deep

I'm probably in the same boat (pun) as you are since 100% of my serious fishing and about 50% of my fun fishing is from the shoreline (no electronics). Take my advice for what it's worth, but I do luck into a few fish here and there. First off, map study is important. I hit no more than 3 or 4 spots in an 8 hour serious fishing trip. For shorter funner trips, I'll fish probably the same number of spots, but fish much faster. For the fun shore banging trips, I take 1 rod and 1 reel with me. A jig is always there, and maybe a jerkbait or a topwater too if I'm feeling like it. A jig can be fished is so many different ways covering all parts of the column until the fish tell me how and where they want it. For more serious trips, I have three rods with me. One is always a swimbait rod, and the second is always the jig rod. The third is either another swimbait rod, or a plastics rod (depends on the moon phase and weather conditions). I always fish top-middle-bottom, but especially the bottom, with at least two baits, and several presentations for each bait. Good luck.

This little CPL has been very good to me this year. Pitched my jig past the head of a big tree in the water. She bit on the fall in about 15 FOW. Didn't see the line jump in the breeze, but felt the bite all right (12# Tatsu). Set the hook, and she dove straight into the tree (of course). Kinda difficult to turn a biggish fish on a medium power rod and 12# line, so I gave her a little thumb drag after freespooling the reel, and she found her way out of trouble after a while and made off for deeper water. Changed my position a little so that the tree wasn't in the way any more, and got her in. At least I'm getting enough practice landing adult fish until I eventually run into the heavy hitters lol. Got some catching up to do. 1/4 oz jig and craw fished on 12# Tatsu. Fish went 4-05 on my Berkely handheld.

Good job young man! Well done.

Pick a reservoir where your casts can reach structure that fish might be using depending on the season.

Flashminnow, Pointer/ Slender Pointer, Staysee. Buy one of each in your favorite color and size. Those would hold the fort for a while; that is, until you get real serious about jerkbait fishing. And then, you can PM Dwight.

.. don't let me down. Everything happens for a reason I guess. Post-break-up and post-recovery, I have more time to fish. The conditions today I felt were marginal for hunting big fish- it's hard work. So I hit another res (walnut creek) for some fun-fishing. I cleaned my jig reel (that has fluoro on it) in the AM, but didn't have time to lube it. So I took along a reel spooled with braid and primarily fished shallow. Worked out pretty well. The first laydown produced a dink that got off. The second produced a nice high 5#/ low 6# class bass, that did *not* get off. Apparently I need to eat more wheaties before trying to hoist fish like this. The next two laydowns got me nothing. The fifth laydown had a 4# class bass on it that ate my jig. And then I ran out of wood cover in the general area. I didn't want to leave fish to find fish, besides the adult fish were obviously biting. Worked the area a little deeper, and caught a 5# class fish. Probed around some more, bottom bumping, pitching, and swimming, and didn't do much good. Tried a coupla other spots, caught a few dinks. Like this one. Came back to the first spot, and found that the bucket brigade took it over in the meantime. So I left.

Tom Young's Cosmic clock. Fish the bottom, the middle, and the top *at the right locations* with your favorite baits in your favorite colors.

Well done. Thanks for sharing the great pics.

Awesome Paul. You da man.

Great catch. Definitely much bigger than anything I've caught out of that place. WTG!!!

Thanks guys. The first fish was in the 4# class, and by far the biggest I've ever caught outta here- in over four years. Kinda stoked about that. Another pic. Thank you! It's a Kistler Helium3 7'6" light-medium-heavy (whatever that means) power, fast action rod with a Shimano Curado 201G6. The rod has an aftermarket foregrip added by yours truly. Gotta have a foregrip on my jig rod. Definitely the second best jig rod I've ever fished- after the Loomis NRX 893JWR. I actually like its action a little better than the NRX.

Went to a local res (walnut creek) after work for an hour. Cold and muddy water with 15 mph winds. Caught three babies from shallow cover, and then a couple bigger ones much farther out (~100 ft offshore). 3/8 oz jig and craw fished on 12# Tatsu.

Good luck Raider. We'll miss you.

Pointer 100SP.

Yes, them small bass need to be removed. I'm not gonna do that; and so I am glad if someone else is willing to do it for me. The only problem is that there are only so many 5#+ bass in a small 50 or 100 acre reservoir/ CPL. You Cali guys are well aware of that. Fish Chris had an awesome article titled *The Trophy Bass On Fluorescent Playdough Theory* on his (now defunct) website. Be happy to mail that to anyone who wants to read it.

*Rock* is structure, not cover. Just saying.

More (much much more) on the habits of bass- especially adult ones, their forage, understanding structure etc. The type of stuff Tom (WRB) and others like him post about. Don't care at all about new baits, and even less about the $100 rods and reels threads. Good luck.

For sub 2 oz baits, your flipping stick and a 200 size reel with 15-20# line (or braid equivalent) will suffice. If and when you're ready to move up, I'd suggest an Okuma guide select rod and a Cardiff 301 for a cheap but very decent combo. P.S. Buy the cardiff used. You'll save at least 50 bucks.

Lol, I think the blue is prettier. But blue is also my favorite color. The 893JWR will work with 1/2 oz jigs, but I liked it better for upto 3/8 oz jigs. I'd also look into the 873CRR, apparently it fishes half a power heavier (second hand info).

I like my Costas. My old 7-eyes were all right too. If they're not polarized, I'm not putting them on. (I do not wear any sort of eyewear, ever, when I'm not fishing.)

If you saw bad reviews, why did you order it lol? Tatsu gets my vote.

I haven't fished the flash pointer, so my opinion probably doesn't count lol. What I do know is that if the fish are on a shallow jb bite, I can get them on one of three- between the 100 Pointer, 112 Smallie Pointer (MR), 110 Flashminnow. Good luck,

I wonder if anyone's opinion has changed regarding them. I have owned and fished 5 of them over the years, and all of them have been flawless. To be honest, I never spent more than $85 shipped for any of them though. This might be a sacrilege, but I think I like them a tiny bit better than even the Curado E's (200 size). Yes, I have owned those as well. I really appreciate how *in my hands*, the G seems to cast lighter baits slightly better, and palms a little better too. The E feels more solid and a little smoother though; but I'm used to lower end reels (like Citicas and Cardiffs), and don't really care for the extra niceties. I'm not an enthusiast.

Thanks Tom; much appreciated. I'll get some for myself.

I can't believe people like you or Butch or Mike Long ever get skunked! What size chigger craw do you like Tom?