papajoe222

You mention two things that I considered when answering. You are new to the sport and you do the majority of your fishing from shore. My answer is also twofold. First and foremost, learn to cast. Every cast you make be it for distance or accuracy should build your confidence in your ability to repeat the accomplishment. Because you'll be fishing mostly from shore, you'll want to start with a technique that is both easy to learn and has the ability to cover the limited water available to you completely. By that I mean from top to bottom far left around to far right. By process of elimination, crankbaits, worms, jigs and top-water are poor choices. Notice I didn't say bad choices. This leaves a couple of choices of which spinnerbaits would be my choice in your situation. You can cover the entire water column with one bait,count the bait down until it hits bottom and begin there occasionally stopping your retrieve to let the lure fall down. You'll get a feel for how fast to reel this way. On the next cast, start reeling a couple of seconds sooner, etc. until you're beginning your retrieve when the lure hits the water. It's vairly weedless and doesn't hang up on timber easily. A simple chuck and wind retrieve is easy to master and can be modified once you gain confidence. There is very little doubt about when a fish hits a spinnerbait vs. say a Texas rigged worm or a jig. Oh yea, did I mention they're effective spring, summer, and autumn?

Adding a bulky trailer to a BitsyBug will add a lot to the total weight, but it will also slow the drop or fall speed. Add a twin tailed grub and you have a finess alternative to a spinnerbait. Nose hook a small pork trailer and you have a great shallow water presentation that you can keep on the bottom without too much effort. You can also go with any number of different bare jig heads in that weight class and add anything from small swim baits to beaver style plastics for something the fish don't normally see.

There is also a difference in the way each displaces water, so not only is the side to side movement different, so is what a bass will interpret via it's lateral line. Kind of like the difference between a flat sidded bait and a fat bodied one.

If I know I'll be moving around a lot and the runs will be ten minutes or more, I'll pack some kind of sandwich. I'll normally stop on the way to the lake and pick-up a good sized meal and then just stay hydrated until I'm on the way back. If I bring anything, it'll be snack sized fruit or baby carrots and sweet peppers along with some ranch dip.

I am not a big fan of the C-rig, but like any presentations, it has it's strong points and times when it's the only one that will get results. Yes, it can be used in the summer for probing deep structure. It can also be used in the winter as an option in either season to drop shotting or using a jig. Like the drop shot rig, it lets you present your offering off the bottom. Unlike the drop shot, however, the fish feel very little, if any, resistance when taking your offering as the weight is ahead of it and not behind. I personally like using a tube stuffed with a packing styrafoam 'peanut' to really float it. It's a great dead sticking presentation as the tube will stay off the bottom. If catching weeds and other junk with an exposed hook isn't a concern I'd suggest nose hooking your soft plastic using a circle hook to avoid gut hooking fish when using long (over 2ft.) leaders. I actually prefer split shotting to C-rigging and often use a heavy split shot to maintain bottom contact while still using a fairly fast presentation.

Ask anyone that has done or has had a bearing upgrade done how many bearings were replaced. If they answered more than three, they were wasting money. Bearings in place of bushings add weight and the performance enhansment is so negligable that the majority of anglers wouldn't be able to tell the difference in either weight or performance of the same reel with or without those bearings. Many quality reels are still made with only two spool bearings and one shaft (cranking) bearing. The Abu C3's and 4's are examples. I'm in no way implying that reels containing more than three bearings are a waste of money, just that good, quality, corrosion resistant bearings in the right locations are more important that the number of bearings.

I'm not a big fan of changing the size of the original hooks and seeing as I replace 70% of all my hooks on cranks and other hard baits, cost is a big concern. I go with Mustads. If I want to upsize, I'll go to a bigger short shank on the belly and the same size short shank on the rear to keep them from tangling.

As I'm getting older, the challange of learning a large body of water and then locating active fish has become less and less rewarding and I find myself either targeting big fish or going after multi-species. I think at this point going back to fishing moving water would be more enjoyable as you can identify fish holding areas without the use of electronics and topo maps . The only downside, for me, is the availability of water big enough to fish from a boat. I have limited range of motion in both my shoulders and casting from a deck, or maybe ankle deep in a river, is a concern for me. I think the deciding factor would be the fact that river fish seem to give you a better fight than their relatives in lakes, especially smallies.

This is the way to go unless you'll be mounting the unit on the front deck to view while using the trolling motor. In that case, you'd want to mount the transducer on the motor if possible. HumminBird makes a shield that will mount the transducer to the motor and protect it from banging it into limbs, bottom, etc. A good all around position for the unit is to the right of your console on a raised swivel mount. While running the big motor you'll have it right next to you and before you jump up on the deck, you can spin it so it faces you up there. Makes it a little awkward to make adjustments from up front that way as you'll need to get off the trolling motor controls, but it's another option that'll give you dual purpose usage.

You'll need to put something on the spool to keep the braid from spinning around on it. If you want to go with straight braid, you can either tie it through the holes in the spool shaft, or attach it with a piece of electrical tape (the black stuff) running the tape accross the width of the spool. The braid will dig into it on the first pass and won't spin on the shaft that way. Don't be concerned about the line pulling off the spool as a fish would need to take out most of that 145yrds before you'd be in any trouble.

Mark Pierce, who was my pick as the dark horse to win it all, ended up with big fish. Congrats to him and all the entrants fishing a classic for the first time. We're all looking to seeing your names in future events.

