Jig Man

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.

It was 35° when we go to Stockton this morning. Our mid lake bite has gone away so we hit a creek. It was muddy with lots of floating wood from a recent rain. The last time out the Arig worked pretty well so we used it. We fished for 2 1/2 hours and never caught a black. However we caught 22 nice white bass which we kept to eat. The main lake was rolling so I decided to go up river to another creek. This one was a little protected so we fished Ned rigs. We wound up catching 14 bass with a couple of keepers. With fish to clean we headed home at 2:30. I just got mine done.

I live 32 miles from Table Rock and 50 miles to Stockton. So my normal trips are 64 and 100 depending on which direction I go.

I don’t have a price point on rods. I go to my rod guy and tell him what I expect a rod to do, what kind of eyes and handle that I want and pay him when he is finished. It’s not as expensive as off the shelf high end highly advertised rods. As for reels I am not into spending more than $300 for anything I have seen. As a matter of fact I still have several Curado E7s that are doing a great job with a little Cadman tune up occasionally.

Check the factory recommendation about running on full power. MK says it is unwise to operate my 36 v 112# thrust Ulterra for very long at full power. So I use 8 when moving any distance. If that’s the case with the one you plan to get I think I would spring for the most thrust in the designated voltage and budget. If you can’t find it in a manual download, you can always call a factory customer service tech and ask.

I don’t pay any attention to what the reel line and capacity is. I just decide what line I want to use and fill the spool to the level I want.

I’ve never found bait balls to make any difference. The ones I see aren’t close to where I am fishing. I choose my starting spot based on history. I have 28 years of systematic recording my trips on excell. I look at them checking what I consider to be pertinent information and choose a starting spot and bait.

If you go medium don’t go St Croix. I bought the medium and anything lighter than 1/8 didn’t work so I got rid of it and went ml.

I have plenty going on in my head. I don’t even use the radio in the truck.

I have a setup that I use for light to moderate fishing. It is a St Croix Premier 7’ medium light rod with a Shimano Stradic 2500 reel. If you get something similar I think you will be fine.

KVD line treatment helps. I don’t know if stretching helps or hurts. My line gets stretched a lot because where I fish break offs are frequent. For convenience and economy I buy my line in 1000 yd spools.

If you want the weight a group 31 agm will give you around 60 pounds. Sam’s club usually has decent prices. With electric power only you need to look for high reserve capacity (rc). I have agms for cranking and trolling motor and a lithium for electronics. I have Hummingbird Solix units and they draw so much that they would kill a 31 agm grave yard dead in 11 months. After 3 in a row the distributor manager said, “This is your last warranty replacement.” Don’t come back. So when it died I replaced it with a 100 ah lithium and a single bank charger. It’s been going great for over 2 years.

Is the trolling motor going to be your only source of propulsion or will you run the gas motor also?

I’d call the Branson Chamber of Commerce and or visitor’s bureau and see if they can help. Big Cedar Lodge probably has hookups.

Now you will casting in instead of out. Congrats.