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Hello, My name is John, and I am a new member here. Making my own fishing lures has been a hobby and passion of mine for 8 or so years now. I began making my own casting and jigging spoons out of metal tubing and lead, and now make my own crankbaits out of wood. (Mainly cedar) Lately I've been building these square bill rattle cranks and mid diving walleye baits. Below are some samples of my work in metal and wood.

Blade baits were orginally introduced by Heddon, back in the '60's - the Heddon Sonar. They became popularized by Billy Westmoreland on Dale Hollow Reservoir as one of his signature baits - the Silver Buddy. Many different brands, types and sizes have been produced since. They are all very effective baits, for a multitude of species, especially in the spring cold water season. I've caught mainly smallmouth and lake trout on them. I work them by casting out, letting the bait hit the bottom, then jerking up just enough to start feeling the vibrations. Then let it settle back to the bottom again and repeat, back to the boat. If there are fish in the area, you will get bit! However, the main drawback is that this efficient bait also snags bottom quite easily. Consequently you will loose a lot of them. Which is why I get mine as blanks from Barlow's Tackle and attach my own split rings and single, Siwash hooks instead of the trebles they normally come with. This reduces the hang ups considerable and has no negative hook up ratio on fish.

The information & techniques offered here by Scott Dobson have been a game changer for me when it comes to blade baits. Check it out A-Jay

What makes a good flipping/pitching stick is completely personal preference. I like a medium heavy extra fast because if fits me & what I expect my flipping/pitching stick to fell like. This is why I hate the term "technique specific", I don't want Gary Loomis tell me what my rod should feel like.

There's been some recent conversations on Rod building forums making a solid case for a mod-fast action for pitching/flipping blanks especially in the heavier powers. I don't see the need for XF. Plus the terms are so subjective sometimes you can't tell the difference.

One golden rule to bass fishing is to know that you can learn something from any or everybody. Might be something small or something that changes everything. There's always something to learn. I don't care who you are.

None of the locals even fish for bass on my favorite lake so they couldn't give me good information even if they wanted to. Years ago when I first got my boat, I was on my first out of state fishing trip to a lake I read about but never fished before. We were checking in at the office of the campground we were staying at and the wall next to the desk was covered with pictures of fish that came out of the lake. There were a lot pictures featuring the same fisherman with lots of impressive catches. I asked the owners who that guy was and that I'd like to talk to him. He said he's staying here now but he's very secretive and was not likely to give up much info. A little while later, I was in my boat, at the dock, when a guy pulls up and ties off his boat. I recognized him as the angler from the wall of pictures. He looks at my still shiny new boat and he must have assumed I might know how to fish (not a good assumption at the time). We had a nice chat and before I knew it, he was marking my map with good spots to fish. His information was spot on and we did very well. I'm still not sure why the guy who was supposed to be so secretive was so generous with the information but I was very thankful he was. It made the trip a success for this novice fisherman and his partner. Ever since then, when given the opportunity, I pay it forward whenever I can.

Got on 2 fish today from 7 to 11 am. Both on deep str8ke king 6xds. 8.50lbs and 6.94lbs. Love this fishery!

That's what the thread I linked in the first post is, and it's a completely inefficient way of doing this anyway.....and it's not the same deal as catt's thread. His thread is in a regional fishing forum, where it belongs. You can't have a forum for each specific lake, Pickwick, Guntersville, Falcon, etc...If people want to talk about those lakes, then start a thread in the appropriate region and go nuts. Bank/Pond Vs. General Bass fishing in a boat on reservoirs is a totally different comparison. On the bank: - Totally different angles (ever try to fish an outside grass edge from the bank?) - Limited to fewer presentation options (1-2 rods, a small box of lures) - Limited to a much smaller and more specific area (1 pond, not a whole lake) - Far less options in terms of moving or finding different patterns, you have got to hunker down and fish what's in front of you. You don't get to just move on to another pattern as the day goes on. - Always fishing Uphill, no way to move off the bank and try various casting angles. You can use some of the same baits, but not in all of the same ways. - Obviously, a lot of baits w trebles or snaggy baits are off the table because you will lose them Comparing bank fishing to boat fishing is like comparing walking to driving, IMO. I know this isn't going to happen, I'm just making the point clear that there's not a good reason why

Well it's Valentine's Day so I thought I would share a picture of the gal I loved the most.This is Cypress Sally. It was love at first sight. She's the biggest woman I ever got to get into the boat with me. I fed her and we hooked up! She was so beautiful. She had luscious lips and one nice tail. But after holding her a short while I had to set her free. Happy V Day baby, wherever you are! I miss you!

