We want steak! Fishing with live bait. Part 2
July 19, 2008
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One is to first locate them by looking for balls of bait on your depth finders then use small weighted trout flies to catch them one at a time, kind of a pain. Another way is to net them with a fine mesh long handled net. One way of doing this is to basically chase the shad into the back of a cove, then use some kind of long pole to corral them into the net. Alot of people out here use swimming pool skim nets and minnow nets with large openings modified with long handles. Once you catch them place them into your livewell and turn the pump on to keep them alive.
Rig the shad just like you would any minnow, through the top lip and out the top of the head, here again making sure you do not pierce the brain or you have dead a fishy. Note that I just said the top lip, you dont want to hook both top and bottom lips because this will restrict their breathing and result in, yep you guessed it, dead fishy. While it may be true that you can still catch fish on a dead fishy I personally feel you will catcg more on a bait that is alive.
I use either a size 6 or 8 light wire circle hook, yes it is a rather small hook but remember, shad are very delicate creatures and will die easily so handle them with care to keep them active. Toss them out with either no weight or a small weight and let them swim along.
The same basic setup applies for minnows. Me personally, when I use minnows I target crappie. I use a small bait holder hook, size 8 or 10, hook them through the upper lip, attach a small split shot and at times attach a bubble. I prefer the clear bubble myself, they are a little more difficult to see than the old fashioned red and white ones but if they are hard for me to see then they are hard for the fish to see.
Onto water dogs or water dawgs also known as salamanders. I’m not sure about your part of the country but out here in California it is no longer legal to use them as bait, welcome to the land of fruits and nuts, HA! They used to be a very effective bait, I’ve seen people catch a bunch of big bass on them.
Me personally I used them once when I was a kid fishing with my dad and didn’t use them ever again. There was just something about the little noises they made when you hooked them made me feel sorry for them so I remember emptying the bait bucket into the lake and saying “Be Free!!” I also remember that dad was not real happy with me that day. When the conditions are right I do throw a custom poured soft plastic water dawg that looks just like the real thing and the way I rig it the thing swims and looks just like a live dawg but this post is about live bait so I wont go into detail here.
Rigging the dawgs is very basic. A size 2, 4 or even as small as a 6, bait holder hook and thats it. Dont forget to put the dawg on the hook. Some peple hook them through the lips, some hook them in the thick part of the tail so they swim away from you. Cast them gently and feed line out so they can swim.
Next I’ll discuss worms. Here we have several different types, the size large earth worm or night crawler if you will, the dillies, which are also known as baby night crawlers, just a smaller size of the big uns, brown worms, etc.
When rigging worms I like to use a small bait holder hook once again. Like before, pending the size of the worm will dictate the size of hook. Anywhere from a size 4-8 in my opinion is the correct size to use. I like to rig them basically the same way as one would hook a Texas Rigged plastic worm, in the head, back out then back into the worm. Of course in the case with live bait you would have the hook come all the way out unlike the plastic version where you would leave the hook inside the worm making it weedless. I then attach a small split shot, without ears of course, anywhere from 12-24 inches from the hook, let the fish tell you how they want it.
As to how the hit feels, if you get quick taps, like a machine gun, then chances are it’s a little fish just chewing your worm piece by piece. Normally a bass will suck the whole worm in head first, that will be the initial tick you feel. He will then proceed to swim off as he attempts to swallow the worm, this is the pressure you feel. When you feel the pressure, just like with anything your fishing with, take up the slack, point your towards the water and set the hook.
Onto the lowly cricket. These little buggers work especially well for trout. Use a small bait holder hook, size 10 or even 12 and once again a small earless splits hot weight.
Thanks for visiting my site. Be sure to tell all of your fishing buddies and come back soon!
Until Next Time, Good Luck and Tight Lines To Ya!
New Suspension Upgrade Part 2. Belltech 2/2 Lowering kit.
July 13, 2008
First off, a big Thank you to my sponsor Belltech for providing me with the suspension components to upgrade the ride quality and performance of my suspension, with that lets proceed.
