Leaderboard

Shane J was kind enough to offer up a great assortment of RageTail product to the winner of the State vs State competition. Since I already have a TON of Big O's great products, I thought it would be cool to do a giveaway for the younger members of BassResource.com Number guessing game: Guess a number between 0 and 100 Rules are simple: 1. You must be 16 years old or under to be eligible 2. You get ONE GUESS. Multiple guesses will not count. 3. You MUST post a pic of the hawgs you are gonna catch with these baits. I've already told Shane what the number is. I'll keep an eye on the thread and the first one that guesses correctly I will notify on the thread and via PM. At that point, I'll let Shane know and he will PM you for shipping info. Please post a pic of you and your winnings once you receive it. Thanks and GOOD LUCK!

Yesterday i took out my 3 year old for his second fishing trip since the first time last summer he was more interested in playing with the dirt and throwing rocks. I made a trip out to Walmart to get him his own Cars fishing rod and some nightcrawlers hoping we could get into some sunnies. As we were getting ready to leave he told me he was going to catch a big fish and then kiss and then eat him I told him well we have to let the mgo so we can catch them again an he told me ok daddy that makes sense. Anyways here are a few pics

What is pointless is every post you have made in this thread. You have done nothing but offered personal attacks towards my opinions. You have yet have you made to make a point relevant to this thread. I have used, in varying diameters Power pro, PP Super Slick, Suffix 832, Seaguar Kanzen, Daiwa Samurai, and Toray Bawo Finesse. All were tested on both spinning gear and casting gears and also side-by-side as I have duplicates of most of my rods. Of all of those, I prefer Seaguar Kanzen in the higher diameters and Toray Bawo Finesse in the smaller. Thoroughly fishing many of these lines has allowed me to notice many of braids inherent weaknesses. Poor/null slack line sensitivity, bellying, getting blown around by the wind, hydrophobic-buoyancy/high drag issues with crankbaits causing lower running of crankbaits poor abrasion resistance, high visibility, and bleeding of a few brands. The positives that I have experienced are longevity, great tight line sensitivity, good performance in grass, good manageability and excellent strength/diameter ratios. I will give stretch a neutral since there are times when it is desirable and those where it is not. Frogging is an excellent example where stretch is not. With all of the usage, I found myself disliking more and more that braid offered inconsistent feel throughout the entire retrieval process. When dragging a jig its fantastic, but while the bait is sinking, suspended or moved in a way that causes slack line I am not offered feel at all. This yo-yo of inconsistency is undesireable to me. In times where it is windy, my line was severely effected as the line would blow around heavily both on top of the water and while the cast is in the air. Your bait my land in one area, but then the line that is floating would blow and cause the bait to fall elsewhere. Furthermore, it is easily noticeable on gin clear lakes that fish are spooked by the line. I compare this against what is offered by Seaguar Tatsu, Sunline Shooter and FC Sniper and it is easily noticeable which line performs better to my standards. I have more experience fishing braid than most. I also employ braid, fluorocarbon and copoly into my fleet of rods I bring on a given day. I am very demanding on the performance of my equipment and need the consistency to produce on a consistent basis. Care to offer arguments against my reasoning Mr. Chalk? Or would you rather just offer some more personal arguments?

The buoyancy and drag that braid has makes it a terrible line for any cranking techniques. Not to mention that treble hooks will tear it apart. For jerkbait use fluorocarbon or mono are much better choices and give the bait a much more natural action. Also, if it is windy braid is severely effected. It bellies heavily for any light weight application due to its hydrophobic/buoyancy tendencies. During bottom contact applications, there are many times where the line is slack, braid does not transmit vibrations during these times. Other lines offer a more consistent feel throughout the entire process. Braid, however, does due fairly well for punching grass. Anyways, if the bait sinks I want a line that sinks. A premium fluoro works very well for a technique where you want a line to sink. For floating applications minus frogging I feel a quality mono like suffix siege or elite works well. This is a braid/powerpro heavy forum so I am sure most will disagree. Having used braid extensively, it does not even compare in performance to Tatsu or even a mid-priced FC sniper for that matter. But like you said, agree to disagree.

Headed out for what was supposed to be a "severe thunderstorm warning" of a day and lo and behold, not a drop, not even one,of rain all day....Fishing was kinda slow but we managed about 12 between us , but only a few keepers......Kinda strange day as it started off with Waldo making his first appearance of the year for me(soeey about the out of focus pic),and a few Sammy's and Larry's between us..Then out of nowhere I was chuckin one of my fav. crankbaits and I got hit, reeled it in , and it was a RAINBOW Trout!!!.....On a crankbait....that's a first for me....pretty cool actually.......Nothing huge but a great day to get sunburn and enjoy the water....Oh yeah, and also we saw a bald eagle diving for fish early this morning also.....VERY COOL....(this was a first in all the years I fished where we were today) Here's a few to show it really happenned....

fished from 8-11 this morning and managed a couple of nice ones.