If you'd like to get into building a rod, Cabellas has a two piece 6'6" Med/fast Pacific Bay kit they're closing out for only $20. Everything is included and you can make do with a cardboard box with a couple of V groves cut in it for wrapping the guides. I believe they're IM7 blanks. Anyway, I built two Pacific Bay rods over the winter for the same reasons and picked up a couple of these to throw together for the kids. A simple one color thread wrap on the guides and you could put one together in an evening.

Thanks guys. I picked up a pack of 1/0 and 2/0 today at BPS and will be checking out the local WallyWorlds for closeouts in the smaller size. I really like the idea of using different line weights above and below the hook. I may still use a swivel above as I prefer braid as my main line for the sensitivity factor although if I try this out in shallower water I may just go to a combo with straight flouro. I'm thinking an assortment of lighter weights (I used 1/4 for working 15ft.) for the shallower work. Anyone go lighter than 1/8oz. and if so could you still feel bottom with it?

Normally, I tie direct. The only time I don't is when fishing waters with 'toothy' fish like pike and musky, in which case I'm using a leader. I do something similar to basseditor, but use shrink tubing on the spinnerbaits. BTW, I was observing my football jig as I dragged it over some pea gravel and thought it could use a little more action. I retied with a loop knot and couldn't believe the difference. I guess that'd be another place to use a snap or quick clip.

Another vote for short, straight tailed or french fry worms. I started with the original CremeWorms years ago and found that if I bit off the front third of the worm, I got more bites and better hook-ups. Think I'll check out Ivino's book. Always looking for a good winter read.

I decided drop shotting was going to be the presentation I would work on mastering this season and was wondering what you all think about these from VMC? The few times I've used the application, I've tied a swivel to my main line and then rigged my drop line with a palomar knot midway between the swivel and weight. Would this be a better setup as the swivel is at the point of twist?

I never remember how to attach a photo here, but I just finished a butt wrap on a rod where I used a metalic gold underwrap on the first 8in. added a couple of trim bands and a feather pattern in brown/orange/red. Thought it would look awesome with my Sol until I mounted my Browning on it. Black and gold, my fav. Of course blue and silver really jump start the bling thing for me. BTW jbsoonerfan, my favorite fishing shirt is aqua and I wear a red/white/blue hat most of the time and no, my momma doesnt' dress me.

Mine is kept in a locked ammo box that is secured to the floor in my closet with lag screws. Innocents and bad guys would have a difficult time opening or removing it. Extra, loaded magazines are another story.

This was and still is a concern of mine. My bedroom is at one end of the house and the others are at the other end. Add the fact that the walls in my home are set on2X2's and penetration is a BIG concern. After much consideration and conversation with other gun owners, I decided on frangable ammo for most of the rounds in my magazine. I say most because every third round is a round nose jacketed designed for going through walls and such. There may be instances where shooting through the wall of an intruder using it for cover is desired. The other thing I'm a proponent of is a low stance, preferably down on one knee, inside the home. This puts the tragectory of your bullets on an upward angle. Any wayward shots would continue on that angle and be less likely to injure other family members. Lastly, You should train your loved ones accordingly. They should get down and stay down until you or authorities give them the okay. It also gives you extra time to dispose of the threat should they enter their room as the perp would have to find them first, not to mention knowing that they are below your line of fire.

Glad I read responses before posting. I always refered to worms with a flattened tail resembling an oar as a paddle tail and the tail of swimbaits as boot tails. I prefer the solid bodied baits to the hollow ones when rigging on a jighead and the hollow bodies when rigging on a weighted swimbait hook. Both body styles produce different actions and I like the tighter wiggle of the solid baits in cold water. Then again, I'm fishing them deeper in the water column or on bottom where as I fish hollow bodies high in the water column.

When a bass is following a bait, the water flow around and over the bait is changed similar to air flow when a truck comes up behind a car. An experienced driver can feel it without looking in the mirror. Water is denser than air and a change in the feel of a bait is easily detected by the angler that is very familiar to what that bait normally feels like. Bass, unlike some other predator fish, don't follow lures for any length of time. The decision to strike or not occurs quickly so as not to expend energy. I'm talking about lures like cranks and spinnerbaits here.This could be the reason they're waiting, because the fish hasn't committed. When it does, they set the hook. On other types of lures, especially big plastics, the bass may need time to get the lure completely in it's mouth and or turn it for the purposes of killing it's prey or swallowing it. Some anglers wait for the fish to do just that with their bait before setting the hook. I often will say something like 'there he is' before setting the hook. In my case, I'm getting into a better position to set the hook.

How much you're willing to spend will be your decision maker. Two things I'd like to warn you about; removing the existing guides and placement of the new ones. Using too much heat to break down the epoxy can weaken the blank, so don't be in a big hurry. If guide failure was a problem on the original, placement may have been the underlying cause. Make sure to find the spine first and then either chart the guide placement, or at the very least, load the rod from the tip and mark the underside of the blank at the beginning and end of the bend. If there aren't guides just above those locations the original placement was the problem.

Mark Pierce get the nod here. Whoever does win will be someone that adapts quickly to changes and can relocate the fish when they move, which they will be doing alot.

Haven't read it in years and I'm not sure if it's even in publication anymore, but Fishing Facts was hands down the most informative magazine on the subject. If it isn't produced anymore it's likely because the writers weren't into marketing specific products. Most of the articles I remember were subject specific and rarely mentioned specific brands. There is so much information, both written and on video, on the internet that magazines haven't gotten much attention from me.

Love CB's, especially the gel for jig trailers. works longer than spraying the entire jig combo and my jig skirts last longer