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I've stopped using hooks. My hook up ratio has suffered a bit.

My new addition from the Expo at the Classic. I was doing so good not spending any money until I saw the swimbaits. The new Duel Ninja Glider 180SS. It looks as nice in the water as it does in the box too.

Never throw soft plastics in the water, pollution is not cool man.

There's enough places in this world for kids to be exposed to unsavory things, out for a day of fishing should not be one of them. I am not Mr. Morality, I just don't feel it's needed in something like fishing.

Wanted to finally update everything with this build. Some of you may recall me asking about a gloss black painted reel seat. After running into some fitment issues with one I ordered due to the size of blank I had to scrap that idea and move on to the standard Fuji seat. Thanks for the help and suggestions to try to locate one though. Anways more on the rod... The wait was finally over for my dedicated jig rod and reel as I was informed by my builder it should be delivered on Saturday. Took a few weeks of planning and sourcing parts to get the things I wanted to do visually and fitment wise. Parts were sourced from Mudhole and Matagi to add further appeal. The blanks was the MHX Hi Mod 7'3 Heavy and the guides are Fuji alconites. Paired with an Exscence DC with a few gold pieces added, this should be a fun rig to use.

Headed out to see if the prespawners wanted to play today and boy did they. Fished the mouth of a creek that had more bass stacked then anything ive ever seen. I fished a 10 ft area for around 6 hrs and managed to lay waste! I lost 3 fish definitely ovee the 8lb mark right at boat because they were hooked with one back treble.. The fish were relating to a rock edge with a reed point and rock pile on the end. Anytime my 6xd went through there hold on! Shoulda had over 30lbs today but 26 will do. Chevk them out!

You don't need anything special for the Ned rig. The man himself (Ned Kedhe), uses Mitchell spinning reels older than most on this forum with the bails removed and Shakespeare Synergy rods you can buy from Wal Mart for less than a couple Megabass 110's. If it feels comfortable to you with them, it'll work. Personally, I've found most any dropshot rod fishes them very well. I personally use a 6' 10" ML/XF LTB with a 30 size Pfluegar Supreme XT and 24lb Gliss with a short 8lb leader.

Do you want the "best" drop shot rod or do you want to spend $150? Can't do both.

This is what ya get for staying with the same lure all day! 14.16#.

We are having a big sale from 15-20% off many items. Most Mega Strike, Rage Tail, Strike King, Keitech including the Noisy Flapper and Owner! http://www.siebertoutdoors.com/Sale-Items_c27.htm

I dont think this qualifies as tackle but Im sure the bait monkey was involved somehow

This what I do. I don't have kids in the house so I have some spare cash to buy lures etc. with. I know many will believe that that monkey has me buying much tackle. I am totally addicted to collecting lures. In 115 days, I will be retiring. My plan is to use a bait till I catch at least one or maybe two on it. If I can't catch any after a couple of hours, I will go onto something new, but keep it in the rotation. This way I will actually use these lures and be happy when I catch. I plan on fishing, walking my dog and studying the bible in my retirement. I say that my hobby is collecting fishing tackle and luckily my wife doesn't mind. I plan on teaching my grandkids fishing too and giving them my equipment to remember grandpa.

Yes it was. Our cabin was in Honey Creek and the water had 8-10 inches of visibility. Never saw the dam because I heard it was dirtier than that but we launched from Cowskin in the Elk on Saturday and there was at least 3' of visibility, clear enough to fish a jerkbait (which didn't matter because they wouldn't touch them). You could see the lake coming to life more and more every day. I had a feeling that someone was going to pop a good bag, but I wouldn't have ever guessed it would be almost 30 pounds on the last day.

$250 or more than what you're asking

Before you consider live bait check your states regulations. If you are a serious about catching big bass you need to study their habits. A good book on this subject is In Pursuit of Giant Bass by Bill Murphy. Tom

Welcome aboard! Or, you could go to Lake Baccarrac in Mexico. Ask @A-Jay, @Dwight Hottle or @00 mod about their big bass adventures

Hi, my name is Scott and I'm addicted to dropshot rods. I haven't even caught a fish on the last one I acquired and just last week, another blank showed up. This one is a 5S610MLXF-G.......the forest green pearl one.

Mend-it can help you make some pretty nice one of a kind baits also. 9' senkos do catch 'em

This may sound a little weird but I may stop using something because it works. Once I've figured something out -and I'm satisfied with the results- I like to go try something else. It's a matter of curiosity, of looking for different (sometimes bigger) fish, of wanting to keep a good bait/location producing in the future, and not wanting to put too many holes in my fish period (I fish small waters and even get to recognize individuals). As to certain baits over the long haul, yes... but that has more to do with certain lures lending themselves to certain water types than because I did well on them in the past. Nothing in my boxes are off limits.

