jb_adams

I purchased a new rattle bait (Bomber) and it said on the package they made a high-pitch and low-pitch for variety of conditions. High being for windy or stained water and low for clear or calm water. After reading some in Bassmaster how a fish not only feels noise way more than it hears it, how does high and low pitch effect the lateral line? I would think low pitch would be for stained, not high pitch. Doesn't that seem backwards?

Those things are way overpriced....most of the money is in the motor I'm sure but that's about what I was looking for. I thought I saw one with a much larger motor. I was looking for it more of the "gag factor" than purchasing. I have a bass boat! ;D

Thats pretty much it. I was thinking I had seen one with a larger motor but I could be wrong. Thanks!

I saw an image online a while back where a company makes these mini-pontoon boats and puts on large outboards like a 90-150hp motor. Which is insane for a mini-pontoon. I want to say it's a fishing setup much like an ocean kayak with rod holders and such. I can't find anything on the internet. Anyone ever see this? I wanted to forward it to a friend of mine and it's driving me nuts cause I cannot find it.

Most issues are due to a bad starter solenoid. I had this issue and found out I was not connecting the battery cables tight enough. I always use a wrench now to make sure it is secure and will not become loose. A loose connection will damage the solenoid. If your battery is good, has full charge, check the solenoid next to the starter. You can jump-start the starter by pulling the large power lead off the solenoid and touch the red positive lead to the positive lead on the starter. It will spark a bit but will turn the motor over. If this happens, it's probably the solenoid. Another way to know is if you hear a clicking sound when turning the key but the motor will not turn over. That means the solenoid is getting power but not transfering power to the starter. Check with a volt meter if you have one.

I looked for my Top Dollar bait last night and couldn't find it. I only used it once and liked the action. I was thinking it was 4-5". If it's only 3", I'll have to give it a try again.

Nice! Thanks for the info!

Yep, looked a lot like that. Granted I never did see a great picture of the bait. He kept it off camera a lot and they would show it in action on the water a few times. When they caught a bass, you could see a brief glimpse of it as they boated the fish. After that, he was throwing the bait into the water. After Erhler won the tournament, he showed some of the baits he used to win the tournament. The bait he used the most on screen was not shown or mentioned.

Brent Ehrler from FLW and I forget who on the Elite Series. Skeet Reese maybe? They are both big Lucky Craft sponsored anglers.... I'm 90% sure its not the Top Dollar. I have one and tried it once. Wasn't too crazy about it. May try it again but that profile is too big unless they may a smaller one about 3" long.

Nope, wrong profile and too long. Close..... Profile is more oval shaped and full like a crankbait. Similar to Corrdell Rattle Trap and only 3" long. The gunfish is 4" long.

Everyone knows the pros on the FLW and Bassmaster Elite Series like to keep their hot baits a secret for obvious reasons. I've seen a few pros lately on both FLW and the Elite Series throwing a topwater plug that has a spitting walk-the-dog action and it's incredible! It's smaller than a Heddon Baby Spook and has a larger diameter. It spits and darts side-to-side with a much more subtle finesse presentation vs. a regular Zara Spook or Lucky Craft Sammy. Any thoughts on what this bait is? I'm estimating it to be about 3 long, oval shaped, and a similar profile to a Rapala Skitter Walk. It's not a Rapala Skitter Pop or Skitter Walk. The Skitter Walk doesn't spit and the Skitter Pop is a popper bait with no side-to-side action. The bait can be worked fast or slow and has the same action. It's subtle, quiet, and it's small profile is tremendously life-like. As an angler, it looks a lot like a dying shad on the surface.

I think my biggest problem is locating fish. The wind/waves beat the banks up so bad that it creates a mudline up to 20ft off the shoreline. On some banks, that makes muddy water 20ft out and up to 30ft deep on steep banks with structure. I've tried fishing just outside of the muddy water, points, channels, humps, etc. I still have a hard time finding the fish on the graph. When it's blowing 15mph + you can't escape the wind no matter where you go on Beaver Lake. I'll try dropping an anchor on deeper main lake points that hold fish and start throwing the basics and see what works. That's all you can do I guess.

