papajoe222

For a C-rig, I find it's hard to beat a Zoom 6in. Lizard. Worked uphill on a point, down a bluff, in cover or just about anywhere you choose, a T-rig with a 6in.-7in. ribbon tail worm with a sliding weight, as light as you can and still maintain contact. If I need to go small, I break out my tubes.

Windy and cloudy are prime conditions for power presentations. A spinnerbait is tough to top as is a buzzbait. My next choice would be a lipless crank. You can work the entire water column with it, or the spinner. One of the conditions you may encounter in the spring is rising water. Newly flooded cover can be targeted with either the spinner, bladed jig, or a swim jig.

Big Bite Baits Craw Tube. I throw others, but that's my fav.

You are stronger than you know and we see it. Prayers, not only for your health, for strength and the support of family and friends. Keep us posted and when you do get on the water, enjoy. We know you will.

Mann's 12in. Jelly Worm in dark plum, Zoom Ole Monster and 10in. Culprit. I also like the Mag 2 in black grape, but that's a 9in.

Best, I think, is a personal preference. For a straight retrieve, either burning it or running it over the tops of weeds, I'm a Rat-L-Trap or Diamond Shad (no longer in production). For a yo-yo retrieve, a SK Red Eye Shad or Hammer Trap and for a big profile that'll stay high in the water column, I like a Cordell 3in. Super Spot

Remind me, did I sell you a box of my square bills? That one with three or four baits in every compartment, looks familiar.

I've heard of kissing fish, but hugging?

Talking baits and presentations; I'm a proponent of showing, or doing something different to give me an edge or up the odds in my favor. Sometimes it's a small change in the lure or presentation, other times, it's in the rigging. A few years back I started punching heavy pads and weeds.The snell knot was recommended and that's what I used. I got to thinking, if the cam action it offers to punching couldn't be applied to the good ole Texas rig. Yep, it works great and there is less stress on the knot on hook sets. What about other rigging, I thought? One of the reasons a glass bead is used on a C-rig is to add sound. Why not on a T-rig? Do these additions make a big difference, I doubt it, but any advantage I can get, I'll take. Do you do anything to improve your chances? Hook upgrades, coloring plastics, or adding a color to a hard baits, adding rattles to soft plastics, etc. If so, how's it working out for you?

Keep what you use the most. I have seven crankers, but I only use three on a regular basis. If I were doing what you're thinking of, I'd sell the three that rarely get use. That being said, I'm thinking of building another one.

3751+68=3819

As Pat said, the females, here, will move up and mark a spot for a bed by clearing it a little. The males will move in and clean things up. If you catch a male prior to the actual spawn, release it in the same area. Females generally have their mate chosen by then. You want to, at least, give the guy a chance at getting to the finish line.

It won't be for the whole year, but I'll be adding Minnesota to my list this year. One thing good about being an old fart is quite a few states give you a discount on the fee.

I get sneaky about tackle purchases during the winter. I'll purchase one lure every week when I take the better half grocery shopping. I make sure we go to a store with a good fishing selection, pick out one lure or bag of plastics and throw it in the cart. When I get the 'look', I brush it off with a "it's only one, or it's the cost of me actually going grocery shopping." 20+ weeks later, I'm fairly well stocked up.

How do I put that in my 'favorites'?

My local lake is about a 30min. drive. Unless I'm making a week-end of it, I try to keep trips under two hours drive one way. Most outings for me are four hours, give or take and I can't justify spending more time in the car than I do on the water.

I believe I have 4 or 5 -plano 3700 boxes full of deep diving lures. Most of the lakes around me max out at about 15 feet. I keep saying one of these days I will find a drop off and these will be needed. 🤔 Same here, but I'll toss a deep diver when I want to slowly work a crank on the bottom. Those deep divers will keep digging at the slowest speeds where with a medium diver you'd need a faster retrieve. This is what I did for my jerkbait combo. I'm switching over for my Spooks, too.

I almost always start out 'power' fishing, the exception is when facing cold front conditions. I'll adjust the area of the water column and retrieve speed until I hit on a combination that produces. If that produces, I'll rarely switch to a finesse presentation. I'll change spots looking for similar ones and return to the original area after an hour or so. The flip side gets the same treatment. If finesse is producing, I see no reason to switch to 'power' presentations.

I loose more tackle in one outing from shore than I do all year fishing from my boat. I even lost a rod and reel fishing from shore as I was carrying two. As I walked down the shoreline, I leaned one against a tree and continued down the shore only to return to where I thought I'd left it. It wasn't there, or anywhere and that was before my memory started to go on me.

I think you're talking about split rings here. Again, get some different sizes. One way you can add weight to a crank or jerkbait is to add an extra one to he hook hanger, or the split ring that the hook is attached to.

Expect them soon. I got mine today.

Not really fishing them as a jerkbait, but I was Carolina rigging them in the early 70's for walleye. I've been doing that for bass for decades and I'll let the cat out of the bag; you can do it with cranks, too. Bass rarely, if ever, see a small crank in 15ft.+

Sushi Heck I'm shot down already if I get to TN this year. I have a better shot there than the bogus IL record LM

You can 'walk' a bait to run left or right with a combination of short and long pauses, but need to run straight. I will 'tune' a crank to run left or right when targeting docks, or a line of standing timber, so it will run under the dock before hitting a support and then back under.

I will normally start out small and slow. As I target deeper structure now, a blade bait is hard to beat, smaller/compact jigs with a subtle trailer like a Zoom Super Chunk Jr. I like to hit shallow bodies of water now as they warm faster, so for those I'll give a Mepps spinner and a smaller jerkbait serious consideration. If you're more of a soft plastics guy, a 4in. stick worm Texas rigged and worked like a jerkbait (you can go with a Fluke) or a tube bait on a light jighead can be worked anywhere in the water column.