Hot Rod Johnson

Assuming you heard abut Ott using a rivet to rig his swimbait? Case you don't have a riveter, solder gun or welding torch handy, he gave these tips on rigging a solid swimbait with a treble: > Using a line-threading tool, run your main line through your swimbait's nose and down through its body, exiting just short of the middle. "This will end up putting the hook about dead in the middle of the bait." If you don't have a line-threading tool, a needle or a long, thin-wire hook like a VMC Neko Hook will "do the trick just as well." > Attach a VMC split ring to a #1 VMC Round Bend Treble 1X hook. Tie your line to the split ring. > Stick one of the treble's three arms/hooks up into the swimbait's body, vertically centered. The other two treble arms will flare out slightly to the sides. "This will keep everything settled on the cast.

Fish a "Shad Color" Picasso Double Barrel Underspin Gamakatsu Version with a 4" Zoom Fluke in Albino, Disco Violet, Smokin Shad, White Ice, or White Pearl...Also you can Dropshot a 4 1/2" and 6 " Roboworm - Straight Tail Worms in Prizm Shad, SXE Shad and Purple Punisher on a 3/16 Oz. and 3/8 Oz. weight..Both by casting the lures and vertical presentations...Just keep the lures above the bottom of the thermocline...

I now have the Ambers, Yellows and Coppers and when I'm bed fishing I will switch back and fourth between colors. Especially while I am sight fishing at Lake Havasu Arizona. The way it happened a few years ago was because I only had the Yellow Lens and thought that maybe I had chosen the incorrect color. So I bought the Ambers and Coppers to see if things would improve. What I found out is that fishing at the same location and time with different color sun glasses gave me a difference in clarity and resolution. I said WOW! now I know to switch sun glasses during different times of the day and water conditions. You may want to check these two links out... http://www.bradwiegmann.com/tackle/sunglasses/674-professional-angler-ish-monroe-wears-cocoons-sunglasses.html https://www.bassmaster.com/tips/monroe-right-lens-color

I personal spent some time at both locations, one day at each location. Boy was I ever bushed, I haven't worked that hard outside in the heat in many years. Bulding Fish Habitat In Arizona. https://www.youtube.com/embed/j1xDg_92XPE Concrete Habitat Restoration Project for Roosevelt Lake AZ https://www.youtube.com/embed/MOECYMtCZXs

I use Costa Del Mar 580 Silver Lens with "Copper Tinted Lens". Cost around $239.00, not exactly the cheapest sun glasses on the market. Cost around 66 cents per day. The bass will "Stand Out" more amongst the lake floor and the "GREEN COLOR" of the fish is amplified much greater than other sun glasses. The "GREEN COLOR" of the fish is what alerts you of its presence...

LOL, Me also because I posted it in the incorrect thread. I will have to see how I can correct my error, thanks for the heads up..

Location Number #1.. Main Lake Off Shore Structure,.... #2.. Shore Line,.... #3.. Main Lake Points,.... #4.. The River,.... #5.. Secondary Points,.... #6.. Back Of Coves,.... The most mentioned Cover in Shelbyville has been Wood, as in Stumps, Laydowns and Brushpiles. "This "Habitat Factor" is about as Solid a Pattern as can be. Typical of this type of Reservoir with "Standing Timber" It makes up the majority of the "Fish-Holding Cover", thus it produces more fish. When you find "Wood along a Drop Off or Ledge", the Second-most cited structure, then you have the best of both worlds. Try and find a lot of Rock. Lake Shelbyville is very different than any other body of water in Illinois. There are a lot of Points and a lot of Rock on the Points. Along with many Points and the Coves to with them are "Some Big Flats." When fishing on Shelbyville fishing a 1/4 Oz. and 3/8 Oz. Football Jig tipped with a trailer, 3" or 4" Berkley Powerbait Chigger Craw in Black Blue Fleck, Green Pumpkin, Pumpkin Green Flake these colors work great....

In the Shad based lakes I like to use 4 1/2" and 6 " Roboworm - Straight Tail Worms in Prizm Shad, SXE Shad and Purple Punisher. The Roboworm - Rebarb Hook is great because it keeps your worm or soft plastic bait straight, and prevents it from sliding down the hook. My dropshot weight of choice is Reins - TG Down Shot Sinker because they are a perfect choice for vertical fishing a drop shot, as the unique tear drop shape allows greater bottom contact. Reins - TG Slim Down Shot Sinker has a unique shape which snag much less than other designs, plus they are also one of the smallest weights. In my opinion I believe that Hi-Vis Yellow Sunline - TX-1 Braid in 14 pounds as a backer line tied to 7 pound Sunline - Shooter Finesse Special is the way to go... You can't go wrong with the information that you have received from this thread.

I fish the Kaskaskia Arm, I start at the Coal Shaft Bridge Area where I launch my boat. At this location I then fish the Pipeline and Bridge Riprap on both sides of the River and both sides of where the bridge goes over the river. Go up the Kaskaskia Arm and fish the Small Coves and Main River Points. Try "BO" Wood Cove Area, and all of the boat launch areas. I fish 1/4 Oz. and 3/8 Oz. Football jigs tipped with "Live Bait". Good luck at Lake Shelbyville.

If you are fishing in about 3 to 6 feet of water I would tie the dropshot hook 12" above the weight.

I fish the 168-River2Sea S-Waver in Lite Trout and Party Crasher...Let the bait sink and it will sit on the bottom perfectly upright like a fish resting on its belly. Then you can play with how to pull it up off the bottom to trigger the bite of a potential fish checking it out down in the depths.