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In my last vehicle upgrade post I replaced my shocks with the new Belltech Street Performance shocks, I did not have all the components for the entire suspension upgrade at the time so I just did the shocks. The Street Performance shocks alone made a noticeable difference in the ride quality and handling characteristics of my truck.
Now for part 2 of my Belltech suspension upgrade. When I inked my sponsorship from Belltech I was asked how low I wanted to go. In the past I had considered lowering my truck but seeing how I go fishing while hauling a bass boat as well as driving down dirt roads I needed the ground clearance when I went off road. While I’m sure I could have gone lower I opted the 2/2 kit to lower my center of gravity a little to improve the handling. The fact that the lower stance looks nice is an added benefit.
For my system I got the Spindles, part number 2508 for the front end and shackles, part 6400 for the rear as well as the Sway Bar set part number 5405. These part number listed are for my 2005 ECSB with the Silverado Performance Package. It is basically a 2wd SS without the SS accents. Also known as the VHO, for the motor which is the Vortec High Output 6.0 LQ9.
For my installation I contacted Guy at AV Sport Truck & Off Road Center in Lancaster CA to arrange the installation. Lancaster is about 90 miles to the south of me and the wife wanted to do some shopping so we decided to make a day out of it.
Here is a picture of my truck sitting in front of his shop prior to the installation of my Belltech 2/2 drop.
The installation is pretty straight forward and the directions that are provided make it very simple so I won’t go into too much detail on the specifics.
Lets start with the front spindles. First of course you must remove the stock spindles. This will include the brake caliper and rotor as well as the hub to 
get to the spindle. The extra bracket you see is the caliper relocation bracket for my Baer Eradispeed Plus 1 braking system.
Here we have a side by side view of the stock spindle and the Belltech 2508 spindle. You can see the difference between the 2.
The only issue we ran into was the splash shield needed to be slightly trimmed, this was not because of the Belltech Spindles, it was due to the caliper relocation bracket’s lower bolt not being able to go in. Not a problem, a dremel with a cut off wheel and about 1 minute and the installation process went on.
Here is a picture of the completed 
spindle install, for those that noticed, yes I installed some stainless steel brake lines while I was at it.
On to the rear shackle install. This process was very simple, swap out the stock shackles with the Belltech ones. If you have a tow hitch removing it makes the removal and install of the shackles much easier.
Here is the stock shackle being removed.
Here is a comparison of the Belltech and stock shackle
About the only thing I suggest you watch for is to be sure to follow the directions as to the shackle install orientation. While it may appear wrong, look like they are backwards, it is not. This was something that Doug, the installer, told me was a common made mistake. Bottom line, put the new shackles in the same way the old shackles were before you removed them. Here we have the Belltech shackle installed.
That’s pretty much it. The total time for install was not quite 2 hours total, then again AV Sport Truck specializes in the type of install so they knew all of the little issues they might encounter along the way. The included install instructions are very well laid out and make the install pretty simple. I believe that if a person were to tackle this job it would probably take maybe 4 hours, as long as they have the correct tools.
Another thing worth mentioning is when you install any new spindles it will alter your front end alignment so be sure to have a front end alignment done as soon as possible to avoid the front end wobble and uneven tire wear.
While I was at it I had my TA Performance Rear End Girdle and ARP Bearing Cap stud kit to help strengthen and cool the rear end. The added benefit of looking great is also a big plus.
Once again, for the observent people out there viewing this picture, this picture was taken before its installation was complete. Thats why the brake line is just kind of hanging there as well as the cover missing 2 bolts.
Where is the write up and pictures of the sway bar’s being installed you may ask. Due to the fact that a certain delivery company did not get them to me in time to have them installed at the same time as the lowering kit, the installation of them will be delayed until sometime in the near future.
Here is an after picture of my truck in pretty close to the same location as my before picture.
On to my impressions. First off, I believe that it does look nicer with its slightly lower stance, not to low for functionality yet still slightly noticeable. Onto performance. Now remember I went out of town for the install. Between the town that I live in and Lancaster there is a short cut road that has some nice tight turns. On the way there I once again put the Belltech Street Performance shocks to the test and they continued to impress me over my 2 year old Edelbrocks. I purposely drove hard into the turns to really evaluate how the suspension felt prior to installing the drop.
