bass2187

Anyone else use it?

Anyone ever try these? http://www.humminbird.com/productLines_wide.asp?id=610#sc15 They sound interesting since i am mostly a shore fisherman. But i am skeptical. I can see myself smashing it against a rock or throwing it in a tree. But if it actualy works well, it may be a handy little device. Its from humminbird so they know something about fishfinders. What do you guys think? Anyone give these a test? thanks, Mike

How do the number of guides on a rod effect it? Differnt rods have differnt numbers of them on there. I know length is one factor but some rods are the same length with differnt number of guides still. Thanks Mike

reelmech knows what i am talking about. For me when i am holding the rod and reel i have 2 fingers on front part of foot and 2 on the back along with my palm. There is constant contact with "nut"( i dont know wht it is called) and it loosens. Is there a reason for making the rods that way instead of a down locking way? Also anyone got any recommendations on rods that do lock down? thanks Mike

No i understand G. Do you see what i mean with the others? You are screwing in the back part of the reel, instead of the front. It lies directly where you place your hand. When you are holding the reel you are holding plastic instead of cork. Something i am also not the biggest fan of.

http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catalog.TextId?hvarTextId=74392&hvarDept=100&hvarEvent=&hvarClassCode=2&hvarSubCode=2&hvarTarget=browse I went looking for a new rod yesterday at bass pro shops and there were some nice rods, but why are most handles like these ones? I have a rod all ready like this one with the handle. It is a nice rod but where the reel is held on by the rod is where u put your hand. It is in such and area where your hand loosens the hold onto the reel. While i have never lost my reel while using the rod i do have to retighten. I noticed Browning had rods with the handles i like but wasnt to impressed with the rods and i am not sure i want a fishing rod from a gun company. I never did buy a rod. Couldnt find any ones i really liked that werent under $100 and didnt have that stupid hold. Hopefully i can see something i like at the Chicagoland Fishing show. Thanks, Mike

This christmas i am getting a rod and reel of my choice. I can not decide if i wanna get my toys at the chicagoland outdoor show, which is a really great show, or outdoor world. I have never bought a rod and reel at a show before and when i have gone to this show before i never really looked and any of the rods or reels. None of these places are exactly close to me and i am going back to school in the middle of january where i mostly fish. Anyone have any advise or experience with buying from an outdoor show? Thanks, Mike This is a link to the show. It shows some of the distributers. http://www.chicagolandsportshow.com/app/homepage.cfm?appname=100282&linkid=17966&moduleid=1861&campaignid=428&iUserCampaignID=33698028

IMO the bass do not care about the size. it is just more of an opportunity thing. I know the bass dont seem as fiesty in the winter also. I caught a 5lber on jan 31 last year on a 1/4ounce rattle trap. I knew this was a big fish but this fish i dont think even pulled on the drag. (If it did it was only a little.) I was using 6lb test and the drag wasnt very tight. One other thing i noticed in the winter was that the number of fish i was able to catch went down but the size of the fish went up. This happen to anyone else? I hope i can at least match my results i had last year Mike

also, how would you dictate when u would want to use each hook? You are probably the best person to ask for me also kmac since u are fishing the same place i am. except i am guessing u have a boat where as i shore fish.

cool, i go to SIU. where do u live?

heh. didnt think it would do that.

is it an actual noticable differnce? also are you from southern illinois k_mac?

You know, i actualy know the "walk the dog" technique for top waters i was actually wondering what is ment by "walk the dog" for something like a fat ika as in this link. http://***/cgi-bin/order/92F-10

Can someone explain how to do the walk the dog technique? Is it just slowly bouncing it off the bottom on the retrieve? Can someone please elaborate on this? Thanks, Mike

How do you fish these? Parents got them for me and i am not sure how to fish them. Especialy with the hula grub, i am not sure which end is which. Any help would be appreciated. Hooks? Where to fish? Etc... thanks, Mike

now i understand where you would want to use the superline but if you use it out of cover does it have any sort of negative effect compared to the regular ewg? The reason i ask is my parents got me 25 superline when i really dont fish much hard cover that it would typicaly be used for these hooks. i use my offset ewg for mostly senkos and my favorite the fat ika thanks, Mike

