papajoe222

I fish mainly natural lakes and the best structure I always look for is close to deep water and has some form of irregularity on it. Sometimes it's just a bottom transition (change in bottom content like muck to sand), but more often it's a change in the contour itself. If it has both, I get a woody.

Use your phone or a digital camera to take pics as you disassemble the reel and lay the parts out on your work area in the order you remove them. You can use whatever cleaning liquid you have available. Simple Green or another degreasing cleanser work well if you allow your items to soak and then agitate. Be sure to rinse thouroghly and let dry. If you use acetone or lighter fluid, a rinse isn't necessary, but may flush debris left inside bearings. As far as products to use, you'll get plenty of opinions. Use products designed for reel maintainance as products like WD40 and 3in1 are not designed for high speed bearings. Above all, take your time. If you're unsure of your capabilities, have a reputable source do the work as it's cheaper than trashing a good reel.

There is likely a high spot where the shaft was milled at that point and the previous owner isn't the culprit. It's brass, so be gentle with an emery board. A few light passes on the corners should do it. The good news is that reel has close tolerances, which is a good thing.

The problem with feathers on the rear treble of a Spook is they tend to weigh the tail of the bait down/add drag. I'm talking real feathers not the fabricated type. If you're looking to add a little color, you can do wo with a Sharpie and add as little or as much as you like. Don't like the results? Rubbing alcohol or a quick wipe with a little lighter fluid and you're back to the original look.

Get a pair of jewler's split ring pliers. Makes changing blades/hooks a breeze and you don't have the problem of moss or weeds clinging to the snap.

A couple of suggestions to the basic rig. One is to use a Carolina Keeper above the knot on the mainline as a bumper to protect the knot and the other is to use a mono leader of less strength (lb. test) than your mainline of braid or FC.

I base the skirt length on the profile I'm attempting to mimic. I've cut the skirt on a 1/2oz jig to resemble a finess jig and gone almost as short on a spinnerbait skirt. I've done the opposite also, pulling the underside strands to lengthen them and give the baits a larger/ longer apperance. What Tom said is a good starting point and likely holds true the majority of the time.

Those are 1X hooks and I'd recommend 3X (2X in the Mustads) if you're having issues with the hooks straightening. I personally use Eagle Claw Lazer Sharp 3X when fishing lipless cranks with braided line.

As colors 'fade' in deeper water, your considerations should center around shade in deeper running cranks. Light or dark, pick accordingly. I personally like the Suicide color as it has both and I had been very fond of the citris color they call Mountain Doo now.. The Nutter Shad is also a great light color. For darker colors I'd go with Chilli bowl (my fav) and RedBlack or one of the craw colors. As far as casting distance goes, it depends on your gear. This bait weighs over 1/2oz., but because of it's size it has a lot of both air and water resistance. Be ready, deep cranking can wear you out even with the right equipment.

I've always had dificulty keeping my feet warm, not because of low quality footwear but because my feet sweat big time. Thinsulate, wicking socks, Underarmor, you name it they all resulted in cold/wet feet in short order. Two years ago on an early spring walley trip to Michigan as we were getting dressed to go out in 34degree weather with winds from 20-25, I noticed a friend spraying his feet with deodorant prior to putting his socks on. Kidding him about worrying that his feet would stink when he took off his boots he informed me that the anti persperant kept his feet dry (he has the same problem with excessive sweating) and therefore much warmer. Who woulda thunk? I've been using this trick to keep my feet warm ever since including a stretch of sub zero weather we had last week. Now I don't need to change socks every couple of hours and I am finally done searching for a good pair of boots/socks to keep my feet warm, but thanks for the heads up. I'm sure there are plenty of guys with 'normal' feet that appreciate the info.

The only time I'll do things differently than what I've read or seen, is when I know for a fact that the information concerned Florida strain fish. The information still applies to the fish up here, but their seasonal movements do differ, so I will adjust according to the applicable seasonal movements rather than specific water temps. It's kind of the same approach I use when applying information about reseviors to the natural lakes that I fish up here. The information still applies, but those fish will, say, follow a creek channel or main river channel in their migration where fish up here will follow the contours of the lake bottom. Same movement by the fish, therefore the information is applied accordingly.

