John Cullum

I have a guy that makes them for me. There 1/8 ballhead jigs with a 4/0 black nicole Owner hooks. A little dab of superglue on the keeper will help you get more than a few fish from each Senko. I was using the 4 inch until we ran out. They would bit the 6 inch just not as well. Black/Blue and green pumkin seemed to work best.

I have an example of a lake that is in need of a speed limit. The DNR has a certain acherage a lake has to be before it has a "no speed" limit law. We have a lake here in Indinana that is well above that number. But there is a huge problem. There are 3 bridges that cut the lake into 3 smaller sections. But the DNR laws still don't take that into consideration. So we have a bunch of people flying around each little lake part at however fast they wanna go. The DNR posted a 10MPH speed limit but could never inforce it because of the wording in the speed limits law. So you can either follow the posted 10mph speed limit or if your from the area and know the DNR can't ticket you, you may go as fast as you want. The sign is now gone and more and more people are going to the lake. It won't be long before there will be some accidents out there that could of be avoided by a speed limit. I'm not talking about an across the board law for how fast you can go on any given body of water I'm talking about common sense. If there are supporting facts about how unsafe the lake is and how congested it is put in a speed limit try to inforce it.

I haven't been down there in a few years. Power plant lake and finding shad seems like a good idea. Only problem you will have is if the lake has white bass, which most power plants do, they will ball up the the shad in 20-30 feet of water in the middle of nowhere and have you chasing ghosts all day. Yeah you may catch a bass or two out of these white bass swarms but I've always done better looking for shad in the coves, around wood or on the points. If you've had wind several days in a row which is common on a cooling lake and it has been out of the same direction fish the coves that are wind blown. If you can find bait fish in there it's likely the bass will be there also. We've done well down there c-rigging the "trash pile" and fishing the points with jig-n-pigs or jigheads and Senkos. We've also done well on spinnerbaits chrts/white in the windy coves and Sugar Shads in firetiger. I may head down there thursday or saturday, what time you going?

Which one you going too?

Depending on lake size and traffic I would have to agree the time for some speed limits have come. Most of our lakes here in Indiana are so crowded by noon that you can go full throttle anyway but it doesn't seem to stop some people from trying. I can't recall the last time we had a year go by that someone didn't lose thier life up here on the water. Last year around the 4th of Julty we had two kids die after being struck by a passing boat while tubing. They were seperate events but happened on the same water way just a few days apart. I'm not sure if a speed limit would of saved thier lives but it sure couldn't hurt to impose one after all the senseless deaths we've had up here the last few years. I have noticed a decrease in people mixing thier boating and alcohal over the last few years since the DNR has been cracking down on that. That along with a imposed speed limit will make the water ways safer for all of us.

As far as tournies go we usually fish around 7 differant lakes. I fish the Traverls Division and it offers me a chance to double up sometimes on my stronger lakes. A few years ago I made it a habit to hit at least one new lake each month from March to August. There are some many smaller lakes within' 5 hours of me I haven't hit half of them yet. If I travel 4-5 hours to a new lake to fish I'll usually stay the night at a local hotel, change up and hit another new lake on the way home the next day. Each lake is a bit differant and it introduces me to a bunch of differant water condition and patterns. Some are man made while some are natural lakes that are creek or spring fed so they all fish a little differant. I know that it's made me a better angler by doing this.

Great post earthworm77, it's nice to get another perspective on the sponsorship issue. Most of the posts are on how to obtain sponsors from the anglers stand point but you are giving it from the companies stand point which is a rare post. Telling the anglers that may approach you or another company about a sponsorship what they should have in thier resume is a huge help, thanks.

Shirt and a tie for all sponsorship meeting or interviews for me as well. I will also wear a shirt and a tie for all sponsorship apperances unless I am told what to wear. My resume has pictures of my tourney shirt so they may veiw it there. I feel my appearance is as important as my resume. I treat every interview just like a job interview because basically thats what it is.

I know the question is worded as "pros" but I learned more from 3 locals that I fished with years ago than any book, video or magazine could ever teach me. Zeke Wright-Shafer and Freeman anyone that fishes these two lakes know him and he taught me more in 8 hours about those two lakes than 50 times fishing them by myself. Joe Bertrand- first BASS club member to take me fishing. Probadly all his fault that I've spent all that money on bass fishing gear tackle boat etc. ever since. Guy Gerber-the guy is a finesse master. I still enjoy fishing with him and watching him fish 3-4 inch worms learn something new everytime out.

