shanksmare

I'll be sort of limited timewise this month to 4 or 5 days fishing. Hopefully last month's curse has worn off ... I'm in.

I'm with SirSNook - FL resident over 65 - zero!

Just noticed this interesting thread. I'm in. Of course this pretty much gaurantees that I won't catch any decent fish for the month of October!

Hi Jay, You probably didn't do anything wrong. In S FL when the water temps soar into the 90's it becomes very difficult (at least for me) to get the bass to chase anything. I usually do much better fishing with slower moving bottom presentation baits such as worms, creature/craw/tube baits, flukes and jigs. When the temps fall a bit lower in a month or so the SB bite should pick up. In KVD's video he seems to stress high speed presentations. I have had little to no success year round fishing spinnerbaits in this manner. I have done much better fishing them slower and lower with frequent pauses and twitches. Bump them into cover whenever possible. You should do fine in a month or so. Good Luck!

I use a variety of different brands. My favorite is probably the Booyah Blade. I generally use either a 1/4 oz or 3/8 oz SB. I like SBs with long shanked hooks (no trailer hook). I don't use a trailer unless using a heavier SB. My testing in a pool shows that a trailer usually interferes with blade rotation when dropping the SB. I usually slow roll the SB since I get far more hits doing this than running it near the surface. I re-enforce the R-bend of the SB with fly tying thread so that it won't break after landing a bunch of fish. Cast it into the thickest cover and bump it off of cover. Interupting the blade rotation triggers strikes. I like hammered blades more than smooth. It must have a ball bearing swivel so the blades will spin when I stop the retrieve. I use willow/willow, willow/colorado, indiana/colorado, colorado/colorado and single spins depending on speed and depth requirements as well as type and thickness of cover. I like skirts with flash incorporated in them. A couple of favorites are blue glimmer and golden shiner depending on water clarity and bait fish.

Spinnerbaits are by far my favorite lure. I have been using them since the late sixties. I even used to make them myself. My current PB was caught on a spinnerbait. You can generally tell if the fish are hitting the blades of a spinnerbait because they will either stretch the swivel split ring or pull the blade completely off. This was a fairly regular occurance when I fished up north. More recently I've been bank fishing a pond down south which was some sort of a quarry so the edge has a sharp drop off. The fish seem to hit near shore a lot. I often see them striking the spinnerbait. Interestingly enough there are times when they hit the spinnerbait with their mouthes closed, probably out of anger. So what I had thought were short strikes actually weren't. The use of a trailer hook in this instance only produces the occassional hook up in odd places (under the chin, top of the head, eye). Switching to a lure that is less obtrusive such as a super fluke or swim jig usually results in hook ups.

I like Sir Snookalot have had issues with pliers which have braid cutters. These issues include both problems with cost and with longevity. I, like SS, came up with a pretty simple solution. I purchase a pair of needle nose pliers from either Sears or Home Depot and a small pair of Fiskar scissors from Staples. Problem solved for less than $10. When they rust out (they haven't in 2 years) you can return the Craftsman pliers to Sears for a no-cost replacement and buy another pair of scissors for $2 or $3. If you happen to lose them, you are still only out $10.

G3Steve, From the picture you provided, it appears that you have shortened the weedguard about 1/2". If you did, I believe this will have the effect of stiffening the weedguard. You may have to remove some strands to soften it up a bit.

Wayne, My experiences with vibrating jigs utilizing split rings are about 180 degrees from yours. I have used both the original Chatterbait and the vibrating jig made by Siebert. I much prefer the Siebert version over the original. I fish it on braid and if its vibration were any stronger the rod would pop out of my hands. It seems to appeal to the fish very well. So well in fact that I just ordered a few more from Mike. Just my $0.02, your experiences may vary.