Best I can do by myself. At least for now. I'm gonna get some more posted up.

X2 on whatever Sam says.

See my post on New Techniques thread.Bass Elites have been restricted from using dual or multiple lure rigs. If 2 or more lures are legal in your state and your tournament rules don't restrict them or you are not a tournament angler, use your imagination. Tom

Booooo! Booooo! Where's the "Not Like This" button when you need one!?! Boooo! Boooo! LOL J/K! They're not that bad! Great catching, gotta really sneak up on them, and good eating too, what's there not to like :-)

New that is old: Drop shot, originally known as stacking in fresh water , ganion's in salt water or dropper rigs. Japanese brought this back to life about 1990 out west. The first drop shots were called down shot rigs or stack rigs because 2 to 3 drop shot hooks with worms were normal, not just 1. The first secret rig was using a small spider puff ball (living rubber round head jig trimmed in a ball shape) used for the weight. Nail worm, originally a straight tail worm with a nail inserted into the worm nose and wacky hooked. The nail worm dates back at least into the mid 70's, then forgotten until about 5 years ago. I have posted this rigged many times, however little feedback. The modern rig uses R2Sea tungsten nail weight ($$) and worm saddles for wacky rigs to save the worm/weight isn't lost with each bass. The worm nose is cut off square about 1/4", weight inserted into the nose, the hook about 1 1/2" back, 6" straight tail. This rig is used on 6-8# FC line to depth of 20' with 3/32 oz weight. Lead nail weight are less expensive by Lunker city and work OK. This rig has won a lot of $$ out west. 3 way swivel rigs is another old timer that is being used around the country by tight lipped anglers. Heavy 1 oz fish head jig with hollow body swimmers on the shorter dropper line and with a variety of floating lures on the longer line. Crankbaits, jerk baits, use your imagination. These are 3 summer presentations that you should give a try that your local anglers may not know of or have forgotten about that will put bass in the boat everywhere. Tom

I haven't seen anyone mentioning how deep is deep and its potential for fish location in the summer. If a body of water has no current, it will stratify and even water that is less than 20' deep will not have any fish on the bottom at the 20' level. Look up the defintion of THERMOCLINE. This image shows the thermocline and there would be no bass or their food deeper than about 22'..The deepest water in this area is about 43'. It also shows active feeding bass at about 17' on the edge of the drop on the left side of the image. Even a simple inexpensive sonar unit will show this feature and help you elimintate a lot of water that is devoid of fish.

I use it all the time for walking baits, works fine for me. I could see how it might have issues for poppers, but I honestly never had a problem there either, though I'll typically fish a popper fairly quick. It certainly dosen't sink fast like fluoro, it will float for a few seconds before it very slowly begins to sink. I personally like it for topwater.

Some of those need frames! Congrats! Jeff

I disagree with your opinion. Braid is not so buoyant that it has any effect on how deep lure will dive. I use suspending jerkbaits a lot on braid and if the line was so buoyant, it would not allow the baits to suspend which is not the case. On the contrary, the thinner line has considerably less resistance and allows lure to run MUCH deeper than mono or fluoro of comparable line strength. The larger the diameter a line is, the more resistance it has in the water shallower a lure will run. Also tests done several years ago show that the stretch of mono makes strike detection difficult especially on lines of less than 20 pound test. I'm like one of the other posters and find that there is no situation where I prefer mono or fluoro to braid.

I agree with what most have said, it is fine to use, and if that is all you want, it will work. I use both and think I have the option of using the most efficient equipment at any certain time. If you really want to learn the advantages of a baitcaster you won't with a bubble pack Shakespear, sorry just the fact's. Even an experienced caster will have trouble throwing the cheaper reels, but a quality reel makes it much easier to cast like a pro! If you want to expand your fishing I would certainly encourage you to get a good reel ($100.00 to $150.00 dollar range) and then you make a reel evaluation, I prefer the casting reel anytime I can efficiently use it.

Overall, most situations my pick will be the Red Eye Shad. However, I have tried many different lipless baits over the years and found many that have excelled... Rapala Rippin' Rap- by far my favorite a yo-yo jigging type of retrieve. 1 oz Excalibur knocker - great for slow rolling in deeper water, I like to use this in the summer into early fall. Very loud bait, sometimes the knocker sound performs much better than the regular BB type of rattles. Spro Aruka Shad, swims with a nose down attitude. I like to use to use this when a slower retrieve in that 6-10' zone but it certainly can be effective at other times. Sebile Flatt Shad ( Oil filled version ) & Silent Damiki Tremor- Great for clear water pressured fish. The Sebile has more thump than most baits in this class. Excalibur Rattling baits & Yozuri Rattling Vibe- good all around performers Intrigued by oversize lipless baits, here is one that I'm already having success with. http://www.muskyshop.com/modules/cart/products.php/keys/lucky+craft/page/1/id/2897/name/LuckyCraftLVRD30 Can't wait to see what it can do in the fall. Falls about the same speed as most 1/2 oz traps. Don't be afraid to throw something different. This is one of the rare times where I downsized the hooks as it seems that this bait is marketed to big game like Muskies etc.

