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Target Employee: "Sir, can I help you?" OP: "No, I'm fine! Go away!" TE: "Well sir... What are you doing?" OP: "I'm looking for the bread aisle! What does it look like I'm doing?!??" TE: "Sir, all the aisles have labeled signs and if you don't stop throwing crankbaits in the store I'm going to have to ask you to leave"

^ and that's exactly what you should do OP. With all due respect to the other posters- and I do respect all of you, especially Raul- you have absolutely zero need to spend more than your quoting on a rig . None. You have a budget of "x" and you don't need to spend more than that on a part time hobby, which at this point- no matter how passionate iu are- that's what it is. Being in college and on a budget, plus just getting into bass fishing at 18...... you're not fishing tournements, and you expressed no desire to. You just want to catch some fish and enjoy learning the trade. I'm not sure if some of the other posters think its better for you to just not fish at all, until you have a 2-300 dollar rig, but that's asinine. Its about getting out there and enjoying nature and developing the skills (and addiction! ) that further your desire to get better and better. Are you eventually going to want to spend $200+ on a bass rig? Probably! Lol. It comes with the hobby. But its that way with any hobby. You start out with what you can afford, and then as your skill develops ( and hopefully your financial security increases) you can afford to move up. The reason I posted the old 70s pic of Bill Dance is that those guys used equipment that was cutting edge in their day- and we would consider it armature crap today. They did just fine. Thousands of bass are caught every day on Walmart Shakespeare combos! Of COURSE the entire thing is more enjoyable when you have top of the line gear..... but you know what? I DRIVE a helluva lot more than I fish- and I do just fine in a 98 Cherokee- I don't need a Ferrari to get to work. That's where you're at right now- just getting to work. Find a 6'6"mh rod, a good (research a bit) reel in a 6.x:1 ratio, and put some decent line on it and go fishing man! If you find that you love it and can find the time and money to invest in it- so be it. Then you can buy better gear. Until then its just posturing and wasting money.

Excuse me if I sound like an azz, but please listen to the words from someone that not always owned nice gear. I did the mistake of "going cheap" in the early years, I went through 4 reels and 6 rods before kicking myself on the butt for wasting my hard saved allowance money in 10 POS pieces of gear. With the money I spent I could have purchased 2 good setups, something I finally ended up doing, so good that even now, after almost 30 years I still have them. But it is your money .......

Experience will help. As will fishing with someone catching fish using different techniques (you.) Happy wife, happy life....lol To that end, I: -Always lead her end of the boat into where I expect the fish -Never get upset when she snags/hangs-up - even on trees. Once she gets timid around cover or bottom, she'll never be as effective again -Try to never keep her on the water long past the time she's done (I want her to want to come back - not ever start disliking the time on the water.) -VERY gently suggest different techniques, presentations, etc -Never (anymore) laugh, ridicule or roll my eyes when she wants to try something I consider goofy. I can't tell you the number of times she caught bass with something I'd have been embarrassed to throw. -Most importantly, I drove her right on to a 3.5 her first time out four years ago. She's still hooked. -I stock her tackle box with the same stuff I have, or better. Early on, I may have tried to slip some of the cheap cranks, hooks, etc. No more. -I maintain her gear better than my own. Reels (AND line) lubed always. Last thing I want on the water is for her to have a problem with a reel or a spinning reel rat nest that KVD line lube might have prevented. -I was mistaken early on trying to do too much: taking fish off, rigging soft plastics, plug-knocking, etc. Teach her and let her do it herself whenever possible. We're both much happier that way.

http://s477.photobucket.com/user/jbassman87/media/Screenshot952014-08-07-10-58-51_resized_zps09336e19.png.html Where are there trees like are in the background of this picture in western KS?? That lake was almost dry just a few years ago too. Having a hard time believing that.

I know the "selfies" don't do the fish any justice so this is another pic of the wiper on a board that measures 19" As I was getting the boat this morning I had a couple drops of oil under the motor? I popped the cowl off and discovered a cracked oil tank cap. I put some tape around it and went ahead and fished I don't think the tape worked???