MciPinkie,I will be at the KC show in the Grandt Rods booth if you happen to pass by us stop in. I agree with what you are saying MciPinkie, I believe if some of the pros posted thier schedules on appears for shows and such alot of the people wanting to be sponsored would reconsider. The time away from home/family/your 9-5 job and the wear and tear of traveling can turn even the most dedicated bass fisherman away. The next few months for me are very hecktic I will be going to K.C., N.Y., Boston, Cleveland, Indy, Chicago over the next 100 days. I'm not even close to being pro I couldn't imagine a "pros" schedule.

I wasn't impling you were cheap or that you "skimped" out on purchases for a lesser quality product. The name Low Budget (hookers) didn't mean cheap no money anglers in my eyes so please don't take my question as me calling you cheap. I was just confussed a bit on how you were able to justify spending so much for a rod and not for a bag of Yamamotos. Thanks for clearing that up.

LBH, I agree with you that the price of some baits hard/soft are out of control but sometimes that are better quality and will catch more fish. What is your stand on higher price/quality rods? I see you have made a few posts about Airrus Rods which are a higher quality rod than most. I'm not sure how you can justify spending $100-200 on a rod when a Berkely Lighting Rod would do the same trick. I'm not trying to pry at you it just doesn't make sense to me. I know you may feel that a higher priced rods have alot to offer that the lower priced/quality rods don't and I agree. But usually the guys that refuse to pay a few hundered bucks on a rod are the same ones that aren't willing to pay $6 on a bag of soft plastics. By no means am I tryin to get under your skin I have no reason too. I'm just curious on why one thing and not the other. I know guys that swear by Berkleys Lighting Rods and would tell you they are as good as any rod on the market, "a rods a rods they'd tell ya".

I use the Super Glue brand super glue. You can get 2 very small bottles at the dollar stores for a buck. It doesn't get any where because the opening on the bottle tops is tiny. Be sure to get a paper clip thou. The glue will dry out in the top clogging the flow of glue. Straighten out a paper clip and clear out the hole so you can use it again.

Sounds like your not using a heavy enough rod. You might think you getting a good hook set but the drag of 20 feet of water and some stretch in all mono-filoment line and your probadly barley moving the bait. Also if your drag is not set tighter than normal you many be losing some power there too. When you are setting the hook alot of your energy is lost on the rod tip,the stretch in the line and the water drag on the line. When you fishing that deep your line many appear to be straight but it has a "bow" in it as it goes to the bottom. By not using a heavy enough action rod you not getting enough power down to your bait. What position is your rod at when you are setting the hook. If it's at like 1-2 o'clock and your setting your hook at 12o'clock your not pulling enough line.

That method of crankbaiting is used here in Indiana on Lake Michigan all the time for smallmouth.

Earthworm your probadly right about eveyone else combined out selling the Senko. But I would think as far as a "Senko" type bait would go they probadly out sell any of the competitors on a one on one comparison still, regardless of price. Earthworm you seem to know alot more than me about customizing baits and such so I was wondering if you happen to know how many bags of Senkos (just GYCB) they sell per year.

I don't agree with you Low Budget about thier company being greedy,I believe the correct word would be SMART. Why lower their price when they don't have too. But don't you think that if YUM could get $6 a bag they would also? The ONLY reason you are buy them is because they are cheaper. I believe that a majority of the fisherman that purchase the YUM Digger is basing their purchase on the fact they work like a Senko and they are cheaper per pack not because they work better. That being said if YUM Digger and the Senko were exactly the same price you wouldn't see many people purchasing the YUM product over Garys bait. Don't fool yourself into believeing YUM is doing you a favor buy giving you a "deal" if they could get $6,7 a bag you bet your arse they would. The Senko is one if the biggest if not the biggest "NEW" bait stroy we've had the last 20 years. This bait literally took the fishing world by strom. No other bait has caused this kind of talk and results. These companies make baits to make MONEY not to give you a "deal". It wouldn't be a very smart business disicion to cut your prices for no reason. If YUM could get $6 a bag they would, but few can, and Garys Senko is one of them. If there were more guys like you Low Budget that made a stand and said enough is enough maybe Gary would lower his price a bit, but there is 100 to your one that will/would be willing to pay $6 a bag and I'm one of them.

