Bait colors somewhat simplified.....

There are sooooo many darn bait colors out there, but if you keep it fairly
simple, you can really limit what you need IMHO:

Crankbaits- three basic color patterns:
shad, chartreuse, and craw (I only buy the craw patterns in Spring time baits-
Shad Raps, Bandits, etc. On my Summer deep cranks it's either shad or chart,
depending on water color).

Spinnerbaits / Chatterbaits- white and white / chart

Topwater hard baits- pretty much shad colors here, and same basic colors on
buzzbait as with spinnerbaits above.

Jerkbaits: basic shad or gold back seem to work in most cases.

Jigs: I could really limit it to two colors- green pumpkin / brown and black /
blue, although I really like green pumkin with some blue in it, if I can't
decide.

Plastics: if forced to limit it to two basic colors, I would choose on dark and
one green; probably black/ blue flake and green pumpkin. With either green
pumpkin or watermelon, you can die the tail / pinchers to add a splash of color
if needed. Jig trailers follow the same rule; one green and one dark (black /
blue).

The only two exceptions to the platics rule would be shad imitating lures
(flukes, trick worms, swimbaits, etc.)and big worms. The one color I would
choose for the shad imitators would be pearl white. On the 10" worms, I really
like plum or blue fleck.

The bait companies are smart. They know that the more variations of colors they
release, the more baits we'll buy.

But, if you're on a limited budget or just want to cut thru the confusion, stick
with white, white / chart, green pumpkin, and black n blue. you can fish in
pretty much any conditions and catch fish.

My essential tackle box...

If I had to start over with a tackle box, here's what I'd have to have to get the through the year:

Topwater:
- XCalibur Zell Pop in Foxy Shad
- Lucky Craft 100 Sammy in Shad
- Stanley Bull Ribbit in White and Catapilla
- Stanley Ribbit in same colors
- Cavitron Buzzbait 1/4 oz white with gold blade

Jerkbaits:
- 4 1/2 " Smithwick Suspending Rogue in Gold Shad pattern
- Lucky Craft 100 Pointer in Shad

Cranks:
- 100 Bandit (shad and craw)
- 200 Bandit (")
- 300 bandit (")
- SK Series 5 (sexy shad and chart sexy)
- Norman DD 22 (Sexy Shad and Chart / Blue back)
- Bomber Fat Free Shad #7 (Foxy Shad and Citrus)
- SK Red Eye Shad 1/2 oz.(chrome sexy, sexy shad, and red)

Jigs:
- 1/4 oz Bitsy Flip (Watermelon)
- 3/8 oz Arkie Style Flippin Jig (brown / green and black / blue)
- 3/8 oz Dirty Jigs Swim Jig (bream, black / blue, shad)
- 1/2 oz PJ's Football Jig (brown / green and black / blue)
- 3/4 oz PJ's Football jig (")
- 5/16 Eakins Finesse Jig (Wat / purple and Green pumpkin / orange)

Spinnerbaits:
-3/8 oz. War Eagle Spinnerbait (White and Wh / Chart)

Chatter type baits:
-Phoenix Vibrating Swim Jig (white and green pumpkin)

Plastics:
- 7" Culprit Worm (purple and red shad)
- 10" Zoom Ole Monster Worm (Plum, Blue Fleck, and Wat / Red)
- Zoom Super Chunk, Jr. (Wat Green)
- Davis Paca Chunk (Gr pumpkin, black / blue)
- SK Rage Chunk (Gr pumpkin, black / blue)
- Yum Craw Papi (4" Gr pumpkin)
- Baby Paca Craw (Green pumpkin)
- Roboworm 4"(Aaron's Magic)
- Zoom Finesse Worm (Watermelon)
- Zoom trick worm (Sherbet)
- Gambler Sweebo worm (peppergrass)
- GYBC 5" Senko (watermelon and blue pearl / silver flake)
- GYBC Creature (Black / red flk)
- Lake Fork Lure Craw tube (")
- Zoom 6" Lizard (gr pumpkin)
- Zoom 8" " (")
- Zoom Super Fluke (pearl)
- Prowler 3" Stubby Tube (Gr Pumpkin)
- 4" prowler flippin Tube (gr pumkin and black / blue)
- 5" Kalin Grub (watermelon)

Swimbait:
-Storm Wildeye Shad (pearl shad)

Spoons:
- 5" Spaits flutter spoon
- War Eagle 1/2 oz jiggin spoon (silver)

Terminal tackle:
too much to list, but weights, hooks, swivels, beads, shaky heads, tube heads, grub heads, etc.

11-13-09 JPP practice day...

Took a vacation day today to go practice for the Sat am tourney on Priest. My crankbait bite seems to be going the way of the topwater bite that died in October. After cranking three banks that have been good to me lately, i decided to go deep, slow down, and work a jig.

I caught the nice 15 1/2 inch smallie on the first deep spot. Then I moved to a down lake island with deep water near by. I threw the jig on a small rock pile point, and the jig took off to the shallow rocks. I normally don't like setting the hook the day before a tourney, but I needed to see what quality of fish were in some of these new areas. The fish came right to the boat, and in she came. It was the nice 6 lb Largemouth here. Two casts later, and wham, a 3 lbr. I got out of here as quick as I could.

I moved around on deep stuff the rest of the day and caught two keeper spots and about five short LM's. For the day, I had 4 keepers for around 11 1/2 lbs. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

RBK

Sat, 10-31 Sat am tourney...

