reerok

I'm a happy Ned rig user of a few years now but haven't seen this tip before. Can you elaborate on why you suggest we use braid? As an FYI, I tend to fish the Ned on a 10 lb braid main to a 8 lb Flouro leader and it has worked well so far.

The L-B-F code listed above just worked for me. Thanks guys!

I fish grubs regularly - either on mojo rig or on a small jighead. I fish a lot of stained water my preference tends towards chartreuse pearl and white colors. For smallie fishing in clean water, nothing beats a blue pearl salt & pepper color. The Kalins and Mister Twisters have been my favorites so far.

Agreed - it's on the small side. But thankfully it's only the limited field of the Classic and not the 110ish boats of a regular elite event. It will still fish small I imagine.

I bit on Scroggins too. My A and B selections were brutal. But with Hackney, Shryock, and Prince in C, D, and E I'm still happy with the result.

+1. I used to use a light wire EWG style hook (Owner J Light and others) but then this Owner Twistlock Light changed all of that. It's so easy to rig and the CPS holds the bait - never have to worry about your plastic sliding down. And I love that it comes in all sizes from 1/0 up to 6/0.

Don't forget Cut Tail!

Mojo rigging a curly tail grub has saved the day a few times for me.

Approach depends on the water and all the usual variables, of course. I've had good production on pressured waters in the simplest way - pegging a light weight (1/8ish) about 18 inches ahead of a 1/0 or 2/0 finesse light hook with a 4" curly tail grub. This has produced nice smallies in clear water natural lakes and decent large mouths on muddy water reservoirs. When the bite is tough, it's a confidence presentation for me.

I like Owner Twist Lock Light hooks with Roboworms. They are thin in profile which pairs will with the slim Robos and super sharp. Pair them with whatever size you prefer but I like 2/0 with the small worms and 4/0 with the larger ones. http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Owner_Twistlock_Light_Hook/descpage-OTLL.html

I'm in. This is gonna be fun.

During these long cold Ohio winters, I think about this question often. It'll probably never come true but it's fun to daydream. 1st. Seth Feider would be an absolute blast on Mille Lacs slaying huge brown backs. 2nd. Matt Allen just because he's such an excellent, selfless teacher (and he catches toads) 3rd. Larry Nixon because he seems so humble yet could teach me better than anyone about finding fish. 4th. Mark Daniels, Jr because of all the reasons everyone has already mentioned. Humble, funny, talented, genuine.

Yep, this book is not really about the lure at all. It's about how to understand where fish are and why they are there in most any type of water (reservoir, lakes, even a little about ponds). It teaches you to better understand your body of water and how to be more productive/efficient. His writing style is kind of colloquial but you get used to it. It's the type of book that every time you read it you'll learn something you missed previously.

I apologize if you understood me to imply that these pros should be fishing only deep (8-10+) water (as if that's only where the structure lies). I know that isn't the case. What I meant was this: Are they fishing the shallow shoreline BECAUSE it's associated with the type of structure needed to hold bass (including access to "deeper" water) or are they just randomly fishing banks as it can sometimes appear on TV? As was answered, these guys know what they're doing and know what structural elements lead them to successful target fishing. We just don't get to see them explain that. I sure wish we did. Thanks! That's a good idea on pausing the TV when they show the map. I haven't tried that. It seems like this new season is showing less of the map than they used to but I'll keep an eye out for it. I feel like sometimes you see the last place guys spin out and look like I can on a tough day: lost, confused, and totally unsure what to try next. But the top guys seem to always have something in mind, a plan b, c, d, etc. I wish we could hear them think and explain why the go where they go and fish how they fish.

Is there a more valuable discussion anywhere? I'd be happy to ever find one. Thanks Catt and all the contributors. Another slightly OT thought: I enjoy watching MLF given its long form model and watching a small group of pros plan, approach, adapt, adjust, and panic. Having recently read BP's "Spoonplugging" and Murphy's "In Pursuit..." it's given me a new perspective as I watch the show. The thing is - what I'm seeing is somewhat troubling. These guys will talk about structure very VERY briefly and almost always first thing in the morning. They'll find what they believe to be a good deep point or bridge piling or something else and start there. But almost invariably they all end up target fishing a bank or docks/marina. Now my (mis)perception could easily be due to the slick editing of the show and them cutting the bits about the guys stating why they are fishing the shallow cover that they choose, but if I didn't know any better (which I didn't until I read the above books and posts here on this site) I would assume that to be a successful professional fisherman all I have to do is flip, crank, or whopper plopper a shoreline. I emphatically know that not to be true. So my question is: Are these pros really just haphazardly beating the banks of lakes they're dropped on or are they putting to use all of the knowledge that is being shared here in this thread and only focusing on shallow cover that is associated with the breaks, breaklines, and deep water BP and Murphy and Catt and others talk about? Thanks again.

I placed an order thanks to your post last week. Thanks. Really looking forward to trying your jigs.

Very impressive setup. I'd like to come up with something as well and this is a helpful reference point. I'd like to keep the boat as light as possible and only take what I think I'll need each trip. Previously most everything I own has gone on the boat with me. That needs to change. Good looking storage. Thanks for sharing it!

Welcome back Seaguar. Based on a lot of what I've read and learned in this forum, I tried several of your products and have become a dedicated user. InvisX, AbrasX, and (if/when I use mono) Senshi are a stable on almost all of my reels. Thanks for your support. -reerok

Jig fishing itself has lots of different techniques within it. Swim jigging, pitching and flipping, bottom hopping, stroking, and on and on. So if you want to focus on jig fishing, you probably could jig fish just about any situation. You just have to adjust to the lake, the season, and the structure and cover that's in front of you and fish a jig accordingly. You could do that alone for months if not years and still not know all that there is to know about jig fishing. But you'd learn a lot and could become a better angler.

Great topic. 1) learned to effectively utilize drop-shotting horizontally in shallow water. This became one of my favorite techniques. 2) I spent a lot of time using crank baits and learned a lot through that process 3) mostly I learned that I have a ton to learn. Especially in understanding reservoirs, the importance of studying maps and sonar charts, and how to spend time identifying high percentage areas before getting to the water instead of wasting time fishing unproductive areas once on it.

Are the TW 25 days of Christmas deals only good for the day they're announced or for the whole 25 days? thanks!

InvizX is great for very light line finesse fishing too. I have my drop shot setup with a Stradic FK spooled to 100% flouro - InvizX 6lb and I don't have trouble with it. I keep being tempted to go with braid to flouro leader on this setup but it's been so good as is that I've left it alone.

This point and the small flat across from the marina is a community hole... for saugeye. In season there's usually a handful of boats drifting through (including pontoons loaded with Amish families) dragging worms for saugeye. I've fished it a bit for 'eyes and caught some nice ones there along with lots of channel cats and an occasional white bass. Unfortunately no LMB so far. But I imagine if there are 'eyes there LMB may hold on the flat too. That flat is typically around 6-8' so I could try to run a crank bait across it. When you say survey the marina area I assume you mean idle around watching the sonar for baitfish depths? And thanks again. You're input has been terrific. If you're ever in the area, I'd be happy to get out on the water. There are plenty of interesting lakes around that I'd love to explore.

If you use HOLIDAY15 instead of 10 you save a few more bucks... as I did.

That's my guess too. Would the same likely be true for main lake submerged bridges and road beds?