Bluebasser86

At least you're fishing and hooking fish, I'm not even getting that far, just fishing and wishing. Some of the ponds have skim ice on them too so that doesn't help.

Know why they call it Vanish? Cause that's what every fish you hook with it will do Or that's what all your baits you fish with it will do, whichever you prefer. I've heard the newer stuff is better but when it first came out it was junk, never tried it again. Vicious is probably the best cheap fluoro I've used along with Red Label. I do like most and buy good fluoro and just use mostly cheap backing with about 50 yards of fluoro, makes it not quite as expensive that way.

Why in the world would you volunteer to get tased?? I've crossed wires and been drive stunned along with taking the ride in the academy but for the life of me I can't imagine why you'd voluteer to do it just cause?? I'd still rather be tased than sprayed again but still, why man?

We're sandwiched between Cabela's, 2 Bass Pro Shops, and a Roger's Sporting Goods, along with 3 Dicks Sporting Goods all within 30 minutes of here. I can't really blame the local wally worlds for not even trying to carry anything but the basics in the sporting goods department.

5XD is about as deep as I ever get, and catch fish anyways. The second biggest bait in the Fat Free Shad series catches me a few fish ever year also.

Swimbaits. I still haven't caught many on the bigger baits but they just look too good not to catch anything, so I go on fishing them.

I'd check one of the sight sponsers also. I would be really surprised if one of them couldn't make you something at least very close to what you are looking for, if not exactly like what you are wanting. It shouldn't be hard to so at all from what I'm understanding as long as the hook you want fits the mold. What football jig do you want and size? There is a mold with the eye horizontal to the head and one perpindicular to the head. I only pour the one that is horizontal with the head because they can be used to make bladed jigs also and that style eye seems to protect the knot a little better.

Very nice fish! Got to love getting those pics with the snow in the background! We've got some real warm weather coming this week, into the 60's a couple days. Hoping I'll be able to get on some fish myself!

Makes my winters a little easier to stand being able to get on here and talk fishing and, for the lucky few, get to look at pictures of fish that people are catching during the dead of winter. Lots to learn on here and lots of people to bounce ideas off of. Welcome!

Is he killing me or just catching a fish or two more than I am? I can live with my friends outfishing me but not killing me, that bragging never goes away. I usually aim to catch the biggest ones more than the most but if the talking starts getting heavy I'll do what I can to play catch up.

I can only remember one really warm winter like this in my lifetime. It seems like a cold March and April made up for some 60's and 70's in January and February, hopefully that doesn't happen this year. The cold nights has finally made the fishing feel more like winter fishing. I've been out 3 more times and hadn't caught a thing until yesterday, 1 small crappie and 1 small bass both on jerkbaits. 2012 bass count-82

Who tracks this stuff?? Some of it like our eyes, time to fall asleep sure but polar bears left handed? 40lbs of skin? Did someone volunteer to devote their entire life to living in a box so they could measure that?

I like octopus style hooks because they are thin and short so the bait looks very natural. If I'm fishing only for crappie I'll use a #6 or even a #8, it doesn't take much to hook and hold a crappie. If you're fishing a bigger bait or where you might come across a big bass I'd probably go with a #2 or 1/0 assuming you're fishing light tackle that won't straighten a small hook.

I use it a lot also. I've fished several different brands but keep coming back to P-line. Now that they came out with their new C21 that fishes well, is tough, and affordable I'll be a lot less likely to wander again.

Rage craws make great trailers. I also use twin tail Yum muy grande grubs and chompers grubs, Zoom cross craws and speed craws, and Strike King 3X chunks.

They do make good bait for crappie when they're 1-2 inches long, they can be quite a bit larger and be good bait for bass. Make sure to use a small, light wire hook when you're crappie fishing because they will die very easily if you use to big of a hook.

I'm a big fan of the St.Croix Pro Glass myself. I've had a couple and they've been great rods. I fish mostly square bills to medium (10 feet and less) diving baits. Most cranking sticks at the price range you mentioned will be good rods though.

What do you mean by double blade spinnerbait? Were both blads on the same arm or were there two seperate arms? The double bladed spinnerbait, where both blades are on the same arm, is probably the most popular design made. The baits with two arms have more of a cult following but can be very effective in the right situations, night time seems to be the best time for me.

Just saw those earlier today myself, good looking bait. The bacon rind was one of my favorite C-rig baits.

I can kind of feel your pain. We had a nice warm day that thawed everything out 2 days ago and was still soft yesterday. Well I grabbed a rod and planned on hitting a couple ponds before work but everything I drove by was frozen! I did drive by one small community lake that had some soft water by the dam but couldn't get any to grab my jerkbait, even when I was taking over a minute on a single retrieve. Still better than sitting at home watching fishing and wishing it was me!

Fishing jigs does take some patience and a little different feel than anything else but the work is well worth the reward once you figure it out! Nice job!

Sometimes it's all about fishing with what the conditions allow you to fish with and windy conditions are one of these times. It's nearly impossible to feel a bite on a jig or a soft plastic bait when the wind is blowing hard. It is difficult to hold the boat still. It's tough to cast a light crankbait. So don't do it. Choose a bait that best fits a windy situation and you will be successful. Heavier plastic crankbaits Spinnerbaits Topwater (Spooks are great when you have to cast into the wind) Lipless cranks These are all baits that are easy to cast and you can feel the bite when in windy conditions. You can also cover a lot of water when fishing with them. The wind always blows here. I hear of guys complaining about 10-15 mph winds but we're usually begging for days like that! I've spent too many days fishing in 20-30mph winds to count. One of my best days last year it was blowing over 30 and gusts up to 45. We were lucky that they were eating spinnerbaits and rattletraps because that was about all we could fish!

I guess it would depend on your requirements to make it the "Bass Fishing Capitol". I like green fish and brown fish so it would have to be somewhere with good access to both but there are several areas and even individual lakes that can claim that. If you were just going purely for big fish I'd have to say Falcon or one of the Cali lakes for green fish and Erie for smalljaws.

That's funny, I'm also a Clayton born in '86. Mines pretty easy to explain, I'm a police officer (blue) I fish for bass (basser) born in '86.

It's a young bluegill without a doubt. We used to catch them in a thrownet in a pond with nothing but bluegill and catfish in it. Baby crappie have bigger anal fins than bluegills do like the picture posted above. Plus if you open the mouths the bluegill mouths will be small for their bodies and crappies will be pretty big for their bodies.