ArcherJohnny

Couldn't agree more, Tom. I try not to give fish too much credit for smarts. If something in my box looks like something a bass might find appetizing, I'm gonna throw it out there and work it until something happens. Johnny

A little octopus in San Diego Bay. Only thing any of us caught all night. Johnny

Hey Buzz, I hear what you're saying about that back hook being gone. I almost ALWAYS hook bass by that rear hook. The front one is more of a little "insurance policy" that sometimes hooks the fish in the side of the head or somewhere on the body. I wouldn't want to rely on it soley though. Why not try reversing your blade and hook setup and see how that works? It would be similar to the setup of a rooster tail. Just my .02 Johnny

That would depend on the light and water conditions. Just try different colors until you start getting bites. But yes, you can definitely reel these things in just like swim baits. Johnny

Thanks for the comments guys. And so y'all know, I never kill anything I catch. Just pull them in long enough to take a picture and then let them live to fight another day. This guy swam off happy and healthy right after he said cheese. I did think about the fact that it probably wasn't that big compared to some of the ones that I've seen. Those are some big ones on your site, RW! But still, this only being my second season, it was still a trophy to me Thanks again for the input. This site is full of super helpful people and I'm learning a lot! Johnny

Hey man, that's awesome! I wish my dad would've taken me fishing when I was his age. Lucky kid! Sidenote: I bet for a kid that size, reeling in bass that size probably felt like monsters! I know they sure look it held out in front of him like that! ;D Johnny

Nice bass Tom! That thing is a BEAST! What lake were you on? I'm in Nashville, but I've been thinking about making a trip down to Stone Mountain Park one of these weekends. Johnny

This is what I like about this forum. You guys are super helpful! Pics posted of the striper in the outing forum if anyone is interested! Johnny

All these comments about frustration with jigs makes me smile:) My old room mate used to fish CIRCLES around me with jigs when I couldn't get a single bite with em! He tried and tried to show me how he was doing it, but I never could get it until this year with any kind of consistency. What I do now is attach a soft plastic grub to the jig head and just work it like a swimbait. I still can't seem to get a bite with the "work along the bottom" retrieve, but I don't care. Jigs and plastic grubs are cheap and pretty effective as little swimbaits. Johnny

This was the biggest bass I've ever caught in my life. Hooked it on a jig and thought for sure it was a snag...until it started taking my line! It measured at about 20 inches. I don't have a scale, but picking it up by its lip, I would guess it to be around 4-5 lbs. What do y'all think? Johnny

Hahaha! Man...awesome. Pure awesome. Johnny

My old room mate tried to teach me a few years ago the proper way to work a jig. Cast it out, wait for it to hit the bottom, then kinda bounce it along the bottom, bump bump bump. Well for some reason, I never could get a fish to hit it with the consistency that he could, so I gave up on them for a long time. Then last year, I started using rooster tails, the little buck hair numbers with the spinning blade and treble hook at the end. I caught A LOT of fish on those things. All different types of species. So this year, I decided to buy a pack of crappie jigs that looked like they would have an action similar to my rooster tails. Little red-headed jigs with a spinner blade attached by a swivel. I mean, why not? A pack of 6 cost the same amount as one single rooster tail and they looked to me like they did the exact same thing. Finally got out and started using them the other day. I would cast out and retrieve pretty fast, so as to get that blade really spinning in the water. I don't think the bass got the memo that these things were meant for crappies. It wasn't every other cast or anything like that, but it was a good day on the lake, I'll tell you that much. Anyway, I ended up losing all six of them over about a 4 day period (yeah, I still get hung up on stuff), so I opted to switch to some regular jigs that I had in my tackle box. I slapped a bright neon green grub on the head and just kept working them the way I had with the crappie jigs and rooster tails. Sure enough, I been catching a ton of bass with this retrieve. Anyone else tried this? Johnny

Cool man, I appreciate it! Johnny

I'm using a spinning reel. The kind with the drag wheel on the top of the bail. My question is, how loose should I have this thing set to? I mostly catch .5-1.5 lb largemouth, but today I caught a 5 lb (guessing it was that heavy...it was 20 inches long) striper and I was able to get it in by working the rod up and down, but I was pretty nervous it was going to break my line off. Thanks in advance! Johnny ps: once I get ten posts up, I'll post up the pic of the striper and y'all can tell me how much it looks like it weighs.

