join the crankbait group.

Welcome to the crank bait group!

Hey there,
How was the trip to Waywayanda???

Hey,
Usually I get channel cats, especially when using spoons. This is the time to knock the crap out of them. Salmon fishing is starting to heat up around here. Carley and I will be putting the hurts to em' pretty soon. It gets wild and crazy out on Lake Michigan!

That trout I caught on the fly rod was not a steelhead but actually a Kamloops rainbow trout imported from British Columbia as a fingerling. It actually ran off all my fly line and got into my backing pretty well before I could get control.

That one big largemouth you commented on was 13 lbs. or so and caught on a plastic worm on fairly light spinning gear(by today's standards) in the St. Johns river in North Florida. I have a friend who actually caught a 16 lb. 9oz. bass he also caught in North Florida in a farm pond.

Hi John thanks for the nickname! ha! Everyone always call me critter-chick ha! or Bass-Mistress ha! go figure....
Im jealous dude! you have a great page, hope I can measure up to you all!

Hey John...I would have to get 'schooled' on how to utilize the map it procedures on computer. I am still just a child in this stuff. Any hints or suggestions would help....Jim

John - I am sending this to you this way because I found that my e-mail function on my profile was turned off. I did not weigh that last big brim I added but it came from the St. Marks National Wildlife Preserve south of Tallahassee on the coast. I am going to add some more pictures of brim I have caught there soon. It is a fairly wild place and I have encountered wild boar, deer,huge diamondback rattlers(I have a pic I took of an 8 footer) and even jaguarundi there and of course they have about 5000 gators and a lot of black bear there so you kinda have to watch your step.The little mean bluegill who attacked my ultra-lite rapala type lure came from a state park lake which is about 5 minutes from my house. It is also a very deep spring-fed lake and holds some monsters I am told although I don't have a boat right now so I am forced to fish off the dock. At the gate, they have pictures of giant bass to 14lbs. or so caught out of the lake but no pics of what we like to catch. There is also another lake in that state park that was acquired by the state about 15 years ago and they haven't allowed fishing there since they bought it - I bet there are some huge fish in there.

Sunday see ya at 7:00 am straw hatter#$@#$@#

You are the best kiddo! When your not playing awesome music your out there trying to get the fish!! Sorry to hear it sucked; but that 's why even
a bad day of fishing is better then no day of fishing!!
Till next time! Your Buddy, Linda

Thanks for the welcome AL

thanks for the advice on everything.... the weather aint that bad it just gets to you after like two hours, xD

but it gets fun on days like today..... think I'm going to go fishing today.....

thanks again for the advice l8rz

Hi John, I love my man room spend alot of time there. The CRAPPIE weighed in at 3.2 lbs. .

Hey John,
I love the Rainbow too (nice solid fish--very pretty colored fish)!!! Haven't done any exclusive trout fishing this year although ended up catching several Rainbow and Brown Trout in a New Hampshire pond this past April while fishing for sunfish. Keep those trout photos coming (and of course those Huge Sunfish photos!!!!) Tight Lines!!!

That is a realy good photo of a bgill. what are the names of the lakes you fish at and how did you find out.

when your on turn up your chat volume. this is what you do, go to the top of the page, click chat on the right (its on the menue bar) then when you get there put up the volume which is next to the smilie face, and the computer volume because the beep is very soft. this is because if someone trys to talk to you the chat volume is on mute. if you want to talk to someon just copy and paste this message.

Thats crazy they always biting. I guess just bad night.

You got some great pics on your page. I like your music too!. Let's see, you can fish, you can play strings. Can you sing and dance? Wait! Don't! Let's leave well enough alone.

Boogieman

thanx and yours is not bad its self and remember....................keep fishing. keep fishing hard.

what part of the lake do you catch bluegill at? is that a resivour and/or a town lake? (greenwood lake) would i be able to fish there?

wish i could send you a message right now...oh well.

Hey John...I still haven't gotten in on the crappie this fall yet...might have to do some in Delaware soon.

hi

Hey John, I was indeed using a 1/32 oz jighead with 4 lbs test line (my #1 go-to rig for Crappies and Large Panfish). I completely agree with you in the choice of a big spoon or crank if I were specifically targeting large Chains (just happened to accidentally hook into him). From what I can tell, the larger specimens seem to be attracted to the feeding activity of the smaller panfish--and just like the "Bully on the Block" after awhile they just can't stand it and have to get in on the action themselves!!! I've been very lucky to have most of my hooksets on these critters either get'em in the corner of their mouths or in the lip region (just outside the teeth zone in the soft tissue)! I played this monster for about 10 minutes in my Kayak--didn't have an anchor out so just played him on light drag and let him pull me around a bit till he tired out!!!

John, Your music is great wish I could keep it playing while I surf the pages of blue gill

Hi John, Glad to your friend. Yes like the acoustics I am hearing . You are very talented and have a fish in your area I would love to catch and that is the yellow pearch. Must be terrible to have to live on a lake and have to fish everyday.

Dear John, don't know about your area but here blue jays are a protected songbird in Ok. Possession of the feathers is illegal.So use at your own risk.I would hate it if a friend had problems with possession of illegal feathers..

Yes, unfortunatly that is true, I kind of doubt a game warden, would notice it in a fly,but thats the law here. Crazy huh

Outstanding guitar.....do you have a CD of Christmas music available???? I'd really enjoy listening to more.

Hey John...I wish I knew of a really accurate scale for panfish that would not break the bank.

At Richmond Mill, Bruce and I used the smallest Boga Grip scale that weighed in quarter pound increments. I don't know how accurate it was, but my gut feeling is that it could have weighed our biggest bluegills a couple of ounces light. You know how fishermen are! Might be a good subject to blog or discuss.

i think i asked you this before but, what are the names of the lakes you fish at?

