Big M area 2/13

[Quillback]

Had an early morning DR's appointment (annual checkup), so didn't get to the lake until 1130.  Wind was cranking when I got there, much windier than I expected, probably would've stayed home if I had known how windy it was, but I was there so put the boat in the water and headed out.

The bite was decent, I caught 14 bass, all between 12-15 inches, mix of largemouth and spots with 2 meanmouth.  All on the Ned, fish were in the 10-20 foot range as far as depth.  I packed it in after 4 hours, just got tired of fighting that wind.  Would've been a good day to have an Ultrex.

Tried new rigging for my Ned fishing.  First 4 bass I caught on my standard 6 lb. InvisX, had another rod rigged with braid, fluoro leader, and a Nutech crappie jig as the jig head for the cut Zinker.  Caught my last 10 bass on that setup.  I liked it, the braid will outcast my InvisX set up by easily 10-20 feet, and it really magnifies the bite, you can really feel it.  Helped a lot fishing in that wind.  Didn't break off that Nutech head, liked that too.  

WT 45

[Guest]

jeff

i just use straight braid, i believe it is 15 lb. pro power slick 8 (4 lb. diameter).  you do have to retie once in a while, but being braid all the way will increase the feel even more.  i had someone fishing with me the other day using floro and was telling me that he had not ever felt a bite until they were swimming with it.  i let him fish with my rod while i picked up a tube and amazingly, to him, he felt the initial bite every time.  he showed up with some braid on his reel next time we went.

the doodle bite could be really good if the wind was not quite like a hurricane.

bo

[IL Fisherman]

Bo what color braid do you throw?   I usually do a 3-4 foot floro leader on my Hyviz braid.  Did not know if the fish would be color shy on the little ned rig.

[Royal Blue]

10 minutes ago, IL Fisherman said:

Bo what color braid do you throw?   I usually do a 3-4 foot floro leader on my Hyviz braid.  Did not know if the fish would be color shy on the little ned rig.

Don't a lot of the pros just run a black sharpie down the last 3-4 feet when they run straight braid?

[Quillback]

54 minutes ago, IL Fisherman said:

Bo what color braid do you throw?   I usually do a 3-4 foot floro leader on my Hyviz braid.  Did not know if the fish would be color shy on the little ned rig.

I was using Sunline SX1 in chartreuse 16 lb., first time with it.  So far I can say that it casts well and I didn't have any noticeable color bleed on the line.  I like the high visibility too.  If I do experiment with straight braid to the jighead I will probably follow Royal Blue's suggestion and black out the first 3 feet.  Or go to a stealthy color in small diameter.  Just wish this stinking weather would stabilize a bit so I can get out on the water more.

[Quillback]

Just now, Quillback said:

I was using Sunline SX1 in chartreuse 16 lb., first time with it.  So far I can say that it casts well and I didn't have any noticeable color bleed on the line.  I like the high visibility too.  If I do experiment with straight braid to the jighead I will probably follow Royal Blue's suggestion and black out the first 3 feet.  Or go to a stealthy color in small diameter.  Just wish this stinking weather would stabilize a bit so I can get out on the water more.

Didn't mean to speak for Bo, just saw your question was addressed to him.

[David Goddard]

That is an awesome looking meanmouth! I love catching them. I use 15 lb power pro super slick 8 to a 6-15 lb flourocarbon leader probably 75% of the time whether I'm using casting or spinning gear. On casting gear I just beef up the lb test. To avoid the chance of line shyness I usually make my leader 10-15 ft long. I had the pleasure of talking one on one with Brandon Palaniuk at quite length about this at the Collinsville Let's Go Fishing show in 2017 and this is what he does. This is a meanmouth I caught in the osage river that looked like the perfect 50-50 mix.

[IL Fisherman]

Quill no problem.   I use suffix 832 high viz green a lot.  Have also used the moss green style.  Some time it gets lost in the reflections.  Black sharpie sounds like a good thing to try.  

[Guest]

12 hours ago, IL Fisherman said:

Bo what color braid do you throw?   I usually do a 3-4 foot floro leader on my Hyviz braid.  Did not know if the fish would be color shy on the little ned rig.

the power pro slick 8 that i have is an aqua green.  it was all that was handy in a store at the time.  most of the time i use spiderwire hi-vis yellow tied straight to the jig.  being able to see the line is an advantage.

bo

[aarchdale@coresleep.com]

Ive been using power pro red because they were out of the yellow, I ended up really liking it so far, way easier to see than green