Jig Man

Tubes are about the only bait that I prefer to use spinning setups over bait casting. I use a Gloomis rod with a Shimano Stradic 2500.

My H is for Arigs only.

Monday night football was super boring. W for the Eagles

For most of my fishing life if the high was predicted to reach 32° no matter the starting temperature we went. Since my cerebrovascular accident I have to take blood thinners and can’t stand the cold so the predicted high now is 50° with soft water.

Matthew Stafford was on top of his game today.

Allen is into spin casting. He probably can do a dozen of those under spins at a time.

I saw a guy heave a fish over the side of his boat on an Arig. He looked at it and started laughing. His partner ask what was so funny. His reply was that the fish was on the bait that didn’t have a hook. So I guess one can feel it. I wouldn’t personally know because I run blades on my extra two arms.

It’s not over yet. We are getting cold weather this weekend. I hope it doesn’t kill the smallmouth bite. We’ve had 79 fish (mostly smallmouth) in the last 2 trips and they are super shallow.

Like I posted earlier. It is doing nothing. I have one tied on and 8 in my Arig box.

The line size will have a lot to do with using a heavy rod. When I use one of mine I keep it to 15# fluorocarbon or 30# braid and use 1/2 oz spinner baits with a trailer.

The Devil’s Horse has been a hit and miss bait for me. I perfer the Boy Howdy. It sets in the water with the tailend hanging down therefore it gets more hookups than the D Horse.

Nitro I am in the waining years myself. I fully understand what you are thinking. If the money is handy I say repower. It will probably come with a 5 year warranty which will be a good peace of mind addition. I recommend getting the four stroke, no oil to add, just change it yearly when the lower unit gets serviced. I have a 5 year old red Chevy Silverado that is low mileage and everything works. I am just tired of the color and thinking about getting a silver one. At this time in life I say get what you want.

If you will pm me your name and address I will send you this one. You can configure it any way you want and will only be out the swivels. I carry 8-10 from now to spring. This one is just laying around wanting to be fished. It has a fiberglass resin head so it weighs near nothing.

The smallest lake that I normally fish is 26000 acres with 300 miles of shoreline. I like to cover ground so I won’t stay on a place that isn’t producing. Like Tom said leave and come back later which I plan to do but often find myself out of time or energy before I have hit similar spots within a few miles.

My neighbor and I went back to our favorite smallmouth area on Stockton Lake today. There was a pretty good northwest wind when we launched. Our first place gave up only 2 one of which was a keeper. The second spot is rocks and ledges running for at least 1/2 mile it 11. After that it was move to the side of the lake where the wind was hitting. We fished rocky banks, coves and points until after about 6 hour on the trolling motor I called the dogs and ended the trip. There were 2-3’ rollers hitting us all day. When they were broadside I wanted a seat belt. It was a constant battle to keep the boat away from the bank. We had a bumpy 4 mile ride into the wind back to the truck. We wound up catching 47 bass with 7 keepers. The bait of the day was a green pumpkin trd rigged with a 1/16 or 3/32 weedless Ned head. Right now I am trying to relax with an adult beverage in my recliner.

I have run a lot of 2 stroke engines from all of the major manufacturers. My last 2 stroke was a 225 Mercury Optimax. I ran it trouble free for 14 years. When I bought my current boat I opted for the Mercury Verado. I’ve had 9 trouble free years so far and would never go back to a two stroke.

Can’t advise you on gloves as I have never been in a yak. One thing you might do to warm your hands id keep a couple of Hot Hands hand warmers in a jacket pocket. I do that on really cold days.

I was fishing as an observer in a tournament. We went way up river into AR where a dude was fishing accompanied by his dog. He and my angler had an unfriendly conversation then my guy pulled out a spook and proceeded to fish. I didn’t cast because I was interested in what was going to happen. My guy made a couple of more casts then the other dude leaned down and came up with a rifle. He proceeded to blow that spook out of the water. Talk about Heeby-Jeebies I had some and couldn’t wait to be gone.

I hope it is a trend not one off. They did the same thing last fall. Before that I had never caught them so shallow and I have been fishing this lake for a very long time.

Our lakes have multiple brush piles on every point, in coves, etc. if a bass gets in one my best results have been like Bluebasser suggested. I’ve gotten 2 4s and an 8 out of the same pile doing that.

I have one that was given to me when I had my last custom rod built. I use it for 3/16 oz finesse jigs. It is a pain to get in and out of my rod locker tubes.

Yesterday my neighbor and I went to my favorite lake. We were looking for suspended spotted bass on swim baits. After an hour with only one I decided to see if the smallmouth were still in the area. We pulled out the jigs, shaky heads and Ned rigs. We found smallmouth on shallow rocky wind blown banks. They wouldn’t touch the jig no matter what size or color we used. When I say shallow I mean really shallow. The deepest that the boat was setting in was 8’ but most of the time it was 5 or 6. In some places they were on points. In others they would be way back in the coves. The key was windy, rocky and shallow. Banks without lots of rocks had nothing. Mixed in with the smallmouth were spots and largemouth. It was so rocky that we had to go light. 3/32 oz was the heaviest head that had a life expectancy of more than a cast or two. A lot of the fish were in a foot or less as they hit as soon as the bait hit the water and we were trying to get as close to the bank as possible. We wound up catching 38 bass with 7 keepers. The sky was clear to partly cloudy. The wind was northwest at 10-12. The air was 37-55° and the water was 63°. I can’t wait to get back before the pattern changes. The best baits were green pumpkin TRDs Ned rigged and coppertruse Zinkerzs rigged shaky. We were using the Midwest finesse weedless heads and still lost several baits.

You might check your state regulations and see if it is legal. If it is my advice is leave it alone. If it is not legal you can always report it.

Thanks. The last for me was in the fall lure post where I specifically referenced some brand names of the fall baits that I use every trip because they out produce anything else that we have tried for smallmouth.