Jig Man

They aren’t the only slow ones. I belong to a delivery service that offers 2 day delivery. I had an order earlier this month that took 3 weeks.

I have found the migration patterns to vary depending on what part of the lake that I am fishing. In large impoundments like 50,000 acre Bull Shoals I have mostly found them in the old river holes below shoals. Buck tail jigs have been my best producers. The holes vary from 5-25’ deep. In smaller flatter lakes I head for the windiest areas that I can find and throw a slider grub or Arig.

When I think ditches I am looking for erosion channels typically in the back of pockets with steep banks that get a lot of runoff during a hard rain and the sides of submerged road beds that were covered when the lake filled. Some are great and some don’t seem to hold fish. A good mapping program on your sonar unit along with good topographical maps can help you a lot. You can use your trolling motor and go back and forth over it marking waypoints to delineate each side. I do that a lot with humps and ledges also. Then drive 50 to 75’ outside it using side scan to look for structure or cover along it. If your unit records then record the side scan so you can study it and mark good stuff. I like to set my recording unit to 4 screens (2d, side, down, and mapping). That way I can pull out to a quiet area and study the recording. Once you get it set up and saved to your unit you will always have it. I have a couple that I have fished for many years and by using my saved data I know just where to position the boat.

I had a Lowe 180 and wanted a bigger deck so I planned what I wanted and drew a picture of it. I took that to an aluminum shop and had them make me one folding the back edge down 1” for strength. I carpeted it to match the boat then bolted it to the deck and rod locker. If your objective is to just lengthen it on the port side there are lots of possibilities. You could just have an extension where the rods lay.

This time of year a jig or two, 3 Ned rigs, shaky head, and swim bait and lately an Arig.

I’ve never tried it with mono. I do similar to Reel. I use a light wire like floral and fasten it to the shank with thread then fix it with superglue.

T rigged…Gene Larue 5” black unpegged salt craw ewg hook 3/16 sinker

How do you guys care for your reels? I have close to 30 Shimano reels both spinning and casting. I have never encountered what you are reporting.

They must be because a guy who I used to fish with has one. If he can operate it anybody should.

Being a Humminbird guy I recommend the Helix. It is their no frills work horse.

I have a couple of them that I bought for stripers. I haven’t been able to get any bites on them.

It seems like every day there is discussion about a rod for Ned rigs, a rod for jerk baits, a rod for crank baits, etc. Do you guys actually have rods for each technique that you use? Personally I don’t own a rod that only has one use. For example, the rods that I had built for shaky work well for jigs up to 1/4 oz and do extra duty as crank bait rods.

I would not sell my favorite rods or reels unless I were quitting fishing.

We’ve been up and down with last week lows in the teens. Yesterday it got to 86°. The ups and downs haven’t had much effect on the lake water temp. As for the fish a week ago we had a good trip right after a cold front and yesterday it was better. The fish were still in the same areas on shallow gravel/ rocky banks in 3-6 feet of water.

My neighbor and I decided to get some more eating fish so we pulled out our Arigs and headed to a feeder creek off a main creek. We fished from 9-11 and got our 18 whites that we wanted then headed up river to another feeder creek. We fished this creek with Ned rigs only and in 3 hours caught. 34 largemouth and 1 smallmouth. The air was 59° when we started and 86° when we quit. The water was in the low 50 s and still muddy.

For me it is the swim jig and the bladed jig. I used to catch several bass on both but the last couple of years I can’t buy a fish on either one no matter what color I throw. How about you?

Corned beef, cabbage and new potatoes in the slow cooker for tonight. I have some Irish, English, Cherokee and a lot of Ozark Hillbilly in me.

My Chiefs have made some moves in the right direct. I just hope they have made enough.

I’ve been down that rocky road. My wife just had to have one. However I did not get rid of my boat. We had some great times taking another couple with us. She could never figure out why I never took her boat when she didn’t go, WIND.

Most of the time the wind is my friend. The wind can set the table for some great fishing. I like for it to be from the same direction for 2 or 3 days. What that does is set up the buffet. The wind will move the algae toward wind blown banks. The zooplankton which feed on algae follow along. The fish like shad which feed on zooplankton join the parade. The predators are now set up to feast on the buffet. If you have the power you can fish into the wind at what ever speed you prefer. If you don’t you can fish down wind and slow down by turning the trolling motor on and pointing it towards you like you were backing up. You will have to make several adjustments but it is doable. Side winds are the most difficult for me as I keep having to pull out to maintain a good boat position. A sustained wind at 30 mph will usually keep me home. I know that a lot of smaller craft can’t handle as much wind as I can. That’s why I have a 2,000 lb 20 ft boat with a long shaft 112# thrust trolling motor.

I have that same rod in a 1 piece. I have a Shimano 2500 on it. I use it for Ned, shaky, small swim bait and finesse jig fishing. It’s my favorite spinning setup.

I have a bunch of crank baits which ride around in the boat. When I decide to crank usually a Wart or Bandit 300 gets tied on. You can use any rod and reel combination that will cast your specific bait but some are definitely better than others. I have 4 double duty rods that I use for cranking, two of them are custom shaky 7.5’ rods and two are 7.5’ and 6’8” Ark rods. All are rated medium.

Which level? I have an imx mbr 844c. I use it for 1/2 oz jigs. I had a glx mbr 844 c and didn’t like it at all so I sold it.

Carpal tunnel surgery isn’t so bad. I had 3 hand surgeries on August 16 one of which was carpal on the left hand. I went back 8 days later to get the stitches out. The surgeon pronounced me healed so I went fishing the next day.

Thanks. It was fun but a lot of wrok with the trolling motor in the wind and that heavy Arig.