Fishingintheweeds

I have the spool...but haven't been able to bring myself to take that next step. Funny...maybe you need to let the guys who specifically go out for musky in on this trick! Ha, ha, fish of 10,000 casts?

This is what's kept me from really getting on board with trying out the more expensive swimbaits or even some of the hard baits that I have in some places. For you all that fish around the ones that will cut through your biggest line like butter, what do you do? Do you just keep the swimbaits in their original packages and hang them on the wall? Do you drop $25+ on a 16" pike? Are there leaders that don't kill the action? Are they too big and noticeable to get any benefit from the idea of trying to be more stealthy for bass?

So, another general question about the biggest fish (plural) in the lake. I've been giving this a lot more thought since I've had several really big ones already this year. More catches and more that got lose than all other years combined...including an almost 15 year hiatus. I know spring is that time to do it but an interesting thing about this is that everybody, myself included, previously regarded one of the lakes as a small fish lake. The more I've learned about bigger fish and the places I've caught them, the more I've been thinking that maybe the real challenge isn't NECESSARILY that they're more or less rare, but that in certain bodies of water, they've gotten very good at remaining hidden or at least being very difficult to catch....

Saw it again...hard runs, jumps and boils. The little ones just don't do that. Ha, I may just start only fishing in the spring and fall...and skip the summer altogether...all those hard to catch, skinny fish. Nah...who am I kidding?

Well, 4 and a half years later...I gotta know. Are you golden?! And did you get the replica? Do you like it?

Yes, for sure, I take cues from what's going on. As I reread what I wrote, I guess it might sound like I'm saying that I do and don't at the same time? maybe all I can say for sure is that I don't let it stop me from going out and I've still had days I've done well in conditions when I wasn't "supposed to".

Let me see if I can say this the right way. I'm a details guy...I believe they matter. I'm also a science guy, that's my job. But I fish when I can, where I can. I have a lot of options for location and whatever weather or water conditions may in some way affect where I choose to go or what I throw but beyond that, the more I improve and refine different approaches, the less I worry about time of day or weather. I believe that my locations and approaches are far more important. You can pick the "worst" time of day and the "worst" weather and I believe I can figure something out. Besides, I've caught 0 fish in the "worst" conditions just like I have caught 0 fish in the "best" conditions. But that's happened a lot less over time and I've caught bigger fish more consistently also. Do I know some special secret? Can I explain why I'm doing what I do now? Ha, ha...nope. Not easily. But the last thing I think about when I go out now is how the time of day or weather might prevent me from catching fish. Unless there's flooding dangers or a risk of getting struck by lightening, I don't even consider checking the weather before going fishing.

I like your answers. You show them that you like to partake in low-brow activities but you're also a classy guy with refined tastes ?

My whole drive home from work is between lakes and over rivers. I decided to give myself 20 minutes at the last lake before I hit our driveway. I walked down the hill with a jig on and...a Senko. I know, I know. If I had more time, I was going to go with the jig...but I wanted to get one under my belt quick so I started with the Senko. I knew they'd eat it there and if they didn't, I'd get some big rock bass. Well, I missed two, caught one small one and then this one here. Funny, every time I've caught big fish this year, I haven't brought the scale. I thought about that on the way down the hill and decided I would just leave it in the truck because for sure, I wouldn't catch anything big and besides, I was only staying for 20 minutes. ? I did weigh a fish in at 2lb the other day and this one was a good bit bigger. Scales bigger in the pictures also, for what that's worth. Anyways, it was a fun time. I left right as the rain blew in. Got 3 hard runs, jumped twice and gave me two big boils in there between all that. Not a bad sized Michigan bass.

I guess you hook them on instead of threading them?

I've caught some on the pit boss but not as many as I have with any of the paddle tails. Whichever ones I've used have all caught fish. I like the idea of the pit boss but I can't figure out why they work when they do because a lot of the time, I don't do as well with the craw style baits. And there's always the possibility that I fish them differently, whether I know it or not. Anyways, just when I feel like I should throw a craw-style trailer even though I don't WANT to...if I put the pit boss on, they catch em. The chunks work well? Seems like that's the only trailer that gets bit for me on a jig. Never thought about using them on chatterbaits.

Ah, dang it...thanks a lot guys. I might be buying another reel now! Since I'm shore-bound, there's not many things that I find as irresistible as the next greatest rod/reel that I think I can cast across the lake with.

Pretty interesting. I never thought about it until the day I made the post. I had a big one on that ended up conning off but it stood out to me as very similar to a very nice fish I caught a few weeks earlier. Maybe they were close enough together but also similar to each other and different from the majority of the 2's and 3's that I get but they stood out to me. They both hit hard, definitely tried to run deep almost immediately and were very fast. Both jumped about the same and it worked out well for one of them. Other bigger fish that I've caught haven't been bunched very closely together so I've never paid this kind of attention. They've also not had deeper areas close to run to. And all that said, these last two have been a good bit bigger than my previous bigger fish.

So, I think I will have to preface this by saying that of course it's impossible to tell exactly the size of a fish when it's on the water and you haven't seen it and of course they're all individuals and may not all do the exact same things. But what have been some of the things that you noticed in common in the big fish that you did catch from the time you set the hook to when you got them in? Did they run to deep water immediately? Head for cover? Or did they all do something different? Don't read that literally because I can't name everything a fish might do. I'm just trying to flesh out the topic. Maybe there's nothing at all. I've caught some pretty good fish this year, already and it SEEMS like there were some commonalities in them and what they did once I had them on. I know this might be way too general and impossible but it just made me wonder what everyone else might have to say about their bigger catches.