Hi John, I use the spark bug on a fly rod, but dont know why you couldn't use under a float. Man that music is good , you are really talented.

Hey John, the sprkbg. probably is lighter than1/64, but not sure on that. The bead chain eyes are actually the chain that held the wolvorine tag on my steel toed boots. The COMPANY bought me boots and eyes for flies too.lol.
I target bluegill redear and crappie on my fly rod, bur have caught large and small mouth bass, Sand bass, channel cat, carp. I caught 1 walleye in the shallows one evening sandbass fishing. Caught several turtles,a snake and a muskrat. Those aren't much fun in a float tube. soig.
One word of warning if you don' want to fly rod,don't take it out. The first redear you catch you are hooked for life.I haven't used my spinning rod in years.
Greg

Hey John, Happened to remember caught a limit of bullfrogs on my fly rod and a red dry fly. Bout anything will take a fly, oh and the muskrat was snagged.
Greg

Good to hear from you! It is nice to ice fish again. I'm sure that my bluegill catch rises through the winter. Stay in touch.

They were in about 12' close to bottom working my way up.

i was fishing a spill-way, and it was still pretty much iced over, not a lot of water to work with. 12-25ft? our ponds and lakes here in the small state don't go that deep. around here the mean depth of a pond runs about 6-8ft. round here most dont fish this time of year. i just cant wait till spring i guess

John, I usually fish very light with size 12-14 Snider jigs in pink/purple or pink/white with 2 spikes (maggots) barley hooked on their flat end. Depending where I fish, it's usually 6ft or less. The bite has slowed down this week and bigger fish are harder to coax into biting.

I got 'em John!!! go check out the new photos!

Hey John...I made the wire strike indicator out of .014 and .018 DR Blues guitar strings. With a small pair of pliers, make a 'loop' and secure the wire with a tight bend to itself, crimping it over. Then, you can use bright red fly tying or sewing thread to wrap and build up around the base of the loop. Once the wrapping is nice and thick, tie off with a couple of half hitches and then coat it twice with Crazy Glue (brush on ). This enables you to see the strike better over a dark hole in the ice.

Then , affix the wire through the opening of the tip top so that it extends about 1 1/2 inches past the tip. I then wrap the wire tight to the rod tip using red wraping thread and coat it with Crazy Glue as well. The entire length of the wire will be 3 to 4 inches long, but only 1 1/2 in will hang out over the rod tip.

As you can see from the photo in the blog, I actually bent the wire 'upward' slightly to compensate for the weight of the lure, which may tend to 'sag' the wire on a downward curl that would not show a light strike. It is important to bend the wires just enough to get semi-straight 'plane' to show the very light strike, and hence movement, of the wire. Set the hook!

Also, if the wire 'lifts' up, you also have a strike! It may bounce or snap straight down. Try it on a rod or two.

Hope this helps Jim

John, My girlfriend and I are enjoying your music this morning.....it's very good with coffee while watching the sunrise!

Bill-
Glad to hear you are both enjoying the music! Thanks for the note.Wish you lived closer so we could jam.
While you were enjoying coffee, music and a sunrise I was sleeping off a Jim Beam and Yuengling induced headache initiated last night by an informal jam session with friends,students and wife Linda.I knew I wasnt gonna be able to get up early for ice fishing!
All the best,
John

Hey John...regarding the jigs, I use craft hair on about 85 % of the jigs I tie but sometimes use marabou, bucktail and lately...streamer and sea hair. Some people don't like the synthetics, but I have caught a ton of fish on them and the pink/white combos are by far the most requested from me. Hey...shoot me a pm with your address and I'd be happy to send you some, along with a few new creations. I have been using sparkle braid on some new creations and they may be good for ice/cold water applications in your lakes. Jim

Hey John...thanks for nice compliments about the jigs...I have been tying them for about 15 yrs now.

As implied, craft hair can be found, or ordered from, craft stores or hobby shops. They come in 12 x 18 in skeins or smaller. Prices vary, but the colors are endless. It's pretty easy to tie with but can get static electricity and make it a little hard to manage. They flow through the water with great form and undulate unlike other materials...great for cold water applications. You can go online and order any color of the rainbow from Bullet Baits out of Tennessee...just put em in the search engine and you should hit their site.

It's a softer material than bucktail, and moves more, where as bucktail is stiffer, but more bouyant than the craft hair. I tie bass jigs with bucktail also, as it seems to allow a slower decent in cold water on larger jigs of 1/8 or 1/4 ounce, which are the heaviest jigs I tie.

I'm gonna send you some, but keep in mind that some of the most simple patterns I tie are the most effective in some situations. Hope this helps....

Jim

Hey John...that one perch had 9 bars on one side and 10 on the other! I have seen them with as few as 5 and then the 10 bar fish in the photo. Average is 6 to 8.

Hey John, the website for the crafthair might be under Punisher Jigs out of Selina, Tenn.

Also, a lot of the crafthair jigs I tie a little long to imitate baitfish and to get the undulating movement of the fabric. This helps with the overall minnow-like appearance. I tie some jigs that are on smaller heads and just use a sprig of the hair that has been trimmed and they are mostly what I would use for the gills and their smaller mouths. Most of my panfish hairjigs are designed for crappie, perch and anadromas shad species that run up our rivers in the spring. My bluegill patterns aren't as colorful and are smaller and trimmed back a bit and in black, brown, red and beige colors. You got some coming your way!

I want to send you some photos of some jigs and tricks that I learned from old timers over the years (for bluegill). Perch are biting well in this area, but it seems I can't seem shake my gill addiction.