sal669

Welcome !!! Mudflats are the most nutrient rich areas in lakes. Mud is made up of very fine sand and decomposing organic material. During cold water period the decomposition proces stops (like when you put food in the fridge, it will not spoil for a longer time) and the water has good oxigen content. Lots of insects lay eggs here, wich develop during the winter into larvae and then pupae.iIn spring, when water temperature is rising, the insects start haching. This atracts young of the year and baitfish, and as it was said before, most predatory fish will roam the area. It's not only bass, but pike, walleye, crappie,etc will gather up for the feast. If you check the stomac of the fishes you will find not only baitfish, but lots of insects,too. Panfish, walleye,bass eat the insects too. About catcing the fish, it can be difficult at times; their dinner table is always full of goodies. I would try SMALL lures like floating rapalas( up to #10),Small "crappie" crankbaits, mini spinerbaits, road runners, 4" grubs or curly tail worms, top water lures( the smaller versions), flukes. When the temperature rises, the organic material starts decomposing again generating metane, sulfures, nitrates by using up the oxigen.If there is no current in the lake, this areas are void of fish in the summer because of the water's contamination and lack of oxigen. Hope this helps, Alex

No switching here. Rod in my right hand, reel/crank with my left hand.

That preaty much sums it up. I'd ad that I like to use translucent skirts in clear water and black skirts in dark water/ low visibility. Also, if I whant the spinnerbait to run deeper, I would downsize the blade.

Both. About 75% boat (canoe) and 25% bank. I voted boat.

My $0.02 Strait tail= do nothing. Drop it to the bottom, shake it ,let it sit ,shake it ,hop it ,let it sit...Not that good for swimming the bait without dropping to the bottom Curly tail= swim back slowly, drop to bottom maybe 2-3 times on every cast (but not necessarily), don't let it sit to much in one spot. It's for more agressive fish. Tail needs to flap and put action in the worm; you accomplish that by moving the bait . I prefere a bag of curly tails any day (just cut the tail and you got a strait tail worm).Make it junebug.

6" or 8" worm, junebug

Excellent thread !!! Kudos RW It should be mandatory to read for everybody who joins, so we are all on the same page.

Wowwwww!!! That throws a "monkey wrench" in the works :-/

If the water is fairly clear try swimming a 4" grub close to bottom . Colour to match the baitfish in the body if water; pearl works for me most of the time, on a chartreuse head(1/4 oz)

As it's been said, use a bit of extra weight; if you would normaly use 1/8 oz, go up to 3/16 or even 1/4 oz. Keep as litle line in the air as possible. Fish the downwind shore, especially if you are fishing from the bank. Waves coming towards the shore bring in plancton and small fish, and big fish follows. Cast in the wind, if possible; your cast will be shorter, but it's easier to manage the line and feel the bite. After the bait hits the water, drop your rod tip to the water level and work your bait back to you by moving your rod sideways with the tip at water level. It's NO line watching time ! It's all about the FEEL.This is where a very sensitiv outfit comes into play. Use braided line to increse sensitivity; ad 2-6 ft of fluoro or mono as leader than tie on your bait. Check your line often and retie often, as the bait and line gets in contact with botom and cover( rocks,wood) When in doubt , set the hook. If you feel anything out of ordinary (light tension,small tap, sudden slack in line) chanses are the fish picked up the bait and swims sideways or even toward you. Hope it helps. Tight lines

Anytime I need sensitivity, especialy at long distance, I use braid with a fluoro or mono leader.

5-9lb on black/blue Strike King jig; July, mid-day, pitching in openings in heavy vegetation. 5-4lb on chartreuse/white spinnerbait, august, late afternoon, along outside edge of veggies. Both went back to make more "babies" after a quick weighting. I'll have to buy a digital camera and take pictures !!! :

The "after" is gonna be after next winter...??? :-[ ;D ;D ;D

You get the a good bang for your $ if you shop for a combo. However, there are good deals to be had if you shop around a bit. LOOK FOR QUALITY !!! It will serve you a long time. (Last years Shimano convergence(?) at Dick's for $40 for example).Look for clearance/display models. Don't buy a cheap reel, it spels trouble ( think at least $50) Pair up clearance items with coupons or sales events. Check out Cabelas and BPS clerarance & sales.

