scaleface

I went out today and there was four to five inches of very clear ice . This ice scared the holy $#%^ out of me . It was about a three acre pond and the ice was making all kinds of noise . Not only that the water was moving up and down in the holes . I stayed shallow my pal went out deep . Why would the water be moving up and down in the holes ? The ice had to be shifting , right ?

Being most of my jigs are older than 20 years its about all I use .

The only times I ever had success with Slider heads is for river smallmouths . Let them sink then reel in super slow . If I think the lure is getting to high , just stop it for a bit . Let the rod tip to do a lot of the depth control . The lower the rod the deeper the retrieve .

I must be the only person in the world who hasnt had a lot of luck with the KVD 1.5 .

You have to like fishing . I love fishing and dont give up . I can fish all day and not catch much . If I eventually get on some fish , then I had a good day . Most sane people tire of it rather quickly . Like golf . I played once and hated it . I kept looking at the pond wondering how big the bass were in it .

One and a half years until I started consistently catching bass . I struggled big time , but when I caught that first bass on a Texas rig I became a lot more successful at it .

If you can find Rapala Crankin Raps in the clearance bins grab em . I think they are a Storm design . They resemble a Wiggle Wart with a square lip and tight action .

Most lures I use one hand . Larger lures two hands .

I'm still writing 2017 too .

I have one . Never caught a fish on it .I've heard some tremendous explosions using it at night but those may have just been carp getting spooked .

That was me last year . I kept picking the likes of Shaw Grigsby , Rick Clunn, Paul Elias... a strategy that didnt pan out to well . I did luck into the winner in one tourney with Timmy Horton .

These are three proven spring producers . The red blade use to be a local favorite . Not many people throw it anymore . The middle Strike King Spin Dance is my all time favorite spring spinnerbait . The short arm has a weedguard . I like to fish pockets off the main channel and drop it in any cover available .

Back in the 80's Bassmaster magazine had an article by Rick Clunn that broke down a lake in similar fashion . I tried his system and it just didnt work for me .

I think it is unnecessarily complicated . Id have two zones the main lake and the creek arm .

Whenever I drive past any water I'm checking it out .

I was next to last .Someone has to be last it might as well be us .

First A: Combs B: Pace C: F Shyrock D: Montgomery E: Duckett

I dont use red unless the entire bait is red . Red pincers on a craw bait gets pecked to death by sunfish .

Spring here the water is murky to muddy . I use chartreuse ,white or chartreuse/white .

I have tendinitis in the casting elbow . The overhand cast doesnt bother me to much , its the under-hand pitches that are agonizing .

I dont know what it is like in the lake your fishing . In local lakes I would hit the rip rap dams and fish on the bottom in cold water .

When I first started using worms the black grape Jelly worm was what I used close to 100 percent of the time . My fishing buddy used blue . I dont think there was ever a day where the bass hit one and not the other . A color I havent seen for years is lime green . Fliptail had that color and the bass around here went through them by the bagfuls . About the only color I wont use is anything with a red fire tail. Bluegills constantly hit that tail .

I put 17 lb trilene xl blue fluorescent on my worm/jig rod and all my other baitcasters get 12 lb Big Game .

I often use the first plastic I pull out of the bag .

Keep changing until something works . That includes area ,depth , lure , speed... Try to be smart about the changes , think about what you want the lure to do then make it happen . With a few lures you can cover everything .