bishoptf

I need to stop and pick some nuggets up, lol...i get what your saying but pretty sure its a combination of locations and presentation. I know there are fish where i am fishing but with the cold water at least for me they just ignore it.

Really a chicken McNugget? If so ive been using the wrong bait, lol.

Thats interesting sunce we do have green sunfish in our lakes and in the summer they can be quite annoying. I have always called them rock bass, shell crackers but they are green sunfish again they are very aggressive when the water warms up, almost irritating to a point. My biggest issue is once the water temps dropped to below 50 in this lake i've not been able to catch a fish. There are 2 lakes and the smaller i have been able to walk the dam and catch fish on jerkbait but nothing on the larger lake. The larger lake is more stained but still has 2-3ft of visibility in the lower section but last week was still a big nada. Just not aure gow to figure out what they are relating to or what technique to apply

Hmm that assumes I have a confidence bait, not sure I really do. I've never been able to fish through the winter or even pre-spawn, work, kids and life..that and I didnt have a truck to pull my boat...thats another story. Not sure I have this one community lake figured out once the water temps dropped below 50 degrees, it was like where's waldo...where the fish go. I did throw a red craw frittside crankbait last time I was out, I think it was a frittside 7. I also threw a shad rap, although it was in shad color. I have some warts and other crankbaits in craw colors and will keep trying things. Going out tomorrow and see what the water temps are and see if I can figure anything out. Going to throw the a-rig some and see what else to add into the mix... This is a pretty small body of water, average depth for most of the lake is less than 15ft, towards the dam there are sections where it goes into the mid twenties but for the most part its a shallow lake, more like a lowland reservoir, no real channel to speak of. Speaking of staging areas, I know thats the thought but with so much shallow water staging could be about anywhere. I kind of need to figure that out, since I agree that would help narrow things down. Lake is stained with visibility probably on the lower end 2-3ft max, upper end more stained but the upper end is pretty shallow, mostly average 5ft or so. No vegetation pretty much in the entire lake, lots of docks and brushpiles (mostly christmas trees). So far I have jigs and red color cranks (shad rap, etc). I pretty much am well stocked and can pretty much throw all the above (do not have red blade baits though) just not sure how to figure things out.

Since my PB is much smaller than most of the ones on the board and I am trying to learn and hopefully catch bigger fish I thought I would ask this question. For early prespawn (less than 50deg) into the prespawn (above 50 degree) what are some of your favorite lures that you have used or are using to target big ones. Just wanted to see what others have had success with when catching larger fish and what on. I have read and seen several YT that had small swimbaits mentioned multiple times for dd lmb, personal best size fish. That is one that I am trying to throw more of, right now I have a 3.3" 6th sense divine swimbait that I am throwing on a flashy swimmer hook. I know there are smaller swimbaits and not sure if bladed or not bladed would yeild bigger fish but what I am trying currently. So many options out there, also been throwing jerkbaits and catching fish but just small ones, just thought I would ask and take notes, thanks. *popcorn*

I assume we are talking about the normal popular auction site? I wouldnt mind finding a scorpion mgl but the ones I have seen are more than I would want to pay but understand there are some decent deals from time to time.

Yeah I like the 6th sense hooks, all oos at both BPS near me...I did see the squadron heads but wasn't crazy about the keeper on them. I did look at the flashmob kit and it comes with nice heads but did not see them sold separately. The 6th sense rig I got was just the main unit, no heads and no baits. I just need to figure out what I want to do and get something. BPS has lots of stuff but seems to be trending towards jig head minnow stuff, they also had some BPS XPS heads that were decent but the 3/0 had light wire and I have some decent size fish and think I would rather go with heavier wire hooks. Looks like you can the the heads that come with the Yum flashmob they are Yum Scottsboro Recon swimbait head with a screw lock. They are nice but BPS or academy doesn't carry them. Maybe it's just me but paying $2 for a lead jig head these days seems pretty lame. Looking on tacklewarehouse looks like eagle claw is coming out with some that look decent but not available yet... Will keep looking...

