IgotWood

Wheeewwww!!! I put a beaten on em today! 3 pickerel between 24”-25” and FAT, and a few smaller ones. Had lots of short strikes and followers. Also caught 2 bass at 2lbs, and a whopper which came in at 22”, 6lbs. Wasn’t expecting much at all today. Boy was I wrong! And I’m finally catching on to this crankbait business... Poor pics. Tough to take selfies in the kayak.

Sorry for the late reply. It f has fished well any way I rig it; Texas, wack, weighted, weightless, etc. I will however, admit that it is not a cold water color for me. In on the winter time, I’ll take black/blue, or sometimes brown, or brown and orange or brown and red.

In really clear water, I like pb&j, and green pumpkin with a bit of chartreuse somewhere on it. The core shot luminous senko is killer. As is watermelon lemon laminate. Black/blue anything seems to also work very well in literally all water conditions. If fishing hard baits in clear water, I prefer white of “ghost” colors, which are generally translucent.

Thanks. What exactly would the 30 degree hook do? They seem to stay level in the water as is. And I am basically just suspending them under a float.

Late response...sorry. Basically the state of Virginia recognizes “trophy fish” and the angler is issued a certificate. The state determines the standard length of each species to be considered a citation. For pickerel, it is 24” or above.

Took Mrs fishing today. We had a really fun day. We started off trying to jig panfish. Finding them was easy, but getting them to bite was tough. We moved on and tried some different water in hopes of some bass. The water had warmed 3 degrees since I was there on Monday. We moved into a sheltered, shallow cove. I broke the ice with a 4lb’er. We caught a few pickerel. My wife caught two citations. I caught two more bass close to 2lbs each on the way back in. The fish wanted a natural colored squarebill on a slow retrieve. Lots of fun today and we Only shared the lake with some osprey and a couple of bald eagles.

Yup. Unfortunately it happens. You can remove swap the rear treble out for a single hook. I do that on my 110’s.

I have been wanting to fish Chesdin. I fish in a kayak though. I like in Yorktown. It’s a heck of a ride to go float around and talk to myself all day. If you’re interested in fishing sometime, let me know!

Darn! You reminded that I bought some directly from Owner a while back too. I have a pack is #1’s. I’ll be these jigs on them! And the barred material is rubber leg material.

For me, junebug is a color I go to when they won’t bite the usuals ie; greens and blacks. Junebug and pb&j are colors that I basically use to bail myself out of a bad day.

It’s a tungsten cone used for fly tying. And yes, this hook is ridiculously sharp! But unfortunately, it does rust very quickly. To be honest, I probably won’t buy them again once they’re gone. Maybe I’ll try one of the thin gauge Trokar hooks.

My mistake! It’s a 1/0...pardon my dislexia. I sure would like to find a 2. The cone and the fish skull actually fit over the barb. I slid them up the hook prior to tying.

Recently, the bass have been in the mood for crappie jigs. This inspired me to tie something very similar to the soft plastic bait I’ve been using, but a tad larger with a stronger hook. This is a #2 Owner deepthroat jig hook, arctic fox tail, cactus chenille, and a very sparse amount of lazer dub at the head to make the grey back, and the bleeding throat. This totes 12 wraps of .20 lead wire, and a large tungsten cone and comes in at about 1/4oz. This is thing looks great in the water. It holds its thin profile, but also has a ton of movement in the water. The bouyancy of the materials allow this jig to flutter so slowly when you jig it. The bass have certainly taken to it pretty well. I am starting to tie these up in a few different colors.

Somewhere around Newport. Probably Middletown or Portsmouth.

I prefer the floats. Leashes definitely serve their purpose, but they get in the way when trying to land fish, standing up, etc.

The moon may be more specific to the body of water, and also the season. Spring thru fall, you have all kinds of critters hatching; bugs, baitfish, leeches, etc. The moon effects reproduction cycles more than it effects the mentality of the fish. However, bass forage is likely to been feeding on the hatches, which, in turn could get the bass riled up on the forage.

Thanks a lot Odell and DogBone!! Great info!

For me, the punching rod is separate from everything else. I hate long rods on the kayak, but the reach of a longer rod is nice. I lumped fogging and pitching into the same rod for a while until I could afford another rod. With that said, all of my rods are 7’ or less, except the punch rod which I hardly ever bring out with me. They are easier to handle on the kayak. Especially when trying to land a fish. However, when I stand up, I wish I had the longer rods. I too like to stand on my yak. I’ll bend down and give the pedals a couple of strokes here and there to keep moving or to adjust my position. I do the same thing in my paddle kayak. I added a paddle clip to the bow so I can quickly and quietly snap my paddle in and out to make adjustments while standing.

Looks like I’ll be moving to RI next fall. I grew up striper fishing in New England. When I moved to VA a few years ago I sold all my striper gear to buy bass gear. Lol What kind of bass fishing opportunities are around? I mainly fish from a kayak. I’ve been spoiled down here with epic bass fishing only minutes from my house, but I am open minded and willing to put in the work on some new water.

I use the Gama 1/0 for senkos. They are very light wire, and I have very good success with them. I’m fishing 10lb braid and a flouro leader. I wouldn’t be so eager to switch hooks! Straight shank hooks are great, but I don’t think swimbaits and senkos belong on them. The baits will swim and/or fall funny. They are not meant for swimming baits. Everybody has a day like that once in a while. They break our hearts, but they also sharpen us, and keep us coming back. If you could hook that fish again, what would you try to do differently? Get a new pack of hooks and get back out there.

Makes sense! Thanks! Where do you get those jigs from? I’d like to tie some jigs up on those heads.

A-Jay, what depths are you generally fishing? My lakes are shallow generally 4-10’, and I feel like 1/2 or bigger is just too heavy. I’ve been doing ok with 1/4-3/8oz lipless baits. I’ve tried a few 1/2oz baits but they seem to get buried in the grass a lot. However, I want the larger profile sometimes. What are your thoughts?

Striper fishing on the Housatonic River in Connecticut. We were actually fishing about a boulder field about a mile outside the mouth of the river. Full blown saltwater. It was dark. I was chucking an Atom 40, which essentially is a big 8” wake bait. I hooked up. It felt really weird. It was fighting but it was really slow and sluggish. The tide was running hard and the surf was up. This fish was giving me trouble. I finally drag the fish onto the beach. It was a big channel cat about 25lbs. Cats arent entirely uncommon on the river. They’re there but only a few sharpies know where to target them. The odd thing is that this fish was caught about 10 miles from where they’re usually caught. He was on a boulder field in about 5’ of water. Strange!

Gross!!!!

I use the Boondox T-bone on my truck. But for many years, I car-topped simply with foam blocks. I think Malone makes a cheap set, which worked very well for me. As you tighten the straps, the hull squeezes right into the foam. It’s no going anywhere. And once you do it a couple times, you get pretty efficient at it and build your confidence in its ability to hold your kayak firmly. I’m a bit of a speed demon on the road so I kept the cruise control at 65 with the boat on top of the car. Never had a problem. And I’ve made many trips that were several hours one way. I’ll also add that I car-topped a Hobie for a while this way, also with no problems.