JUNGLE JIM 1

I can't get over how the colors on the gills look so different, it reminds me of the copper nose gills that I catch out in California, everyone of them seems to have their own pattern. The wind this day was out of the southeast so I was able to make long casts to reach them. I only keep fish when I'm hungry and don't have any left in the freezer and right now I have some fillets left. Bigger gills are finally coming back in this lake and at least for now they are better off in the lake. I was using a weighted float and 2lb. test and casting past the brush you see in the back ground.

Day got off too a rocky start but fortunately got better. Got to the park lake in Fenton and started rigging the rods up and tied on a jig.It was at that moment I realized that I had left my upper false teeth at home that I had just gotten this week. Last trip I was able to bite the line but no way this was happening today. Fortunately found a clippers in the glove box and was back in business. This lake has an abundance of lily pads so usually can only fish it early in the year before it gets too dense. Went to far corner of the dam and started fishing a 1" tube on a 1/64 dart head with a #10 lil nasty jig hook tipped with a piece of power wiggler that I cut in half. The fish were hungry. I caught five bluegill and a crappie on the first six casts. I didn't move from that spot for over two hours and only switched baits when something buried me in a christmas tree and I lost my jig. Switched to orange/chartreuse trout magnet with half the tail pulled off and kept on catching bluegill, crappie and bass. The bite slowed when the wind picked up. Best action was by just letting the jig and float drift with the wind providing the action. Ended up with two crappie, two bass and 40-50 bluegill that ranged from 5-9.5 inches long. Bass were a little longer. Everything is still swimming in the lake. Not bad for a county park lake that gets fished pretty hard since you can drive up to the lake.

These aren't flies so I hope I don't offend anyone by putting these here but wanted to post some of my hand made jigs that I tie that have worked well for me for quite some time now. I didn't see a jig section in the forums. They are called float n flies down south. Really only difference between these or flies is the head itself. You just can't get three colors of powder paint on a fly hook. These were tied on a 1/16th walleye head with 4 mm 3-d eyes on a #2 Gamakatsu 114 jig hook. Materials used is multiple colors of craft hair, krinkle mirror flash and 70 ultra thread. Did a couple with 140 but thread head built up to big for me. Been catching a lot of bass with these this year along with a few crappie. The action on these are fantastic. Sorry about how this spread out. Didn't know how to correct it. Seems every site I go on is different when it comes to posting pictures.

Going back tomorrow with waders and see if I can't find a sauger or walleye on the other side. Usually catch a couple there each year during the summer. That spot does have nice smallies and spots as well.

Just ordered a couple more in a different colors than the one I lost. Maybe an unlucky color since I threw it in a tree. I am offering a reward of some custom tied jigs for it's return just to make it interesting.

Yes, it's Rockford Beach. They put rock and boulders along the dam now and don't want people fishing from it but they do. I did, just took my time .

I tied it on and my son grabbed the rod and fished it for about an hour, had one strike. I picked it up and lost it on the third cast. I like what I saw for the brief time I had with it and plan on getting a few more. Probably would need to buy a heavier rod to throw a bigger one. I hope it's still there but not worried about getting it back. I hope someone here finds it and puts it to good use.

Upstream from the bridge. It's a pretty big tree down in the water and bait would be easy to reach from the creek side of the tree.

There are still quite a few in the lake. I fished there Saturday with my son using 1/24th oz. bugger jigs fished under a weighted float and had a blast catching close to 20 in three hours with some bonus crappie and bass. We released everything so they are still in there. Trout were running 7-15 inches and most were jumpers getting 2-3 jumps out of them. Jigs were the ticket, only seen 4 other trout caught by all the guys using power bait.

I fished the Meramec at the 141 access for a little bit yesterday. Was throwing a Whopper Plopper from the bank toward a downed tree where a creek flows into the river. Second cast had a strike but jerked it away. Fired it back in there and line looped over a tree branch and lost the bait. Bummer!! Anyone with a boat fishing that area if they look at the tree in the river where the creek comes in can get themselves a whopper plopper, practically new. I wish I had brought waders, no way I was going out there barefoot. Guess I'm going to get a couple more.

I went out to a public access on Big River yesterday and caught a chunky spotted bass on a 200 Bandit crank bait. Water is low and super clear, definitely need rain. Only one bite there but it's a start.