Hey all! Early in the morning the air was cool and was in the low 60s. The air had significantly cooled over night, as it had been in the 80s the previous evening. This cold front just made me want to go fishing, since it has been very slow and sluggish fishing lately, maybe this front will make a change, i thought. I ask my buddy if he wants to go fishing at a pond nearby him and we end up going out to fish at around 12:30pm. We arrive at the pond; its very windy out and the sun is high and strong, but the temperatures remain relatively cool compared to previous days: mid 70s. We both toss soft plastics around sticks and drop offs from shoreline and we arent able to connect with any bass. I tie on a booyah spinnerbait and toss it under a tree overhanging the pond, providing shade. I reel at a moderate pace and as i approach the shoreline, out from the shade comes a massive head with huge shoulders. A 6 lb largemouth slams my spinnerbait and i quickly land it. Measured 21 inches long and 6lbs 1oz. Just 6 oz shy of my PB, which i caught in florida 6lbs is a big big fish for up here in New York Excuse my facial expressions in these photos i was very shocked and excited Look at that stomach!!!!!! After this fish, my friend caught a skinny 17 incher that weight just under 2 lbs. We decide to take the row boat out onto the pond to get to some different spots. This is my first time ever fishing from a boat in freshwater. We approach a shady edge covered with trees and with branches in the water. I cast my spinnerbait under the tree, into about a foot of water near the shoreline. And WHAM! I hook up with a nice lunker! My first bass from a boat just happens to be one of my best new york bass! She weighed 5lbs and was 20.5 inches long. Boy did she have a lumpy belly!! Also, she had a bluegill tail sticking out of her throat (i didnt get a photo of the bluegill tail, i wanted to release her quickly) Im so glad i've finally managed to shake the skunk off of me! Its been two weeks too many!!!!!! Thanks BR!!!! -Welds

Last couple of days been pretty good for me. 18 bass, couple of pics. Kinda hard to get decent pics when you are fishing by yourself. Hootie

Tomorrow I get to take my two oldest grandaughters out on the boat. I don't know who's more excited. My wife's going as well, she's even buying a liscense for the occasion.

I read the title and thought to myself "Man, I have got to get some of what that guy is smoking" haha

Based on chatter over on another board it looks like the Kansas State Record LM has fallen. 13.29lb fish caught at Clark State Fishing Lake. Fisherman was from OK. Still think there is a 10+ fish or two in La Cygne, but I'm not sure I know where to go to find another 13+ in Kansas.

Smack her on the ass when she gets a bite, that should help.

I would just change the line on your crankbait set up. Put mono on it. and it will work great for both topwaters AND crankbaits. Treble Hooks = Mono ...... IMO

803c J&W. It's not in the photo. The handles in the pics are my GLX'S. Hootie

Caught a MONSTER on the Rage Bug this morning. I'll get a picture up later.

I smash them on the rage shad, along with the chunks on my jigs and the space monkeys.

One more thing - teach her how to handle the net now. Once you've got that PB alongside the boat, it's a little late.

