Mbirdsley

Could use it for backing on braid or fluoro. The 2.99 zebco/eagle claw line has a purpose. On my braid rods I’ll spool up with the cheap line. Than I’ll use 50-75 yards of the expensive braid over top to fill the spool out.

So all the reviews I’ve read is that they are durable plastic lure. What am I doing wrong. I nose rig it with a 4/0 ewg hook. I Push it up through the body to the other side Leaving the hook exposed while being flush and parallel to the body.

That’s the one. Oh I thought it was just called a Christie kit because, they paid him to be on the box.

That’s what I was using but blue, black with silver flake. It came in a kit. They called it a Christie kit. Made by yum. Actually after looking at the pictures I took of the fish with the plastic box in the frame it says nothing about critters. Both the sheap head and bass tore it in half. You can kind of see it in the sheap heads mouth

Oh I thought brush hog was just the generic term for that style of soft plastic.

The cristie critter I was using is called a brush hog.

This has been my first year having bait casters and specifically targeting bigger bass. So this has also been the 1st year I have ever used bass jigs and Shad style cranks. So far I have had a lot of success with jigs, cranks, and dragging t-rigged craws or creatures. However, I’ve never been successful dragging a worm so I rarely use it. I need to change that. One of these days I need to rig one rod with a ribbon tail and the other with a wacky senko while, leaving everything else at home.

I guess I did t realize how cheap they were. I think Walmart carries them. That is where a I bought the kit at.

So tonight I finally got around to using the Christie critters kit that I bought back in March. Both the huge sheepshead aka freshwater drum ( I though I had my new PB small mouth) and the small mouth that I caught tore two separate ones up. The small mouth only tore the one up a little less so I could atleast keep fishing it. Is there a more durable critter out there? Atleast get two or three fish out of?

I see Berkley is getting ready to bring a new top water line out. Looks to include poppers and spook type lures among other things.

I have had quite a few of the cheaper Okuma's. IMHO Okuma for sure owns the levelwind line counter trolling market for salmon, trout and walleye in the under 50 dollar reel market. Okuma is the best bang for your buckin spiining reels until you get into the phlueger president type market. I have never bought the higher end okuma's. I bought the silver okuma avenger from Walmart for either 29.99 or 39.99 in 2012. it was one of my main river wading reels ( I know a lot of guys run them on steelhead rigs). I abused the crap out of it in the river( I did flush it out and grease it up every year). the only reason that I sold it this year was because, the rod it was on was redundant. I also picked up a brand new okuma safina with only 1 bb in a trade. The Safina felt like and acted like a 60 dollar reel and only MSRP for like 20 bucks. I used the money from both reels to buy a Berkley lighting baitcasting rod.

casting spoons. I a have gotten hooked on buying the new custom colors from Eppenger MFG. who is famous for the red and white daredevle. I have had a pretty good pike and bass bite on them so far this year. Just cast it out let it sink to desired depth and just reel it in. Casting spoons are hugely popular for casting off of the breakwaters for steel head and salmon. There is also some northern pike guys who still use them. However, the bass fishermen have pretty much all but, forgotten about them. the two big 1ozers on the left are the customs.

It is better to ask for forgiveness rather than ask for permission.

Franks and north woods is about an hour away. I have never been to franks. I think jays in Clare is way better than bass pro or cabelas. I try to stop by when I am heading up north alone. Hicks is actually a a very good store that is priced reasonable . Hicks is where I bought my Accurist baitcaster from . they have a decent selection of bass stuff but, it is mainly walleye a walleye store. My issue is I work 13 days in a row untill a day off with a lot of 10 to 12 hrs days. Also a new 9 month baby at home. It’s either shop for tackle or fish. I do buy stuff online but, some stuff I like to see in person first and I like being in fishing stores.

I am interested in these Berkley top water lures. We do not have a bait store in the Owosso/chesaning area. I have to go to cabelas out post in Saginaw (which sucks) or Hicks in Clio ( mainly walleye gear). I bet Walmart would carry some of these Berkley top water stuff.

I’m looking at buying some unpainted football head jigs with the weed guards installed. I plan on painting the jigs my self with powder paint. After painting the jigs I Will be curing them at 350. At that temp in the convection oven will it cause the weed guards to melt/ be destroyed?

