Handy

For years I have used berkely and can say without a dought that I must be loony because I kept buying line that didn't perform. I did make a switch to braids and have been happy with most of them but still have yet to find a excellent mono. I am considering suffix seige for my meduim spinning rod in about 10lb test. But I may have to wait for 2 more months before I get open water to find out if I like it. I am glad you asked this question as I too was going to ask. I am sure someone more experienced than me with dealing with mono will speak up and lead us in a better direction. Paul

Well I am coping with winter by fishing! Of course I have to drill holes to wet a line but I do cacth fish, bluegill, crappie, perch, channel cat, and of course LMB! I do miss casting and being warm though and it will be some time before I get to fish "normal" but I can tell you I can't wait. Paul

Well I did catch fish on them but not like allot of other guys did. Most guys say that they will just use a normal spinnerbait but they do not catch much for me and have produced only a few fish in about 6 years. So I will stick with the chatterbait and its cousins. Of course I will still throw a normal spinner every now and then. I will admit though that most of my chatters have no skirt and have a fluke or worm on them. To each there own. Paul

When I walk down the muskie and pike isle at mills fleet farm I always stop and look at the northland and joe bucher big spinners(saftey pin style) and wonder how well these would work for lmb. I fish allot of smaller lakes that the water clarity is stained to heavy stain and thought a bigger profile would get noticed better. Most of these spinners are at least an ounce in weight if not a little more but have nice big blades on them. Would it be worth getting one or just stick to the 1/2 oncers I have? Thanks. Paul

Has anyone done this? Or is the jon to light or would I just be better off using 2 anchors(one at each end)? Don't have a jon yet just jetting things sorted out in my mind before I get one. Paul

I picked humminbird. I am on my second unit and am very pleased. The thing that I like is the user friendly menus. Easy to navigate and use. For me that is a big deal. I am currently looking at my 3rd one, 2 years on my 2nd unit and I already want to upgrade(LOL). Paul

I like the idea of slimming down my tackle box and these look like they could be the answer to that, being tunable to the sutuations at hand. Right now I think I have about least 17 spinnerbaits and I would like to knock that down to about 3. I will have to put these on my wish list. Thanks guys. Paul

For me the best shakey worms have been ones I already have. Zoom trick and finesse worms and Charlie Brewer 4 inch slider. Paul

While doing some more study on spinnerbaits last night I came across this company. They had some very usefull info. But what caught me was their design of a spinnerbait. There are no split rings to come undone and you can easily change blades. I would post a link but I don't know how, the address is www.secretweaponlures.com. This spinner just might be worth a buy(go away baitmonkey!). I like the idea of carring less spinnerbaits as this version can be adapted in just about anyway by changing the combination of blades or blade. So you end up with a coulpe of each weight and then just choose your blades. Anyone heard of them or used them? Thanks. Paul

The pits are not currently flooded. I did fish them when it was. I waded anywhere I knew that was safe for me to get to, although I caught nothing. The water was about at least 6 foot above normal for normal spring water level. Then ussualy as summer progreses the level drops. The level now is just starting to get near normal mid summer level. Well it wasn't katrina flooding but for my area, north central Iowa is was pretty bad, the river I am reffering to is the winnebago and it's peak floodstage was somewhere around 18ft above normal level(at least that was the official report). The river and pits are not currently connected but they are only about 10ft apart at one low spot. It ussualy floods a tiny bit in the spring but and the water level will go up about 2 foot but this year all 3 pits were connected because of how much flooding there was. I am hoping things will soon return to normal as it is a quite place to go and fish and relax. Thanks for the input guys. Paul

When they became more available I bought a handfull. And at first they did produce some fish but it didn't take long and no more bites. Since then they got the boot and are no longer in my normal tackle box. I never had anything come apart on them but the hooks were very dull and needed immediate care. If I were to buy a chatter type bait now it would be the strike king version. Paul

He definatley has a sense of humor. I have been trying to get out in the boat for a month now and every weekend has been cold, wet or windy in any combo there is. And when I say windy it's in excess of 25mph, for my little boat thats just to much. Here's more, my brother catchs fish but I don't and we are fishing the same place and time with same bait. My main fishing time is on the weekend so all I can hope for is nice weather then. Sometimes I do get it and I say "thank you!" to him above. Paul

