papajoe222

I don't use them personally, but when I'm introducing someone to fishing I'll have them use it along with a Mepps and a Beetle Spin.

You need to take the bottom composition of the area you're fishing into consideration. Bullet sinkers are the most often used, but tend to hang up in rip-rap or chunk rock. I prefer a RockRunner or Bottom Bouncer, but they are a little pricey. A Mojo or Lindy style work well for most situations.

The problem I encounter when burning cranks or trolling, is very light hook ups. By that I mean the fish are barely hooked on the edge of their lips and the first good head shake tears the hook loose. I kind of solved the problem by switching to a med power rod with a moderate tip and mono line. The combination of the two allow the fish to suck the lure further in their mouth before the speed of the retrieve pulls it out. You'll still get those light hook ups, but more will be hooked inside the mouth. The other thing I might suggest is to not reel when setting the hook, it only makes the lure move faster and possibly out of the fish's mouth.

The link is for hanging a yak on the wall. I'm not sure how you envision using them on a trailer, but unless you plan on mounting and supporting a sheet of plywood vertically, I can't picture a way to use them. If you don't mind a suggestion, a car top bracket can easily be mounted to a flat surface. Most will hold two yaks and on a trailer would give plenty of support.

I'll add the top of submerged weeds.

I'm going to add something that hasn't been mentioned and that's counting down your presentation. The first thing you need to know is how long it takes your bait to get to the bottom. It doesn't make a difference if you know the depth of the water or not, just start counting when it hits the water and stop when it hits bottom....in addition to watching your line and feeling. On subsequent casts, if you continue counting past the point where it should have hit bottom, or it stops falling before it should, one of two things has happened. The depth of the area where you just cast is either deeper or shallower, or a fish has taken it. Reel down and drop your rod tip, gently raise the tip when all slack is out and if you feel anything other than what your bait should feel like, set the hook. If you're not sure, set the hook and by all means, if you feel something pulling back.........

I can't really help because I can't remeber the last time I got skunked. Of course at my age I can't remember..........................What was the question again? Seriously, I get bummed out whatever season it is. The fish just seem to be a little more difficult to locate in the summer as they don't roam as much as in the spring and fall.

Whether or not you cut the old hook, or remove the hanger you'll want to add a split ring. I personally prefer standard length shanks on the front aned either go with the next size down or a short shank on the back to keep them from tangling. I replace most of my trebles every off season, so I opt for Eagle Claw Lazer Sharp for cost reasons.

I respect that you disagree that it's more a sight bait and the fish need to see it. I don't always agree with me either.

I added a third battery to my boat when I upgraded my trolling motor to 24V. I love the new motor, but I'm not happy with the way the batteries are secured (a strap) I'd much prefer some style of clamp down mount and was wondering if there is a tray of some sort that is made for that purpose. I haven't had any issues over the past eight years with the strap securing the battery, I'd just think a sturdier bracket would reduce vibration and in doing so, extend the life of the batteries.

I'm questioning why you would choose a white spinnerbait to use in dark water. If that's the only one you own, I'd change out the skirt for use in stained water. At the very least, add a trailer that would make the bait more visible.

The purpose of adding a hole is to let water out the back that's been forced into the bait from the opening at the line tie. If the water has no place to go, it will fill up the body and the frog will sink or at the very least sit too low to work properly.

A Senko is a great sight bait. In other words the fish have to see it for it to be effective. Even though the water in that lake is clear, the thick hydrilla prevents the majority of fish from seeing it. You either need to switch to a bait that will get into the weeds, or one that will give off more vibration that the fish would feel and possibly investigate. For this time of year, I'd go with a hollow body frog adding a lot of action with frequent pauses or a wake style crank or a spinnerbait over the tops of the submerged weeds.

Terminator's black spinnerbait with the beveled Colorado blade. I forget what it was called, but it flat outfished any other I've used at night.

What depth, cover and/or structure do you plan to target?

