Ozark_Basser

The only reason I use anything with that low of a gear ratio is for lures that have a lot of resistance. I don't see the point in fishing with a super low gear ratio with other applications unless you want your bait to go extremely slow which I never feel matters THAT much, and if I want my bait to move that slow I'll just use my rod rather than the reel. I prefer faster gear ratios for the sake of taking up line for hooksets on long casts and it's easier to keep the pressure on the fish when getting them to the boat.

Thank you. Should have figured that but I didn't order from their website. The eye after the head is painted measures in at 3\16" on the dot so 5\32 should work nicely.

I agree with and have some experience with all of this. I guess I shouldn't say that water temp isn't extremely important in finding fish but rather more active fish.

Zooplankton are more prevelant at the thermocline than ten foot above it????

Edit: Sorry. My last entry was for winter. Did you change that too, Paul? I still haven't been to sleep so it could just be me. For summer, my answer will change considerably. I choose my number one spots as the north and south ends of the lake solely due to the fact that is where I think the most bait will be with the best between the two being the one with the most cover. I still will consider the spot with two humps and two depressions as a good spot though along with the points especially if there is a good population of shad in the lake. I still say the shallows above all else due to the fact it's a small body of water where bass rarely ever seem to leave the shallows compared to larger reservoirs. That's my bet. Shallows. In particular, the shallows with the most cover. If cover is sparse, I'd bet money on the north flat adjacent to deeper water.

Photosynthesis for the plankton I'm guessing? I forget that plankton produce oxygen. As far as the thermocline goes, what keeps the fish there in the summer? I fish a lake that will commonly have a thermocline in the 30 ft range in the summer. Why are bass generally right at the thermocline and not ten foot above it usually? Oxygen would be good in both regions. Next on the list is food. I don't see why shad would find it necessary either. I guess it has to do with temperature. I have read that bass have a preferred water temperature in the low seventies. I would assume around the same for shad. Is temperature the deciding factor in this case?

This is pretty interesting. I understand that their metabolism slows down since the are cold blooded, but I never really considered that their brain slows down as well. This makes sense. I've had bass jump out of the water trying to shake a hook even though they had already come off a couple of seconds before. However I have caught a good deal of bass fishing relatively fast in the winter.

How would you go about finding which areas of the lake have good oxygen levels? All I know is that gases are generally more soluble in colder liquids. It seems as though colder water would only aid in stable oxygen levels.I guess a better question is which water could you eliminate due to poor oxygen levels. I would imagine water deeper than around 40-50ft would have poor oxygen levels. Anything else?

How cold does the water get down in Lake Charles?

I'm on fishing skirts right now about to order some eyes. Would appreciate the help. 5\32, 3\16, or 1\4?

All this talk about structure has me thinking a lot about winter fishing. But what about one of the most important parts of finding fish in the winter which is finding the warmest water or objects that hold the most warmth? Her are a few of the things I've been considering when I go out. Periods of warm and cold weather - in periods of cold weather, deeper water will be warmer and just the opposite for warmer periods. Water color - stained water heats up faster. The west side of the lake - the sun rises from the east so the west side of the lake will generally experience the most warmth from the sun. Areas of the lake protected from wind - this seems more situational. Whenever the air temperature is colder than the water temperature, these areas are a good spot to check, but on warm days the wind is beneficial. In general, areas protected from cold north winds are going to be warmer. Cover - wood and rock hold heat in cold water and the larger the object the better. ( i.e.large trees or stumps and boulders) Am I missing anything?

I kinda figured so but the manual says to. I don't know I guess I thought I'd give it a shot. I'm gonna give it a while and see how it turns out.

The mag brake does work along with the centrifugal break. I might have to clean them and relube. The issue might be over lubricating, but I ran out a fee trips back and still haven't noticed a difference.

My revo stx gen 3 still casts pretty good, but not near as good as it used to. I have every brake turned all the way off and it still won't get the distance it used to with the mag brake half way and two centrifugal brakes on. Another thing is that Ive found it has gotten much harder to backlash even with all the brakes turned off. A couple months ago I would have had a much harder time casting with all of the brakes off. What could be the problem? It's not from lack of lubricating. I oil the reel after almost every trip.

Jitterbug at night in the summer. Fast floating jerkbaits worked fast is my favorite in the daytime during summer. Jigs all year round.

After I read it myself I thought it was a bit...meh, but I do find it pretty interesting how this constantly occurs, especially with clear water creek smallmouth. The hole I was fishing has some nice largemouth in it, but they never seem to be quite as predictable as the smallies. I guess it's because all of the wood cover (where i catch my better largemouth) gets moved around from time to time due to high waters yet the structure pretty much remains the same. Sometimes i get down there and see tons of wood cover and in a couple of months it will have all got pushed downriver. Smallies tend to stack up in this hole in the winter as well. I can pretty much guarantee where I'm going to get bit which seems to give this theory some viability, to me at least.

I went bank fishing on the Little Buffalo National River today and I can't help but notice a trend with the size of fish I catch with certain color jigs. And this has happened more than once especially on this river. I started out with a more or less green pumpkin and orange colored jig with a gp trailer and was getting bit about every cast I was making to a particular spot. I caught a few dinks and one that was about fourteen inches or so. A lot of the time I was getting bit but wasn't hooking up. I went through a ton of trailers. Well when I finally lost my jig I switched up the color to a more or less brown and purple jig with the same gp trailer. Boom. Three pound smallmouth from the exact same spot. I kept fishing with the same jig and hardly got bit the rest of the trip. I can confidently say that brown and purple catches bigger fish on that creek, but I never seem to get as many bites with it compared to a crawdad colored jig. Its weird, but has anyone else ever experienced this? If so, with which colors?

They will all hold fish. Plain and simple.

It would also make the bait fall belly down which is pretty interesting.

Paddle tail swimbaits

If you want the largest variety in skirting material go to fishing skirts. You will be happy you did. They also have some pretty cool powder paint and the best fish eyes I've found yet.

That will work. Lure Parts Online is another spot to check out along with fishingskirts.com

Its not as cost effective as you would think but still a bit cheaper than buying store bought jigs. I feel the jigs I make are of higher quality than store bought and I get to customize my colors.

What size eyes are you using for the poison tail mold if you don't mind me asking?

I powder coat my jigs with the base hole pin in the jig and let it dry this way. When I go to take out the pin about half the time I chip the paint around the hole for the weedguard. Is there a better way to do this so I don't chip the paint? I've tried taking out the pin right after dipping but it tends to mess up the paint job as well. How do you ensure a clean paintjob on your jigs?