Jig Man

Around here if it isn’t sold by the 4th of July dealerships plan to winter it. So anytime between now and late winter they might have some that they want to be rid of. What are you looking for?

I always buy 91 octane ethanol free gasoline. My tank holds 50 gallons and I like to keep it at least 1/2 full. My typical purchase is 20 gallons which runs around $70 most of the time. I haven’t run wot for a long time as my engine uses 1/2 gallon per minute at that setting.

My hands have taken a beating. I own some land in STONE County MO. I used to run cattle and divided the land up into small pastures. I bought my steel posts 1000 at a time. I drove them by hand with a pipe driver. I am guessing that was the culprit. I have had trigger finger surgery on all but my left hand middle finger. I have had carpal tunnel surgery on both hands. Today’s surgery was the index finger on each hand and carpal tunnel on the left.

Around here there are legal considerations. You may have to have some kind of articles of organization along with liability insurance. We had one and had to set up a not for profit corporation. There is a lot to getting organized and operating a club. One thing you will for sure have to have is a good set of rules both for tournaments as well as meetings.

Thanks folks. I am home. The surgery went well. Both of my hands are wrapped and have to stay that way until Saturday.

In the morning I am having 3 surgeries on my hands (I have had 6 before this). Hopefully this will be the last of them. I don’t know how long it will take to get back on the water. The first post observation is in 2 weeks. I have read that one of the procedures can take up to 6 months for full recovery. So for a while at least I will be sitting and basically doing nothing. If some of you would report on trips and post a few pics it would help me pass the time. Thanks in advance.

I’ve had pretty good luck with the Jewel Pee Wee in 5/16 along with a Yamamoto twin tail grub. I like Basswhacker, Hail Mary, and First Down. https://jewelbait.com/shop/details/pee-wee-series/pee-wee-football-jig-hd

I’ve soldered lumps on the back side of blades to add more “thump” to a single spin.

Get a Berkley Hot Knife and the type of line doesn’t matter.

I log every trip on Excel. I have been doing this for over 20 years. I track the date, launch ramp, whose fishing with me, whose boat we used, the lake level, the launch and load time, air temp beginning and ending, water temp low and high, wind speed and direction, moon phase, # of bass, # of keepers, average fish depth, best bait (s), bait color, and other relevant data like points, flats, timber, rocks, bluffs, etc. The day before I go I like to review the last two or three years in the time period around the trip so I can get a general idea of what to expect. I try go at least twice a week so I am looking at the files quite often.

When I did a lot of night fishing, the best was around the spawn. Nothing beat a black and red tandem spinner bait with #7 and 5 Colorado copper blades along with a split tail trailer either pork or plastic.

I make them and have experimented with lots of colors and combinations. The ones I can count on are green pumpkin with black and purple flake, pumpkin seed with black flake, and black with red flake.

Regardless of the winner, I love a high scoring game. The Texas game is putting me to sleep.

You might not be able to visualize it but is there. Spinning rods go in the port side box which doesn’t have dividers.

If I were going to use them that way, I would rig Texas style with a worm hook to keep the hook point unexposed. Down here we don’t have beaver dams or lots of lay downs. We do have brush piles on most every point on most all of our lakes. Football jigs and Texas rigged plastics are what I use on them.

Never heard of it. Is it a reality show?

I have 1 spiral wrapped rod. The rod itself isn’t bad but getting it in and out of my rod locker is a pain. One or more of the guides poke through the rod sock and get hung up on the rod slot. Therefore, it mostly rides around in the boat down in the locker.

If I were going to use a trailer it would be a split tail.

Only once in my life have I ever had someone who thought a particular spot was theirs. Tournament or not, if you are on a spot it is yours. I’ve never had someone say that I should move because they were fishing a tournament. If that happened I would tell them to look closely in my eyes and see if they looked like I cared what they were doing.

Mellinnum is the way I went. Don’t get white. Do get cables instead of straps. You won’t be sorry.

Sometimes it is.

That’s exactly what I did when I had a Richline 16’.

I have read some of your ideas and I don’t think you have considered the magnitude of tournament events. On one lake near me there were 72 tournaments with up to 350 boats in a 30 day time period. Multiply that times 12 months, 50 states and 1000s of lakes and I think there are no easy solutions.

You must be referring to a screw lock. Your chances of breaking it are slim. If it is molded into the head then you can not replace it.

I don’t know what mend-it is made from but I have had a bottle for years and it dries out and gets tacky. When that happens I just put a little acetone in the bottle and shake it up then I am back in business.