One more never hurts.

If size 9 and size 13 sneakers are the same price, why buy the smaller one?...

I have been going to the Spring Classic and doing seminars for my sponsor's for the last 20 years.And I can remember the vendors being there in there booths and you could talk to the reps and handle all the new stuff.And the crowds where elbow to elbow.Now it is like a ghost town. BPS priced the vendors out by charging big money for the space.And not all the stores had the same dates so more Pro's could come to more stores.Not smart marketing IMO!

I've been making blade baits from a Do-It mold for 30 years or so. IMHO the most versatile lure out there. I started using the Mustad (or Eagle Claw) split-shank double hooks and found that, while they don't eliminate snags, they reduce them considerably. Be sure to put the hooks on the bait so that the points face backwards. I don't use split rings, just clip the hooks into the holes on the bottom of the bait. Tom

I know the pros do it. I spent a day walleye fishing with a guide on Rainy Lake in Minnesota. I know very little about walleyes, but the guy I was with wanted to so we hired a guide. At the end of the trip, we saw Al Lindner coming to the dock after a day when he was filming for his TV Show. He was being guided that day by the owner of Rainy Lake Houseboats, Billy Daugherty, who I know. We went up and met Al who was extremely friendly and had our pictures taken with him. He was asking ME about the walleye fishing that day. I could converse without looking too stupid as I had just spent 8 hours in a boat with a walleye guide. A short time later, we were walking near the boat ramp when a truck was pulling a boat out of the water, he stopped next to us, rolled down the window. It was Al Lindner wanting to talk to us more about the walleyes. I got a real kick out of that because I know as much about walleyes as I do brain surgery. Even the best there is doesn't know everything and some are not so proud that they are above asking others for advice.

Thanks! We do offer tungsten jigs. We also haveMega Strike jigs in lead free jigs.

There seems to be a crazy idea that certain lures, colors, & tackle only work in certain situations when nothing could be farther from the truth!

I've used the Tony Spoons with clackers quite successfully for smallmouth in the spring of the last two seasons. First introduced to me in an article in the In'Fisherman several years back.

I've used several different flutter spoons. Exclusively off shore structure. Most of the time I lift it off the bottom pretty high. After the spoon hits bottom, I start with the rod pointed at around 5 o'clock and lift to at least 12. You have to be a line watcher to detect the bite cause it will almost always be on the fall. Then I do swim them but not often. Again, I let it hit bottom then I reel it then give it a little twitch so it falls on slack line. It's important to let it fall on slack line so not to interfere with with a vertical fall. It needs to fall straight down IMO. I like to have some sunshine and some wind to help sell the lure. I fish it when the big fish are schooled up on ledges and in a positive feeding mood. At times the big bass will be chasing big gizzard shad toward the surface. You'll see a big shad come busting out of the water trying to get away from something. These big fish will be all over the water column. Not really holding there but suspended and it's like a carnage zone going on down there. That's usually when it's time.These are some of the spoons I use. I really like the 3rd one from the left. The giant Ben Parker spoon I fish a little different(the one all the way to the right). I start at 5 o"clock and rip it off the bottom back over my shoulder similar to a sweeping hookset. This lure will catch big fish but it hits the bottom so hard it looks like a bite. It helps to learn the time it takes to fall. I also use a stinger hook. None of these have them on there in the pic. It's a dropshot hook tied with about a 2-3 inch piece of braid to the lie tie. Hope this is some help.

Beer is my approach.

I tend to research baits alot for better fishing success. Saw the Lucky craft lv rto on tackle tour and had good reviews . So I picked a couple different colors in the 150 size and have done fairly well on less than favorable weather conditions. It has a nice thumping feel and a cool wiggling action on the fall . Well today paid off and caught a nice fish by ripping it out of grass patches starting to pop up. Sorry for the picture sideways . On a cool side note . A random guy driving by pulled over and offered to take my picture. Said he was a fisherman and thought helping me out wit the picture was the right thing to do . Thought it was a super cool for someone to do .

Arrived to my Florida house last night, and stepped outside to take a look at the pond. I saw bass busting all along the reeds on the shoreline, and saw lots of fry in the water. I went back inside, grabbed my rod, and proceeded to tie on a gambler big EZ with a 1/4oz 5/0 weighted hook. This big girl swirled twice on the bait before I finally got a good hook set. I had a 7'3 mag heavy rod and 50lb braid and I still struggled to haul this beast in. Unfortunately, I didn't have a scale and I am conservatively putting this fish at seven pounds. It looked like it was about to explode with eggs. Also, does anyone know if the marks on her body are a parasite? Or are they just wounds from the upcoming spawn? I will be buying a scale today!!