I have seen a lot about jigging latly. When i think about jigging i think walleye or crappie. What are you guys using and how are you fishing the jigs? Thanks, Mike

Senile1, Yep i am at SIU. Sophmore majoring in zoology. Its pretty warm today so i think i am gonna throw a jerkbait and if bass arnt biting im guessing crappie should be doin something at least MIke

Anyone have any recommendations for winter fishing? I fish primarily in Southern Illinois where i attend school and the water rarly freezes down here. I live off the campus lake. Last year i had some luck with rattletraps. I fell in love with fat ikas and senkos this year and was wondering how well they work in the winter. I have a car this year so hopfully i can try other places also. thanks, Mike

I may have to check out pryamid before it gets too cold down here. Weather is sucky as hell isnt it? Where does it say about them stocking kinkaid with smallmouth. I tryed searching for a quickly but couldnt find anything. Mike

Ive done the vistisor pond before and it truly does contain some monsters. That was actually one of the areas i was thinking about going to this weekend. May even through on my waders and try that. Seems like bass have been really slow down here latly. I gotta figure out what they are hitting. I have heard of pryamid but i dont know where it is. Is it far from Carbondale? mike

I go to SIU down here. I fish all over around here. Been fishing for crappie,white bass and catfish under those bridges on 13 latly. I wanna go somewhere else next saturday or i may go somewhere differntI dont have a boat so i am an all shore fisherman. There are a ton of places down here to fish that i still wanna try. I have heard about those strip mine lakes but wasnt ever really sure where they were. Do you think you can give me directions to a couple of your favorite spots Daniel, at least ones with some shore access. I went camping and fishing with friends this weekend at ferne clyffe and fished that lake. They just stocked it with trout. We got a few delicious cats and trout for dinner. They even had some of those golden rainbows. They were very pretty. Mike

Troutfisher that is a common musk turtle. They go CRAZY for live worms. They chase those things as fast as they can disregarding what ever else is going on. And BTW the turles do survive the winter. They bury themselves on the bottom of the lake and stay there for the winter.

I recently caught a bass the other day with my hook left over in its gullet. got him on a senko first and then a week later on a fat ika. I am almost possive it was my hook. When i pulled him out the second time i was able to remove the old hook. The barb rusted off so it was easy. Since i have been fishing with fat ikas and senko i have been removing the barb. Makes taking them off so much easier and makes me feel better about it. Had way too many meaty cheek hook sets. I am probably losing a few fish because i took off the barbs but i still get most of mine in. I also caught a crappie today when the bass werent biting. He was blind in one of his eyes. It was completly healed and he looked healthy and caught my little beetle spin so he is doing alright. Seemed a little shocked when i let him go but he jumped out of my hand when i was trying to get a better look at his eye so he obviously isnt doin bad. Mike

This is pretty much what I have been doing the past few days i have been fishing. Mostly been using the fat ika however, its a fantastic bait. Got my line snapped by something big today, was on for a second and then realised it was hooked and took off before the drag could work. I have however had a couple problems with the ika. That is i am not getting a hook set sometimes. I think it is just the way i am setting it. Probably need to add a little snap to it. I have noticed sometimes when i bring back the lure after i had a fish on and lost it that the lure position hasnt changed. I am pretty sure the fish were just holding it in there mouth and running with it. My other problem with it was that i kept getting hook ups deep in the mouth and in what i would consider the cheek of the fish. Tore some fish mouths up and felt bad. Now i debarbed my hooks and that fixed my problem. Hopefully didnt mess up my hook ups though. All in all its a fantasic bait and i havnt even had it that long. I even had one fish jump out of the water and grab the ika as i was pulling it out! ;D Had my parents by me a few more packs of them for when they come down here to fish and visit with me! Mike