gulfcaptain

Was that really a question or was that supposed to be posted in the joke thread?

I use Simm's Sun Armour. But am looking into the Omnifreeze and after reading some of the reviews here may go and get one to try

I noodled a couple bass that happened to be really lazy sitting on the bank(no they weren't dead)....can I enter those fish?

I stock my bag with what I'm gonna fish or technique I'm going to be using. If I'm fishing swimbaits, it's stocked with those. Punching grass, well have a small box of hooks and weights, then a soft wallet style binder with punch jigs and creatures. If I'm junk fishing, I think about where I want to go and stock accordingly....Kinda use the trunk of my car as my tackle locker when I'm headed out. This way I can swap on the fly. There's always 4-6 rods and various tackle ready to go. Also carry pliers, sissors, a scale and the attractant I choose. Don't bring it all becaue you're not gonna use it. Stock with what you're planning to use or what you use most often If it's a new technique, don't bring anything else so you can't fall back on something else.

Are you allowed to get a boat on there? If so you're doing a lot better then the local city park lake/ponds I fish. 2-3 hrs without a bite, yes it's normal. I can fish an 8hr day and get 3 bites catch 2 fish and the highly pressured waters I fish if you can consistantly catch 2-3 fish a day, you are in the 10% that catch 90% of the fish. Try a different approach, fish a dropshot and a small 4" straight tail worm. If that isn't the normal presentation on that lake you may open a whole new batch of fish. I try and do that around here. I've had to veer away from Senko's and wacky rigs as everyone fishes them. But yet I can throw a 1oz punch jig and straight braid and get fish that other's are missing simply because they don't look at that option to fish. Change up your presentation and think outside the box. Funny how a simple minded fish can drive us crazy when we can't outsmart them. Good luck.

they make a 3.3 as well, but the 3.8 will work well. Would stay with those two sizes.

yeah I would say 20lb FC or mono for the 6" and 12-15lb for the 4".

#1 keep throwing it and don't give up. #2, fish it around bluegill beds, slow fish it(wake it) and every now and then kill it, then rip it and slow crank....gives the panic look. #3, Watch for followers and see what excites them. If you have gotten their attention you just have to figure out how to make them bite. And if they gave their position away, give them a little break and go back...10-15min and try again varying the presentation slightly from what you did. And early morning/evening may work best, but just think of it as a big wakebait. #4, keep throwing it and gain confidence in it that it will produce.

also depending on what your fishing around the longer cylinder style weights will hang up less then the round dropshot weights. Almost any 4" worm will work great, last year I started using Kietech's Live and Swing Impacts dropshotting and worked out great. Have fun.

Does the pond have lots of grass/weeds? Do you see them staking out bluegill beds and focusing their attention there? Spooky fish are hard in a pond but not impossible. If their's heavy grass, ignore the fish you see and pitch punch baits into the thicker stuff and the holes inbetween. If it's pretty clear and open, option 2 and 3, dropshot rig, and finally a Fat Ika.

Wow, well I'm with A Jay on the Pro-Cure. Rainbow Trout, Crawfish, and ofcourse Shad.....all made with real trout, crawfish, and shad with UV flash. Oh and Yum's F2 Shad when I'm throwing an A-rig with my secret additive to it....but can't tell ya cause it's a secret.

Having faith and fishing consitantly and knowing the conditions and where to fish the higher percentage areas with what the fish want produce bigger fish. Big or small, swimbait or jig, dropshot or 12" worm. Unless you are fishing high percentage areas where you may encounter the larger models it doesn't matter what you throw big or small. And with that said.....still like swimbaits.

