Bdnoble84

Any view is better when I have the boy with me. That being said, the picture of the small stream, thats my home water. Anytime I need grounded a couple hours with the sound of those riffles will get me right. The others are a bigger river, but the sound of the rush of water coming over the dam works pretty well also.

Cedar and pine- menards

How important do you all find it to stick with the same brand/ model of depthfinder on the bow and stern. Pros, cons i have a reveal 5x ss currently and I like it, but im interested in getting a 7” didsplay with side imaging and the hummingbird and garmin units are both catching my eye for a sim price. regardless, i will prob end up with a reveal 7x ts, but im not set on that.

Possibly the prettiest hair jig I’ve ever tied. See if the smallies and walleye agree this afternoon hopefully.

The issue for the OP is that the keitech is sliding down the shank on a traditional worm hook. Keitechs are bad for this. Much more than any other soft plastic i have ever used. You really need a wire keeper or screw lock to keep them pinned.

Couple heavyweights (3/4 oz)

As long as there’s open water in the river, you wont see me on the hard water lol. Love the idea of a meetup but it just never seems to line up. Depends on the pond. Im not sure bout round weeks, but if you have rip rap, that could be deadly. You would probably be intrigued by preacher jigs, but thats an open water structure technique in the south. if you really want to try something fun, get yourself a ml/xf 6’10’’ st croix and some small 1/16 to 3/32oz marabou jigs in all colors as long as they are black. I could see that being a dynamite pond presentation throughout the year. message me and i can probably hook you up with some jigs to try.

Smallies are going on the hair bite. Definitely liking alittle extra sumptin attatched to it though. Tuesday it was a live piece of crawler. Today it was a little bps speed shad. Alot of little ones bud did lose a biggun.

Anyone catching walleye on the rivers yet?

Smallies still hittin. Got out with the boy yesterday. Caught 8-10 total. Bigs one of 18 and 15.5.

This is the approach im taking with the river i live next to and am learning. The area i am in is sketchy and has taken many a prop. We have had extremely low water the last 2 summers. This has allowed ne to putz the channel and get a really good feel for the layout. Last time water was up a foot compared to time before and having explored enough. I was able feel confident planing out from the dam five miles back down to the boat ramp. Some of the section were only a couple feet deep but i had been through them enough to know they were clear.

Reminds me i need to pick up some 1/0 spinnerbait hooks to make some downsized 1/8 and 1/4 oz versions.

I dont really need alot of space for long casts with spinnerbaits. In the stream, i regularly pitch it around cover and work parallel to the bank (deadly). I dont know how many ive pulled out on a spinner within 10ft of me. 3/4 oz with a single #5 willow was absolutely deadly for me during prespawn to spawn transion.

I think the weight forward is the right thibg here because you are going to want it to dig down. Are you going to add a lip? Or is the wood the lip, similar to a flatfish. If so i would scoop the bottom front more to a. Remove front buoyancy and b. encourage the bait to slice down through the water column by reducing front resistance. I think weighting the front, having a forward pitch, and the tail having more buoyancy should cause a push and pull effect that creates wobble. I would think you would want it borderline suspending to slowwww rise to keep it near bottom on the pause but off the rocks. I think playing with weight placement and amount is key finding the right wobbling action and dive characteristics.

I like to put my accent on the sides i.e. lateral line. But really it depends what im going for. I do this more with hair jigs that skirted jigs. Almost any hair pattern i do has a couple of strands of crystal flash for a lateral line. I try and use flash colors that fit in the color scheme. On crawfish type patterns i usually go for some sort of gold or copper. Baitfish patterns, i go with silver or pearl. Both will get green on occasion. I also like to use red thread as i feel this gives the appearance of gills. Now whether or not the fish buy that is another story. like AJ said. Close is usually good enough.

Yes, Rock River. I found a gold mine stretch for smallies. Started figuring out the walleye bite alittle as well.

