Hamby

Here's a funny story... I said my english professor looks like conan o'brien because he has a similar hair style. The guy is overall pretty cool, and he laughed about it. Just coincidentally the following day my "class participation" grade dropped to a 15 out of a possible 35 points. We only have 400 points so far. That's a loss of 5%. I now have a C in his class. Those professors have your balls and wallet in a vice....be nice.

Talk about beginners luck! I'm willing to bet that you won't catch another that big...ever. The odds are in my favor with that bet.

I don't count, but i didn't do as well this year as last. At least not in the fish/hour category. Dunno about total.

Around here, 18" is a freaking monster. 16" are wall hangers haha. I don't know about your area though. Maybe they're more common. Nice fish no matter what.

Did you measure the first one?

Crappie...and nice ones too!

I don't know if you can get the rapala design. I believe they are called wraps. There is probably somebody in your area who does them. Maybe some tournament guys can help you out.

Was thinking the same. Probably good when a slower retrieve is needed. Thicker tail = more resistance.

I fish a shallow lake. Drop the lure to the bottom, bring it up and compare it to the length of the rod.

A jig is one of those lures that i can fish in a foot of water or in deep water. I can fish it slow, i can fish it fast. When it comes to buying lures in bulk, jigs and suitable trailers are really the only thing i buy many of. I buy many different types of plastics to use as a trailer. From big bulky things like brush hogs, all the way down to 4 inch senkos. The color combinations vary just as much also. One color i do well on a pitching jig is a red and black jig with a green pumpkin trailer. It doesn't have to match.

The big white house with all the party animals? Haha. My grandparents have a cottage on the jug side of kuno. I did well up in the jug last week. Right up against the reeds with a swim jig. Ended with 12 bass, two of them at 18 inches. Heard from a reputable source that caught two monsters a few weeks ago tight to the reeds in the jug...both around 22 inches. I also caught a monster eye last week on maple point further into the bay. 28 inches. I fished the outlet thoroughly and only got 2 tiny guys. Plenty of bait up there, but no decent bass. Maybe they hadn't made it that far yet...indian point was being pounded by wind so i only fished it briefly with a spinnerbait. I didn't go in to the inlet. I probably should've, but by the time i finished fishing the weedlines in the bay, i didn't have time to cover that much water. How often are you at the lake? Send me a pm...maybe we can get out and fish some time.

I bought a rabbit hair pitching jig once. Mine didn't last very long in the tackle box after getting wet. The hair stuck together and simply didn't flare in the water, and some fell out.

I completed it. I'm looking for another brand of fluoro to try...finally finished up the rest of my berkley 100%. Maybe i'll give sunline a try

I dig this song. My dad and i saw her perform this on tv. Just her and a piano. When she first came on, my dad was mumbling profanities and talking about how weird and horrible her music is. He quickly became silent when she started the song hahaha. He's a big country-loving redneck. The video is very odd and scary though.

Yeah i don't have large hands. One additional finger forward helps the rod feel more balanced though. Try it. Might just be the rods you're using too. Maybe they're just bad, unbalanced, heavy rods.

Baitcasters tend to be a bit tip heavy and can cause more stress than a spinning rod. Just try switching up your grip. If you're not palming the reel, try that. Try adjusting the number of fingers you have in front of the "trigger" on the rod....on your casts and on your retrieves. I tend to like 3 fingers in front on the retrieve, and two in front on the cast.

You're not stealing it...that's what they're called! That and the bucket brigade.

I spent a lot of time on the weed lines near the creek channels, and ended up finding them in water as shallow as 2ft. Most in 3ft tight to the reeds and some in shallow lily pads. Go figure hey? Went from one fish in 4 hours to 12 in an additional 2 hours...kicking up mud and spooking carp the whole way. I better make sure my battery is charged...i have a feeling i'm gonna be searching hard for a while.

The bucketheads are really bad in our area, hey? Haha. I've given up fishing any of the nice looking forest preserve lakes or dams in the area. Besides myself being boat-spoiled, they're simply not maintained by the dnr or the people who fish them. I leave all of my gear at the cottage 3 hours north in WI. I probably average an hour a year fishing local waters.

Nice looking body of water you live near....

I'll be fishing at least one more weekend this month...hopefully two. Probably be at the lake in two weeks. Last sunday, i did well in very shallow water tight to reeds with a swim jig. The surface temp was right around 57 degrees. The bass were all the way into the back of the channel. I also got a few adjacent to the deep water at the mouth of a creek channel, but not many. In a few weeks, where do you think the fish will be? If i'm unable to find them in the back of the creek channels, where should i go? The channel i caught my fish in opens up to a overwhelmingly large flat that is mostly 3-6ft deep and covered in dying/dead milfoil. The lake is in wisconsin and has a max depth of 19ft, but that area is just a very large bowl. Just about all of the productive structure is in 8 feet or less, and i found green cabbage out to 7 feet but not much deeper. There's a strong population of big pike, so the bass aren't the dominant predators. No need for professional guide service responses...just a few pointers from guys who have fished similar lakes successfully in the fall would help a lot.

All of the nicer eyes i've caught and seen caught the past few weeks have been pigs. They're packing on the pounds and the females are developing eggs. Sorry to jack your thread dulouz...i was excited to share my picture.

Typical buckethead. The ones who ask if they can have your fish are wonderful too. Try to explain to them why they must stop keeping everything because it's illegal, and they say it's ok because there's no police around.

Caught the swim jig addiction from a buddy recently. Gonna be experimenting with that mold i bought from you. The way i typically fish a swim jig, i really have no specific preference. I just work it fast and run it into things. Done well around docks and trees. Throw it in thick cover and work it out aggressively, hitting whatever you can without getting hung up. With a light wire hook, the fish often nearly hook themselves if you work it aggressively. Sometimes the fish want a jig pitched in quietly and slowly worked out, other times you gotta wake them up! I like a 1/4 oz with a quality light wire hook, thin weed guard, and i've done well with the standard single tail grub on the back in varying colors.

A whopping 28". Unfortunately she got the jig in her gills and bled like a stuck pig so i filleted her up. I feel horrible taking a fish like that. Forgive the crappy cellphone pic. A family member took a better one...i just don't have it yet.