I mean the head of a jig is technically the weight. It's all part of the bait though. That said, the color of the weight WILL make a difference...in that instance. But if the weight isn't part of the actual BAIT, then I wouldn't worry about it. Johnny

Edro, That's a good idea! Hadn't even thought about how that could work with a current. Filed away for use next time I'm fishing the river! BB, Do I think the sinker was the reason I got a strike? Yes and no. Yes, because if the sinker hadn't been on the line, the cast wouldn't have gotten to the spot I wanted to send it. No, because that bass hit the lure because it looks like a little blue minnow swimming in front of it. Not sure about what the depth was. It's pretty shallow water. If I had to wager a guess, I'd say it was somewhere around 2 feet. I thought some more about this today when I was out trying out some heavy soft minnows I've got. Rubber swim baits that look just like minnows. HEAVY weights in them. They shoot to the bottom fast, which inevitibly causes me to lose them every time. The advantage being that I can cast them as far as I want to, which I like. Anyway, using the sinker and floating crank method, you can get your bait where you want it to be, at the depth you want it to be, without having to worry about snagging the lure on the bottom. The sinker may get caught, sure, but I'm betting that would be easier to negotiate out of a hang up that a treble hook would. I didn't get to pick up the sinkers today as I opted for some new jig-heads (budget) instead, but as soon as money permits, I'm going to make this rig a regular part of my arsenal. Speaking of those jigs I got today, I went out to the lake and landed a 3-5 lb striper on one of them...but the forum is telling me I gotta post ten "normal" messages before I can post pics. Oh well, guess I gotta go talk some more fishing. Could be worse I guess. Johnny

I was constantly thinking about this last year when I would get frustrated by the limited casting I could get with light weight floating crank baits. Another thing that frustrated me about those particular baits was the fact that they can only be fished on the surface of the water. Sure, I'm well aware of the fact that you can buy lures that will sink to different depths, and I had several in my box, but what if one or all of those got lost in a snag and I had to break off? Whatever the reason, I always wished I had some way to control the depth and castability of my favorite top waters. So I started thinking last year, "why not just attach a split shot to the line about 12 inches or so in front of the lure? It will improve the casting distance and make the lure sink to a deeper level on the retrieve. I thought it was a dumb idea last year. I got caught up in thinking things like, "oh well I've never heard of that being done," and, "that will mess up the action of the lure...there's no way that will produce a strike." Well the other day, I finally decided to try it. I don't keep a whole lot of sinkers in my box. I think I had one. It was big for the job too, but it was more of an experiment than anything. I tied on that big sinker (1/3 oz?) about 12 inches in front of a plastic blue top water floating crank and cast it WAYYY out. And what do you know...BOOM! Largmouth (not a huge one, but not a baby either) smacked the hell out of that lure and ran with it faster than I could bat an eye! Only thing was, that big sinker I was using caused the line to snap when it inevetibly got caught under a rock or something, but that didn't matter. I tried out the method and it worked! I'm on my way to the shop right now to pick up some SMALLER sinkers, maybe some little split shots. Anyone else tried this before? Johnny

Sup y'all, I'm Johnny from Nashville. It's my second season fishing and the lessons from last year are really starting to set in. I don't own a boat, so I've gotten to be pretty resourceful and creative when it comes to locating shore-based honey holes. I've actually found a good one right up the street from my apartment here that's turning out to be a hot spot for large mouth and stripers. Anyway, long winded intros are lame, so let's talk some fishing! Johnny