jomatty

do you just have to get together a bunch of similar colors and then microwave it? will the finished color be similar to a blend of all the colors you use. like do you basically get together all of your green worms and then melt them down? matt

the segment on a seminar got me interested in this. i guess i didnt really realize that people hand tied jigs using skirts and such. the idea of adding in some feathers and hair with the silicone sound intriguing. is anyone doing this. i experimented some at home and made some jigs but i dont really think that they are any better looking than straight out of the package jigs. any tips, matt

all you need to do with the flash is to tex-pose it or wacky rig it if there is not to heavy cover. throw it out and let it fall on a slack line. watch the line for any twitches that indicate a strike. lift it with your rod tip after letting it sit and then let it fall again on a slack line. repeat. i would suggest a green pumpkin or watermelon colored bait. let us know how it goes, matt

my two baits for those sort of conditions are frogs (when appropriate) and fat ikas. i fish the ika by dragging it through the weeds and letting it fall in any pockets, or along any weed edges. it has enough weight to get through most algae etc. deadly in my experience. matt

if your going to wal mart look for kinami flash or tiki sticks instead of senkos. flash are the same thing and while the tiki stick is imo not quite as good it is a very acceptable alternative. matt

ok, i know that you cant fish without occasionally hurting a fish but i still like to do everything i can to try to release them all unharmed. ive studied the diagram about removing hooks from gut hooked fish and although it has worked its only about 50-50 for me. ive heard others say that they can remove almost all guthooks. fortunately it is rare that i gut hook a fish. however last night when pitching an ika into heavy weeds i gut hooked a 4.5 lber and could not get the hook out. i tried everything but eventually just had to cut the line and hope for the best (and with a 4/0 hook in its gullet im not overly optomistic.) anyways, to my question, as i understand it you just turn the hook shank whatever way it is pointing and then reach up through the gills and with the hook shank facing down it should pop out. does anyone have any tips to make this work better for me, or am i missing something. im fishing such small waters that not harming fish (especially big fish) is important and any tips are appreciated. matt

yeah i spend a lot of time on R&D. im just ending a self imposed ban on senkos because they were so productive for me that i found myself not throwing other lures and not growing as an angler. while a senko is not one of the more fun styles it is by far my most productive (and catching fish is fun no matter what your using). when i want to conduct specific R&D i will walk to the river or pond with one rod (which i very rarely do) and force myself to fish one technique and learn about it. this is how i learned jigs and now they are one of my favorite lures. matt

one other great rig for beginers is a grub on jig head, especially for waters with smallmouth. its a very versatile rig that can be fished all through the water column. matt

i second LBH. since your fishing for quantity not quality i would definetely go senko. if it is not too weedy or the like get some circle hooks and just hook it right through the middle and throw it out on a slack line and let it sink. let it sit. lift and repeat. i normally use the 5 inch models but for what your doing i would use the 4 inch as i believe you will catch more fish with them. you might also get a small spinner bait like the terminator tiny t. i would think if you had just those two lures you would be ready to go. matt

jim, while i think everything you say is very interesting it seems very unlikely to be to be practical. what your calling for is a complete change in the way fishing tournaments are run. i dont think BASS would ever go for that as they have invested too much acclimating people to their style of tournaments. also, from a tv perspective that sort of weigh in could be very confusing and not make the kind of dramatic television they are looking for. is this a good reason not to go to this format if it would dramatically help fish populations? no in my opinion. Is it at all likely to happen? again, not in my opinion. the idea of taking away outboard motors and completely overhauling the way tournaments are run has a lot of merit in my eyes, but i just think that it is very unlikely to be taken seriously by tournament organizers. therefore i think some other solution is needed. just my opinion and not intended to disagree with what was an informative and thought provoking post from jim. matt

