Clint C.

It's just simply what I love to do... To keep my mind on fishing when things are slow I like to imagine exactly what my lure is doing under the water. Try to picture it in my head. that's usually when I get bit too =0) I never get tired of learning new things and trying to figure out the puzzle!

I'm going to check the bass pro out here tomorrow. Hopefully they have 'em! I'm overdue for a shopping trip there anyway though =0)

They both look great, but I'm pumped for the green pumpkin gold / black / purple!

Nice one!

Yeah I'll be the first to admit that if there is a level below beginner as far as crankbait fishing goes, I'm that level. I guess I'll pretend I'm trying to entice a cat next time! That's a pretty neat way to think about it.... Also yes, we had two days of a lot of rain and about a 20 degree drop in temp. Unfortunately I left my depth finder in the car and didn't feel like going all the way back to get it, but I would bet the surface temp was down at least 5 degrees.

Yeah, I did the usual. Drop shot, mojo rig, Carolina rig, frog over pads and scum and the go to rage rig. the guy that caught it was on a boat and I was on shore. He was casting to a small channel I guess you'd call it back to his boat on the steepest drop off on the lake. I was hitting ot from shore but from a different angle. I'm thinking the thermocline set in and I was mostly fishing under the fish this weekend. He must have been running the crank right above the cline.

Man, I'm so sorry to hear that. Yeah I think the best thing you can do is keep an eye on ebay etc. Maybe check any nearby pawn shops?

Well this was the roughest weekend I've had in a while. Two days in a row not one bite. Couple buddies at the lake said it has been horrible for them too. To my surprise I saw a guy just burning a crankbait get about 2 pounder (making what seemed to be just random casts). Has anyone else had luck with cranks this time of year? It's been really nasty hot out here with a recent cool down and the water level is about 2-3ft low.

I guess it's a warmouth sunfish. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warmouth

Welcome, tons of great information here! Nice looking home lake =0)

Yeah, the only thing I'm thrown off by is the lips. Maybe a green ear / crappie hybrid?

Hey everyone! Caught this on a drop shot yesterday. Not sure what species this is. Maybe a green ear sunfish? It has crappie paper thin lips.

Unbelievable!

Nice fish!

Thanks! It's really been working well here. This place gets a lot of pressure and once summer hits the fishing gets even more tough. These fish don't usually want to bite much but the space monkey is getting it done! It really is a nice lake to fish. Here are a few pics of it from the other night. It stretches around the back left and right (43 acres)

Been having luck with a rage rigged space monkey on steep drop offs in this heat. Here's one from the other day. Guy I always see at the lake held it so I could get a great picture!

Wow that's awesome!

Getting out today for the first time in a while. The heat wave is gone. To answer your question though it's been mixed reports around here. Pretty much 50/50 good/horrible.

Nessie!

http://binged.it/N5sSA9 - I would toss a drop shot finesse worm there (or around that point in general).

When I'm unsure if they are in the area I'm in I use this. Humminbird RF15. It actually does show fish decently well. All I do is shore fish and it's unorthodox to most people but this time of year I use a drop shot with a 2 - 3 1/2 ft leader . I rarely use a worm over 5" especially when the fishing is tough. Roboworms have been working, but my best bait has been the Z-Man Finesse worm (elaztech). I think it works better for shore anglers because it floats so well and still sticks out straight. Use a light weight hook with it. I use the vmc spin shots 1/0. So I'll cast it out and actually leave slack in my line (a light line no more than 6#, I use sunline sniper super FC). I leave slack so the worm can float up as high as I have my leader set and usually feel a hit on the fall or a couple seconds after it hits the bottom. If not I'll very lightly wiggle it, wait a few seconds, then drag it maybe a foot then sit and wiggle the line. I repeat that a couple times. Then if I still have no bites I drag it until I hit a piece of cover and wiggle it there for 5-15 sec. Rinse and repeat. The nice thing is you know where the man made structure is. Cast it to it and feel around with the weight (I use a skinny stick weight). Nice thing is that if you do get snagged usually only your weight will get snagged and you can still get your hook and worm back. Right now they are probably really tight to the cover so you might want to keep it in the man made structure longer. Maybe even dead stick it for a minute or two.

I use 6lb Sunline Super FC Sniper on my Pflueger Patriarch (9530). I think you'll be just fine with the 8lb on the reel you're looking at. Honestly though, this sunline stuff is very hard to break. You may not need more than 6lb. Don't over fill the reel and spray KVD line conditioner on it 45 minutes before you fish and you're set!

Yeah I've caught a couple good ones over there, not 4lb though! I've been real stubborn lately trying to coax the bass by the main front wall into biting. So far I can get 'em on a drop shot and finesse worm, but after a couple fish the bite dies out. I think these fish get spooked VERY easily. Biggest I've gotten was 4 1/2 by the beach. I'm also trying to figure out wolf lake right now too.

This made me feel a little bit better about getting skunked around here =p

I didn't have the same luck as you unfortunately. Just 1 good bite =/