Smokinal

You will backlash far, far less, if ever, with braid. I'm tellin ya, you will never look back.

I launch until the water is too hard for my boat to float. Last 2 years I have been out the first week of December and water in my area is usually hard by Dec 10-15 . My home lake has a couple of houses with webcams so I watch those before driving up. I watch those instead of TV in the spring, with bated breath, waiting for ice-out. i think I will have 2 more trips out this year...Nov 17th and Dec 1st.

One of my go-to's when the temps drop is a blk/blue Rage Space Monkey on a jighead. Worked just like a jig. Not sure why but bass up here eat that better than a jig most of the time when water drops to 55 or below.

I have tried a ton of different methods...not really liking any of them. I finally have a fast, cheap, effective method. And that is the good old bobber stop. http://www.ebay.com/itm/90-PIECES-RUBBER-BOBBER-SINKER-FLOAT-STOPS-PITCH-FLIP-PEG-TEXAS-RIG-MEDIUM-/111084882048?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19dd2cc880 That many would last you forever and they really work great.

Congrats on your new PB Mainer!! Sounds like a heck of a morning! And thanks for sharing the video with us.

I'M IN!!! I'll be out Sunday 17th, taking advantage of the full moon. Expect water to be 44-45. Jig and jerk will be the tickets. I'll keep ya posted!

I wanna try that Ima Flit so bad, just cant spend $17 on a single bait...

I guess I'm with the majority that use a fluke in grass/weeds during the summer and I switch to a hard bait in spring and fall; water 55 deg and under. Nothing fancy here...good 'ol Rapala HJ, color can vary depending on water color and cloud cover.

I have braid on every rig I own and wouldn't change a thing. I found I backlash a ton less with braid too. I also use the improved clinch and it's never slipped. Check out this vid on how to get out backlashes. And there are many more good vids on the same technique.

If it's with a spinning reel, I heard pros mention this tip and I started doing it and never had line twists, loops, knots etc anymore. Learn to close the bail by hand and not by turning the handle. I'm not quite sure why this works but it does. It takes a little while to get comfortable doing it but now it's just habit.

^^^The jig bite could be incredible then though. What a shame that would be....

I can air guitar with the best of 'em to any 80's metal! Priest, Maiden, Dokken, you name it, I love it!

Thank you for posting this, sir. I was out this morning in 33 deg air and 51 deg water, windy as all getup...all bundled up in layer after layer that, if wet, would be unswimable/unfloatable. You should not be embarrassed to tell your story. Rather, I am embarrassed to admit that I never wear a pfd. I, Smokinal, pledge that I will aquire and wear a pfd in cold water situations. I, too, have a family here at home and they need me to return. Thank you again for posting. It got me thinking...

I buy home grown jigs from a couple of different guys and both of them send them in a small, ziplock style plastic bag. So when I get them, I label the bag with a sharpie and then store them all in a 1 gallon ziplock bag. then I keep the whole mess of them in my deck compartment. I store all my worms in another gallon bag, my tubes in another etc...

Now that's enough of that! I was out this morning, air was 33 and reached a balmy 47. Water was 51. My brother and I got 30 between the 2 of us in about 4.5 hrs. Most on the jerkbait, a few on pbj jig and a few on a trap. All in all a good morning!

I'm not "in" just yet. I need to make some sort of ruler box first but thought i'd give my update form today. It was a cold, cold windy morning with wind straight out of the north blowing hard. Air started at 33, water was still 51 though. I got 18 and my little brother caught 12. Mostly on the jerkbait and a few on a pbj jig. Most came on a point with deep water close by. I had (4) 3 to 3.5's and the rest were 1-2 pounders. We fished from 6am to 10:30. Here's one with a full belly....

Obvious newbie question...what is the "who wants in" details? edit: sorry, just read through the "October" and figured it out.

Drawbacks to braid? I guess I can think of a few...you cut your hands testing your knot because it doesn't break, it lasts for years and years so you don't have that fun of replacing your line every 3 months, when you hook a bass in grass it cuts the grass instead of tangling in it so you may leave floating vegetation, it has zero memory so you will not have those cute coils draping down from your rod tip, because of this no memory thing it floats off the spool and through the guides increasing casting distance so you may hit trees every now and then, you will no longer have that heart pumping fear of a breakoff when fighting a bass...geeze, there has to be more, I'm just tired from a long day. OK, that's enough. Seriously though, there are only 2 drawback (real ones now) that I can think of and one is its visibility and the other is it has no abrasion resistance to rock or shell. And a fluoro leader takes care of both of those. You may have guessed I'm a huge fan of braid, have tried many and my favorite is Power Pro Super Slick. Stuff is amazing. And I use a blood knot to connect. found here: http://www.animatedknots.com/knotlist.php?Categ=home&LogoImage=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com

I fished falcon with a guide 5 days last sept. Water was 39 ft low and the lake did not hold up to its reputation for sure. Sure, I got my pb on that trip but it was only (geeze I hate to put it that way) 7-9. Honestly I was expecting one over 8 and a DD would have been a dream come true. I like to think that my buddy and I are decent bass fisherman and we fished hard for 5 days straight but with the water down so far it really had them in a funk. Last I looked they are around 27 ft low. I will be back at some point (when I save enough $ again) but I'm going to be more spontaneous and watch the reports and water level and jump when I can. We planned this trip a year out when the place was hot, bought plane tickets, downpayment on the guide, lodging etc...then water dropped and the place went to hell in a handbasket. When that place is up, I strongly feel there isn't a better lake in the country for the possibility of a lot of big bass or even a DD.

You got it bro!

Yes. Then lay the point end of the hook on the bait's back. If you are in grass you may want to skin hook the tip. Do you know what that is?

I'm "Aaron Martins" anal about my rigging so, obviously, i don't use them. I take that back, I use a plain snap (not a ball bearing swivel, just a snap clip) on my crankbait rod. Everything else gets tied directly. One reason is, when I was younger, i did a lot of brook fishing and would always catch more trout than my 2 buds who used swivels. I always rode them hard about it too but they never changed. Now, as I got more into bass fishing, I would think a swivel would hang up a lot of weeds on a bottom bait. Just my opinion though. Trout are just so wary that I want every advantage to make my bait look as natural as possible.

I would use a 4/0 with the fluke and either 4/0 or 5/0 with the toad. Rigging is the same with either. And I prefer a Trokar 4/0 straight shank worm hook for worms. The reason I would recommend those size hooks is that both of those baits are relatively thick so you need some room for the bait to go on hookset...it will help your hookup ratio. Also I have found the larger 5/0 helps keep a toad upright correctly acting as a keel. But certainly try them for yourself and see what you prefer.

See my avi? That's a springtime jerkbait day right there. 7' Med spinning rod, 2500 series reel, 10# Power Pro Super Slick with a 6ft 10# fluoro leader...killin em! I find that jerkbaits are too light for me to use a baitcaster so I use spinning and with that setup, I can cast a mile with it and it's still pretty sensitive.

I just typed "how to texas rig" on youtube and lots of good videos. It does depend on what type of bait you are using and hook style as well. check out a few of those vids and ask more questions as they come up.