fishinwrench

I hit it hard today and ended with 8 keepers and several close shorts. I tried a bunch of stuff but nothing seems to get the bites as well as a lipless crank. The noise and vibration gets them following it, then when I pause and let it drop that's when one hammers it. I really thought they were getting tired of seeing the dang thing....but apparently not. I alternated between 3 different colors and 1/4 and 1/2oz. baits and they stayed with it all afternoon even under bluebird sky's. Water is starting to clear up pretty quick now and I bet they are gonna bail out of the area soon. I might get one more day out of them. Maybe it'll rain on turkey day and muddy back up again. I have to share the spot with these guys

.Alot of gigging party's have fish frys on a gravel bar. I've seen the remnants afterwards on winter floats and plenty of those heads aren't suckers. I have no doubt that they prefer suckers, but they loaded up all the cooking stuff, drinks, and side dishes....so you can bet your butt they are gonna have a fish fry whether the suckers are plentiful or not.

I cut my bassin' teeth on the clay pits of Audrain co. Clear water, milfoil, lay downs, boulders. Lots of quality bass, crappie, gills, and some outstanding duck and dove hunting. When I was a pup we had free reign of them all. They are all on "private property" now.

Nice brown ! They do love those 9-point streamers.

I've done it. You fill the reel with Arm&Hammer toothpaste and use a high-speed air wrench to spin it for about 5 minutes. The cleaning afterwards is a major process and the difference was hardly noticable. I also did it on an old 300 spinning reel and it jumped out of my hand and exploded when it hit the floor. Trust me...you DO NOT want a spinning reel in your hand when it is spinning at 5000 rpm. That was pretty stupid.

True, you're not gonna catch every fish in the river no matter what you do. But darn few will not open their mouth for a little yellow/orange ball or something olive that we like to call "leeches".

Yeah! Sorry you missed it. I don't think it's a water temperature thing as much as it is a shad movement thing, or a scattered bass running the banks thing. I keep one rigged from September until mid-November....or whenever they stop biting it. Sometimes we get a really good Spook bite in December, lasts about a week.

Yeah really. If that's the case then when you see an agent just dump your fish and avoid prosecution. Easy peasy.

I have caught a few on Spinnerbaits. The area is hard to describe without giving too much away but I can only hit it from 2 angles, neither of which is ideal. A few will always eat the lipless crank right away but I can tell they are becoming conditioned to it. I've been picking on them for going on 5 days now and have sore-mouthed about 25 of them. Anything moving too slowly or anything on the bottom gets looked at but ignored. They'll body slam a fluke when they get excited but I don't think they are eating it.

"Selective trout" is another magazine term that you'll grow out of. Writers throw that into articles just to make their stories longer or more interesting. It's not real.

That hurt The trailer on the fluke is a simple solution that slipped my mind. Thanks, Pete I'll try the X-rap and Flash minnow too after I get my hands on them. Thanks

It's all about the mental attitude, J-Doc. Ya gotta quit trying to rationalize and make sense of it. Science will blind you. It is always some piddly little detail that you discover by accident that results in a better than average sack of fish, so just bumble around for days without any plans or theory's. Try not to care very much whether you catch a fish or not and allow the little accidents to happen.

Yep, I have a whole fleet of them. 3.8:1 Winch's, 4.7:1 old schools, 5.3:1 standards, and 6.3:1 Royals. I just like the feel of them. I can't stand low profile baitcaster, plus I can completely overhaul those round reels in about 15 minutes in the dark. Hands down the best designed reel ever made IMO. The only downside is they aren't that good for long-distance casting, but I don't do much of that so it seldom bothers me. I've never found the need to replace bearings in any of mine. Have yours been in saltwater or something? The old Ambassador XLT's with disengaging/self centering level wind are nice for distance casting. I'd like to find a couple more of those.

It is an activity chock with fulfillment. Careful not to spend too much time fretting things that don't matter (drag free drifts, tight loops, tuck and steeple casts, ect.) and use that salvaged time to perfect things like staying upright in fast water, and navigating slick rock. Try not to fart in your waders, and always go pee TWICE before putting them on.

Ouch ! I've had those handles smack me before, it hurts. I've also had a trolling motor prop almost take a couple fingers off while climbing over the bow. I never forget to kill the power to the TM anymore.

I have some smallmouth sized X Raps, but not sure if I can throw them far enough.

It is just out of my casting range with the flyrod because of the back casting room. The reason I've been using a lipless crank is because I can sling it a mile. You'd understand if you saw the area. Jerry, the rogue gets too deep, if it hits bottom on top of the hump it ether hangs up in the rocks/wood or gets fouled with leaves. The fish come up on the hump every afternoon and some of them are really nice 3-4 pounders. I caught 3 of them this evening on the lipless crank but it took 1000 casts to get them and I got hung up a bunch. I bet there are 30-40 solid keepers there.

I have some nice bass located near a shallow rocky hump near a spring. For the last couple days I have been getting them to bite a lipless crank using a lift & drop type retrieve, but now they are getting conditioned to that and won't bite it very well. I need a suspending jerkbait that will go no deeper than 3'. I tried heavy line on an rogue and a Husky jerk, but that still gets down too far. They will body slam a fluke but I have to stay back and make long casts....can't detect the bites on the fluke. And they won't come up and take a Spook for some reason. Any ideas ? Who makes the shallowest running jerkbait ?

Harassing wildlife and wanton waste are covered clearly in the wildlife code I believe.

Bad as I hate to say it, that is a really good reason to outlaw gigging entirely. If you stick it then it should be included in your creel. Can you sit there and pick off Woodpeckers and bluejays while squirrel hunting too ? Just for target practice.

Al, the pole dancer is a looser. A crease fly on a sink-tip will walk on top sexier than any hard bait on the market. Also I remember you being into "sub-walk" baits, and for that there is a pattern called "Airhead" made from slinky fiber and shoe goo. That sucker is deadly!

Right on. So driving around in a new truck and talking is considered being "busy as hell". Everyone I know is busy as hell 365.

Everybody keeps saying how "busy" they are. Busy doing what? Where's the link to all the other stuff they accomplished ?

Because it takes more skill, and in the end you feel better (prouder?) about it. There is no mechanical device between you and your bait, and then the fish. You are going to release the fish anyway, so why not get the most from your time astream and accomplish something truly meaningful for fuk sake I don't expect you to understand, or to even attempt it. It would interfere with your buzz and frankly...... You ain't the type. You would only become frustrated, constantly tangled, and your drink would get knocked over. It isn't for everybody. So rest easy ol'bean, you are precisely where you belong.

That windy bank thing is a crock of poo. There should be some reasonably calm Northwest banks holding fish tomorrow. :)