id take the lunker every time. i catch a ton of bass but relatively very few that i consider to be lunkers (5lbs + where i live). i do try to go with the lures i like but if i cant get anything going i definetly will switch. a big part of the fun of fishing to me is figuring out what pattern the bass are in and trying to guess what and why they are doing. its the days that i can catch some fish on a topwater or jig but could catch more on something else that i go against the grain. matt

the advice i give all new fishermen is to get some senkos (or dingers or other knockoff although i think senkos are best this is hottly debateable lol). they are really easy to use and will catch a lot of bass. buy the 5 inch variety in some sort of green pumkinish color if the water has some visibility and a darker blue or plum based color if it is really stained. if there is not a lot of weeds just get some octopus circle hooks and hook it through the middle of the worm (wacky). throw it out and let it sink on slack line. let it sit on the bottom for as long as you can stand (long ten count or so), then lift it up with rod tip and let drop on slack line again. repeat. when you get a hit or feel weight dont set the hook just reel in slack and put pressure with a gentle rod sweep when using circle hooks. if the water is weedy or otherwise snag likely then get some 3/0 ewg hooks and fish it the same way with them, except use a traditional hook set. this is the rig that got my wife hooked on fishing. it is a very easy way to catch a lot of bass. i dont know any other way that is as consistently successful (as far as lures go). and to answer your other question, bass will definetly eat live bait. many prefer artificials for various reasons but everyone will agree that you can catch a lot of bass on live bait. matt

yeah for the majority of my fishing trips if i think there might be a topwater bite im throwing a sammy even if i think i can get a better bite going on something else. also when in some slop or heavy weeds ill often throw a frog much more often than a big tube or something like that with a 1 oz weight as i find that to be productive at times but not as much "fun". if im on a trip i deam "special" because of long drive, or a new lake im excited about then i usually go with what i think will work best. sometimes i think that if all i was worried about was catching fish id never put down the senko rod...well maybe to pick up the ika stick lol. anyways interesting others do this as well and interesting that it seems to be topwaters and jigs that we think are somuch fun. matt

...fish in a way that you know is not the most productive way for a particular situation. i find myself often times going out of my way to fish in a way that is more fun for me like topwaters, frogs, or some other "fun"technique even if i know i can catch more and better fish on a senko, ika or some other soft plastic. i also do the same thing with jigs, just because i enjoy fishing them. i guess you tourny guys dont have this luxury when you are pre fishing or in a tournament but aside from that do you guys usually do this as well. just curious, matt

thats for sure! there will never be a day when i cut the line on a big bass no matter what damage may happen to my equipment. matt

thanks guys. yeah if you read my other thread you can see how worried i am about others joining me. i can only fish there before 7 am and at twilight so im hoping that helps with attracting company. im starting to feel self confident walking to the ponds with my rod like im attracting attention. this is so funny how protective im getting over these little ponds. they were just a good find basically in my back yard. thx for input, matt

i think my wording put me in a little worse light than i deserve, although there are a number of people who seem to understand where im coming from. lie is prob not the right word although there is no doubt i was not forthcoming and did not tell the whole truth. the prob is not only do i not want these ponds to be fished to hard but permision at a pond that is in my back yard is something that is very important to me. the greenskeeper was very specific in his permission and i can only go there before the course opens and in twilight after almost all traffic has died down. also he said that no fish were to be kept. i follow these rules explicitly because it is something that is important to me. to someone who dosent care as much, they may think that six oclock is late enough and if golfers complain then...trash could obviously have the same effect. to LBH who asked how often i lie and suggested never to do so, i will answer although it prob was not a real question. i almost never lie. if i did so regularly then i doubt that one incident of not being fully forthcoming would make the forums. out of curiousity, since i know your lake is very precious to you, so precious that you would not claim a world record bass to protect it, imagine that you could cast across it and be told to leave at any time if other fishermen did not treat the property properly. how would you handle this scenario? i really am curious (and know it may take some imagination because im sure you wouldnt make a pond your regular fishing hole). hopefully this dosent sound too defensive, i put it out there and i respect everyones opinions and think that its great that so many people would have told this guy you have never spoken to that you just caught a 5.5 and numerous 3's and a nice bass a cast for like 20 mins and been totaly truthful. im not sure its the right course of action but i definetly respect the conviction. thx for responces, matt