The general rule of thumb for this time of year and that water temp would be fish deeper water. Underwater humps,islands or any type of deep structure should produce fish. Old road beds, bridges, foundations etc would be a great place to Texas rig a soft plastic, drop shot or C-Rig a soft palctic bait or even chuck a deep diving crankbait. There isn't much deep water here in Indiana so we pretty much fish shallow all year long. Here are a few things I look to fish when the water temps are high. I look for duck weed or matted weeds. You can fish a Scum Frog over these matted weeds all day long and catch fish. The best time to fish them are on sunny days anytime after the sun has been up for a few hours. During the morning the bass will more than likely be out roming because of the low light situation. But when the sun gets good and high the bass seem to prefer this type of cover over almost any other type. The water temps will be cooler under duck weed than the surrounding water. I've read sometimes up to 10 degrees cooler. Another thing I fish is boat docks. Boat docks can be a good pattern to fish anytime of year but them seem to really come thru for me in the "Dog Days of Summer". When the sun is burning down on the water bass will seak shelter under the docks. It provides over head cover and chances to abush prey. The key is to find out what kind of boat docks they are holding on and how the bass is realating to the boat dock. In the summer I like to fish shallow cove boat docks. It goes against the grain a bit but I've had really good luck doing this. The shallower the cove the better. The boat docks in the very backs of these coves seem to be the best. However you can also catch fish on the first few in the cove or any dock that is all by it's self. Coves with feeder creeks or rain water tubes are the best. In thses coves it's like killing to birds with one stone. The water coming into the lake will be cooler and the bass seak cover under the docks. Both of thses are bass magnets when the water temps and high. Other heavy cover like blow downs or brush piles can be effictive way of catching these summertime bass. Jigs, big balsa cranks and spinnerbaits are a good choice for this type of cover. Also fish a buzzbait around this type of cover. I've caught fish all day long in the dead of summer without a cloud in the sky on buzzbaits. When your fishing your buzzbait try to cross the wood at as many differant angles as possible. Once you get a bit remember the angle and duplicate it on the next blow down. Cranking bridge pilings and rip-rap. Bridges provide alot of shade this time of the year. Running a crankbait around the piling and the rip-rap will boat you some fish on almost any body of water. Pontoon boats will hold fish when it's hot too. Light cant penitrate between the two pontoons because of the pontoons floor. This means on a weedy l;ake a pontoon that sits in the same spot will often have a pocket of bare bottom surrounded by weeds. Weeds will grow up around the pontoons themsleves but not under them. This aloows a bass a place to ambush prey. Weightless Senkos, centipedes, and Slug-Gos are a few lure chooses for fishing pontoons. Hope this helps some. I posted this on another board awhile back that asked the same question.

I've used them in the past out fun fishing and have caught a few fish with them. I was fishing them texas style with a 1/8 oz weight pegged around docks. I flipped and pitched them for awhile but didn't get any bites. Do they make them in more that one color?

Small buzzbaits around the wood in the morning or all day if it's rains. You also might want to try a dropp-shot. I don't get a chance to fish smaller ponds often but when I do I always catch a few on that rig. Good luck and be sure to post how you did.

YA!!! decent size those are toads!! I'm from northern Indiana were them there are called HOGS!!!

I think this one has alot to do with the lake your fishing at. We have some lakes here in Indiana that get so much pressure and boat traffic it doesn't seem to matter how noiser you are it doesn't spook the fish. I've caught fish out from under docks that have had people walking all over them. These fish seem to have become acustome to all the banging and motor sounds and are not spooked at all. Water clarity is probadly a factor too. In really stained or muddy water you can just about get on top of a fish before they will react to you. I have hit the trolling motor on a number of occations and had a fish fly out of the water or past the boat because the prop almost hit them. I used the trolling motor the whole time to get right next to them but they didn't move until the prop almost hit them. Im a clear lake or pond that does get much traffic and fishing pressure I do believe those fish will spook very easily. A rod locker banging closed or a lure smacking the water or even a trolling motor will probadly send these fish running for thier lives.

Pink/Bubble gum gets my vote.

That is actually two articles. I wrote the bottom part of the artical starting with -Square lipped crankbaits work best-. I'm not sure who wrote the top part thou. I use these methods everytime I hit the water and they work. It doesn't matter if your in Maine or Mexico they will catch you fish. I'm a bit confussed about the Michael Wagner signature at the bottom. If he is claiming to have written the articl isn't this playgerism??? Michael, I'm glad you liked my info so much that you called it your own.....Im FLATTERED!

If KVD wanted to be sponsored by Ranger, Ranger would be all over him. With Nitro he gets to double dip as a BPS guy too. What would be the benifits of being sponsored by a company you didn't use and believe in? Not to many guys that are sponsored by a boat company get a FREE boat. I could see if you could score some FREE rods and reels that you could sell when the years over. But if your locked in your gonna get new product from that company the next year and you'll still have to use it. What could you gain from having a lure company sponsor you if your not using their product?