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I got married at 20 years old. Does that count?

One of the most versatile lures around IMO.

Started using blade baits last year and love them. The vibration is awesome and the flutter on a drop is hard to beat. Popping them off the bottom and letting them flutter like a spoon works great in really cold water and working them faster like a lipless crank can be deadly on more active fish. They are a killer walleye bait too.

If you like lipless cranks, you'll like blade baits like Heddon sonars. You can adj. the wobble tight or wide by the 3 position setting. Like a lipless you can cover a lot of water and diff. depths. been working well for me.

I did a search on this lure and came up empty. I know some of you have to use this lure. Maybe its a well kept secret. I think they are great tools. When they first came out I knew they would work well for me. I have a small utility box stuffed with these mighty mites because they catch fish. My two favorite places to use them are on rivers and deep water points. I like to cast them upstream along riprap in fast current and burn them back. Largemouths, smallmouths, whites and hybrids will rush out of their hiding places and annihilate it. On the deep points I either hop it like a worm or reel it in a few revolutions and let it drop. They are so versatile that It surprises me that more is not said about them. Q

My name is Jake Ronesi and I am a senior at Niskayuna High School. I am currently working on a project for my engineering class to find a solution to bird nesting in bait caster reels. The first step in my process is to prove that bird nesting is a problem and gather data. If you have time, and would like to take my survey I have attached a link. Thank You! http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JVGZKVZ

Da Beaaaaaaaaaaaaaars.

When this project is over, you should come back and give us report.

BEARS in the Super Bowl! 'Nuf Said..... Mike

Well, I got the Avid 7' MF. I haven't tried this one yet but I know the avids as a safe bet. I put the supreme xt on it and can't wait to see how it does.

Just by looking at Bass Assasin's profile pic you know he's not kidding LOL..

BassAssassin, this is a very good question. The pros have fished both circuits as have others trying to get into the subsequent Classics. In his book, Fishing on the Edge, by Ike here is what he says about being a professional bass fisherman. May I suggest you obtain the book and enjoy it. Great and easy to read with some excellent fishing suggestions and tips. Page 183 - We're not as rich as you think we are. Many people don't understand that bass fishing isn't baseball or basketball. I'm lucky and grateful to be as financially successful as almost anyone on the tour, but Kevin Garnett and I don't exactly shop together, you know? The majority of the guys on tour are scraping by, existing year-to-year, even tournament-to-tournament, often while paying most or even all expenses out of pocket. If you see a sponsor's patch, it may just be for a discount on equipment, not a giant check. Many boat sponsorships require an angler to pay fof the boat when the season's over. My point? Fishing's a rough lifestyle, and only a lucky few ever get rich. Ike goes on in the book to say that it is very expensive to be a bass professional and pay your entry fees, gas, insurance, taxes on the boat, motor and trailer, keep your equipment in good shape, purchase line and pay off the boat loan. Throw in food, lodging and being away from your family for weeks at a time you can see that being a pro bass fisherman is not an easy career. So fishing both tournament trails across the USA can be too expensive for your average bass pro. So they focus on either the FLW or B.A.S.S trails and hope for the best. I suggest everyone get Ike's book and read it. He has some good insights into professional bass fishing. Ike discusses sponsorship which is very eye opening.

It's just starting to be that time of the year for the Rig down south. I'll let you know in a couple months.

Calling in sick.

They actually do have decent reels (at least decent by my standards) in left hand models. I think its only their more top end models that only come in right hand, and even then, the models that do come as lefty's, its not every gear ratio. So, not a ton to choose from. But you can get the Tournament Pro, Tournament and several others in left handed models, and I would definitely consider these decent reels.

Bass and crappie anglers have been putting secret habitate in public lakes for decades, usually with mixed results. The reasons are complex, the main reasons artifical habitate fails are poor choice of location and too little cover to attract enough prey to attract predators like bass. Example is adding brush piles or Xmas trees off docks to attract crappie; the dock is the main cover, the added brush or Xmas tree becomes secondary cover seasonally, usually pre-spawn thru post spawn, about 2 months at best. Add the same habitate on an isolated flat or break and the added cover may attract a few bass on occasion, primarily during the spawn, if the cover is in a protected spawning area and the lake has very little natural cover. Getting together with a club and coordinating a habitate construction project with the local fishery people will have a greater impact, but not a secret. My advice is learn how to use your sonar unit to find natural honey holes that will produce bass every year....they are located away from the shoreline where over 90% of the bass anglers never look! Tom

i like the twirl action of a single tail grub for my trailer. its worked so well on my chatterbaits that i now use it on my spinnerbaits. wow u reel really fast. i slow roll mine on the bottom...so slow that you can turn the chatter 'off' and give a rod tip rip to turn it back on agian=that when my hits come. and of course experiment w/ different retrieves to see what they want that day. i do burn it too...especially throwing back to the same stop after a bump or miss and burning it out.

