shanksmare

You spine each section individually. It may be difficult to find the spine on the butt section since it will be stiff. So the tip section will be more critical than the butt.

I had a similar problem with some fishing gear delivered by UPS. When I called the mail order company to inquire about the shipment, they checked the tracking number and it indicated that the parcel had been delivered.However, I still had no parcel. Then the UPS driver came to the house to find out what happened. He said he had delivered the package in question. Suddenly a light bulb went off in his head and he said he would be right back. He came back moments later with the package. It turns out he delivered the package to the right house number but the wrong street. The house he delivered it to was in foreclosure so no one noticed the error. Hopefully you will have a similar experience.

Try contacting a company or person that cleans and repairs reels. You can probably get the broken part for a fraction of what the complete reel costs. You can then either have them make the repair or do it yourself, depending on your skill level.

I am not saying that the position of the eyes(looking up or looking down or just in the normal position) means much or for that matter anything at all. But as the photo shows it does happen. It is also interesting to note that many of the bass I have caught exibit this phenomena. I did read this quote from a bass tournament angler (not bass college): A Professional Angler once told me that when I caught a bass to look at his eyes. If the bass’s eyes were looking up then the bass was looking up at my lure. If the bass’s eyes were looking down then the bass was looking down at my lure. If you catch one Chucking and Winding this “looking into his eyes” will help you to determine if there is another method that will produce more fish. Eyes up means the bass was below the lure. Eyes down means the bass was over the lure. Move from there. It is the small differences that make a big difference in success. But as I said before my lure was clearly above the fish that I caught with eyes looking downward, so that would tend to debunk the above angler's theory of the fish looking down on the lure. But I would say that about 1/4 of the bass I catch exibit this. As I recall most of the downward looking bass I catch were caught on spinnerbaits. Maybe the bass were just looking at the blades hanging out of their mouths.

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/gallery/image/3528-downwardlookingbass/ If the paste of the picture works, it shows a bass with downward looking eyes. I'm not sure what conclusions you can draw from this. The bass would have had to have been pretty high in the water column since I caught it on a spinnerbait fished near the surface. On some days most of the bass I catch have eyes similarly positioned. Other days they are in a more normal position. I have not, to my recollection, caught any with eyes pointing upward.

In fishing there usually aren’t any definitive right ways or wrong ways of doing something. You pretty much have to experiment and find out what works for you under the current conditions. Such is the case of fishing the Spook. In a recent article, Charlie Campbell, the father of Spook fishing, advocated using a snap or split ring to attach the line to the lure. He in fact said you should always use a split ring or snap attachment to allow the Spook to produce the most/best action. BUT, I also remember an article he wrote about Spook fishing many … many years ago. At that time he advocated filing a little notch in the bottom of the line tie eye and using a knot tight against the eye. This made the pull angle lower on the Spook which produced more and/or better action from the plug. I know that the older Spooks had the line tie straight off the front of the plug, while the more recent additions have it slightly below the centerline of the plug. But even in the more recent article he was pictured using the older version. So I guess, for Charlie, fishing a Spook has been a process which has evolved over the years. It is amazing how many times you think you have something about fishing figured out only to later discover that you caught fish in spite of your technique/theory not because of it. I use Spooks a lot for Snook fishing. I use spinning tackle for most of my saltwater fishing. I use a 7’ MH rod, 20# braid and a leader consisting of a 2’ to 3’ section of 20# mono attached to the braid with an Albright Knot and a 12” 40# mono bite tippet attached to the 20# mono with a double Uni knot or a double Surgeons knot. I attach the Spook to the bite tippet with an Improved Homer Rhode Loop Knot. When I lived up North (in MA) I had a lot of success with Spooks for larger bass. Since I moved to FL I have not enjoyed as much success with Spooks. Maybe it’s just a confidence thing!

When bass are unwilling to chase a spinnerbait or crankbait I will use a Super Fluke. I fish it Texas rigged on a 3/0 1/8 oz H & H Flutter Hook or BPS Vertical Drop Hook. I let it sink to the bottom and then I give it a couple of twitches and let it sink to the bottom again. I repeat this the length of the cast. I fish from shore so my cast is usually nearly parallel to the bank where possible. The flutter hook allows the bait to exibit a side to side swimming action when sinking. I carefully watch the line for any signs of a hit. The use of this rig covers ground a little faster than a worm or jig presentation (at least for me). Using a Super Fluke I caught 3 bass (small to 3 lbs.) this morning in a couple of hours. I tried jigs, lipless crankbaits and spinnerbaits with no luck prior to using the Fluke.

Thanks MCS, I'm in the Ft Myers area.

The fishing seems to have picked up a tick for me also. This morning was overcast and a little cooler than previous days. I managed a 12"er to start the day off. I got a 4 pound plus fish next to the concrete of a spillway. I finished up with one a little over 3 pounds. I got them all on a Booyah Blade spinnerbait. The fishing certainly wasn't fast and furious but it was an improvement.

Hi guys, I fish in ponds off the bank in SW FL. I have had the same experiences as you guys since TS Debbie, The bite has gotten a lot tougher. Instead of catching at least one 4 or 5 pounder per outing, I've been catching mostly smaller bass ( less than a pound to 3 pounds). Almost all of my fish post TS Debbie have come on T-rigged worms. Prior to Debbie I did well with spinnerbaits and crankbaits. Lately most of my bass have come from areas with wind or drainage produced current. The area along the bank, which had been super productive, has been pretty much devoid of fish for me.