Joel W

The closest to a true parabolic rod that I use is my crankbait rod. It's rated as a Med Med action. Seems to bend from right around the middle of the rod. Really very whippy. And that what makes it cast a crank a mile, yet work as a shock absorber to reduce the amount of excess vibration from the Crank.

of all the Saturday morning Versus Freshwater fishing shows, Bill Dance's are consistantly the most informative outside of Bass Pros. Dance's show on secondary points was one of the best shows I've ever seen period.

Baby Brush hogs are a great bait for C-rigging. I use to use them for pitching soft wt'd plastics but now I'm on a Ugly Otter kick.

shaky head fishing I always skin hook the hook. To set the hook I point the rod tip towards the fish and reel in, when the line is tight I just raise the rod tip firmly. Never do I use a big hook set like with a jig. For Drop Shotting I'm using a Gami Drop Shot hook and I just reel in the slack. The Fish generally hook themselves, but to be on the safe side, I do a quick raising of the rod. I hardly ever loose a fish with either presentation.

How long have you been Bass Fishing? Only the newest of newbies wouldn't know or understand the relationship of water temp to a Bass's behavior patterns. Many times a degree or two difference in water temps will led you to where the active Bass are.

Mostly black and blue, but green & brown works pretty good in stained water up here. As for jigging laydown trees, I pitch around the outer edges then slowly move my rowboat right up against the tree so that I came vertical fish my jigs down. Makes a big difference in how many times one gets hung up and looses a jig. I can also apply a lot more action to the jig before reeling it in.

That's jig city for me. I'd pitch a jig into every nook and cranny. Even bring the boat up real close and vertical drop my jig down some of those inner holes.

Just spent some time checking his site out. Several of the videos are from the Bass Pros tv series. Really some good stuff.

have fun guys, and tight lines to all. Maybe one day I'll be able to make it out with you guys, but it's a long way from LI NY.

Wow! You're the 2nd guy to mention bringing Bananas. Just try that with any of my reservoir friends, and your bananas go over board pronto. ;D

While I haven't tested out the Sufix Braid yet, it's a 6 strand line compared to Power Pro which is a 4 strand line. So each strand has a smaller dia, which should make it easier to cut through each strand as the line is dragged over rocks, wood, etc. The plus side is that it makes the line more circular rather then oblong like PP is. It's also a lot quieter going through the rod guides. Some of my friends who have been using it also said that tip wrap became a issue of the past. And that's one thing I truly hate about Power Pro.

I was referring to the cost of a complete baitcasting setup. There is quite a selection at that price range from both BPS & Cabela's. A 6'6" or 7" M fast action with a 6.3 to 1 gear ratio reel will cover most bases for now.

I've known Mike D for years through my association with NY BASS.com that he is a partner in. Mike is a great guy, and just one of your regular, every day fisherman. Lunkerville is his creation which is all about real fishing with real people. Not about pros spending days fishing a lake, and then editing it so that it appears to be non-stop fishing. Mike doesn't go fishing with 20 setups, it's more like just 3. And he's most comfortable fishing the Magic Senko. What Mike brings to the 'table" is a real personality, and deep caring for his friends that he features on his show.

Whatever you do, don't buy a cheap-o baitcaster setup. You'll be creating all sorts of problems for yourself. Go with a decent baitcaster setup which will run you about $150 from BPS or Cabela's. It's money well spent. Also spool up with 14 lb Mono to learn with.

I think you're referring to the use of a mono backing which not only prevents the braid from slipping on the spool, but takes up useless room on the spool that you'll never get down to. I'm able to get two spoolings from a single spool of Power Pro this way. I use the cheapest Andies Mono line I can find, and try to keep the dia. of both lines as close as I can.

A 10 or 12 lb flouro leader won't diminish the sensitivity that the braid transmits to your fingers. I fish PP on all my baitcasters. Since braid isn't very abrasive resistant, I tie on a 4-6 ft leader to prevent the line from being cut when I'm fishing wood, rocks, walls, etc.

Great choice. When I finally got a specialized setup for Crankbaits it was like a whole new world opened up. For one thing, the medium action tip really absorbed a lot of the excess vibration from crankbaits that just wore my wrist out.

My son is real fond of telling me that the Bass don't read the books nor watch the videos. Only us fishermen do. There are times when I think that I've got too much "fire power" at my disposal. Find the Bass, and 9 times out of 10 my usual 3 or 4 go to presentations/lures will put 'em in the boat. I'll be the 1st one to admit that I switch presentations and lures way too often. The bottom line is that the fish really don't care, we do.

I'm surprised that so many actually drink beer while out on their boats whether fishing or not. I've always reserved my "cold one" for after a day on the water. Just too many boating accidents up here including the NYC reservoirs in rowboats that were directly related to beer drinking. :-/

I've also used black & black flake at times with success, but have never thought about using a black crankbait, lipless crankbait, or spinnerbait for contrast in stained water. I've always reserved black for night fishing. Has anyone tried this with or without success in stained water conditions ? The more I think about it, the more it does make a lot of sense.

I watched his short video a few times, and I have to admit that some of the LM I've caught isn't any bigger then his Trout Swimbait. ;D ;D

I fish the Rat-L-Trap in the same manner.

I use Megastrike on all my jigs except hair jigs. I never bother with any scent on Spinnerbaits or any reaction type lure.

For clear water I prefer neutral colors. For stained water I go with Chartreuse and Orange. Got to give the Bass plenty of contrast to make it easier to see your lures

Once the water temps warm up to the low-mid 40's I'm throwing hard & soft jerkbaits, Rattletraps, and crankbaits. I'm targeting the shallows with direct access to deeper water as well as rock walls.