TournyFish001

A jig really bailed me out of a bad finish at a tourny earlier this year- I got a good fish on the jig, great bait. Shakey head is big up here so I thought I'd give the fish a little different look, I fished a 5/16oz eakins jig/smallie beaver trailer (shortened the beaver first three ribs removed) with rattle. I casted it into open water 10-20ft with the line tight I would shake it just by the line not moving the bait with the rod tip. I repeat only with the line by twitching (I have access to a swimming pool so I know just how to do it without moving it but rather making the bait vibrate in place (with rod in hand its kind of like shaking the ice in a coctail drink, not much movement and don't move that bait with the rod tip- this has proved to be quite effective for open water jigging- try it

I chose plastic worm. Live bait is cheating in the "sport" of bass fishing- skill is not as much of a factor and you have a greater chance of hurting a trophy fish that has swollowed your bait hook.

yeah the more natural the better especially up here in the northwest.

I have and it works too especially with the jackall flick shake worm and senkos, with the senko make sure you pair it with an extra wide gap finesse hook or you will lose a lot of fish.

I think a Jewel "eakins" jig would suit you. I like the 5/16oz

4 to 12, I fish very clear Northwest waters. I'd be like a fish out of water if you handed me a 8' flippin stick with 80# braid on it- but thats what it takes if you are in a heavy cover area.

Lately I have really enjoyed my GLX drop shot rod paired with my 2000 fuego spinning reel- I have been experimenting with lines hooks/weights and of course baits. This rig is so fun to fish with I can't put it down. I have been using some larger hooks and small fluke type baits with pretty good success- I use a fairly long leader and kind of jerk the bait the distance of the leader on the bottom (I practiced this at the swimming pool at my appartment complex the weather has been cold so no swimmers yet although I did get some funny looks. The sensitivity of that GLX rod is just amazing.

fortunately the competition is helping out a little bit. I bought some netbait 4.5" that were like $5.50 for 4 of them- they were really nice caught fish and they were very soft and life like in the water. Still crazy but better than $10 or $11 for 3!!!!!! I broke down and bought some glue and I tell you its worth it- you can make those baits go a long way, what I do is fish all day with what I got keep the "wounded" baits in a bag as I fish- nite after I glue them all up and they are good as new by morning (it is a pain trying to fix them as you fish- get enough for the day at least then repair when you are done this works really well)

Texas rigged and with a 7.5in Zoom Mag 2 I rarely fish worms that big around here, shakey head and drop shot are pretty big up here in the northwest. Some guys on here will chime in and tell you what they are using.

my "panic box" consists of one tactic, drop shot with a 4.5" straight tail roboworm on my GLX drop shot rod on my light spool 4lb test straight florocarbon- this has bailed me out many times from winter til the middle of summer. As far as colors go; oxblood crawler and warmouth usually cover it.

And how big is the worm?

It depends on the application? Drop Shot Carolina Rig Split Shot Texas Rig Weightless Jigging shakey head There is a different "best/favorite" hook for every tactic.

yeah no doubt, he hasent even put line on it. Anyone can back the drag off and the spool tensioner off any reel and make feel better than it really is.

I hate gimmicks all around

It has been a very strange spring here in my region. Sure has made the fishing unpredicatable- even more so I should say.

By DONNA ABU-NASR, Associated Press Writer 45 minutes ago RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Saudi Arabia will call for a summit between oil producing countries and consumer states to discuss soaring energy prices, Information and Culture Minister Iyad Madani said Monday. ADVERTISEMENT The kingdom will also work with OPEC to "guarantee the availability of oil supplies now and in the future," the minister said following the weekly Cabinet meeting, held in the seaport city of Jiddah. Madani said that the kingdom has informed "all oil companies it deals with as well as countries that consume oil that (the kingdom) is ready to provide them with any additional oil they need." "The Saudi Cabinet has instructed Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi to call for a meeting in the near future that will include representatives of oil-producing countries, consumers and companies that work in extracting, exporting and selling oil to look into the price hike, its causes and how to deal with it," said Madani. The Saudi announcement comes just three days after the biggest single-day price leap ever, when oil surged more than $11 to surpass $139 per barrel. Retail gas prices rose further above $4 Monday in the United States, the world's largest oil consumer, following the unprecedented price rally. The kingdom will work to ensure there will be no "unwarranted and unnatural oil price hikes that could affect international economies, especially those of developing countries," said Madani. "There is no justification for the current rise in prices," he said. On Monday, light, sweet crude for July delivery fell $4.18 to $134.36 a barrel in volatile trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. "It's not a situation that's going to move the market today," said Phil Flynn at Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago, suggesting that there it might have a more long term effect. "I do think a conference is warranted, we need to sit down." Jim Ritterbusch, president of the U.S.-based energy consultancy Ritterbusch and Associates cautioned that such meetings have taken place in the past and could be more an effort to calm the market without taking concrete measures. "It's not anywhere near as significant as if they called an emergency OPEC meeting," he said. "It seems to me to be more political than anything ... They're reaching their worry threshold." The Saudis are concerned that sustained high oil prices will eventually slacken the world's appetite for oil, affecting them in the long run. Investors last month shrugged off news that Saudi Arabia had increased production by 300,000 barrels a day after a visit from President Bush, who sought a major production increase. Energy experts say most producers have little ability to expand output. The exception is Saudi Arabia, which is producing about 9.4 million barrels a day and has the ability to increase production by about 2 million barrels a day, but has not done so. "In the current circumstances, every barrel that can be used is being used," said Addison Armstrong, director of market research at Tradition Energy. "Unless the Saudis and OPEC suddenly produce some oil that nobody has heretofore known about, then this meeting is likely to produce no meaningful outcomes." The current president of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Chakib Khelil, has said that the cartel will make no new decision on production levels until its Sept. 9 meeting in Vienna. ________ Associated Press Writer John Wilen contributed to this report from New York. Its OPEC and we are on their schedual, their next meeting Sept 9th- d**n them

So far in my part of the country I have had little luck with them. A senko or tube seem to work better in a situation where I would use an Ika- they are re-located to my river bag- up here in the river they always bite no matter what the bait is.