Now the ride home after the install. On I-14 the ride was still just as smooth as it was on the way down, which was to be expected. Then we came to the Garlock short cut. Again I drove hard into the curves to see if it felt better and to my surprise it did. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that it was like night and day but I honestly did notice less body roll due to the lower center of gravity. Does it now handle better than my Monte Carlo SS? Umm, sorry to say but no it does not. It does however handle fantastic for a full sized extended cab truck with a camper shell.
On a side note, I don’t know if the drop had anything to do with it but I did get better gas mileage coming home than I did going down. Has anyone that has already lowered their truck experienced this? I know I drove just as fast as I did on the way down as well as hard into the corners. I’ll have to post this question on an on line forum I frequent, SilveradoSS.com and see what kind of response I get from the guys there. More than likely it was just a fluke but who knows. I’ll be sure to do a follow up with my findings.
As of this posting I have not hooked up the Champion bass boat to see how the suspension handles it but like I said before in my shock install post, I truly don’t believe there will be any issues. Here again, I’ll post a follow up a little later down the line.
I would highly recommend this suspension upgrade to anyone wanting to improve their performance and ride capabilities of their truck, trust me when I say that you will not be disappointed.
Thanks for visiting my site. Be sure to tell all of your fishing buddies and come back soon!
Until Next Time, Good Luck and Tight Lines To Ya!
New Suspension Upgrade Part 1. Belltech Street Performance Shocks.
July 8, 2008
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I recently swapped out my 2 year old Edelbrock IAS shocks with Belltechs new Street Performance shocks. Part numbers for my 2005 Extended cab Short bed with torsion bar front suspension are as follows, for the rear the number was 2212FF and for the front the number was 310400.
I took mine to my friend Matt’s shop, AAS Tuning located in Ridgecrest California, that’s where I live, for installation because I figured it was much easier and quicker to do it on a lift but as it turned out it would have been just as easy to do on the ground with a couple of floor jacks and a creeper.
The installation was very simple and straight forward. For the rear shocks there are just 4 nuts and 
bolts, 13/16 or 21mm that you have to deal with. Remove the nuts and bolts, remove the old shocks and reinstall the Belltech Street Performance shocks. Piece of cake.
The fronts were not quite as quick and easy, but still was no dig deal. By the way, you don’t really have to remove the front wheel to swap out the shocks but it does give you more room to work if you do so the choice is yours. Use a 5/8 open end wrench to hold the bottom of the upper collar so it does not spin and a 17mm deep socket to remove the top nut of the Edelbrocks. On a side note, if you are replacing your stock shocks the top nut will be a 15mm. Bobby at AAS attached the wrench from inside the wheel well and I held it in place as he went in from under the hood with the deep socket with a long extension on an impact wrench so this went very quickly. The bottom nuts and bolts were just like the rear ones were, both a 13/16 or 21mm will work fine.
Installing the Street performance shocks up front was just a reversal of the removal with a couple of exceptions. First off, the new supplied top nut is not a 15mm like the stock nut would have been, it is a 17mm. just like the ones removed from my IAS shocks. Secondly there is a second nut that is used to lock the main nut in place, like I said, nothing tough at all. I read on an online forum where someone said to install the bottom part first and this will automatically cause the shock to compress when you tighten up the top nuts, great advice!
As far as tightening the nuts to the torque specifications go, there is not enough room to get a torque 
wrench in so Bobby just tightened the nut down until the bushing squashed to approximately the same size as the washer then he installed the secondary nut to lock the nuts in place to avoid them backing off.
Total install time was just a little over 30 minutes for all 4 corners. Mind you this was in a shop, with an experienced mechanic with power tools. In my opinion I figure if a person who knows absolutely nothing about suspensions but they had the ability to follow instructions, they could do the complete swap in their drive way with regular hand tools and a floor jack in no longer than 2 hours total. That would include finding the right tools, going to the restroom, answering the phone and helping the wife unload the groceries if she came home while they were in the middle of the install.
