BiggerWorm

Smallieking, I was just trying to recall an article I had read years ago. I fish alot of crawfish and crawfish imitating baits so I found it interesting. If I recall correctly, more fish were caught on the crawl with no pincers, but I don't know the size of the pincers. As far as baits looking natural, how natural does a tube look? I've never seen a live tube in the wild, but fish love'em! And yes, the Yum crawdads look very real, I have lots of them, with pincers attatched.

It seems I recall an article which covered this topic. A study was done in which fish were presented crawdads with 2 pinchers, with 1 pincher, and with no pinchers. More fish were caught on the crawdad with no pinchers and the least were caught on the crawdad with 2 pinchers. This led to the developement of the Gidzit ( for some reason that name doen't sound right, but its close). This eventually led to the tube. I must admit that I still fish crawdads with 2 pinchers, I guess I'm afraid the fish might not recognize it with out the pinchers.

The bandit is a good crank bait for the price. I fish them alot 100,200, and the 300. They pretty much run true out of the package. That is a good price as well ($2.40). About half price, BPS lists them at $4.49. I say stock up!

You might get the green one! Its good you mentioned this, someone will probably alert them to this mix up. I bet if you check the sight in a couple of days it will be corrected.

I have to mention this because so many here listed the rattle trap as their most unproductive bait. I too agree that I have not done so well with them except for an exception in a tournamnet. It was April. 1:00pm, and our live well was empty. I tied on a diamond shad and caught a 7.5 lb L.M., my biggest fish to date. About 3 casts latter I caught a 4.7 lber.It was good enough to get us in the top ten. As far as unproductive baits, I think we have a tendancy to fish what we like or what we have confidence in. Perhaps not giving other baits a fair chance. I could go a fish a plastic worm all day tomorrow and not get a bite, but would still consider it my go to bait.

Getting to -9 here in Indiana tonite. I wish it would snow or something!

I do a fair amount of night fishing. I usually throw a texas rigged worm, but will occasionaly throw a dark spinner bait. If fishing shoreline I will hang a light over the boat, which helps quite a bit. If on open water I keep the lights off, not into the bugs!!

Anyone heading to the classic in Greenville, SC? I've been checking for information on-line, getting pretty excited. I don't really know what to expect as far gaining access to the launch sights or weight-ins. Can anyone offer any information on this? As well, if any readers might be from the Greenville area and can offer some sights or resturaunts I should visit. Thanks!

I used to really enjoy the boat, sport, and travel show each year in Indianapolis. But now when I go it seems like a carbon copy of the year before. Even the vendors are at the same places. Now I only go about every three or four years. It would probably be pretty exiting for someone who has never been. I'm not running down the show, I'm sure it takes a lot of hard work to put one one. Another thing, despite what people say, and I know there are exceptions, I rarely see many great deals.

With out a doubt "Get the Net"! Which is occasionally followed by the unfortunate "Ahh forget it, it's a dink".

When I was a kid, me and my friends used to fish a small creek. We discover one day, after running out of worms, that we could catch fish on flower petals we would find in the field. While not as productive as when using worms, we did catch fish. We thought we were real pioneers!

Let me share a story of how wind can affect the bite. Once while fishing a tournament , me and my partner had flipped the heck out of some flooded brush with various plastics. Not even a bite. We pulled out to deeper water and began fishing a drop off. The wind began to gust, creating waves that were crashing into the brush we had just fished. We pulled back over to the brush and began flipping again. We caught our limit in about 20 minuits. A great lesson learned

How deep do most of you like to fish your jerkbaits (hard)? I always feel mine don't go deep enough and can usually see them when I'm bringing them back to the boat. I haven't fished jerk baits a lot and was just curious.

Each year here in the midwest our first spring tournament is on the local lake. Water temp is usually around 47F. Year after year I do well in practice, usually cranking banks near a channel. Tournament day it has always turned off for me. Since I know these fish don't pack and leave, they must still be close by. What would you recommend I do when the crank bite turns off? I'm thinking maybe throwing a jig or jerkbait along the nearby channel.

I like some of Mann's baits and have several in my supply, both hard and plastic. I fish a lot of plastics and can't say I have a lot of problems with baits sliding down the hook . Unless of course I've hawled in several fish. Then I'll switch to a fresh one. I don't know that I would make the purchase on the hopes that it will side down my hook less, But if you just like the bait, try it!

Thanks for sharing your results in using the swim baits. Many, like myself, have probably bought some and are chewing at the bit to get out and try them.

Spend another $200.00 on tackle that I probably don't need. I like to go outside an my back deck and practice flipping. Luckly I live in the country where neighbors can't make fun of me. Man I can't waite till March gets here!

The jig is probably my second mosted fished bait. It is also known as a "Big Fish" bait. I fish a jig in two primary ways. If pitching to cover I simply pitch jig next to cover, let it fall, set for about 10 seconds , hop it a couple of times and bring it back to the boat. If fishing open water structure, I fish it a lot like a plastic worm. I will kind of drag and hop it down a ledge or point, working it bach toward the boat. In shallow water I keep to natural colors. If fishing deeper water or really stained water I will go to darker colors, usally the go to color of black and blue.

I have read both the use of a tight wobble crank and a wide wobble crank are good in the spring. Which do you guys prefer (pre-spawn with water temp 46 - 52F). I would think a slow retreive with a wide wobble at these conditions. Having said that, what are some good wide wobbling crankbaits. Thanks

While on the subject of man made cover. Has anyone spoken with a DNR rep about placing cover in public waters? Do they minds us doing it? To be honest with you guys I usually place my brush piles at night so they can't see me, at least when not using night goggles.

Because its the dead of winter and the fish aren't too active around here, I'm thinking of putting some cover (brush piles) in our local lake to create hot spots for this summer. What are some man-made cover that you have created to attract fish and what were the results?

Many times I have thought, man they'er either biting or they'er not. And many times I have beem proven wrong. Me and my partner were fishing in a tourament one day, we typically fish large worms on structure and were catching the day before. We weren't getting bit so my partner tied on a jig. Three fish latter I decided I had betterd tie on a jig if I was going to contribute to the team. We wound up culling and winning the tournament. What a learning experience, sometimes you got to change up! Even if it means laying down your confidence bait.

These baits seem like they would be killer on the spawning beds. For those of you who are fishing them deeper, are you adding weight?

A journal is a great idea, therefor I have always kept one. Have to be disciplined to make entrys after each tournament and significant trips to a body of water. It is a great reference for future use.

Big Worm!!!!