IndianaFinesse

You can use spinning gear for everything if you want to, but that doesn't mean it is always the best choice. An example would be throwing buzzbaits, a spinning reel throws slack in the line during the cast, which allows the buzzbait to momentarily sink. This means it takes several feet of retrieve to get it back on the surface, and those first few wasted feet can be vital. On the other hand, casting reels keep the line tight for the entire cast, so the buzzbait can be retrieved across the surface of the water as soon as it touches down.

An ugly stick is the most durable rod on the market.. Probably isn't what your looking for though.

If someone says something about fishing, I can garruntee you that someone, somewhere disagrees with it. There are just so many variables in fishing that make it impossible to measure and account for each one, so many people falsely jump to conclusions on subjects based in their experiences.

All of the political commercials were lame. They were so "politically correct" (aka "politically wrong") that it ruined the whole commercial.

Try the yum crawbug for the crawfish imitation. Besides that a small mepps or roostertail, a tiny pop-r, and a small tube like a bitsy craw or zman tubez would be good additions for stream fishing. Oh, and a tiny crank like a bitsy crank or rebel hopper can be great in small streams to.

Thanks, know anything about fat raps? I just realized I found a couple of them to (the deep diving model, they look like 20 foot divers) Sounds like I'm set on deep crankbaits, without ever having to buy a single one.

Are the risto raps any good? Cause I've found a couple and never realized what they were until seeing cgolfs picture. I also found a few rapala labeled down deep on the bill, and I don't think those are being manufactured any more. They're cranks, not the down deep jerkbaits. Were they actually called "down deep", or what were they called?

Like people in India who believe in reincarnation, and you wouldn't want to eat uncle Steve, would you? No matter how good a nice, juicy steak sounds when you're starving to death. I don't feel bad at all about eating bass, I just prefer the taste of other fish.

I don't care for bass, its not horrible but I would much rather eat crappie. If I catch a gut hooked bass (a rarity) I clean it and give it to a couple of elderly neighbors that love to eat fish. Sometimes I'll keep a few dinks for them anyways, the lake won't be damaged and may be helped by removing a few buck bass once in a while, and they love to eat bass. On a side note, a good way to make an agreement with the owner of a private pond or lake is to agree to give him some fish that you catch at his pond in return for access to it.

Imo, the only mildly funny commercial was the skittles one. The commercial where the kid was throwing skittles at a girls open window and the family lined up to eat them. And even that one was kind of lame.

There really wasn't any funny commercials, the only thing even somewhat close was the skittles commercial. Glad I'm not a falcons fan, I would be pretty frustrated with their fourth quarter playing. I mean really, how can you lose when your up 28-3 at the half?

Sounds like a plan for when you guys meet up this year. That would make an interesting ultimate match fishing competition with the MLF format, Jacob Wheeler versus Brian.

I don't know... I've been asked that question before and have yet to come up with a good answer. I just do, but part of it is being outdoors. There is more to it than that, otherwise simply hiking in the woods could replace fishing, and it doesn't. I might not know why, but I sure do love fishing for whatever reason.

Off topic, but has anyone on MLF tryed using Midwest finesse tactics in the tournaments? Seems like 40+ bass would win the thing, and a lot of the skilled Midwest finesse guys can do that easily.

Got out for two hours of fishing before the extremely exciting Superbowl. 90% of the lake is still frozen over, including the ramp, so we launched the boat into the ice. As in backed the trailer down into the ice, had to pull the trailer out from underneath the boat so it could get turned around to plow threw the ice. Had a couple very amused spectators that pulled into the marina parking lot to watch, they thought it was pretty funny to watch us launch our boat into a frozen lake. Probably thought we were insane. Found some open water near the dam and started off fishing there, I was wanting to get off the shore to start making a map but that was the only part of the lake that was open. Only picked up one dink along the whole face of the dam, so I decided to try where they were a few weeks ago. Problem was, that area was frozen over. So I broke through the ice to get there and to make enough space between ice chunks to drop a line through, and made a huge amount of noise getting there while acting as an ice breaker. We were literally jigging in the space between broken ice chunks, in a boat surrounded by ice on all sides, after making enough noise to wake the dead getting there. Surprisingly the fish came back, and ended up catching 8 bluegill and two bass on ice jigs tied onto ice rods. Couldn't have used full sized rods if we wanted to, the only place we could fish was right next to the boat between chunks of ice. It was nice to go fishing after two weeks of being unable to, and it was pretty crazy fishing in a boat on ice, fishing in a hole that we made in the ice, using ice fishing equipment. It was practically ice fishing, except more challenging.