It isn't a T-1, but if they don't make it any longer, that will likely be what I replace it with. Between the added vibration of the titanium arm and that Oklahoma blade the fish are getting a double wammy of something different. It's really been a producer. So much so, that I started throwing it during the day under overcast skies.

So I started my semi-annual reel cleaning and noticed I'm extremely low on the Ardent reel oil I've bee using. Not that I'm not satisfied with it, I was just wondering what you guys use? I've tried Hot Sauce, Abu, and some other reel company's oils, they seemed to break down under moderate to heavy use and jet fuel needs to be reapplied frequently, so for lazy me, that isn't an option either. I've been looking at Liberty Oil, but haven't seen it mentioned anywhere here. I like the fact that it bonds to the metal as that's what I'd really like. As I said, I'm lazy and if I don't get around to it in time, I'd like to have the added protection.

I favorite spinnerbait for night fishing at the end of the season and for the life of me I can't remember what it's called. It's a Terminator bait with a titanium arm and what I'd call a beveled Colorado blade. Any one have a better memory than me? Evidently the big boys don't carry them anymore, so if you have a link to where I can find a couple, please.

Sounds like you didn't have the drag tightened down enough to spin the spool.

In one word, no.

The great things about walking baits is that they can produce almost anytime (winter being the exception) day or night and they are great fish callers. Prime times would be morning and evening during the warm water periods, but don't rule out mid-day. My previous PB was caught on a Spook at 1:30 PM on a sunny day in July. I'm a big believer in throwing baits that others don't and for that reason I tend to use a Spook at 'odd' times with a good amount of success. Pre-spawn to late fall, I always have one tied on.

Aside from possibly needing to be a little more organized, you need to shed the mentality that you don't want to be on the water without the 'hot' bait. I'd bet that you keep many of the same baits in different colors in those eight boxes and that likely applies to your plastics also. Decide what types of presentations your most likely to be using and concentrate your diversity on them. Then pack basic colors of other presentations keeping the numbers down by eliminating multiple brands. You can alter the colors with sharpies if necessary (rubbing alcohol will remove it later) and you can always add or change the color of your plastics with Spike It or whatever and eliminate carrying multiple colors of the same bait. Also, if you find yourself without a bait that your boater is producing with, don't be afraid to ask if he has another he'd be willing to share. He has the option of carrying a ton of gear.

All great suggestions if you decide that a swimbait is the way to go. That's a big IF considering other options. IF you're fishing for your own enjoyment and not in a tournament setting, I'd say go for it. It's a great way to build confidence in any presentation. IF, however, you are in a tournament I'd recommend holding off on them until you have your limit. Swimbaits will produce some big fish, but the downside can be spending a lot of time searching with them as they are, IMO, not a good search bait. That area close to deep water would likely produce some nice fish on other presentations as well with the added plus of being able to cover water faster in your search for active fish. I'd definately keep one tied on, but hold off until I'd found active fish.

There are a number of reasons. For one, there is no need to camoflage your line in heavy weeds or brush for that matter as both will break up it's outline. Although fluoro is abrasion resistant it isn't abrasion proof and can loose 50%or more of is strength in short order. Braid will too, but 50% of 30lb. test still leaves you with plenty of strength and the abrasion is more noticeable to the angler. It's much more sensitive than fluloro and the biggest reason for using braid in weed cover is the fact that it will cut through most weeds (or your finger) if it gets wrapped around them.

What's wrong with lipstick??? It's great for keeping your lips from getting chapped on long runs in cold weather, plus you can always match the color to that new custom jersey.

Welcome to the board to you also. I disagree. Fluorocarbon as a leader has it's place and heavy weed cover, for one, isn't one of them.

Welcome to the board. Personally I don't think color makes much difference in stained to muddy water or heavy weeds. In anything clearer, I'd recommend a fluorocarbon leader. BTW, you'll get more responses if you move this to the rods, reels, and line forum.

X2, green pumpkin or green pumpkin watermellon and I dip the claws in Spike It. Toledo Specials go on my black/blue jigs

I don't know what size hooks you're thinking about cutting, but I use a pair of quality side (diagonal) cutters for most of my bassin hooks. About the only hooks they won't cut are spinner/buzzbait hooks and some of the big swimbait hooks.