WookieeJedi

I use spinning gear with flouro-coated 8lb (or less) mono.

You never can tell, a few years ago I bought a BPS deep-diving crankbait, and caught 2 3lb fish on the first cast. I never caught 2 fish simultaneously on a crankbait before or since. Those crankbaits have continued to produce, and they are some of my favorite deep-divers.

Green pumpkin/ red flake!

I just so happen to have an Aglia in the #4. I have some big Road Runner bucktail striper jigs, too. I might just tie one on with one of those bright plum worms as a trailer. Those pike seem to like the pink/purple colors.

I put a little something into all my bags of soft plastics, that way the scent gets soaked in. I think it makes a difference.

If it is too small, I toss them back; or if I only wind up with a couple. I'm not going to clean just two fish. Since I am in the deep South, I turn the really big ones back too. Any fish over 7 from around here just isn't going to taste right.

Maps plus electronics. Find a few places that look right on the map, and go fish them. Watch your electronics even when you are between spots, sometimes you see something small enough to not be on the map, and it will hold fish. I'm in a kayak these days, so I try to find places as close to gether as possible. Since I'm no longer blasting down the lake at high speed, I sometimes pick up some details I would have missed. Sometimes those details will tug your line. Part of the fun of this sport can be learning new water.

That hurts. Excuse me while I go check my AR license.

I would go with Swindle, just so we could compare notes on back surgeries. He would probably be the most fun too.

What size Mepps do you use for this rig? My home lake has a spot I usually avoid due to Pike strikes this time of year, but I recently noticed the state record here in LA is quite beatable, and I registered for the Mustad contest this year. If I can kill pike and make some bank, it might be worth a couple of days of fun invested.

Watching that video is what got me to give spinnerbaits a go! I know they are versatile, and since I fish out of a yak, that's a lot of potential production in a small tackle space that I'm letting go by not using them. When I use the beetle spin or the matrix shad, I'm usually fishing them like a jig, fast-dragging the bottom, or dropping them off inclines in deeper water. But I have to be pretty desparate, or the fish have to really be giving me major clues before I'll get them out.

I have been bass fishing for a very long time, but something has been missing from my arsenal of skills. The spinnerbait. I know, there are some who won't leave the landing without one of these tied on, but where I grew up fishng, I always saw the guys thowing spinnerbaits as bank-beaters who complained about the lake not having fish in it, as they passed by me with their trolling motors cranked up to 11; all the while, I'm catching lots of big fish just by facing the other way or tossing something other than a white spinnerbait. I know this is wrong, but I still have this mental block for using spinnerbaits. I see them as a give-up lure. There are two exceptions I have to this: one is using in-line spinners on small rivers, and the other is the mighty bettle-spin and it's cousin the Matrix Shad or Redfish Magic lure. I am going to change this. Starting next trip, I'm blowing the dust off of my spinnerbait and I'm going to cast it until I learn how to catch fish with it. I'm going to watch how-to videos on you-tube. There I said it. I will teach a 44 year-old dog a new trick.

Don't feel too bad for your Dad, he got to be in the boat and watch his son get his first tournament win. That's a good day, I don't care who you are.

I saw a similar rig in an article on lures for pike, only it was a lizard instead of a senko.

I have fished all over, but have never made the trip to Caney. I ought to go, it is only about an hour and a half. Lake Claiborne is really close and I fish it a lot.

I tried out my Jackall Giron in bluegill for the first time today. It works, and it is really easy to use. It seemed like a lot to pay of a lure, but I used my Cabela's points for the first one. I would gladly pay the price now that I see how well-made and effective it is. I'll get the orange belly bluegill next. http://www.jackall-lures.com/products/hardswim_giron.html

I tried mine out today. Nothing. I got fish on a chatterbait, a jerkbait, a frog, and a few on the Giron minnow in bluegill, but the Bama rig struck out. It looks good in the water, and I'm sure there will be times when it works, but magic, it ain't. I hope this doesn't wind up in that box with the helicopter lures...

No pics of the meathog. This was the era before digital cameras, and I almost never took a camera to the lake. Now I almost always do.

The clone I made only has 4 stations, a rig with 3 would be just as easy to make. There might just be a market in there worth exploiting for someone in states with hook restrictions. At $20 a pop, I might just be tempted to make some garage space for rig-building. I would bet local shops would buy all the legal rigs you could make.

I don't think I have had a better day and only caught two fish. I didn't even think that lake had a fish in there that big. My brother still hasn't broken 8 pounds.

If you don't find someone to get you into a boat, don't despair, you can go to City Park and fish the lagoons. There are lots of bass in them, some over 10 ounds get caught every year. You can also catch some Blue Rio Grande Cichlids there if you downsize your lures a little. There are not many places you can catch them, so it is a unique opportunity. Across Wisner Blvd. from the park is St. John's Bayou if you get bored with the park. Get a Matrix Shad or Redfish Magic spinnerbait to fish in the bayou, there are specks, reds, and bass in there. Just work your way around the shoreline, you will get something. The fishing is best around the Harrison Ave. bridge and north of it. If you choose to fish the lagoons north of the 610, be careful, that place is full of gators. I mean FULL. Good luck, and welcome in advance to NOLA.

