B@ssCrzy

When fishing for panfish docks and close to shore have been the ticket during the middle of the day. I fish a reservoir so the drop offs are typically close to shore. I always fish with worms, but normally full worms are too big for the sunnies I catch so I cut my worms into pieces. If I use the full worm I find that they strip the worm without getting hooked, but if I use small pieces I can knot the worm up so that the hook is almost buried in the worm ensuring that if they pull on the worm they are going to get hooked. I also find that I prefer redworms to nightcrawlers due to smaller size. I am not going for big fish, just numbers, so my kids get "hooked" on fishing themselves. The other thing I do for my kids enjoyment is to put the fish in the livewell. We then release them when we are done, but it gives them something to do when the bite is a litte slow. They will go and look/play if they get bored, and keeps them excited throughout the day. I might suggest that you go out at least once or twice to spend some time finding the fish yourself. That way you don't go out and catch nothing. That would be a killer. Good luck.

Westfield, in. Where you at? What lakes you fish?

I believe it does I have saw one instance when guy using straight braid was not getting a bite and other guy using mono leader was catching fish with the same lure. Then when first guy put on a leader he started catching fish. I dont know that it always matters, but it seems to me that some fish are effected by it. This being the case I always use a leader.

I use palomar for braid and improved clinch for mono. Both are great knots.

Great idea about using cd binder for spinners!!! Thanks.

My son is 4 yrs. old and uses it. It has caught some nice fish for him. He will probably use spincast till he is 7 or 8 and then graduate to spinning reel. I like the thought of using it for skipping under docks. Great idea.

I use 8lb on my baitcasters with no problems. But I am not using it in places where it will get hung up either. You should not have any problems.

I use the stanley ribbit double hook with the weight on it and never have a problem with them flipping. Helps you cast them further as well. Highly recommend. Of course when I fish it i am just buzzing it so if you are wanting to pause them then the weightless double hook would be what you want. But I cant comment on those since I have never used them.

Well said...I love the differing opinions on this site and would love to hear the other side of the Lew's/Curado debate. That is what makes this site so great. Everyone has a differing opinion and I am glad that people express those opinions. If you don't have the same opinion then give the other side of it, but you don't have to get offended because of what someone else thinks. I don't think you can just throw out someone's opinion just because they did not fish the reel. First impressions do count especially when it is going to cost you $100-$200 on a reel.

Are the mayflies hatching? If they are you may want to checkout the recent post about mayflies in the smallmouth section. The fish may be keying in on them and so flies may be the way to go at least till the hatch is over.

One other guy at my work fishes, but he only fishes for panfish. I am alone when it comes to bass fishing. I live in Indiana.

I have used Stren and Trilene XL. Prefer the XL.

I will raise or sweep the rod with a short pump to set the hook after I know it is there, but it is my opinion that if you swing for the fences you are going to lose a lot of fish. It seems for me that most of my crank fish are not hooked in the perfect spot so if I swung hard I would lose them. I use a MM rod with mono so I can work the fish as gently as possible to the boat.

I am planning on doing this exact thing for smallmouth in a couple of weeks. I was wondering the same thing.

I strictly use the Stanley Ribbit double weighted hook. You miss a few, but that is frog fishing too. I have been very satisfied with them. Added weight helps you to cast them a lot further.

Line twist on a spinning reel drives me nuts, and drove me to baitcasters. Love the baitcaster. However, switched to 15lb braid on my spinning reel and has brought new life to my spinning set ups. There are pros and cons to both so I will always have both of them in my boat.

I get excited about catching any fish since last year I had too many zero days to count. But anything over 14" is "picture" worthy. The LM record for the local lake I fish is 8lbs. So my 5lb PB LM this year was worth making some noise over.

Now that's a bad day!!! I feel your pain.

Wow, that is pretty cool. I bet that was amazing to watch. Neat pic. Thanks for sharing.

I am heading up to Michigan in June and will be fishing a sunken island that is 12-15 ft deep. I am looking at buying some cranks that will get down to 15+ so that I can bump them on the rocks along the bottom. Since this would be my first foray into deep cranks I don't want to invest any money into a rod and reel until I know that this is something I will stick with. I am looking at buying the KVD 6XD, 5XD, Luhr Jensen Hotlips Express and Bomber Fat Free Shad 3/4 oz. The following are my combos: Curado 50e paired with a 7ft MM gander mountain rod; curado e7 paired with a 6'6 MF Allstar rod; curado e7 paired with a 7' MH Carrot Stix; GSX 5:3 Spinning Reel paired with a Shimano 7' MF Shimano Clarus. I know that I may be in for a full workout, but what would be your suggestion if you were going to use these cranks? Any help would be appreciated.

This is exactly what happened to me 15 years ago. Bought a budget casting reel and hated it, and took it back after one day of fishing with it. Didn't get up the courage to try baitcasting again until about 13 years ago. Decided to invest in a curado e series reel. Now I have 3 of them and don't hardly ever use my spinning combos. The only reason I switched to casting was because I hated how mono twists and gets line memory on a spinning reel. Had I known better I would have just switched to 15lb braid and been fine. So my suggestion to you is go by some braid for your spinning reel. Save up $150 for a nice baitcaster and then learn on that. You won't regret it.

Nice work!! What lake was it? I am assuming West Boggs based on your favorite lake? Were the bass still spawning? Last time I got out, to my local pond, was last week and bass were still on beds.

Stanley Ribbit

Hahaha!!!! That is hillarious!!!

Yeah. Your fine. I was laughing myself. To me fishing is about fun and if you can't laugh at yourself then your in for a long day. I do use the wrist pitch but not nearly as much as I should.