interesting to get different opinions on this. if they were larger (like even a small lake) i would def have been more forthcoming and honest. i do have a little guilt but am still not sure i regret the spur of the moment misleading (i did use subjective wording intentionally) and focused on the one bad thing. interesting moral debate though thank you for feedback. matt

i surprised you guys dont like the o rings. i think i prefer the way the hook runs when using o rings, but have not really been able to tell the difference as far catching fish goes. i guess its just a matter of personal opinion (and i admit i may not bother with it if i was paying ten cents a bait). matt

ok, here is the scenario. im walking back from a pond i recently got permission to fish on a golf course adjacent to my neighborhood. a neighbor (not someone i know by name only some guy who lives in a townhouse near me) sees me with a fishing pole and asks if im fishing the ponds on the golf course. after i say yes he naturaly inquires about the quality of the fishing in them. these are very small ponds (3) and i dont want him fishing in them. he would have to get permission but that is prob doable. so i say "ahh...its allright, not that great but its close to my house. they are really filled with weeds and scum so they are kinda hard to fish in". i felt kinda bad afterwards but i just dont want any pressure on these really nice little ponds. i didnt lie outright as they are filled with weeds which does make them a little tough to fish (kinda). anyways, who would have told the truth and who would have done as i did or some other way of trying to not make the ponds seem very good. just curious really what the SOP is on this. matt

i recently got permision to fish three small ponds on the golf course that i live on. they are all three choked not only with weeds but bass. they are completely unfished except for a few employees who mainly fish with worms or dough baits for carp and an occasional curly tail worm for bass. these are some real honey holes. anyways, i want them to stay that way and for the bass to not become to pressured and conditioned to lures, especially the ones i consistently like to use (and as completely filled with weeds as this lake is the options are fairly limited). so, how often would you fish each one and feel comforatable that you are not going to be putting too much pressure on these fish. i want the fishing to remain as good as it has been these last few times ive gone. if it wouldnt hurt the fishing id probally fish them every evening but im sure that the quality would go down if i did that. its fortunate that their are 3 ponds and instead of hopping around to all of them im going to just go to one of them each outing. so this is a longwinded way of asking, how often and hard do you guys fish your small ponds and what is the effect of fishing pressure on these small bodies of water? thx, matt

c-rig and dd22's however i think that lucky craft makes the best cranks. if they are worth the extra money over some others is another matter all together and im on the fence on that one. matt

some plastic o rings will help that problem immensly and will help you get more fish off of one worm. matt

kinami arent cheaper there are less in the pack. they are garys sons company but the plastics are identical. i could be wrong but im pretty sure that is accurate. matt

i dont get too upset when they come unbuttoned or i somehow lose a fish when i feel like im doing everything right (i know im not but as long as im executing as well as i can). when i do something stupid or break one off on the hookset (the only time i break one off really), then it can be hard to shake off. recently i was fishing a small lake and a huge (for the water) fish that i would guess was 7+ (that means it was really at least 5.5 or so if it would have been landed lol), totally jumped all over my fat ika on the initial fall. it must have been on the surface and it did the whirlpool divebomb swirl hit and i totally dropped the ball. i immediately swung and not near hard enough and was not at all surprised when he came unpegged after coming up to the surface so i knew how big he was. i always do feel a little better when i at least see the fish and know what i was working with (the ones i dont see are the estimated 10+ fish lol) anyways it happens and i think the key is trying to do everything that your skill set allows you to make sure that the odds are as good as they can be. you just got to do the best you can. it wouldnt be fun if you caught every fish because i think the uncertainty creates a lot of the buzz when you hook a big one. matt