3/8 oz and I think that's all they make.

I want everyone to have fun so I'm pretty liberal with info that I have! If you are a "come lately" guy that wants to know particular baits and locations......... You probably won't get the time of day from me, but if I know you have been putting in the time, you will get my best stuff!!

Well didn't make it to Black Forest ended up staying on south end caught around 15 fish with 7 keepers nothing big. Maybe next time be able to get up that way

Perhaps of interest... http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/hard_metal_rap.html http://www.bassresource.com/fishing_lures/silver_buddy.html

Advertising a sonar as a "low hours" unit is probably a good thing for marketing and perhaps to foster buyer confidence. Even if the unit is higher hours, the seller might still advertise that as a means of good faith / disclosure so the potential buyer knows what they are getting in terms of definable prior usage. Using terms like "used only X seasons" is meaningless, just as it is for other equipment like reels. One persons "season" might be 300 days on the water - another persons "season" might be 30 days on the water. I like having the hours feature. I record the hours on my sonar at the beginning and end of each season to calculate how much time I was in the boat that year. I usually always have the sonar turned on but sometimes turn it off in skinny water, etc. so the hours recorded for a season are actually a little low from the actual time-on-water. Still, it's an interesting factiod that I record. For instance, the total time on my current HB 798 is 1428 hours with 531 hours of that recorded during the 2015 season. Interesting to me...

Ponds up here are panfish fodder unless they're 20'+ deep. I've also caught some of the biggest fish of my life in ponds too. Doesnt really matter though- the basic bass rig would probably be a medium fast rod in the 6'10"-7' range with a spinning reel and ~15# braid or mono if that's your thing. There's a lot you can do with it! From Texas rigs to jigs to cranks and jerks... The world is your oyster. Just get one and start learning stuff!

The Bomber flat A is a freak, if you are undecided as to whether you should use a lipless or lipped crank, use the Flat A. It is a rattle trap with a bill but the nice thing is that it dives but it also is very slow rising, almost suspending so it works in all kind of conditions. For me it is more of a cold water deal but in the spring I use it on my rivers. My river is a large, shallow and rocky river and shallow cranks do really well but certain ones seem to be better. For the shallowest areas I like the Mann's Baby 1 minus and the BabyX, basically the same bait but the 1 minus only dives to 1' while the X has a really squared off lip and dives to 2'. After those I like the Arashi silent and rattling square 3 and then the 5 and then the 6' depth I like the Yo-Zuri 3DB crank medium. Now those picks are newer to me and they do work well, I normally would have said the DT-4 and DT-6 to cover the 4' to 6' range but they are balsa baits and a few good crankbait days can really beat those up and it seems you are concerned for durability so that is the only reason I didn't list them but I do use them as nobody talks about the DT-4 but it is a killer river crank. I also have an honorable mention, I didn't include it because I only have 3 trips with it but the Bill Lewis Echo 1.75 is looking to me like a sleeper bait, no other square bill or shallow crank I own work like it, the bait is loud and vibrates really hard and every single fish caught on it absolutely slammed it, I'm thinking a full season with this it may become my new favorite if it works like it did last year.

I don't want to make it weird...but your wife has a nice bass!

A 24" bass is somewhere (roughly) around 8 lbs.

Yes! What Catt said is what I was going to pen. You need to get on the water and fish and check out the areas via your electronics, BUT only after you study the map of the body of water so you will have an idea of what the lake presents to you in the form of structure, cover, creeks, coves, marinas, docks, piers, pads, grass, etc. I hate to assume (ass/u/me) the type of water you will be fishing, probably a lake, so you need as much time on that body of water as you can before the tournament. You will not only gain a lot of information but also improve your confidence level. So plan to get on the water as much as you can and learn all you can before tournament day.

Basically the cheapest mono you can find, I use eagle claw, I have a spool of it that's 1000 yards, I think I paid $4 for it, but workd perfect for backing. I use 8lb test, and basically just enough to cover the spool, maybe go a layer over that, probly less than 50 feet worth of line. Tie the braid to that with a uni to uni knot (what I use anyway) and your good to go. Hopefully you can save all that line you put on there, possibly reel it off with another baitcaster, then reel it back on?

