papajoe222

Nights like that are what keep me out until sun-up. Glad to hear you had a good outing after a long dry spell.

Had a club tournament today and although I hadn't planned on participating, I'm glad I did. Headed out this morning with my wife and daughter and conditions were terrible. Wind out of the east, bluebird skies and crystal clear water. I hooked and lost two nice fish on a Red Eye Shad and the girls headed home just before noon. I heard the tourney started at 10:00 and weigh in was at 4:00 and figured, since I hadn't participated in the last three years, I'd see how I stacked up against the young bucks. I lost a nice fish on the RE and decided I had their location figured out, but needed to keep 'em buttoned, so I switched to a swim bait on a 1/2oz. jig head. Short story, five fish (including big bass 4lb.11oz) bag 19lb. 2oz. for the money. I likely won't enter another for a while, so the points don't really mean much, but a first place finish on that lake is the best I've ever done. The old guy's sill got it. I'm at home with ice packs on both knees and my left wrist, but with a smile on my face.

See if you can find a map of the lake on-line or get a view of it on Google Earth. Two areas to key on are points and humps or islands. Pick out a few areas you think would be productive and you can fish with baits you're familiar with and have confidence in. A topwater, spinnerbait or crank to run the mid-depth range (a lipless is a good choice) and a bottom presentation like a worm, jig, or drop shot.The last thing you want to do is try out a new presentation on a new lake.

Welcome to BR I have purchased used reels off ebay, but non that stated they were refurbished. If you're still undecided, check out the seller's return policy. Those that allow returns are, likely, more trustworthy than those that sell an item 'as is' and don't offer returns. Ebay does offer buyer protection, but the process can be lengthy and the seller also has protection against false claims.

I reminisce about fun times fishing with old friends that are gone. Many of the lakes I fish, I’ve been fishing for decades. I’ve named many points and other structures and some were given names by those friends, so if I’m fishing Dave’s point I’ll think about when, why, or just a memorable event that happened there.

If I miss more than one fish on a buzzer or spinnerbait, I'm doing something wrong. I'll either change speeds, color, or blade configuration. Start with changing speeds and believe it or not, speeding up seems to work more often than slowing down.

I drifted away from throwing a Texas rigged worm over the years. I, too, am a jig man now, but I've gone back to a worm recently. The fish around here seem to hold on to them longer than with other presentations and other than a tube, they're the only soft plastic bait I have confidence in.

The wife told me today that I don't need to buy any more soft plastics. "You have enough for half the guys at your club." Of course, I had to place an order for eight bags of assorted Havoc and RageTail baits. Now about a new reel, dear. I haven't bought one this year and 19 isn't a good number.

I prefer a shorter rod for poppers, chuggers and walkers. For most of those baits I'm casting to targets and a 6ft. or 6ft.6in. Med. power rod with a Mod/Fast tip fills that bill for me. I go longer and heavier for frogs, buzzers and Spooks, but being on the short side myself, working a Spook with a long rod is a task in itself. I have no idea what rod to use for a Plopping Whatever as I've never owned one.

I prefer evening as I'm not a big fan of getting up a 3:30 A.M. although I do it. I don't have an opinion on which is better as they both have prime activity periods. When the early morning bite dies, I have a hard time transitioning to it. With the night bite, although it dies shortly after sundown, the moving baits will still get one or two until activity picks up again.

Short answer is yes, especially when the reduction guides, or the tip are not in line. I've seen rods where it appeared the guides weren't lined up, but that was because of a bend in the blank. What you have there is a rod that needs to be returned for replacement.

You should get your gear for nothing like I do. I just pretend to pay for it and the cashier at BPS pretends to not only take it from me, she gives me the military discount.

It's a bushing. The diameter of the opening in the reel is larger than the threaded shaft. The bushing not only helps to line up the shaft with with the handle, it allows the handle to be folded in without removing the knob. You can back off the knob, fold the handle and keep the reel in one piece. It also helps to prevent over tightening the knob.

Just wondering why you'd use a leader with Big Game? My guess is that you've bought into the visibility issue and you're using soft plastics. I'm not knocking your choice, just my opinion on mono vs. fluoro visibility. To answer your question, Yes CoPoly lines are a good choice over mono (a co-poly itself), as they offer the characteristics of both lines, but they do sacrifice a little of those to achieve the end product. I'm not a big fan of fluoro, but most 12lb. fluoro has a breaking strength higher that 15lb. Big Game and a smaller diameter, better sensitivity and abrasion resistance than the same lb. test mono. No need for a leader and a quality fluoro, although still stiffer than mono, addresses manageablility issues. Add some KVD line conditioner along with some shorter casts to begin with and its benefits outweigh the minor 'issues'.

