merc1997 Bo

i got out yesterday afternoon. fished a bit further down than you. we caught them pretty good. did not put in until after 2 and was lucky to land on some right off. caught them on pea gravel on the ol' holy rogue. we caught several too on a 1/2 GrassJig naked with a 2.8 kietech. some were on the bottom 20 to 25 ft. and some suspended. my buddy also did pretty good on a popper. had quite a few keeps and all were k's with several magnums. caught a few short brownies, and also had three walters. one short and two of them 24 to 25 inches. the eyes are just now spawing. k's are eating up and you will see a few of the usual early bedders. time will tell, but from what i am observing about bait and fish positioning i feel it will be a very lat spawn. i know last year many were saying that the spawn was all done, but i caught a lot of big brownies even in june that were not near spawning yet. areas where bass are really ganged up are still not numerous. even using 2d sonar and knowing what you are looking at will help you unlock some clues. you don't always need the live imaging to catch them. you are supposed to use your brain some, not just have everything handed to you on a plate. bo

i have been doing lots of looking, and on the lower end and many other areas, the bait is extremely deep for the most part. kc to the dam 80 to 100 ft. deep. that clue tells me that much of the fish population is still very deep and have not come up yet. good reason that there are so few fish up and the catching for the most part is not the best. food supply tells the tale of what is going on with the fish population. they all have to eat for a living. bo

alex, sure wish i could see your pics. i've tried everyway i know to open them, but nothing will do it. bo

probably around 4 1/2. measured real close to 20". the lower end of the lake has a lot of brownies this size. could not tell you how many of them i caught last summer in the 4 lb. range. they sure are fun to catch. bo

it is called a holy rogue. once water hits 52+, it can not be beat when bass will hit a minnow bait. it sinks about 1 ft. per second. it will catch them suspended or those that are glued to the bottom. back when i fished tournaments, it won me a lot of money in the early tournaments. i really don't know of too many jerk baits that can be fished on bottom 30 ft. deep. on days like today, wind wise, you have to hold the boat into the wind and throw down wind, count and feed it line until you get to desired depth. when you pop it, it jump erratically and then sinks back tail first wobbling as it descends back, just as a dying shad does. it is deadly when you can find a group in one spot. a pair of guys by the name of bud guthrie and bill willis are the inventors of the technique and they shared it with me. they just did not know how well the technique worked for deeper fish. they just used it to dink around the side of a cedar tree and would see the bass come up and hit it. this technique will catch the snot out of bill's bass more so than a swimmer because you can keep the bait right in front of them for a long period of time. on grand lake, the pre-spawners will follow the drains of flat coves or pockets. you will have those that fish the banks and catch occasional bass up shallower, but the bonanza is out behind them in the bottom on the ditch 15 to 25 ft. deep. like bill is doing fishing a swimmer, or one could throw the a-rig, this technique get them even when they are a bit stubborn because you can keep it right on their nose. in the case, of those bass sitting on the bottom, i have actually caught many bass while the rogue is sitting still on the bottom. they just suck that big ol' minnow right in. back before braid, i fished the holy rogue on 14 lb. test hi-vis stren. i fish it now on hi-vis yellow 15 lb. test braid. bo

got out and piddled around for a bit today. water is 57 to 60, but just does not seem to be many bass up. could be because they ended up so deep because of the bad winter. anyway, ended up with 4 big k's and another really nice brownie. caught with a real old technique that most folks don't even know about. bo

maybe something like that one would collect a little bit of hourly cash next week. bo

fished downstream this afternoon and no one around. suited me just fine. i fished from cow creek back up under the bridge just a bit. never had a bite out on the main lake. ended up with 5 keeps, with three of them pretty nice fish. a doodle and an iovino crankbait got the bites. doodle fish were 15 to 25 ft. deep something that might explain why there seems to be a lack of shallower fish, is the fact that i saw several balls of shad 40 to 50 ft. deep. still can't believe there was not a jillion boats out. bo

you could stay at my house. never say never, just look for a solution. bo

i will just add to the story instead of starting a new post. everything was off last night. caught a lot of nice bass, but they were all nothing bites, and all were out deeper. there was absolutely no critters stirring. hard to figure that one out. warmer air temps. wind out of the south. night before was very cold air temps, but everything was out stirring, and the bite for the most part was easier to detect. fished until 3 and ended up with 18 keepers, very few shorts. had at least three in the 4 lb. range. it was great out. not another boat. just the way i like it. caught all of them on the old 3/8 GrassJig, brown and blue with blue trailer. still fishing the same jig, but am on the third skirt. bo

