Fish Murderer 71

You forgot to add #8... To fish or not to fish? What a stupid question, right?

Mother nature has several indicators to watch for. Birds can tell you where bait fish are... If the gulls are sitting on the water- go deep. If the gulls are flying and hitting the waters- throw a crank bait in their general area. If the herons are hunting in the weeds on the shoreline fish shallow waters. Bright sunny days- find shade and fish it. Overcast and windy days fish the points... Rocky areas hold crawfish- fish accordingly... river channels and creek beds - C-Rig em... Grass flats are great honey holes... and the best thing you can do is watch for that guy that has a 80 thousand dollar bass boat and fish where he goes...

Once you go Baitcaster you'll never be able to go back! I still have a few Open-faced reels and they have a specific technique, but the bulk of my arsenal is Bait caster!

Buy a real boat- one with a motor, and watch that pain move from your shoulder to your wallet...

GO HEAVY ON A JIG ROD!!!! I use a 7'6" heavy for my jigs, but then again I "stroke" a jig all summer long when I'm using a jig...

Welcome to the most challenging technique with a bait caster. it takes time and lots of failures, birdnests and time wasted to get the hang of skipping. first things first- you probably have the wrong kind of rod, unless you have a 7' medium- mod/fast. Next, you can skip ANY reel, MCS, MBS- it doesnt matter. I find that I do better when I dont have the MBS to rely on, after all.. its all THUMB control! next, if your multi purposing your set-up consider carting the open-face, because once you get your caster dialed in your not going to want to change it!!! something to make your life a litter easier when it comes to the birdnest issues your going to have to deal with... next time you go out to the lake bring along a roll of electrical tape. Cast a bait that you want to skip out into the lake on your first cast, and pull off a section of tape about 6 inches (or enough to completely wrap the spool only one time), now reel up the bait and that should keep you from getting a backlash that goes all the way to the core. Set your tension knob to where the bait just falls slowly and leave the MCS at zero. cast a couple times and see if you have any thumb control- I'll bet you dont!!! I didnt at first- just keep casting till you can free cast without a backlash. Dont try to skip a half mile, start out soft concentrating one or two "skips" and not backlashing- distance will come with proper technique and practice. If you start getting aggravated stop and use something else for a while. It TAKES TIME TO MASTER THIS TECHNIQUE- I still get backlashes once in a while... It just happens! Have fun and dont give up!!! it will happen sooner or later!

I've broke both, I like the Duckettes better. why? IDK... I guess cause I broke a Abu first...?

split shot with whatever plastic they want to choose. That way when they catch a bigun or get skunked its on their choice- then they will know our frustrations...

I catch more quality bass with plastics than anything else I use. I catch the largest bass in shallow water so I use a jerkbait with great confidence. I've caught 100's of decent sized fish with a jig and the C-Rig. I throw a crank bait just for fun - never caught anything that big with it yet but I do catch fish with it.

Big Bite Baits have become my new goto... they seem to be working better than GYB- AND THEY FALL OFF JUST AS FAST!

Goto the Senko first... c-rig next, t-rig, shakey in the dark.

I can tie a loop knot faster than I can find my pliers and try to sqweeze that little tiny thing.

If you eat at McDonald's then you have nothing to fear from a fresh fish from the waters of a cow pasture. Most restaurants are filthy compared to that pond you talk about! Not only that the chemicals that they use to manufacture food like substances we buy at Wal-mart are a lot more destructive than the run off from a seasonal pesticide spraying. If the fish is alive, and no abnormal growths I would eat it- unless a coal mine was within 75 miles, then check with the local parks and wildlife for warnings.

1/0 octopus and straight up hookset. doesnt have to be an earth shattering set either, just solid. I personally use the VMC wacky jig and very seldom miss a fish...

which combo? Magnetic brakes? lighten up on the tension knob and brake dial down, practice using your thumb as the only brake. be ready to deal with back lash. Make sure your line is spooled correctly. couple of drops of oil on the spool bearings.

been burning a Jika rig across the tops of the grass down here with really good success. Let it fall on the edges and they smash on it!

I've fished all afternoon with Abrazx catching 10+lbs hybrids not once re-tying just to see how long I could go. I limited out and went home before re-tying. I dont recommend this to anyone, but it shows how good Seagur line is. rule of thumb... when in doubt- retie!

I have 15 different set ups on the boat, several of them are MH. cant seem to ever have enough... I couldn't imagine only having 3 rods to fish with!

I have an All-Star big crank - 7'10" with a 5.4:1 speed spool. works like a dream...

have yet to loose a lure with this knot

I have one credit card that I use for tackle now. Granted its got a 1000 dollar limit. but I have just about everything I might need for any given situation.

I use the VMC Wacky Jigs- I will say that these things are awesome for skipping senko under docks. Caution though... If you bend this jig and try to bend it back- it will break! I've also used an 1/0 octopus with a split shot and it worked well on a windy day.

I throw T-rigs and C-rigs more than I do jigs. I just like plastics more. Then again, I fish reservoirs and man-made lakes and not ponds.

water in the summer time... ended a fishing trip early - dehydration headaches are NOT worth a couple hours of lousy fishing anyway!

I can tell you that the tourny choice from Academy is trash... I got one of the rapala 50 lbs but have yet to put batteries in it.