I fish some old gravel pits that for the last few years in a row have flooded badly in the spring with this year being really flooded. These pits are right next to a small river wich I beleive is why it floods so badly. Since the flooding I have noticed the fishing slowly deteriorating every year since I started fishing there about 5-6 years ago. I have always been told that when fish sense current they will swim upstream. These pits used to have largemouth, crappie, pike, carp,channel cats and bluegill. So far all there seems to be is carp, bullhead and a few bluegill. So my question do I give up on my fav place to fish or just hope in a few years it will rebound? Anyone experience anything like this? Thanks. Paul

I fish with braid on all my reels and I started thinking in the one lake I fish with clearer water it would help to have a flouro leader. But from what I have read I am not sure I want it. So my question is in semi clear water, about 5-6 foot clarity and just a little bit of green tint would I be better off just using a quality mono for a leader? And if so whos? And then clear or green tint? Thanks. Paul

That thing looks spectacular! You say it will work with equipment we already own, so my question is what does it wheigh then? If I remember corectly my heaviest rod can handle 1 1/4 ounces. I would definatly get Matts if it does work on my current gear. Paul

When I got into flyfishing a few years ago my youngest son(10) thought it would be cool to copy me with his fishing setup, a spincast setup using of all things a 2 1/2 inch spoon. I was unaware at the time what he was doing until I heard a scream and ran over to find out. What I found was the treble lodged in his scalp above his right ear. I lightly tried to tug it out backward but no go and told him I was going to drive it all the way through to then cut the barb and then back it out. I had to have my friend hold him while I did this. In the end he did quite well and never again tried to "flyfish" that way again. Paul

I am thinking of steping up and trying a 10 inch worm from 6-7 inch and was wondering if there is a perceptable difference between the two. I can get the berkley 10 inch at mills fleet farm 5 miles from home the Zoom ole monster I would have to order online. Thanks. Paul

I saw one at Cabelas and thought it looked good so I fed the baitmonkey and got one. Any feedback on them? Thanks. Paul

Terminator T-1 gets my vote. But I too do not catch allot of fish on them. I have been throwing them for 5 years(?) and only 4-5 fish caught on them, total. They look like awesome fish catchers to me but in my neck of the woods not so. I catch many more on mepps inline spinners, so I guess that would be my second fav. Paul

Thanks guy for all the suggestions, I knew I would get straight info here. RW, I like what you said about lasting a liftime. This spinning reel won't be used allot but I want to last a long time and I am willing to up the cost if a reel could deliver. Most reels I have bought in the past feel great new but within the next year feel bad. Thanks guys. I am hopefully heading to cabelas tonight and maybe the baitmonkey will get fed well, LOL. Paul

LC is expensive but I can throw allot of my other cranks and no hits turn right around and throw a LC crank and ussually I at least get a smack on it. I don't have allot of them but I definately suggest checking out the Rick Clunn series at Bass Pro made by Lucky Craft, these are without a dought my fav cranks! Also Bass Pro sometimes runs a sale on them which is when I got mine. I have since started getting other LC cranks. I just get one at a time so it doesn't over drain the wallet. Don't want to feed the baitmonkey too much in one sitting, lol. Paul

I havn't bought a spinning reel in nearly 20+ years and need to know which ones I could get for around 50$ that are smooth reliable. I have looked the the pflueger president and it seems like a good one for the money but are there any others? Thanks. Paul

Actually I have just started doing this on my treble hook baits. The last few bass I got really swallowed the trebles and made it very hard to "nicely" get the hooks out. I ended up releasing bass with very bloody mouths. If the bass gets away because of the squashed barbs then no biggie as I fish only for fun. Paul

In the summer the bass are nowhere near me,LOL. I can find fish on the sonar but usually can't tempt them to bite. I went wade fishing today and tried to work the steep dropoffs that I knew were there and not one taker. Probably needed to be out in boat working partially submerged small islands(small body of water). Paul

Well for me it rarely is a number of casts, it's more of well I have done this for a while with no bites then I change. Some days i change allot others only a few. I just go by my gut feeling about when to change or move.