You're talking about 2 totally different baits. Hudd's are a cooler water bait with suttle action and tale kick you fish either with a slow role/crank or let it sit on the bottom and creep it like a jig. The line thur has a more action....more side to side though out the bait similar to a hard swimbait but in a soft body. Similar to a BBZ trout bait. And Huddleston's run about $30 each. Swimbait fishing can get quite expensive. NEVER thought I'd buy baits that would cost between $50 and $100 each, but after a couple years fishing the bigger baits you start investing more money. Just because a Hudd doesn't run $40 each doesn't mean having them doesn't get expensive. You figure in 2 each of the rof 5's, then 2 of the 12's....right there you have spent over a $100. They wear out just like any other soft bait will.Fishing swimbaits you have to accept that one day you may just loose one or two.

No, it's what it is. We all have to follow them, therefore they should as well.

I'm with Catt, sometimes you don't have time to deal with all that. You get a spot of breaking fish...go ahead and tag them....I'll worry about it after I have my 5 fish in the livewell and spend 5 min figuring out which one needs to go after I get to that point.

Can also use clear Bait Tape, but like one of the other posts above, I'm not addicted to Senkos, and the few I do use, Mend-it back together as long as I can recover it. I do think I'm addicted to Mend-it though. That bottle has paid for itself quite a few times.

The floating line thru doesn't turn on its side. Have the baby bass, dirty silver, and light rainbow colors....all in floating. The Bettencourt Bluegill is one of the only ones I know of that turn on their side and float up. As for color, well haven't tried the baby bass color yet but have gotten them on the rainbow and first outing got their attention with the dirty silver....so I would agree with bluebasser on the colors. And if you're fishing spooky fish, get a can of matte black spray paint and paint the hooks to knock the shine off of them and lots of Pro Cure or whatever attractant you like.....these have a very strong pastic/rubber smell.

What hook are you using?

Well don't swing for the fences, a quick pop of the rod will do. Also if you have your drag set right and it's acting properly you can alway use a bit of thumb presure while setting the hook. I tend to do that when I'm pitching jigs as well as frog fishing. Gives you that little bit of extra presure right when you need it to being able to let the reel's drag do what it's supposed to. Hope it works out for you.

*** for almost anything, and recently placed an order with Siebert Outdoors. Think they are gonna be my new go to place to buy jigs and tungsten weights. Also the shipping time was pretty quick. Can't wait to get back home from work and check out the jigs I ordered while here. Also deal with Huddbaits and Mattlures as well as the bigger retailers....bps, cabelas, academy, and gandermoutain.

I've owned a few Shimano's and only 1 hasn't failed me yet. So I steer away from them. 4 out of 5 reels down = no faith for me. I'll gamble on the $80 GSX and if it is a badged Quantum, I'll make sure I get 2. Just my opinion though.

Just looked up that reel on the web and it looks great. Falls into that store brand $129.00 area and being on sale for $80 is def a great deal especially being 6.0ozs. I may have to pick one up and give it a try, Swap it out on my flipping stick and move that reel to the *** Green I want for frog fishing.....see I've come to terms with my bait monkey and just stop arguing with him.

You can take it in and get it serviced and add a better aftermarket drag washer. If you're mech. inclined and have torn apart and rebuilt reels you could pull and check yourself. But locking the drag down and then lossening it after the fact is a bandaid as well as a bad idea especially if you hook a fish of a lifetime. Not sure what that reel runs, but if I was you....I would buy another one from somewhere close, swap the spool, and then return your reel to them explaining the drag isn't functioning right and get a refund. Not always the best approach but seeing you're kinda in a bind and the reel isn't up to your standards the store will return it to ABU for credit and be made whole.

Well if you happen to have a fish you think is a record, most lakeside marina's have a certified scale. They also have the number to contact a state fisheries biologist. Since we both live in CA, well that might be a bit harder but trust me if we catch a State Record LM bass, well the world will know as it's gonna be close to a World Record and you catch it they will come. I would call the DFG and ask them if you can get a live person on the phone or ask a DFG officer the next time you see one checking licenses what to do.

Agree with WIGuide, some high pressured waters they seem to prefer a swimjig instead of a spinnerbait. Gives a more stealthy approach to spooky fish. This is a presentation I'm working on using more this year and so far it's had good success.