papajoe222

If there is a variety of cover, I like to fish either the least abundant form, or where two types converge or coexist.

If they are retention ponds, it's very doubtful hat there are shad stocked in them, but there is always the possibility that some 'well meaning' angler has put some in. If fish were stocked by any agency and not the land owner, they likely stocked forage fish as well. Sunfish (bream) and minnows are the most common as they transport well and are very prolific. If you don't see the forage, check the belly of the next fish you catch. If you are a 100% catch and release guy, you'll be limited to the occasional spit up of recently swallowed forage by a stressed out bass. I also wouldn't exert a lot of time in your attempt to discover the local forage as many productive baits do not imitate anything natural in a fish's environment, but still catch them.

When it comes to purchases always discern need from want.

Glad to hear from the Quantum supporters, especially prior to opening my opinionated mouth. Guess why he asks for my opinion? He says I'm open minded. I do recall having a PT with the flipping switch that was a good piece of equipment, no issues for the two seasons I had it.

I recently purchase a few sets of bearings from HawgTech that I installed on the spools of a few of my less expensive reels. A Daiwa TD Pro, Exceller and a BPS Pro Lite ( the 10 bearing promo model). The only way I can describe the results other than to say awesome difference in performance is with an analogy. It's like fishing with braid for the first time after using mono your whole life when it comes to sensitivity. I've done bearing upgrades on a number of reels, but until this year never ordered from HawgTech. After installing them in a Sol I'd just purchased I couldn't believe the difference in free spool spin time and just overall smoothness. Yes, ceramics are a little noisy, but only on the cast and I don't wear my hearing aids when on the water, so I don't notice it. For $16 plus shipping, IMO, it was more than worth it and installing them was a breeze as I've had these reels apart many times.

For cold water cranking, I like two types of lipped cranks. A thin bodied balsa crank and a suspending fat body bait. The first is fished just fast enough that it maintains it's depth and makes occasional contact with something. The second is cranked to depth paused, cranked, paused. Occasionally, I'll work it like a jerk bait after it reaches depth.

If I know an area has good fish holding potential, I'll give the area half an hour to an hour to check out top to bottom. If I contact fish, I'll give it more. If you're talking a specific target, I'll hit it with multiple casts from different angles and possibly different baits before moving on. This is what I really like about not fishing tournaments any more. You'd be surprised at the targets you give a few casts to only to move on and have the guy with the winning bag get his kicker or biggest fish off of one of those he hit a little differently or with a totally different bait.

The great thing about doing something like this is that you can do it whatever way you like. It can be a total CP&R, catch photo and release, tournament. You could have a local radio personality or whoever do the judging with the judge's choice being the winner and call it a judge's choice contest, have multiple judges, or whatever. The prize pool being divided however you choose, but be sure the participants know what the breakdown is. You can limit the number of entries, or have a limit on the number of boats or bank fishermen, or both. One thing I think would be appreciated would be separate awards for those two catagories and seeing as you're thinking of a team entry amount, the awards and prizes should be for the team. I did something similar to this years ago, but it was a bowling tournament. All monies taken in were donated to the charity and all the prizes were donated by local businesses. You'd be surprised at what kind and the value some of those donations can be as it's 'free' advertising for their business. Just make sure there is some form of recognition in any advertisement. Note: please PM me with information about entering as I live in the Chicago area, but frequent the Quad Cities and western Illinois often.

I'm sure it's a deliberate design, not just sloppy engineering. As I said, the side plate 'fills the gap', also likely by design. It just seems to me that this is just a cheap way of doing that.

Without a doubt, pre spawn. Once the fish are locked on to the beds, catching is always a chore. Not that it can't be a chore catching pre spawned, there ar plenty of instances that will turn them off, but there will still be periods of feeding activity. When they are active and roaming you have a much better chance of hooking up.

I just finished the last of five rod projects I'd planned for the winter. Considering they were interrupted with my hand surgeries, I finished fairly close to schedule. This was done on a friend's favorite. Some cork fill, a couple of guides re wrapped, old finish stripped and these additions.

