steveearle

I second what gradyh said. This will be my 3rd season using the St Croix Legend Tournament 7"10" H Moderate Big Cranker (BLue Rod) and it is far and away the best big crank rod I have ever used. Using these baits is all about casting distance and this rod will chuck 'em. Although it is a heavy, it does not fight the bait when you are cranking it and has the big parabolic bend when you set the hook on a fish.

Fluorocarbon does, in most cases, have as much and sometimes a little more or a little less stretch than mono, it is just a different kind of stretch. Mono has a rubberband, bounce-back stretch. Fluoro stretches and then stays elongated without the bounce back. The increased sensitivity is due to fluoro's high density. Its sensitivity and sink rate is the advantage. Fluro's abrasion resistance is, in most cases, higher than WET mono. It is sometimes more and sometimes less abrasion resistant than DRY mono. Fluoro does not absorb water so it does not matter if it is tested wet or dry. Mono absorbs alot of water so it is much weaker and much less abrasion resistant once it is wet. Also, if you are comparing mono vs fluro, compare by diameter not by rated strength. Fluoro usually has a lower diameter and breaks closer to rated strength. Mono, in cases like P-line or Trilene XT, has a high diamater, which is why you can get 20lb test to break at 30-35lbs...

The one thing you need to look at is which you can get into. Because of amateur demand, you usually had to sign up for all the Heartlands early to guarantee a spot. Central, previously, sometimes had a shortage. You need to call both and look at the prospects of actually getting into the tournaments.

If you get the 500 series Lowrance, make sure you get the 525 or 527. The 520 and 522 are only 2400 watts, not 4000 like the 525/527

Any concerns mentioned about having the buddy after the pro-am instead of before....Any talk of people poaching pro's spots the next day? I am sure this is one of the reasons Heartland does it the other way around. I know most are honest, but just wondering if that concern was voiced?

I fish the Oakley Monster Dogs. I have the amber for lower light and the black/blue mirror lenses for brighter light....nd I like them a lot....

They are in there but I have not seen any lately. I saw one the fish kill year (1999) dead that was as big as a rod locker. Growing up we vacationed at Cricket Creek and the marina bulletin board had one every now and then that was 20-30 lbs. Not many but they were always huge....

My buddy's '07 Pro XS was making a "funny noise" in March as we left PB2 (LOZ) and as we started under the Hwy 5 Bridge it blew. It was the gear case in the lower unit. I am by no means a mechanic, but I have heard that they are replacing quite a few gear cases on the XS. I believe his was a seal that broke and took in water. Have no idea if this will help but I figure I would add my .02, in case it is a newer Pro XS.......

TO S&M--- The hand-tying is the same as the hand-tied Eakins jig if you have seen this...I don't fish these baits alot based on spending 90% of my time on LOZ. I use 22 guage copper wire (start with 2-3 inches cut with tin snips) from a craft store (Michaels, etc.) and double wrap about 2 inches of the the copper just above the rubber skirt collar, pull it tight and twist it w/pliers a couple of time and then cut it off close to the head with tin snips. Because I dont fish these baits a ton, some of them sit in my jig box for a while and the rubber collar will eventually dry rot and the skirt will fall apart. This assures me that the jig will last until I either lose it or mess up the hook (on a snag). It also keeps the skirt strands in place so they never slide....use the 5/16 oz. Eakins, living rubber hand tied model as a sample...Over the winter, I usually do this to my regular Eakins, Football jigs, "big jigs", and especially spinnerbaits since they seem to last longer than a jig....

FYI on the weights of football jigs. I got bored the other day and started weighing Jewel and Chomper football jigs on a highly sensitive food scale...What I found was that the Chompers were right on or very very close...1/2, 5/8, and 3/4...When I weighed the Jewels and I found that the 1/2 oz. averages .60-.62, the 5/8 averaged about .72-.75 and the 3/4 were mostly .88. The only thing i had changed was that I got bored earlier and copper hand tied all of my football jigs, but an inch of 22 guage copper is almost weightless.......Just a tidbit for everyone...

