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Sorry I haven't been keeping up with all of you friends here on Bassresource, been on he run for sure! Got to see and have dinner with several of you while at the Classic and enjoyed getting to talk with each of you. I've got some really fun stuff coming out at this ICAST and will share it with you in a week or so. Here's a photo of a pretty gal that I caught recently on a Rage Hawg pitched in 8ft. water. It was all I could do to HOLD on until she gave up. Hope this years fishing is great for you and I am trying to keep up with all messages that you send me here on BR so keep in touch

MDBowHunter, that's not normal at all, and we will gladly stand behind our product and make this right! The top two photos show a ChatterBait model that has been discontinued in lieu of higher quality, US-made products like out Project Z ChatterBait. On the Original ChatterBait in the bottom pic, the hook eye was not crimped down all the way, allowing the blade to slip off. The hook eyes are closed one at a time by hand, and this one obviously slipped through the cracks - no excuses here, just our sincerest apology. Please e-mail these pics along with your address to info@zmanfishing.com, and we'll replace these with current model ChatterBaits. Thanks for the opportunity to make this right, and our apologies for your experience.

Thanks for the interest in ChatterBait fishing! Regarding rods, there are 2 primary schools of thought. Many anglers prefer to use a more parabolic rod (similar to a crankbait rod), while others prefer a stiffer, fast action rod like a spinnerbait rod or even a flipping stick. Line is again a personal preference between braid or fluorocarbon. As far as the baits go, there's a reason why so many pros (even the ones we don't sponsor) use the Z-Man ChatterBait! The patented direct head-to-blade connection makes all the difference and allows the bait to vibrate (or "chatter") on slower retrieves (and even on the fall) and prevents the bait from hydroplaning on faster retrieves. That's not to say you can't catch fish on other bladed jigs with a split ring style head-to-blade connection, but the ChatterBait design has proven year-in and year-out to be the most versatile and effective design out there. As far as the baits themselves go, we've made a lot of tweaks to improve quality of the Originals over the last few years and have added several newer versions with different hook and skirt options, beefed up components, etc. If you haven't used a Z-Man ChatterBait in the last few years, you owe it to yourself to check them out! Here's a rundown of the current options: Original ChatterBait - at $4.99, this is a price point bait, but in the last few years, we've upgraded to a sharper and stronger needlepoint hook, enlarged the collar on the neck of the jig to prevent skirts from sliding down, added a trailer keeper, and modified the shape of the snap to prevent it from opening or pulling free. Even though it's the least expensive standard size ChatterBait in the lineup, lots of pros still opt for this version. In fact, Aaron Martens used it to win a Bassmaster Elite event just last summer (even though he endorses a competitor's bladed jig)! ChatterBait Elite - $6.99 MSRP, features a 5/0 Gamakatsu hook, low profile hub EZ Skirt, wider head and modified head-to-blade connection that brings the blade closer to the head for more vibration, molded in trailer keeper, nicer paint jobs on the head to match skirt patterns, new style extra strong quick clip, etc. ChatterBait Custom (*** exclusive) - $6.99 MSRP, features a 4/0 black nickel Mustad UltraPoint jig hook, wire trailer keeper, traditional banded skirt, skirt matched head paint jobs, extra strong quick clip, made and assembled in the USA ChatterBait XPS Pro (Bass Pro exclusive) - $7.99 MSRP, features a 5/0 black nickel Mustad UltraPoint spinnerbait hook (longer shank for larger swimbait trailers), traditional ChatterBait shape head, molded in trailer keeper, large neck collar to prevent skirts from slipping, double umbrella EZ Skirt for fuller profile, skirt-matched head paint schemes, extra strong quick clip, made and assembled in the USA Project Z ChatterBait - $8.49 MSRP, 5/0 black nickel Mustad UltraPoint spinnerbait hook, streamlined swim jig shaped head with 3D eyes, double trailer keeper, double umbrella EZ Skirt for fuller profile, skirt-matched head paint schemes, oversized neck collar to prevent skirts from slipping, extra strong quick clip, made in the USA ChatterBait Freedom - $8.49 MSRP, brand new, can be pre-ordered from *** but will be available soon, incorporates Freedom Tackle's interchangeable swinging hook design, allows for weedless rigging on a 5/0 long neck VMC EWG hook In response to a comment above about our blades bending and breaking, all of our blades are stamped from stainless material that is very strong. In strength testing on Instron machines, the blade has never been the weak link on any ChatterBait. The thickness of the blades is critical to the bait working as well as it does, and the thicker blades found on most other bladed jigs really reduce the action and vibration. We've learned this through a great deal of testing and trial and error. The blades will bend, but many anglers like to bend the blades to tweak the action of the baits, and they can easily be bent back. Finally, we stand behind our products 100%, so if you ever have any issues with our products, just let us know and we'll make it right! We always welcome your feedback and input too! Thanks!

