Joel W

Nice day out on the water. It just doesn't get much better then that.

You need to use a Palomar knot as others have said. The correct way to tie it it to pass the tag end through the hook eye from the front (point facing you). After you tie the knot you then need to pass the tag end through the front of the hook eye a 2nd time. This will cause the hook point to face up, allowing your choice of plastic bait to be rigged correctly so it stands straight out.

I love fishing Super Flukes. when I need a shallow running jerkbait. Fished weightless, it stays within a ft of the surface. When I need to get it a little deeper, I use a 1/8 oz split shot crimped about a foot up the line. I've also tried crimping the split shot on the hook shank (EWG 3/0 hook) but I like the action better when it's on the line. As for line, I've changed my whole approach this year, and I've gone with #10 Braid with a 4 ft #8 mono leader on a quality spinning reel. Right now I'm still using one of my Shimano 2500 Stradics. I prefer a 6'6" rod rated 6-12 lb test and a fast tip. Favorite colors are white & Pearl.

Glen, Excellent updates to the forums. I'm a member of a few other Bass fishing forums, and post counts have always been a sore point that rears it's ugly head every so often for many of the reasons you've mentioned. The ability to see post counts by viewing the persons or your own profile is there for those who need to know.

No Way !! I haven't had a cigarette in more then 15 years, and I only occasionally drink beer. I have strong feelings that it doesn't belong on any boat, let alone a fishing boat, where ones senses needs to be as sharp as possible both for finding and catching Bass, and for the safety of all concerned. Beer, and for that matter any alcohol is best left for after ones day on the water.

The other day I fished one of the NYC reservoirs and the bottom just dropped out of the night time temps. I got on the water at 7am and the air temps were just 33 degrees. Water temps were nearly 7 degrees cooler then the previous week @ 54 degrees. I only boated 2 SM both on 4 inch tubes in 4-8 FOW, and I found 4 decent LM's to 3 1/2 lbs on the inside weed line on a Rapala DT-10 Crankbait bounced along on the bottom. Now my numbers sure weren't anything to write home about, as my friends killed 'em a few days before with much warmer temps. But still I boated some quality Bass, and it sure beats working. The bottom line is that I fish when I can, which is generally once per week, so I can't really pick and choose when I'm going to get out. The only times I opt to stay home is when there are active Thunder storms, and or the wind is just making it impossible to fish safely. Remember, NYC only allows rowboats, no trolling motors. We control our boats by oar power, drift socks, and the use of anchors.

1st let me say that I fish the NYC reservoirs. We're only allowed to fish from 12-16ft rowboats, oars only. No trolling motors. So I row great distances. The wind is my biggest pain in the butt. Boat control/positioning can be anything from a pain to just plain impossible. Even getting from one spot to another may be out of the question. Even getting back to your assigned boat section may be out of the question if you don't keep one eye out on the weather at all times.

Search baits are hard and soft Jerkbaits, &Spinnerbaits. During the spawn I love 4 inch tubes, Hula Grubs, 4 inch stickbaits, and 4 inch Ulgy Otters.

Wow ! Talk about a loaded question. Jerkbaits I use a spinning setup spooled with 10 lb Power Pro and a 12 lb leader. Tubes, Grubs, Hula Grubs, and 4 inch stickbaits I also use a spinning setup spooled with 8 lb Sufix Elite clear. Spinnerbaits on a Baitcaster with 30 lb Power Pro, no leader but colored black with a permanent magic marker. Crankbaits, on a baitcaster spooled with 30 lb Power Pro and a 12 lb leader. Wt'd plastics on a baitcaster spooled with 30 lb Power Pro and a 12 lb leader.

Given the choice I always opt to wacky rig. For starters the unweighted fall is horizontal, and just drivers the Bass crazy. I also wacky rig to skip a 4 or 5 inch stickbait under brush and or overhangs. (No docks on the NYC reservoirs).

Thanks Glenn. Another excellent interview. Keep 'em coming.

