papajoe222

To date, only eight times and only one of those required a trip to the Dr. to remove it. All but one time, I was landing and unhooking someone else's fish. In their excitement, they'd pop their rod tip up, or quickly crank in the slack line that I asked for prior to unhooking the fish. The last time this happened I was six hours from home and didn't want to trust the locals to remove it. I cut the split ring and the other two hooks off and taped the hooked finger to my ring finger and continued fishing for another four hours. Then I drove the six hours home only to find out my Dr. was on vacation and his associate had never removed a barbed hook from someone! I had to retrieve a worm hook from my car to show HER what a barb was. I swore then and there that the next time, if I could get to it, I'd cut it out myself. I finally learned my lesson, though. Now I net my partner's catch and it's their responsibility to unhook it.

This is the only bearing that I grease on my Daiwas. It really makes a difference in how smooth the reel cranks, even if it isn't an improvement to the reel. I have an Exceller that I give to my kid to use for deep cranking and he can't believe how smooth it is. Boca Bearings and a little polishing of the gears and the greased AR bearing and it's as smooth feeling as my Sol

Old would be a Lucky 13. I've had a couple in my tackle box for a few seasons and have still to tie one on. I'm not even sure how to work 'em. New, for me anyway, would be a FlatRap. I love the original floating Rapala and can't wait to try these out this spring. I expecially like the smaller profile vs. a Rogue and they seem to have a little more heft to them than some other baits that size.

I go with a straight shanked hook also. The trick to rigging with these style hooks is to NOT start out rigging your plastic as you would with an offset style hook. Try this: Start by laying the hook over the plastic the way you want the hook's point to end up, say skin hooked. Note the angle of the hook shank through the nose of the bait and where the hook point re-enters the bait and note that it will also be on an angle. Now rig it and try to duplicate the angles of entry. You can rig Texas, Texsposed, skin hooked, and even exposed by just remembering how much plastic to bite into at the nose and at what angle. A drop of superglue at the point where the shaft exits the nose of the bait will reinforce any style of 'keeper' you use.

That story sounds soooo familiar. I fished a tournament on a small public lake in Indiana more years ago than I care to remember. Anyway, this like was only like 75 acres and there were fifteen guys in nine boats participating, not counting the locals that were out on the water and fishing from shore. I only boated two fish and my partner got skunked which was about par for most of the guys. My two fish totaled 10lb.9oz and I thought I had the money for both big fish and total weight. NOT A new member of the group boated a limit and his big fish was over a pound heavier than my 6.1 The rest of his limit weren't dinks either. I think his total was just under 20lb. The locals couldn't believe that lake had fish like that in it. Just goes to show you, you never know what size fish is behind that tap you just felt. Could be the new lake record, your personal best, or just possibly a record breaker...........HEY, This is MY fantasy. It's like winning the lottery. Somebody is going to do it, might as well be me........errrr.....you........whoever.

I just got into drop shotting last season and, ever the tinkerer, decided to add a little twist to the traditional rigging. I started using a shakey head jig as the weight vs. the tube style weight with the line clip. Picked up a number of fish on the jig as well as a few on the French fry I was using above it. With that success, I continued to improvise and tried something I've done with C-rigs. I used a 3/8oz. Terminator jig as the weight and a paddle tail worm in combination. I would catch on the jig or the suspended worm depending on the fish's mood. From there, I'd switch to either a heavier jig so I could maintain bottom contact and work a little faster, Or I'd opt for a swim jig or spinnerbait with a small blade that I could keep deep, but off the bottom/ Anyone else ever have success with something similar?

Bass Pro's Bionic Blade XPS item#BNB60MC. It's a little heavy by today's standards, but likely just what you're looking for. Full cork trigger grip and a true med. action, med. power blank. Nine guides that'll stand up to braid if you decide to use it and you can get them on sale for around $60. The six footer is a little short for cranks IMO, but if that's what you're comfortable with, go for it. If not, they make both a 6'6" and a 7ft. in the same action. BTW, Welcome to the board.

