papajoe222

I will normally have five rods on my deck and rigged during the summer. Here's what I have tied on; A jig, and most often it's with a craw trailer A lipless crank A Spook or a popper A buzzbait or plopper A tube or Senko These five let me cover the water column and determine the activity level, which can and will change throughout the day. If the bite is slow, I just downsize most of the time. I'm not saying I don't throw spinnerbaits, squarebills, worms, or other stuff, I do. This is what I head out with and the majority of time is all I need. What baits do you have tied on for summer?

90%of my baitcasters are Daiwas. They,magnets, are what I've been used to and the only time I cast for distance is when cranking. Truth be told, I can cast farther, with less effort, with them than any of the reels I own with brakes. It boils down to familiarity for me.

23-24in. spawned out female, 6-7lb.

Jeez, my head hurts enough contemplating a dozen or more other things. One question; Which side is the bottom? If you turn the hook over, is the bottom then the top? Wait, that's two questions.

I use a side arm roll style cast as it cuts down on the rig helicoptering. Think almost like underhanding a softball. Slightly put a little tension on the spool just before the rig hits the water, that allows the business end of the rig get behind the sinker. As for distance, the weight should give you all the distance you need.

That is still one of my favorite lipless cranks. I have three still in my possession and will break one out occasionally, but only in shallow water because I know I can get them back if I get hung up. They still work as well as when I originally purchased them.

Only observations on my part and keep in mind that my MN personal best was only 23in. Search out another body of water known for bigger LM. Change your schedule. Trophy bass, although they need to eat more, often times will seek out larger prey so they only feed for short periods. That translates to offering them larger baits. You may be missing those time periods by limiting when you go. The biggest bass in a lake have a 'home' where they spend the majority of their time after they spawn. That spot will have more than one thing that makes it attractive to them. Security, forage availability, cover and an escape route (often to deeper water). A spot, or area that only offers one or two, though it may hold good sized fish, will likely not hold a trophy sized one.

The first topwater of the season, for me, is a Cordell Crazy Shad. I'll opt for a PopR if the water is very calm, but living where I do, that isn't very often.

For me, It depends on the way I plan to rig the bait. If I'll be using a weighted swimbait hook, I use ones with centering-pin twist locks, I'll do it beforehand. For jigheads, I generally rig them on the water. I can tie on a jig and rig a soft plastic one in less than a minute, so I don't feel I'm loosing time. For some reason, I have a mental block when twisting one on a keeper. I'm OCD about it being perfectly straight, so I take my time and check it more than once, plus I use a jighead the majority of the time.

I've caught the same fish from my home waters seven times in the last five years. It weighed just over 4lb. the first time 5.8 the last. All but the second time, she was caught on a 3/8oz. Arkie head jig with a craw trailer. Pressured fish may shy away from baits they see a lot over the course of a season, but they also avoid predators they've encountered multiple times. It's survival instinct, not memory, IMO.

I would say my 'prime' years were my late 30's through late 40's. I had no problem staying on the water for 8+hrs and then driving 2-4hrs. to get home. Also, my head was in the game all the time. Now, I'm 76 and 3hrs. on the water and I need a break, my mind wanders and the farthest I travel is 1.5hrs. I can say that I seem to enjoy my time on the water more now than I did then. I don't get as bumbed out when I get skunked.

Go with a mono leader. It will slow the fall of the bait both after the cast and after you move the weight. That is, of course, if that is your intention. I know guys that like to work a C-rig fast and fluoro will work just fine for that. I prefer braid mainline as it will cut through the weeds and I go with a shorter than normal leader to reduce the possibility of the leader line getting wrapped around the weed stems.

Do you know what type of 'grass' it is? Generally, you want to fish the tops of weeds, or the base. A Zoom SpeedWorn, buzzed across the tops and allowed to dip below the surface where applicable, is a good choice as is any topwater that won't get fouled in the weeds. A punch rig, or a heavily weighted, pegged T-rig will get you to the base, but avoid plastics with a lot of action as they can catch the weeds on the way down. Now for almost everyone's favorite, a hollow body frog. Work it fast, slow, with pauses and you can even add a rattle. Just don't fall into the trap of setting the hook as soon as a fish blows up on it. Wait until you're sure he/she has it first.

Seeing that you listed big swimbaits first, they are likely a confidence bait for you. With that in mind, I'd go with the shallow side. A swimbait to cover the shallow flats and a jig for the rocks, timber and brush. With the presence of deep water in the area, if you don't run into some pre-spawn fish, the post spawn ones should be within casting distance of the deeper channels.

I had a single handle casting reel years ago and hated it. When I needed more power for deep cranking, etc. I just went with a 100mm handle with big knobs. I actually have two 110mm ones on my cranking reels now.