Finally got this baby home to PA! Can't wait for the summer !!!! 31 hours on the motor 10ft talon 80 minnkota 1199-959 hummingbirds and a 728 on the dash . Super clean!!!!

Keep the line tight and try to pull back against the fish, not with them. Do everything right, I can guarantee you 100%, you're still going to lose fish.

Someone not from the KC area finally took me up on my invitation to come fish, and what a day to do it! Kickerfish1 and his friend joined me for a day chasing smallmouth. We had wind, rain, snow, and sleet, but we caught over 50 fish with several pretty nice ones in the mix. You can see the snow in the last picture of kickerfish1 with his nice smallmouth. Believe it or not, it snowed a lot harder than that for quite awhile.

After a long break from fishing the bait monkey sucked me back in. Have made a few orders in the last 2 weeks. Here are my first couple. Diawa steez xt paired with a diawa ballistic, a nrx 852, 853,854,895 all paired with chronarch CI4's then 2 mega bass levante rods paired with chronarch CI4's. Bait monkey talked me into Ordering a few sencos and cut tail worms this last week and just got them in.

Hugo OK My buddy's 6.4 and my 5.3

You think there's a difference? They come out of different back doors of the same factory, made by the same workers, made with the same components......

Spinning reels - Shimano Casting - shimano, megabass, daiwa, and old abu rounders Pretty much a shimano nut that ventures over to megabass once a year...

Bass have no ability to logically think thus will not care about line. If they cared about the line, then bass would care about the hooks, the spinner blades and the big plastic bills on the crankbaits. To the OP, what is the spawn situation where you are. Bass might be in protect the nest mode and not eat node. They will go to the bait to make sure it is not by the nest but most likely will not eat. Most if the time it will just move the bait if it has to. If you were to keep moving the bait into the same area, does the bass keep coming back?

One of the better posts I've seen on here in a while! I'm calling BS on this one. Go throw a DT14/DD22 for an hour on your 7:1, and then go put a 5:1 on that same rod and throw those same baits for an hour. I'd bet the farm that you will be able to tell a world of difference. I can't even stand to throw a DT10 on a 6:1 because of the lack of power and the strain it puts on me, and I use all high end Shimano/Diawa reels, so it's not a matter of reel quality.

Mine ain't going for it either lol I only caught 4 this morning. All three and four pounds, though, at least. I think I broke off my elusive DD under the boat too. Sickening. I can't get the glimpse of her size out of my head. Probably won't until Friday when I can try again. C'est la vie...

All this stuff is trends, thats all. They have to sell more so things are made either more expense and or with planned obsolescence. Rods made with techniques written on them and marketers telling gullible consumers that they need several to do what one or two used to do. Reels in different gears for the same reason. Grandpa with his metal 4ft. rod and wood one colored plug never really caught fish.......absolutely never big ones or world records! Nobody believes George Perry could have caught the record without a sub 5oz. 12 b.b. reel made out of unobtanium on a 7ft.3 and 3/16th.'s inch long rod in matching colors. 6 years from now when they need to make even more money they will tell their "pro's" to start using 5'6" pistol grip rods and proclaim them essential for skipping spybait worm hybrid lures with blue hooks.

I guess it's mandatory to add a custom handle to post in this thread: And before the custom handle: And of course, my rule is that you have to catch a fish. It's not a very big bass...but it's a genuine largemouth bass... (The reel still had a stock handle in this photo - imagine that - you don't NEED the custom handle to catch fish... Of course, now that I have the custom handle, I'll probably catch bigger bass... )

I would not throw swimbaits with braid, just heart break waiting to happen

Definitely try making longer casts, the fish could be coming u p and seeing you. Another thing you could do is retrieve a little faster when you see them, it makes them think the bait is trying to get away. And although I haven't decided wether the bass care, some guys think they do so flourocarbon would be a last ditch attempt to get them to strike your lure.

Here in Fl. lakes are almost all shallow water slop. I would encourage you to use the following baits based on what I have just read about your lake. 1. Weightless or 1/16 pegged lead, 5 " stick bait watermelon red flake, 16 lb test or heavier Fluro, 4/0 EWG Gammy Hook. 2. Swimming worm (CUT-R) rigged Texas, 1/8 pegged lead, 3/0 worm hook, Fluro. 3. Zoom Fluke, Texas rigged, 4/0 EWG, 1/16 pegged lead. Mono 4. Swimming Frog, Braid. 5. Hollow body Frog, Braid 6. 6" Z-Mann swim bait 5/0 weighted EWG hook. 7. Spinner Bait, Chartreuse and white, Willow Blades,(Bass Pro Shop Pro series. with trailer hook) 8. Swim Jig with matching color trailer.(Hack Attack) 9. Havoc pit boss, Black- Blue, Braid 1 1/4 tungsten weight , Pegged( For flipping and pitching the heavy slop) 10. Texas rig, 1/8 lead , ribbon tail, Red Shad color, 4/0 EWG Gammy Hook. These techniques should help your catch rate improve. Drifting across the lake will help you cover water and determine where the fish are holding. Light wind is always a + as the fish do not get that good of a look @ your moving baits. Remember to fish edges of the slop or where two different types of aquatic vegetation meet. R/ Chris

