spring is on it's way!!! fish'n fever!

[Steve Herbeck]

Ice Is Breaking Away From The North Shores And Getting Black ,had A Bit Of Cooler Weather This Weekend But It's Supposed To Go Back Into The 50's-60's So Ice Should Be Out First Week Of May 5-12th Or So.
Getting The Feev,lets Start Some Discussions About Any And All Species.
Tips,presentations,predictions,whatever.
Herbie

[Cranman]

Hi Steve...6 weeks until we are at AML and we have the fever...question...northern pike and soft plastics....type, length, colours? Last year I threw a 7 inch shad on a #1 weighted wide-gap hook...had some success...mostly swam it and then paused...any tips?

[Steve Herbeck]

in the past year the plastics scene is exploding with alot of realistic and awesome looking products,so many it's hard to keep up,we haven't really had the opportunity yet to play around much other than the stuff we've used the past few years.
the spring and med dawg have always been a great pike bait and can be used under a wide variety of situations www.muskyinnovations.com as are the jig and paddle tail like the salt shakers, bigger twister/reaper combos by bait rigs,etc
www.baitrigs.com
www.purefishing.com
depends alot on how and when you're fishing them as far as the application. when you're here yu're pretty much covering ground casting weeds,rocks,timber etc and not early season sight fishing real shallow water so you want a bait with a bit of weight for casting distances,covering ground,good hooking ability,decnt size and profile cause you're looking for a big fish who is well past spawn and eating bigger prey.
obviously some of the swim baits by storm like the seeker,kick'n minnow etc ,berkly gulp jerk shads ansd the big saltwatwer paddle tails,and i also really like some of the products by reaction strike,danny did really well on the fathead and chubby last season on big walleyes and pike fishing ciso schools.
of particular interest is the recent development of segmented hard baits somewhat resembling only in appearence to the kick'n minnow but much more durable,great realistic action,and diff controlled sinking rates. again reaction strikes Revolution has sizes from like 4"-10".
www.reactionstrike.com
huddelston and castaic are leaders in big bass swimbaits now being used and modified for pike/musky.
the new castaic swimmin cisco looked awesome in the tank this winter.
they are are very realistic,simple,and versatile and would be a go to choice under tougher conditions but once yu get into the warmer water it's still tough to beat twitch'n minnow baits,spinnerbaits,inlines,med dawgs etc.

[DanR]

Ice Is Breaking Away From The North Shores And Getting Black ,had A Bit Of Cooler Weather This Weekend But It's Supposed To Go Back Into The 50's-60's So Ice Should Be Out First Week Of May 5-12th Or So.
Getting The Feev,lets Start Some Discussions About Any And All Species.
Tips,presentations,predictions,whatever.
Herbie
Predictions...hmmm. Ok, with all of the success of the big double bladed bucktails over the last 3 seasons and everyone throwing them, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that someone in camp will have one of the old standby lures produce big time. It might be the depth raider, grandma, or big joe / bulldog. But it's going to "sneak up" on everyone.

Someone will be doing something different, and it will pay off. For some of us it's going to be difficult to break from whats been working (the double 10's), but it may be the ticket especially as the season wears on.

-Dan