Joel W

I really like to pitch either a 3/8 oz wt'd curly tail worm tx rigged or a Baby brush Hog. Going to go with the Ugly Otter by Gambler as my primary pitching plastic this coming year as I've heard only good things about it.

I just tried the search function in the upper right hand corner and it worked just fine. It's the search tab that doesn't work.

I just tested the search function myself as I haven't used it since the upgrade. I ran a search for "Drop Shot" and one for "Row Boats" both came came with zero results. Now I know that there are current posts on Drop Shots, so there is still something wrong with the search function.

Always with a leader. There in lies my problem. The knot going through the guide. Maybe it's just me. Has anyone broken a insert due to a knot bieng casted through it?

Jim, The Alberto knot is a modified Albright with twice the amount of line used to make the knot. The Albright know I tie is small, and I stopped using glue because it made the knot brittle which gave me even more concerns about it damaging or breaking the insert. I've never had a Albright knot fail. But I can still feel it going through the guide. Since I fish mostly in shallow water to no more then 20 FOW, line stretch really isn't a major issue. Last year I used 8 lb Sufix Elite on my spinning reels for drop shotting and finesse presentations. I used 30 lb Power Pro on all my baitcasters. This year I'm planning on going with Pline CXXX copoly instead of the Elite. I'm honestly not sure what I'm going with on my baitcasters yet except for my jigging setup which will still be spooled with 30 lb Power Pro.

I used Power Pro with a Albright knot to a 4ft drop shot leader. I just don't like the feeling of the knot going through the tip guide. Now I've never broken a guide, but I'm just not comfortable with it, so I stopped using braid for any finesse presentations.

Early spring I like throwing a #8 X Rap in real shallow water, once I move out to water deeper then 6-8 ft I switch over to #10 X Rap.

I've cleared my cache over and over, it still didn't make any difference. It works using the IE tab, and since it's a feature of Firefox which I need for a few medical sites, I'm fine with it.

I still can't get the forums to load correctly using Firefox, so I just use the IE site switch for the forums. Now everything is working just fine.

Been using Google Earth for some time now. It's a great tool for me to actually find local dirt roads that don't always show up on a map, and the zoom feature does allow more detailed views of the bodies of water I fish.

Lunkerville has been my favorite fishing show since it's 1st episode. I've been extremely fortunate to know Mike D personally through his involvement as a co-owner of NY BASS.com. Lunkerville's focus on us everyday real fishermen is what it's all about. As for having Pat X on for his 3rd show, I can't wait. I was lucky enough to go Smallie fishing with Pat and John on Mahopac last year. We had a blast and put some 30 SM in the boat.

1st I thought that the fish would expire from a needless long fight, but that was nothing compared to how long they kept it out of the water while holding it and even fighting over it at times. I was relieved when it finally was back in the water and swam away.

I fish from a rowboat (NYC reservoir rules), so high winds will keep us off the water. Other then the wind, no wind coupled with blue bird skies and 90 degrees temps make for a real slow day. But the absolute worst set of conditions is a over cast day, with light winds and you're stuck at work.

Excellent article. Thanks for sharing. The article sure helped to prove the point that fishermen who thought that they avoided fishing bedding fish by fishing deep in water down to 20 ft, were still fishing spawning Bass. They just couldn't see them or the beds.

There is a big difference between using a mouse and a shiner. The mouse feels pain, the shiner doesn't. To me Bass fishing is all about using artificial lures into tricking a Bass into striking. Granted, one has to find the active fish which is usually the hardest part of the equation.

For finesse applications I strictly use spinning reels spooled with either 8 or 8 lb test line, and M or ML rods 6'6" rods.

I'm not a Tx guy. I fish for the fun of it. So I guess for me I rather have nearly constant action then go hours on end either before or after I catch that Lunker. For me Dinks usually are between 1-2 lbs, so they put up a pretty decent fight on light tackle.

With water temps in the 60's you really need to slow down and down size some. If the water is really clear, you could be spooking them if you're to close. Over the weeds I would try a Super Fluke worked with long pauses. 1/4-3/8 oz jigs, and maybe a hula grub or 4 inch grub along the weed edge.

My fishing season runs from the 1st weekend in April to the last weekend in Nov. as NYC reservoirs are closed to boats during the winter months. Dec and Jan are 6 day work weeks, so the 7th day per week is dedicated to home projects that were put on the back burner, or not finished during the fishing season. Then there is a Feb NY BASS seminar, a March trip to sunny Florida for a weeks fishing and visiting with the family who has already retired to the sunny south. Years past the bait monkey was a major player. Now I've got my list almost done of what I need to replace, what I want to try (and what they will replace in my tackle bag), and what reels and rods I need to add and or replace as well. I make one trip to Cabela's, place my mail orders to some other companies I do business with. Clean and tune up all my reels. Wash, clean, and polish my rods. Change hooks as needs, organize my tackle bag removing what I haven't really used or needed, etc. What time I have left I spend on my winter hobby of painting military and fantasy figures. I also like to play Civilization IV on my computer. I'm planning on finally starting my DVD fishing collection with a few titles. And before I know it, it's April and it's time to go fishing again.

Due to work and family, my fishing time is limited to just once per week. 90% of the time that's on a Sunday. I meet my fishing partner a good 30 min before 1st light to get one of our rowboats in the water and loaded up with all our gear, and we're fishing by 1st light. Without any traffic the drive is between 1 hour 15 min to 1 hour 30 min. Going home with traffic can and has added as much as an extra hour or so. We fish a min of 6-8 hours per outing.

1st. Are you finding active fish? It really doesn't matter what lure you're using if you're not on active fish. The last few times out I've had 62-64 degree water temps. LMs were relating to outside weed lines in no more then 8 FOW. Boated most of my LMs with 1/8 & 1/4 oz jigs with a trailer made by cutting a Kut tail worm in half. Pitched it to weed line and worked it back to the boat very slowly with long pauses. Most of the strikes came as soon as I started to move the jig again.

I cast my drop shot rig nearly all the time, especially along a weed line. I also use a swivel to attach my pre-made drop shot rigs. I usually have 6 extra ones ready to go, which I keep in their own little zip lock bag that I've saved from snaps, barrel wts, etc. When not using my Drop Shot rig, I slip a plastic baggie tie through the hook holder which now does double duty of securing the hook and keeping the wt up and out of the way. Works perfectly every time.

In season I rather use 'em the shop for them. But come the dead of winter, I love nothing more then shopping online or taking a day trip to Cabela's or BPS and buying till I drop.

I love to pitch Zoom Baby Brush Hogs into weed holes. I tx-posed them on a Hookerz 5/0 pitching hook with a 1/4-1/2 bullet weight.

Being basically lazy I wacky rig a 4 & 5 inch Stickbait on a 1/0 EWG hook and almost never miss a fish. This gives me the option of tx posing the stickbait if needed without having to cut off and retie. If you dropped all the fish, then is always the possibility that the fish were panfish or even Perch. Many times I get that tap, tap, tap, with no hookup or a weak hookup that results in a missed fish. They're always panfish when we see them.