So I've gone through about 11 packs of Senkos this year with the help of my brother and friends. At about $7.99 a bag that's $87.95 in Senkos and 110 indivual Senkos. I've found that Walmart has them cheapest standard price which is $6.99 and that sometimes Dick's Sporting Goods has them on sale for buy 1 get one 1/2 off. Either way, it adds up. So, I tried some tips from here on how to save some Senkos. I've tried the O-Ring with O-Wacky tool, surgical tubing, Zip ties, heated shrink tubing, O-Rings crossed over each other, different types of hooks including Skip Jack Hooks, and Finesse Wide Gap Hooks, and others. Nothing really worked. Sometimes you'd make your first cast with a Senko and see it launched off into space, or you'd land on a dock and recover your hook but the Senko was still on the dock. It was extremely frustrating and expensive, although I'm sure that Gary Yamamoto would couldn't be more pleased. UPDATED: Well, I finally found a solution and it is a cheap one. I didn't come up with the zip tie idea nor the vinyl tubing idea. "thebig1" is the one who showed me the tubing idea....and to give credit where it is due, I know someone else said something about it before in another thread. I've tried it on 5 trips now with other people also using it and it's worked extremely well. It's a combination of a 5" Senko, Gamakatsu 1/0 Offset Shank Worm EWG hook, and 1 small 3/4" inch piece of vinyl 3/8" inside diameter-1/2" outside diameter tubing (the kind you get at Menards or aquarium tubing). **** I've found that anything less then a 3/4" inch piece of vinyl tubing doesn't seem to work nearly as well because it probably doesn't have enough amount of friction to hold the Senko but anything longer then 3/4" is too long and makes the worm heavy which causes it to sink funny and bend unnaturally. If your Senko isn't bending correctly when you lift it up to look at it you probably have too long of a piece of tubing. **** After making this thread the "thebig1" posted that vinyl tubing works better and that he's had the same Senko for 8-9 years. Well, I tried his method for 2 trips on my own and then a guys fishing weekend. We all used 5" Senko's with the vinyl tubing and worked even better than the method I had tried before with the zip ties. We caught 94 fish over the weekend, bass, northern, sunnies, rock bass, and perch and did not lose 1 Senko. I still have the Senko from that trip. All of the components: 1 Senko, 1 piece of vinyl tubing cut 1/2", and 1 hook of your choice. And the other secret....buy Senkos in bulk! lol. From some helpful posters on bassresource.com I learned that you can buy Senkos in bulk 100 packs for $54.82 at Tackle Warehouse during one of their 15% sales and get them for $46.58 which makes them $46 cents apiece versus the normal $79 cents apiece. The only sad part is that I had to order them in green pumpkin, my favorite color is cinnamon brown. The 3/8" inch vinyl tubing cost $2.86 for 10 feet. Enough to last a lifetime. Now that the "thebig1" showed me how well vinyl tubing works, I don't know what I'm going to do with 100 Senkos. I bagged them up into 7 original packages. I already gave away a pack to my friend. So that leaves me with 6 packages left. At the rate I lose Senko's with the vinyl tubing I guess I will be giving the other bags to friends and just keep 1 or 2 for myself. Thanks "thebig1"!!!! I've come to the acceptance that Senkos are like livebait and gas, you buy them and to get used up. It's just life (Unlike a lifetime lure like a KVD Sexy Dawg, that as long as you don't lose, you can just keep sharpening the hooks or replace the hooks and have the lure for nearly forever.) I hope this helps some of you save some cash. Good luck and good fishin'. Try it out, it's only a $2.86 gamble and I bet you'll wonder how you ever lived without it.

Yet again only Gerald Swindle can pull this off .

All my tacklebox.

I really thought that she would loose interest like that, but she doesn't. She gets very aggravated when she breaks off. I try to tell her tungsten weights don't cost much and don't worry bout it, but she worked at a sporting goods store, she don't fall for it. If she is willing to try, I'll go buy an ice cream bucket full of tungsten weights for her

Great catches. A 17" fish that weighed under 2 pounds?! That's very odd.

Nice fish and great pics!

Don't have the Mettle, but do have one of the Menace....first baitcaster I ever bought at was over $70 and very well made and 3yrs later still smooth as ever. I would say you're in good shape with the Mettle, just keep it oiled and maintained and it will last you. Their H20 rods are pretty nice as well for $60.

A lot of head boats won't allow this rig, that treble can be dangerous with a fish that flops around a lot, on private boat it's fine. For a toothy critter using a dead baitfish I would much prefer what we call a king rig, 2-3-4 trailer hooks down the spine of the bait. I think a better hookup would be obtained for a muskie and less cut offs.

Sweet Bass right there ~ Congrats A-Jay

WOW - great fish - CONGRATS ! And what a nice score for your first boat fish...

Congrats on two nice fish!

Beautiful fish WTG. Did you catch they both on the spinner

Pigs!!!!!! WTG man!!!

Wow man! Wtg! Those are some fat pigs!

I might have to go buy one of these mettles if I can find one at 25$ like kikstand mentioned!

Way to go man! I think I'm due for a 5+ bass

I've have good luck with most Rage Tail products. I mostly buy the craws just cuz their so versatile. As you mentioned they work great as a trailer. My advice would be to slow down your presentation, and don't be so focused on color. Try them weightless, or go a size up or down in weight depending on the conditions. Also, don't be afraid to throw them on a weighted swim bait hook. I'm sure other guys will chime in, but my guess is you're being generous with you're "30 hours" of throwing rage craws. When I'm not catching fish, time def. slows down. I've caught some very large bass on the craw, weighted as well as weight less. For sure, switch your baits if they're biting something else, but don't give up on the rage craw just yet. The fishing has been a a little slow for me the past couple weeks, but I've been consistantly throwing craws and jigs and catching very nice fish, many over 3 lbs. I think the rage craw is the best soft craw bait out there, and I've used probably all of them. Although a little delicate, they seem to mimic a real craw the best in the water. Most of the bodies of water I fish are loaded with craws. I've seen several in the bellies and throats of fish I've caught this year. That right there is a strong reason to keep one tied on.

