papajoe222

My favorite smallie lake has a maximum depth of 40ft. and during the summer, 22-24ft. seems to me the magic depth. They love to suspend about 25yrds. off the drop, but occasionally I find them right on the lip.

Sounds like a great alternative to a weighted swim bait. I absolutely love a Kalin's Lunker Grub as a trailer. I use them on spinnerbaits in the spring and fall, too.

It all depends on your own expectations. I'd say to list the features your tracker has that you like and then list what more you'd like. Add the two together and find a used boat that has ALL of them. Then you can concern yourself with the price and more importantly, the condition of that boat.

I stock up on the majority of things during the big store's pre-season sales. We shop Meijer and WalMart. For groceries, so that's where I'll pick up hooks,sinkers and such as needed during the season.

For docks, I prefer a jig if here holding by the pilings and skipping a tube uder the dock. For bridge pilings, nothing beats banging a crank into them and their bases.

That and the Magnum II. JuneBug and Black up here. For decades a plastic worm T-rigged was my go to presentation. Now it's just another presentation, but one I still use a lot.

Eagle Claw offers a quality treble, Lazer Sharp, that is an affordable option. I believe it's their 3X. I know it comes in red, but I'm not sure about nickle. #4 should cover most of those baits.

I like the idea of calling your tackle a 'collection'. When it comes down to it, that is exactly what it is. Now I can just tell the wife I'm in a mood to add to my collection. She should understand as she has a few collections of her own.

You don't need to go deep to find cooler water, or the bass. Thick weeds are like a forest providing shade and cooler water for bass. Canopy types of weeds are the best as they provide plenty of shade and are easier for the fish to not only move around, but to see your offering. Docks that are low to the water don't allow as much sunlight under them Rocks, rip-rap and wood will retain heat well into the night, but don't abandon them just because of the warmer water. The moss that grows on them attracts baitfish and in doing so attracts bass. So if you're not confident with targeting deep fish, stick with the cooler shallower water,but change your target cover and you can continue to catch 'em.

I'd venture a guess that 50% of the baits I carry have caught fish for me. Another 40% are the same baits in different colors. The only hard baits I have that have never been used are a handful of jerkbaits, a Lucky13 and a couple of Rapala DT16s

Flip side is fish slow and tight to cover. A reaction bite is great when you can get them, but even then, you'll need to get close to cover or find suspended fish.

The beauty of most soft plastics is that there are so many different rigging options, some of which the majority of anglers would swear couldn't catch fish. Go ahead and experiment to your heart's desire. I, personally, like to rig a Fluke on it's side to get more of a gliding action out of it.

Welcome to the forums. They are another style of sinker commonly called casting sinkers. No sure exactly what their specific use is, but I'm guessing some sort of trolling or surf usage.

Check the line guide on your reel if it's a baitcaster, or the roller on your spinning reel bail. I'm not sure if that's a spinning or casting Duckett you're using. Either could be nicking the line and on a hard cast or hook-set is the opportune time for it to fail.

I had planned on doing some night fishing the evening before heading north on my yearly trip in July. A severe storm blew it and I canceled the idea, but headed out early the next morning to get in an hour or two before leaving with the family. I caught 23 bass in less than two hours, 21 of them on topwater. I headed home, packed up the family and headed out on the six hour drive. Fifteen minutes after we arrived I was on the water. Seven smallies, four largemouth all over 3lb. and four pike later, I thought the Lord was preparing me for my demise. I almost had a heart attack when I hooked into my biggest muskie to date. Needless to say, I didn't sleep that night. I couldn't stop thinking about getting out there again in the morning.

Shortest was two days and the longest was five. I'm five minutes from my BPS, but I have my orders shipped there to save paying the sales tax if I were to purchase from the store.

Welcome. I keep it simple. I use an 4ft. telescoping push pole to get into the weeds with both my TM and outboard out of the water. When I get to a spot that looks productive, I'll lower both motors and that will pretty much hold me there. If you can approach the weeds from down wind, you can drift over them and lower the motors to slow or stop your drift.

I'm guessing you fish from shore where loosing baits is a much bigger concern. Otherwise, why wouldn't you throw that LC?

Don't confuse Price with quality. In many cases one does reflect the other, but there are many quality fishing lures that I don't consider pricey. Then again, to me $8 for a crank, $7 for a spinnerbait, or $4.50 for a jig isn't pricey while to others they may be. A $4 crank that I need to switch out hooks and split rings, to me, isn't a bargain. Getting that $8 one for $6.49 is. Yes, that $4 crank will catch fish and a cheap set of socket wrenches will get the nut off of a bolt, but if you work on cars regularly, their ugly side becomes apparent in short order. In the long run, I believe you get what you pay for.

Original Rat L Trap. Other lipless cranks have produced for me, but I've never caught anything with the original. I gave up on them about ten years ago. I opted for the Hot Spot and the Red Eye Shad and haven't looked back.

Just curious, as you said this is a SB rod, how and what type of rear grip you'll be using after extending the rod? I see you mention a baseball bat handle. Did you plan on tapering it down to a trim ring diameter and reducing the knob with a lathe?

What MIke said about withstanding pressure. That is the reason you don't see many muskie, steelhead, or saltwater rods with single foot guides. I also like a double foot guide as a stripper guide for the cosmetic value, especially when using tiger or multiple color thread wraps and trim rings. For longer +7ft. heavy action rods I'll normally go with three double foots from the grip up, but that has more to do with purchasing guides in sets than there being a necessity to do so.

Sounds like a hat trick and that's almost always a winner. I got two outa three and it's worked for 45yrs. I prefer having a companion along, especially if momma doesn't know.

Deep diving cranks had been a consistent summer producer for as long as I can remember. For bottom presentations, that is. This year, I can count on one hand the outings where they produced. Football jigs with big trailers and shakey heads with straight tail worms, on the other hand have been my most productive bottom presentations. Don't get me wrong, as long as I'm catching, I'm a happy camper. What puzzles me is the lack of interest in the faster, more aggressive presentation. I was just curious as to whether it is more of a trend on the local waterways or if anglers around the country had noticed a similar trend.

Butt on the left and tip to the right. I also wrap the stripping guide first and work my way to the tip, but that's a personal preference.