Man, I like threads like this that get you to thinking. What's great to is the fact that there is always something to be learned and what better teachers than the group on this forum. Lilly pads on the left and matted grass on the right which would that bass choose? I doubt he would choose either because of the type of weed. Mike has a point and I along with others can mention what we think, but using only one factor in attempting to determine fish location is like having only one known value when attempting to solve an equation. In the above, I'd choose the one closest to deep water.

Glad to hear of your success. What color was the water, or I guess a better question would be how deep was the light penetration and how deep were you fishing?

Making a presentation to suspended fish can be difficult. My answer to that difficult task is to use a slip bobber to present your offering to them. Jigs are my prefered offering, but small spoons, wacky rigged worms, even live bait are all options as are some I didn't mention. I don't spend too much time on suspended fish, but I will use the depth they're holding at in my search for more catchable fish.

If you consider yourself to be a good angler and you don't include some knowledge of a bass' habitat, you're fooling yourself. I think the reason you don't see a lot of print about different types of weeds is that many impoundments rarely have an abundance of weed grouth let alone a variety. In lakes that do, I agree that understanding what type of bottom it grows in and what type of forage relates to it can make the difference between catching and an exersize in casting. In my area, weeds are the main form of cover and knowing, for example, that pike and musky roam the cabbage, helps me eliminte those areas when I'm after Mrs. Bass. Great topic

I never peg my weights anymore. My reasoning is simple. The sole reason for Texas rigging is the ability of the fish to pick up your bait without feeling the resistance of the weight. They can't do that when the weight is pegged. I'll even fish a T-rig in brush or grass for that sole reason. I'll either attach my worm to a jig head or use a weighted hook if I'm not concerned with the fish being weight shy. I would never consider pegging the weight on a C-rig either.

Nice job on the video. I'd attempt making one, but if I didn't end up breaking the camera lense I might scare off the few fans I have. There are three topwater baits that I love to use during the summer. A buzz bait, a frog and of course a spook. Not that I don't use chuggers,poppers and warblers, I do. The first three are my confidence baits. As for soft plastic baits in the shallows, I also have three favorites. A Fluke, a Senko and a tube. I always have the Spook, Senko and a tube tied on one of the rods on my deck whether I'm fishing shallow or not.

I like the fact that they are fatter than most and in the summer time, I'm looking for the wide wobble of a fat bodied crank. The craw patterns have really produced along the rip-rap for me.

I've gotten lazy in my old age and haven't kept a fishing log this year, but I still will break out those of recent seasons as reference. Today was one of those times. I can't remember the last time there were so many fishing boats on my home lake as there have been the last couple of days. Today it seemed the bite really shut down as a result and after some limited success this morning I didn't plan on going out later this afternoon. After checking out my logs from a few years ago I spotted a very similar situation where I had awesome success with a jerkbait. My plan not to go out again changed and I stuck mainly to jerk baits, both hard and soft, for the afternoon outing. I didn't have the awesome success I had in that previous outing, but managed to do much better that earlier in the day especially with good sized fish. Hard, fast twitching on slack line with a longer pause tossed in a few times was the key with the hardbait and just letting my Fluke sink motionless into pockets of deep weeds picked up the biggest three. The wind did shift and increase somewhat for the afternoon, but none of the other presentations I attempted was getting any love. I guess in my own mind I don't consider a slim minnow bait something to go to under pressured conditions. Hopefully in the future it will be one of my first considerations. That middle water column seems to be more and more productive during the day around here and lack of cover does not seem to reduce the fish's willing to strike.

Spinnerbaits can be awesome fish catchers and I'm a recent convert to the one you mention. Spinnerbaits get the nod from me on windy days or at night, basically when light penetration is broken up or limited. The one thing, as with any lure, you need to determine is the fish's location in the water column and try to keep your spinnerbait in that zone. The other thing I'd recommend is varying your retrieve speed during the course of a cast until you determine how the fish want it (if they want it at all). Sometimes it's a burning retrieve just under the surface, sometimes is a slow roll just off the bottom and often times, it's something inbetween. If there isn't any cover to bounce it off of, give the rod tip an occasional pop or stop reeling for a second. The interruption in blade revolution often is the thing that will trigger a strike.

She outfishes me almost every time out, but won't admit that my great guide service is the reason.