A breakline isn't a point or piece of structure (actually a point is structure). A breakline is an abrupt change in depth. Contour lines can give these away if you see a coiuple of them close together on a map. On natural lakes a breakline can be as shallow as 3-5 ft. on deep lakes and impoundments it can be a 20ft.drop or more. It, in fact, is the first half of the definition of structure. Pre-spawn bass will pull back to these breaklines during cold front conditions and post spawn fish will also stop somewhere along that break to rest. If the fish are keyed in on spawning, or actually spawning they will likely stay in the area and just shut down. Their focus is on spawning and cold front or not, they'll be tight lipped.

It never ceases to amaze me how bad habits are so hard to break. For years, as a youngster that grew up walleye fishing, my father pounded 'keep your rod tip up' into my head. I rarely lost a walleye after that became my natural rod position. I was introduced to bass fishing at the age of 19 and continued keeping the Rod tip up during the fight and loosing fish. About the time that fishing shows became popular I noticed that those guys would keep their rod tip much lower, especially when the fish was near the surface. I started imitating them and began landing more fish. My falling back into that old rod tip up mentality was easy as there was no one to constantly remind me and I still get so excited during the fight that I often forget. Words of advice from Papa: DON'T DO THAT. You're welcome

If you call a bra an 'over the shoulder boulder holder, do you call a jock strap an 'under the butt nut hut?

What, no Duke fans?

I just spent the morning cleaning my son-in-laws reels. He's a Quantum fan as KVD had a big influence on him when he first started getting serious about fishing. I couldn't believe the the amount of space between the spool and the side plates. I know there is material on the sideplates that cover up the space, but for being touted as 'quality' reels those three I worked on fell far short as far as I'm concerned. I just don't see them holding up well to heavy use. He has a Smoke that I'll be doing a bearing upgrade on and for his sake I hope I'm not disappointed with the insides when I open it up. For those of you that have any of the KVD models, how have they been holding up? He's looking at a 5.1 for cranking and I don't want to tell him it would be a waste of money, but from what I've seen, I sure wouldn't recommend Quantum to anyone that works their gear hard.

I also have Half Jackets, but just ordered a pair of Costa Jose prescriptions with the 580G lenses. I'm old school and prefer glass lenses. Can't wait as I'll be using them mostly for driving. You should check with your eye Dr. Most can order lenses to fit whatever frame you choose and that includes polarized.

It's likely a good spot for a bed, but there likely isn't a pair of bass committed to it yet. Your catching a variety is a good indication of that, or you've been catching fish that have chosen the spot, but haven't made it 'home' yet. I have no idea if a fish, like some birds, will return to the same spot each mating season. I do believe that they use the same area.

What DVT said. It coul be the the pawl, it could be the spool release re-engaging or a week spring. Get it to a pro if you can't figure it out yourself.

Hopefully that isn't the only way you fish a worm, but yes that can be productive at times. Irreverent creatures and beaver style plastics more for a falling presentation, but with a much faster fall rate than a Senko. Whether it's wacky style, nose hooked, or even on a weighted swim bait hook for my use, a Senkos works best when falling slowly. Worms, on the other hand, I tend to present more horizontally.

See, I knew the guys over fifty might get a chuckle out of that. Sadly, I have to admit that despite my physical handicap, I still prefer using my right hand.............for casting.

Do a search here on northern natural lakes. The information you get about impoundments is just as relevant to natural lakes. With the exception of creek arms and a few other structures, there are a lot more similarities. Just remember that in natural lakes the changes in depth are more subtle and the types of cover may be different, but fish seasonal movements, as well as location in relation to nearby deep water is the same, but deep water is relative to the area you're fishing. Weather factors have the same influence. Current fluctuations are something you'll likely never encounter, but how bass position themselves in current situations is the same and you will encounter current in natural lakes.

With my bum shoulder, I use a roll cast for all but deep cranking or distance casting. I do the same with my backhand. I haven't gotten to the point that I can skip backhanded, but for accuracy I'd say I'm pretty good out to around 15 yards. I can't even buff the wood left handed let alone cast that way, so I had to figure out something.

The U40 is a water based sealer, which I figured would not interact with whatever color seal that is used in the thread. I'll likely do a third application to insure against the possibility of the colors bleeding into the white.