I tried this with tube baits with limited success. Some guys swear by this when dead sticking any type of tube style bait. No reason it shouldn't work with Paca Craws.

I too, have been unable to master pitching with a baitcaster because of the way you need to hold the rod. I have a bum shoulder and any task that involves extending my arm out at shoulder level results in the task not being completed. I'm getting back into using spinning gear more and more and have tried pitching with my elbow against my side. The resulting cast didn't meet with my expectations as the lure traveled in a slight arc and even with feathering the spool, it wasn't as accurate.

Not to disagree with anyone, but I always use a mono leader on a C-rig and on Drop Shot presentations. I'll use floro when worm fishing with braid and straight flouro for crankbaits. Most often their use is as a shock absorber rather than to hide the braid. Most of my rods have fast or extra fast tips and fishing straight braid can hinder hook ups sometimes. Oh yea, except for buzzers and frogs, I always use mono for top water baits.

Years ago, I would fish an Uncle Josh pork frog (the smaller size) on a 1/0 weedless EagleClaw hook with a split shot about eight inches up the line. There were many times that I'd out fish my partner using live bait in the early spring and once the water would warm up, I'd switch to the larger pork on a bigger hook with no weight and pick up bass off the tops of the weeds during cold front conditions. Now your secret and mine are both out

Jig with a wacky rigged worm a close second. All depends on the cover or lack of it.

I've been fishing Spooks of different sizes for over 30 years and one thing I can tell you for sure is you need to vary your retrieve speed, both forward and side to side, until you contact fish and then attempt to reproduce that cadence. My top producing retrieve is moderate to slow, which is the way I'll start out especially in water over 15ft. The second most productive in the same type of water is a quick side to side with little forward movement. In shallow water (under 10ft.+) I'll often walk it fairly quick and then stop it completely by whatever cover I'm targeting. As you can see, experimentation will dictate how they want it. To answer your other question, If your tackle can handle the bigger versions, by all means give them a shot for bigger fish, but the smaller ones will produce better under difficult conditions. I like the SuperSpooks when I'm targeting big fish, but I've also caught dinks on the same bait. My PB was caught on a Jr. in July and the water temp. was 84. My best day Spookin' was in late may on an original in bone fishing pre-spawn conditions. If you put in time with this family of baits, you'll be surprised at just what you can do with them. I shocked a co-angler a few years back when I cast past an old post sticking out of the water and proceeded to walk a Spook around it. The second time I did it, I was rewarded with the biggest bass in my limit.

The only thing really wrong with that fish is it's too dang small to keep in a tourney. Seriously, it looks as though it's been hooked a few times. Whoever hooked it in the tongue really butchered it getting the hooks out. Chances are the blind eye was also the result of a hook. That fish has a good chance at surviving if it can fight off the infection in it's mouth.

My favorite bait is the one I get back after I've hooked a big pike on without a leader! Seriously, my two favs are an inline Mepps GiantKiller and either a 5 of Diamonds or a DareDevil spoon. I've caught muskie on those same lures when targeting pike.

If you're only looking to sell small quantities similar to the ones you have been, e-bay is the perfect outlet and unless you plan on opening an e-bay store, there is no tax information you need to supply or that the site reports to the gov. An initial investment can be a lot and if you happen upon an item that doesn't sell, you could end up loosing. If you have a local Wal-Mart, Meijer, etc. in your area, I suggest you approach the sporting goods dept. manager and offer to purchase his end of the season merchandise at his cost. You could then list as much or as little as you want and with a buy now listing, your listing can run for up to 30 days. I've been doing something similar with a large tackle dealer in my area and I only purchase the items I want now. At first, I didn't specify that I was only looking for lures, line, and upper end reels. If you can deal in some volume and provide free shipping, a 50% mark-up is a decent profit. If you go the entire business route, only 50% will guarantee the business will fail.

