jdw174

The Bayou Boogie has been around a long time. It may dive some and it does indeed have a tight wiggle since it's a type of lipless crankbait. I haven't seen one in years....didn't even know they were still around.

Try a Jigging Rapala.

Hag's Tornado is my #1.

The best day I had fishing last year came on a morning in late October when the air temp was in the low 40's and the water temp was 53. I fished one 100yd stretch using a Sammy knockoff and my best five fish hit 22 pounds 8-). Don't be afraid of topwater on cool mornings.

Don't think I'd be hooking up a 12v accessory to a 24v system.

and it's everything I hoped it would be. Thanks to forum member R520DVX who did the installation. It's a lot simpler to use than the Lowrance 334ci unit it replaced. The menu is easy to follow. I spent some time setting in the garage playing with it in simulator mode (you can see your adjustments and save them while in this mode) so it was ready when I hit the water. Any regrets? Just one....that I didn't have the money to get the big screen 1197. 8-)

Go to their website and click on the "SALE" tab. They've always got a lot of items on sale that they don't advertise.

I second the Lamiglas Excel rods. Excellent rod that won't break the bank. Check them out at ***.com. Also take a look at the Powell Max.

If I see someone on a dock, I'll give it a wide berth. Saves problems that way. One time I was coming up on a dock that had a big float tube anchored in front of it. A woman came tearing out of the house and said that she'd lost a total of 5 tubes to fishermen who cast around and even INTO it, hooking the tube and deflating it. I assured her that I had no interest in her tube and bypassed both it and the dock altogether.

After fishing for Lake Erie smallies for years, I prefer spinning for "almost" all bottom bouncing lures. Wouldn't use it for CB's or C-rigging or heavier jigs/worms, but for the light stuff I'll take spinning anytime.

I carry 2 or 3 different ones and don't use any of them. Never saw where they made a difference, but that's just my opinion.

Bomber Square A is one of my mainstays.

Called Humminbird. Girl said that all 800-900 series units are being packaged with owner's manual on disk instead of printed and that it was something that their R&D dept was trying out. I told her that was fine, but when you have a unit that was capable of so much it would be nice to have something to refer to while learning how to use it. My printed manual is in the mail.

20lb braid, 10lb leader on spinning tackle. Gammy dropshot hook (#1). Lure can be most any soft plastic, but I've been using 4" shakey worms with good success. I leave the weight on the bottom while working the rod tip, moving after a bit. Love hookin' 'em smack in the old eye tooth.

I read about these in the last issue of FLW Outdoors, then saw them at ***. You have to see the action of these things on a shakeyhead. They are totally sick 8-) !! The rings trap air so that they stand straight up in the water, and if you're kinda dancing them along the bottom they have an action that, well, undulates. You can fish them wacky style, but you'll be able to have a smoke waiting on them to get to the bottom if they're unweighted. The photos below are of the color I've been getting my action on, called California Red. The top is almost a dark brown while the bottom is greenish. It's laced with red flake. IMO, this thing is the cat's behind. Gotta order some more.

Before and during rain I've had some of my best days fishing. I know that they say the day after a front is tough, but again, I've had very good days on the FIRST day after. The second day has been far tougher for me.

My Mad-N's do the same thing on occasion. When casting, try not to put a lot of "snap" in the toss, and when the lure hits the water, immediately pull it just a bit with the rod tip. I've found that doing these two things helps some.

The Lamiglas XL703S for a dropshot rod. Had a chance to use mine for the first time this morning and a couple of 3 pounders cooperated in 16' of water. Stuck on an old Shimano Aero 2000 I had laying around with 10lb SilverThread line. The action is perfect IMO, and at that price point would be hard to beat.

I just bought their 7' heavy action for pitching jigs/worms. Added a Castaic reel with 20lb PowerPro line. They're a good looking rod, and very well finished. Not one of the superlight rods, but nicely balanced. I like mine.

I fish mostly shad finishes. Which finish depends a lot on water color/weather.

OK, I'll do that. I suppose I should have thought of that in the first place. Right now, I'm trying to schedule a date to get the unit installed. It's more than this kid is willing to tackle on his own.

Thanks for the advice guys. Some of my ball head types have clip-on springs...I'll take some of them off and give them a try. On the football heads with molded in springs, I'll snip most of them off and try that.

Rod - 6'10" MH spinning Line - 20lb Stealth Braid w/short 10lb leader Jighead - 1/8oz football head with spring molded in. Was fishing 14' of water this AM with the above setup. (Worm was a Hag's Tornado). Within a five minute period, I hooked and LOST one that was at least 5, and another that was almost that big (had them both to the boat when they came unglued). > I had popped a good hookset on both of them, yet the hook had barely came thru the worm and wasn't buried in the fish at all. It is my theory that the spring keeper in the head is perhaps TOO good and doesn't allow movement of the hook on the set. I had threaded the hook thru the worm to ensure that it didn't meet much resistance on the hookset. I'd like to know what kind of heads you guys use and what suggestions you might have. If this had been a tournament this morning I'd have just about broke the rod after losing the second one.

160 pages worth??? I say that for that kind of money I shouldn't have to print diddly.

UPS delivered my new unit yesterday. Opened the box to find................................the owner's manual contained on a disk . For the love of Mike, when you're spending that kind of money I'd say the least you could do is put a manual with it that you can take on the water. I don't normally carry a computer with me to read the manual in PDF format . Rant over.