fishinwrench

Any sign of Whites/hybrids ? We (Lake O) didn't give you any water today so I'd say you did darn good for the falling out conditions.

Nice !!! If they are like the whites I caught today they are prolly fat with eggs. They are in about 4 foot of water also, right on the bank. Rocks with No Docks. No boat required. I think with the warm(er) inflows, this coming week is gonna be a blast !

Depends on the rod, what brand is it? St.Croix just sends me new tip sections when I break one (and I have busted quite a few). 3" off the tip is going to turn a 9' 7wt. into a 8'10" 8wt. more than likely. And it will always bug you, so just scrap it for parts and replace the section or the whole rod.

That's solid advise. Even on days that suck. Just sitting on the bank or in a boat looking at the water makes you a better fisherman. Some days my desire to be comfortable wins over my desire to get any better at catching fish though. I generally dislike activities that require a lot of restrictive clothing. It is 2015 for Christ sake, why do we have position maintaining trolling motors and detailed underwater imaging systems... but still lack a quiet, portable, and easily affordable blast furnace ?

Yeah I like to feel a firm thu-thump on a fairly slow and short pull. Never had much luck on jerkbaits that feel like a soggy stick on the end of my line. If I give it a twitch and it doesn't kick back at me right away I set the hook, cuz it has either picked up a piece of leaf/grass or it's in a fishes mouth.

Everyone knows how to "tune" a crank/jerkbait to make it track straight, but few seem to know that you can tune the action also by bending the nose ring up/down. Up makes a tighter wiggle that wanders more. Down makes a wider harder wiggle with more side to side roll and more exaggerated reaction to gentle pulls.

Where there's one there's a limit. You may not even have to wet a prop !

Well hey, everyone fell so hard for the marketing on the darn thing, who can blame them.

Now we know how felons and mental freaks get handguns..... They buy bassboats Or does buying the boat require a background check ?

No prob. Glad you got straightened out.

Props are hard to sell. You're just gonna have to wait until someone running a 21 laser hits something. Or someone running a 23 decides they hate their holeshot.

I hear that crap all the time. Some hooks are better than others no doubt, but I've seen/experienced darn few on decent quality lures that were so bad they were deal breakers. You can't just automatically blame the hook for a missed strike or a lost fish. If it is sharp and doesn't straighten out or break under the pressure of a fish then it is doing it's job just fine. We are talking about a curved and pointed piece of tempered steel here, nothing magical. If it isn't sharp....Sharpen it! If the angle is off....Bend it! I mean seriously.

If the wind isn't howling, and nothing else is demanding my attention I just might. Are you on RA or off Hwy.7 ?

That did it for me.... I'm sold! Christmas credit card trauma be dammed I gotta have somma those.

I am just recently reunited with the SS. I usually flyfish for the whites but lost track of the population of shallow fish I had been harassing when the lake started dropping. Rather than cast my arm off double-hauling a 7wt. in an attempt to relocate them I bought a bag of 3" pearl/black bodies and some 1/8oz heads and took the spinning gear out just as a method of quickly finding a few new spots where they were hanging out. That worked just fine and was a lot easier on my arm and my temperment since I didn't have to pick up the fly rod until I knew there were a school of whites where I was casting, and in addition I stumbled onto a really good green-bass pattern. And as of the last time I was out (2 days ago) it is still working great. I've experimented with some jerkbaits and hair jigs also but the SS has been 3x more consistent. Probably any paddle-tailed swimbait that size would do equally as well, and there may even be a better one out there but over the last 3 weeks I've been able to seriously clean up on decent sized bass by tossing that SS around rocky banks just about everywhere there is a large gap between the docks.

Made me wanna be there for sure. Ya done good!

A 1/8oz. 3" Sassy shad fished right off the bank will find you some bass now. Green bass and Whites both. Look for banks that either have no docks, or considerable space between the docks. "Trailer park" type banks are worthless, shade is a bad thing. I'm gonna recommend the road less traveled and let Stuartsx5 have every windy bank on the lake Gimme the slick water side with Rocks and No Docks! Move in and throw parallel to the bank once you determine how far out the quality bites are coming. The bank cruising fish have been way easier for me to sell a bait to than the ones that are hanging around cover lately.

A white/silver or gray/silver marabou muddler on a sink tip might just make for a good time.

Look how FAT that thing is. How long have they been in there ?

I wish I had more ambition during colder weather, but the further it gets below 50° the less likely I am to make a commitment such as launching a boat. If it is below 45° with anything more than a gentle breeze...forget it. I'll go stand in a river and trout fish during the dead of Winter but there's something way more unpleasant about being out on a big lake in a boat on a cold windy day.... I'd almost rather go shoe shopping with my wife.

I've never had the opportunity to play with a surface drive. Would love to though, they are wicked!

That's a sweet rig and a fine lookin' hound. Awesome!

Post a pic of it, I may have one in my bone pile. Include a pic of the connector end also.

It's even more rediculis here around the lake. Alot of kids have to ride a bus past two other schools to get to the one they have to attend 25-30 miles away. It is a county line thing.

Cool! Was it all flat & fast 3rd chainring stuff or did ya get a decent workout ?