a friend on mine has two new in box 36 v motor guide tour pros with built in sonar for sale. $2300 will get you one. he got them as payment from motor guide for advertising. as i have already posted, i love mine which is the 24 v. anyone interested, pm me with your phone number and i will get you in contact with the seller. bo

saturday night was windier than heck. ended up with 7 keepers. biggest was in the 4 lb. range. caught some on a 1/2 Elite SpinJig, june bug, with # 6 nickle colorado blade. caught some on the 1/4 GrassJig with buzz cut skirt, and some on the 3/8 GrassJig brown and blue, with blue trailer. bank to 15 ft. last night had over a dozen keepers. several in the 3 lb. range and one in the 7 lb. range. it was a bit over 23 inches in length and over 8 inches tall. everything last night came on the 3/8 GrassJig brown and blue with blue trailer. most of the bigger ones were 10 to 15 ft. deep. sure was good to see an actual big one again. bo

i waited for everyone else to go home and then went fishing. ended up with 5 keeps. one of those was in the 3 lb. range. also caught three short walleye. as with quill, one bass came on a spinner bait and not another bite on it. the rest all came on a 1/4 GrassJig with a buzz cut skirt, bluegill in color. bites ranged from on the bank to 12 ft. bo

that is terrible. good reminder to wear a pfd. bo

i was a co-angler with sonnie chaffin a long time ago. he wanted to go up the james flipping, which was ok with me. we took off from mill creek and quickly ran into the fog. he was telling me all the time how he knew james river like the back of his hand. he got lost three times before we got to cape fair with me telling him he was going wrong. i was right each time. we got headed upstream from virgin bluff in the fog still, and i kept warning him to stay out to the left further to miss a patch of trees that were out in the lake, and he, amazingly again, informed me he knew where that patch of trees were. that's right, we went right through the middle of them. that was enough for me. i made him get over in the passenger seat in his own boat, and got us safely on up the river. now, i will be the first to admit that i can get lost in a parking lot, but for whatever reason i seem to be able to navigate in the fog, i don't run in the fog and stay idling along the bank. sonny didn't seem to have a problem of being on plane in the fog at that time. maybe he has changed over the years, but i never got in a boat with him again. so, i made two trips with sonny. my first and my last. i just can't emphasize enough that there are too many folks driving boats that are going way faster than their driving capabilities. plus, all the waterways just plain have way more people using them at the same time. safety and courtesy go a long way. some idiot dang near ran over three of us way up the kings a couple three weeks ago. another one came by me running around 40 mph and was within 25 ft. of me. that is not safe or courteous. it is getting ridiculous. be save in your boating ways. just as if everyone else's life depended on it, including yours. bo

besides not knowing how to drive a boat, it was ignorant on his part for going around a blind corner the wrong way on the inside. what if there had been someone coming from the other way that would have been in the right, and he collided with them. exactly what we need an operators test just as with cars. but, you can't fix stupid. bo

xuron as others have already stated. bo

good news bad news. good news is it was not the powerhead. bad news it was the lower unit. other good news is doug might have a good used one and put some new seals in it and be back on my way. bo

haven't been around big m so i have missed the pelicans. don't know when i will be able to get back out. my powerhead shot craps on the way in yesterday. bo

dutch wish i could open you pic, but there is something about this website that i can't see anyones pics. you can go to NuTech Lures and look at the pics. bo

it is material we make for the guide arms in out jigs. look around and i am sure there is something you can find to use. bo

material we make for the jig guide arms. bo

sometimes one might need to vet the buyers or you might be a factor in changing a conservative state of mind. kinda like selling something to the ccp. bo

went back saturday to see if my theory of them biting first light was right, and they were right back on the same spot chomping for about two hours. caught 9 keepers, all brownies. and a bunch of shorts. all on doodles. had to sneek along the bank idling for quite a while to get there because of the fog. bo

they will work two ways. you can either glue it up behind the head, or for those that believe bass would shy away, you can cut a slit where the guide arms would come out, feed the hook through the slit and on down through the tube, then pull the head up over the hook eyelet. push the eyelet through the end of the tube, put some glue inside the slit to glue tube to the head. i most often just use the first method. one trick i use especially in pre-spawn is to use a piece of guide arm material and bend it in half and push it up inside the tube. this flattens the side of the tube, and makes it fall somewhat like a shingle instead of a spiral. believe me, it makes a big difference. you will be many bites before the tube ever gets to the bottom. i use 3/16 and 1/4 ounce GrassJig heads on 20Lb. test braid for this method. if i still fished tournaments, i would not tell about the trick of flattening the sides of the tube. that little trick has won a lot of money during the pre-spawn, especially when bass are roaming looking. i have just using them without flattening the sides, but when the bass move up shallower, i will flatten the sides. bo