Multiple times. I quit using GYCB senkos because Yum Dingers work just as well and are much cheaper I quit using anything made by Reaction Innovations because I found cheaper alternatives that work better, plus I don't have to explain or hide the sexual inuendo laden bags from my kids when they are on the boat

Although I regret some of the choices I have made during the 60's, 70's and 80's that are unfortunately hampering my ability to communicate, learn and then retain that particular lesson for any length of time, I am still happy to be where I am at today, I probably shouldn't be here at all amongst the living but none the less I have found this sport to be that of an outlet, a happy place if you will, I would enjoy tournament fishing and the competition if I did but would keep it at a local level or amoung friends, the added pressure of having to perform on someone else's dime along with your investment I think would change the happy place, at least for me.

I just finished a dozen of these today and I'll be hopefully throwing them next week depending on the weather. This is a 1/2oz bait with a 55 strand skirt in a tandem configuration of an Indiana Blade on the swivel and a small Colorado on the clevis and the head is poured on .035" diameter wire. What makes this a spring time spinnerbait is a few things, the first is the color, it is my version of "mouse", which is like a smoke with green crystal, that color works because it shows up ok in stained water yet is somewhat on the natural side that does well in clearer water. The second thing is the skirts size, normally I don't make a skirt that heavy but the fact is I'm fishing it in cooler water temps so the fish will be a little slower and the bulkier skirt will slow the fall and allow me to reel the bait slower and still keep it in the zone I'm fishing. The third thing is the blade configuration, it is one that can be used in just about every situation but I like it for spring because the Indiana blade spins fast enough with a good amount of surface area to provide a good amount of flash but it still has a wider arc and deeper cup to give the bait some solid vibration which is helped out with the Colorado kicker blade. Last, but not least is the wire, in the late spring and summer I would normally make my baits with a little more wire coming out of the head with a tiny bit more angle to help it come through grass better but since I don't need to worry about that at this time I shorten the length as it makes the bait stronger and stiffer which also helps amplify the vibration. So there you have it, and this is why I make my own spinnerbaits from bending the wire and pouring the heads to making and tying the skirt, it gives me total control with the hook that I want and there is endless possibilities with wire sizes, you just have to know what affect every change you make does to the bait and finding that out is the fun part.

pretty good outing with a couple of nice ones today. hot new baits come and go, but these 2 will always be staples i keep tied on in the spring. they earn their keep in my box time and time again. hope everybody else got a chance to get out today. weather was awesome here.

For most peeps high winds, as in gail force means riding it out in the garage or workin the honey-do list. To me it means I have the place to myself and often good catchin. Today with high wind the first cast resulted in a 4+ lbr that just inialated an LC100. Coupla more cast to the area saw a few insincere taps. So I backed off ,down sized to a 78 LC to trick a 2=1/2 lbr and a few dinks.About an hr later another 4lb`r witch smacked the 100. Can`t describe in just a few words what that type hit does for me.Its like a micro masochistic event,which is what keep lots of us goingback .It was very cold and nasty ,but I went home warm inside. C22

X2! Wonderful young man! We had two good days fishing. Boys were good to deal with and wanted to learn. Obviously not everyone fishes the same way so I showed them how I do it Doesn't mean I'm right, just my way. They can remember and use what they think will work for them. Good young men, wish them much success!

The reason I suggested Murphy's book is it has the information you need. Every bass water regardless of it's type and size will have a smaller population of adult size bass than juvenile bass. You see these large size adult females during the spawn when they are less wary and focused on spawning. Right now before the spawn in your area these big bass are catchable because they are feeding and getting ready to spawn. There isn't a magic lure or any other panacea to catching big bass consistantly, this requires more effort on your part to learn big bass behavior. Tom

For under $150 I'd suggest a St. Croix Mojo Bass 6'10" ML/XF. I have the same rod in their LTB line and it's a heck of a dropshot setup.

Fishing Skirts 100% gum rubber H & H Lure Co

Big Game 10-15 pound depending on what I'm doing and where I'm doing it.

Cut a slit in the belly. It will make it easier for the hook to penetrate the fish by having less plastic to go through.

