IndianaFinesse

Before i started pouring my own jig heads, I used to order all of my Ned heads from them. Good prices and good hook and head options, but they are not a huge company that hires technological geniuses. Never had them screw anything up, usually received my order within a week or two.

Neither, it would be a cut down senko on a shaky head jig.

Blue fox flash spinner, in something close to white with a little blue or chartreuse or something. Caught hundreds of white bass and largemouth on a 1/8 ounce blue fox spinner last year, and I expect a few hundred more to come later this spring during the white bass run.

I agree with swbass15 on the steep dropping shoreline on the top right, the area where the deep hole cuts closest to the shoreline will be a good spot to try during the winter. Once the water starts warming up, find some areas protected from the wind with a hard sandy or pebbly bottom, look for them to stage on drop lines nearby and eventually spawn there. With the water clarity on the muddy side like you mentioned I would try half of a zinkerz on a 1/16 ounce mushroom head, aka Ned rig, fished slowly near the bottom.

Water temperature has dropped seven degrees in the last two days, bringing the temperature down to 46. I surprisingly caught fifteen bass in a little over two hours yesterday, despite the massive cold front. Found them on deep docks and the eight to ten foot drop about fifty feet off of several points, hugging brush piles in the break line. All of the bass hit a 3/32 ounce jig with half of a zinkerz, I tried a jig to reduce hang ups in the brush but they wouldn't take it.

Suspending jerkbaits, jigs, Rattletrap's, ned rig, chatterbait or swim jig, trick worm, and in the late prespawn either a frog, spook, or popper. Recently in the very early prespawn/late winter I've been doing well with the vision 110, baby boo jig, and ned rig.

Senko and ned rig.

I've tried similar rigs before, and I came to the conclusion that it causes ore problems than it solves. First off, unsteady of only losing one lure when you hang up, you will lose two. Then you have to decide weather you're working the jig or the drop shot, or some combination. Then if you do get a bite, are you going to set the hook the way you would with the drop shot or should you use a jig hookset? For me its more trouble than its worth, i just have a jig and a drop shot tied on separate rods.

Next up on the fantasy schedule is the classic.

Hey @Senko lover, did the website glitch and delete your Okeechobee's score, or is it just my computer? BTW, I dropped from fifth place to 27th, in the event that I actually thought I was going to do well in.

I agree with smokinal on the braid. It well help improve your hooking percentage, the stretchy mono you are currently using is likely the cause of your problem. It will also help detect bites and make it easier to cast/retrieve. Choose whichever color braid you are confident in, some people prefer high vis colored braid and some prefer green or smoke color. Stay under ten pound test braid, more than that is overkill (braid typically breaks at about twice the advertised strength) and will reduce casting distance. I use the litest braid I can find, usually between 5 and 8 pound test.

Shaky heads are generally better in tournament situations, and shaky heads can effectively fish deeper water. Shaky heads are also a better choice when fishing around more cover, as the bait is usually tex-posed and somewhat weedless. The Ned rig is better for sheer numbers of fish, less cover, shallower water, and arguably can be fished in colder water. The Ned rig is a small soft plastic bait under four inches long(usually from zman because of the extra durability and softness) attached to a mushroom jig head weighing either 1/32 oz, 1/16 oz, or 3/32 oz, with hook between the sizes of #6 and #2. The most versatile and popular combination is half of a zinkerz on a 1/16 ounce head. The shaky head is a soft plastic bait usually four inches or longer on a shaky head jig, which often has a screw type bait holder attached to the head in such a way to allow easy texposing or Texas rigging. The hook is much larger, roughly between the sizes of 3/0 and 6/0, and the jig head can weigh anywhere between 1/16 ounce and over half of an ounce, with the most popular weight being 1/8 ounce. Both rigs have there strengths and weaknesses, so it is best to utilize both of them, and the conditions (and a bit of personal preference) dictates which rig is the best choice.

Late afternoon and evening when the water temperature is at its highest (this time of year), but when it warms up in the summer i prefer dawn.

What's your favorite cranks for targeting fish in the 8-12 foot range?

