papajoe222

It depends on how confident I feel that a specific target holds a quality fish. I fish a lot of docks, but only a handful get ‘the treatment.’ for larger areas like a point or channel swing, I’ll go through enough presentations to cover the water column and then do the same from the opposite angle.

I usually use just the opposite retrieve with a follow up. Fast presentation follows a slow one and slow follows a fast one. then I change lures from the original one. Something I can present at the same depth/speed as the first one, maybe just a different color, or no rattles.

Simple for me to decide, I just ask myself; Is it worth my life? Seriously, I carry two different style lure retrievers. If I can't get it back with one of them, it wasn't meant to be.

If you know how to fish a T-rigged worm, you'll have a much easier transition to fishing jigs than someone that hasn't. Although you may not fish them in the same areas as a worm (I rarely do) or present them in the same way, detecting bites is very similar. Line watching is a must. If you rely solely on feeling a bump, tick, or seeing your line move off to one side or the other, your going to miss fish. The majority of jig fishing is done with some form of vertical presentation. Pitching, flipping, hopping or stroking a jig are examples, but dragging or swimming a jig are also presentations that can be used and there are jigs that are designed specifically for those presentations. Jigs are also rarely presented without some type of soft plastic trailer. They add bulk, action, color and slow the fall rate of the jig. I suggest you get a small assortment of them as well as jigs to start out with. A Bitsy Bug is good for shallow targets, but for depths of 8ft. or more, something a little heavier will be easier to control. One more consideration and I'll shut up. Be sure your rod is able to drive home the thicker hooks associated with jigs and that your jig weight falls within the rod's specs.

Cordell Crazy Shad, Zoom Ultravibe Speed worm and a Siebert swim jig/Rage Tail Grub.

My worst was being thrown overboard on a rainy, windy day. I was fishing off the bow with no PFD when it happened. By the time i came to my senses, my boat had been blown a good 20yrds downwind. I was 68yrs old and weighed down by my rain gear, I feared I wouldn't be able to catch up with it. I was lucky the wind was blowing toward shore less than 100rds away. I survived, but I never fish alone without a PFD on.

You can work the popper and the frogs in a similar way, using the rod tip to pop them along. Sometimes fast works, but don't forget to try working them slow it that doesn't work. The square bill can be just cast out and retrieved at a steady pace over rocks, or timber of some sort. If there is nothing to bounce it off during your retrieve, just pause it occasionally. A tube is a different animal all together as it can be rigged in any number of ways. I prefer some sort of internal weight as they really attract best when allowed to fall and spiral. Mostly I use lead head jigs with the hook exposed, but for targeting cover, I prefer to T-Rig them. The jig can be pitched to cover like docks, or timber and allowed to fall into openings in vegetation. Normally, you'd use some sort of plastic trailer with it. It can also be cast and either hopped, stroked, or crawled back. Those screw locks are good for rigging worms, or any sort of soft plastic bait, even those tubes you bought. Just remember that with the majority of soft plastics, you use your rod to move the bait and the reel to pick up the slack. Click on the video tab up at the top and check out all the different titles. Glen has put together a bunch of how to ones and there are a good number of articles that cover these baits as well.

For over five years, my local club has been treating the lake for weeds. Fishing has been tough as there is little cover and the fish would constantly move, so it was difficult to pattern them. This year, because of lack of funding, they haven't treated the lake and the weeds are coming back. For this guy, at least, this is a bonus as I love to fish that form of cover over all others. What is your favorite type of cover to target, weeds, deadfalls, rocks, docks, or something else?

I would say the spawn is likely over and the 3lb. bass you caught were males protecting the nest. Small ponds go through the cycle earlier and faster than larger bodies of water and, although there may be a few 'late to the dance' spawners, the majority will spawn at the time.

I travel a lot to fish, so it depends on where I am. 2.5lb-3lb. is nice in my area, further south, it's closer to 4lb.

I was browsing that auction site today and ran across a listing for a Daiwa Alphas 103 JDM with upgrades that is in mint condition Starting bid was $125, I bid $175 and was promptly outbid. For you Daiwa collectors, what would you consider as a reasonable price? I'd really like to add this one to my collection as I'd just let a sweet, tricked out TD Sol slip past me and don't currently own an Alpha.

You bring up a very valid point about controlling and bringing in fish after they're hooked. There are way too many proficient anglers out there that never learned how to pump the rod when fighting a big fish. All they've ever seen is the pros muscle in a nice fish with 50lb. line and a heavy power rod. I had a buddy out last season that tied into a 30lb cat with his MH/fast rod and 12lb test mono on the reel. I told him to pump the rod and he had no idea what I was talking about. I talked him through it and after a lengthy fight we netted it.

In this day of 'replace it if it quits working right' mentality, the following may not apply to you. If you have excess cash, do with it as you please. A fellow club member, knowing that I work on fishing gear, asked me to check out his old Daiwa PMA10. The issue with it was it wouldn't cast any distance, even with the spool tension knob backed off. I suspected the older Magforce system, but upon disassembling the reel discovered that the reel hadn't been cleaned or serviced in years, possibly never. The culprit was the spool bearings had frozen up. I replaced them with new and inquired why he hadn't had the reel serviced. He felt there was no need to as he only uses the reel a few times a year for sentimental reasons. Please, whether you intend to hang on to your gear forever, or are only wanting peak performance from it, a little PM will keep it performing the way you want.

