Mbirdsley

i’ve caught some very nice small river smallies on jitter bugs around dusk. Dated but, they still catch fish. I believe it’s more of a situational lure though.

i use a snap on all hard baits. usually, i always leave the split rings on jerk baits and cranks if they are supplied with the hard baits. i experimented last year with taking the split rings off vs leaving the split rings on with a snap. my results were that in below 55-60 degree water it seemed that using a snap with out a split ring worked a little better. once the water temp was above 55-60 degrees it didn’t really matter whether the split ring was left on or off. the lure still were bit either way.

handle is built. i’m hoping to have the guide wraps done this weekend. i’ve been binge watching mud hole lives the last 2 weeks.

what ever is working that day is my style

only real thing i’m looking to maybe get into this year is the crush city baits from rapala. mainly the mayor and their version of trd. supposedly the crush city line was developed for clear water midwest/greatlakes fishing. supposedly the mayor is to have a tighter tail kick. i’ve had un consistent success with a jig head and boot tail swim bait. maybe the tighter tail kick triggers more strikes maybe not. Fishing time will be a precious commodity for myself in 2024 and i just want to get right to it and not mess around buying and trying a bunch of new stuff.

i use the mojo rig ( basically split shot rig ) 1/0 or 2/0 hook, 4 inch yum dinger and usually a 1/8 mojo sinker. i either drag it very slowly or give little pops like i would on a t-rig

here is what i have for my mhx sj843. i did my first butt wrap on the split grip and i think it turned out good. not flawless but, good. i think im going to really like that vssm reel seat. I bought 2 with the extra for a possible future walleye build. i bought the bottom butt piece from picasso. i picked the cork and the composite bottom piece. glued them together and then sanded it down chucked into a drill. im putting one layer of epoxy down before i epoxy the reel seat. after the reel seat and split grip is epoxied i’ll give the split grip area another coat of epoxy. i think next time i’ll just epoxy the split grip when i do the guides. better angle of the butt grip

yes most DNR directors are political appointees by the governor. this includes the head of DNR in michigan. In Michigan we also have the Natrual Resource Commission ( NRC) to contend with which, is also basically political appointees by the political party in on the executive branch. however, there is veto power some where in the legislature to the commission. The nrc was supposed to comprised of stake holders in the out doors and was originally devised as a way to keep anti-hunters and anti-fishing from infiltrating the top levels of the DNR. the NRC been a mixed bag of a useful mess. the NRC generally follows social sciences instead of biological science.

everything i’ve ever read about crank fishing says that you need to bang them off of stuff or digging the bottom. i’ve never done either except pilings when available. i’m a pretty decent crank fisherman and ideally i want that crank 1-10 feet off of the bottom. my most productive crank fishing is on a drop off. that drop off could be 5 ft or 30 ft. generally i like to be on the deep side of the drop off cast shallow and bring the crank deep. i also like paralleling the drop off. this can also apply to chatter baits. up here we don’t really have exposed rock banks except on the great lakes. we have natural lakes and older resivours that have been silted in. generally speaking if your crank is hitting the bottom it’s getting hung up in weeds. if i see fish on my sonar hanging around 15 ft over 20-30 ft of water i’ll target that 15 ft. sometimes it’s a pike just hanging out but, usually they are bass that suspended. growing up fishing the shiawassee river for smallies and beating the banks. casting a rapala or other crank it was certain to the crank if it touched the bottom which, would get snagged up and ultimately lost.

i use what ever i pod podcast app that came on the phone. so i’ve been listening to BTL, and tackle talk the last year since i first started this thread. I like BTL my favorite segment is day 4 with uncle frank. frank is a former tournament pro that takes a blue collar approach to bass fishing imho. its real pro tour guest heavy. i don’t really follow pro fishing all that much. if its a topic that interests me ill listen to the whole show. sometimes the guest doesn’t interest me. it does get annoying when matt is fishing the opens and only has 1-2 shows a week when he’s fishing the open. tackle talk is for the most part good. he’s a big kayak fisherman and i have zero interest in that. so when he’s talking about kayak fishing i skip those episodes. the host does try to give imho a good honest review of tackle, rods and reels.

that gives me a good idea. thank you.

these do look good. for some reason the fritz side has never really done anything for me. I don’t like the glossy paint jobs at all. nothing in the series really looks natural.

mine are different this year then past 1) have fun and enjoy myself 2) enjoy the adventure of being in the water 3) keep learning 4) catch a michigan master angler of any species but, preferably a large mouth or smallie.

