papajoe222

When it comes to my lost battles with the bait monkey, I live by the motto; It's much easier to ask for forgivness than i is to ask for permission. Time spent in the dog house increases tenfold when permission is denied and that monkey tricks you into buying something anyway. Another tactic I use is to sell an item for more than I paid for it and use that money to buy my new toy. Of course, 'selling' can mean any number of different things in my vocabulary.

I use my graph to confirm what I see on my topo map and to find areas that aren't shown on the map. During cold water periods, I'm looking for quick or sharp changes in depth like a creek arm or ledge. During the summer, I'm looking for transition areas. Changes in bottom composition, sparce to heavy weed growth, points or cuts in a weed edge, etc. I rarely look for fish and will stop and fish an area I have confidence in reguardless of whether my graph shows fish there. I'll be using my down imaging unit to look for fish and bait on those areas I mentioned and I'm sure the presence of baitfish shown on it will increase the amount of time I spend on a spot, but I've yet to use that new toy. It may completely change the way I use my electronics.

X3 for the smallies and pike. I'll also use white and black painted blades when I'm looking to eliminate flash on calm, bright days going with white for baits with white or white/chart skirts. The black I'll use with darker baits and at night. Most guys only throw spinnerbaits when there's a chop on the water and that's because the wave action cuts down on light penetration (reflection off the blades). Going to a painted blade on calm bright days acomplishes the same thing and gives you the versatility of a spinnerbait under not so prime conditions.

You could practice some flipping, but now is a great time to tinker with your gear. I'm polishing the drag washers and installing CarbonTex's on my Shimano Corvalus'. Next up is a cleaning of all my reels. Then it's on to checking and changing out hooks on baits and before you know it, the power plant lakes will be opening, so it'll be time to get the boat ready. Ten weeks.......I wonder if I'll get it all done in time

I've always watched both Bill Dance and Jimmy houston. More for the entertainment value than from gaining any new knowledge. Some of Dance's bloopers are classics, but still get a roar from me and Jimmy's giggle brings a grin to every member of my family. I look for instructional shows and sadly there aren't many out there. 'The Next Bite' is about the only one I watch that I believe is returning this year.

X-2 Hope every one takes the time to remember why we celebrate this day and who we put our hope in for the coming year.

What, you didn't think we'd notice the male in the second row? Come on, we may be a little obsessive about our gear, but we're not fools. You could always pawn that one off on my wife, she'd never know the difference. What the heck, charge her double and send me one of those pretty girls.

I took pics of my gear for insurance purposes. When I took the two CD's full of photos to my agent, he just gave me a look that said; Seriously? You needed two? I told him the only thing on the second one was my 19 rods and 14 reels and I swear the guy got weak in the knees before he said: " I think we need to increase your coverage just a little." When I said I'd like to include my Muskie gear too, he went limp. Some guys just don't get it.

See, I told you a few weeks without being able to fish would drive you crazy. This guy can't even communicate anymore and it's only the first day of winter. I don't know what he plans on drilling holes in, why he'd want to put good booze in them, getting his 'heated Frabill' (must be Canadian for hot butt) off the point. The only part of that I understood was jigging, but how the h@ll does he plan on getting that pretty boat to float on hard water?

What you're experiencing is NOT cabin fever. Cabin fever is what us folks up north have had to deal with since mid-October, NO FISHING. Oh yea, and NO FISHING for another 12 weeks. All you guys that are able to, take my advice, but don't give me credit for it if asked. Cut school, call in sick, tell the wife a buddy needs help moving tomorrow, but get out there and fish if you can. Not having the option of going drives me nuts, being able to but not taking an occasional break from the everyday humdrum to enjoy my favorite passtime .........they'd be fitting me for a straight jacket after a couple of weeks. So quit whining and get out there. You can thank me by observing a moment of silence in my honor as you admire your catch. You're welcome.

One of the things you should ask yourself is what do you want that bait to do that the Rapala doesn't. You mentioned castability, and a Norman or FatFree Shad would fit that bill, but what about bouyancy? Fishing that weedy bottom would be more productive with a fast rising bait while with the rocky bottom you would likely be better off with something closer to a neutral bouyancy. If you burn your cranks along, maybe a tighter wiggle is in order. My advice is to get one or two of the different brands/models and go do some experimenting. You just may end up finding a new favorite crank.

After replying to the post about your strength that others may not have, I got to thinking about my weakness. You'd think that after 50+ years of fishing including more than a few years on the local club circut, I'd have a little trouble narrowing it down. I've got most aspects of this great sport covered, but I have one big weakness and that's my memory. If it weren't for the fact that I keep a fairly detailed fishing log, there'd be many times that I'd waste valuable fishing time. The only way I can equate what is happening one day to an experience I've had maybe on numerous occasions is to look at that log when I get home. Then the light goes on. Believe me when I say it's frustrating, but luckily I figured it out a long time ago or I'd likely be sitting here doing needle point. Then again, is it drop two and pearl one or visa versa?