A Senko stickbait has it's time and place in ones fishing arsenal, but it's by no means a lure that should be used to the extent that you're going to be using it for. It's a great bait for shallow fishing as it's usually rigged weightless. Wacky rigged it's a killer bait for skipping under brush, docks, etc. There are so many other types and kinds of plastics that lend themselves much better to being fished wt'd either deep or into weeds then a Senko. My advice is to spend your time learning to fish a Stickbait on spinning gear, weightless, and shallow.

Since I fish the NYC reservoir system with boats on 3 reservoirs, I'm pretty much locked in to my 3 hour weekly round trip. My "partner in crime" lives a lot closer, but not anywhere near enough to my driving route where we could meet and drive up together. As for work, that's a min of 45 min each way depending on the traffic, and there's plenty of it on the LIE. Right now we still making ends meet, but with $4/gal right around the corner and no end in sight, late summer right through the fall season should be real interesting. And I don't even want to think about what home heating oil will be costing come the fall.

If I'm noise hooking the Super Fluke, I really like to use a 1/0 EWG hook. If I'm Tx rigging it I use a 3/0 EWG hook. Never really thought about going with a EWG 5/0 Flippin' hook, but now that you brought it up, it does have a big advantage of adding just a tad more weight since I fish it weedless. Thanks for the tip.

Yes I have, but it wasn't the snaps fault. I have a real bad habit of not retying often enough, especially with a snap. And the little hook end of a snap will start to fail by increasing the angle of the bend as the pressure put on it by the pull of the fish and the lure itself is a weak point in its design. What I do is bend the hook part so the angle is less then 90 degrees, and I check it through out the day, adjusting as necessary. I also cut and throw out bent up snaps as needed, and I always replace the snap before the next trip out. As far as knots go, a Palomar knot is great simply because the line goes through the snap twice.

We seem to keep on forgetting that a Bass's brain is just the size of a pea. The don't reason, and they don't think. They react to the conditions around them driven by instinct. Color helps the Bass find the lure in stained water. In clear water some guys say to match the hatch. Others say that you need to make your lure look somewhat different so the Bass will key into it. Whether that be by looks or sound, you need to get the Bass's attention. Now the more realistic a lure swims, the easier it is to trick a Bass. But detailing it with a beautiful paint job is just a waste of time. The only thing they catch is us via the bait monkey.

I'm also a big EWG hook user, but my favorite hooks sizes are: 1/0, 3/0, and 5/0 flippin' hooks. Then again since I've become a drop shot junkie, my favorite hook of all is a #1 or 2 Gami Drop Shot hook.

the knot slipping through the opening in the hook eye has been a real pain at times, especially when I'm using 10 lb Power Pro. What I've done is just take a needle nose pliers and is squeeze the eye closed. Seems to work on the lighter hooks just fine. Never really had that problem with 30 and up lb test Braid. Although, I've worried about it from time to time.

I've only used swivels on my Drop Shot setup since I was using 8lb Sufix Elite for my main line and then tied on a drop shot rig also made out of Sufix 8 lb Elite. The whole idea of using the swivel was to help reduce line twist. But this year I'm going with 10 lb Power Pro as my main line, so I'm going to eliminate the swivel and tie on the drop shot rig with a Albright knot.

I tie directly for everything except Crankbaits as I need to change lures often. Given the option I rather tie a Palomar knot. If not, then I go with a improved Clinch knot. But check the Clinch knot often as they will slip after a while.

Love Flukes. Looks like the bait monkey has gotten me again.

Crankbaits are a reaction type bait. I rarely caught anything with them when I used to just retrieve them back to the boat. Once I learned that the real secret is to hit, bounce, crash into structure and cover. Pause for a second or two, and that's when the hits usually occur. Most of my early spring LMs have come on Crankbaits: Rapala DT-10s & 16s as I was running then into everything I could find on the bottom. As for detail paint jobs, they're for us as a selling point, the Bass just don't care. I use neutral/natural colors in clear water, and bright colors in stained water.

It's my go to bait for Shakey Head fishing.

Hi Mike. Nice to see you here on the boards.

Not yet. It's Jerkbait/jig season for me on the NYC reservoirs.