Hamby

I'd try to find out the water temps. I'd guess that they are spawning right now, with some in the post spawn.

Up here in wisconsin the cool water must help. The lake i fish has a one fish limit at a minimum length of 18 inches. Guys keep those all the time. I gill hooked a bass pretty badly and kept it. It was about 19 inches and ~ 4lbs. Tasted GREAT! Only time i've kept a bass though. I'd keep one every so often, but that 1 fish limit means i can't be fishing for bass with that fish in my possession. All we did was skin it, cut it into 4 fillets, coat it in Andy's "red" recipe and fry it up. No weedy, nasty taste.

Haha no kidding. It's almost as if they know exactly how much a lure costs. Like francho said, the pike will be up shallow now but not as shallow in the summer. Although i still manage to lose lures to those few stray pike in 4 FOW mid-summer.

I'm gonna try ***' trick sticks this season. It's $6 for 25 5" ones! If i don't like them as much as others, at least i have many for my brother to use when he's in my tackle.

Play around with it for casting. It varies with each lure and conditions (wind). I believe somebody told me that if i get a backlash at the beginning of the cast, i should set the magnets higher. If i'm getting it towards the end, i should set the spool tensioner higher. For pitching, i usually have both on the lowest setting. When one of my reels needed to be cleaned, i could tell because it felt like my spool tensioner wasn't loosening all the way.

That's what it's about! The days where i caught one after another don't stick in my mind. It's the days where i had to work hard for those fish. Where i spent hours catching nothing and the lightbulb went off. Running and gunning from spot to spot and watching my pattern actually work!

'Twas a joke. Take it easy.

Are you kidding me? First of all make sure you're using the best type of head for the situation. Then get a stout enough rod and some braided line and rip that thing out of the weeds! A jig can cause some big commotion in those weeds and draw some pretty knarly strikes from bass sitting in pockets or cruising the edges.

You're crazy man. I wouldn't let the little poop machine touch my expensive gear.

I personally have no accuracy with spinning gear so i stay away from it as often as possible. Last season, the only thing on a spinning rod was an unweighted senko for skipping. I can't even come close to skipping with a baitcaster. I'm even going to bring along another baitcaster this year specifically for those bluegill i see chilling in the shade. I should be able to pitch a slip bobber and jig quite accurately. Besides the backlashing, i feel a lot more confident in my abilities to place a lure with a baitcaster than with a spinning reel.

Make shorter casts. You'll still be moving fast, but you can leave your lure in one spot a little longer. Or just troll along with a senko. Twitch it a bunch of times to get slack in the line, then let it sink. When the boat catches up with the line, do it again. You could do the same with a jig. Or let him move fast, but ask him to move in shallow so you can beat the bank with a jig or plastic while he casts the other way. A fish wrapped up in something will get his attention.

Braid is a lot thinner than other lines. I think 20lb braid is the same diameter as 6lb mono. 30lb is the same diameter as 8lb mono. So said person uses 10lb mono, or 30lb braid. 10lb braid would be much too thin.

BTW they're called VMC Sure Set hooks. Google them, they're not very new so you can find plenty of info about them.

Were you trying to make a joke? Haha. Sounds to me like a car full of kids and a talkative wife caused it.

I know rapala has baits where both hooks are the vmc ones. Many don't like them at all, that's all i know about them. I had a few baits with them, and i took the front one off to reduce my chance of snagging. Didn't notice much of a difference in hook ups, but i don't fish cranks too often.

Some states say you can fish on YOUR land without a license. I don't know about seasons though. You could've called them up. You would've gotten the answer straight from the source in a matter of minutes. When it comes to hunting though, those deer on your land don't live on your land. They are the state's deer. If it's my private pond, it shouldn't matter because i maintain the pond and the fish in it. They're my fish. That's my 2 cents. Whatever the law says, i don't know how they can tell you what to do on private waters. It's gamefish season now, but it wouldn't hurt to know for next year.

That's normal. Chrome glows red, firefox orange, microsoft word is blue...there's no default color, each program glows a certain color.

A decent pike is always nice, but i can honestly say i'm always disappointed to find out it's a pike. I always want it to be a huge bass, or a musky of any size. They put up a great fight, but it can be so easy to catch them early in the year that i just get tired of it. A PITA in my smaller boat too. Most pike don't even come out of the water with me unless they are really nice. Probably anything around 35" and up. I didn't hit the correct time last year, but the previous year i was at the cottage for 2 weeks in may and early june when the pike were going nuts. I could go out and catch more pike on an inline spinner over weeds in 3-4 FOW than i could small bass on anything. GREAT time to get the people less enthusiastic about fishing out on the boat though. Nothing easier than aggressively chucking, winding, and ripping a spinnerbait. The pike basically hook themselves.

I have two fish that are equal in length at 21" but one was skinnier. The fat one scaled right at 6lbs and was caught full of eggs on a 7" power worm in 4ft of water. The other i didn't weigh but i estimated in the low 5lb range. It was caught mid-summer fishing slop with a frog. Knowing guys who do really well on my lake (2500 acres, max 19ft, wisconsin), i can confidently say that's really good.

Yeah i agree. We have a small yard though so it only took a little bit longer to cut it. Was pretty wet though.

I had some luck on a jitterbug at the end of the season last year. Didn't do much night fishing though. I can tell you that fishing topwater at night sure did help with my reaction time. I had the bait come flying back at me a couple times because of how close it was to the boat. Quickly learned not to set the hook until i feel a fish haha.

Shoot him! Shoooooot him!

Haha! Good thing you were wearing glasses man. That could've been ugly. Exactly why i try to wear some every time.

What does nick look like? Is he the short guy with glasses?

I agree with Jfrancho. Why would it float? For a gallon jug full of water to float, it would need to be less dense than water. How can water+jug be less dense than just water? I think the plan is to have the water jugs hanging anyway. Not in the water.