papajoe222

Bigbill may be off target a little whe he says that we don't target big bass, they target us. I believe that if you want to catch a 5lb.+ bass, you need to aggressively target them. That means when you go out, whether on a big lake or a one acre pond, every day catching mentality needs to be forgotten. Refine your thinking and presentations to that task and you'll have a much better chance than just lucking into one. Add a Muskie sized Jitterbug or a saltwater ChugBug to the big worm and buzzer already suggested and target the stuff you and 99% of the other anglers don't and you may be surprised with a hawg (or 2).

One thing that many anglers forget is that during the peak of summer, the forage base of almost all bodies of water is at its peak. You are competing with the buffet that the fish have to choose from. They will more easily ignore a sloppy presentation or an offering that looks out of place, unlike during their spring or fall movements. The other behavior that is often overlooked is that during those peak summer months, a good majority of the fish will have set feeding periods (not by a human's clock, but by theirs) and they know where to feed and what to feed on at those times. That's the downside. The upside is they also tend to group together more during the summer, whether feeding or not. Did you ever have a summer outing when you caught 20-30 bass in a relatively short period? Yes, to many of the fish that use the shallows as their home this doesn't apply, but I'm talking the majority. Now take just those few facts and apply them to a small body of water like a pond and you can see why it can be very frustrating when fishing them during the summer. The odds are stacked against you, but then again, there's always that one memorable outing that awaits you too.

The reasoning behind a closed season was mainly to protect the fishery from over harvesting, especially during the spawn. This, in theory, allows reproduction to advance to the stage of fry hatching. As you can attest from your own success in the early spring, bass are much easier to locate in the spring during their pre-spawn to post spawn cycle. The reasoning is, this also makes them easier to catch. Just a few decades ago, catch and release was unheard of and removing fish during that period when the fishery is at its most vulnerable was the driving force in closed seasons. The same goes for other species that have closed seasons such as muskie. Sadly you have only a couple of options: Move to, or fish a locality that has a longer open season that starts earlier. Petition your local law makers to update the laws to reflect the angler's morals. Good luck with the latter.

That looks like some alien movie spin-off, but I like it for a dead stick bait.

What he said. Not all the water will be moving fast and an often overlooked area of slack, or slower moving water is the deeper water below the rapids. Actually, any place the water's movement slows enough to be distinguishable is usually due to an increase in depth. A good way I've found to target that deeper, slower moving water is with a jig that will tumble along the bottom by the faster moving water, but is heavy enough to fall to the bottom on the downside of the drop where the current isn't as strong.

I've run into male bass (LM) going through the motions of fanning out beds after an extended warming trend in the fall, but never females. Then again, the water up here is hard for a few months at a time.

Check out the muskie section of your LSG. I regularly catch bass on muskie glide baits and big Original Rapalas. Soft plastics open up a whole different subject, but the big hollow swimbaits are a killer on both the muskie and big bass.

I wish a low pressure system would move through the area when I'm on vacation. Too bad you and your dad stayed off the water. Post frontal conditions are the most difficult because the fish tend to hold tight to cover, or go deep. Either way, their strike zone is small and unless you can first place your offering within that strike window, you don't have much chance. Even with reaction baits, if it isn't passing close to the fish, it won't get a second look. Most guys will switch to finesse tactics, but I concentrate on the same areas that hold fish on a regular basis and pick apart the cover with a jig. If I'm targeting deeper structure, I'll slowly drag a football jig or crawl a deep crank along key spots. It sounds like you did alright, both in locating fish and finding a presentation that worked. That front may have stalled and done you a favor......you didn't have to get wet.

I'd do odd jobs during the school year for cash. During the summer, I'd do my best to eliminate the overpopulation of squirrels in the woods by our summer cottage. Back then, a half dozen squirrel tails shipped off to Mepps would get you a bunch of free spinners. I'd end up loosing a dozen or so every season, so I needed a good, cheap supply.