FYI on the weights of football jigs. I got bored the other day and started weighing Jewel and Chomper football jigs on a highly sensitive food scale...What I found was that the Chompers were right on or very very close...1/2, 5/8, and 3/4...When I weighed the Jewels and I found that the 1/2 oz. averages .60-.62, the 5/8 averaged about .72-.75 and the 3/4 were mostly .88. The only thing i had changed was that I got bored earlier and copper hand tied all of my football jigs, but an inch of 22 guage copper is almost weightless.......Just a tidbit for everyone...

I have been playing with the dropshot and the twist has been bugging me for a while (even with a swivel)...This is the rig I have went to...anyone else doing this??.... For my main line I have went to 4lb dia/15 lb braid....a swivel...then a 6 ft. flourocarbon leader..then if you break off it is just a 6 ft leader you are adding.I am throwing it on the GLoomis 821 shakey head rod(very soft rod) and a very loose drag because of the lack of stretch....I have also gone away from a nose hook worm (big spots seem to tear off) and went to a size 1 Gamakatsu EWG (texas rigged on the drop shot) and I am losing NO fish...Anybody else have any tips to make this technique more effective...

I caught them mostly on the brown purple but also on the natural shad. I put in at Kimberling and fished as far up the white as about 2 miles past Campbell Point. I tried some crawlers last year, alternating with the worm and realized that if I found fish it did not seem to matter (although I have been told that the crawler always outfishes the worm) so I have stuck with the worm ever since. It seemed like if I found fish this week, would bite they would bite right away. It seemed that bouncing around worked best instead of trying to really work over spots that I have caught them before. The only problem is I could not find the bigger spots. I caught them up to about 2-4 or 2-6. Last year when they were at 32-38 feet I caught several b/t 2-8 and 3 lbs.... BTW, traffic was a nightmare on Monday, and I fish LOZ 90% of the time.....

My buddy has the same problem but it is because something is bent. His lower unit on a 225 Pro XS went out and after it was "fixed" he was pulling into a dock slip, went to put it in reverse and, although they fixed the forward gear, reverse was still out and he slammed the dock and part of the TMotor hit and it will not go down all the way--it is a Minn Kota 80...

Came down for the holiday from St. Louis and fished from 6:30-1:30 on Monday and 6:30-11:30 on Tuesday (today). Had 24 fish with 9 keepers on Monday (6 off one spot--right place right time)...Had 15 fish with 3 keepers today but had to get off the water early--had the wife calling because it was too cold to go to the pool. Had a handful of jig fish but I've become addicted to catching those dropshot fish off the graph. Most fish were 20-27 ft. Found a couple of good schools today but could not stay on them in the wind...Had one spot where I dropped down and caught a 2 1/4 lb spot and the graph lit up (excited the school) and by the time the fish was done digging like a 4lb smallmouth, I could not get back on the school.... throwing the 4" Kinami worm

Going back to Trock for Labor Day weekend (through Wednesday)...Has anything changed yet (a deep thermocline and a 35-40 foot dropshot bite?)or is it still jigs 8-20ft-ish and dropshot 18-24ft-ish... Went last Tuesday (9 days ago) and caught 4 keepers (2 KY, 2 SM) and about a dozen shorts on drop shot and jig...(thanks for the depths the last time Don).

I am heading down Tuesday foir 1 day of fishing and was wondering if the rain and stabilizing water has affected the depths on the football jig and drop-shot bite. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

So I guess they will probably have to turn the water off before they go out....

With the water going down fast, have any of the bottom-oriented fish pulled out to the 32-40 depths they should be this time of year or are they still in that 20-25 range???....

You can also use a strip of tape half way down the spool to reduce backlashes and mark your "backing" so you can consistently add the same amount of fluro or whatever line you are using

Tie a clinch, not the palomar, for fluorocarbon...You will gain an average of 10% breaking strength vs. the Palomar

You HAVE to have braid. If you are not using braid, do not even attempt to fish the bait. We have gotten several tips, as a buddy of mine fished with Rojas at Grand and witnessed the magic...and a couple of other Elite Pros throwing the bait...the conversation always starts the same....you must use braid...That being said you are going to lose some fish