Laura

I have been fishing in the spillway next to the lift gates in the dam lately. The railing is approximately 30ft up from the top of the water, and the water is approximately 23ft deep. Since they opened the second gate for winter pool, the water moves REALLY fast in that spot and the water visibility is stained.

I know there are lots of BIG cats on the bottom of that area, because people are still catching a lot of them. I was also catching a lot there before they opened the second gate using dip bait, but now the water is moving so fast it washes it off, so that is no longer an option. Now I need to change my method. Last night I went out there with nightcrawlers and used a 1oz. weight each of these tied to a leader on one of those three way swivels. The cats kept grabbing the nightcrawler, but would let it go once they felt the weight. I also had trouble with the line sweeping down the area and tangling in other fisherman's lines, so I know I need a heavier weight that won't easily get hung in the rip-rap rocks on the bottom. I also had an issue with the hook leader getting tangle around the weight leader, is there anyway to prevent this?

Does anyone have any suggestion of how I should set up my line to catch catfish in these conditions? I will probably be using Turkey Livers this weekend as well as nightcrawlers. Any suggestions at all would be appreciated. Thanks.

I just recently got my first baitcasting reel. I absolutely love it. I still haven't perfected it, but I hardly ever get birds nests, and can cast it pretty well now. But I do have a few questions that I need answered and I haven't been able to find it anywhere I looked. Any help you all can give me would be appreciated.

First of all, the type of reel I have is a Pennacle Platinum Plus Baitcasting Reel with 6 Stainless Steel Bearings, 8 Magnets with Ten Position Adjustable Cast Control, High Speed 6.2:1 Gear Ratio, Unlimited Anti-Reverse, and 12lb./120ft. Line Capacity.

(1) What type and length rod should I be looking for. I currently have it on the same rod my old spin-cast reel was on (Zebco 1845C 7' Heavy action Z-Glass rod, it doesn't say on the rod or on their website what line capacity it has but the combo was pre-spooled with 20lb mono). Is this rod okay, or do I need to get a different one? Any suggestions, because it doesn't seem strong enough or sensitive enough to me?

(2) What brand, type, and weight of line do you suggest. I am mainly targeting catfish right now and have been using Spiderwire 10lb Braided line with a Trilene 8lb Flourocarbon leader. What do you think?

(3) Any suggestions on how to get it to cast farther. I know a lot of it is in just practicing and getting the settings right, but no matter what setting I have it on it doesn't seem to improve the cast distance. I don't have much of a problem with birds nests because I have good thumb control, so I can put it on any setting. Is there a specific way to get it to go farther, or do you think my rod may be having a negative effect on my cast?

(4) Playing the fish. I've had this reel for about four days and we've gone fishing three times since I've gotten it. Two of those days I hooked up two really big fish but lost both of them because I had trouble playing them. How do you play a fish with a baitcasting reel? Do you have to press the button down so they can pull out the line to run, or will it come out automatically? They don't seem to be able to pull it out without the button depressed, so do you think my drag is just set too high? I've never been too good with getting the drag set properly, so any tips on this would help me significantly. How do you know when you need more or less drag?

Thanks. I know it's a lot of questions, but PLEASE try to answer all of them when you answer if you are able to. I appreciate any help that you can give me.

My husband and I were thinking about getting some of those banjo minnows and giving them a shot, but I wanted to ask you all what your opinion of them is first.

Have any of you ever used them? Do they work? Is the action as good as they show in the ads? Do they look as real in the water as they did in the ads? I've heard they are hard to set the hook on, is that true?

I'm not looking for some miracle lure, just looking for some new stuff, so if they do catch fish pretty well then we would give them a shot. I just wanted to see if anyone else had any luck first so I didn't waste my money.

Also, how do you tend to move your rod in order to get the action right? We've done some jigging before, but the water we fish in is so muddy you can't see through it to tell if the lure is doing what you want it to, so any tips would definitely help.

Thanks in advance for your help.

My husband and I are wanting to experiment with different setups and want to know what are some of your favorites. What has caught you some good fish? Pictures of those setups would be good too if possible.

The types of fish primarily targeted are catfish, bass, and crappie. I know it'll be different for each one, but some basics will help. We also primarily fish from the shore over the rip-rap rocks, the depth of the spillway is 20ft currently, but will go up to 30ft soon when they open the 2nd gate for winder pool. We will also occasionally go to another spot that has a sand bottom, but we are unsure how deep it is.

We know a couple of rig setups, like the texas and carolina, but don't know many others. We've also wanted to try the multiple hook setup, but are unsure how to do it, and what the best ways to do it are. So any info you can give me would be helpful.

Also, how deep do you suggest we drop the bait/lure?

Thanks in advance for all of your help.

I received a lot of GREAT tips from some of you before about what my husband and I were doing wrong on our fishing trips, but now I need a little more information.

The problem we are having now is that when we do get a fish to take the bait, we just can't seem to get the hook to set. They either get away part way up the retreive or they just let it go completely. I don't know if we are just trying to set too soon, or too late, or if we are just not using the right hook.

We have tried Eagle Claw wide worm hooks sizes 1/0, 2/0, and 3/0 and the smaller crappie style as well. I've heard circle hooks allow you to land the fish easier, but didn't know if this was true.

Is there a way to know exactly when it's time to set the hook? Any suggestions on a hook or setup that will help us land fish?

Btw, we are shoreline fishing under a slip bobber with live bait on 8lb flouro and 12lb mono line respectively using closed faced spin-casting reels.

Thanks in advance for your help.

My husband and I recently started fishing in our local area, northern MS. We've been fishing for about three weeks now, going just about every day between 6pm and 9pm. We do not have a boat, so we have to do it at the shore.

We've been to three different lakes. All three of these lakes are supposed to be good for Crappie, Catfish, and Bass.

We have tried both the spin-casting reels and the spinning reel, with 20lb. test line. We have tried Eagle Claw single hooks in both the crappie and catfish sizes as well as treble hooks. We have tried minnows, nightcrawlers, crickets, spoons, chatterbait, soft and hard plastics, stink bait, dead shad, dead crawdads, hotdogs, cheese, even smoked sausage. We have tried it at 2', 3', and at the bottom (but we always get hung that way) and have yet to pull out anything but Gar. We've had a lot of our bait stolen, but can't pull out anything worth keeping.

Can someone please tell me what we are doing wrong, or give me some tips. Thanks.

This is the first Christmas my husband and I are having together and I haven't decorated for Christmas for as long as I can remember. My family never really decorated after my parents got divorced and I never helped before then because I was too young.

My husband and I are decorating this year though, and other than the tree and lights, I really can't think of any other good ideas. I know he will have a few, but I want as many ideas as I can get.

Also what are some good ideas for things to put in stockings, because I want to do that this year too and I've never had one before. It's just me and my husband and our cat. No children.

Any ideas you have would be helpful. Thanks.