Better /larger drag on FD, and as easy to adjust as rear drag. Adjust it before you start fishing the way you like it and leave it alone. If you realy, realy want to ease up a bit, flick the antirevers(A/R) on, take your fingers of the reel handle reach to the spool and readjust. The rotor stays in the same position if you have the A/R ON, so you're not gonna have your knuckles busted. If you don't have the A/R on, it's tough to do it on RD reels too. FD , RD

I use lots of them, it depends on what am I gonna tie to, line size, what tipe of fishing I'm doing (like conventional fishing, fly fishing,etc) For bass fishing I use 3 knots to tie to hook or bait : trilene, palomar and rapala(loop) I prefere the trilene knot for thinner lines and the palomar for heavier lines.About the turns on the trilene knot: depends on line size. 7turns up to 8 lb, 6 turns for 8-14lb, 5 turns up to 20(maybe 25), 4 turns for anything heavier. I dont use the palomar for lines less than 10lb. Rapala/loop knot goes on crankbaits. For line to line: uni knot (mono to mono or fluoro) and bimini twist( mono/fluoro to braid) Arbor knot for line to spool.

Got one of the new ones (coppery-orange )colour at Dick's for $80; feels OK but I wonder if Daiwa got the bugs worked out ?! Didn't fish it yet, and I don't own the older model.What kind of problems were the most frequent with the older version??? I've seen 3 more old Capricorns (right handed) for $60 each at the same store. Any body wants one I'll pick it up (you pay reel +tax +shipping). Tight lines

I would go for a 6-6 medium or medium-heavy. I fish out of a canoe and all my rods are 6-6 or longer. I have 2 medium powered, 3 med-heavy and a heavy flipping rod(7-6)

Hmmmm,. .. shop + pond... test fishing gear....hmmmm You got a "patent pending" on this ???? ;D ;D There are lots of fly fishing shops that will let you test the equipment in a special area (indoor or outdoor). Wolud be nice to have a place to test the product before you buy !!! Especially if you planning on dropping a couple hundred $$$$( not my case). But you might find out that an $ 600 combo is not that much better than the $200 combo, and not spend the extra dough...So the shop would loose some big ticked sales...and profit. I don't think they'll go for it It would of been done long time ago if it would be profitable.

I used it almost exclusively for 3 years now for walleye and steelhead.It feels like an XT line with lower diameter. LOVE IT !!! It's a bit stiff in cold weather ( like under 50*), nothing major, though. I fished it in the winter for steelhead, and the stiffness was not bothering me. And any mono becomes stiffer as the temperature drops, so... Give it a try ! I also use P-Line CX and fuoroclear.

TOTALY AGRRE! We are talking Stardic vs Symetre. There are no significant differences in gearing and there are no significant differences in "smoothness". How could SENSITIVITY be a factor? Maybe you paired the Stardic with a high grafit content rod with a fast or X-fast action, spooled it with low srech line, while the Symetre is on a softer rod with limper line on it. That could be a reason not to feel the lure the same with the 2 outfits. But anyhow, while using a spinning combo you can move the lure continuosly (like small crancbait, grub, light spinnerbait or buzzbait, T-rig,aso) or intermitently( move it a little bit, stop, move it again, stop...) In the first case, the difference betwin the 2 reels doesn't matter, the bait will be sucked in or not by the bass. In the second case, you move the bait with the rod and then take up the slack with the reel. You feel the bite transmited from lure to line-rod- hand or just line-hand if you have one finger on the line at all times(that is what I do).The reel doesn't interfere. Just my $0.02

I always use about 50 yards of Power Pro on my reels for bass fishing. Bass will not make long runs, it will burry in weeds or snags/ wood. I have never had a bass take more than 10 yards of line off the spool. I use 30lb on the baitcasters and 10 lb on the spinning reels.Most of the time I will use a 3-6 ft mono or fluoro leader on the spinning combo. I spool cheap mono all the way to about 3/16 to1/4 inch off the spool lip (it depends on spool size), than fill it up with braid . I will buy some 50lb braid this year and try it out , see if it works better than the 30lb. On the reels I'm using for carp or walleye fishing it's a totally different story...

I'd useit for FISHING !!! ;D Just kidding... WHAT REELMECH SAID !!!

I use a "loop knot" to tie all my crankbaits that don't come with a split ring( or something similar). I found it as the "Rapala Knot" on this website ( it's animated, klick on "slow" to better see how it's done). I hope the link works: http://www.animatedknots.com/rapala/index.php?LogoImage=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com

Thanks Reelmech, excellent article