Throw a Ned rig at the blue stuff anywhere between Turkey Point and the dam and you'll run into some smallmouth eventually. The water is probably still a touch on the cold side at Melvern since it takes those bigger lakes longer to warm up, but it should get there in the next couple weeks. When it does, I'll be there whacking smallies in the smaller pockets with a jerkbait. I've also heard that El Dorado is growing into a good smallmouth lake with some nice fish in it already. Milford is an excellent lake if it's closer than Melvern. Wabaunsee has a very good smallmouth population as well if you'd prefer to fish a smaller lake but you have to pay to fish it and it's only open during daylight hours from April through October. It has some very big smallmouth though.

My Roman Made Negotiator that I sent to Pizz Customs for a custom trout paint job arrived today. He did an amazing job and I coudn't be happier. If you want a bait custom painted I urge you to contact Paul. He will take good care of you!

Pretty good for Humminbird Side Imaging:

check you PM's. also if you log into the BPS website, add something to your cart and wait a day, you should get a $20 of $100 coupon

I did go conventional on the guides. And I need to get some more photos of this posted this weekend when the weather is nice and lighting is better. The guides are quite similar to what you would find on the Kistler Helium 3. I thought about the spiral wrap idea but it wouldn't be ideal for me. Reason being is that when the rod is layed flat on the deck of the boat some of the guides will be facing down. Should the rod get stepped on ever so lightly or should a tackle bag or something accidentally land on it could result in damage or breakage of the guides. Even if the guide cost for one or a few guides is less than $20, the shipping there and back will run me about $50 round trip. I got to test cast a spiral wrapped rod from a local builder a few years back. It was a cool experience for sure but it just wasn't something that I wanted on this rod. Thanks Jeff. The builder is "good people" Made the whole process easy and painless. Was able to turn my ideas into an outstanding finished product. Best part was he could verify fitment and then let me know what was possible and what wasn't. He also provided plenty of photos along the way of what was done but not permanently finished, so if I didn't like it, he could alter it before making it final. Thanks Paul. A custom casting rod was something I wanted for a few years. Decided to go all in this year and make it happen. Can't wait to give it a spin...

When you match the hatch with a swim bait no doubt you will get nice fish??

Thinking about you bud.

Maybe I'm just getting old (but I don't think that's it) -Not everything has to be "EXTREME!!!" either. Attention span issues out there perhaps.

Well that answers it. Thank you for the input. They will be in the trash from now on. Thanks again

and I would not disagree with this. I'm no prude but not everything needs to be "edgy" or "cheeky". Especially fishing I understand this. If I'm out fishing for a day and something is working well, I'll change it after 3-4 fish. May sound goofy but I get bored with that bait and try something else. Might be the type but a different color or I may completely change tactics and go to something different. Why? I don't know.....variety

you can unskin them to get more action

I always preferred a mh-h rod for that reason, I got tired of loosing fish at the bit because of not getting a good hookset on them. I personally swim them as slow as the tail keeps kicking, but they have been a quality over quantity bait for me.

Best NFL QB the game has ever, or ever will know.. My Man..

His smile couldn't get any bigger!

Edwin Evers from Oklahoma = won the BassMaster Classic in Oklahoma. Casey Ashley from South Carolina = one the BassMaster Classic in South Carolina. Randy Howell from Alabama = won the BassMaster Classic in Alabama. What's the deal? Also, why isn't this thing on TV live? Instead we have to wait a month or more to see it on ESPN. Surely one of the outdoor hunting/fishing networks would be willing to show it live over the weekend. BassMaster needs to ditch ESPN.

The wait was finally over for my dedicated jig rod and reel as I was informed by my builder it should be delivered on Saturday. Took a few weeks of planning and sourcing parts to get the things I wanted visually and fitment wise. Parts were sourced from Mudhole and Matagi to add further appeal. The blanks was the MHX Hi Mod 7'3 Heavy and the guides are Fuji alconites. Paired with an Exscence DC with a few gold pieces added, this should be a fun rig to use.

Consider the water visibility. If it is clear to the eye for 2 foot, that is all you will see in the camera. And if you drop shot it at 20 foot down, there is less light to penetrate, and therefor he visibility will be even less than the eye can see near the surface. Just my thoughts. Jeff

I have one and love it. Got it dirt cheap from bass pro when they were on sale, and came with tinted and clear lenses. I was doing 64 mph and hit a seagull, it hit my lowrance at the bow, and then hit my face. Not sure what damage would have been done to my face if I wasn't wearing the mask.

Something a little different. Megabass Orochi 13 Snake Slider balsa bait.

Well, I am definitely "that guy". Man, i can hardly fish with lures that don't compliment my rod, reel and line! I love technique specific gear, too! So what? Fishing is my hobby, my passion and I am a collector. I think I might actually fish 5% of my lures, but probably not. Does that mean I didn't "need" the Next Big Thing? Gotta have it!