FrankW

How does the Zillion compare to the Alphas in frame size? Frank

25' of 10lb mono. Salmon egg hooks and size 6 bait hook. Bottle of Salmon eggs. Size 3 Mepps in Silver color. This is for Alaska. Frank

Hi BuffaloBass716, Fishing currant with a rocky bottom can be difficult. Here are some ideas that work for me. 1. Use slinky weights used by steel headers. You can buy them in a quarter weight. You can make your own slinkies and save some money. Do a search on Google and you can find instructions for making slinkies. They are flexible and don't get hung as much. 2. When you cast up stream reduce the angle up stream according to the currant. With a strong currant you might only be able to cast directly in front of you. The further up stream you cast the quicker the currant will wash your weight into the rocks. You have to find the best angle to cast up stream so the currant doesn't just bury you weight into the rocks. What you want is to drift your weight along the bottom with it just ticking the bottom as it carries down stream. You need to stay in contact with the weight so you can slightly lift the weight as it bounces along the bottom. If you have a sandy bottom or with few rocks, you need to lift the weight slightly and the currant carries it a few inches. They repeat and you can feel the weight and keep it moving along with the currant. The bait/plastic just goes along for the ride. River Smallies are accustom to their food being move along by the currant and you want to try and duplicate a natural drift of the bait/plastic. 3. You will have to adjust your weight to match the currant flow. 4. Learn to fly fish. This is a really good way to catch Smallies. You can adjust your fly, line and weight so the fly drifts just above the rocks. Smallies on a fly is crazy fun. Frank

I started fishing in 1939 when I was four years old. My grand parents use to spend all summer camped out at Bass Lake in central California. Our camp had a log dock that was made with 6" logs tied together and fasten to shore. I had a piece of line with a size 12, or maybe a little bigger, golden hook. I use salmon eggs for bait and a little weight. I would drop the salmon egg down between the cracks in the dock and catch tiny perch. They must have been about 2 1/2" long or so. My Grandma would fry up my catch to crispy critters and I would eat them like potato chips, guts and all. What a great time I had during those summers. Been fishing every since. Frank

"They just want to pay dues have get togethers, meeting, put on events, and club tournaments." This is quite a bit of activity and is what a club does. If you hold meetings, pay dues and put on events you are a club and could be liable for any accidents that might happen. If there is a death then for sure you are in trouble with out insurance. If you don't incorporate or form an LLC then the members can be accountable. Don't do this unless you talk to a lawyer. I would never participate in what you have in mind. Frank

Hi ConcreteJungle, Down below I listed what the Georgia Fish and Game had to say about Lake Tobesofkee and there does seem to be a population of Bass in the lake. From reading your comments it seems to me you might be fishing too fast. Bass are not located everywhere in the lake and if you try one color for 15 minutes and then change you might be fishing with the best color in the world for that time but in the wrong place. You change colors and then move to fish but they are not interested in your lure or color. You say there is not much cover but there are lots of different types of cover that hold fish. Just because there are not trees or heavy grass there are points jutting out into the lake, drop offs, high spots, roads, creeks, railroads, graveyards and so on. Of course if this is a natural lake some of these things won't be there. The point is you have to figure out what kind of cover is available in your lake. You can't just throw any crank and be successful. Be sure when you are fishing a crank that dives to the correct depth for your circumstances. Fishing a crank that dives 5' in 15' of water may not be the best bet. If you don't have the patience to fish plastics slowly then you will never be a real successful Bass fisherman. I include Jigs with a skirt and trailer. These are money baits especially around boat docks and other structure. One of the most important thing you can do as a beginner is to keep a log of your trips. After your trip write down any successes you might of had. Where and how you caught fish and the time and date. Then if you have a good day you can refer to your log next year and have an idea what worked last year. You should also build an relationship with any local Bass Shop in your area. They know what is going on in the lake all year long and can be a big help. Every time you go in and get information or help, buy something. They will get to know you and be more inclined to offer information. Frank The following is provided by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. Prospects and Fishing Tips: Lake Tobesofkee Best Bets LARGEMOUTH BASS "Prospect The largemouth bass population should continue to thrive as last fall's abundance remains above the past 12-year average. Expect to catch similar numbers of larger fish this year with up to half of the catch in the 12 to 20-inch size range with fair numbers of fish in the memorable-size range (20-25 inches). Technique Use crankbaits, topwater plugs and Texas-rigged plastic worms (finesse-type worms rigged Texas style behind a 1/8-ounce lead with June bug and green pumpkin color). For crankbaits use No. 5 or No. 7 lipped crankbait in shad or perch colors in clearer water or firetiger in stained water. Target Target boat docks with brush piles, lighted boat docks at night and steep banks and points near deep water on the lower lake below the Lower Thomaston Rd. bridge. Also fish in water willow grass beds in pockets above and below the bridge on Lower Thomaston Rd."

