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EDIT: Here's the article Louisiana Sportsman wrote on me and the fish: http://www.louisianasportsman.com/details.php?id=9644# PB went from 6 something to 11.12 last night! Last year I lost one that I "know" was over 10, this makes up for it. Didn't break me off this time because I was prepared with the right equipment. It qualified for Toledo Bend's "lunker program," so I'll get a replica for free. I weighed her in on an official scale and let her go back into the lake, it was a beautiful sight. WOO!

If you fish this type of Swimmer very much, you'll notice that our action at slow retrieve speeds or movement is faster than the others out there. Also at faster retrieves the others brands body and head action decreases to none with only the boot tail moving whereas the Rage Swimmers head and body continue the movement and vibration, especially on a weighted hooks. Jig heads kill the head action more than weighted hooks but they are a very popular and effective rig for them as well. For sure the tails are slightly different in angles, size and shape... a close look will give you the differences. As mentioned in prior comments, there are more per package in ours which is approx. 20% price improvement and of course ALL of our RageTails are made here in the USA and not Japan or China like so many other brands... The ribs are a hybrid style rib between straight and reverse angle ribs for a reason... It helps with the action, the texture or feel and makes the bait harder for the fish to reject after the bite. Our Pros are extremely happy with them and say they're the best, and they don't BS when it comes to proto designs etc. Most of them also mentioned that the plastic recipe right on the mark for softness as well as good durability. I like'em too and Hope you will as well! I'll try to post a recent action video for you here so that you can review the action results. Oh by the way, in an earlier comment there was a mention that flake might cause the plastic texture to be softer... Many have thought the same in the past but actually the opposite is true. Flake, like salt when added to plastisol causes the texture to become firmer. Flake and salt are like small braces inside the plastic which firms the feel of soft plastics. Of course, as the bait is used over a long period of time, the texture will become softer as the flake and salt starts breaking loose inside the plastic releasing it's bracing affect.... Hope that helps and is somewhat understandable!

Fantastic Bass ~ ! PB's are Always a Blast. Please allow me to be the first to Welcome you into the 11 lb. Club ~ Congrats btw - when you catch a bass that big you've automatically earned the right to long arm, short arm or even Gumby arm it - and I don't even really know what that last one is . . . . A-Jay

This 4lb 10oz LMB was part of my 17lb 8oz bag that helped me secure my first win as a co . I had my limit by 8:30 am on a dropshot bite that stayed hot throughout the entire morning. It was tough to put it down, but I could not cull out a few of my smaller 14 and 15 inch fish with that technique. I picked up a homemade jig sometime around 11 am and made 3 or 4 critical culls including the fish in this photo. It was an awesome Saturday!

Here's a better photo of the reverse ribs and the tail section.

Piggybacking @conorsixtakc. Shameless photo dump. Weekend off guiding, really needed this. Fished a new spot and didn't disappoint. Barely had to move more than 75 yards in 6.5 hours. And didn't have to deal with not one white or drum the entire time. #allbrowneverything

Got the 2 manner out on a good little lake Saturday and got a 21 lb bag on best 5. (4.75, 4.5, 4.5, 4.2, & 3.5) (Missing pic of one of the 4.5's...literally forgot to get a pic after weighing it)

Y'all need to quit reading color charts & start throwing what the bass want! Red Bug, Cran Apple, Plum, Cherryseed, Plum Apple, & other reds can be extremely deadly in any water or sky conditions.

Caught this chunker a few weeks ago but forgot to post it up. Caught it with the trusty old jig!

IMO a beginner bait caster would be of good enough quality to offer consistent, reliable casting that you won't "outgrow" as your skills progress. I find either centrifugal or dual brakes the most forgiving. Shop among the name brands in the $100>msrp range and you'll do well

I don´t know how many times I´ve said it but apparently nobody ever pays attention: you don´t have to mimic anything. I don´t know how many times I´ve said: where I live bass have never seen a trout nor will ever see a trout still, trout imitators are some of my most productive baits, why ? because they imitate food.

My guess is you are mistaking carp for bass . I have never witnessed bass behaving like that but carp , often .

Interesting how quickly the tone of this thread changed. Started out innocent enough and then hung a hard right. I have not ever fished a Keitech bait. They have never been available to me here locally. SK always is. A-Jay

I use a Falcon Carolina Lizard Dragger rod, a hi-speed reel with braided line and a 12# leader.