By ADAM SCHRECK, AP Business Writer 7 minutes ago NEW YORK - Oil prices shot up nearly $7 a barrel Friday, extending big gains from the previous day and racing toward an all-time high after a Morgan Stanley analyst predicted prices could hit $150 by the Fourth of July. A further weakening of the dollar helped keep prices high by enticing overseas buyers armed with stronger currencies and other investors looking for a hedge against the greenback. Light, sweet crude for July delivery jumped as much as $6.96 to $134.75 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, before easing slightly to $134.40, up $6.61. Prices pushed sharply higher Friday after Morgan Stanley analyst Ole Slorer said he expected strong demand in Asia could drive prices to $150 by Independence Day, when millions of Americans are expected to take to the roads. Shipments from the Middle East are mimicking patterns seen in the third quarter last year, when Morgan Stanley based its "oil price spike" predictions on falling supplies in the Atlantic, he said. "We made the same call using the same parameters, but now we are starting from much lower inventory levels," Slorer said. Friday's surge builds on a $5.49 gain Thursday, which was the biggest single-day price increase in the history of the Nymex crude contract. That spike came as the dollar fell after the European Central Bank suggesting it could raise interest rates. "We had a rally of something like $12 in about 24 hours. It makes no fundamental sense," said Stephen Schork, an analyst and trader in Villanova, Pa. "With oil pushing back up to the mid-$130s, it's the make it or break it point. If we go past that, we set the course for uncharted waters and head up toward $150." Meanwhile, U.S. gas prices at the pump continued to hover just shy of an average $4 a gallon, easing only 0.3 cent from Thursday's record. Drivers are now paying an average of $3.99 for a gallon of regular gas nationwide, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service; in many parts of the country, consumers are already paying well over $4. Retail diesel slipped a penny overnight to $4.76. Pump prices are bound to rise even further if oil sustains its advance. James Cordier, president of Tampa, Fla.-based trading firm Liberty Trading Group, predicted prices could rise to $4.25 as early as the end of the month. "Unfortunately, drivers cutting back isn't going to lower the price of gasoline any time soon," he said. The dramatic reversal in what had been a weakening oil market began Thursday after ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet suggested the bank could raise interest rates and the euro climbed against the dollar. When interest rates rise in Europe, or fall in the U.S., the dollar tends to weaken against the euro. Many investors tend to buy commodities such as oil as a hedge against inflation when the dollar is falling. Also, a weaker dollar makes oil less expensive to investors dealing in other currencies. Analysts believe the dollar's protracted decline has been a major reason why oil prices have nearly doubled in the past year. The euro strengthened further against the greenback Friday. A Labor Department report showing the U.S. unemployment rate jumped half a percentage point to 5.5 percent last month its biggest monthly increase since 1986 could drag the greenback even lower in the days ahead. "Unemployment jumping as it did today will be in the market for a long time and will continue to pressure the U.S. dollar," Cordier said. Growing tensions in the Middle East may also have helped prop up oil prices. Israel sent aircraft, tanks and ground troops into the Gaza Strip on Friday, and a Cabinet minister hoping to replace embattled Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was quoted as saying Israel will attack Iran if it doesn't abandon its nuclear program. In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures rose 21.54 cents to $3.8962 a gallon while gasoline prices rose 12.32 cents to $3.4577 a gallon. Natural gas futures rose 24.8 cents to $12.767 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, July Brent crude shot up $5.65 to $133.19 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. THIS SUCKS

great question, I want to know as well. I bet you need to tie the jig to a barrel swivel to stop line twist. I have been meaning to try this with an 1/8 or a 1/4oz bitsy bug and a roboworm. I bet you might be suprised- may as well have a hook on everything that moves down there.

I almost always twitch/jerk/speed up/slow down/stop/go- retrieve usually bouncing off of stuff. This is what I have found to be most productive. I almost always out fish people who chuck it and reel in like a robot.

while prefishing and a good crankbait bite is on I use them- quick swap. This spring I used them during a tournament even, two rods rigged with cranks and jerks even, I was a power fishing machine if I wasn't casting and crank'n I was snap'n the swivels of a different bait. The pattern color changed a bit from morning til afternoon- paid off

Depends on your definition of "success", I have in most occasions caught my bigger fish on either a spinnerbait, jig or crankbait. Last weekend prefishing I actually wacked my largest fish on a paddle tail swimbait. Soft plastics are very productive and have aided in my "successful" days of fishing filling limits and sometimes catching my big fish for the day. I guess what I am trying to say is I like them all, depends on what's working. To say, "yep, I only use soft plastics because they are more successful" will limit your full potential of being a "successful" angler.

ahhh the rules of supply and demand can be painful

Sight fish with a drop shot- throw to the nest, if the fish leaves because of your bait's innitial presence it will come back be patient. Use a short leader try to mimic a feeding baitfish like a bluegill/crappie/perch/tilapia/ect. change up baits till one works.

I have one, used it once and not since. They are difficult to use hard to controll where you point it when its underwater. I use my graph and just fish.