My boat is an older boat and small so fishing choppy water when the wind is howling at 15-25mph makes a lot of work with the trolling motor. I have a 65lb thrust 24V on a 15ft glass boat and it's still working hard on windy days. So for a big highland reservoir with clear water, what would you throw, where, and why? I know wind stirs up baitfish and typically pushes them up on points. Wind also creates chop, which allows less light penetration. Wind also creates noise so the loud trolling motor is not as big of a factor as one would think. You can fish baits like crankbaits, rattle-traps, spinnerbaits, and spooks faster than you typically do. Am I on the right track? I typically have a hard time locating fish on the graph much less catching any. I'm going to give it a try late tomorrow afternoon because the wind will die down some and the topwater bite should pick up.

I've thrown a POP-R many times. Only had minor luck with it. I figure it's time to give it another go and learn to use it right. I've created a poll to see if I'm working it too slow. I've tried gluing the not on the bottom of the eye to make it spit more (A Zell Rowland tip I read) I've worked it painfully slow I've worked it fast and erratic I've worked it in a cadence retrieve, 1,2,3,4..pause...1,2...pause...1,2,3,4 (repeat) You name it, I've probably tried it. Chances are, the fish didn't like the color or just wasn't interested in it at the time. So lets see the most common method. How do you like to use a POP-R?

I believe in the crankbait mojo,thats why I bought 6 more Red Eyes thinking the 1st couple didn't have the "mojo".. Still no luck,and everytime I read 1 of these threads about how great the Red Eyes are it makes me even more determined to go out and sling them some more.. Same for me with bass jigs. I had a tackle box full of jigs till I figured out why the jigs I had were bad, what worked, how to retreive, etc. Took me a year and now I have a jig tied on all the time. Sometimes the cheaper Cordells and Rat-L-Traps are what they want. Sometimes it's a Lucky Craft, sometimes a Spro, sometimes, the Red Eye. I do like the shimy on the fall. Just haven't figured it out yet myself. Crankbaits are on my list of "figure out". I have a ton of good crankbaits but I either reel too fast or not fast enough. Know that you are not alone on the Red Eye.

So am I the only one the bait monkey convenced to buy this thing?

The local pros on FLW and Bassmaster Elite Series use them. Not because they are paid by them, because they have fished them for years and have confidence in them. (Bohannon, McClelland, etc.) I guess I am partial to them because they are a local company. So is BassX jigs but both are great products. The fact that they are designed and made by anglers who know my home lake better than I do is also a good confidance boost. The owners of War Eagle fish Beaver Lake so no wonder the fish in Beaver like them. They know what works for this lake. Stanley, Terminator, Strike King, KVD (just lost a new KVD), etc that have "angler attractive" qualities work but for me, it's War Eagle. Great buzzbaits too. They have a nice squeal to them and they are strong. OK. I've plugged my favorite spinnerbait enough.

I must be reeling mine in too fast and not using the "flutter fall" often enough. I was on feeding bass yesterday in gin clear water up to 15ft. I know the little buggers were there feeding because they looked like a pack of sharks. I caught a few on a LC Pointer and a wake bait. Swimbait, plastics, crankbaits, jig, and the Red Eye shad wouldn't get their attention. They wanted it fast (really fast) or really slow and lifelike. They would swim up to a bait really fast and then hit the brakes before the strike. They could tell it was fake. So are you guys that are sleighing them retrieving it really slow, yo-yo style (rip-flutter), or what?

Agreed. Regular mouse is awesome for semi clear water. Also white with chartreuse tipped skirts are great for stained/muddy water. A lot of folks around here love the "cole-slaw" color for really muddy water. I have a lot more mouse in my tackle than any other color. I'm that confident in it.

http://www.***.com/descpageSWMJACKALL-JMK.html#pImage I bought one of these a couple of years ago in "Golden Shiner" and I use it occasionally. I've caught probably 2 bass on it. I originally thought it would float on the surface but it's more like a suspending bait than floater so it's more challenging to use as a topwater bait. As soon as it hits the water, you have to reel it in fast to get it up to the surface as a wake bait. You also have to keep a steady pace with a high rod tip which I think makes the bait too fast and too erratic. It's not a swim bait but a topwater/wake bait. It should be a bit slower I think vs. a fast pace wobble. Sometimes you are better off slow as a snail or fast as a rocket but never in between. Also, if you reel it too fast, it rolls back and forth on each side and doesn't look natural. I've had several followers and even packs of bass following but won't commit. I've recently tried a sub-surface retrieve (cast and retrieve slowly with short pops) and that worked. I've also tried a really slow-twitching retrieve much like how you would retrieve a fluke. It looks like a dying shad for sure and floats/pauses in place like a jerkbait. Whats the best retrieve or presentation for this thing?