Blasted off by myself at 8 am from Fate Sanders. It was cloudy and cool, with a West / SW wind blowing around 10 MPH. Headed to a bluff end point right near LHSP, where I had caught a 4 lb smallie last week. The wind was on the bank good, so I opted to chunk the 300 Bandit in TN Shad. First cast- wham- a 4 1/2 lb LM. That's what I'm talking about! In the box with her. Stayed on that bank, but no other takers, so I head down under the bridge to another bluff end with a small cove adjacent to it.

I had been pounding the fish here lately, so my confidence was farily high. Unfortunatley, the fish didn't read the playbook. Nothing doing here, so I eased over to a bluff just down lake, and I only had one bump on the jig, but I didn't connect.

I proceeded to run around down lake, alternating b/w the crankbait and jig, but it just never happened. I only caught around 8 more fish all day, with one of them being a keeper spot (12 1/4").

I guess the first cast jinx is for real.

I ended up with just over 5 lbs, and ended in around 5th place for the day. The good news was that my 4 + lb fish won the big fish pot, so I got my money back, plus a little.

I'll report back next time.

RBK

Sat 10-24-09 Sat am tourney Priest...

Blasted off at 8 am from Fate Sanders. Headed down lake to a point at a bluff end just under the bridge where I've been catching them well lately. We threw crankbaits for an hour or so in that area, and we caught 4-5 fish, but the biggest was a 14 1/2" LM. Moved down to an island near Suggs Cr, but only two small fish here on the crank.

The wind was HONKIN big time, so we went to fish a jig on a fairly protected mini-bluff in a major creek down lake. Two bumps on the jig, but they weren't eating it well. From here we headed to a western shore bank near the YMCA camp that was fairly protected from the wind. My partner caught a 12 1/2" spot here on the crank, so we had one in the box.

Next, we went to a main bluff bank near our starting place. Again,they were just nipping at the jig, and we only caught a couple here. We decided to head back to the bank where we started the day, and we proceeded to catch around 6 more fish, with one being a solid 15 1/4" keeper largehead.

We now had less than two hours til weigh in, so we needed to make a move and go for a big bite. The next and final stop would be a main lake point at the head of a cove near LHSP. When we got down to the point, I felt an ever so slight tap on the jig, set the hook, and I knew it was a good one of some kind. The fish kept digging, and when we got her in the net, it was an 18 1/2" 4 lb brownie (pictured here).

We headed in with our three keepers, and weighed in 6.75 lbs, which was good for 6th place (only paid 3). My smallie just missed the big smallmouth prize (winner's was 4.5).

Good day all in all. Around 15 fish, and 3 keepers.

Tight lines.

RBK

10-18-09: Cold this morning. Water temp had dipped to 60 deg (7 degree drop from last week). Caught 10 fish, and the one here is the best of the day.

Most fish on a jig in 10-15 ft near the channel. The nice un here was caught on a Bandit 300 in Shad Color at the end of a bluff down lake in around 8 ft.

Good day considering the brutal front and high skies.

Tight Lines.

RBK

Saturday. 10-10-09...

Headed out to JPP early to see what the topwater bite had to offer. The weather conditions were perfect for a big brown fish, so I decided to stay in the lower end of the lake and stick with topwater most of the day.

Started in a mainlake pocket down by Elm Hill, and caught two nice sized spots on the first two casts on the point heading in. Kept working my way in to the pocket, but the bait was not active back in the back, and I only caught 4 or so small spots off of the big rocks up shallow.

From here, I moved over to the mouth of Hamilton Creek to see if the NE wind had the food chain up on the points. I caught a nice 14" smallie on a crankbait right off the bat, but as I worked further back in the creek, I did not find anything moving or feeding.

Next, I moved back towards the Hobson Pike Bridge to a pocket between two bluffs where I have been hammering the fish lately. Seems they had all disappeared, b/c I only had three small fish nip at the bait. I idled out on the main lake, to the end of a bluff to where the main river channel worked away, and I caught another decent smallie on the point on the pop-r. I worked my way into the pocket, and again the bait was nowhere to be found, and no more fish.

Next, I headed back down lake to a major island near Suggs Cr, and I caught around 4 fish on the crankbait off of the big rock to gravel transitions (near the point). No keepers here, but they were biting fairly well.

From the island, I eased on into Suggs, and I decided to slow down, and fish a bit deeper with the jig. I hit a long mini-bluff on the right in the seven points area, and I caught four fish pretty quickly on a 5/16 oz Eakins finesse jig in around 10-14 ft. The biggest was a solid 16" keeper LM.

I then ran over to the YMCA Camp area to fish the big rocks, but no one was home.

The last stop of the day would be a flat behind a long point in the Four Corners area mid-lake. I started out on the point dragging a rig, looking for a big smallie. No takers here, but I did catch one largemouth inside the point on the flat in about 6 ft. I worked up shallow on the flat, and had a couple of more bumps on the jig and rig, but none in the boat.

By now it was 12:30, and it was time to head home.

Totals for the day- around 20 fish- 1 keeper largehead and three small keeper spots for around 6 lbs.

Looking back, I wasted too much time back in the pockets. Most of the topwater and CB fish were on the points. Should have just run and gunned with a TW and CB on points all day, and then slowed down with the jig more.

Next time out, I'm heading uplake to see what's happening up there.

Until then, tight lines.

RBK