Hi Alpha Male, If you use a snap on the end of your line you want to remove any split rings on the baits. Frank

Hi LakeNormanFishing, Shore fishers usually only take one or two rods. It is the boat fishers that carry a lot of rods. I usually carry about 8 rods that are on deck for fishing. I have 3 spinning rods and 4 bait casting rods. Why so many? Because it saves time and helps to catch more fish. For instants, If I am fishing a worm or other plastic and all of a sudden Bass break the surface chasing shad. I can quickly pick up a shallow running crank, jerk, or spinner bait and cast into the action. Most times I will hook up. Other times I might be fishing a worm and can pick up another rod with a Senko with out having to take the time to retie a new bait. For someone like you I would suggest two rods. One for plastics and one for everything else. I would rig the second rod with a snap so it is quick to change lures. I would also buy spinner baits with a twisted tie. They work better with a snap. Frank

Hi Aluma-Bass, I have used the type pictured for 20 years or more. Get the diamond one with a hook grove. Does a quick job on hooks. It is compact and clips in a pocket until needed. Frank

I tried SpiderWire Ultracast Fluoro-Braid with not the best results. It is strong and holds the color really well. Probably holds the color better than any other braid I have tried. It does sink like advertised but I don't think it helped catch any more fish. The 20lb is bigger in diameter than 30lb Power Pro Super 8. I put the 20lb SpderWire on an Alpha and the line was just so noisy. I thought at first I had a problem with the Alpha as it didn't cast as far as I expected. I replaced the 20lb SpiderWire Fluoro-Braid with 30lb Power Pro Super 8 and the noise went away. My casting distance increased to what I was expecting. I bought the Fluoro-Braid because it sinks and I thought that might be an advantage. It does sink and holds it color but that is the only good things I can say about it. There are much better braids available than this particular SpiderWire. Frank

I like tungsten but find that for me lead is better for fishing Pads with light weights. I like a bait and weight with a large frontal area for pad fishing. With a small weight and a worm it tends to get caught in the slit in the top of the pad far more often and a bigger bait and weight. I fish a tube with a 1/4oz lead weight and find that it works better than the smaller tungsten 1/4oz weight. Drop down to 1/8oz and the lead weight definitely works better for me than tungsten. Frank

Age and temperature has a lot to do with how long I fish. Fifteen years ago I fished all day in the Winter but only half a day during the Summer. Here is Florida the Summers are tough on fishermen. I use to fish three or four days a week and now I am down to once a week. My partner and I start at daylight and fish till about 11:00am. This is 5 or 6 hours. I am 79 and it is harder to get the boat back into the garage. I have to push it part way. The sun and humidity is tough on me during the summer but it depends on how many fish we are catching. Some lakes are two hours away so add 4 hours of driving on top of the fishing. I can tell I am nearing the end of my fishing with only a few years left before it is physically too much for me. At the end of a day I am beat. My legs hurt and I am exhausted. I am trying to stay in shape and any day fishing is still a good day. Even if the day is only 4 or 5 hours long. Frank

I have one and didn't like it for two reasons. 1. It gives a lot of leverage against the small hooks if it is not inside the fishes mouth. 2. It makes too much wake with a moderate retrieve. It might be OK for night fishing if you want a lot of wake. Frank

We used this rig back in the 50's for Steelhead. Frank

Fishing slow is not always done the same way. You can cast a plastic and barely move it and slowly fish it back to the boat taking for ever. I like to cast to my target and fish slow at my target and then rapidly bring back to boat. Move to next likely spot and do it again. I find that slow only needs to be done at a specific target and then get to your next cast. Frank