On to the important stuff, how do ya like them Mike? If I had to describe in one word how I feel about the Belltech Street Performance shocks that word would have to be NICE. The ride is a little more firm than my Edelbrock IAS were, then again they were over 2 years old so that might not be a really fair comparison. I would however like to believe that seeing how they were just 2 years old they would be at least close to what they were originally but who is to say for sure.
The town that I live in does not really take very good care of their streets, lots of bumps and pretty rough roads. I thought the ride I had previously was not bad but in comparison there is really no comparison. The Street Performance shocks handle the roads very nicely making the ride pretty darn smooth. They take pot holes very well making them less jolting when you cant help but hit them from time to time.
On to how it handles while cornering. I believe this is where the engineers at Belltech did their home 
work. The Street performance shocks excel in this department. I have yet to really put them to the test but I did take a drive, in spite of the high fuel prices, on a semi windy road to try them out and I was very surprised with them. Slow turns at 55 are not any issue at all, very, very little body roll at all. While it is true that I currently have a Hellwig rear sway bar, which by the way I will be swapping out with a Belltech one, I do notice a difference in comparison to the IAS shocks I had on previously.
Does it handle and corner as well as my 2005 Monte Carlo SS? I know, wish full thinking huh? I can however honestly say that for a full sized Extended Cab truck with a camper shell it handles exceptionally well. Allot better than I would have ever imagined a truck could handle. As of this writing I have not yet hooked up the bass boat to see how they handle hauling it but I feel very assured that there will not be any issues.
I highly recommend the Belltech Street Performance shocks to anyone out there that is wanting to upgrade their stock suspension to achieve a smoother ride and much improved handling performance. Not only do these shocks perform fantastic they look great while doing thier job.
Thanks for visiting my site. Be sure to tell all of your fishing buddies and come back soon!
Until Next Time, Good Luck and Tight Lines To Ya!
We want steak! Fishing with live bait. Part 1
July 7, 2008
There have been times when the bass, or any type fish for that matter, just don’t want to cooperate and you just cant seem to get then to bite. Or when you take children out and they need to catch fish to get them interested in the sport but for some reason or another the artificial stuff just aint working, what’s a person to do.
Today I’m going to talk about fishing with live bait. Because this subject can be rather lengthy so I’ll be making this topic in 2 separate posts.
Now, some may consider using live bait unethical or cheating but I have to admit there are times when I’ve broke down and fished with live bait. No, NEVER during a tournament. The times that I reverted to live bait was when I would take someone out who didn’t have the patience or skill that are required when the bass just refuse to cooperate. Times that come to mind are when I take a child out, or on a guided trip to assure that they catch fish when the conditions are tough.
There are a few rules that I follow when it comes to fishing with live bait. First, if possible use circle hooks. These hooks are very effective in the sense that they come around easily when the fish turns with the bait and tends to hook the fish in the corner of the mouth.
The times that I revert to using live bait I always collapse the barb down with a pair of pliers, actually I use my leatherman tool, making the hook barbless. This helps tremendously in the successful removal of the hook. The only down side of doing this is that you must make sure you keep pressure on the fish at all times because the hook will come out allot easier with any slack in the line
Don’t wait forever to set the hook, remember your using live bait and the fish will hold onto it and eat it so you don’t want to wait until they have digested it and its ready to be pooped out. When you feel the hit or see your line moving off, reel down, feel the pressure and set the hook.
There will be times when using live bait that you will not be able to avoid them swallowing it and you end up hooking them deep. This is when the barbless hooks really shine because they are very easy to extract. There will be times when you cant get the hook out without causing some major damage to the fish. When this happens the old rule used to be that you wanted to cut your line as close to the hook as possible. New studies show that if you leave 8-12 inches of line from the hook it will increase the mortality rate. This has to do with after the hook rusts the fish can use the line to rub against structure and dislodge it.