With a soft/muck bottom, a jig with the line tie above its center will get bogged down less than one with the tie at the nose. So will a lighter jig, or one with a slow fall rate. You had good success with a swim jig, so if there's any weeds you occasionally run across, I'd stick with that. Otherwise, either of the above are good choices.

It would depend a lot on the main forage of the lake. The reason the fish go up the creek arms on the big inpoundments is because that's where the baitfish go. That's what they'll do in most any lake unless there is an abundance of varied forage. I know it's a very generic type of answer, but there are a lot of other factors that influence where they may be.

Nice legs Seriously, that's a story you'll be telling even after you top that 6.5 Congrats

Welcome to the forums. I fished similar pits here in Illinois for years. Crystal clear water that drops off quickly into 30+ft. There were a few areas where the drop was a slower taper and a couple of islands. Indiana was right on about finding a ramp if one exists. Two things I found out early were; After the spawn, the fish (not just bass) tend to suspend and once you find that depth, catching can be very good. The other thing is to parallel the shoreline with your presentations as much as possible. One thing to keep in mind and that is SHADE. Those steep drop offs are like bluff walls and offer plenty of shade but for a couple of hours mid-day. The fish will hold shallower in the shaded areas and tend to hold close to that edge it provides. Smaller baits (I bagged a lot of fish on crappie sized cranks and split shot 6in. worms) and light line, fluorocarbon if you prefer, will get you more bites. You didn't mention if you'll be fishing from shore, or a boat. Pits are great bodies of water to fish from shore if there isn't a lot of brush and such to deal with.

There are so many ways to rig plastics and different retrieves, one could write a 400 page book and still leave out a few. Learn to rig them weedless, or what many call Texas rigging, and you can present them with or without a weight. When it comes to weights, you've a ton of options, pick one that fits the conditions (water depth, wind, etc.) and go out and fish it slow. No, I mean s l o w.

Yes I do, but once the water temp. hit 60, I tend to put them away until fall. Unlike your success using a steady retrieve, a pumping/jigging retrieve seems to work best in the waters I frequent. I would imagine using one under tough conditions, rather than a lipless crank, could be productive. Or just to show the fish something they don't see very often. Thanks for turning on a light for me. Hope I can pay ya back sometime soon.

Exactly. I crank it down until it hits bottom (I'll usually run it a few feet to kick up some bottom) then pause for a bit (I also experiment with how long I pause) wind it down until it bumps bottom again and repeat. With a deep diving crank, you get the bait down to the bottom quick and it stays there, even if the depth increases a few feet you're still able to keep it down. The time it takes to complete a cast can be upwards of a minute, so this isn't a tactic to use if you're trying to cover water, but it's a real killer when you know you've located fish, or have a lot of confidence in a spot. One more thing. Although craw patterns work well doing this, I've also loaded the boat using shad colors at times, but honestly,IMO, the action is what the fish are submitting to.

Most crankbait anglers know that those baits work best when they deflect off cover or the bottom. For years I have used cranks that run 12ft-14ft in 8ft-10ft of water for that very reason. As a byproduct of doing so, I've been forced to slow down my retrieve speed. 'Grinding' a crank across the bottom is harder on this old body than deep cranking which I've all but put on the shelf, but by slowing down and using a bait with closer to neutral buoyancy I can bump the bottom, pause it, and repeat. There isn't the sharp, strike triggering deflection doing this, but many of my bigger fish have succumbed to this tactic.

Along the lines of what Catt said. Successful fishing is like hunting. If you go around the woods, blindly firing of shot after shot, you may hit something. If you learn about your quarry; where it eats, what it eats, how it gets to and from where it eats you can reduce all that effort or at the very least, put it to use where you're likely to contact your prey. Find where the fish call home, what they eat, and if that forage doesn't pass by their 'house', how they get to their food and back home again. Location. Without finding it, you'll be doing a lot of casting and not much catching.