This thread reminds me of an occurrence that happened in the fall of 2001. The incident was mentioned in David DiBenedetto’s book, “On the Run”. The book recounts the author’s experiences following the striped bass migration down the coast. This incident occurred at Nauset Beach on Cape Cod. I had stopped at Tony’s print shop in the afternoon and he told me of a school of large stripers moving into a bowl near trail #4 after dark. He was able to catch several fish over 40# on live eels the night before. That evening I drove down the beach to the bowl and greeted Tony who was at the southern edge of the bowl. Since he was guiding someone (the author of the book I later learned), I moved a 100 or so yards to the northern edge of the bowl so they would have plenty of room. As darkness fell we were inundated by a horde of other anglers. Some were locals but most were not. The locals were respectful of your space and did not crowd, the others were not. I was suddenly aware of a fellow fishing to my left. He was so close that his elbow was rubbing mine. If he was on my right I would have sent a 2 ounce plug adorned by 3 2/0 hooks whizzing past his ear. There was much cursing going on as anglers crowded next to anglers that were already there. Surprisingly no blows were thrown. As it turned out, I should have listened to Tony and got some live eels, but I’d rather use lures. A variety of sizes, brands and colors of Needlefish, Bombers and darters went untouched while others using eels slid huge fish on the beach. The fellow next to me grunted and set the hook on a cow as soon as his first cast hit the water. I felt a strange tug on my line. The fellow next to me fighting the fish complained that I had snagged his line. Of course I was there an hour before him. My cast was straight out. He was allowing his eel to drift in the current towards me. But I gritted my teeth and freed his line which was wrapped around my snap. He managed to land the forty odd pound fish. Certainly the temptation was there to pop his line, but … I left the mayhem and caught several lesser fish in some of the bowls further down the beach. Sometimes action can bring out the worst in so-called anglers. Most anglers are courteous, respectful and helpful towards other anglers. Fishing is supposed to be fun.

According to the BOSS website the installation procedure is as follows: Using the skirts unlimited skirt tool slide a skirt ring onto the tool remove the nose put the wire form into the tool pull your choice of skirt tabs into the tool fold the top layer of skirting up and push the punch ring into the end of the tool roll the skirt ring off of the tool into the grove on the punch ring trim the tab ends and you are done. Good Luck!

I bought a pair from Guidline last Christmas when they had a 25% off sale and free shipping. I am very happy with them. Give them a look at: http://www.fishermaneyewear.com/Guideline_Store/Prescription/tidal-rx-96100338rx for the style I got or look at the other frames available.

My friend 123456 bought stuff from them to make his own jigs. He is very sucessful with them and seems happy with the products. He uses the Gary Klein Heavy Cover model and it seems to work very well. He is able to use it in a from shore chunk rock situation that eats up other styles of jigs. He still loses them ocassionally but not with the frequency exibited with other styles,

I often fish spinnerbaits from the bank at a pond with a sharp drop along the shoreline. I often actually see the bass strike the spinnerbait. Some days the bass will hit the back blade of the spinnerbait. Many times bass have pulled the rear blade off of my spinnerbaits. A trailer willl help under these conditions. So will using a spinnerbait with a shorter arm. Changing the blade style or size may also help. For whatever reason there are days that the bass hit the spinnerbait with their head and their mouth closed tight. I have witnessed this scores of times in the past several years. Using a trailer hook under these conditions rarely helps. You will ocassionally hook them outside the mouth. I will usually try different types of retrieve - speed it, slow it down, more drops, different blade types, use a trailer. Most of the time under these conditions none of these mods help and I switch to a soft plastic which they will often hit. Lets face it, if you felt the bass hit, it probably isn't striking short. What is he hitting that 1/4" of skirt hanging behind the hook! I used to use tailer hooks all the time 35 years ago. I now rarely use them. I prefer to use spinnerbaits which have long shanked hooks. It depends on how you are using the spinnerbait. If you are slow rolling it, the trailer rersults in many more hangups, especially if you let it swing freely. Whenever I use a tailer I always mount it rigidly with a piece of plastic tubing. On the other hand, if you are waking or buning it, a trailer hook woud most liikely be a help. Another thing that could be contributing to your frustration is the small size of the spinnerbait you are using, The underwater (hydrolic) wave that the bass creates when it approaches you lure may be pushing that small bait out of the way. Another option is that the small bait is mostly drawing strikes from panfish and not bass. Good luck coming up with an answer to your situation.

The why suspect #1 and suspect #2 became suspects: They were seen on video footage from security cameras in the area of the bombs with backpacks. Suspect #2 was shown on security footage placing his backpack next a mail box where the second bomb exploded. They also told the person that they carjacked last night that they were the 'marathon bombers'.

How apropos ... they caught him in a boat ... he will be going 'up the river' for a long period of time. Hopefully if they didn't act alone he will provide info about others involved (three acquaintences have been arrested in nearby Fall River). Water boarding??(why not) The departing LEO's are receiving a well deserved standing ovation from the residents of Watertown!

I'm not sure that it matters one way or the other - dressed or plain. If you decide to dress the hook it is pretty simple. All you need is an appropriately sized treble hook, the tail from a road killed squirrel, a bit of sewing thread and some super glue. You can make an impromtu vice using vicegrips. Cut a small clump of hair off the tail, use the thread to secure it to the hook shank, and a couple of drops of super glue. You don't even need to knot the thread if you use super glue.