So, even with the reduced speed, you'd pick the Spartacus over the Royale Legend. And it casts farther and doesn't backlash as easy? How would you compare either of those with the MegaJaws? I'm asking because I'm interested in checking out the higher speed and something that allegedly casts farther and is "harder" to backlash. I'm also thinking of sticking to braid bit going with 30-40 lb.

I have 2 of the older Royal Legend reels. I've got 50 lb braid on them. One is almost a year old, one is over 2 years old. Both have worked great and I've had no problems. The only thing was was tricky at first was getting them tuned right. I have 2 of the 4 breaks turned on and don't be afraid to turn your dial up to near 10 to start. Once you get a better feel, you can switch things up some and have very few problems. Before I did that, I was ready to throw the first in the lake because the reel would spin so fast! They're not super-expensive, they work well and have held up so far. I'd say they're worth the money. Comparing them to the Black Max and the Lews MG combo reels that I have, I'd put the casting distance above the BM and slight lower than the Lews, only because the KK took a lot more tuning and would backlash a lot easier until tuned. The KK does have a higher gear ratio than both though. I've been looking now at the MegaJaws also. Hoping to see how people like it. Does it really cast better/farther and backlash less?

BB jigs, also? That's weird...Maybe I'm just not feeling it because of my past...ha, and recent experiences. What kinds of water are you fishing?

Does it produce well? I'm in Michigan also and I don't have any issue with my greens or anything with a flash or contrast to it...except black and blue. And Junebug. I don't know why but rivers, to fairly clear lakes to greenish colored pit lakes...black and blue and Junebug, for ME, have a combined, all time 3 fish. And those were at night using a Pit Boss as a topwater. Same here. I've tried to give it a shot, ha, ha, even bringing ONLY those colors so I don't cheat. But I think the lack of production just makes me more bitter? BB and Junebug have never worked for me here, from the southern part of the state, up to several different places in mid-Michigan.

And then what happened?

Of COURSE, it's impossible to know but I'll play...because after the last fish I caught on this 120+ acre lake, I wondered the same thing. It's a public lake, on the state land and during the summer, it's pounded on nearly a daily basis with swimmers, people in canoes, kayaks, boaters (although there's a fairly low speed limit) and an insane number of people out fishing. Over the last several years that I've gone there, I've caught an awful lot of 12-14" bass. Only 2 people that I've talked to who have fished there regularly have said they had something bigger. One was a 4 that was released, and another was a 5, that this person made sure to show everyone as she paddled back in to let us know she was going to eat good tonight. That was weird. The one I got last week was significantly larger than either of those or the 5 I caught last year. By a couple seconds into the fight, I started to wonder how big the pike were in the lake but since it didn't feel like I pike, I started to wonder if one of the big carp had grabbed my chatterbait. We're in Michigan, so there aren't many up here that are caught at that size. I'm not saying that I DID catch the largest in the lake, but it was definitely big enough for me to wonder about. Based on all of the other fish that me and others have caught there, I would say it's gotta be up there. But like someone else said, it's the "what if?" Ha, ha, since listening to all the so-called Bigfoot experts I became convinced YEARS ago that it doesn't exist...so, I guess fishing takes that place.

Oh, I sure did. This is just a subject that I wanted to see if more detail could be pulled on. It's like the potato chips. I can't eat just one. Thanks!

I guess if I read these all again I would, for sure, see something that would click that didn't last year. Can anybody try and get more specific on the different ways that they like to affect what the jig does, or what they're presenting, other than only reduce/increase this or that? There are things that I have figured out that I could try to go into detail on to explain or I could just say use a smaller jig or, slow down, or use a different trailer. There are people who definitely know more than I do who might be able to explain some of the details in how they like to do these things. The more I use them and get familiar with all that could be done with them, the more I realize that there still is to the subject. Maybe there are some critical details a few might be willing to share in regards to these things?

I appreciate it...but I made quite a few of the comments on there from the end of last summer and read all 22 pages before that??? I know, I will continue in that thread with what was going to be my reply to you on here. Ok, see you on the original jig thread!

What does everybody think about action and rate of fall? After all of the years of thinking I would never be able to use one from the banks and that I was just being for endless snags, I finally trying out jigs last summer fall. And sure enough, I did well with them! After thinking about the fact that I'd just gotten pretty good with chatterbaits, I realized I had begun using them like jigs anyway! This has been the first spring that I've fished jigs. Ever. Crazy, right? Pretty quickly, I started noticing some differences between the seasons and I got to thinking even more about what I was really doing and all of the ways I could change what fish were seeing. So, if this is covered like this somewhere else already, I apologize. I have some specific things I want to work with next but I am curious to hear the thoughts of people who probably know way more than I do. Small profile jigs that fall fast, or small jigs that fall slow, a lot of action on the fall, or a little? Big jigs that fall fast, or slow them down? What do you like and when? What ways are you mixing and matching that you like best?

I don't want to high jack this thread but I'm sure someone else must be having the same question. What do you mean second link? Thanks for your help!