Fished Melvern yesterday with Keith. Rough and windy start, but had a few fish on a jerkbait right off the bat. Winds laid down around 1 and we were still catching fish. Caught probably 15 big whites too. Zero Drum. Slim profile baits were the ticket for us-110s, Raps, and DT6. Caught a few dragging a tube and the Ned for a little bit too. Water temps 48-49 all day and never broke 50. Creek arms seemed to make up our pattern, we didn't have any fish caught on my mainlake spots with the exception of a few on the dam right from the get go.

As most of you know, I like tinkering with my reels and sometimes my rods. These reels just came back. Daiwa A.O.i. Only 300 made back in '06. Who knows how many still around, but this one received a full tune. Upgraded bearings, drag, dragstar, carbon 90mm handle, RCS blue grips, etc. Paired with a Gan Craft Huddler, I'd say it turned out quite well. Megabass Speciale. 100 made I believe. Upgraded drag and bearings, along with a Megabass 90mm carbon handle. It's a very nice rose gold tone. The best for last. Shimano Stogie. First released back in 1998. I bought this new. Came in a cigar box. Although the finish is nice, the reel had sub par parts on it that never really allowed it to stand out. My reel tuner, Ian, made this his pet project. This is what the reel looked like when I sent it to Ian. And this is what the reel looks like now. Carbon handle, new drag star, upgraded bearings and drag, machined one off (to fit) line guide, machined one off (to fit) spool, painted thumb bar. It took the better part of a year. I could not be happier with the results.

Is tuning a crankbait a thing of the past? Not as long as Norman is still in business...

I was always brand loyal to Shimano until recently when I got a Megabass Zonda 68 and a couple of Daiwa Pixys. A PX68 Type-R and a JDM PX68R. The Megabass and the PX68R have been sold and the Type R is for sale. Daiwa is the only other brand that I would have ever considered and I found out that I do like Shimano more and there is no other reason to stray.

Caught a decent one in a neighborhood pond - 3lbs 8oz. The spinnerbait has been working great the past couple days.

How often do you cash a tournament check? Every time I go to the bank

Ice breaker fish today 3lb 9 oz on a flat side crankbait.

Good! If any species needs to be overfished it's the d**n snakeheads.

Had a short run to Olathe after my unwanted OT that ran into my weekend a until noon. Water was clearer than I expected and ranged from 53 at the dam to 56 in the pond. Caught fish everywhere in between but never in big numbers. The average size was pretty good though with my largest flirting with touching the 18" mark on a finesse jig. Didn't bother saving much of the video but put together a couple clips for anyone thinking of going out there. I fished Melvern with kickerfish1 and his friend from Omaha Friday. Windy, rain, driving snow, sleet, and the fish just kept on biting. We caught them on most everything as long as we were fishing a white jerkbait. I did catch a couple on a Luck E Strike G5 and the Ned and I believe there was a fish caught on a Keitech as well as a few on a Fluke. All 3 species of bass made the boat with 2 Bass Slams caught. The number of nice spots was the biggest shocker. My biggest was 17" and we had 6 or 7 over 15" and super fat. The marina was good and so was Eisenhower. The further down the lake we went the colder and muddier it got. We had 50 in the marina, 49 at the ramp, 47 down by Turkey with a couple feet of visibility. Worked through a lot of adversity, and those guys stuck it out longer than I thought they would in that junk, and we were rewarded with over 50 fish on the day. Very good chance I'll be back there Friday. That smallmouth jerkbait bite is a drug and I'm addicted. Several big whites and one tank of a sauger off the ramp right before we left too. You can really see how hard it snowed in the picture of kickerfish1 with his smallmouth.

Found this on youtube and figured I would share here. I just went through my whole box of hooks and made this change and it makes a huge difference already! All you need is a $0.99 box of safety pins! LC

Quite the opposite of tough!! Tournament record broken! 6 fish for over 31 pounds, half of the participants over 20 pounds!! You needed over 25 pounds to take any money!!