Mine has to be my hard head. I won't quit fishing until I've figured out the what, where and why. Actually, it should read where, what and why as location is always the hardest part of the puzzle the majority of the time, as it isn't just shallow, deep or somewhere inbetween. I'll admit there are times when I never put the pieces together and end up going home scratching my head, but even then I'm searching for the why only it the why I didn't catch vs. the why one bait or presentation produced better than another.

Hands down, TOPWATER!!!!

I average about 25 hours a week on the water and four combos handle the majority of the work. Those reels get a complete cleaning and lube twice a season, my others are done at the end of the season. I'll clean and lube the spool bearings on those four reels maybe twice between cleanings and the others get that done sometime around mid season. I always clean and dry bearings before adding the slightest amount of oil. Two things, IMO, ruin bearing performance. One is overlubing. The other is dirt. The first multiplies the build up of the second, so adding a drop of oil occasionally is asking for touble IMO.

Mine has to be getting my grandson his first smallie. He turnes five today and I can't think of a better goal than to see his face while that fish is jumping. I didn't catch my first until I was thirteen, been hooked since.

Water color/light penetration and how bright or overcast it is. Low light penetration from a choppy surface has a similar effect on light penetration as does stained water, in either case I'm choosing something that gives off a good siloutte or a color that doesn't dissapear quickly. That normally translates to either dark or brighter colors. On the other hand a bright sky and clear/calm water and I'm looking for something translucent or something that imitates the forage. When it comes to spinnerbait blades, it's chrome for clear/bright conditions and copper or painted blades for stained water or overcast conditions. That's how I choose which color to use, but when it comes to purchasing baits, I must admit that I buy into the marketing hype as much as most guys.

Well, someone has to give some negative response here, so I guess I'll chime in. I have two and only the 7ft. Med gets any use and that's with my wake baits and shallow square bills. The action is great. Just soft enough at the tip section, a good parabolic bend and enough power in the blank, but for me, these rods aren't sensitive enough. I like to be able to tell when my line is over a limb as the crank approaches or to feel the subtle, tight wobble of a flat sided crank, and to know when a fish has taken that bait and is moving toward me. That's not going to happen with this rod which is the reason my M/H is collecting dust. Seems to me that using unidirectional graphite only addressed the power and action aspect of a good cranking stick.

One possible reason you haven't seen it suggested is the fact that, IMO, most fishermen don't know exactly how deep a particular crankbait runs on the combo they're throwing it on. They know when it's bouncing off bottom or cover at a certain depth, but in water deeper than it's actually running, they're not sure if that DD22 is running at 16ft. or 22ft. The two reasons I personally wouldn't recommend a crank in this situation are; you're targeting inactive fish and even with a suspending crank, you'd likely be working it way to fast through the school and secondly, that crank will only be at that running depth for a short period of time and because these are inactive fish, you want your offering in their faces for as long as possible with the presentation you're using. For me, these two factors would eliminate a crank from my choices. My first choice would be either a wacky rigged drop shot style worm, or a hair jig suspended under a slip bobber. The other option would be to get directly above the fish and present the same offerings without the bobber.

A good multi-tasking rod in my opinion, would be a 6'6" casting rod in a M/H power with a moderately fast tip. You could go longer if the banks you fish from don't have an abundance of over your head cover. You don't want to be getting hung up on shore. That tip action will still give you decent hook sets with your plastics while still having enough flex in it to get your cranks out there and not overpower after they're hooked.

My understanding is that you will get an image at whatever depth as long as you have the depth range set that deep or deeper, or on auto. As long as a signal is being returned to the transducer, you'll get a bottom reading. Most units are dual units in that they have the capability to show either a normal graph type image, a down image 'picture, or both at the same time. The advantage to this is it's much easier for you to interpret a traditional sonar image when you have the other below or next to it. I don't know if a down imaging unit displays in real time, and that would be the only reason to really 'need' traditional sonar as far as I can determine. I've been looking into adding one of he Lowrance units to my trolling motor, so I'm a little inquisitive about this myself.

Need a little help here guys. In attempting my first chevron wrap, I noticed that the center line of the chevron pattern angles down on on the up side and up on the down side. I imagine the same would occur in any direction. I know there is a way to keep that line formed by the overlapping threads going straight, but of course, I didn't save the link to the instructional video handy. Can anyone either hook me up with a link, or give me an explination on how to overcome this natural tendency for that line to rise or fall? I have the layout of the chevron down, just can't recall the way to avoid this. Thanks

What drives me is the challange. You know, figuring out where they are, what mood they're in, what they want and how they want it presented. What excites me though, is putting a plan together before hitting the water and being right on the money with my presumptions. The flip side of that also excites me. Not having a clue in the world and eventually figuring it out is possibly more satisfying. I think what I appreciate most is that aside from all the calculating and adjustments and decisions you make on the water, there's still this ability to reflect on whatever subject you like, or just get completely immersed in what you're doing that your troubles can't bother you.

Love my 6ft. for throwing Spooks. It's great for target casting too. BTW, I have 6ft. Bionic Blade in MH that I'm looking to unload.

If it's windy, I'm throwing a spinnerbait anywhere the wind is pusing water through a necked down area, accross a point, or into a pocket or cove.