CPBassFishing

Hearing about all you grown men not knowing what to do with big fish makes me laugh. I didn't blink twice while fighting the 6 pounder in my profile picture, I calmly reeled it in, beached it, removed the hooks, and lipped it. Then I celebrated with a few pictures.

I got into fishing from my grandpa a little bit, but I mostly taught myself. Its just what I love to do. My family doesn't even give a hoot about fishing other than my grandpa and I. I have tried to get my little brother to fish but was having none of it. My grandpa is mostly a saltwater fisherman.

Try the new leaders like the "knotsokinky" leader. I don't know what it is made of exactly but its bite-proof and so flexible you can tie knots with it.

Yeah I have always heard that they will swim into the shallow cover. Pitch a black and blue bait with a lot of vibration into the brush.

As others have said, cut up the baits into tiny chunks, melt it in the microwave for a minute, stir, then add increments of 30 seconds when needed until all of the plastic is melted. It will make smoke no matter what you do. You really need to have a few windows open. Use a pyrex cup to melt the plastic. If you are handpouring make sure that after you pour the bait, take a bbq lighter and move it over the surface of the melted plastic. This gets rid of all bubbles. If the baits are heavily salted, you have to stir it very 30 seconds so the salt does not sink- it sinks really fast. Good luck and be careful with the hot plastic.

heartburn relief? heartburn is caused by lactic acid buildup, which is what a fish gets when stressed. It would increase the chances of the fish living after being caught!

Oh this is perfect. I looked up how to make alkaseltzer- its just baking soda, sour salt, citric acid, and glucose to keep it together. Fish give off lactid acid when they are scared, and its pretty close to citric acid.. Scared defensive crawfish= FOOD. If I can somehow make a powdered crawfish scent that would be perfect. I don't kno if I can mix the liquid scent in or not. I'll play around with the formula a bit and see if I can get it to work.

now all we need is for someone to come out with alkaseltzer impregnated with crawfish scent I might have to look into that.

1/2 oz tungsten bullet weight.

1: KVD Squarebill (1.5&2.5) 2: SK 3XD 3: SK 6XD I would buy lucky craft if I could afford it.

Alright I'll bite. my favorite method for fishing craws is to put a netbait paca craw on a megastrike shake-e2 pro serIes 1/2oz shaky head jig. Rig the the craw on it, then here is my secret trick- I cut a tiny bit off of the hollow head, and stuff a piece of alkaseltzer inside. It gives off a few bubbles a second. Usually one tablet broken into 6 pieces will last about 5 minutes for each piece. The fish can't stand the claws up and the bubbling "mouth". They eat it up. I typically will throw this on rocky dropoffs where most people would throw a jig. You can also use the alkaseltzer trick for any bait with a hollow cavity. I also flip using this on a texas rig and you could use it for punching matted grass with a heavy bullet weight. It also works on a carolina rig because the bubbles being made inside the bait float it. Also try this with the damiki air craw- put the alkaseltzer in the hollow claws.

Hollow body frog- check (livetarget)Senkos-check (2 packs or those and 2 packs of PTL sick sticks) Shad rap-check Lipless cranks- check (three 1/2 oz redeye shads- bluegill, red sexy shad, sexy shad) I'll get some chatterbaits, some rage toads, and some fat Ika's. I have a couple of small shallow cranks already.

also, there is really no structure in the pond. It is gravel/mud bottom covered in algae in the summer and fall. The grass has mostly died off so I don't think getting hung up is an issue if I'm just twitching the bait on a 15" leader.

thanks for that great post sam! I'll see if zman makes a good finesse shad or something.

So what baits/technique specific gear do you guys think I should stock up on? I know for sure I will need some spinnerbaits and jigs. As of now I only have 1 spinnerbait and its a tiny pond magic.

Man that site is awesome! I know where I'm shopping next time.

I will probably be coming, all I need is a few feet of space. No need for me to have a seat, I fish standing up carrying a 10 pound backpack. Having it on the deck will be relief enough for me.

Definitely check out the daiwa DB minnow. Very good hooks, suspends perfectly, and it has great colors. Best feature? Its only $6.

run some water in a bathtub and slowly let the bait sink on your weighted hook with a tight line. Don't let the bait drop, just slowly lower it. You with be impressed with the action of the appendages.

Alright I'll give it a try. My thought process was that I could twitch it like a jerkbait, except I could get it depper and have it look like a bluegill chasing something feeding on the bottom. I'm not going to be reeling it in fast, just twitching it along.

I read about this rig/technique in uncle homer's book Bass Wisdom, and I was wondering why I haven't heard more about it. There are no youtube video mentioning it, I can't find anything about it. I rigged up a small livetarget pumpkinseed crank with a pegged 1/2 oz bullet weight about 15 inches up the line. I plan to use it as a search bait for cold water, just slowly twitching it along. What do you think?

I have not had any success with a shaky head beaver, but I actually rage rig my sweet beavers. I use a 3/0 keel-weighted gamakatsu hook. The weight is 1/16 of an oz and it is at the back of the shank, almost at the end. This gives the flappers a really nice subtle flapping action, and it falls really slowly. I get bit on this as much as a wacky senko in the summer. Let it fall, hop it back a couple feet, pull it up a few feet, let it fall, repeat.

Sunline sniper, and my friend swears by 10lb gamma edge. I'll have to try some of that KVD line conditioner.

I rigged up a carolina rig with a 1/2 tungsten bullet weight and a small floating livetarget bluegill crank. I'll twitch it along the bottom and see if I get any takers. I'll also try the spinnerbait.

Thanks for the help everyone, I'll throw a small X-rap around and see if I get any followers.