08-20-2004, 04:15 PM
[url "javascript: addTag('cool')"][cool][/url][#0000ff]Hey Love-guy, sorry to say that most of what I use is not commercially available. That is a good argument for learning how to make your own. You can create just the right balance of hook size, head size and color combinations to suit you and the fish.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The GOOD NEWS is that there IS a lot of stuff available in most tackletoriums that will work just fine. Almost any plastic or dressed jig will work some of the time, or most of the time. If you decorate them with some worm or perch meat, I think those fish would whack anything you served up.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Over time, I have learned (or think I have) that there are several colors that work the best, most of the time. Every once in awhile, I find a new color paint or glitter that looks like it has potential. I make up some new jigs with it and introduce it to the fishies. If they vote for it, great. If they don't, then it's back to the drawing board.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]It is tough to know when you have a hot new color, when the stupid perch are hitting anything you drop in the water. To impress me, a new color must result in more action than the other colors, and the fish must hit harder or must be larger than the average caught with the other stuff. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]That's the way it has been with the two new colors I posted, on the last two trips to Jordanelle. On Thursday, we had been having mediocre success on the standard stuff. TubeBabe started tossing one of the purples and gave me a heads up over the walkie talkie that she was hooking a fish per cast, and some of them were bigger. I followed suit and did not change back for the rest of the trip. Virtually all of the bigger perch and smallies came on the purple.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Jordanelle would be an ideal place to introduce someone to tubing. There are plenty of willing fish, and access is easy. And, as far as lures, I would suggest stocking up on a few packages of little tube jigs and heads. Those things hold up for a long time, and they are just as good as anything if you add some worm or perch meat. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Almost any colors will work. However, I would suggest white, chartreuse, brown, green, purple and maybe some two-tones. The best two tones are red/white, yellow/white, brown/white and black/chartreuse. I also do well with two tones that use clear sparkle tails...with blue, purple or red on the top half.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]For bass, there are thousands of books and videos on bass fishing. Most of them are for shallow eastern or southern lakes and not the clear impoundments in the west. They are also mostly largemouth oriented. The good news about smallmouth is that if you can fish for trout, around a shoreline, you can fish for smallies. Toss the same lures or spinners, and work them near the bottom. Sometimes they even respond to topwater stuff. That's when it starts to get fun...or more fun.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]One of the things I learned about bass fishing a long time ago, is to always fish with expectation, as if a fish was going to jump on at any time. Always be ready and alert. The other thing is to never rate a fishing trip solely on the number or size of fish caught. True, a few big ol bigguns can put a permanent grin on your kisser, but the plain old experience of going fishing is reward enough in many cases.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Take your wife fishing, but make it like a trip with a kid. Make the trip about her, and not about you. If she gets bored or unhappy, hit the beach and head for home. Don't make it a marathon trip, especially if her legs are not used to kicking around in a float tube.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]If you get lucky (like me), you might end up with a tubing and fishing spouse that initiates many of the trips, and is hard to convince to leave the water when the fish are still hitting. Only problem is, when they get too good, you sometimes end up being outfished. Doesn't happen often, but when it does I try to rationalize it that it is because of my superior guiding skills and tackle tinkering. Yeah, right.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The GOOD NEWS is that there IS a lot of stuff available in most tackletoriums that will work just fine. Almost any plastic or dressed jig will work some of the time, or most of the time. If you decorate them with some worm or perch meat, I think those fish would whack anything you served up.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Over time, I have learned (or think I have) that there are several colors that work the best, most of the time. Every once in awhile, I find a new color paint or glitter that looks like it has potential. I make up some new jigs with it and introduce it to the fishies. If they vote for it, great. If they don't, then it's back to the drawing board.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]It is tough to know when you have a hot new color, when the stupid perch are hitting anything you drop in the water. To impress me, a new color must result in more action than the other colors, and the fish must hit harder or must be larger than the average caught with the other stuff. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]That's the way it has been with the two new colors I posted, on the last two trips to Jordanelle. On Thursday, we had been having mediocre success on the standard stuff. TubeBabe started tossing one of the purples and gave me a heads up over the walkie talkie that she was hooking a fish per cast, and some of them were bigger. I followed suit and did not change back for the rest of the trip. Virtually all of the bigger perch and smallies came on the purple.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Jordanelle would be an ideal place to introduce someone to tubing. There are plenty of willing fish, and access is easy. And, as far as lures, I would suggest stocking up on a few packages of little tube jigs and heads. Those things hold up for a long time, and they are just as good as anything if you add some worm or perch meat. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Almost any colors will work. However, I would suggest white, chartreuse, brown, green, purple and maybe some two-tones. The best two tones are red/white, yellow/white, brown/white and black/chartreuse. I also do well with two tones that use clear sparkle tails...with blue, purple or red on the top half.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]For bass, there are thousands of books and videos on bass fishing. Most of them are for shallow eastern or southern lakes and not the clear impoundments in the west. They are also mostly largemouth oriented. The good news about smallmouth is that if you can fish for trout, around a shoreline, you can fish for smallies. Toss the same lures or spinners, and work them near the bottom. Sometimes they even respond to topwater stuff. That's when it starts to get fun...or more fun.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]One of the things I learned about bass fishing a long time ago, is to always fish with expectation, as if a fish was going to jump on at any time. Always be ready and alert. The other thing is to never rate a fishing trip solely on the number or size of fish caught. True, a few big ol bigguns can put a permanent grin on your kisser, but the plain old experience of going fishing is reward enough in many cases.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Take your wife fishing, but make it like a trip with a kid. Make the trip about her, and not about you. If she gets bored or unhappy, hit the beach and head for home. Don't make it a marathon trip, especially if her legs are not used to kicking around in a float tube.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]If you get lucky (like me), you might end up with a tubing and fishing spouse that initiates many of the trips, and is hard to convince to leave the water when the fish are still hitting. Only problem is, when they get too good, you sometimes end up being outfished. Doesn't happen often, but when it does I try to rationalize it that it is because of my superior guiding skills and tackle tinkering. Yeah, right.[/#0000ff]
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