enough fish to place in tournys... i know other techniques are much better suited to this type of cover... but that is why i wanted to try the shaky head, because everyone else uses the heavy cover power fishing techniques and the fish are very pressured and maybe seeing something different like a shaky head could hit a home run...

ive never fished the regular... i use the US version for soft plastics and really liked it. not hardly any memory, plus it is very strong.. i never broke it off other than when i was so hung up i had to pull as hard as i could to get it to snap.. i only used it for soft plastics but i am planning on switching all my casting rods to this line... havent tried it for spinning.

I really have been dying to fish a shaky head worm. I have all of the jigheads i will need and have tons of finnesse worms to fish them with... Here lies the problem... everythign I have heard about this technique is that it is mostly used on spinning tackle, 6'6" to 7' rod and 6 lb mono line or so... the problem with this is most of the fishing that I do in tournaments is where there is tons of brush and heavy cover and that is what 90% of the fish are caught around. Line down to 6 lb would be almost insane, plus fish in the 6-7 lb range are not uncommon. What should I do here? Should I go with a usual casting setup with heavier line and fish it like i would with jigs or other plastics... or should i go with a spinning setup with say a braided line or so? Answers to this should determine what i go buy setup wise.. so some suggestions in ROD, REEL, and LINE would be very helpful! Thanks !

I fish all my tournaments out of the back of the boat. Sometimes I do worse than the boater, but there are a few times that I have beaten the boater. I like to use the same style as the boater but a little different technique. If he is fishing a crankbait or chatterbait I will fish a spinnerbait. If he is fishing a brush hog or a senko I will fish a T-rigged lizard or sweet beaver or tube. If the boater is using watermellon or green pumpkin colors I will use junebug or red shad or something like those or if he is using the latter i will use the watermellon or green pumpkin colors. I like to try and hit any tree or stump that he has missed, along with ones he also hits. Alot of times boaters will troll by cover and fish it and then turn around at the end and go back, so there are always uncaught fish left that non-boaters could catch. Take advantages of times where boaters are fixing their baits or re-rigging a new soft plastic. Hit any good looking area while they arent fishing.

Never ate smallmouth...

I did it opposite also. I challenged the person that was above me and I was challenged by the person below me.

I dont use carolina rigs at all, since I love Texas rigs so much. I rarely use crankbaits, as I'm a big spinnerbait guy.

Lots of weightless soft plastics drug across the tops of weeds.

Throw a spinnerbait. You can fish it slow or you can fish it fast. Let the fish tell you which one they prefer.

I will visit a little but not talk to much. It seems if I start to talk and lose attention to my lure I will get a hit. Example: The last tournament I was fishing I was throwing a spinnerbait and my partner was just tieing on a chatterbait. We started visiting about chatterbaits and i was just constantly reeling in through brush and not paying attention. Well about a 4lber hit and surprised me. I set the hook and the fish comes and jumps clear out of the water and throws the lure. I learned 2 things there. 1. Always pay attention. 2. Use trailer hooks.

SPINNERBAIT!!!! Those weeds are perfect for spinnerbaits. Usually they grow over large areas, so spinnerbaits will help you cover water faster. Use a jerky retrieve right over the top of the weeds. if there are gaps on the weeds let it fall into the gaps and then jerk it up and down. Spinnerbaits are extremely weedless so dont worry about snags. I would use a 3/16 to 1/4 oz spinnerbait because it will fall a little slower than heavier spinnerbaits. As for blades I would try double willow, 1 silver 1 gold, or Tandem blades. If you say there are lots of bluegill in the lake give firetiger skirts a try. Also any skirt with whites in them are always good.

Which kind of Devcon? I've heard that the 2ton is the best but is this true?

"deadstick" means to cast out a lure, mainely soft plastics and just let it set. Do not reel. Do not move it with your rod. Just let it set. Eventually if you dont have a hit lift the bait a little, and then let it set again.

For me it's usually a 3/8 oz Spinnerbait. The only other thing is usually pitching jigs or soft plastics.

Its definately a white bass. I like to use small white spinnerbaits. Strike King Mini King is my favorite. about 1/8 oz.

Um....I think it's off by 4 or 5 lbs! Do you have a length and girth? I dk that fish looks pretty long and he is turned so you cant see his full stomach and he is pretty fat looking. I would say at least 5 or 6.

What do you guys do to impart action to a soft plastic after you pitch it to standing timber or laydowns. Do you just let it set? Do you hop it back to the boat slowly? Or do you drag it back to the boat slowly? Or all of these at different times? Which one seems to produce best for you guys?

What would be a good technique for me to fish when I'm in a tournament fishing deep water points, drop offs, and other structure as a non-boater. My boater will most likely be using a Carolina rig with a large worm or lizard. Deep diving crankbaits are only a possibilty part of the time for me because of lots of brush and trees.