When I was 19 or 20, I caught 2 that were pushing 4lbs on my little scale. Didnt measure length at the time. It was april fishing a riffle. First came on a little blue and white crappie tube and safety-pin spinner. Next one came on a 3/16oz strikeking spinnerbait with the chart painted blade. Both were pretty much just pitched into the rifle and allowed to drift down. this weekend I caught one exactly 19” that Im guessing was close to 4lbs on a black and blue homemade crank. Its a bluff wall the current goes around just off a 20ft drop. Caught an 18 1/2 in exact same spot a few weeks ago. pic is the 19” one. Think its close to 4lbs or more towards 3.5?

Another good weekend on the river. 19” smallie.

Depends on the size of the river and bait im using. Bigger rivers in order to be efficient you have to play the odds and target the most prime areas. Riffles, seams chunk rock points, deep transitions, ledges. Streams im more likely to work everything. However im more likely to use a faster paced search bait to start. Prime spots is where im more willing to fish slower presentations before the fish have told me where they are. Alot of this comes with learning the body of water as well. Once you get to know the hot spots i target them first.

we can swap notes. I think I only got a “B” but I think it was a fit and finish issue. Imagine that. My baits have peerrrrrrrffffffeeeccccccctttttttttt fit and finish. ?????

I’ve dabbled with swimbaits/glider over the last couple years. This one is my best action so far. Still alot to figure out as it doesnt have a tone of glide, but it sure kicks and can fish anywhere from a couple feet down to a wake. Going to have to tinker with shape and weight to see if i can get more of a glide. If anyone has any tips, i’m all ears. for reference, bait is made out of two peices of aspen glued together. Wood was 1.5oz unweighted. Ballast called for roughly 2.75oz gross to become submerged. It does have a rattle chamber in the head section (.18oz). Beyond that used 3 .25oz lead split shot in front and 2 in the rear section, plus another .2oz piece of led in the tail as i had to remove some weight in the front of the back section for balance. Also remove some weight from the front section (balance). Falls fairly horizontal. All said and done with hardware, bait weights 3oz.

For me, current is kind followed by cover. There are just certain things that hold smallies period. Not every day but over the coarse of a season you will catch more fish by focusing on certain features. I like multiple factor spots. A current seem next to deep water over chunk rock. A rock point that forms an eddie, a fast riffle with some depth and boulders for fish to lurk behind. If it seems like a place bass can ambush from you should move it up on your target list.

Largo Shad has become a go to for me. Started replacing swing impact type baits for. E. More reasonable/ more durable/ body rolling action. A 4” largo on an 1/8oz jig with the tail tag clipped rolls almost a full 90 and if you leave to tag attached it subdues it. Really like a 3” on a 1/4 swimjig. 4” on 3/8 and up.

Its important to understand that this whole swim jig thing is 2-fold. 1st is the practice itself. You are swimming a jig. Its just another thing you can do with it. Other options include flipping, hopping, dragging etc. any jig can do this. what makes different jigs standout is head shape and hook eye angle. Different heads lend themselves to different actions. A footballhead jig is great for dragging across rock and not getting hung up. You try that in grass though and its going to be a very long day. Flipping jigs are great for flipping to isolated peaces of cover. You can probably work them through rock some as well. But swim it through grass, and again its going to be a headache. traditional swim jigs have a pointy, bullet shaped head. The shape cuts through grass without fouling. A very misunderstood (or atleast unconsidered) thing is hookeye angle. A 90 degree jig is going to have a forward gloding through water due to weight distribution in relation to your line. The eye leg is also often exposed and is a natural weed collector. Coming through cover in general is challenging due to the eye and line placement. the 30deg eye on a swim jig however fits the streamlined profile which aides in it cutting through grass. It has another unique feature… instability. With the rounded head and the eye so close to center. The jig has a minimized keel effect. This means its probe for instability/rollover. While this can be an annoyance if not understanding how to harness it, with the right trailer, its magic. It takes a bait with a trailer that has good tail action and adds secondary action in the form of body roll. This brings the lure alive and drives bass wild.

Flat vs round and width of the cut