When you use circle hooks, a hook-set with the rod is a no no. Just hold your rod tip in the 10:00 position and reel. Let the hook do it’s job.

Two things I suggest; High viz line and circle hooks. Circle hooks are designed to eliminate this problem. You’ll learn how to detect bites sooner with experience, but until that time, you’ll injure fewer fish.

My tackle selection is basically the same north and south. What changes drastically for me is the different structure. Up north it’s some form of cover on a structural element like a point or bottom transition. Down south, I target more combinations of structure like where a creek channel swings against a bluff, or a rock pile at the inside turn of a point. In the rare instance cover exists, that spot gets imbedded in my memory bank.

When I conducted this experiment, I knew that if I fished the soft plastic baits slower, it wouldn’t be a fair comparison, so I strove to duplicate the retrieval speed for all presentations. I also attempted to match the size of the offerings, but the spinnerbait comparison was a guess on my part as I matched the body/skirt not the whole bait.

You should try using circle hooks. You’ll never gut hook a fish again. Without a doubt, for me it’s a jig. Flip it, pitch it, swim it, stroke it, dead stick it, shake it or punch it, I can always find a presentation/ jig combo that is ‘right’ for the conditions.

Yes, they work around all types of cover and you can rig them like any other action tail worm. personally, I reserve them for fishing over and through vegetation. Lilly pads and weeds that don’t grow to the surface are my most frequent targets. I rig them with just enough weight to get the tail moving when it falls. I use casting gear, but most guys opt for a spinning setup. It’s a very subtle presentation that is a killer on those bluebird sky days, but works just about any time.

I don’t see much in the way of littering as I rarely fish from shore. What I do see a lot of is disregard for another angler’s space and time. Way too oftenI see an angler tie up the line at the launch because he wasn’t ready when his turn came. Half an hour in line and he waits until the. To load up his gear and supplies. This is usually the same guy that tries half a dozen time to back down the ramp only to figure out the boat was still tied down to the trailer. the other is the one that not only attempts to fish the spot you’ve been catching fish on, bot will motor over the spot and innocently ask what you’re using. My standard reply is: Itt really doesn’t matter because you just spooked every fish within casting distance.

Welcome to BR. There is a wealth of good information here from anglers that are willing to share their knowledge and experience. Stick around. That is typical pre-spawn behavior around here as most lakes are clear. the good news is that, in most waters, not all bass spawn at the same time. There will still be some fish that haven’t moved up and others that have already paired up and built a bed. when I see a single fish doing this, I’ll switch my focus on the first structural break out from the area. That first drop to deeper water often holds the bigger females. I picked up my personal best fish a couple of weeks ago doing just that.

I've been noticing a trend over the last 10-12yrs. Hard baits (cranks and many topwaters) have been catching fewer fish. During my tournament days a common strategy was to work over a spot top to bottom with different cranks, or a spinnerbait. If they didn't produce, just move on to the next spot. I seriously doubt that strategy would work on the highly pressured waters now, using those same baits. I tried testing this theory out last season, I'd work the hard bait over a spot and then go back over the same spot with soft plastic presentations and compare the two. I attempted to work the soft plastics at the same speed as I'd worked the hard baits to eliminate presentation speed as a factor. Then I took it one step further. I went over that same spot again after a short break with cranks without rattles. The comparisons didn't surprise me much. The soft plastics out produced the hard baits and the silent baits out produced those with rattles. Here's what really surprised me; The majority of fish were caught from the middle of the water column and this was on a day that I anticipated the fish to be actively chasing. Days like that, I rarely target the middle of the water column. Needless to say, for the remainder of the season, I threw a lot more swim jigs, C-rigs and soft swim baits. Is it just happening in the highly pressured, natural lakes of the mid-west, or are you guys down south and out west experiencing the same thing? Of course, there is the distinct possibility that the old man is just imagining things, but the voices in my head tell me different.

Same here. Picture it, 1971 I'd just returned from my second tour in Nam and reported to ...............Never mind, it was a long time ago, but I still remember it vividly.

Although there is no universal jig style, that being one that is best for all situations, there are some that work well in just about any situation. One is an Arkie style and the other is a swim jig style. That Siebert Grid Iron Arky is a hybrid of those two styles. The line tie is at the nose rather than on top close to the nose and it is turned parallel to the hook, That combination works well in vegetation and resembles a swim jig . The angle of the hook AND the weed guard give it the better attributes of an Arkie style jig which shines in wood and rocky cover. A true Arkie has the line tie similar to the arrangement in the video JIgs 101. When the jig head contacts cover, the skirt, hook and any trailer rock up and forward allowing the jig to climb over the cover without hanging up. The line you use has no bearing on a jig's action, but does on your ability to feel the bite, avoid line damage/failure, and fight the fish in the cover that the jig is presented. That, along with the style jig, eye placement, hook angle, etc. is a personal decision.