Imagine the lake without the stumps. That six foot stump flat could possibly be a good feeding shelf, but I would concentrate my efforts on the the sections closest to deeper water to begin with. You'll see me mention this often, fish the entire water column. Top, middle, bottom early on and bottom to top mid-day. If you catch fish in the six foot range, move up to the flat and target that depth. Same goes for the surface section. If you only catch a few in the 15ft. zone, stick with the deeper bite until it dies and repeat. You can work the drop casting from the flat to the deeper water and working your presentation up. Pay attention to that first bite, whatever depth you get it at will likely be the zone to target.

AS stated, there is often a down period after it gets dark and that normally starts around an hour after sundown. It's my belief that the majority of fish have just finished feeding and naturally become less active. These same periods occur during daylight, but anglers adjust to it by finesse fishing until their activity level increases. I use that period at night to organize my boat's deck and rig whatever different baits I'll be using throughout the dark hours. In a tournament situation, I'd recommend downsizing and slowing your presentations down. I'll switch to a more compact jig/trailer, smaller topwater worked painstakingly slow and small bodied cranks, again worked much slower. You'll know when to switch back as you'll be hooking the fish deeper and the pick-ups or strikes will be easier to detect.

For sure and not only when fishing timber.The benefit of a sliding sinker is to allow the fish to take your bait without feeling the weight of the sinker and rejecting it. The downside and why you peg the weight under conditions like timber, rip-rap, and many types of weeds, is that the weight will separate from your offering and the cover can get in between them. With vegetation, you'll often get weeds stuck between the weight and bait and with rocks and timber, the weight will pull the bait down at the most inopportune moment wedging it between the rocks, or exposing the hook to the wood as it's dragged over it.

‘Risky’ areas like wood and rock are some of the best areas for fishing cranks. Heck, I even use lipless cranks in some situations and am rewarded with some nice catches. There is a learning curve as chucking and winding will get you hung up with regularity, but once you learn how to work one through the timber, you’ll be reaching for a crank before a spinnerbait.

I wore out my only in-line buzzer, I believe it was an Uncle Buck’s, And I’m having difficulty finding one. Any advice on who makes or sells one. I don’t really care if it’s a single or double blade.

I trim mine on an angle (flipping jigs. The shorter, stiffer fibers reduce hang ups in timber, but interfere less with hook ups as only about a third are cut.

I know it's likely common in waters with a good population of catfish, but in the clear pits that I frequent, the presence of channel cats is extremely limited. In spite of that fact, this year alone I've hooked some big cats on cranks, spinners, buzzbaits, plastic worms and jigs. I think these fish grew up thinking they were bass and nobody ever told them otherwise. I had an 8lb. cat demolish my buzzbait around 1AM this morning that I thought was a lake record LM! Cats on bass lures, bass on muskie lures, crappie on bubble gum..................WHAT'S HAPPENING? Yes, this is what eight cups of coffee do to you.

I'm in the middle of my mid-season cleaning of my reels and rods and thought it'd be a good Idea to bring this practice to light for those here on the forum. Grant you, I put more time on the water than many, but a mid-season cleaning and check of your equipment is a good practice for anyone. Baitcasters and rod guides are collectors of grime and if you fish water with a lot of muck that collects on the surface, it doesn't take long for your guides and level wind gearing to get gummed up. I don't break down my reels, just clean out the line guide and the level wind gearing along with the guide rod, add a drop of oil to the spool bearings and clean the rod guides. The 15min. time invested will pay for itself in the long run as your equipment will perform at its peak and you'll extend the life of your reel. I have a few reels that are over 25yrs. old that still perform like new and I seriously doubt whether they would have lasted this long without that extra cleaning. At the very least, I recommend a close inspection of your gear sometime during the season. You just may avoid the heartache of replacing your favorite reel or the loss of a big fish. Yes, I'm OCD when it comes to maintaining my equipment.

I like to use them 1st as a moving bait, I let a shakey head sit much longer, and 2nd when there's some current. Both dragging it over the bottom and letting it sit in current will work better. You can also downsize and to make it more of a finnesse presentation.

River fishing presents more possibilities of getting hung up, mainly because you're dealing with current pushing your offering and you pulling it. Kind of like braking through a curve. If you power through the curve you maintain control over the other forces working to break your traction. Quarter casting while river fishing kind of works the same. If you're casting up or down river, you loose control of the lure to the current. You're still going to loose lures, but knowing how your lure feels as it's working and how the current is going to move it, give you a better chance of not only getting snagged less, but adding to your catches.

I throw mainly Stanley and Hart spinnerbaits, but am looking for a change from my favorite night fishing spinner. War Eagle offers a Blk?Blu single Colorado (smoke nickle) and it comes with rattles. Just wondering if anyone can give some views on it one way or another?