I use the Palomar knot for everything including fluoro and have never had any issues. You need to tie it correctly and wet your line before tightening it. Recently, I have started to use the San Diego Jam for everything except braid and I can tie it in literally 3 seconds. It's great for treble hooks because you don't have to go around the lure and waste line like the Palomar. To connect braid to a leader, I use the Alberto Knot. It's easy to tie. Copolymer - McCoy Mean Green Braid - Regular Power Pro Fluoro - Sunline Super Sniper FC

Go catch that big one. I'm on the way to a private lake to see if I can get several pigs with a Huddleston. Good luck!

Cool video and some nice fish!

That makes absolutely no sense

I would not recommend it. You can get by with it in a pinch, but it has a tendency to sink. For proper action, I choose a line that is going to float. Mono is an excellent choice for topwater.

Started fishing for panfish as a little kid with my friend and his dad. After a couple years, I got into pike fishing with the same friend and his dad. Great starter fish; easy to catch, fight hard, even the smaller ones are relatively large fresh water fish, not to mention to a kid they look pretty badass. Caught a couple bass while panfishing, thought it was cool but didn't think too much about it. Fast forward a couple years. High school football was over. I needed a new hobby to occupy most of my time. I liked golf, but it's an expensive sport for a student. Bass fishing filled that void. Between fishing, reading about it, watching it on the TV and computer, I can't get enough. I'd be out on the water every day if I could.

I'm all about comfort, plus, I have the camo ones so it makes it a little bit better!!!

Ive really been considering those. The issue is i may have made fun of a lot of people i know wearing them, so id have to eat a lot of crow. Not to mention my grandmother has a pair and everytime i see them i think they look like garden shoes. They really do seem to fit what i need to a t though.

I just bought a pair of the rugged crocs, they have the adjustable strap over the standard one, they are very comfortable as get the job done in my opinion!

i used to be an all spinning gear guy but once you throw big cranks, jigs, spinnerbaits, and frogs on baitcasters you will never go back to spinning for those applications

I used to have a baitcaster back in the days when you brought two or three rods with you at most. But I gave it up because it lacked the versatility I wanted and spinning serves me well for everything I want to do. You're not alone, but I don't consider myself to be in a "boat", because that implies a negative and using spinning is a choice I've made, not some misfortune that has befallen me.

Here is the answer. http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/119519-minnesota-opening-week-fishing-trip-big-ol-bass/

Don't forgot to look your guides and reel over to make sure something g doesn't have a burr and is nicking the line. When you do have a backlash, pick through it carefully and don't pull the line hard. If you pick through it slowly and don't allow a bunch of kinks, most bash lashes won't cause your line to kink up

Your family doesn't have any photos of you where you aren't holding a fish.

This is good to see and to read about, A-Jay http://nesn.com/2013/06/blackhawks-take-out-full-page-ad-in-boston-globe-thanking-bruins-photo/

When I get short strikes I think short lures. So in your case you were using a u-tail worm and they were nipping at the moving tail. Try switching to a 5" senko with a 4/0 hook. Gives them very little to nip on. Another suggestion is a 4" senko wacky style on a 1/0 wacky hook. The idea is go give them very little to "nip" at and increase your chances of making good hook to fish contact. ... and a little Megastrike never hurts. They seem to commit longer to the bait when it's on.

2 bearings per knob please or ability to do such.

It's funny. I always used to see people fishing and thought "god, how boring. Why do these people like to fish like this?" That feeling towards fishing derived from my childhood when we would go out with a bobber and worms and never caught anything for hours except for the occasional panfish, big whoop. It wasn't until about 4 years ago when my wife's sisters boyfriend was fishing at the cottage on the bay where I came down and tried out bass fishing with these "artificial lures". I thought yeah right, we're not gonna catch anything like this. THEN! I got a bite and reeled in a small bass. I was honestly kinda shocked like wow that worked! Shortly after I went to Walmart, got an ugly stick spinning setup and a handful of different lures including a hula popper recommended from the store clerk, including instructions how to fish it. I went down to the same spot at the bay, chug chug chug pause and bang! Caught my first top water and I was HOOKED! Three years later I have a fishing kayak, 3 bait casters and a spinning setup, joined a bass club, fished a handful of tournaments and managed to stress the heck out of my wife with the idea of getting a bass boat. I've never met the bait monkey, I got swept up by a gorilla!