Thanks this is good information and helps. I spin my wheels on some of the easy of things and still trying to find some jig/swimbait heads that will work. I went to BPS today and really just did not like anything that I saw, most of the 1/8oz size stuff had light wires and everything today seems to be focused on the jig head minnow. In Missouri you can only have 3 hooks so in my case with a 5 wire setup I need 2 dummy heads. I have seen folks talk about using screw locks and use that on the dummies and I tried that once before but they didn't seem to work real well. I looked up those diamond ones that you mentioned and they do indeed look nice. BPS has a bunch of stuff but never can seem to find what I am looking for, and it doesn't help that I am cheap, lol. Anyone else have any suggestions for decent heads that are 1/8, 3/0 hook and decent keeper and what folks are doing for dummy heads. That was the issue today most of the ones that they did have imho had crummy keepers. Maybe will just order some from amazon at least I can get them overnight etc, maybe stop at wally world and see what they have, sometimes carry 6th sense stuff but the heads that I have seen in the past are all 1/4oz.

That would make sense and I havent thought about that. The curado should still should be better since they have x-ship, a bearing that supports the pinon. I do not believe m the slx 70 has that. Ive seen some used slx mgl 70s on auction sites from japan sellers but not sure about the used part, lol.

I have the itch to continue to replace some more reels and I posted last fall looking for reels like the shimano mgl and after some discussion I purchased curado mgl 70's from AE for what I think is a decent price. Looking at prices and they are about the same but what kind has me scratching my head is the slx 70 reels which I know are newer model but they pretty much are the same price as I can get the curado mgl's for. I know the curado has an extra bearing on the pinion shaft I believe and I think it should be the better reel but not sure why except its an older reel as to why the prices are so close. The only thing I wish I could get in the curado mgl is a 6.x gear ratio, looks like I can only get the 6.x version in the 150 size. My other choice is to save some $$ and purchase slx xt's. Just thought I would ask and see what I am missing between the two reels.

Whats your thought on blades or no blades? THe other question I would have is what is your choice of swimbaits for the smaller a-rigs. The problem I have these days is there is so many options and was just curious which baits you tend to lean towards. I was going to throw a combination of smaller and larger swimbaits but would like to hear what you have had the most success with, thanks.

Yeah ive thought about the panorama but haven't bought any but would need a reel light weight, not sure if 1/32 would be to heavy or not but maybe pick a couple up to try out.

Yeah I like the built in swivel and its a smaller unit since I was wanting to keep as lite as possible. Thats the difference between you and me, I have no idea where those high percentage spots are, lol. The other thing I know I have learned from watching YT is that sometimes the blades help and sometimes they want it with no blades. I actually have some homemade units that I am going to finish rigging up, only three wire setups but they do not have blades so I thought I would have that one also. The other thing I dislike about them is trying to store it, I have some ideas and seen some suggestions but its a big ole ball of hooks and baits. In Missouri you can have up to three hooks so on the 5 arm setup I have 2 dummy baits, still trying different heads for those and see what works best.

I think i have the 6th sense mini with blades, and i have a broomstick to throw it on, probably could get away with a lighter rod but i will throw it next time i go out but *cough* being older it really beats me up, lol.

Nevermind im pretty dense sometimes, lol.

I actually had an a-rig on the deck but did not have swimbaits attached. Ive not had much luck with the a-rig and the fact that they are heavy to throw is part of my reluctance. Still trying to figure out what size swimbaits and weights etc, but i should have thrown it yesterday. This lake has depth up to 27ft or there about towards the dam. Overall the lake is pretty shallow bowl, about 600 acres so there is some deeper water in the lake but most of it is shallow. One of my newer reels was getting wind knots yesterday so i removed some line and decided to go out on the dam and make a few casts. Overcast and windy with storms coming in later today, caught 2 small lmb on the 100 size jb, lol. This is the smaller clearer lake, lots of shad dead on the shore and I also saw some other fish species, bluegill maybe in the water. Took a picture of one of the shad, the ones I see are pretty food size but I know gizzard can get really big, these probably would be medium size.

Yup I take any and all advice, first time ive been able to fish through the winter and while I've not had much success, I figure I have zero chance of catching anything when I am at home. I'd rather be on the lake regardless and I know that once water temp dropped below 50 deg i have struggled but still trying to learn for this lake what works when the water is cold. What I find interesting is there are 2 lakes one small and one larger lake. The smaller lake feeds into the larger lake and when the ice was receding still partially covered i could walk the dam and catch bass on a jb. Every day I did it I caught fish and the water was just thawing out, see dead shad like the other lake but it is a much clearer lake. The larger lake is a little more stained but still probably 3ft visibility. Just thought since it was working in the one lake it would work in the other lake but it did not. The one thing I didnt spend any time graphing, I should have done that to figure out at least for the shad where they were located. Will do more of that next time but water is warming up so things will always be changing. Not sure when there is a shad kill how long that takes to clear out of the system. @Pat Brownwhat weight jig and trailer would you suggest, i plan to do more jig stuff this year but some recommend compact trailer etc, thats one of my issues there are so many options etc. The dead ones I saw were medium, probably 6-7in at least, not small ones, maybe the small ones were already eaten, lol. I tried spinner bait, shad rap, frittside, underspin and 4 different jb sizes. I probably stayed way to long with the jb and thats an issue I have. I need to try more things quicker if not working. I usually only go out for about 4 hours at a time, getting old stinks really impacts you doing stuff at least power fishing for sure.