Bass Patrol Silicone Football Jigs 1/4 Oz. and 3/8 Oz. As a trailer I like to use a 3" or 4" Berkley Powerbait Chigger Craws in Green Pumpkin, Pumpkin Green Flake, Watermelon or Watermelon Candy...

Southeast Georgian Bay Where Monster Muskies Lurk More muskies are caught in this area of Georgian Bay, particularly the Moon River basin and Honey Harbor, than anywhere else. It's not that these are the only river mouth areas that are good, although both these spots have massive spawning flats that draw hundreds of big muskie back each year, but their proximity to large metropolitan areas makes them extra attractive. Casting bucktails (often deep) is the most productive summer tactic. Numerous big muskie are caught on Lindy Hot Spot and Muskie Roller bucktails, along with BucherTails, Mepps and a few local brands. Top colors are black/silver blade, black/chartreuse or purple/orange. This location would be my choice for Muskies. http://www.boats.com/where-monster-muskies-lurk/

Use your SI to check out the areas that you want to fish. Find the fish first if you can and then fish for them. The ways that I fish the 1/2 Oz. Lucky Craft ILV 50 Blade Bait and Rattel-Traps is making "Casts Parallel" with the shore line while the boat is about 3 feet away from the shore line... The fisherman in the front of the boat "Cast Forward" and the fisherman in the rear of the boat "Casts out the back"... Keep the boat about "3 feet away from the shore line" and just slowly troll along and stop every once in awhile...By the way both fisherman will catch fish using this method, give it a try some time. Make four to six passes back and fourth in a "50 Yard Area"... Change you distance and lure speeds and colors until you make contact with the fish. It may be due to the speed of your lure, depth or color that makes the difference. Just keep trying different tactics until you are successful . Also Ripping it through the Grass, Jigging it Vertically and Bouncing it on the bottom works at times. I utilize all of these tactics... One of the techniques that I use when I am fishing live minnows is to bait the front hook with ( 3 ) small minnows, one minnow on each 'Barb" of the treble hook... I am jigging vertically from the side of my boat. This really increases you catch rate. This works great along "Bluff Walls" in the very early morning, and winter time...

I use the Lucky Craft ILV 50 Blade Baits in 1/2 Oz. size... The colors are Tiger Perch, Aurora Gold, Northern Perch, and American Shad.. I use a Casting Reels with Sunline TX1 Braided Line Ultra Vis Yellow in 16 Pounds...

It would be very interesting to see the "Buzzbait" fisherman fish against the "Spinnerbait fisherman on Kentucky Lake during the middle of April to the middle of May. Wonder what the results would end up being?

SPINNERBAITS because you can cover all depths of water in a short period of time and fish a Spinnerbait in all Water Claritys and Light Penetrations. Just have to have different Colors, Blades, Weights and types of Spinnerbaits.

Daiwa Steez SV TWS Casting Reels at $499.99, or Daiwa Zillion SV TW Casting Reels at $299.99 ???

I to have fished like you are saying for a very long time. I made the change about 20 years ago when I got my "Hinny" kicked all the time. I was forced into making changes how and where I fished if I wanted to improve. Some times now I will go with another fisherman and fish out of the rear of their boat. Now for all practical purposes I am fishing like you are fishing, and I don't have a problem with that type of fishing. I just ask him how deep of water are we in... I don't log all of the information because bass fishing isn't static... The conditions are constantly changing by the minute, I would spend more time longing information than fishing. That's just me, for other fisherman they may/will log their information, nothing wrong with that. I realize the the cost of electronics have sky rocked to the point that they are now out of the price range for allot of fisherman. That is really ashamed that this has happened, but there are allot of units on the market that wont break the bank and can be a great fish aid. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

My take on fishing the Dropshot Vertical or Horizontal are,..... Deep Water fish with cover/structure fish "Vertical",... Shallow Water and cover/structure fish "Horizontally".. It depends and how the fish are relating to the cover/structure. When two fisherman are fishing "Vertical" both need to be in the front of the boat watching the electronics in order to be successful in my opinion. I always have my fishing partner come to the front of the boat and fish with me.

If my memory serves me correctly Down Imaging and Side Imaging came out around 2009. This technologies eliminates the need for logs and keeping track of your fishing conditions. http://www.in-fisherman.com/gear-accessories/side-imaging-and-down-imaging/ Just saying...

LOL, It could be a little.. Here you go Tracker22... http://www.lightinthebox.com/night-vision-goggles-with-flip-out-blue-led-lights_p2397088.html?currency=USD&litb_from=paid_adwords_shopping&utm_source=google_shopping&utm_medium=cpc&adword_mt=&adword_ct=84187023794&adword_kw=&adword_pos=1o1&adword_pl=&adword_net=g&adword_tar=&adw_src_id=1810908567_301578074_21687104834_pla-104068895312&gclid=CI_K1fTJ2M4CFQOUfgodLBQDwQ Only $12.99 plus S&H...Good luck...

Although it does not have a center rod locker like the Z117 had, I like this layout much better because of the tackle storage and step cooler. There is still plenty of rod storage with 10 rod tubes and the ability to store up to 8' long rods inside.

Have to fish what you have. Dropshot the Humps, Primary Points and Secondary Points. You will have to use both Casting and Vertical Jigging. I assume that you are fishing from a boat. The Humminbird Helix 5 Sonar with Side Imaging Sonar would really help to locate the fish before you start fishing.