papajoe222

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.

I've had to file mine down because of nicks a number of times. Put an edge on it afterward and replaced it when it got nicked up again. I tried a two blade metal prop a number of years ago, but there was a big performance loss over the Ninja

Aside from jigs, which I use over50% of the time, a double prop topwater saw action from late April through September. That and the BPS version of a plopper. My favorite Spooks saw very little use.

Hollow body frogs. There was a massive weed kill just prior to Memorial Day and the weeds never came back. You can add a punch rig as it was best used in early May. I did cut down on cranks quite a bit. My right shoulder would yell at me for hours after I got off the water if I fished them for more than an hour, but they were of great value in finding active fish. Shoulder surgery this month and hopefully back to it come ice-out. I'll miss out on opening day at the power plant lakes unless I give trolling a go.

If the hooks are hung correctly, two of the three belly hooks will ride up on either side of the bait. For running around wood, I cut off the hook on the bottom. Do the same for the rear hook, the one that rides down gets cut off.

Watching this is the same as going golfing..........................a waste of good fishing time.

I don't count the hundreds of retention ponds in the area southwest of Chicago, only lakes and although there are a handful within an hour's drive, the power plant lakes that are home to the big girls are much farther. A normal 'day' of fishing is actually only four hours on the water and three to four driving. I love to drive, but I love fishing more, so I put up with the fishing pressure on my local lake the majority of the time.

It's because the younger generations of men lost their balls when the women in their lives joined the workforce. They've become dependent on her income and because of that, they are at the mercy of their women. That's the way it should have been since Adam and Eve. I know this to be true because my wife told me so and she's always right as are all women.

Berkley offers a weedless wide gap in both weighted and unweighted versions. It has a light weed guard that works fairly well. I mainly used the weighted versions for a faster fall in deeper water. Not sure how they'd work in current, but they gotta be better than an exposed hook.

Old school here A ribbon tail worm, Culprit or Zoom, on a true Texas rig (sliding bullet weight) and a 5in. tube for punching. Almost all others are used as trailers, or rigged with the hook exposed.

I don't fish chatterbaits, but I do use them on buzzers and spinnerbaits. What I've found is that the skirt (if you don't remove it) needs to be cut short enough to allow the tail enough water to make it work. My #1 paddle tail rigging is with an underbelly weighted hook and #2 is on a Siebert Supreme Arky Jig. I reduce the weed guard to five or six and fan them out. Awesome hook up rate. #3 is an underspin which I mainly use pre-spawn.

If I'm not skipping a tube under the dock, I like to throw a deep diving craw colored crank that I tune to run right or left depending on which side of the dock is shaded. I use 12lb. Big Game and retie often. Between digging hard into the bottom and banging of dock posts, it'll get hammered more often than the tube.

the new American series are made here in the USA at a cost that rivals imports.

Frozen???? In Knoxville??? I think I know why you forgot it there. Trippin' on the roof. Thank the Man upstairs you got down without slipping on the ice. If I'm a hammer, it's a tack hammer. Dinks love me.

I have to give credit to Mike for the idea. His jigs come in plastic bags and I leave them stored that way. When I first rig up a jig, I plan on putting the bag in my shirt pocket. If I change jig color or weight, I'll cut the first on off and hang on the back side of my windshield, tie on the one I choose to try and at the end of the day, I'll have two bags in my pocket, one for the hanging jig and one for the jig I'll cut off when I get home. I also put a fresh piece of Zerust in every bag. I despise rusty hooks on my jigs.

I've already started organizing my tackle for next season, doing a lot of downsizing. Not so much the amount of tackle I carry in my boat, but the size of the containers I've been using. So I came upon some small, 3X3in., zip lock bags that the wife uses for her jewelry beads. I place a jig in each bag, mark the weight and style on the bag and end up with a gallon size zip lock that holds all my jigs. I do the same for my hair jigs, although a quart size bag holds my stash. Bare jigs.... style and weight marked in another quart bag. I can dump any of those bags on the deck, pick out the one I want, and I'm actually saving time vs digging through a 3700 tackle box to find the right weight and style.

To take more than four veterans fishing along with four younguns under 10yrs old. I know I likely won't have trouble attaining the second, but the first was a challenge for me as I do all my fishing now days during the week, or at night on the week-ends. The majority of vets at my local American Legion and VFW still have jobs and for first time fishers, night fishing is a no no. The other goal I have is to get my bum shoulder fixed, or strengthened so that I can fish the way I love to fish, chluckin and windin. I just checked my response from last year's inquiry. I didn't make it, so am I not allowed to change for the upcoming season? I don't do well with failure.

For me, today, anything over 30yrds is a long cast. Having shoulder problems limits overhead casting to cranks and I have to give that a rest a couple of times an hour. Everything else is a roll cast and 45ft. is long for everything but lipless. Gave up pitching, but 25ft. was about the furthest I'd attempt.

I've never been in a DSG that carries fishing or hunting gear. They stopped carrying that stuff about 5yrs. ago. Didn't shop there prior to that and for sure, am not going to start.

This is one of those that makes you think......................................I'll get back to you. Seriously, I can think of 10 lakes ranging from 55acres to 2500. The most productive for both size and numbers have been out of state to the north and east. A smaller, 85acre one in Wisconsin is considered a muskie lake and is kept quiet by the locals as it is surrounded by privet property. The bass fishing is nothing short of fantastic and the numbers of fish over 4lb. is truly something for a lake that far north. There are also some retention ponds I fish that are fairly young, but whet my whistle when I can't get on the lakes.

Just as with most hard baits, you could have a dozen of the same bait and one will just, flat out, catch more fish than the others. That particular spook was the quietest one I've ever had, and I had/have dozens. That and the fact that it sported a hand tied feathered treble. It walked and 'talked' different.

Funny story. I lost My favorite Spook last year, Sent it sailing and it just kept going. I looked for an hour or so and chalked it up to checking my loop knot more often. This year I was talking to the fella that won angler of the year at our club. He knows I love fishing Spooks and told me he'd been having great success throwing one he found. I described in detail the one I lost. He got this depressed look on his face knowing it was the one he found and had been using. I told him not to worry, I wasn't going to ask for him to give it up. I'm just glad it's out there catching fish. I'm still looking for one that can produce like that one.