I have an older Quantum EX200 baitcaster that I have had since the 90's. It was on a crankbait rod for a long time, then I switched it over to a 7'6" striper rod, just because it has more capacity. As you can imagine, both of those roles have sorely mistreated it, yet it still casts and retrieves well, and the drag is silky smooth. I'm thinking maybe stuff used to be made better, because I'm also still using a Shimano B100 from the 80's and a Shakespeare Alpha 1982 (my first baitcaster). Neither looks new, but they both still work like new.

I don't pretend to understand why an orange belly works on an otherwise photorealistic lure, but it does work. I have a particular love for the Rapala Shad Rap in the natural shad color. I have been using them since they first came out in the 1980's. But every one I buy gets an orange stripe painted down the belly with a paint pen before it gets wet. I discovered this by fishing with a guy who had a Cordell shad bait similar to the shad rap, except for a little orange on the belly. I got spanked pretty hard, and bought some orange model paint at Wal-Mart that very day. Sure enough, I was catching them the next day. Since,I have fished with guys throwing the same bait as me with no orange, and the orange belly outperforms the plain-bellies every time.

I'm all purple and gold. The only hogs I care anything about are green.

I have a lot of good memories from fishing, but the day I got my personal best largemouth bass will always be my favorite. As it turned out, it would be the last time my dad, my brother Ron, and I would share a day on the lake. It was in the 1990's, and I was on semester break in January from school. We decided to take a trip to Cypress Lake/Black Bayou in Bossier Parish which was my brother's home lake. He is a better bass-catcher than I am, and he was really rocking some big fish on offshore structure. We met up at the launch in the morning, Ron in his boat with a good friend, and Dad and I in my boat. There were 3 good spots to fish, so we split up and fished 2 of the spots and agreed to meet up at 10 to assess what was working. Ron chose his favorite spot; he was getting transferred with his job and had set a goal of catching an 8 pounder or better before he would get a fish mounted. He badly wanted to get one before he had to move, and had caught 3 fish in the 7 pound range just that month. He could taste it, and it showed on his face when he was in the boat. I decided to take the spot that was his third favorite, leaving the second favorite open for Ron if he wanted to move earlier. I did not do this out of brotherly love, the weather had warmed up slightly and the third spot was not only a little more shallow, but it caught more sun early in the day. Between brothers, there is always competition. Ron is 17 years my senior, but no quarter has ever been asked or offered in any competition. When Dad and I got to our spot the bite was slow. Dad caught a tight-eye on his third cast, and I scored a 4 pounder about 5 minutes after. Then, nothing for a couple of hours. I had tried different sizes and colors of jig, but to no avail, so I tied on a 1/2 ounce silver and blue rattle-trap, thinking the warmer temp and bright sun might trigger a strike. I was tossing it out, letting it sink, and then rip it off the bottom, bounce it a couple of times on the bottom, and repeat. I snagged it a few times on the submerged brush, and my Dad warned that I would lose my lure. I told him it would be worth 3 bucks if it worked and kept fishing. I had sure enough snagged some brush and was trying to shake loose when the rod loaded up. I tried to gain some line and steer the fish, but she just kept chugging. Dad told me I had a big catfish, but I knew better and told him to get ready for the net. When I got the meathog alongside, I thought Dad was going to faint, but he slipped the net gently under her belly and lifted her in. He then called upon the name of his Lord and Savior a few times as he looked at the beast between his feet. I was busy hunting for the scale. We weighed her right there in the boat at just under 9 1/2 pounds. It shattered my old best fish of 6 1/2, and to this day, I havent caught one over 7 1/2. We put her in the well with the 4; it was 9:30 and we were due to meet up with Ron in just a few minutes, so we cranked up and ran to the point to meet. Ron was already at the point, it had been a cruel morning, they only had 3 between them with only one keeper, a 3 pounder. When he asked about what we had, I told him we had two fish, and one of them was a "decent" fish. I reached in the well and pulled out the chunky 4. He said, "That IS a good fish, how big is the other one?" I said, "This IS the other one, the decent fish is still in the well." So, I released the 4, taking my time, I was savoring this. "Well, the other one is a little better," I told him and reached in the well to pull out the giant. When he saw it, he was unable to form words properly, so Dad filled in the silence by announcing the fish's weight. Nine and one half pounds. The look on his face was priceless, as was the look when I eased the fish back into the water. The trip was over, there was no talk of continuing to fish. The icing was on the cake, and there was no more we could do. We never got the three of us together on the water again, jobs for my brother, and wars, injury, and school for me; kept us from making a repeat trip. But the memory of a day on the water will be with me as long as I live, and that is enough.