@Ondrejka and I left it all out there Saturday. I'm sure most of you already heard via B's facebookz. Good numbers and size, especially for Wolf. Glad we audibled and avoided the clusterf*** that surely was Melvern that day. Here's 2 of my 4 that kept, biggest just under 20". The gal with the pretty tattoos jettisoned 5 feet out of the water twice before joining us in the boat.

Nice lookin' gills Paul. Here's a pair of 2.5lbers I got last night throwing a wake bait. Water was getting really active right at sundown.

Keitech will be fine, the word of mouth on the Impacts will keep them flying off the shelves, especially those that have already had success with them. GYCB was fine after other companies started making stickbaits. Retail is a brutal business, imitation happens all the time, buy what you're confident and successful with, and just be happy you have options to choose from.

1/16 jig w/ Lake fork baby shad 15lb power pro 6lb cxx leader No weight but somewhere around 5 I guess. I previously caught a 6-7lb lmb on a fluke Jr and bunches of 3+lb on the same bait.

You haven't missed anything. If your weather has been like ours in WNY has, they will have moved up, and gone back.............moved up, and gone back. They will play this game all spring long if the weather is not warm and stable. Each time a bunch move up, a few stay up an spawn despite the unfavorable conditions, but most pull back out. A big wave will come when mother nature finally pulls it's head out of her rear end. Where that wave will go is a big question in years like this. If you are on a lake with a lot of shallow backwater spawning areas, and they keep leaving because the conditions force them too, don't be surprised if they just don't go back, because by they time it settles out weather wise, the rest of the lake will be to their liking and bass are lazy, they won't travel miles to spawn in a swamp when they can go 50 yards to the bank of the lake which has warmed up enough. These fish that are in a constant state of flux on moving up, pulling out, etc...are among the most difficult to catch. They are not locked on beds, and they are not doing "normal" prespawn or postspawn things. Quite often they pull off, out side of spawning areas and just suspend and "wait" for better conditions.

I found bass fishing while recovering from a methamphetamine addiction 2 years ago. Needed something to do to fill my time so I picked it up on a whim. Found out I enjoyed the never ending learning process and pure fun, and now I'm addicted to bass fishing. Lol

are you aware that he won an elite event this year? st johns river....

I bought a new Garmin echoMap 73sv over the winter and have spent the last week on a fishing trip getting to know it. I haven't gotten much use out of the side view yet, but the pictures it and the down view give look pretty good. The part that has amazed me is the accuracy of the built in maps. I'd been using a Lowrance with the Fishing Hots Spots chip for a couple of years and the mapping left a lot to be desired. I just thought all maps were like that. On the trip I am on currently, I fish several off shore under water humps and islands that don't even show up on the Lowrance. I'd marked waypoints that I could come back to, but those were just one point on a piece of structure that might cover several acres. Even while fishing, you often get blown off your spot, and the Garmin would make it easy to get right back on it. The contour lines almost never lined up with what the sonar was showing me on the Lowrance. In contrast, the Garmin is spot on all the time. I would be looking for the edge of a 5 foot flat that comes out of 30 feet of water. And I could locate any section of it just by using the map. It's what I expected the GPS to work like when I bought the Lowrance, but it was never found in real life. Garmin's maps showed me several new spots that I have never seen on any paper map I've ever seen. For you guys who have had quality GPS mapping, I'm sure you are going well Duh... But for me, this has saved me many hours just in the past week alone. For you fishermen getting ready to buy a new unit with GPS, do your homework and make sure the mapping is top notch. It sure is on the Garmin with LakeVu HD Ultra maps.

Well probably not the best idea to buy a bass boat right before you leave for 7 months buuuuut I couldn't pass it up. Paid 5k for a 97 champion 1717ft. Carpet is great, seats are immaculate, all gauges worked, lowrance on bow and console, live wells worked great couldn't be happier at this point lol. We will see after I get back.