Braid slipping. 100%

Sadly I haven't tried a few of the mainstays people have been mentioning. I do use and love the livetarget frog. It's durable, castable, has a good hookup ratio, and they look amazing. The fish don't care probably but I thinks it's cool. Another sleeper pick I have used for years is Scum frog. They're cheap and work really well. They aren't the most durable but their soft body makes for an awesome hookup ratio.

I prefer a fast action myself. You should check out the Abu Ike power series 7'2" MH. It's an excellent jig rod in your range.

Something comforting about the way accidental damage is handled by St. Croix and G. Loomis. Knowing that if I shut a $400 rod in the car door the most it will ever cost me to have it replaced is $100 helps me justify the expense.

These things are the bomb!!! Also fish the Poppin Phat Frog as well. Both walk easy, almost impossible to sink, and get bit. Also if needed I throw the Snag Proof Bobby's Frog, it's a little smaller but same design concept. Only other frog I have a bunch of is the Spro Bronzeye Shad. Just a differnt look and I like the baitfish colors. And if needed, I also carry a couple (although hard to find now) Deps Slither Frog. The most expensive frog I have at almost $20 a pop, but the hookup ratio on that frog is about 90% and they crush it.

I have an addiction and enjoy buying every frog and trying it out....As stated above, it is hard to beat the Booyah Pad crusher if you consider the Price, Size Options, Popping and standard, and they will work just fine no matter where you fish...In heavy cover I like a harder frog, also one that has a narrow nose and casts far, so I like the Spro and the Swamp Donkey for those situations, but almost all frogs are good once you learn how to fish them..I feel the Poppin Phattie from Snag Proof is the best poppin frog for heavy cover, it is the only one I have used that will work in cover and not get jammed up...Scum Frog also makes a chugger that I really like for the sound it makes, and their Trophy Series is a steal at under $6. I used to always complain about hook up ratio with hollow frogs until my friend made a really good point....How many strikes do you convert on a topwater with treble hooks? It is probably similar since fish will miss a walking bait in open water as well, if they want the frog they will take it down and I have messed around in ponds and I removed the hooks and you would be surprised how long they hold them..I think of them now as a soft bait, if your frog goes under, chances are that fish will move with it for at least 5 seconds if not more. I wouldn't wait that long of course, but my new favorite frog only has one hook and I think that is better since you don't have to slam home 2 Barbs on 2 thick hooks that are actually working against each other unless you bend them perfectly parrallel. Evergreen makes a frog called the Big Bite Frog that has one hook right in the middle and has ridges on the bottom to make noise on the mat. It is not like the Pivot Frog, it is fixed in one place over a silicone body, and has a super short skirt with only a few strands so it will not block the hook point. Since the weight is connected to the hook, it never takes on water. I rarely miss fish on that frog. It also has a spot for a blade underneath, which makes it a good wake bait with a nice wobble. You can find them for a good price if you shop around, They are expensive due to the quality of material they use. The hook is also super sharp and will not bend no matter how hard you try...Not sure why it is not more popular but I first found out about it when a Pro had it on his rod at Toho...

35. You also cannot "like" any of your own posts.

Do not over complicate yourself, in practical terms you only need to know 1 knot but for crying out loud tie it well 100% of the times. I adhere to such principle 99.9% of the time and the knot I use is the improved clinch knot ...... meanwhile I dare anybody to demonstrate I´m wrong.

18.2 - 21.7% accurate -T9

Haul 2 out of 3. Just waiting on 2 rods. Organizing most of this today, will be out on the water tomorrow!

This year bigger swimbaits are going to be part of my game plan more than ever, so I'm filling in the gaps here and there. Few pick ups from the last week. Also got Mike over at Delaware Valley Tackle going on a custom built Swimbait rod for me. I'll have to put up a pic of that, and the Conquest getting mounted on it, when they make it home. C'mon, Spring!!

I want to spend as much time fishing that body of water all the way until the day of the tournament or until it's off limits. This way I know if the bass are on a morning bite, midday bite, or evening bite. I'll also know which is better, the shallow water bite or the deep water bite. I'll also have established which lure presentations are most productive. If I know what was productive prior to tournament day I can quickly make adjustments to changes in conditions.

Put in my order for a Curado 70 XG and a Scorpion 70 HG this morning Hoping the Scorpion gets here before the Classic but I know the Curado won't get here before then. Always wanted to own a Scorpion, excited to finally make it happen.

The universe of fishing sonar seems to be shrouded in unnecessary mystery. Except to Wayne, that is.

I've been married for 35 years. If she says go fishing, I go Fishing! If she didn't want me to go she shouldn't say stupid things!