HI BassinNCstyle, Lilly pads can hold some nice fish. I prefer braid (20lb to50lb)and don't use a leader. Fish holes in thick pads, cuts, points or any irregular spot. Isolated pads are the best. That is, find little patches of pads that are away from the main group or by themselves. The most productive is isolated pads with other grass mixed in. I think the best baits are plastics and frogs or other top water, weedless baits. I fish worms, tubes, creature baits and soft jerk/swim baits. I have better luck getting through the pads with a larger frontal area like a tube or creature bait. Thin worms seem to hang more frequently for me in pads. If you want to fish a crank bait in pads you need to get up to the edge of the pads. Cast parallel to the edge as close as you can get and not hang up. A crank bait is not my preferred bait for pads. Frank

Hi Dylan Cormier, I use braid for topwater with a 4" piece of 15# FC tied to a clip/lure. I had a problem with the braid fowling the topwater and the stiffer piece of FC solved that problem. Even though FC will sink, the lure, the braid and the surface tension of the water keeps the 4" piece of FC on the top. Works very well for me for topwater. Frank

Last week I was practice casting on my front lawn and a Red Shoulder Hawk dived down to get my Sweet Beaver. I was able to pull it away before the hawk picked the beaver up. It was rigged with a black/blue skirt and 1/8oz bullet weight. The grass was a little long and the beaver was concealed a little bit but easily seen from the tree where the hawk was sitting. Just to make sure it wasn't a fluke I pitched again and it dove again. I Stopped casting to make sure I didn't hook it. Frank

Hi WVbassin87, A 5" Senko might be a good choice. It weighs around 3/8oz. It all depends on the flow of the fast water. The 5" Thin Senko might be a better choice. It is half the weight of the standard 5" Senko. I would try the Thin Senko with a split shot 12 to 18 inches above the Senko. You would need to experiment with the size/number of the split shot and how you cast it into the fast water. The split shot would also be a good choice with a floating worm but you would need more weight. You will just have to experiment with different combinations of weight/bait and how the fast water carries the bait into the slow water. Well I just remembered you are fishing for smallies and a 5" Senko may be too big. I usually use a smaller size for smallies. Same idea, just downsize the Senko. Frank

I fished a lot of rivers in my younger days and used one of my fishing rods to judge the water depth. You know the length of the rod and it will tell you the depth up to the length of the rod or that it is deeper than the rod. Never damaged a rod tip doing this. Frank

Hi Jassch82, Braid really works well on a spinner but I find a leader is more trouble than it is worth. Twenty pound braid is the equivalent to 6 pound mono so I would consider 15 or 20 pound braid. If you are fishing clear water a lot then why not go straight fluro with mono backing. Six or 8 pound Tatsu should work fine on a spinning reel. The lighter the fluro the better the performance. The problem I have with light weight mono or fluro is you have to keep retying all the time. It is much less of a problem with braid unless you are fishing a lot of sharp rocks. Frank

Hi Josh, I fish mag brakes and happy with them. Have some centrifugal reels but don't like them as well. No matter how good your brakes work if you are pitching/flipping or casting anything for accuracy you need your thumb at the end of the cast. It is the best way to get a soft entry into the water with a jig or T rigged bait. Frank

Hi Catch and Grease, If you want to T rig a tube it works best to get the ones with the solid head. This will help keep the hook where it belongs. The Trokar Tube Hook, and the Owner twist lock flippen hook all work well with a solid head tube. So will a EWG off set hook. Frank

Hi WVbassin87, That sounds like a very good spot. I suggest two things. 1. Use a drop shot and cast a weight that the fast currant will carry into the slow water. Smallies will be laying in that slower water waiting for the currant to wash food to them. You can control your drift by staying in contact with the weight and bounce along the bottom. 2. Get a floating worm with some kind of weight or split shot that won't take it to the bottom and will be washed down with the currant. When it hits the slower water it will sink to the bottom or at least lower in the water column. You will have to experiment with the weight size to get it right. Remember as you cast into the faster water, where it enters the water will determine how deep the bait is washed into the slow water. To get it right you might have to cast up stream to get the right drift. It depends on how fast and how deep the fast water is. Of course this is ideal for a fly rod and a sink tip line. Frank

slimshad has a good point. I usually have better luck in cloudy or overcast skies. It may not be higher pressure that effects the fish but the blue bird skies. Frank