A suspect in the cowardly Boston Marathon bombing was killed by police. Tragically they killed an MIT police officer. The second suspect is being sought in the Boston suburb of Watertown. That town ans several others are on lockdown. Hopefully suspect number two will soon join his comrad.

Well there is distance casting and then again there is ‘real distance casting’. I used to often fish the early morning east tides at the Cape Cod Canal for striped bass. I used to walk down the service road to an area where a rip formed. Evidently this was a favorite area of Ron Arra, who would ride his bike to the area and fish alongside me. Ron was a 5 time National Surfcasting Distance Champion. The tackle utilized for distance competition was not suitable for fishing. The gear consisted of ultra stiff 13’ Zziplex rods, reworked (no level wind) and super tuned Abu 6500 reels, 12 lb mono with a 50 lb shocker and a 5 ¼ oz lead weight. They used a casting technique known as a pendulum cast. Ron was credited with a 758’ cast in competition and over 850’ in practice. He is reputed to have once cast across the Cape Cod Canal (at a distance of over 860’) with this distance tournament tackle. Ron also designed a line of surf rods for Lamiglass which combined the attributes necessary for distance with those necessary for practical fishing. Don’t expect to cast a lipped crankbait on a seven foot rod to the century mark (100 yards). The lure must be aerodynamic and heavy (1 or 2 or 3 ounces or more). The rod must be long and stiff with a fast action. Ron would cast a Gibbs Polaris popper weighted to weigh around 5 ounces, with an 11 1/2 ‘ Lamiglass rod of his design, with a Newell P220 reel and 25 lb test Stren mono a long, long way. So far in fact that I wondered what he would do if a large striper inhaled his plug at the end of a long cast. It appeared he had only a few turns of line left on the reel. In my experience the length of the rod had more influence on casting distance than any other factor. My 10’ surf rod would cast noticeably further than my 9’ surf rod. So if you want to cast a long way get an aerodynamic lure like a Zara Spook or 1 ounce Rattletrap, a long stiff rod (8’), and lighter line (braid should excel here) and have at it. You probably will be able to reach out to 75 or 80 yards, maybe more. Of course the disadvantages of fishing at that distance probably far outweigh the advantages.

A Buff offers great sun protection.Another side benefit of using a Buff along with sungloves is for protection from insects, notably No-see-ums.

About 10 years ago I started replacing stock hooks on some of the lures I used for surfcasting for striped bass with VMC trebles (#9626 I believe). They worked very well. They were sticky sharp out of the box and stayed that way dispite the hash environment in which they were used. I never had one of them bend out. I had this happen many times with other heavy duty trebles by Mustad and Owner. I would guess that if they can handle 40 and 50 pound striped bass, they can probably handle 5 and 6 pound LMB with ease.

One memorable story comes to mind. It was the fall of 1968 and I was home on leave from the service. The quarry was schoolie stripers from a beach bordering an inlet in Cape Cod Bay. My friend Tiny was expounding to my younger brother (he was 12 at the time) how lucky he was to be fishing with two experienced fishermen such as he and I. As darkness fell some fish moved in to the beach. When the evenings fishing was over the final tally was me 2 fish, Tiny 1 fish, my brother 9 fish. We couldn’t figure out what he was doing differently. We were using pretty much the same tackle and the same lure (a 5 ½” Rebel). Later we asked him what he was doing. He replied: “I was doing what you said. I was retrieving it very slowly and every once in a while I’d give it a little twitch.” I guess it was the little twitch that did it!

Many years ago when I did a lot of trout fishing in MA I used to check the stomach contents of some of the fish I caught. I would try to determine what they were feeding on so I could create flies to match what they were eating. I never found any discarded rubber/plastic lures in their stomachs. I did however find something interesting in the stomachs of most of the trout I caught. Cigarette Filters! Some of the trout had their stomachs pretty much full of them. Maybe they should ban smoking ... at least on waterways.

Forty years ago I used Eagle Claw 254SS 1/0, 2/0 and 3/0 hooks. I always wanted the trailer hook attached rigidly to minimize the snagging a hook flopping all over the place produces. Back then I used trailer hooks most of the time. Now I rarely use trailer hooks. I just use a spinnerbait with a long shanked hook. Seems to work OK. But I guess it all depends on how you use the spinnerbait, If you burn it most of the time then a loose or fixed trailer would be effective and/or necessary. I usually slow roll the spinnerbait with lots of pauses and drops, hence no loosely attached trailer (or trailer period for the most part) for me.

If you are going to use a snap, use a crosslock snap rather than a doulock. The crosslocks are much more reliable. A doulock snap just might cost you the fish of a lifetime.