Alex Heitman

This is why I always fish a jerkbait fast with only maybe 1-2 sec pauses unless the water is under 47 degrees. I get more strikes and cover water faster by doing this. This past weekend I was letting the bait sit for 4-5 secs on Table Rock after not getting any bites for a while with the 1-2 sec pause. I got a few bites but not much. I then sped up the retrieve with hardly any pause and immediately started getting bit. Watch KVD that will tell you a lot.

Well they are not biting very good @Bill Babler or we are just not on them. We had 9 bites yesterday with 5 keepers for around 14 lbs. We had to work very hard for these fish and caught an equal amount on jig and jerkbait. Could not find any pattern and most of our bites came early. I saw Stacey King a bunch around where we were fishing and did not see him boat a fish. Tough fishing

Signal stations off of 65

2 of those XD'sare probably ones I have lost haha. I don't know what the older ones are though.

Nice report. I was down there today for a couple of hours in the point 1 vicinity. Caught a lot of nice fat brown fish on a jig. Had 4 keepers on consecutive cast. Also caught some keepers on a jerkbait. Fished a wart a little but they seemed to really want to jig so I stayed with that. Even though I wanted to be cranking. Ended up with 12 keepers mostly on jig and 4 shorts. it was a really old day but miserable being out in the rain. My hands don't usually get cold but man they were hurting today in the constant rain. Forgot to mention all fish were smallmouth besides 2 K's.

Yeah that is pretty far up this time of year. I'm surprised they made it up that far past yoccum because that flat is filled with logs up long creek.

I love the goretex pro qualifier jacket and bibs I have from bass pro. They always keep me warm when I am out fishing. My dad and brother bought some as well and we all couldn't be more happy with them.

Fill the live wells up some with Vinegar and water a 50/50 solution. Run recirculators to clean those out. After that flush with fresh water a few times.

Vernon, my dad is retired now and he always jokes around saying that he is on a fixed income. My brother and I tell him right back hey we are in a fixed income too haha.

I can flip good with the equipment I have. I can skip okay but haven't mastered that yet. I have heard good things about the t-wing system for particularly skipping because of the less resistance it has coming off the reel and was just curious if anybody has tried skipping with the tatula reels. They say it doesn't backlash as much and is easier. You are right wrench skipping isn't easy and takes practice and a good trailer plays a big role.

Hey guys I was just curious what reel you guys use for this application. I have basically all Lews reels with most of them being a BB1 pro. I have heard great things of about the Diawa Tatula reels. The T-wing system seems great for flipping and skipping. Thanks for your input.

If you fish in cold temperatures like below freezing the micro guides are useless. Ice builds up in those tiny things and you can't cast without dunking your rod every two secs. I have some micro guide rods and I like them but hate them in the wintertime.

Royal Blue I've never bought into the the whole reel being to fast colder water cranking. I've always use 7:1:1 reels and I've never had a problem. I just slow down the retrieve once the bait gets down. Plus the faster reels I think can help fight the fish better when they take your bait and knock slack in the line. Faster reels help get the bait down faster and I believe gives you an advantage when fighting the fish. I think Aaron martens recently just stated he uses faster reels as week for almost all applications.

Lews bb1 pro. Throws everything a mile. A good medium action rod is also important to get the load up to sling the lighter crankbaits.

A lews custom speed stick that is a jerkbait/small crankbait rod. 6'7" medium power with moderate action. I love mine.

We fished Friday and couldn't get anything really besides a few on crankbaits and spinnerbaits in the howling wind. We caught most of the fish on bottom baits in the 15ft range around wood. Hard to fish with 30 mph winds. Saturday and Sunday we caught a few on crankbaits but not enough to keep throwing them. We caught most of the fish again on bottom baits. We had a really good day Saturday and had around 12 keepers with some big fat spots, LM, and smallmouth. We probably had around 18 lbs with our best 5 and a 6lb LM. Water temp was 60-63. The moving baits should pick up with the stable weather and lower temps this week. Coming back on after dinner on Thursday for the weekend.

This crawdad tried to eat my jig this weekeend. It's the biggest I've ever seen. It was over 9 inches stretched out. The pinchers on that thing were unreal.

I wipe our boat down with 1/2 vinegar and water in a spray bottle and a soft towel after ever trip. Cleans it like new. We have a 2011 Z-9 and it still looks brand new.

I only lose them in the accidental brush pile finds most of the time. Lure retriever usually works but not always. Also have lost some on some nice fish wrapping me up. I never had a lot of them so when you lose them it hurts.

I won't spend more than $20. They go for a lot more but I have got 5 v37s for $65 before that were in great shape. Thanks guys. I will try out the predators. They don't hurt to lose like an old wart. I throw them so much you will lose then eventually.

I know this has been brought up before but I was just wondering if anybody has used these and if they were close to the pre rapalas. I'm tired of trying to find the pre raps on eBay and paying $20 for them.

Well the winner was t up the James because I saw him by the dam ?

I fished in the joe bass and I know the participants and the guys who run the tournament are big on fish care. All the fish weighed in went straight to the release boat. There were several good bags caught and one that went almost 19 lbs. I would hate to think those floaters are from us but it is unfortunate either way.

Joe Bass was out of Ahoy's and I know they have a release boat they load the fish in and release somewhere out across the lake. I don't recall any other tournaments that were out of that area though.

I throw cranks all the time and big ones too that get to 25ft. I usually leave the hooks on a few select brands but if I change them it is an owner stinger hook. I throw them all on 10lb Invisix and use a lews bb1 pro with a 7'11" KVD composite rod. It will throw the bait a country mile. I have snapped the line sometimes because of the whipping action I get. The rod is very important in throwing these bigger cranks. The soft tip tip allows you to play the fish much more. I hardly ever lose a fish on this rod and have caught multiple doubles before with some being over 5lbs and get both of them in the boat. I used to think glass or composite rods were stupid and thought Clunn was feeding a bunch of bull. I bought one and completely changed my mind. Clunn the master cranker knows what he is talking about. I never thought I would own an 8ft rod.