Bluebasser86

They were all caught on rocks. You won't ever find me cranking much except during winter out there.

Fish the dam, especially the concrete outlet on the dam at Cedar and you should catch some crappie.

The cheek stripes say that's a smallmouth. That's what it appears to be to me. They're predators from birth.

I use 2/3 of a trick worm or a stick worm as a trailer on a bladed jig pretty often, it works great. Has good bulk but a more subtle action.

The St. Croix Mojo "Wacky Style" rod is an excellent wacky rig rod. It's a really versatile spinning rod for lots of things really.

Chartreuse belly and purple back squarebills have been a solid producer for me for largemouth for years.

I'd rather go than stay home because of the barometric pressure. I've never caught a big one from my couch but I have caught some big ones under less than desirable conditions.

I mean they offer their baits in clear versions so they can be painted? Doesn't seem like it would be much of a stretch.

Count yourself lucky, or maybe you fish with really light gear and/or drag settings. I know many people who haven't been so lucky, myself included. They have upgraded them in recent years to sharper hooks that may be a bit stronger, but I'll never trust them again, I've seen too many fish lost as a direct result of them bending. They're good enough for a lot of people buying them, sure, so they're not that bad, but they're not that good either. I don't think you can find a better bait for the price with the color selection. The H20 baits are great, but color selection is pretty limited (although I personally don't think you need many colors other than what they offer). Their hooks also aren't the best but the baits are even cheaper so it isn't a big deal

I've been working on perfecting this thing and I think I'm getting close. 1oz head with a powder painted magnum blade, 10/0 Gamakatsu black nickel hook, wire keeper, upgraded line tie, no split ring connection to fail, with a hand poured 6" fat impact style trailer. Looking for some big mommas that go "thump" in the night.

Bluegills, the gateway drug of fishing.

I'd rather be able to buy them with no hooks for a little cheaper and put my own on. I warned my buddy about them and watched him lose 3 fish in the 5-7 pound range the same day because they straightened the stock hooks on his 1.5.

White and chartreuse are the worst.

Sounds like a great place for a wacky rigged senko or a weightless fluke.

Welcome!

Welcome!

Hard to find them anymore. I had to go to making my own with the thick wire and closed eye. I haven't managed to break or bend one yet.

Yeah, you make one bait for each person and get one bait back from each person.

Haven't fished that particular one but I make a similar one with a screwlock hook so it can be rigged weedless. It's pretty resistant to snagging like I'd hopped, also not a real great hookup ratio with it. Strikes are a little harder to detect since I've always used it around heavy cover and don't want to set the hook every time I felt a bump, makes it hard to tell the difference in time to hook a lot of bites and if you swing on everything you snag a lot more.

It's just a lure swap. Make a bait that you specialize in, doesn't have to be anything too fancy. Last year we had hair jigs, bass jigs, jerkbaits, inline spinners, swim jigs, plastics, and bladed jigs. I don't think we put a cap on it last year but you're not expected to drop a bunch of money on it, but also needs to be more than a couple unpainted ball heads.

They're really good batteries. I've got 2 in my Stratos and 2 in my johnboat, all group 31's.

La Cygne was really good Friday, at least what we could fish. Taking waves over the nose of the boat most of the morning until the wind laid down to "only" about 20mph. No big ones but lots of healthy fish near keeper sized if not keepers (didn't measure or weigh any because I had to stay on the motor almost nonstop). Craziest part was catching a SMALLMOUTH on a jerkbait. In almost 2 decades of fishing the lake, I've heard rumors, but never seen any confirmation to them. I've thrown so many Ned rigs at the dam and other rock banks, as well as jerkbaits, cranks, topwaters, all kinds of things a smallmouth will eat, I'd pretty much written them off as nonexistent. Hard to argue with it when one is flopping around on the end of your line though.

Pline CXX

Just watch your line and retie when needed. I only use tungsten for punching or when I'm using a weight 1/2oz or bigger.

I'll tentatively say that I'm in but we're in the process of trying to get our house ready to sell and buy a new house so it's all going to depend on how that's progressing.