I've only got one inside the cut. 39th, 61st, 82nd, 92nd, and 102. I really thought terry Scroggins was a safe pick, and he ended up in 102nd place.

Some of my guys could definitely come back with a little luck, but this statement includes almost half my team.

Water temperature is up to 53 degrees in the coves today, and the fish were up shallow and feeding actively. I even caught one on a topwater popper today, and had 24 other bass to go along with it in four hours of fishing. Caught a few of the better sized fish on a paddle tail swim bait, a couple on a crankbait, a few on finesse jigs, and the rest on half of a zinkerz. Some of the bass were on the main lake, but the majority had moved up into the coves. The water temperature is five degrees warmer in the coves which probably helped draw them into them. It was cool to be able to catch bass on topwater in February, I just tied one on for the heck of it, and was pleasantly surprised when a bass nailed it around sunset.

This is the worst set of picks I have ever had, my 94 percentile rating dropped to only 45 percentile. And its going to keep getting worse for me, I have zero people in the top fifty. None. They're all going to have to catch a limit of 6 pounders tomorrow just to make the cut.

You should be fine using spinnerbaits right now, heck I caught them on a pop-r in 50 degree water today.

Bet your team is still doing better than mine, I would have been better off by randomly picking five guys for my team. A lot of the highly picked guys are doing poorly, which works out OK for me cause I didn't pick any of them, but I still only have skeet Reese in the top fifty.

I hope so, cause I've only got one guy in the top 50 right now.

Here's the worlds riskiest set of picks: A, Jacob Wheeler (13.0% owned) cause that man is on a roll and his record on Okeechobee (in the flw) rivals Tharp's. Almost picked, Randall Tharp obviously. B, Terry Scroggins (11.5% owned) cause he can flip and pitch, plus sight fish (for what its worth in that mud) and he has a solid record on Okeechobee. Almost picked Todd faircloth. C, Jacob Powriznick (3.7% owned), cause he can flip and pitch weeds and he has a decent record on Okeechobee. Almost picked, Ish Monroe. D, Stetson Baylock (4.8% owned) cause he can flip and pitch, and he has a good record on Okeechobee. Almost picked, Koby Krieger cause its his home lake. I went with blaylock cause he has a slightly better record. E, Skeet Reese (7.0% owned), he is a flipper and pitcher, but I was so close to picking Drew Benton. I had Drew up until last night when I couldn't decide between them, so I literally flipped a coin and it landed on Skeet. I'm probably going to regret it, but I purposefully decided to avoid highly picked guys and swung for the fences instead. My highest picked guy had a whopping 13% ownership. I'm interested to see if BMAC and senkolover chose similar guys.

Took advantage of this warm weather this afternoon before the cold front comes threw this Saturday. Caught 17 bass, some on steep dropping shorelines, some on main lake shores and docks, a few of a deep brush pile, and some scattered throughout coves. About a dozen of them hit the Ned rig, and all but one of the others (got him on the pointer 65) were caught on a baby boo jig. Water temperature's about 48-49 degrees on the main lake and up to 52 degrees in the coves.

Off of points and on break lines between shallow and deep water, just dropping them on a wide open flat will not be effective (at least for bass). It has to be connected to deep water and shallow water in some way, by a series of brush piles, a break line, rock piles, etc. in some combination. The fish aren't going to go to a brush pile all by itself, they are just going to use the breaks that lead completely to the shallows and that go all the way to the deepest water in the area. So say you have some nice structure leading off of a point toward deep water, but the last break before the deep water is to far away for the bass to use it. Dropping a brush pile between the last break and the deep water drop off could make the fish recognize it as a path to and from deep water, after a little bit of time.

Usually you're allowed to take as much out of a lake as you want (within reason) but aren't technically allowed to put anything in without a permit or something, I believe. I could be wrong on that so don't take my word for it. But it doesn't stop very many anglers from planting rock piles and what not, and I may or may not have planted a few artificial bushes and small rock piles. Thinking about planting a few more now that I better understand where best to place them.