Frank19

I'm looking into buying one of the new 4 door Jeep Wranglers. Does anyone here own one? If so my question is how are you transporting your fishing poles? Do they fit easily with the seats down? Right now I own a Mustang and fitting my poles is the worst. I have to fold down the seats and the poles still reach all the way up to my center console. :-/

Two years ago for me. I always enjoyed fishing but never really knew what I was doing. Then two years ago I decided I finally had some more free time to really dedicate myself to a new hobby. I jumped on this and some other forums and learned as much as I could. Then last year I joined a bass club and fished my first tournament. I've been hooked ever since. Although its frustrating at times being a newbie angler and seeing other guys catching so much while I still have a tough time I realize that I'm just in the beginning of the learning curve and I enjoy the challenge and the constant learning process.

True, I just feel a little more confident throwing that type of lure when I have my boat so I can go in and get it when they get hooked on sticks and other cover.

I hear ya. I'm just a little wary of throwing anything with exposed hooks from the shore. Lots of laid down trees along this particular shoreline and I've already lost two jigs in the past week. Gunna save the cranks for when I have my boat out on the water.

Well I give up...water just must be too cold right now. I fished about 400' worth of shoreline for just under three hours and not even so much as a bite. Fished two different colored Senkos for the first hour and a half, then tried a twin tailed hula grub for a while and then back to the Senkos. Everything I used I fished very SLOW. The water was extremely clear and very cold to the touch (I didn't have a thermometer with me). I watched the shoreline closely the whole way and didn't even see one fish of any size. Oh well...I'll just have to give the water a week or two to start warming up a bit more.

I used Google for a while but recently I've found that Microsoft provides much more detailed and more recent satellite imagery on their "live" platform. You can zoom in further too. Try it out: http://maps.live.com/ Surprisingly big improvement over Google's maps. I checked out my local reservoir and could actually zoom in so close you can see some large rocks 3' under the water! Amazing detail overall.

That is exactly the issue I've had many times while fishing light plastics in the wind. The wind tugs so hard on my line that it causes the bait to be pulled heavily in the direction of the wind rather than sinking the way it should. Completely changes the action of the lure >. Your split shot suggestion is a good idea though. I'll have to give that a try next time I'm in a windy situation like that.

I'm going to give it another shot after work today. Yesterday was the first day this year that the air temperature reached into the 60's. Today is supposed to be about that warm as well. We'll see if that changes how they react. I left most of my poles at home this time and I'm only bringing two light spinning rods with me and a bunch of soft plastics. I think part of my problem was changing my techniques too often and throwing too many different things without giving any one method a real chance. I'll let you all know how it goes when I get back.

I fish the hula grub t-rigged and weightless around heavy vegetation and on a jig head in areas with less cover. I've had more success with it on the jig head though. For my actual method, I fish it a lot like a Senko. Just let it sink, bring it back up and let it sink again. I've had my most success with smallies using that particular lure/method than anything else to date.

Thanks for the tips guys. I ordered a pack of the Yamamoto Kreature baits last night. Can't wait to give them a whirl. P.S. Sorry RW, I see you already answered my last post before I deleted it. I didn't want to duplicate info and I went back and re-read that whole thread you sent me above and it answered my rigging question. Thanks again for the info though.

I should give a kreature bait a shot. That's one thing I haven't tried there. The only other problem is that this is a particularly windy lake. The other day fishing from the shore I got hit with tons of wind in my face making fishing anything weightless virtually impossible. I guess in that case my only real option would be a jig of some sort.

Haha very true. I hate not having my boat. Had to climb out on a fallen tree the other day to retrieve a jig that had gotten stuck on a stump >. Follow up question though...do you think a spinnerbait would be to quick of a presentation for water that cold? Obviously you have to retrieve it fairly quickly just to keep it off the bottom.

Until I get a chance to get my jon boat back out in a week or two I'll have to fish the local reservoir from the shore. The water here in southern NY is still very cold (approx 43*-47*). What would you guys recommend as far as lure/presentation goes? I've tried a jig without too much luck but the 1/2 oz I've been using might be a little too big this early in the season. Any suggestions? BTW, as far as the reservoir itself goes, it's not extremely large, the whole thing is weedy come summer time and it's only about 12' deep at its deepest point. The shoreline I am fishing is about 1/8 mile long and has mostly fallen trees as cover.

For everyone in the Orange County, NY and surrounding area I just wanted to let you know about a new bass fishing club. They just formed last year and I joined up this year. It's called Tossemback Bassmasters and no the name does not imply that we do a lot of drinking out on the water ;D. It's not a very large group yet but overall a great group of guys. We do about 8-10 tournaments a year and they are all held on local NY lakes. The group is very laid back and as a non boater I must say they are all very welcoming and I've been very happy with the club so far. The club is not to competitive, in fact we have already run a number of paper tournaments on the honor system. As someone who is new to fishing that is why I joined the club. I've found it's a good place to learn. Anyway, the club is looking to expand so I figured I would put the word out. Anyone who would like more information PM me.

I've got a chartreuse and a white spinnerbait. I haven't had any luck with the white yet but I'll keep trying. On the chartreuse I've caught just mostly pickerel. In fact there are so many pickerel in that lake I almost wonder if it's hurting the bass population. In any case I think what I really need to find is a weedless topwater lure that floats even with a hook in it. It seems as though anything that sinks even a few inches gets wrapped up in all the weeds. I need to find something that will just skip right over top of them.