Ozark_Basser

Every time I enter the g loomis rod giveaway, I have the same feeling.

For paddle tail swimbaits with a 3/16 oz keel weighted hook, I use a 7 MHF with a high gear ratio reel.

.....Where?

......Okay. Then a Texas rigged baby rage craw or something. The bait doesn't matter. The rig is what's important. Its pretty much weedless if you rig it right and impossible to fish wrong. All you have to do is cast it toward a target, let it sit for a second then slowly drag it back with lots of pauses. This rig will catch anything willing to bite a lure.Frogs are great baits, probably my favorite, but they are not good in any condition. Inline spinners are definitely known for being very productive for multiple species, and I definitely wouldn't count them out, but they are far from weedless if that is what you are after.

Thank you for the reply. I thought this as well, but I thought about it and decided since the line is always touching the guides anyways, it wouldn't matter. Who knows though. Another thing I was considering as a possible advantage would be hook setting power. With less rod torque it would make since that more energy would be translated into the hookset. Whether that's negligible or not is another question.

Curado I's on eBay for about 140 shipped. Temple fork tactical series is where I would venture to for the rods, but there are a lot of other great options. Fenwick is another one.

2 at the most

Just fish them around rocks. Make sure they are ticking the bottom and mix up your retrieves. A steady medium speed retrieve will get you bit more often than not, but sometimes a stop and go retrieve is the way to go, and sometimes you have to burn it (warmer water) or crawl it (colder water). Water with a good chop or a little color in it is ideal. On Bull Shoals and Table Rock I look for banks and points with a good slope but not steep (<45 degrees) in likely fish holding areas preferably with some good size chunk rock. I turn the trolling motor up and cast at a 45 degree angle to the bank and cover as much water as possible. I usually just stick to the natural crawfish colors.

Texas Rigged soft plastic worm.

My boat is out of commission for now. (Needs carbs cleaned big time.), and I just moved back up to these parts, but I would imagine its prime wiggle wart time on the rock. If I was out there I'd start at the main lake points and hop points and transitions till I made it to the back of a creek then pattern my way around the rest of the lake throwing a jig and jerkbait here and there. Go to http://forums.ozarkanglers.com/and check out what those guys have to say.

Don't be afraid to cross their eyes when setting the hook on a jig. I see a big bass in your future. Good job.

I'll get in that mode a lot when I'm power fishing. I'll just be sitting there covering lots of water, then I'll get in a zone where you just feel a bite coming and it usually does.

In remember seeing a video with Randy Mcabee about deep diving crankbaits. He uses a 7.1:1 zillion for DD22's....Not for me.

I've never really understood the concept of camo line. I mean, how many color variations are there underwater to use as a background to make the "camo" line effective? I always assume green or clear line would be as good of a camoflauge as you would need.

It would be nice to hear from somebody on this forum who uses a 6.4:1 for big deep diving crankbaits. I've yet to find one that felt comfortable cranking 6xds or even 5xds.

Drop C!!!!!

Wagin Ayu and Mat Shad

I've done pretty well on the Arkansas River with white jerkbaits. Its pretty stained up.

Toads for sure. How is bank fishing in Jacksonville? Lots of spots? I know a little further south is loaded with little lakes.

Painting baits, more on rod building, getting better at pitch skipping, and the back hand skip.

Snap a lipless crank or chatterbait out of the weeds. Let it fall back down then snap it out again. Be prepared to get bit right when you snap it free or when its falling. If your lake has mostly muddy, soft bottom in the shallows, don't expect to get bit there a whole lot. Bass don't like soft bottoms. You might see some roamers here and there where there is soft bottom, but roaming is all they are doing. Im not saying you couldnt possibly catch one, but i wouldnt put in a whole lot of time there. Find some areas with a hard bottom. If there aren't very many places, then the few places you find would definitely be key spots. The exception would be the docks. Learn to fish docks well. This is not easy, but would be well worth it. Docks hold fish year round, and people who are good at fishing docks generally do pretty well no matter what the conditions are. Usually in small bodies of water, bass pretty much just roam the banks, but your lake could be an exception due to soft bottoms and deeper weeds. Also, figure out what the main forage is and their habits. This will influence how the bass behave a great deal.

Mine came with a bit of a hissing noise out of the box. Hoping it smooths itself out. I've had reels do this before that smoothed themselves out.

What about you, Mike? Do you think the spiral wrap is worth it for bass fishing?

Anybody used these? They have a wide glide. Not as wide as a punker but wider than a spook. They look great. Do you need braid to walk these like a punker, or would mono suffice? I'm guessing mono would work since it only weighs an ounce.

What's the cover like on the lake? Is there a lot of grass? Any mats? Any wood cover?