Good solid baitcasting combo for under $120 ...... that ain´t gonna happen,

Better hooks, better hook hangers, better blade material, better finish, better patterns, better hook eye, yup, definately a much better built and much better quality bait than the Heddon. But of course, it´s a Rapala lure.

Well whatever he tells you do the exact opposite...... Just kidding Sean.

The particular type of wakebait you are talking about, i throw on my squarebill rod..dobyns 705cb glass

In my experience the Steez has more reliability issues than the Core, primarily in the level wind. Some of the materials while light weight, are very soft. The Steeze may feel a little smoother but not $100 smoother. IMO the Core is the biggest bang for the buck among "high end" reels

Only if you add gin to the tonic

I'd be willing to bet a paycheck that a lot more fish have been caught on a ugly stick than on a GLX.

I have a bunch of different rods. There are fiberglass, graphite, and I even have a cane pole for my son (though he's 6 and prefers his spinning rod). I can hit or miss on about all of them just as effectively, but have really come to prefer the full graphite rods. I'm playing with Dad's old tournament-style baitcasting glass rod for crankbaits, but I'm afraid I've been spoiled on graphite since I was a teenager. One thing I do like about glass is that it is more whippy, all else being equal, and puts a certain action on certain lures that just catch fish when nothing else works. On the other hand, a graphite ultralight will do that same action. An observation: I hooked into a bass the other day a good 20 yards out with the ultralight. Now, had I been using a glass rod or heck, had I not been using braid, this probably would have been a lost fight. However, I did feel the bass hit it (it was not an explosion, but rather just sucked it in). I was able to set the hook effectively (I set it three times to make sure, hard enough to sound the drag each time.) I was using the lure action that required a slower rod, and had I chosen the glass rod instead of the ultralight, i doubt I'd have felt the strike until it was over and lost. This is not to say the glass rods are not still extremely good for some things. They seem natural to me for catfishing, for example. Josh

We see these threads all the time what is the best rod. There is no definitive answer, except what's best for each individual. I do believe one has to match the rod to their style of fishing, for me sensitivity and weight isn't much of an issue as I do very little bottom fishing. I've used rods 2-3 times the price of my favorite brands, for what I do those higher priced rods do not cast any farther or handle the fish any better. Having rods that are close to 10 years old still looking like new the question of durability has been answered, not to mention the thousands of pounds of fish that have been caught on them. Not a darn thing wrong with an ugly if it meets your criteria.

I have 3 uglies including 2 lights. I like em all. They are tough rods. I catch bass on thumps all the time with my medium heavy. The 2 lights i use for pan fish. Great rods imo.

If u use braid and sharp hooks fish will hook themselves. I use uglystiks med action pistol grips and spinning rods.I aint rich but I can afford 150 $ rods but prefer too buy 4 rods not 1 and still catch fish

One thing is absolutely certain; if I were going to choose a fishing rod to kill cottonmouths, it would be an Ugly Stik.

Setting the hook ends up being the problem with Ugly Stiks in most cases. The tips aren't very stout, so it's very difficult to drive the hook home when you're using soft plastics. You can use light wire hooks, which helps some, but a stiffer graphite rod is a better choice; regardless of sensitivity.

Bass will spit your gear out just like any other fish. It's called setting the hook with live stuff and proper presentation with lures. I can't remember the last bass to bump a lure without inhaling out. By the way if there's a sensitivity problem then rest a finger directly on the line. This only works with monofiliment though, braid will cut you and I never used florocarbon.

We should create a Shimano thread and bait him out from hiding.

Jackall I-Shad Jackkall Cross tail shad Roboworm Sculpin Roboworm 4 inch worm Strike king dream shot Keitech sex impact 4.8 inch If you can't catch them on these something is wrong.