papajoe222

ZZZZZZZZZ

I'm really liking the looks of that Rage Hawk and that goofy monkey is doing his thing, so you should be hearing from me as soon as I put a list together. You can't just order one bait. I know, I've tried.

On single hook presentations, I always check the hook point prior to the first cast. I won't chance loosing a fish because a hook never penetrated past the barb. It only takes a second or two to pull that hook point across your thumbnail and 15-20 seconds to hit it with a file. You'll spend more time than that, beating yourself up over a lost fish.

The Mustad triple grip is my choice for replacement hooks and on some hard baits that come with questionable hooks. I have used the short shanks on my lipless as an upsize replacement. I can't say anything negative about them. Do I loose fish? Yes, but I don't blame the hooks.

Are you asking about 'Stupid' rigging, which is done with some form of a jig, or Texas rigging which is done with hooks like you mentioned?

Over the years, I've introduced many youngsters to this great sport. Without exception, they started out with a spinning combo (some of them still have it years later). I kept it simple; A weightless straight tail worm (Senko) either nose hooked, or wacky rigged with a circle hook, or a Beetle Spin. The circle hook is a plus when starting out because teaching hook setting is all but impossible to an overly excited little person. All they need to do is keep the rod tip up and reel. That is the retrieve to begin with for the Beetle Spin and it is a great choice for teaching hook setting as, more often than not, the fish will hook itself. A repeated, gentle reminder to set the hook builds their confidence in doing so. One last thing; Don't fish yourself. Give them your undivided attention and don't be surprised when you see that they're just happy to be chucking and winding. Like us, catching is a bonus.

I kept logs for each of the three lakes I frequent for years. Sometimes I would need to go back five years or more to find similar weed growth, the main form of cover, in an attempt to shorten my search. What I found was the locations were almost the same weeds or not, so I just zeroed in on the general locations and adjusted my offerings based on the cover. Seasonal locations didn't change much over the years, so I stopped recording about ten years ago. Were the logs helpful? Yes and No. Sometimes I'd waste fishing time and other times, I'd be on fish from the get go. It was fun looking back over them during the winter, though.

Water clarity sounds like it isn't a concern for you and as long as you're comfortable fishing with braid, I say stick with it. As for combos...............................

Catching a LM over 5lb. has been extremely tough the past few seasons, mostly because I haven't been targeting waters known for better than average fish. I plan on hitting a couple of power plant lakes in March and have a feeling that is when (if) I break the 6lb. mark this season.

5'6" pistol grip was what I used when I first started baitcasters. I still use one for fishing Spooks, though I've gone longer since for cranks and jigs. I can fish it tip up, or tip down and it feels balanced in my hand. I doubt, however, that I'll ever go back to using one for any other application.

I love square bills and was looking for one that runs deeper than the norm. The LuckyStrike Series 2 The Freak looked like the ticket so I got a couple and plan to give them a run during the pre spawn and again post spawn

I only have one question: Why do you guys take pics of your backlashes and more importantly, why do you keep them? Just asking.

For most fish, mine was a Forecast SP841 blank and TD Alphas casting combo, 8lb. Invizx line and a 1/8oz. hair/feather jig. For size, it was a Browning Boron/Graphite and TD Viento combo, 40lb. Sufix Performance braid and a 1/2oz. Arkie head jig/RageTail Craw.

For me, a split-shot rig is a downsized version of a C-Rig and I fish it almost the same way. The difference in my presentation is shorter sweeps of the rod, only moving the sinker a foot or so, and longer pauses. My biggest concern when using it is keeping it on the bottom using the lightest weight to do so. Thus the short movements.

Boca Bearings has a search by reel bearing finder that has, not only the different catagories, but sizes that a reel uses.

I wait until I either see the line moving off or the rod start to load up. My son-in-law can't believe how long I wait to set the hook using hollow body frogs.

I would say that the one thing I do differently is fish early afternoon during the summer. Two of my biggest bass were caught between 12:30 and 1:30 in July and both on topwater. I still fish a plastic worm differently than most and much slower.

Only because I haven't seen it mentioned and I use them because they don't have rattles; Cotton Cordell Wafer Shad.

I have a collection of his books. There's at least one memorable quote in each of them.

Right on the money. I purchased a St.Croix PC56MF Premier about four years ago. It was the only offering they had with a pistol grip and it works great for almost all my topwaters. I ended up building a 6ft. MH power rod with a pistol grip for Spinnerbaits. I like a shorter rod for more control of my cast as I use them for target fishing. I perfected my roll cast years ago with a BPS rod with the powerhump handle that was only about 4in. long. Sadly, it's long gone.

You may want to try a line that's a combination of both. Yo-Zuri Hybrid comes to mind. Less bow than mono for cranks and doesn't sink as fast as fluorocarbon. It's a compromise, but an alternative to two combos.

When I first began fishing tubes, I gave up on them in short order. I just got hung up too often and even though I could occasionally rip them free of the weeds,that exposed hook just seemed to catch anything. I tried T-rigging, but there was no action on the fall which Is when I did catch fish with the exposed hook jig. I played around with an internal casting sinker and was able to get a decent spiral on the fall, When I started rigging 'stupid' style, one of the first things I tried was bringing the eye of the jig out farther back then a normal tube jig. The difference on the fall was something to behold and now I adjust the spin depending on the cover. I'll still, occasionally, use an exposed hook tube, but that is only on the rare occasion when I'm fishing deep weed edges, or gravel bottoms.

Mann's Jelly Worm, Culprit and Zoom Ole Monster. Unlike many of my brother anglers, I use round bend, offset worm hooks. They sit farther back in the worm and have more bite than most EWGs. They also have a thinner diameter which I find beneficial for long distance hooksets. For worms like the C-Mac. I just upsize to a 5/0. https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/gamakatsu-round-bend-offset-worm-hooks

My wife and I were fishing a power plant lake, south of Chicago that was known for trophy size smallmouth. She tied into a big girl and was trying her best to gain some ground on it. It had gone under the boat and made a number of acrobatic jumps on the other side. My wife never saw them as she was looking on the other side of the boat. The fish stayed behind her and she was able to gain enough ground on her that I was able to net it. Her, not realizing I had the fish, broke out in a series of profanity like I'd never heard thinking she'd lost the fish. I didn't say anything until she'd reeled in her crank. I thought she was going to cry, so I told her to look in the net. She was so excited to see the fish that when she lipped it to lift it out of the net, she lost her grip and the fish fell back in the water. I attempted to comfort her by reminding her that she was going to release the fish anyway, but she wouldn't accept that logic. Tears followed.

Along with the lakes I normally frequent, I plan on fishing two new lakes in Indiana, one in Michigan and a muskie trip to northwest Wisconsin (three lakes there that I've visited in the past). The big trip I plan on taking this year is to Georgia, but I can't decide whether to hit Lake Eufaula,or Lake Seminole. The time of year I go will make the choice much easier.