I think the berkley finisher looks very interesting as well. The finisher I believe wouldn’t be as FFS depended as the krej. the finisher is like a jerk bait, lipless crank, and jigging rap rolled into one.

do you have a picture of one of your buck tail football jigs ?

went to the surplus store in carson city ( same people own the one in chesaning) to pick up some minnie’s for ice fishing sunday. The fishing selection that place has is amazing. they have doubled thier size in 2 years and it’s pretty much all fishing stuff in the new addition. they do get a lot of over stock from the previous year but, also have new this year tackle. looks like 13 fishing is discounting the cliff banger cranks? because, they had boxes of them for $3.99. i wasn’t looking to buy cranks today but, for that price i’ll bite. looks like TW and other sights are blowing the cliff bangers out. i will be going back for more. size 60 epic shad size 60 in epic gill size 70 in olive crush power pro 20 lbs in hi-vis yellow 12 lbs big game and a #7 black and silver shad rap. should be ice fishing sunday. crystal lake had 4-5 inches of solid black ice.

war eagles are my favorite spinner bait. if i can find good deals on booyah, strike king, or any other brand i’ll snatch them up. But, if i can’t find the other brands for a discount i generally pass on them. I have been tinkering with my own the last 2 years. so eventually i wont have to buy any spinner baits.

the 2nd rod arrived and it arrived in a pvc tube. I appreciate that quick turnaround and no fuss from lure parts.

So to go along with my vmms seat. I bought a R3215 Fuji Hidden Thread Up Or Down Locking Foregrip. 1st question the hood seems to hold the reel very securely. my question is should i use the hidden hood by its self or with the locking ring that came that came with the reel seat. which, pictures is correct ? both ways seem to work. 2nd on the cork at the top of the hidden hood where the rod comes through. traditionally a winding check would be put there. i’m assuming no winding check or wrap goes there.

I 2nd the cutco knife. I don’t have one but want one. , my brother does have a cut co and he swears by it for cutting up King salmon, coho, steal head and lake trout. If it ever dulls you can send it in and they will sharpen it for you free of charge. if you really want to spend some money like $150-$200 check out rapid river knife works from da Upper Peninsula of Michigan near glad stone. these are made for outdoors men/women to be used and not displayed. 100% made in the USA. Rapid river knives are hand down to your kids type of quality. 100% life time guarantee and free sharpening for life. even if you break the knife doing something stupid. rapid river will take care of you. they won’t replace the knife but, they can fix it ( might be a shorter knife afterwards) as long as the owner hear’s it out of your mouth that you screwed up and broke it. Mike avery is always talking about them on his show. Rapid river knives are the best around. the guy that owned rapid river started out at marbles in gladstone.

thank you for this.

lure parts put a new blank in the mail today. just had to send photos.

well the blank and a bunch of other stuff arrived today from lure parts. only tiny issue is that the MHX SJ843 was snapped in half by the post office. I got a hold of lure parts sent them the pictures. Hopefully they have a new one in the mail tommrow. First blank i’ve had destroyed by the post office. i’ve had 5-6 blanks now delivers through the mail.

it works well with working soft plastic through sparse grass. sparse eel grass is a good place to use the free rig. it kinda ticks over the top or side steps the grass. where as t-rig will just plow into the grass and get gummed up. also, it’s just something differnt.

the top spro in your picture is the one i’m talking about the MD 50 not MD 55 my mistake.