#5 on The list, "Thou shalt not steal catch and greases jokes". Jk of course.

Same here, but I want the patriots to lose even more than I want to see the falcons to lose.

He said he's in high school in the other thread, and in this thread he said that he had the dough to buy himself a bass boat, and he said he can't drive, his dad can't drive, and his mom doesn't want to drive it in this thread. But I'm not sure how we could help, sounds like he either has to convince his mom to drive it and find a place to store it, buy a smaller vessel, or simply walk to the nearest pond until he can drive himself and his shiny new bass boat to the lake.

I will literally hit them on the head with a jig or something as a last-ditch attempt for a spawning bass. I figure it only gives them two options, run away or attack the offending lure. But I won't do that until I'm about to give up on her anyways, cause half the time they panick and leave.

I do occasionally, but I won't give the jig much time unless I know there is still fish there. Half of the time the bass initially caught will spook the rest of them, but sometimes you can work over the same group of fish with a different presentation and catch the bass that were not vulnerable to the first one.

First off, I would throw a silver buddy (and a small bucktail jig and the Ned rig) into the mix also, the blade for late winter/early spring after ice out in water less than 50 degrees. Use it over clean bottom areas when the water has at least two feet of visibility. Lift it up off the bottom just enough to feel it vibrate, then let it deadstick for 1-6 seconds on the bottom. Jigs are good prespawn baits, especially when its muddy or the bass are in wood or young weeds. They're better in the 50 degree plus range, but can be used in colder water also. Suspending jerkbaits are best in clear water with at least two feet of visibility, and I usually use them up until the water hits the low fifty's. They do work in warmer water also, but I typically prefer to use other baits such as crankbaits instead. Two (or three) slack line twitches followed by a 1-8 second pause, but sometimes they want a small, slow pull instead of a jerk if they're really inactive. Lipless crankbaits are good from 50 degrees on up, but I usually swap a silver buddy out off them in water less than 50 degrees. Crankbaits (don't limit yourself just to squarebills, shad raps are killer in cold water) are good whenever the bass are active and willing to chase. Usually the best retrieve is as slow as possible, but occasionally they like a faster retrieve. I use them in water 45-50 degrees and up, but the squarebills don't get used until 50-55 degrees and up. Haven't done much swimbait fishing in the pre spawn period, I typically use them more in the post spawn. The Ned rig (usually half of a zinkerz on a 1/16 ounce mushroom head) is tied on every time I go out year round, regardless of the water temperature. It gets a lot of use in the pre spawn and spawn, I start using it as soon as the ice comes off in the spring and don't put it away until ice up the following winter. Best in less than 10 feet of water that has a slight stain to it. Retrieve is usually either the swim glide and shake, or the drag and deadstick. Bucktail jigs (usually 1/8 ounce) are great from ice out till around 45-50 degrees. Work them slow on the bottom, sometimes hopping it or slowly swimming it. Anything that makes it look alive could possibly work, as long as its slow.

Yes, it will work for 3/8 ounce frogs. Those are simply suggestions by the manufacturer, not hard and fast rules. Unless you're throwing into some really nasty stuff you could get by with a 7' medium heavy, the heavy's are only necessary for use in extremely thick vegetation, and around here there isn't much of that.

Despite being advertised as a floating worm, the trick worm does not float. It is still one of my favorite baits for shaky heads, whether it floats or not is unimportant. The fish don't care.

@Catch and Grease is going to file for copy right infringement...

Can't comment on nanofiliment, all of the bad reviews kept me away from it. But I have used Gliss. I've been using it for over a year now and the casting distance is amazing! It throws lite little Ned rigs easily fourty to fifty feet farther than other braids, and I have had no problems with knot strength or abrasion resistance. The only thing bad about it is that after around six months of heavy use it sort of unravels and gets kind of poofy. For spinning reels this is my favorite line, but I do not recommend it for casting gear (its so thin that it tends to dig in, plus the casting distamce isn't much farther than with regular braid) or you're fishing around pike and heavy cover.