Come on, share a good one. A guy is out in his boat fishing all morning and decides to beach it at his campsite and take a little mid-day snooze. His wife, an avid reader, decides to take the boat out and relax with a new novel. While doing so, the game warden stops by the anchored boat and asks to see her fishing license. "I'm not fishing, I'm reading a book" she replies. "Is that so? Well you have all the necessary equipment there, rod, tackle, landing net, I even see a bait bucket there. I'm afraid I'm going to have to write you up for fishing without a license" he says. "Okay, but I'm afraid I'll have to have you arrested for rape when you get back to shore" "RAPE! I never came near you lady. How can you charge me with rape?" You have all the right equipment, don't you"......................................"Enjoy your book lady"

I don't see 'grasshopper' or, as we used to say in the army; FNG.

Welcome to the board. Don't get discouraged about all the different gear, baits, presentations,etc. One decent combo will handle most situations as far as lures go. This site is all about sharing information and learning. You can see that we've shared valuable information (this sport can get expensive) and you've learned something (you'll need to take out a second mortgage once you're hooked) Oh yea, a little humor helps when the credit card bill comes from all the stuff you'll be buying. I love this site!

Didn't read that article, but I know of what he speaks. Three years ago, on the same body of water, on the Monday after Easter, I literally tired of burning a 1/2oz. Cordell HotSpot. Half the fish I brought to shore had that bait entirely in their mouths. If I'd have known, I'd have brought my 7:1 burner reel, but even with the 6.3:1 I was using that bait was flying.

EagleClaw makes a weedless, straight shank hook in sizes down to a #6. For that size tube a size #1 should be about right. Don't quote me on the exact model, but it either a 249WA or a449WA and they're also available in red. You can get away with a smaller hook as it will be exposed. The other hook you can try and one that I use, is a straight shank worm hook rigging the tube Texas style. You can add an internal weight for a spiraling presentation or a bullet weight. Eagle Claw's Baitholder series have a shorter shank than other brand's 'worm' hooks do.

I cut my teeth fishing a Crème worm T-rigged with an egg sinker on a straight shanked hook using a 5'6" broomstick of a rod years ago. It's still my preferred rigging for many soft plastic baits. That being said, in the past twenty or so years, I've likely caught more bass on jigs than ALL other baits and rigging combined. Both are versatile and they'll both catch monster fish. I just recently started fishing a football jig in situations where I'd normally be throwing a T-rig (gravel flats, bottom transition areas, etc.) The only time I see a T-rig outshining a jig is when the fish will not hold a bait long enough to get a good hook set. Being able to pick up the bait without feeling the weight is the big difference. The only time I see the jig coming out on top is in heavy cover where the weight and bait of a T-rig can separate. If I have to peg the sinker, I switch to a jig.

Until a few seasons ago, I set my drag fairly tight and was ok with it set that way. I lost my share of fish, not to line breakage, but to hooks tearing out of a fish's mouth or bending. Except for my jigging rod, I now set it on the lighter side. If I need to turn a fish, or just slow it down as it's pulling, I'll drop my thumb down on the spool just long enough to turn the fish's head. The result has been fewer lost fish and I've been going with a lighter line which I believe has increased the number of bites I get.

The majority of the reels I own are Daiwas and other than the fact that they are on the heavy side (Except the Sol) I can't find fault with the smoothness, castability and drags. One thing I really like about their reels is the ability to enguage the spool without turning the handle. The Lexa is a step up from the Exceller and although that reel got a bum rap IMO, I have two, including one I use for deep cranking and they both perform flawlessly. Don't get me wrong, I doubt if this model can compete with a Curado, but it should hold it's own against the Lews

I'm with you on using spinning gear. I do it, but avoid it whenever possible. Although my main drop shot combo is a spinning rig, I have a baitcaster set-up I use for drop shotting, It consists of a 7ft. med/fast Browning rod paired with a BassPro Prolite reel spooled with 12lb. flouro. Although the heaviest weight I use is 1/8oz., most of the baits I use are bigger than normal for drop shotting. I don't do this for ease of casting, but for those times I'm targeting big fish in a negative mood like after a cold front. I've tried heavier weights under windy conditions to maintain bottom contact, but either because of the extra weight or the wind, I had very limited success.