Why would Shimano want to be like every other company out there? Shimano is not made by a mass production company. They are a proven company. I personally dont feel any advantage to the bent handles, the SX I had didnt feel any better to me.

I love lipless baits, don't really have a big problem with losing too many fish. Switching the stock hooks to short shank hooks seems to help since it keeps the bait from swinging as much when a fish jumps and headshakes. I'm a big fan of the Xcaliber XR50 and XRK50 baits, they just produce better for me than any others I've used. The Strike King RES is a good bait too but it seems like I catch way more whites and wipers than I do bass with them. This time of year is prime time of year for lipless baits. I like the versatility of the baits and the ability to fish them at almost any depth.

IGFA will allow record fish from private waters: http://www.fieldandstream.com/photos/gallery/fishing/bass-fishing/2012/06/world-record-fish-229-catches-submitted-igfa?photo=51 http://books.google.com/books?id=4WiaMCK0kJcC&pg=PA28&lpg=PA28&dq=private+water+igfa&source=bl&ots=nJ0fJwcFr8&sig=u0MoPdWbYk3bf3K7aEsJTjz80PM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=3cV7UPeLJIrc9ASYkYB4&ved=0CCcQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=private%20water%20igfa&f=false http://www.west-fly-fishing.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=406885 (Post #10) http://www.coloradofisherman.com/forum/index.php?topic=55460.20;wap2 NGaHB

Very interesting. I live in mid MissourI. Gowing up the start of school in late August usually meant the end of fishing for me until next summer break because of baseball/golf/ basketball. I have renewed my bass fishing obsession this year though and am enjoying every minute of it, whether I'm catching fish or not. Heck, I've had some of my best days here in Missouri as we transition into fall. Im excited to get out on the water in the winter months when no one else is, and prove a few people wrong that swear you can't catch fish after thanksgiving. I'm all ears if anyone would care to enlighten me on typical bass behavior when the water temps are very cool. I'm assuming deep and slow? Similar to the dog days of summer? I could be wrong but appreciate any advice

I'm just giving you crap for hijacking every thread with "should've gotten a shimano" lol.

I don't know specifically how Yo-Zuri compares to the stretch in other lines. I really don't notice any, but that may be silly. The main point I would make is that guys need to try a few lines to find a few they like. The Hybrid is cheap, so if you don't like it you are not out much. These are two other lines you might try: P-Line CXX and Izorline XXX Super Co-Polymer.

If you are just using old school mono than power too ya. This guy wants to know about fluorocarbon. There are advantages to using it that have been pointed out People do catch more fish using fluoro. Try jig fishing rip rap with mono. I think you would catch more fish with an abrasive resistant fluorocarbon as opposed to your line getting cut up with mono. The fluoro vs braid debate will never end it all comes down to preference I like both. Fluoro is a little more expensive for me and I use Daiwa Samura (great stuff), but I think that if you got a cheap rod and are trying to bottom contact fish with it. Braid would be the best choice by far IMHO. Plus there has to be something said about all the pro's that are using fluorocarbon. Those guys know what they are doing. They use braid and mono too, but it just goes to show that fluoro does have a place and time when it should be used. I am sure they have the best access to the best line though and have a fresh spool of tatsu/shooter/toray/ or some other prototype nobody knows about. Flurocarbon is not like braid. You can't buy powerpro and be happy, you have to buy the high end fluoro's to get what you really expect. If you can't dish out for Tatsu, why dont you give Sunline FC Sniper a try. I heard the price/performance is pretty good for that line. Yeah it's like $25, but it should give you a pretty good idea if you want to pursue further with fluoro. At worst, you could use the rest as a leader when using braid. Roadwarrior just flat out gives great advice. I will say though that with yozuri, you eigher like it or you don't. If you do like it, you are lucky! The stuff is VERY inexpensive and can be put on just about every rod. That is very convenient! RW, do you have any information or link to any info about the amount of stretch yo-zuri has? Is it better than mono? I put it away a long time ago due to not liking its sensitivity, I have improved sense then, I might give it another shot just for fun. If you do go for FC and If can't dish out for Tatsu, why dont you give Sunline FC Sniper a try. I heard the price/performance is pretty good for that line. Yeah it's like $25, but it would be giving fluorocarbon an honest shot. At worst, you could use the rest as a leader when using braid. You should get some line conditioner. It makes a huge difference in manageability and isn't that expensive. It works good on yo-zuri too.

I feel like I get better sensitivity with tungsten weights. It may just be a mental thing. For whatever reason I definitely have more confidence with them, maybe just because they aren't as big. I would recommend to at least try some out and see if you feel a difference.

Tastes Great! No, It's less filling! Alright guys.....