Jig Man

The Ned rig is all that I can catch fish on right now. I am using trds on 8# fluorocarbon. I fish the Midwest finesse jig heads. Most of the time I use 1/16 or 3/32. If I need to go deeper I can use the 1/8. I am late for an appointment but I will try to post more later.

Yes I have. It’s pretty easy to do. My problem (even when I am catching fish) is getting anything to bite them.

I am a full grip person. I don’t like split grips at all. My fishing partner is just the opposite. To each his own.

Well that is what I am fishing and have been for the last couple of months. Baits that I have tried: Keitech swim baits, worms of various colors, crank baits, jigs mostly 3/16 that I make in several colors and Ned rigs. Results: Keitechs…an occasional fish Worms…earlier pretty good Crank baits…0 Jigs…pretty good until lately Ned rigs…all that I can get a bite on lately. The last time out I used most of what I listed. The only fish came on the Ned. I used 3 different weights 1/16, 3/32, and 1/8 depending on the depth and amount of wind. I caught 18 bass mostly largemouth with 5 keepers. I fish 7 different rocky areas and plan to keep throwing the Ned.

Every boat that I have had gave off a gas smell in the garage. As long as I keep the bilge area lid open I never notice it. So I open it as soon as the boat goes in the garage and leave it open until I go fishing again.

I am hesitant to offer suggestions since my Humminbirds are not the same generation as yours and they may have changed the procedure. If you have the manual you can get the information that you need by looking in the waypoint management section. If you don’t have a manual you can download it. One of the first things I did when I bought mine was dowload the manual, save it to an sd card, take it to a printer and have it printed and bound. I carry it in my boat so I can reference things which I have forgotten.

What brand of sonar are you using??

That price is on the high end for that model and age of boat. You could be looking at a cylinder issue. I for sure would have a compression test run before I let go of any money. I bought a Tracker with a 40 which was supposed to have no issues. Within a month or so one of the cylinders shot craps.

Is the brand on sonars the same in the two boats?

That’s a long way in the future to try to predict what will be happening down there. If you haven’t already scheduled your trip you might want to look at the tournament schedule and avoid times that have large tournaments. https://www.mshp.dps.missouri.gov/WP04Web/app/searchRegattaWeb?action=Search+Again You can follow some of the guides who regularly make reports. Pete Wenners typically makes a weekly report. I hope you have a memorable experience.

I don’t have any pics. I went yesterday and caught 18 lmb and smb on Ned rig. They were from 3-6’ deep in 46° water.

Have you considered buying a leather one that you stitch on yourself? Amazon has them. Another thought is gaffers tape. I keep some of it around all the time. https://aboveavl.com/products/black-gaff-tape-55-yard-1

This is what I use in the summer. It works great. It dries the boat in an hour or two.

FG is the strongest smallest knot that I have ever used.

I am fishing flat rocky coves from the point back as far as I can get a bite. Most of the time the boat is no deeper than 8 feet. The fish are from 2-6 feet deep. I’ve never seen fish this shallow this late in the year. I have tried backpacking off and fishing deeper but I can’t get a bite that way.

What has been good to feed the great granddaughters has been, chicken nuggets, pizza, fried chicken and burgers. They will eat potatoes any way we fix them.

The warmest thing I’ve found is a Gerbing heated vest. It has replaced several assorted items that I have tried over the years. https://www.gerbing.com/collections/battery-heated-vests/products/gerbing-7v-mens-torrid-softshell-heated-vest-2-0?variant=44873770139939

The rocky areas that I have been fishing were loaded with smallmouth 6 weeks ago. An occasional largemouth would be caught. As the winter has approached fewer and fewer smallmouth are showing up and more and more largemouth are in the areas. Yesterday I fished the same places and caught 18 bass. 15 of them were largemouth (5) keepers and only 3 were smallmouth. I am not complaining about the largemouth just wondering where the bulk of the smallmouth have gone.

I fish the water you have mentioned. I haven’t caught anything over 6.5# in several years. If I were looking for a large one I would be learning forward facing sonar and spending lots of time scanning areas looking for them. Baits to consider: Winter… Arig Late winter…crank baits and jerk baits Spring pre spawn…tandem spinnerbait Post spawn…jigs with large trailers Early summer…Zara spook Good luck on your journey.

When it is colder than I want to be in I put an electric space heater in my garage and point it toward where I am working. It isn’t great but it helps. My garage borders our sun room. I have considered cutting a hole in the wall and adding vents on both sides but haven’t seriously looked into it.

I’m not buying any but I have several. I have probably a dozen Shimano Stradics and Symmetrys. I also have several Shimano Curado E7s and some G 5s. They have been workhorses.

I have most of the same stuff as A-Jay along with jumper cables and tow straps. I also have AAA and insurance road side assistance. I don’t carry anything for the wheels because I had mine gone through and bearings, hubs, and seals replaced when I had new springs and fenders put on the trailer last fall.

I have 2 items which help me be able to take the cold days: 1. down filled bibs from Duluth Trading Co and heated vest from Sheels. They make a big difference on what I can stand on cold days. What about you guys who actually live where you have winter?

My experience is without the baking the paint won’t be hard and will chip very easy. I honestly don’t know how many I have painted. I used to do 1,000 a year for one guy. Here is my method: I use a fluid bed so I have a larger opening into which I can dip the jigs. I hold the jig eye with a Pop Snagger tool to keep paint out of the eye. I heat the jig just hot enough to get a dull coat of powder on it (shiny is too much paint and causes drips and runs). I hang them by the hook in my toaster oven and depending on the size of the jig I bake them for 10 to 15 minutes at 350°f.

I have 2 Curado 150 DCs. I love them.