I am one of those that only uses War Eagle. I've tried many brands. Almost all of the popular brands (Terminator, Stike King, Booyah, etc.) and I can't tell ya for sure if the bass here on Beaver Lake only support local companies (War Eagle is based in Rogers, AR) or if they just like War Eagle spinnerbaits only but.I've only had luck consistent luck with War Eagle. If a spinnerbait bite is on, I'll have 1 of 3-4 colors tied on depending on water clarity. They make an awesome spinnerbait, jigs, blades, etc. They also have a wide color selection, blade options, etc. I don't believe in the fish head type spinnerbaits. You know, the ones with eyes glude on and they look like a real fish. I have caught bass in gin-clear water with that silver head made on a War Eagle. The key is using a trailer that matches the skirt. I like using a grub in the same skirt color and I'll pump the bait a few times on the retrieve.

That was good info! Thanks! Unfortunately, I only had one bite and landed that single fish but it was 11-7/8" long and a spotted bass. On this lake, 12" is a keeper. I fished all 8hrs and only got that one bite. I was near the Prarrie Creek end of the lake near the launch of the tournament. My boat only has an 85hp outboard and it's not worth it to drive all the way to the dam. That would take me over an hour at a WOT of 40mph. The guy that won the tournament had just over 10lbs and that'a always a great limit on this lake. It usually wins the pro tournaments as well as local tournaments on tough fishing days. The barometric pressure rose up to 30.28 that day and the water rose a foot overnight. I found a group of feeding fish over a channel at the mouth of a cove in 40-50ft suspended on deep structure just below the thermocline. The thermocline was around 16ft as I recall. Later I found a few in the back of a cove around 19ft deep and on the bottom just below the therm. I couldn't get a bite but another guy caught 5 fish off the same area just minutes before I got there. So the fish were scattered and the only people that had any luck had to run far down river towards the dam. Thanks to all those who replied. You helped raise my confidance level and gave me hope that my bait selections were on par.

It's actually really clear. I heard it was stained and because the dam is generating, I figured it would be muddy but it was pretty clear. I fish Beaver Lake. It's a big river reserviour and and the average clarity is 4-5ft depending on where you are on the lake. It can get up to 20ft visibilty on the far end by the dam. The back of coves are clear and up to 4-5ft visibilty easy. WHen the sun is high, you can see 6-7ft. With the high pressure, cold front, rising water, cold surface temps dropping the water temp rapidly, they are staying near deep water I think. I like the sweet beaver idea. Never used one. Could be a good thing.

Here's my report from a quick practice round this morning. Weather (couldn't be much worse) - rising barometric pressure, was 30.15 @ 6:00AM and rose to 30.25 by noon - wind from N at 5mph (no biggie) - cloudy overcast when forcast was sunny - foggy - temps dropped to 38 and thats the lowest temp so far since last winter (average temp has been upper 40's over last few weeks) - Wind was very cold (hard to fish with cold clamy hands) - humidity was @ 100% by 8:00 AM (ouch!) Where I fished: - I found no bites in the back of coves (water clarity: clear) - I fished a large cove area off the main lake that has lots of deep water with shallow coves branching off with stick cover (submerged trees) - Fished chunk rock and large boulder formations thinking the bass would hold tight to absorb the heat from the rocks (found a dink smallie on X-rap - little rascal hit it like a freight train!) ;D I discovered the reaction bite close to cover and off of deep water was the only bites I got. I had a bass interested in a t-rig worm as I was burning it back to the boat to recast. THat's when the light went off........gotta have the reaction bite and burn baits and bounce off cover. By that time, I was out of practice time and had to leave for other duties on my Sat. I had every bait tied on that everyone suggested. That gave me confidance that I was doing the right thing and I think I have an idea where to find the fish. If the barometric pressure will drop overnight to around 30, I'm set. ;D Thanks all!

boater