I don’t know if your fishing a lake, river, or where about you are from. Anyway, a zebco style reel and ugly stick is good idea. 8 lbs test and I’d put a leader on it because, a live minnow could be drawing in mr. Northern or other toothy fish as well . If your fishing a lake put the bobber right after the leader (2-3 foot leader), put a split shot on the leader. For this I like trebles or octopus/circle hooks. I wouldn’t put it to deep. I’ve had bass hit it that shallow in 8-10 foot of water if fishing a river I’d use a egg sinker,swivel 2-3 foot of line and than trebles or octopus/circle hooks. if available golden shiners are my favorite they are larger and very hardy. If no Golden’s I guess match the hatch as best you can. I have caught monster bass this way.

I have a couple reasons. 1st I grew up fishing salmon and steel head fishing out of Frankfort on Lake Michigan. My brother still has s Lake Michigan boat. I love being on the big lake, if you have never been on the big lake you need to take a charter out of Frankfort or any where north of ludington. The scenery will take your breath away. Someday I hope to get to the point of having a big lake boat and the associated equipment but, right now it isn’t in the cards financially. A person between boat and (used) bare bones equipment will probably run you north of $10,000 before you even hit the water. Than there is storage docking fees and maintaining a 20-35ft Lake Michigan boat which, is a job in its self. I’m not saying there are not expenses in bass fishing or boat maintance. The expenses in bass fishing just seem more manageable. 2nd Trolling after a while gets boring. I was just practicing flipping yesterday. There are plenty of techniques to master in bass fishing. 3rd I grew up eating fish and love eating fish. The wife does not. So it dosent really make a lot sense for me to catch a lot of fish to eat. Deep lake trolling once you hook a fish it’s a basically a fight to the death. Once you get it to the boat the fish is exhausted And/or if it’s hooked from deep water it will never survive release being brought up from 75-150 foot of water. Also, certain times of the year it gets to hot to successful release a stream trout in Michigan. 3rd for some reason I have always like bass equipment. Maybe it was all those years of watching bill dance as a kid on Tnn. I like all the lures, the bait cast reels, and rods. I always want to figure out how certain lures work and what makes a fish eat it. I also like making my own lures 4th bass are pretty wide spread in Michigan. Basically every lake, stream, creek, and pot hole has them . 5th I can do it by myself. I’d like to find a fishing partner. For right now though, fishing by myself Is fine. I can launch and fish from my tin can or a bass boat once I get one. With a big lake boat it is basically a two man operation with one guy setting/watching lines and the other driving. Also docking procedures are a pain docking a big 30 footer by your self.

no way. I wouldn't even think about it

I was glancing through A well known website. You could get everything you need to tie new trailers for about 25 bucks shipping included. Bobbin 2.99, bobbin threader 1.99, Maribou( what I like to use to dress trebles) 6.99 for oz which is about a qt size bag, thread 1.99-4.00 depending on what you buy, and headcement 3.79 (trust me on the cement makes life a lot easier and the dressing will last longer) .You can find cheap fly tying vices or use a shop vice for this.

Yum swurms

This is why I live where the outside air hurts my face in the winter time. That’s a whole lotta nope.

Here is the old Accurist and new Accurist. I guess we will see how the new one holds up. I have been averaging 1-2 fishing trips a week. I should have enough time on the water with by the end of the season. Definitely tell the difference between a $100 bait caster and $40 abu Black maxx ( so far the Black maxx has been fine) onlY issue now is I forgot to buy bigger diameter flouro line. The biggest stuff I have on hand is 10lbs. Guess it will work for now. The weeds arnt that bad in most of the lakes yet.

Does your states department of natural resources not do creel studies On this lake. I know here in Michigan with thousands of lake we have. The lakes could be on a 3-10 year creel survey rotation. After they do creel survey and other studies the DNR will adjust stocking data to that certain body of water. At the very least your states DNR should be able to tell you what happened. I am surprised the amount of data the MiDNR has on just about any body of water in the state. Most times you just neeed to make a phone call or email

Northerns can wreck havoc on trout if there get to be to many of them in a lake or stream. But, I think this normally happens when they have been introduced some where the shouldn’t have been or some ecological changes occur in that body of water ie water temp rises over time, stream dedigration from banks being cleared of trees and brush, or water quality. All of these ecological changes could be natural or man made.