As always, pre spawn has kicked off to be a very difficult and frustrating time for me. I am catching plenty of small bass, mostly 12" and under are the only ones willing to eat. Most of the fish I see are in 2FOW or less and are VERY easily spooked. The only thing they will eat is a wacky rigged worm, a senko actually sinks too fast! Many of the fish will mouth the bait and spit it out without really showing much enthusiasm. These are not bedding fish. I saw a fish in the 7-8lb class this morning with her dorsal almost sticking out of the water and she didn't even pay attention to a bait being twitched in front of her nose. Does this stuff happen to anyone else? I always hear about a great pre spawn bite and aggressive fish, I just never see it! this is what the ones that will eat look like, anything 2lbs or better will either shy away or not commit to a bait, but I am seeing them.

Don't give up hope. I have a lake like that close to me that rarely produces a fish over 15" and annually produces 0 fish over 20" even in the states shocking samples, but they're still in there.

My season last year consisted of our little Thursday night tournaments, which for me the first cycle through went; first, first, second, fourth, first, skipped, first, first, so fairly often

That may have been the tackle monkey speaking through my body... "the more reels you try, the better the chances you'll; find one your really love." It also may be me justifying my reel-buying. :-) Are you serious? I think anyone that uses tools on a regular basis cares a lot about the brand name. I care about the brands of the tools I use on a regular basis and know that my Estwing hammers, Proto adjustable wrenches and Bohdhus hex wrenches are quality tools that will serve me well. Brand is the way you recognize quality after you find it, so that you'll be able to find it again. I love fishing and care about the quality and performance of my gear. When I try a brand and it proves to have excellent quality and performance, I'll buy it again in the future. That's why I've made repeat purchases on four different brands of reels... we're blessed with some great choices! Tight lines, Bob

I use the same setup as I do for spinnerbaits. 6'9 MH/MF rod w/ 12lb copolymer (Izorline xxx). 12lb YZH would do the job also.

How could you not like this guy? He's been a class act his whole career. Congrats Rick!

We'll another florida fun filled vacation for the books got out to the everglades the big O and some locally fisheries thanks to my buddy Robert. Here's some pics of the catches biggest fish ran 4lbs 2oz. All in all couldn't beat the weather I got and being from the north it was nice just to get a line in the water. See you in 2017 Florida

Lews tournament pro g.. The store sells them for 199 but can be found for 150 -160 if you want to save money the Lews tournament MB is a very nice reel as well.. Store sells them for 140 but can be found for a 100 - 110

2000 Champion 203 DX. Need to get some updated pics with the Talon and all the electronics on it though.

First time out this year. Hit the Fox Chain. Water was 42 when I launched and made its way to 47 when I came back in. Bass bit was non existent except for 1 jig bite I didn't land. After 2 hours of nothing, I figured I'd try for some panfish. Tied on a 1/16oz white jighead and tipped it with a Gulp 2" minnow. Got a couple bites here and there but couldn't land anything. Found me a decent dock and pulled out all keepers. The biggest one was almost 13" which I think is the biggest crappie I've caught on the Chain. Wasn't much sorting, I threw only one short one back.

Mark Davis, David Fritts, & Paul Elias all use 5.1:1! Works for me!

3/15 - Pre fishing for V&M tounament. Launched at Big Bass,fished some small coves between Big Bass and Negreet. Caught a couple short fish and (2) 3.6 lbers on watermelon red wacky worm and spinnerbait. Wind was kicking butt so picked up boat and launched at Pirates Cove at noon. Fished main lake points and secondary points. Caught 21 bass with 5 biggest going 18 lbs. All on wacky worm in watermelon red and watermelon purple. 3/19 - Tournament day - Launched in Pirates cove. Big north wind blowing kicking butt. Ended up with 5 for 11.54 back off the bank in 6 -8 ft. Caught one punching hay grass and 4 on wacky worms. Wind really limited us on where we could go. Trying to convince the wife I NEED one one of those big fiberglass boats loaded with powerpoles, but she ain't biting.

One is a power heavier than the other ... One throws lighter baits better than the other One has a little more backbone than the other One is 6 inches longer than the other one

isn't the original super cheap effective swimbait called a grub

There isn't a soft swimbait on the market that will match the Keitech at slow speeds and have the durability you're wanting. It's just something you have to deal with if you want to use them. Buy some Mend-it. Gotta pay to play /w these.

Been there, walked it for years......until I needed parts and a non smart alec on the phone. Happy I'm off that road Thats too bad for us as consumers. I expect a pistol I use for defense, a shotgun I use for hunting and the knives I have in my pocket to last my life and then into my kids. They are going to cherish them just as I cherish those things that were my fathers. Too bad we can't see that and demand it in our fishing equipment.

30lb can be a little thin for a baitcaster and dig into the spool or backlash if you're not experienced. I prefer 40lb and up on baitcasters, otherwise I use mono of fluoro is smaller lb tests.

Yo-Zuri Hybrid #12 has a diameter of .013" and a breaking strength of 19.5 lbs. Ande Premium #12 has a diameter of .014"; #20 has a diameter of .018". Take your pick, Yo-Zuri is still thinner.