If you deep hook a fish and he is bleeding profusely and you attempt you release him and he does not seem to respond very well place him in your livewell for a while with the pump running to oxygenate him and check on him later. I put “Please Release Me”, an additive that calms the fish and promotes healing in my livewell to help. If he still looks bad when you check on him then harvest him because chances are he wont make it.
A bass swallowing a bait does not only happen with live bait. Allot of the hand poured baits we use out in the west are very soft and scent and salt impregnated so they not only feel real but they taste real as well.
Some baits to use for bass are crayfish, aka crawdads, crawfish and mud bugs. Other choice’s are live shad, minnows, water dogs, aka salamanders and of course earth worms.
For other fish there are crickets and dillies which are baby night crawlers. I’m sure there are other baits but the above mentioned ones are the only ones I have used.
Now I’ll talk a little about rigging different live baits. Today’s post will cover the Crawfish. I like to use a size 4, 6 or 8 bait holder hook. Size of the hook of course depends on the size of the craw. Another trick it to take the hook and attach some fine flexible wire close to the eye of the hook and extend it past the point. This will make your presentation weedless.
If you are purchasing crawdads at the local bait shop look for the ones that are greenish in color. They are the soft shell ones that are getting ready to shed their shell and the bass love them. I prefer the ones that are about 2-3 inches long myself. If you are forced to buy the bigger ones I like to pinch one of the claws off so they don’t seem as intimidating to the bass when he goes to eat it.
You can save yourself some money if you catch your own. There are several ways to go about catching them. I remember back as a kid we would just stick our hands under rocks and feel around until the crawdad grabbed ya, sometimes it hurt pretty bad but when they grabbed you just reach around and grab him back.
As I aged I found that it was less painful to get a crawdad trap, place some meat inside, tie a rope onto it toss it out and check it a little later. Another way is to tie a piece of bacon onto your line, letting it hang, attach a small weight, toss it out, let it sink to the bottom and slowly reel it back in. When doing this you can feel the crawdads grab onto the bacon as you slowly move it. When you get it to the top of the water you can either place a net under them or I found that if you slowly lift them out of the water they will hold onto the bacon.
The size of the craw is important, at least as far as I’m concerned. I have found that one’s right at 3 inches seem to produce best. If you find some of the green soft shell ones in the 3 inch youve struck gold, bass LOVE THEM! If you can only find the monster size ones, 5-8 inches, dont fret, they will still work. One trick with the big ones is to remove one of the claws to not make him look as “Bad” to the bass, maybe it does not really help but think about it from a bass prospective.
Your going out for dinner, swimming along and you see your lobster dinner walking along the bottom and think YUM, lets check it out. You make your way over and this lobster turns and faces you with his claws raised in a defensive posture. “Wow, those claws look intimidating, they just might hurt, how hungry am I” Now this of course is just my opinion but same senerio only Mr. Lobster only has one claw, “You aint so bad, come here you” OK Mike, back to human form, ha!
You can tail hook them, go in through the bottom and out the top of the tail, just be careful to watch for the vein in the middle of the tail. If you run your hook through the vein the craw will not be very active and will not live all that long. You can also hook them through the beak, between the eyes. Here again be very careful because if you pierce the brain you will be throwing a dead crawdad.
I prefer to use no weight or at the most a small split shot, again without the “ears” I have mentioned several times before. If I do use the weight I’ll place it 6-8 inches from the craw. You want your bait to fall as naturally as possible. When you cast do not whip or snap cast it. Make a smooth cast. If you don’t then you just might separate the tail from the body.
After you make your cast feed the line out so the bait does not pendulum back towards you. This will make for a more natural presentation. Move your bait very, very slowly. Remember, your trying to allow the craw to act as natural as possible. The only reason you move it at all is to keep him from crawling under a rock. If your craw gets nervous like he is trying to swim off erratically chances are he is feeling threatened by a fish. When you feel this play out some line and be ready to set the hook when you feel pressure.
Be sure to check back soon when I’ll discuss how to fish the other live baits I mentioned.
Thanks for visiting my site. Be sure to tell all of your fishing buddies and come back soon!
Until Next Time, Good Luck and Tight Lines To Ya!
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