Yea, I've seen the videos Glen, but I've been getting lazy with up-keep and just added grease to the Bearing Buddies rather than clean and repack the bearings the last couple of years. Paid the price, too

The problem would be securing the floor, it's below the water line, to support you're sitting on a pedestal seat. A floor to walk and stand on could be spot secured with epoxy. You'd need much more secure mounting for what you mention. Are the benches riveted in place, or tac welded? Removing rivets puts you in the same situation with holes at, or near the water line. What about that area under the bow for storage? The other thing, if you really want swivel seats is to add them to the bench. They even make removeable mounts. just some things to think about.

Okay, I'm sure we've all heard it more than once: Maintain your trailer bearings and tires, or you'll pay the price with a ruined outing or worse. I just went through what I consider worse, a month plus of lost time on the water because of trailer bearing failure. I thought I caught it before it did any damage, just switch out the bearings and I'd be on my way (I keep a spare set just in case). No such luck. The bearing race fused itself to the spindle before the bearing fell apart rendering the spindle useless. Of course the entire hub is welded on to the axle, so I had to have the entire axle replaced and it would be two weeks to get one in stock. A new trailer would only take three weeks and seeing as mine was over 12 years old and starting to rust, That's the route I took. SIX WEEKS later it finally arrived. HEED THE WARNING. Maintain all your gear guys and gals, including your trailer and don't be to macho to stop every hundred miles or so and check for excessive heat at the wheel hub. It could save you precious fishing time, or half a season.

Welcome First off, leave the bow the way it is regardless whether you add a deck or not. The addition of running lights, or a bow mounted TM will make you happy you didn't. Second, I want to talk you out of the idea of adding a deck in the first place. I'll tell you why. I had a very similar boat, a 16ft. Alumicraft with a modified V-hull that I added a front deck too. It was not a stable platform to fish from and even if I sat on a short pedestal, any movement from my partner would toss me overboard until I educated him about warning me before making any sudden movements ( it wasn't hard, I just had him sit up front and proceeded to reach over and pick up my pliers. Did I mention he can't swim?) I digress...... Your center of gravity is going to be too high even if you only run the deck on top of the bench seats. What I'd recommend is adding a carpeted floor down the center third from the front bench to the back one. You'll accomplish the goal of having a flatand stable surface to stand on while casting, you'll only be adding a couple of inches to your overall center of gravity and the carpeting will deaden the sound of your shuffling around from being transmitted through the hull. You could even add the floor and then carpet the sides and it together to give in a more uniform look. If you're certain that you'll be the only one fishing from the boat, you could try the board over the bench seat scenario before securing it. It's your boat, tailor it to what you want.

The make-up of the line has more to do with abrasion resistance than the line diameter. In your example, the XT will hold up much better than the XL 15lb. Original Stren is a good go between for manageability and abrasion resistance. Mono will still retain a good portion of its breaking strength when exposed to abrasion. Fluoro, although touted as more abrasion resistant only because it's breaking strength is under rated and similar to mono, it will retain a good portion of it strength. We're talking abrasion and not nicks or cuts. Fluoro stands above mono and braid when it comes to dealing with them.

Welcome. That St.Croix Mojo set-up is also a good choice for spinnerbaits, if you use braid. The combo you have listed for spinnerbaits doesn't have enough give, IMO, to let the fish suck the bait in. A simple switch from braid to fluoro in the 15lb range would be one way to go. The way you have it set up now, it could double as a jig/worm rod. Switching reels with your swimbait rod is another. Don't over burden yourself with a lot of color decisions. Think dark for off colored to low visibility water and light for clear to stained water. if you feel like you're trying too many different things, leave all but one or two techniques home and just concentrate on them. Maybe one finesse and one power presentation. Good luck and most importantly, have fun.

I prefer using a baitcaster, but couldn't find a rod that had the action I wanted, so I went the custom route and built one on a spinning blank. I even went one step further and did a spiral wrap. I do, however use a 'traditional' baitcaster for bigger/heavier tubes that I use a lot for largemouth. There are a number of fine tubes out there, I prefer hand poured, thin walled tubes for clean bottoms and rigging with internal jig heads. For punching and skipping I like Ozark Tackle tubes. If you haven't tried using a tube, they are awesome for both presentations.