iceintheveins

To me, pepper jigs from pepper custom baits are the very best. My top three: 1. Pepper Original jigs in 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2 ounce. Black blue, clear lake special (brown orange) or Green Pumpkin are the best, with a matching rage chunk or paca chunk trailer for warmer conditions, and a zoom super chunk for cold water. 2. Pepper Football Jig: I go with 1/2 and 3/4 ounce and occasionally 1 ounce. I use the same trailers as above 3. Pepper Micro Jig: Same colors, either a tiny paca chunk or a Culprit DW2 trailer.

Both work great. The pit boss is money for me, caught a pair of six plus pounders last year for me.

I was wondering what everyone's favorite jig retrieve is for water in the upper 40s and low 50s, as bass haven't moved up on shallow cover just yet for the most part and thus pitchin/flippin is less effective.

I already did that, unwrapped a bunch of line off of it before I ever ran it, and checked the pin, it was straight as can be. The shaft vibrates badly and just moves directions too much that it's hard to go straight or keep it going in one direction.

Is it fixable or am I better off getting another one? Would cost about 600 bucks to replace.

The trolling motor that came with the boat I bought this year shakes violently and the lower part of the shaft spins like crazy when I hit the switch with my foot. The shaking and vibration is enough to shake the mount. We thought at first the bow mount was just loose, but obviously that wasn't the problem. It's a Motorguide 6000, 65 pound thrust. The shaft looks to be bent slightly, would that cause this?

Took her out today for the first time, motor works great, no excess amount of smoke and no problems at all. Obviously was just the fogging oil.

Trying new things is great for sure. Never will there be a magic bait as no one presentation is the best in all conditions. I am laying off the lure buying to save up for new sonars. Only will be buying what I lose.

Thanks. I hadn't planned on starting again it till this Friday at the ramp.

And that's exactly what happened, land start with muffs and I am surrounded by a couple fields.

Yeah from searching on the net and what you've sad I'm 90% sure this is the case.

I think that's all it is, this is the first time I've started it and only second time it's been started in months, and the previous guy used lots of fogger. Am I probably right?

It's a Johnson Fast Strike 175, 1997. I've been researching on the net and it just seems most people are saying these two strokes smoke A LOT on start up in the spring, especially when lots of fogger has been used.

That's what I was thinking. Since the smoke was light colored I wonder if some of it was steam.

I started an outboard I bought tonight for the first time myself (guy started it for me the first time and it fired up great but was pretty smoky owing to him putting a lot of fogger in it as he said). It fired right up just fine, had the hose cranked on full blast and plenty of water was shooting through the hole in the engine where it comes out (so I know lack of water wasn't an issue). However the start up tonight was smoky enough to leave a bit of a smoke cloud all over the neighborhood. Only ran the engine for about 1.5 minutes, and just worried about it being so smoky, seemingly considerably more so than last time (enough to give me a slight headache). Other than that, everything was fine. I know old two strokes like a Johnson Faststrike 1997 175 hp smoke a lot in general and fogging oil causes a LOT of smoke. Am I just panicking?

I use tons of 1/4 ounce lipless cranks for bass, mostly in shallower water or where vegetation is growing higher. Never overlook them for bass.

A 7' M BPS Crankin Stick, 7' M Veritas Winch, or if you want a pure glass rod and are willing to spend a bit extra, the Mojo Glass from St. Croix or Phenix Blue or Red Cranking series are great.

Fluorocarbon. I would recommend Gamma Edge but it's expensive. Sunline shooter and Seaguar Abraz X are more afforadable and do the job well for fishing cover. The only time I use braid is for frogs and punching, or braid with a softer action, MH crank rod for soft buzzbait type lures like rage shads and Stanley Ribbits.

Great for slow rolling spinnerbaits, or even slow topwaters except for frogs. A five ratio reel is more versatile than people give them credit for. The only things they don't do well are frogs, flippin/pitchin, and buzzbait type lures. A 6 ratio reel does everything adequately except deep cranking, but I still have plenty of 5 and 7 reels.

What would be your favorite presentations for stained water (2 to 4 feet) of visibility for water in the 40 - 50 degree range. BTW, no shad in our lakes. The forage are bluegills, green sunfish, crappie, crayfish and occasionally stocker rainbows. I'm thinking still jerkbait, lipless, slow rolled spinnerbait, jig, and possibly a Ned Rig if the water is clear enough.

Thank you very much!

Some lakes and rivers, a few, are better now than they were years ago. A lot of that is the boom and bust cycle. Everywhere though, bass are getting more difficult to catch due to anglers getting better and having more tools at their disposal, such as better sonar, better boats, better baits ect. But sadly, a big part of the problem is what I like to call "legalized poachers," ie people who keep a nicer bass or several of them just because they can. In these cases, fish and game agencies need to step in and greatly limit the amount of mature bass that can be kept, but they often don't, especially out here in the west where ecological purists in our fishery departments unjustly view bass as an invasive species. Bass aren't for eating IMO. That's what medium sized crappie, perch, walleye, small catfish, and some other smaller fish are for!

The trolling motor that came with the used boat I bought (Motorguide 6000) only works on speeds 3, 4, and five. What's going on? Assuming some sort of electrical issue. Would it be worth my while to send it in and see if it can be repaired? I will probably wait till next winter though.

Was just a loose connection since I was recharging the batteries. Trim works fine now. I'm relieved.

I'll check it again. I am just wondering if it was the cold weather.