scaleface

I dont have a particular time . Its usually close to spawning season . I will occasionally let a Bomber Long A sit motionless early in the spring but its not my first choice .

I have a lot of them . My favorite lure for fishing heavy current . They also work well on deep points , hopping like a worm . There is one problem .. I have lost two big hybrids because the hook came off during the fight . A split ring or wire around the hook shank is needed .

I used the Scrounger for the first time this past fall , fishing docks at LOZ . I didnt get a hit but was impressed with the action .

Im in . Had my team picked a week ago . Subject to change but here goes .

Its never happened to me .

I use clear or green except on my worm rod which gets spooled with clear blue fluorescent . Green blends in with the greenish water in my area which makes it almost invisible to my eyes , when trying to watch the line .

I found 12 lb test works well for all my baitcasting crankbaits . At one time the some of the pros were claiming that 8 and 10 lb test were necessary to get a Rebel Deep Wee R to perform to its maximum potential .Anything over that killed it . 12 lb test has caught boat loads on it for me .

I would remove the hooks and ride it while being pulled behind the boat .

In the photo I uploaded there appears to be a mudline created by sediment being carried by the tributary . Or it could be photos taken at different times stitched together .

I like both of them especially when fishing rip rap dams from bank . I fan cast and let the lures sink to the bottom , then follow the contours back up with occasional pauses . Other lures work too , like lipless cranks but the prerigged swimbaits are cheap enough that I dont mind losing a few to the crevices .

Heres the tributary Big Creek lake Iowa .Past hwy 17 As far as breaking down lakes and tributaries Rick Clunn had a method to do it that was published in Bassmaster in the 80's . I tried his theories and they didnt pan out . Now when I go upstream , I search for places that appear fishy and toss lures at them . I guess I'm just not smart enough to have a formula to go by .

Crankbaiting , for me has been the most difficult to do efficiently . What makes it hard is not knowing how deep the lure is diving . I really stepped my game up the past several years and now confident that I will get a lure to the proper depth from the surface to 24 foot . I havent mastered it but I'll show a lure to the fish . There is something real satisfying about catching bass deeper than 20 foot on a deep diving plug .

Being Carolina rigs can be rigged with a heavy sinker , they can be used to fish deep water much quicker than other soft plastic lure set-ups . That is the way I use them .Rig it with a 3/4 or 1 ounce sinker and use it as a search bait . Front facing sonar might make that technique obsolete . I also use a leader from 1 to 2 foot long . I dont see any need for a longer leader but have never used it in grass either .

I have the same problem .

This looks like a good spot

I go hiking in the winter . Its the best time to go . No bugs , prints in the snow . Take a cigar , half pint of whiskey , a couple of oranges and trail mix .

The BASS fantasy fishing rosters are up for the first event and John Cox is listed in it .Roland Martin not .

Manns Jelly worm Ditto Gatortail Fliptail Berkely Power worm Ringworm

Heres a photo from the late 70's from one of our club events . There were no bass boats just john boats with elec motors . Thats me , the skinny dude second from the left and my little brother third from the left . Good times .

I have tried a few times but the baits always come in sideways .I must not have the skills to rig them straight . ?

My cousin and I fished a team circuit for two years along with other tournaments . Belonged to a club for a few years .The first year on the circuit we qualified for the championship at Table Rock . Neither one of us had fished it before and only had a few hours of practice . We found some fish but they didnt cooperate the day of the tourney and got skunked . We won the largest tourney ever held at Mark Twain Lake , just shy of 500 teams , by fishing deep points . After that we never had a place to ourselves and it was no longer fun , so I quit . I miss it a little . If the right situation arose I would fish another .

I have put a big hole in the bottom of a basses mouth with a plastic fish grip , I have to be careful with them . Its still preferable to getting trebels in my hand .

Every time I tried a swim bait on a spinnerbait with no skirt , it laid on its side .

I use a fish gripper for bass with treble hook lures in their mouths . I try to be careful with them but I dont want another hook in my hand . Like A-Jay once said "I value my safety more than that of the bass " or something like that .

Being you are in the Mississippi valley with lots of small flowing waterways , do you ever drive gravel roads and fish culverts , bridges and such ? Do you fish flood plains protected by levees ? I have caught lots of big bass from those ditches and culverts in the flood plain . I use to have an Illinois milk run , but now my balance isnt good enough to fish some of those spots . I still have a Missouri milk run I make from time to time .