Very nice river LM's. Never been a big fan of black & blue but after seeing these will have to order some. Must be a good clear water color and it's clear everywhere, need some rain bad. That's the only color that I didn't get at the open house. My son was throwing a golden craw Tuesday on light tackle and hooked a nice bass at a small lake but it threw the bait as I was reaching for the camera to get a picture. He was seeing how far he could throw the bait and it hit about 30-40 yards out and he didn't get a good enough hook set apparently. I'm going back with heavier gear tomorrow. Going to order some black & blue.

My biggest redear here in Missouri was just under 11 inches and look tiny in comparison.I really believe there are 6 lbers swimming in that lake right now. I had my first crappie over 2lbs. mounted in the early 90's and it looks like a minnow in comparison.

I've been doing a lot of reading since I'm a newcomer to the site and all I can say is you're one lucky dude. I'm definitely going to invest in a good pair of wading shoes after seeing this. It must have healed up really nice because I met you a couple weeks ago at the Tackle HD open house and didn't even notice it. Even though the pictures are graphic it is a reminder to everyone that we need to be careful doing seemingly simple things like fishing. I'm getting older and not as nimble as I used to be. Thanks for posting this.

Dirty Sanchez is one of my favorites. Are the hooks you used to rig the dippers weighted or unweighted?

I'm sure they are throughout the lake but we were fishing the southern end within sight of the dam, don't remember the name of the dam. Lake was crowded that weekend due to a two day striper tournament. Occasionally you could look across the lake and see schools of stripers busting shad on top. No party coves where we were fishing.

I got out to the lake at 6:30 am. Temperature was 29 but with the wind blowing felt like 18. I alternated throwing a jerk bait, swim bait and a #9 shad rap. I threw these until 9 am making approximately 150 casts without a strike. Only 9850 more casts to go if you go by the saying of the fish of 10,000 casts. I will get back there soon. Had my son with me and he had equal luck. Forgot all about these spinner baits. Decided to try for trout at 22, still very windy. We fished along the dam casting into the wind. I caught a crappie and three trout and son caught two trout on jigs. At 11:00 we ran over to Lake #3 to try our luck. Wind was blowing even harder but we still gave it a go.Battling the wind we found the trout back in a corner about 10-15 feet off the bank. He caught two trout and a bass and I caught six more trout and a couple small crappie. I had a strike but missed the fish so I cast back out and hooked into something much bigger than the trout we had been catching. It peeled drag for about 3 seconds before the hook pulled out. I think it was a bass but never saw it. Good time, wish it wasn't so windy. At 12:30 we packed up and headed back to the truck. We stored the gear and I looked out at the lake. The wind had died and the lake was calm. It figures, we left.

Big fish was caught on the Arizona side of Lake Havasu within sight of a big dam. There have been two more 4lb plus redear caught from this hump in the last year I was told. Just being there once and won't forget it. Could take you to that same exact spot. Prime time would be mid to late April but the world record was caught there in February. Lot's of 1-2 lb bluegill as well as nice smallmouth. We probably caught 50 smallmouth in two days and the smallest might have been 14 inches.

I wish I would have gotten a picture right after it was netted and put on the floor of the boat. It's belly was so big and thick that it looked like a pig and didn't lay flat but actually stayed on it's belly, course the net probably helped a little. Havasu has those zebra and quagga mussels and these redear are gorging on them and getting big. When we pulled the anchor a rock came up and they were all over it. Here is a picture.

The mold is made by Do it and came out in the fall of 2015. I like the smaller sizes because I fish for crappie quite a bit so figure the bigger baits mean bigger fish. Going to Busch's Lake 35 tomorrow and give them a shot for a few hours. If I don't get bit then I'll head to a trout lake and catch a few of those to keep from getting skunked.

