Bluebasser86

I like them pretty well so far. I have a 5 and 6 inch, both in the slow sink. I like the action of the 6" better but so far the fish have liked the 5" better and I guess that's what really matters.

20mph while I was out there. Think they may have actually been having a hard time honing in on it because of the wave action. I had a couple nice smallies on a Bull Shad a few weeks ago.

It has ST 36's on it. Most of the misses were just small fish that were just ramming it instead of actually grabbing it. I know the big smallie just rammed it, I watched her shoot up off the bottom in about 8' of water. There's about 15' of visibility in the lake I was fishing so it was really easy to see that big, dark fish coming up.

Ahh to be a kid again, when you could tackle and scuffle with someone for being a jerk and nobody got in trouble.

Looks like some kind of jellyfish or monster sea slug? Or maybe just a big piece of brown plastic sheeting

I'm not sure if it's changed but you used to have to keep it so it could be examined to determine it was the species you wanted to submit it for and that it wasn't tampered with (lead or rocks in the stomach). They have length world records for catch and release fish but I don't know if it works the same for weighed fish.

I rarely get the hook tangled on my Super Spook Jr's, unless I'm using braid, then it's every other cast. Braid floats so it's a lot more likely to get tangled up on the hooks.

I would for sure get a 7 or 9 inch Slammer to toss around. You should be able to fish that bait with a titanium leader and worse case situation you get some explosive topwater strikes from pike and muskie, not a bad problem to have Bass in Minnesota eat a lot of yellow perch where they coexist so I'd look at some perch colored baits for sure. It doesn't take a monster to eat one of these baits. I fished a 7" Slammer for a few hours last Friday morning. I caught 6 and missed that many more along with tons of followers. Of the 6 I caught only 1 was a keeper over 15", one was barely 12", but then one of them I missed was a smallmouth in the 18-20 inch range which is a monster at the lake I was fishing.

Strike King is a good choice as far as bang for you buck goes. Spros are great baits but twice as expensive as the Strike Kings but they also come with good hooks that you don't have to change out before you fish with them. I have the Strike King cranks in everything from the little 1.0 up to the 6XD in green gizzard shad, it just works around here for some reason. The 1.0, 1.5, 3XD, and Series 5 are my favorites. Bandit would be another good bait to look into that catches fish and doesn't break the bank. I've been a big fan of the 100 and 200 series for a long time and I really like the 250 Ledge that they came out with a year or two ago. Norman's Lures is another good option. The Little N, Fat Boy, and DD series are all proven baits with good colors to choose from. I'd suggest getting a few proven colors in each and deciding which ones you and the fish like better then expanding your collection a little more.

It happens sometimes with most any bait, obviously more so with treble hooked baits. The more you allow a fish to flop around the worse it will be. Keep them in the water, keep them from jumping, then get a tight grip on their lip while unhooking them so they can't flop around as much and you'll minimize the problem.

That's a nice smallie, but they have to be 18" to be a keeper out there If they'd lower it to 15" there would be a lot more keeper fish weighed in during the tournaments.

Nope! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r4FBaDS9PQ

Stained water and a bright white spinnerbait is a good combination! If the fish are feeding heavily on shad it's a good option in anything.

I don't know if it makes a difference but it gives me more confidence in my bait and that will catch you more fish for sure. Plus the hooks I buy are the same price for red or black nickel so I'm not paying any extra either.

I'm not sure exactly where you live in OP Chris but according to Google maps there's 3 miles difference and 13 minutes difference depending on which route you take. It takes me about a hour and a half from my house to get there on 56. If you go 56 west (main road through Gardner, exit 210 off of I35 south) You'll take a right (north) onto N 6th St/E 1700 RD. In about 3 miles you'll take a left (west) onto N 600 Rd. You'll go about 4 miles and it will turn into N 650 Rd and you'll turn left (south) onto Highway 59. 3 miles back south you'll turn right (west) back onto Highway 56. You stay on that for a long ways and you'll go through Scranton and Burlingame. Once you get through Burlingame you'll be on Highway 31 for about 15 miles before 31 ends and you take a right (north) onto Highway 99. That will go through Eskridge and after you get through there it will be about 4-5 miles you'll be turning left (south) into the lake. If you take I70 you just take that through Topeka to Highway 4. Turn left (south) and follow that to Eskridge. Right on 99 and 4-5 miles to the lake. 56 is the easier and faster route IMO but obviously if you're towards the north end of OP it may be faster to take I70.

From the article: (Note: This has been verified by TBF biologists as a blue marlin, even though it looks more like a sailfish because of its broad dorsal fin. Apparently, baby blue marlin begin life with this type of fin, which narrows as the fish grows and develops, and a stout bill. Baby sailfish—pictured at right—feature much longer bills.) I thought the same thing when I saw the picture.

3 wraps and twist tighten the wire and I'm done and the skirt won't budge. Wire is nice because it's fast but thread is also nice because you can really match the color thread with the color jig you're tying and it won't rust or corrode.

Are you doing a standard Texas rig or Texposed? A Texposed rigged bait will be nearly as weedless and will be much easier to set the hook into the fish. Braided line and a sharp hook will also help you drive the hook home.

Are you fishing a stream/river or lake/pond? If they'll eat them I love fishing jerkbaits for trout but sometimes they just won't hit them, seems like they work better in moving water than still water. Inline spinners and small spoons are a good option also. Probably my favorite to just catch trout is a small marabou jig (1/16oz or smaller, down to 1/80oz or so) suspended under a bobber. In moving water the current gives the bait good action. In still water the waves will do it or you can give the bait small twitches. Usually you'll want lighter tackle for trout, I use a 6' 8" L/F spinning rod with a 1000 size reel and limp 4-6 pound line. It doesn't take a strong hookset and you'll want you drag set or be prepared to back reel because big trout fight fast and pull hard, kind of similar to a smallmouth.

We have problems with illegals poaching fish at the outlet of one of the power plant lakes. They throw net, snag, set line, whatever they can do to catch fish and completely disregard length and creel limits. I asked one of the park rangers out of frustration one day after watching a 6-7 pound bass get throw netted and filleted. He said they can take their gear and write citations but they keep coming back and not paying their fines because they technically don't exist in the system. I told him he needs to just start hooking everyone that doesn't have a license and maybe they'll get the message.

I don't have the Cardiff but I have the Calcutta 400B that I use for muskie and big cats and occasionally swimbaits for bass. It casts very well and the drag is smooth and will stop any bass you'll ever hook. IMO it isn't too large to use for swimbaits for bass.

Strike King has a natural pumpkinseed color that tears the fish up for me in the 1.5 size. It's about as realistic as you can get for a bait in the $5 range. The natural bream is a really good bluegill imitation also. http://www.basspro.com/Strike-King-KVD-Square-Bill-Silent-Crankbaits/product/10209675/

Red craw cranks and traps are where it's at early in the spring I've done well with red squarebills in muddy water too for some reason.

I feel your pain, I haven't hardly been able to buy a spinnerbait fish this year. I caught quite a few really early in the year when the water was still pretty cold but almost none since then.

Same thing I was thinking, looks like a completely different fish.