papajoe222

I envy you guys, I wish I had the funds for a trip to Baccarac. Heck, I'd settle for a guided trip on Lake Fork.

Are you going to hook up with your Baccarac fishing partner that's not on this site anymore? Just curious.

While doing a decorative but wrap, I noticed a mistake. I want to remove it all from the blank and start over. One problem; I used U-40 color lock 2 on the threads. How can I clean the blank after peeling off the threadwork? It’s a water based polymer.

Line choice, for me, depends a lot on, not only water clarity, but the equipment used. For casting gear, I almost always use braid. The exception is when fishing rip rap. If the water is super clear, I may go with a mono or fluoro leader. For hair jigs, fluoro gets the nod and for spinning gear, it's braid to a long fluoro leader as straight fluoro has a tendency to jump off the spool in the higher pound tests.

Sometimes, it's the guy in the back seat that outfishes the guy up front. As a non-boater I would drive my partner for the day crazy some times, throwing the same lure as him and out catching him two or three to one. Many times it was his fault as he would cast to the sunny side of some form of cover and I'd follow casting to the shady side. Sometimes his cast would result in a splash down where mine was a soft entry. And sometimes and I really believe this happens more often that many anglers think; His cast would land behind the fish and by the time it turned to investigate, he was already into his retrieve. I'd follow and the fish would then actually be looking in that direction. Fish on.

I replaced the pump about 15 years ago when I didn’t open the oil reservoir vent. The resulting below zero temps pushed the oil through the pump and into the carbs. It was a pain in the keester to replace then and I was 15 years younger.

I have a 50hp Mercury with oil injection and the injector is malfunctioning. Can I just run a gas/oil mixture rather than replacing the injector pump?

burn it, stroke it, slow roll it, yo yo it, pop it off the bottom, wake it. About the only thing I won't do with one is dead stick it, oh and let it sit on the deck all day. If I have one tied on when I leave the launch, it's gonna get used.

C-Rigs It was my go to presentation for decades. Great for covering structure quickly and finding potential hot spots along the way. With the addition of a quality depthfinder on the bow, and the good success I've had with football jigs, I only used it a few times in the early spring and never tied on on the rest of the season. Kind of like deep cranking for me, I found an alternative presentation that accomplishes the same thing with less work. I'll likely use it in the future on a new lake, or again in early spring, but other than that, it'll sit in the box at home, not in the boat.

Overall, the 2024 fishing season sucked for me. Between shoulder and heart issues, my on water time was basically cut in have from previous years. My average outing was under four hours. Add to that, many days were fished during what I consider off hours, noon 'till four. Lastly the new club lake director decided to use chemicals to kill off the weeds. They killed everything. The loss of that valuable cover really affected the ecosystem. The water would be clear one day and muddy the next. The O2 levels fluctuated so much, air pumps were needed to prevent fish kills. The number of small bluegill, the main forage, all but disappeared as they had no place to hide. I didn't catch any thing over 4lb. after they killed off the vegetation until the third week in October. After a 32 year membership there, I won't be renewing next year.

You do realize that equation results in a negative answer. To be a little more specific, a whole lot less.

I’m not saying I have in the past 🙄 but next time you’re roaming around in the woods, pick a few for me. You don’t need to send them to me, I’ll just fly out on my magic carpet to get ‘em.

I can't believe it's the second week of November, and I'm still catching active fish. The boat is winterized, so I'm limited to fishing from shore, mostly ponds. Seeing as ponds cool down much quicker than lakes, I was surprised to catch fish on a crank today. I started off with a nose hooked Senko, but the first two fish I caught had choked it. Seeing as they were active, I switched to a flat sided crank and a moderate to fast retrieve was getting hammered. All fish were caught with the whole bait in their mouth. I even caught my biggest bass ever from this pond and I've been fishing it for about five years. I only fished for two hours and got seven fish, five on the crank, IN NOVEMBER!

I go heavy, 3/8oz. as I rarely fish a shakey head in water under 15ft. When I move it, it's with an upward sweep and reel that will move it 3-5ft., let it sit and let it sit some more. On occasion, like when I'm looking for a change in bottom composition, I'll drag it, but more often than not, I'm using a football jig for that.

I've used a light bullet weight in front of a Senko to get it down deep faster than rigging it weightless. I'd estimate 75% of bites still occur on the fall, just like a weightless rig, so I don't think it looses much action. I may be wrong, but I know it works.

My favorite reel is the first, low profile baitcaster I ever owned, a Daiwa Procaster PMA10. I have it paired to an older BPS rod with the power hump cork handle for throwing Spooks. My current favorite rod is a St.Croix, but I build a lot of my own rods and my 'favorite' has changed many times over the years. The one with the most emotional attachment is one an old friend had for decades. It was gifted to me by his widow and I've never used it. It's the first rod in my rod rack and I pick it up often to stir up some happy fishing memories.

As someone else mentioned, It's more about matching the rod to the angler than it is about matching the rod to the technique. I personally use a 7'3" MH/ModFast rod for all but my small jerkbaits. Those I throw on a St.Croix ML/Fast 7ft. I like the longer, softer rod for the 110's because I prefer to let the rod load up before a sweeping hookset. For the smaller Rapalas, I set the hook at the first indication of a bite.

I keep them in their original package and those go in a Flambeau Super Half Satchel marked with the style of plastic bait inside. The four I regularly carry take up a lot of space, but as I am usually alone, space isn't much of a concern. Prior to employing them, I'd take them out of their packaging and place them in a 3700 size Plano. I ended up not knowing what color I was running short on as my visaion is color compromized.......Watermellon and green pumpkin look way too much alike for me to tell the difference without the package label.

I pump out any water using the Bearing Buddys and pull the hubs, flush and repack the bearings in the spring.

My dad introduced me to Mepps spinners at the tender age of ten. We, I was a walleye angler then and Mepps spinners were rarely used on the Wisconsin River flowage that we fished every year. They caught everything from 1.5lb. crappie to +36in. pike. When I started targeting bass a few years later, They were the only spinners I threw, still do.

Nah, I peaked about 35 years ago. Week-end tournaments and mid-week excursions kept me at my peak during that period. If I could remember half of what I knew and had the skill I once had, even with the advanced electronics of today, old me would kick my you know what. Never mind, I'd be taking a nap about four hours into the competition.

So I began the process of storing my boat for the winter. First step was emptying all the tackle I keep in it. That tackle takes up 2/3 of my workbench. What isn't pictured, because it's behind all this, is my buzz and spinnerbaits, paddletail swimbaits, and a peg board that runs the full 7ft. length of the workbench filled with tube baits. Next up, putting the trailer up on jack stands, removing the wheels and greasing up the axle bearings.

I shoot long range rifle competition. Somebody hits me with a couple of pellets while goose hunting, he just may loose a toe and never hear it until it's too late.

The fastest reel I own is an 8.1:1 and it's only used for jig and buzzbait fishing. I find that with a fast reel, even a 7.1, I end up bringing my presentation in too fast. I really have difficulty using one for walking baits as I end up taking up too much slack, throwing off my cadence. It's much easier for me to speed up using a 6.3:1 than it is for me to slow down using something faster.

Stck with me kid and you’ll be cashing out in tournaments in no time.