BigBassLoveSenkos

Headed out to St. Clair in the morning for 4 days of wearing smallies out. Will be my first time throwing tubes and the first good stress test of my new Ultrex. Hopefully the 52" shaft keeps the prop wet out in open water chop.

Any unit with side imaging will also have down imaging and 2d. All 3 views show different things in the water column. The view I run most on a helix 10 is SI on top, 2d on bottom left, and DI on bottom right

got this tray from TW to use with my ultrex. looks great and the tool holder is very convenient.

That is priceless in a tournament situation. I've had tourneys where I didn't catch my first until the last hour or 2 and it's really hard to keep a positive mental deal when that happens.

The pricing and selection at Gander Outdoors is wayyyyyy better than it was at Gander Mtn. Their marine section is hands down the best I've seen in Indy. There's always a need to order stuff from TW, especially if you're a Lucky Craft and JDM topwater addict like I am. But for most other things, that new Gander is on point.... Fished Morse last Saturday and did OK. We put in around 4pm and a bunch of guys that were leaving told us they fished all day without ever getting a bite. We caught most our fish on topwater, cranks, and jerkbaits. Look for rocky secondary points back in coves. They where we kept finding them. Caught a few male bed watchers by dead-sticking a pink senko onto their bed. As long as eggs or fry are present on the bed, I'm convinced that dead-sticking a bright soft plastic onto it will eventually p!ss the fish off enough to hammer it. Sometimes they are slick and will try to move it off the bed. That's when you reel up and drop it right back on whatever they are protecting. They cant stand it!!!!

FWIW I prefer slick 8 from 15# to 30# and original PP for 50 and 65#

Were they biting Did pretty well on Saturday with a small rico popper. You may want to have a buzzbait tied on to fish in and around Patoka's timber...

Been out 5 times in the past week. Both last Friday and yesterday evening (5/2) were on fire. Sunday was meh, and Monday and Tuesday were absolutely horrible. Anyone else having similar results? BTW, at least on the lakes I've been on, no beds to speak of yet....

With a full moon coming up, i bet we start seeing beds pop up according to Navionics, Blue Grass pit is 52 ft, Loon pit is 66 ft, and Otter pit is 59 ft. Most pits I've been on max out at around 30 ft.

I'd call Mercury and ask to speak with someone that can help you. Here's the #

My nitro has the same type plug. Just screw it in and out.

never realized how deep those pits were until just now looking at it on navionics. They built a lot of highway from that place

How is your home lake fishing these days?

I heard that a 6.3# smallie was caught in that tourney by the winners (who weighed in 2 fish for 10.6). That lake can be hit or miss, especially when the water is high like it is now.

it won't let me link what I need to link so I'll just message you instead

looks awesome! I like how you mounted the plug receiver into the back of the tray. Is it easy to plug/unplug in that location?

Hit Geist on Friday. Water looked like yoohoo, even down by the dam. Saw countless trees and stumps floating around. The 40mph wind gusts weren't helping much either. I ventured into almost every cove but couldn't find any clean water. Fished for about an hour in the least muddy water I could find and finally caught a dink off a laydown to avoid the skunk. On Saturday afternoon I hit a gravel pit and lit them up with a jig and a neko roboworm. My guess is that any lake with a dam is gonna be muddy for another week or so. I dont really care for those round knobs either. Still an excellent reel. Wait...ur still using a flip phone?

i love that reel. It handles low test braid very well. Not a fan of shimano baitcasters but I have two of those stradic ci4's.

As long as the boat still has the Hull ID Number (HIN) on it somewhere, you should be able to get it titled with a bill of sale and then registered. If the HIN plate has rusted off or is no longer present, I'd probably look for another boat unless you only want to use it in private lakes...

I fish a lot of tournaments on that lake, and you wouldn't believe how many 13.75" short fish we catch there. There's no way that 80% of geist largemouths are 14" or better. Must have been a small sample size for that survey. Here's a link to the article mentioned: Indiana Bass Fishing Outlook 2018

I've never fished that area of the river before but know people that do. There's a bait shop close to where you're talking about called West Side bait and tackle. I'm sure they can help put you on the flatheads as well as help you find those deep river holes.

gotta love strippers

No way that 8 to 12 inches of snow stops me from getting out on the lake

I was using a pointer 78DD with a rear dressed treble last weekend but didn't start catching them until I switched the dressed treble out with a bare treble. I do very well with dressed trebles on j-baits and topwater once the water warms up. It gives the fish something to target and is a great counter if they are short striking your bare-treble lure.

more like 2.5 inches a day, which is still an INSANE amount of water to be dumping into the TN river below the dam