papajoe222

I gotta laugh when I see you younguns posting this stuff. You all are just in the early phases of getting old. You have no idea of what you're in for.

I like a chunk until well past post spawn, call it early summer. That's when I'll start stroking a jig and an action trailer slows the fall rate. Most of the cover on the lakes I fish is some form of vegetation, so I'll go to a beaver style trailer then for pitching, but if there's wood, a RageTail Craw can't be beat.

The secret to T-rigging a flipping, or straight shank hook is to insert the hook point into the nose of the bait on an angle rather than straight into the bait. Prior to rigging place the hook with the shank straight down the center of the bait and the eye at the top. Now, without moving the eye, bring the hook point down to the top of the bait (where you'll be inserting it into the bait to rig it weedless. Now look at the angle of the hook shank. That's the angle you want to insert the hook point. Hope that helps.

Shore fishing is a different ball games. Trailers all go in one bag (a dozen or so) and jigs go in a 3600. two colors int three weights. the unused trailers go back in their original bags if not used.

I stumbled upon Kalin's, I can't remember where, and have been impressed with them. Plenty of salt and they still hold up extremely well. Another very soft one is Sheel's house brand. They're my go to when I know I'm probably going to be loosing tubes to snags. Sadly, they dropped the 3.75 from their line-up, but I have four packages, so I'm good for most of the season.

Sad news for sure. Rest in peace Roger and prayers for your family.

Best suggestion I can give you is to lay out the parts as you disassemble the reel in the order you take them off. Take a pic and you will know, not only what goes where, but in what order. Most parts, whether greased or oiled, can be cleaned with a degreasing cleaner like SimpleGreen. Just be sure to rinse and allow to dry completely. With the exception of the worm gear, grease gears and oil bearings. Speaking of bearings, you'll need a special pair of removal 'pliers' for the spool shaft bearing. You can damage the spool and the shaft attempting the task with a pair of long nose. Use a quality, light oil for the bearings, I use one made by Lucas. For drag washers I recommend Cal's and for gears any good reel grease will do. Don't over grease the gears as they will throw the excess all over the inside of the reel. Hope that helps

I have a reserve on most of the tackle I use regularly and those were all purchased at reduced prices. I also have a bunch that I've purchased on sale that likely will live its entire life in its original packaging. When I'm in the market for a rod and don't want to build it myself, I'll pay full price for a St.Croix from a dealer I've dealt with for decades. I support the small businesses and normally pay full price when doing so.

Bladed jigs. I'll tie one on, occasionally, usually on days when nothing seems to work and of course they don't either. Then, it's back in the box until next time and next time may be next season .

Welcome aboard the jig wagon. If I were limited to two baits, a jig and a plastic worm would be my choices. You could, and I have, filled a tackle box with the variations for both.

Awesome I got my grandson into fishing early on and he has progressed to the point that he kicks Papa's butt most times out. He caught his latest PB on a day when bites were hard to come by. The smiles on his face, whenever he catches a fish, are priceless.

The majority of my reels are 6.3:1 and they get the call for most of my cranking, lipless or not. I will break out a 7+ for burning during the summer, but that technique only works a small percentage of the time. I have slower and faster ones, but they are technique specific.

As I fish a lot of hard baits, many of them with multiple treble hooks, I don't pre-rig those rods. Instead, I have a snap tied on to those rods and rig them once on the water. Not only does it save time, it's much easier than taking off my sunglasses, putting on my reading glasses before tying on a lure and reverse repeating. The only downside is that sometimes I'll forget to retie the snap and my line will do just that, snap!

If you were only asking about filling their shoes, I'd say Glenn. To take an idea and not only turn it into a site like this, but to maintain it and come up with ways to make it better, I don't have those kind of smarts. As far as fishing goes, there are a couple of old time members that come to mind, but anyone that not only has knowledge and experience, but the ability to apply it day after day. I have to work at remembering lessons learned, let alone applying them.

I like Spooks and poppers when there is a slight ripple or almost dead calm water. Prop baits when the surface is churning up a bit and a buzzbait, or plopper when there's a good chop on the water. I don't use frogs in open water and of course I'll experiment with different types if one isn't producing. A buzzbait over dead calm water leaving a bubble trail can be a killer presentation.

What did they do that got you on board the Daiwa fan cllub?

I know that square bills are currently popular, but another option is something like a Bomber Model A. They offer different models for different depth ranges and are not only affordable, but they are fish catchers.

I thought this was going to be setting a goal for how many fish we're going to catch on our confidence lure this season. No way I'm abandoning a jig.

The hat thing for sure. I have one that I only wear when fishing. Another is, if I catch a fish on the first cast of the day, go home because that's the only fish I'm going to catch that day.

The lakes I fish are clear by anyone's standard, and I do well with them until the bass are on the beds. Later, in the summer, I'll break out a red crank, and get it down to where it's kicking up bottom on a slow retrieve. I don't believe the color matters as much then, but the red is much darker than most of the cranks I throw then.

Yearly, IL,WI, IN. I do occasionally fish in MI and IA, but when I do, it's just for the period when I'm there.

If it's a topwater blow up, I'll just let it sit where it landed and give it a twitch or two after. If she doesn't come back, I'll follow up with a senko. If it's a moving bait, I'll adjust the speed and then the angle. My next move is to either change the size or the color of that type of bait. I don't follow up a missed bottom contact lure. I just cuss myself out and toss it back.

As my passion for reels revolves around older Daiwas, it's used for me. The last one I picked up was an Alphas in mint condition. Now I'm on the look-out for a Zillion, but I gotta get the $$$ first.

I was only off by six days as I scored my first, and only, bass today. Nothing to brag about, but it sure felt good. The boat still has its winter cover on and new carpeting is on order. I figure around April 14th she should be good to go.

My top three are a hair jig, blade bait and a suspending jerkbait. If I stretch it out to five, I'd add a paddletail swimbait and a Colorado bladded spinerbait.