Blaker87

Papajoe, what lake were you fishing in indiana? I'm from east central Indiana and have never come across these fish or heard of them being caught here. I'd like to check them out. Anything on the end of my line makes me happy.

Ok great. Thanks Will

I have one. It was probably my 3rd bait caster and I like it. Play with those knobs!

Ha I'm not a fan of this. Even if it's within the rules, it's shady. If he were to win I feel like it would almost deserve an asterisk. When it comes down to it I agree with baitmonkey1984, it should be about finding the fish and not bringing them to us. But it's within the rules so......what are you gonna do?

When I'm throwing soft swimbaits I use round jig heads when I do NOT need my bait to be weedless. When I do want the bait to be weedless I use the EWG swimbait hooks and texpose the bait.

Wow that looks really cool. I'll grab some as soon as I see them on the shelves. My wife already gave me a dirty look haha

Ok I just made a bunch of jika rigs up so they'd be ready to go in the spring. As I was rigging them I noticed something that brings me to a question. First I'll explain how I rigged them so that y'all understand completely what I did. I used casting weights and either a size 4 or 5 split ring that I attached to either an offset worm hook or an ewg worm hook. Now here comes my confusion point. I noticed that the eye of the hook will not slide over the area of the split ring where it's 2 wires and can only sit in that single wire gap. It still has mobility, but is this a problem? Obviously the weight can move freely but is the hook supposed to be able to go all the way around the split ring? I hope yall get what I'm asking. Any info would be great!

Holy crap! I had no idea there was a 4 blade buzz bait out there. My mind is blown. So ur suggesting to tie on a buzz bait and a jig that would swim under it as if following the buzz? Hmm. Interesting idea. Thanks

Ya I've heard good things about monroe and Patoka when it comes to crappie. I'm sure we'll be throwing a few things that are multi species. Thanks tho, every little bit helps

When you have had success, what were you putting on it? From what I've gathered you can put almost anything on it. I've used a double crank setup, light jigs with curl tails, and a mixture but never gotten any bites. I've seen people use a double jerkbait setup. I believe it's supposed to be used as a scaled down A-rig. But again it's fishing, there's no one way to do anything.

Anyone have any dirt on monroe? I'm planning a spring trip there and have never been on it so any help would be great.

Any of you guys ever use the double up? I picked up one of the smaller A-rigs the other day and they were hanging next to them so I grabbed a couple. Found some nifty stuff online so far, but wat do you guys hav to say about it?

That's what I'm trying to do as well. Slowly but surely. The only thing I've fished really is cranks. Occasionally I would throw a jig but I've always fished fast cuz it keeps me constantly thinking and moving so I don't get bored. Unfortunately I haven't caught much over the years. I don't get to go often either. This year though I'm going to hit finesse really hard

Tubes are a bait that I own a few bags of and have never used once! Like you though I bought some jigs from TW a few weeks ago and this year I plan on using them alot. I mostly have zoom so if I hit any bumps and am looking to try something different I will definitely try some of the brands mentioned above. Thanks

Lol that's awesome. Sick boat

That's awesome! Lucky!

Square bills, definitely square bills!

Gorgeous! That's a boat I dream of having one day!

Great thanks for the help

I found a couple spools of line thats about 6 years old and im curious how long does it take line to go bad? Or become inaccurate as far as strength goes. Any input?

Ya I've heard of that tourament and I believe it ran last year but unfortunately I work seconds so I can't make them. I have heard of a trail that runs like 6 weeks and is at summit and prairie creek. Alternating the lakes each week. I'd really like to get involved with that. I mainly want to join a club to get good at fishing my local lakes. Get to where days i don't catch a limit are a rarity instead of the norm. I hate spending 10 hours on the water and not even getting one bite. Very discouraging

Id love to get hooked up with a club in my area. I live outside of new castle. I really haven't found much though. Tons in indy, one in Richmond, but that's about it. If you find something be sure to let me kno. I mainly would be interested in the knowledge that could be gained. I've literally had to teach myself everything over the years and a lot of it has been a failure. Wat lakes do you fish mostly?

One of the main lakes I fish is electric motor only and they allow you to use a gas motor for loading and unloading so check at the gate and see if thats cool. Before I asked tho I used to run the boat up close to the trailer then hav my buddy throw me a line from the truck bed then pull me up til I could hook the winch. As far as battery life goes id just make sure their charged fully before you go out and then see how long they last. Thats how I do it and how iplan to do it with my new boat this year

Ya I fished shady side a ton for about year and haven't been back in a couple years. I mainly used it for crappie fishing though. I have caught a few bass there. I plan on going back at least once this year. It will get a lot less pressure after they flood that other part of town and get it stocked and open to fishermen. I figure it will take awhile but eventually shady side could be a real honey hole.

15k?! Man must be nice! Haha. Id stay in the 18' range if your mostly after bass. Its nice to have that big deck. And if you have alot of rods really make sure theres good storage for them. Especially any flipping rods.