They are hatchery trout and hatchery trout are weird. Been fishing for those things about 40 years and still haven't figured them out but that's what makes it fun. I mainly fish jigs on tiny #12 hooks and I'd go smaller if I could find #14 or smaller jig hooks. I fished there a couple days before this post started. They must have just recently put browns in because I was jig fishing and everyone else was using various prepared baits. I caught seven browns in the 10-12 inch range in the first 20 minutes at the first hole while everyone else was catching rainbows. I like to move and fish all the holes down to the bridge. Those little calm spots where those points jut out always holds fish and nobody ever fishes those. I catch 2-3 out of each one. People will sometimes hear splashing from me playing a trout but still keep using the powerbait. Fine by me. I work my way around to the first hole where all the browns were. Two friends I was with had been at the same spot all day and had two rainbows each. Friend told me to try and catch and keep a few to make the trip worthwhile. I'd been dangling my jig at the very head of the pool watching it skip on top of the water and watched a nose come out as a rainbow ate it. So, I kept doing that and had a limit in less than ten minutes. Handed my buddy the rod and he finished his limit and then the other guy did as well. 8 fish in a half hour by bouncing a jig off the ripples in the fast water at the top of the hole. Many years ago I took a friend fishing who had never tried before. His rod had 10 lb test and I told him to use one of mine because his line was too heavy. He declined and said his rod was fine. He tied on the ugliest jig in the world that he made and started fishing. Couple minutes later he starts hollering, his rod bent over double with a huge trout on who snaps his line because the reel was crap and the drag didn't work. He never caught a trout that day but that first scenario repeated itself two more times with two more break offs with those ugly jigs. I caught trout but nothing close to the three that he hooked. Hatchery trout are weird.

You just gotta love them and they taste good too. I fish for them all the time and locally crappie is my favorite. I even fished out in California five years straight trying to catch a mounter. In May of 2015 I finally did. Actually, I caught a few but one for the wall was enough. Here are a few pics of my fishing trip to Lake Havasu. Biggest Redear was 4-09 and was 17 inches long with an 18 inch girth. Wonder how much she would have weighed before the spawn. I'd love to go back there just to fish that spot in April. I know there are 6 lbers in that lake. A few pictures from the trip.

Each year except last year when I was recovering from shoulder surgery I've been heading west to California to visit friends and fish for a trophy gill at Lake Perris. 2015 was my best year ever catching my biggest bluegill just under 2lbs. on a bugger jig at Lake Skinner. The year before we had a trip to Lake Havasu lined up but that fell through so we set it up and went as soon as the wind started to die down. We only fished Havasu a couple days total but it was a trip of a life time for me. We waited for friend with boat to arrive so we fished off a dock the first evening. Big fish was a redear just under 2lbs., still easily my biggest ever. This was mid May so by then the bluegill and redear were off the beds so we fished deeper water structure. We fished a hump that dropped off to 12-14 foot deep. I caught a smallie on the first cast using a a live crawfish. I threw out again and the craw never made it to the bottom when I saw the line jump, set the hook and the fish took off. After a couple deep runs it came to the top and seen this huge redear circling the boat. After a couple of shorter runs we got it into the net. Friend said you got a 4lber for sure and I started shaking. We didn't have a scale so we took a couple of pictures and put it on ice. The very next cast with a 1/16th oz. craw that I tied I caught another big redear, but not nearly as big so I didn't even take pictures, which I regret now. A few hours later when we got off the lake we dug out a scale and weighed the two bigger fish. The first one weighed 4-09 and the smaller one weighed 3-02. Big one was a post spawn female that was 17 inches long with an 18 inch girth. She would have weighed more if we had gotten to weigh them on the boat. The next morning we fished the same spot and I got one that weighed 2-07, a little one. We did catch a bunch of smallmouth bass in the couple of days as well. Biggest one was 3-10. I had a replica of the big redear made so now I have a nice mount to help me remember the trip when I'm older. Here are some pictures of the trip. I really like my trips out west but there really is no place like home.

I'm pretty new to this forum and have a wide range of fishing interests. One of the fish on my bucket list is to catch a musky. Lake 35 at Busch is stocked with them and seeing a couple really nice musky caught there last year has got my attention. I want to give it a shot as well as getting back to to fishing the local rivers around the St. Louis area. I like making my own jigs, spinnerbaits and buzz baits but couldn't find anything specific on this site. All kinds of things related to fly tying but nothing about other custom lures. Maybe I overlooked something. I just wanted to post a few of the baits I've made this week with musky in mind or maybe a nice bass. These range in size from 4-6.5 inches long and if there is another place where this thread could go let me know. I'm retired and want to catch some fish. The last two are jointed baits with two hooks, all the blades are hand painted.

Just seen this thread. I've been buying mine from Skirts Unlimited. They have a huge selection and give great discounts when you buy 50 or 100+. Every time I order I buy several new colors and have over 100 different colors now.