JediAmoeba

How do I know if a lure works if I don't get a variety of sizes and colors? Lol

I went up to Minnesota as a youth with my dad and grandad a few times. Driving into the villages on the ice was pretty neat - Drilling through 3 feet of ice, not so much. We used to catch some really nice smallies mixed in with the walleye, northerns and muskies.

There has to be a lot of people out hammering them on the ice, no?

I went to Cabelas today to look at some clothing. I wasn't buying any tackle... It all went downhill when I saw the Dark Sleepers. I heard so many mentions of them so I thought I would try a few out...then remember I "needed" an ice rod for my Black Betty Freefall I got over the summer. Sigh

You are better off buying a suspending jerkbait than buying suspend strips. You will invest about the same amount of money and getting it to suspend will take a lot of tinkering.

I live in Eastern Pa, right by the NJ border. I was able to go today for a few hours. The edges and the shallow end were frozen but overall it was ok. Tonight may freeze over some more but odds on the bass are hanging in the deeper holes or run offs where the water is warmer.

You mention a combo that's easily 700 dollars -which I know is very high end for 75% of fisherman.

Fireline is very smooth. When you go with the bigger size braids you use for frogs(50-65# test) it usually isn't a problem in regards to slicing your finger under normal applications. I usually use suffix 832, Power Pro Super Slick or Daiwa J Braid.

Since it no longer works I will gladly dispose of all your ned heads, baits and anything else related to it. Just send it to me and I will guarantee of its disposal. ?

I subscribe to: Bassresource (great technical information) Tackle Advisors(great reel reviews) Realistic Fishing (Real experiences!) Milliken Fishing (a bit hyped but entertaining) Today's Angler (Muskie fishing) Smallmouthcrush Mad River Outfitters (the BEST fly fishing channel) Catfish and Carp (great entertainment) Uncut Angling I also enjoy watching AJ Lynn and his no nonsense edit free videos! These channels all help fuel my bait monkey.

Very nice setup!

It really isn't that bad. A few things I have learned over the years is, on a new reel have the schematic and/or take a picture so you know what it looks like. -Put each screw back into it's original location. This is as important as making sure the screw threads are cleaned thoroughly. I have a bunch of the light weight purple loctite I put on each thread after I clean it. This keeps it new and in place and doesn't allow it to leak. The reason for putting each screw back in its original hole.is that each screw had minor differences that can make the hole bigger or thread it differently. I just lay them out so I know which hole. - Have a decent set of small tools with all different heads to interchange. - Using acetone and a sonic cleaner isn't necessary but does get a deep clean in those hard to clean parts. - Always have soft mat or carpet under you. I ruined a spool, years ago that rolled off the table and hit the floor. -Clean the parts as you go and keep them laid out on paper towels as they get put back together. - Grease and oil should be used depending on the part you are lubing. -a lot of the parts are cheap so its easy to replace them but it's good to have the same reels - if one breaks you can cannibalize parts to keep the other going for a long time. I have been tearing my reels apart since I first had one lock up on me 25 years ago. I am really hard on my gear but I keep it working nicely.

Muskie Rod. This size lure is thrown by Muskie aficionados all day long. I have a bunch of 8+ oz lures I throw at skies and I wouldn't think of using any other kind of rod. St Croix makes some great ones and I have 2 cabelas rods I love.

Hits: -Caught 550 bass out of our local pond this year. Its about 8 acres and 20 feet deep. Made a friendly bet that I couldn't catch 500...I did. -Won our local community tournament for the 3rd consecutive year. - Caught my BP LM bass in April - 8 pounds, 1 oz. -Didn't have a single day where I was skunked fishing and I fished a LOT. Misses: -Out of those 550 bass only 4 were over 2 pounds with the biggest being 3.25 pounds... - Did not catch a muskie despite targeting them 3 times. - Did not catch a striped bass - Lost about 400 dollars on jerkbaits to pickerel this year.

I just use a small flathead screwdriver to put it on and take it off. Usually they aren't hard but sometimes they can be a pain. Out of the 4 reels I did so far all went smoothly and I got it done in a few hours. I ran all the bearings and small parts through my sonic cleaner.

Everyone is throwing up some odd rare stories...sure, it CAN happen but overall the electronics are needed to consistently catch fish day in day out. Especially when you are talking big, deep water. I really have no problem with it on huge reservoirs and big lakes. My entire problem with electronics, as I mentioned is more in regards to hard water or ice fishing on smaller bodies of water. In the winter with all the vegetation virtually gone and the water clear as can be, with these newer 3d models, you can literally find all the fish. It's very easy to pinpoint them, sit there and hammer them. The fish arent moving a great deal and they bunch up. This is my main concern with electronics. Especially when 90% of ice fisherman throw everything in the bucket. For this reason alone I would like to see the electronics you can use limited.

I am doing this on two reels - I got some abec 7 bearings to swap out all the bearings and see if it makes a difference. I also got a shallow honeycomb spool to try out. Again, why? Because I read about monkey's on this page.

Ice fish! I always leave a few rods ready to go because I fish if I can, but the water is mostly hard from December - February. I have 14 reels I know I need to do so I am doing a few of them now. I went crazy and decided to replace all my bushings on the worm gears with bearings. Also thought I would change out some bearings that were sounding rough. Why? Because I shouldn't read threads on Bass Resource, that's why!

I think I still have one orbiting earth from last year.

Well it's that time of the year to start tearing down the reels,clean them up and get em all lubed. To be honest, I only ever tear apart the ones that appear to be grimy and ones I know I used a bunch. Some of them i just snip off the leaders and leave them in the garage. I know some of yinz take every reel apart or send them all out to be serviced and others probably do nothing. I actually enjoy tearing them apart, cleaning them up and doing it but sometimes the c-clips tick me off. Lol Where do you fall in the "winterizing" your gear?

I used an ugly stick for a long time years ago. They always worked great for spinnerbaits. I don't know if the newer ones are any different

I pulled up the satellite and it looks like the 8' area has a fountain so that could be an interesting area to target. Is it weed choked? There are a few docks on the north side so I would mainly target that side. If you don't hook onto any with the spinnerbait you may want to switch to a jerkbait...of its weedy a fluke and fish it slow. Otherwise a t-rig or even a grub on a ball head.

1/4 oz I always throw on a 7'3" medium baitcasting rod.

I think they are too good, period. It has really changed the face of ice fishing to a point it is almost ridiculous. In semi-shallow lakes a few guys can get a good scope of the water in very short order, set up on the fish and destroy them. You take the modern 3d graphs with a few guys and electric augers and they can clean out small bodies of water ice fishing...

Good luck finding them...