Bluebasser86

If you finder marks arches instead of fish icons you can at least get an idea of the side of the fish. It sounds like you may be seeing schools of shad which will normally appear as a cloud on your screen. A friend of mine claims he's able to tell when he's seeing catfish because their lack of scales sends a little bit different color mark. I don't know what it is he's seeing but he's usually right.

The leader helps a lot but I'm also rarely fishing with it and dragging it through rocks or heavy cover. It is a great open water line. Other than having to tie on a new leader I haven't cut any length of Nanofil off my rods due to fraying. In a year and half I've maybe gone through 5 yards of my Nanofil mainline, maybe. It is a line built for spinning reels and I think that's where a lot of people are having problems because they're trying to fish it on casting gear in heavy cover like braid, but it isn't braid. It may work okay on casting gear but I've never tried it for that. It's a niche line basically. It doesn't do a lot of things well but for the techniques it works well for nothing else comes close. The lake that Hi Salenity is referring to we're basically just ticking a small, lightly weighted plastic bait along the bottom as slowly as possible, Nanofil is great for this. I've tried several other lines and fished the exact same baits side by side with other guys and it just isn't really fair to whoever isn't using it. It isn't contacting anything, thus not getting any abrasions. Same goes for swimming a grub, light weight crankbait, or wacky rigging. It makes it possible to cast a mile and the low stretch allows you to set the hook at a distance as well. However, if you're trying to drag a jig through a rock pile, or fish a shakyhead you might as well just cut the bait off and throw it in the water because you're most likely going to lose it on the first hookset. So put it on a spinning rod when you're fishing open water and see if you don't change your mind.

The Bazooka tube with socks on the rod tips is the safest way to fly with rods that I've found. I'm sure the PVC tube will work too. Anything less and expect some busted rods or crushed eyelets when you get to your destination.

I think once more people discover how good this line is for the techniques it's good for it will be much more popular. I've caught hundreds of fish on Nanofil, lots of 3lb smallmouth, largemouth over 6, and wipers close to 10, without any issues.

I just bought a CI4 last month and have really been impressed with it so far.

I thought for sure she was over 8 when I caught her. I know the warm water is kind of cheating but that isn't going to stop me from going.

Got to love when they're choking a swimbait!

I've caught quite a few in high 40/low 50 degree water twitching floating Rapalas. I'm not sure what the water temp was because I was fishing out of my old 2 man without a depthfinder but I caught one with this technique when there was ice in the backs of the coves.

Moving the bait too much and too fast. You're imitating a small prey item and trying to make it look natural. Most small creatures don't make lots of big movements. Fish it slow and thorough.

If the wind cooperates I'm going back to Coffey County. If it's supposed to be more than I'd like then I'll be heading to La Cygne.

Little Johns, Bandit Flat Maxx, and Thunder shads.

Grass carp will eat green or olive colored wolly buggers too. You have to find them actively feeding on the top and you only get one or two shots at them but the fight is worth it when you hook up.

I'd probably be a lot more interested in golf if I could fish the water hazards and catch fish like that!

Always feels good to get that first one of the year!

You can get a pack of Wal Mart brand Magic Erasers for a couple bucks and one sponge will do a few rods as long as they aren't too dirty.

This is a tough time of year to try to start fishing fluoro. Not that it doesn't work in cold weather but it gets stiffer and tends to jump off a spinning reel a little bit. Lighter line will help prevent this and the L and L conditioner helps also. A light lure that offers little resistance in colder weather with fluoro on a spinning reel is almost a guarantee to get at least a little bit of a mess.

Not sure how thorough you're planning on doing but a Magic Eraser makes dirty cork look like new again.

Jerkbaits, spinnerbaits, and traps.

I've fished them twice and they're produced fish for me both times. Haven't fished them enough to decide if they're any better or worse than other baits but they do work.

Was this with baits on it or just the rig? I have one and don't have any problem with the rig spinning with 3 1/8oz heads on it.

VMC inlines or short shanks. I'm really liking the short shanks now that they started making odd sizes like a #3. Allows me to go to a size bigger and stronger hook without adding a bunch of weight to my bait.

Both great baits and both have their time and place. Seems to me like the rattling LC are a little louder than the SK and have a little tighter, more controlled wobble.

I've used my boat to break ice to fish areas and loaded the boat before. You just have to fish slowly and downsizing often seems to help bring more bites. The bass don't have to eat very often because of their slow metabolism, so you bait really has to hit them on the nose and often needs to stay there for awhile before they'll bite it. Don't expect a lot of bites but this time of year is a good time to catch a big one!

Here is the exact bait I was using, still rigged on the same hook.

Probably going to have an empty back seat this Thursday if anyone is interested, just let me know.