Jigfishn10

All of the above are very exciting experiences and I enjoy it all. My best experiences have come while sight fishing and this past week I've been fortunate enough to have landed a dozen fish while sight fishing. Bluegill are still spwaning and bass have been within the spawn beds. I was fishing a single blade spinnerbait just under the surface most of the times and would watch those bass from approx 20' away chasing and hitting my bait. You watch the bass just under the surface leaving a v-wake. Once that fish got close, your heart starts pounding and all you can think of is not setting the hook too early...and yes, that did happen a couple of times. One particular fish was at least a 5 lber I saw chasing. I watched her start to hit and pulled the trigger on the hookset too fast.

I think you found it, if you caught an 8 plus lber...Congrats on that catch.

Don't worry, I hear the $50 mil in advertising money they have set aside will be reallocated to all the families and businesses who rely on tourism and fishing for a living. Yeah Right! > Our Gov't is only about 45 days late in responding to this mess and BP will get away with it. BP = "Beyond Prosecution"

Great for swimming a jig, especially during the fall season. I actually will use it during a bluegill spawn as well. It's not my first choice during this time, but it has worked for me in the past.

I agree, the rice trick works great. I usually hose down with clean water, air dry and restore. My salt water striper set-up is a fresh water reel and rod. After every outing I hose down, wipe the surface with a towel and air dry. I've had this reel for 6 years now. After every season I break it down for a full cleaning, grease and oil, never had any rust or corrosion inside that reel.

Well I managed to get out for a couple of hours today. I didn't see too much activity on the water's surface so I tried worms and jigs. Nothing. I switched to a spinnerbait and got pay dirt. 3 landed and 4 came off (7 strikes total). The 3 that were landed were barely hooked and all were relating tight to cover. The bites weren't aggressive and I think the bass were just P.O'd that something was invading their territory and they just wanted to "scare" my spinnerbait away. Anyway, 3 caught and 4 missed still works with me. Tight lines all.

All of the above conditions. I like to fish them as low as possible come to a like bass holding spot and kill the retieve, let it drop below the water and the get back to the surface as fast as possible and then repeat. The stop & go will trigger some strikes as well. MHO

Just as well, they've been showing the same show with Tom Brokaw, Michael Keaton and Lefty Krey fly fishing every Saturday morning...Enough is enough

Can anyone say "post spawn blues"? The bite has been slow...I've been managing a couple an outing fishing real S L O W with jigs and worms. Only pickerels with spinnerbaits. Hope you guys are doing better!

While Fishing: Sunflower seeds and lots of water. After Fishing: Fermented libations

X2 plus buzzbaits

X2

Won't hurt to try if you're resigned to buying a new one.

I agree with all above. You may get lucky and will be able to install from the butt section, but that sounds like a roll of the dice if you never done it before and may have to go from the tip-top down. If you do get the handle back on, do you plan on leaving the cork foregrip? Just to give you an idea, I refurbished 2 rods complete and built 4. The 2 re-furbished took twice a long as building new. Good luck to you if you attempt this project, just remember, spend as much time as you can preparing and cleaning the blank prior to installing. Your patience will be rewarded. Check this thread, there is a lot of informative info on here to help you make your decision or installing the grip. http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1267429668

I have a fairly inexpensive set-up as well as a fairly expensive. The fairly expensive is a quantum reel on a St. Croix rod that I built just for that reel. I can throw anything but a wacky rigged trick worm with good accuracy. My inexpensive set-up is a round baitcast reel on a Shakespeare rod I bought when I first started learning baitcasters. I can skip a trick stick under a dock if I need to without a backlash on that reel. Take that round baitcaster off and put it on the St. Croix rod and forget it, that reel is junk. My point is, The rod with a medium to medium fast action will probably get those soft plastics out there, while the fast to extra fast action rods will give you better accuracy on heavier lures. I totally believe in matching the rod to the reel MHO of course.

This lure does take a lot of concentration and patience...but your patience gets well rewarded. Keep it up, you're well on your way. The jig is never up!

I've actually never fished the Concord yet, but have fished rivers. My buddy got an 8 lb hog out of there last fall which makes me want to fish it. As far a river fishing, I kind of take the fly fishing approach to it. I like casting a trick stick or a very light jig into the current and let it drift into pockets along the bank or across a piece of structure like a rock which breaks the current. Bass usually will be in some type of slack water - behind the rock, pocket, eddy. Spinners and spinnerbaits retrieved as CRFishers points out is deadly as well. It mimics a washed bait fish. Hope this helps and good luck

I don't for the most part. When your fishing rocks the lure itself will generally provide the "clicking" sound of a crawfish. Most of the waters aren't muddy enough around here to warrant a rattle. I do use them for night fishing. Crawfish are more apt to feed at night and will hide during the day and I think the "clicking" noise is a more natural presentation. I guess I would think of it like spinnerbait fishing. More noise for darker conditions than for lighter conditions and by that I talking about both water clarity and day light. MHO of course.

LOL...LOL...LOL...LOL Are you serious? What a sight that must have been!

There's nothing wrong with using a grub trailer, twin or single tail...Hula grubs and spider jigs are becoming a thing of the past, but I still like em...MHO If your in a situation where the water is clear and you want to cast into grass and have to make a long cast, use the grub. A sunfish imitation works just as well as a crawfish. SoFlaBassAddict, congrats on your success so far. I've been jig fishing for a while and still, to this day. I stay within Catt's advice to you. I keep it simple. I use 2 different jig styles (mostly the arky) and 3 different colors. 90% of all my BIG bass come on a jig or a spinnerbait...spinnerbait = glorified jig Keep fishing them, you'll see how versatile they really are.

Lex Res used to be really good. A couple of years ago they treated it and killed a lot of vegetation, especially on the west bank. The recent floods also have had an adverse affect on it. I did manage a 3 plus a couple of weeks back on the eastern side of the beach, but most have been consistently in the 1 lb range on jigs and spinner baits.

I see the same thing in my trick sticks and this happened last year as well. I thought I got a bad bag, but it turned out that the plastic got so cold it dampened the action. As the season got warmer, you couldn't keep them t-rigged for very long because they were so soft and wacky rigging was the only way to go. So yes, I actually do think the colder water has something to do with it. The bodies of water I've been fishing at still have a def temp differences between north & south ends. We've also hit some real cold overnight temps which is not helping.

AWESOME! I watch it twice and I swear that fish started taking HIM for a ride in his kayak for a few seconds there. LOL

I ran into this article while doing a search on tackle making. There is information on what colors disappear at certain depths in the water. The information is based on crystal clear water, but I think you'll get the idea. There is also a section on what colors fish see and bass are referenced within that section. I'm not sure I've totally bought into 100% of what is contained in here, but I do think that there are some validity to it. Anyway, here's the link and you can make your own opinion on that part of the article. http://www.tacklemaking.com/default.php?pageID=12

Hey MA fishers, I've been out the past 2 nights with some success. The bluegill are on the beds and the bass are not far behind. Last night 6 hook-ups in 2 hours and 4 hook-ups a couple of hours ago. All were caught in about 4' of water or less. I tried spinnerbaits, but had no takers. Jigs and worms dragged were the ticket. The bass didn't seem to want anything moving fast and the bite was subtle. You really had to watch your line carefully to detect the bite, if not, all you felt was something "sticky". Unfortunately, I couldn't stay out longer, I honestly think I missed out on a more aggressive bite. Hope you guys are having luck out there. Take care