Jim Elam Posted January 25, 2015 Posted January 25, 2015 Ned is tough to beat on a stream. The profile and action really make it a good small and larger fish presentation. If you fish it on a 1/32 oz head, you can really cover the water column well. I like topwater fishing like Al said, but also like to travel light and simple. One small ziplock with a few Ned heads and zeros, a little loc-tite glue, and a small plano pocket box with some pop-Rs, and I can fish everything in the river effectively. Combine it with the rod /reel / line setup I mentioned above (or substitute 6 lb maxima if you prefer), and you can pack light and focus more on fishing and less on gear. Flukes are great, but you can fish the zeros the same way and they work just as well and don't tear up. The elaztech flukes are pretty cool looking but I haven't fished them. Looking forward to trying them out this year. Agree that a fluke like bait weightless is killer, it is a great presentation. Jim "The obsessions of others are opaque to the unobsessed, and thus easy to mock...If we are lucky we all have at least one."
rFisherk Posted January 26, 2015 Posted January 26, 2015 My favorite winter baits are an unweighted Fluke, a Mini-King spinnerbait (allowed to drop and dragged slowly along the bottom), a Strike King suspended jerkbait and my own Flair Hair Jig. The real key to me, however, for fishing during the winter (or most any time after gigging starts), is to stay as far away from the target area as possible and keep a low profile. Usually, the water is clearer and the smallmouth are more skittish during gigging season and the winter. Not all bass are in deep holes during the winter, and even those that hold deep will move up in the water column when feeding, which I believe still happens twice a day.
Jim Elam Posted February 9, 2015 Posted February 9, 2015 A wacky rigged senko works really well in shallow water in winter time. A 4 inch produces well, and is more durable that the standard fluke, but doesn't have the killer side to side action they sometimes want. The wacky rig is harder to overfish than the fluke, which is probably why it works so well. Great point about disturbing fish in the clear winter water. I like the wacky rig because it casts well and can be used with a really small light wire hook that is super sticky. Once a bass strikes you almost always catch him - basically they hook themselves. That is helpful with light gear and current, inactive fish in the winter time. Jim "The obsessions of others are opaque to the unobsessed, and thus easy to mock...If we are lucky we all have at least one."
hoglaw Posted February 13, 2015 Author Posted February 13, 2015 caught them good in the creek with a jerkbait last weekend. My house sits at the top of a very long deep hole with a cut bank on one side and a rock bluff on the other. I bet there's some spring water infiltration in there somewhere. The spots were really stacked up in it, which is funny because I caught so few spots during the summer months. My wife and I both caught spots in the 16" neighborhood with big fat bellies. Fun fish. Seth and Ham 2
Guest Posted February 13, 2015 Posted February 13, 2015 blasphemers!!! Lol Hoglaw, you are blessed to live on a good wintering hole. I still miss my old creek.
Members BroWes Posted June 28, 2019 Members Posted June 28, 2019 Ive used a cheap $20 rod and spinning reel setup from walmart for the past 6 years and usually swap the line out to a 8# powerpro line pretty quickly. My first big yak trip down an ozark river with my brother-in-law we landed about 300 fish if not over 300. Since then I have not done as well but at times got really good results with rebel crawfish and teeny crawfish. With that being said...I'm going to leave the rod and reel argument alone. I did also use a Zebco trigger cast on a ultralight rod (which I lost in a yak turnover). So what will I credit our huge success on (a few fish over 1# one up to about 18") time of year, plenty of water flow but not too much, and the right baits. My brother-in-law used a light rod with a casting reel and multiple baits. He was having fun but only caught 1 fishto my 2/3. I think it was that i had the fire bait for the day. He is a good fisherman so I cant say it was me. He just wanted to try different baits. We floated 8 miles or so in about 8 hours I think. Just hit the water with a small variety of tackle and see what happens, most of all enjoy your time in God's creation.
45acp Posted July 2, 2019 Posted July 2, 2019 On 9/5/2014 at 3:05 PM, hoglaw said: Can't present a rebel craw effectively casting straight upstream and I don't like small trebles. I remove both hooks from the wee craw. Then use a larger size (4 or 6 can't remember it's been awhile since I had to buy new ones) Excaliber rotating treble on the rear eye only. All those fish you used to miss on that bait, you won't miss them anymore. MoCarp 1
Smalliebigs Posted July 2, 2019 Posted July 2, 2019 I really can’t see the reason for fishing for bass with an Ultralight unless you like to fight fish to exhaustion Mitch f and evilcatfish 2
Flysmallie Posted July 3, 2019 Posted July 3, 2019 16 hours ago, Smalliebigs said: I really can’t see the reason for fishing for bass with an Ultralight unless you like to fight fish to exhaustion It can be done without doing that. See it happen all the time. But it is something people should be mindful of. MoCarp 1
MoCarp Posted July 3, 2019 Posted July 3, 2019 20 hours ago, 45acp said: I remove both hooks from the wee craw. Then use a larger size (4 or 6 can't remember it's been awhile since I had to buy new ones) Excaliber rotating treble on the rear eye only. All those fish you used to miss on that bait, you won't miss them anymore. Shhhhh MONKEYS? what monkeys?
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