Yeah It was tough, first time fishing through the winter and once water temps dropped below 50 I've had a tough time catching them, throw in the shad kill and oof it was tough today. Although I will say even though the wind was blowing today (gusting to 20) it hit 65 and it was just nice to be on the water. Yeah I didn't think about the spoon, I have some but not tied on. I had been having luck in the smaller lake (clearer water) with the jerkbait and thought I would have similar success but that was not the case. I think I will have them tied on next time I go out. Thanks for the suggestions...

Just looking for ideas, Janruary and February have been way below normal this year and the 2 community lakes in mid missouri froze over 2 times. They froze pretty hard through Jan and then thawed out with a brief warm spell and then got walloped again with another week and half of really cold weather and froze up again. They thawed out last week and temperatures have been more back to normal with some warmer days and finally was able to get the boat out today....and nada. Funny thing on the smaller lake that has been drawn down I can walk down the dam and throw a jerkbait and catch bass, lol. I could see from the small lake that it appeared with the last cold snap/freeze that came through there appears to be a shad kill that happened. We do not have threadfin since temps even in normal winters are below what they can survive but we do have lots of gizzard shad. I assume with the warm up and then quick cool down it must have killed a bunch of them. The ones I am seeing are pretty good size, probably over 6in in length. At the larger lake there were lots of floating shad, lots. I can assume for all the ones that I can see on the surface there has to be a lot that floated down to the bottom. My question is what are some things that I can try to catch some LMB given the current situation. Today I threw probably 4-5 different JB versions, 100 size, 110 size, 110+1, small underspin swimbait, spinnerbait, shad rap and frittside 7. Water temps were different in different parts of the lake but ranged from 41 to about 44 degrees so still pretty cold. We are going to get some rain and some warmer weather so hoping by late weekend it can get up in the mid to high 40's. Just looking for what else to try, I thought about tying on a lipless crankbait but wasn't sure what else to try...:)

Im old and I like getting the flyers in the mail, takes me back to getting sears roebuck catalogs during Christmas as a kid....lots of pages, most 20-25% but I did see some 50% off some berkley stuff and rapala otts garage. 43pages of stuff sonic there is anything particular you are looking let me know and I can look for it.

They do it every year starting late Jan and increase the percentage every couple weeks. Mine had lots of stuff at 50% but wanted a few more. Was in there on a Thursday and still tons of stuff, didnt know that Saturday the had increased and got the email Saturday night. One day it when from full to empty. Honestly i think you have flippers and ebay sellers at that point and they just buy everything and resell it. Walmart did similar thing in January but they skip the steps they just went from normal price to bottom price. I bought lots of stuff, will wait for it next year vs black friday lots better deals.

I had already bought a bunch at 50% and was waiting for the 75% to pick up more stuff. Got the email on Saturday night and went back up there when they opened on Sunday morning. Everything was cleared out, appears that on Saturday they had gone to 75%, the day befor the email went out. The two stores near me went from having lots of stuff to almost nothing...so ymmv at your local store, if they still have lots of stuff its a great deal, wanted some deep diver spro crank baits but everything was cleared out ..

Yeah I picked 2 up on clearance, I figure for $20ea they were a pretty good deal. Kind of surprised when I opened it up that it only has one drag stack but again it was priced right. I'm swapping the felt for carbontex and should last me a good while.

On their way...

Eh im cheap, i bought a $20 piece of aluminum sheet to place over my console cutout, left it natural since.my boat is silver then bought this mount from basspro - https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/bass-pro-shops-lockdown-dash-mount i will see.if I can find some pictures. Came out real nice since i could raise it above my steering wheel. Found a picture and zoomed in dash, i jought a square piece of aluminum I thin 1/4" square for $20 screwed that to the console and then attached the $40 basspro mount, all in for $60.