My Dad, an Uncle and a cousin went to what we called The Forest Preserve on the far south side of Chicago. It was a heavily wooded area with a few picnic tables scattered around..Nobody else was around There was a little [which looked huge] pond in the middle of it. My Dad took a bucket of night crawlers out of the truck of the Ford, gave me and my cousin a rod. My Uncle put the worms on the hooks and told us to just "throw it out there". I remember the feeling of the pull...my Dad screaming, my uncle yelling, and my cousin running... It was 1956. I was six and haven't thought about that in years!! Thanks for asking. Mike

I dig big chicks and this sport promotes it. Perfection.

hmmm...may be able to score some white chron Es here soon for the cheap....but I cant wait to see the new one!

You really have to work at snagging a Texas rigged soft plastic worm to point of breaking it off. The biggest problem is usually not inserting the worm onto the hook properly of using too large of hook for the worm body diameter and using too heavy of bullet weight. For example most 6"soft plastic straight tail worms work well with a 3/0 size premium worm hook, lots of choices. I prefer straight shanked Gamakatsu 464 for this presentation with a 3/16 brass painted bullet weight. The eye of the hook should not be inserted more than 1/8" into the worm head, the hook point should be skin hooked to cover the point. If you feel the weight stop keep slight pressure on it and wait a few moments to determine if the pressure is a bass or a limb, limbs don't move! If it's not alive, then drop a little slack into the line a jiggle it until the weight comes free. Weedless Arkie style jig heads or brush style jig heads are both ideally suited to work through brush or trees. Agian heavy weight is doesn't work well, try to use 1/4 to 3/8 oz jigs, avoid using bulk type trailers with appendages, keep it streamlined to slide through the brush without grabbing stuff. A 4" soft plastic worm with the tail split about 2" makes a very good brush jig trailer. Good luck. Tom PS; a lure retriever is a heavy weight with sash chain on a cord that slides down your line, snags the treble hook type lure and you pull it free with the cord. This doesn't work with single hook lures, those you donate.

I'd rather have bass thumb than flathead hands. But, if you are getting bass thumbs, you're having a good day! Embrace the pain!

Ok, you whining pansy, its called BASS THUMB. Enjoy it!

That's how it's done! I've been fishing bass since early high school and I've never heard of Bass Thumb. Maybe it's because all the people I fished with never caught anything.

lol...it's called bass thumb and it is a good thing. Now i will follow the rules of your post and call you both a whiner and a pansy

Not trying to be mean man, but... Quit your crying bro, you're catching bass. I know I had a good weekend if I look at my thumb on Monday and it looks like grinded it on a powersander. If it really bothers you, just wear a glove or something.

I just consider it the sign of a good day...

I have two go to lures..... if the bass are chasing then I love to use a rapala dt4.... if there more sluggish and I need to work for bites my all time go to lure is a texas rigged zoom brush hog in watermelonseed color.

I use a Leverage Landing net. I'd rather net my fish myself than let someone else screw it up.

Lots of good info in this thread. One thing I like to do if the fish are biting flukes and to make them last another couple catches is after the nose gets all ripped up is cut the nose off and continue to use it. It almost turns the fluke into a popper that causes alot of noise and disturbance on top of the water and then let it sink. I've caught quite a few fish this way.

Length plays many parts, from shorter rods for greater casting accuracy and leverage to longer rods which offer greater casting distance and more power. There are no hard and fast rules in terms of what one rod length will or will not do, it's based very much on manufacturer. Along with length, you also get into action and power when choosing a rod. Bearing count isn't everything in a reel. In very general terms it most typically equates to how smooth and efficient the reel performs. That is a very general answer, without going into great detail of what other factors you look at instead of just the bearing count. As a point of reference a 7 bearing reel that has bearings in the right place and is machined to tighter tolerances will always perform better than a reel with 10 bearings that has lower tolerances and less rigorous quality control. Which "Guide" series of rod? There's not really enough information in that question to answer the full two parts. There are a lot of differences in the series of rods. A Reaction series rod is a rod that is made specifically for moving baits and treble hook lures. It has a, generally, softer tip and more progressive action through the length of the blank. It is designed to protect the hooks on moving baits from the fish throwing them. There are many differences that can be discussed at great length when it comes to this question.

I will dive in on the Quantum reels since they are the primary reels that I fish begining with the later series of PTi-B spinning reels and the newer series of casting rods. I fish the quantum reels I have which include the Catalyst A&B, and Kinetic spinning reels and I also have the Energy, Kinetic and Accurist casting models and Never have had a problem out of them. I fish 4-5 days out of the week from spring through fall here in chicago and my reels have held up with regular cleanings in the off season for years without a problem. I know others will recommend Shimano or say the Quantum products aren't good but that is not the case for me. They are my First choice in reels for both spinning and casting followed by Daiwa.