There are few things that get me up at 5am faster than knowing I have a day of fishing ahead of me. I consider myself a new guy, I've only been passionately bass fishing for about 3 years now, I didnt grow up in an area where there were lakes and rivers to fish. It wasn't until I joined the military and moved around that I found this new passion of mine. Being out on the water with no one around, watching the steam lift from the water in the early morning, calms me and relaxes me more than anything else in the world. Fishing is my release after a long week, fishing takes me away from all the negativity in this world. Feeling the pull at the end of my line not knowing what is there, or how big it is, is something that gets my heart pumping every time. The challenge of tricking a predator into biting my presentation is an addiction, and with every fish I learn something new. I look forward to many many more years on the water. What drives you to spend hours on the water, fishing, learning, living?

Had 2 hours this evening so I headed to a local reservoir for a few bass before the monsoon hits tomorrow! I caught most of my fish (14 total) on a frog in willow grass, or pitching a pegged 3/8oz t-rig with a pit boss. I tossed to a laydown and my bait was going to land on the tree trunk so I pulled it about a foot when it hit the water so it would fall beside the tree. When I did this I saw a big one come out from under the laydown and eat it. I reared back on the fish and after a brief fight and one nerve-wracking jump, I got my hands on her. She weighed 5.75lbs and was 22" long. I never catch any big ones until May or later anyways so this is only the beginning! Also drew first blood with the pompadour. The big size is not too big

One thing is for sure i love those prices.

All This... For all this... I did lose a big one, so that made the day worse, but I didn't get skunked...

You know the spot, it was loaded when we were there last too.

A bass is a predatory species. In certain cases a specific pattern may be better but they aren't going to look at a trout colored bait and say "Wait a minute, I've never seen this fish before I better not eat it." I throw a Hudd in trout pattern here in NC in the triad area and catch fish all the way up to 9lbs on it being the biggest and all the way down to 2.5lbs being the smallest. That tells me the size and the pattern does not stop them from being a predator by instinct and nature.

I'd call Humminbird and ask them tomorrow to make sure whatever you buy has Toledo bend in HD. I have had my lakemaster chip for a few years and Toeldo isn't HD on it. They just started offering it in HD, so I downloaded just Toledo Bend off the Humminbird website for $30 in HD.

I don't know if I have a favorite color (yet). It seems like when I decide to fish the Ned Rig, I grab the first package of TRDs or ZinkerZ I lay my hands on, and use that color. I have at least a half-dozen colors, and every one I've tried seems to work like crazy! Tight lines, Bob

I've released bed fish and they swam off elsewhere, came back in an hour and they were back at the bed.

Cabela's Prodigy is on sale for $55, I believe. Aluminum body, 10 bearings, Aluminum spool and Magforce magnetic cast control, 7.9oz. and it's available in both right/left and two gearings.

Fished hard all day on Jenness and ended up in 3rd, not bad for my first kayak tournament I'd say! Lots and lots of fish on beds, nearly all my fish came from drop shots and senkos surprisingly. Ended the say with 89.5 inches with a kicker 20 inch that weighed 4lb 4 oz. I was off from big fish by .5 inches, oh well. Hopefully I'll find a fat post spawn fish next month at Harvey Lake.

It's by no means a traditional bass boat. If you are asking if it hampers presentation, I'm going to say no. My Predator is considerably larger than the ProV Bass, and my deck is raised but not to the gunwale. I'm guessing an 8" gap between the gunwale and the deck. Flipping/pitching is not a problem and my son is a pro at skipping under docks from the deck....me, not so much. As far as lipping bass, it's doable but in most instances we either flip them in or net them. As far as handling rough water, the one thing you won't do in that boat is spear a wave. The hull is heavy for an aluminum boat and the fuel tank runs up the keel which will give you a 'glass type ride. The downside of the high freeboard is getting pushed around by the wind but, again, the hull is heavy. It will offset some of the blowing around like you would experience in a cookie cutter tin mod v hull.

American Legacy has their Daiwa Fuego's on sale at $78. If you sign up for the first time you get $25 off a $100 order so you should be able to get an additional $25 worth of stuff for free.

Trip #28 I fished from noon-4pm today.............I wouldn't say it was on fire, as I have better expectations of what "on fire" means, but it was good. Caught 23 largemouth, and 6 smallmouth. Best five were a mix of the two at : 4-9 (LM), 4-4 (SM), 4-2 (SM), 4-2 (LM) and 3-14 (LM)

Turn the power down to 2 or 3. It's much easier to control at lower speeds. And also make sure your motor is all the way down into the locked position. I'm, also not a fan of electric steer pedals. I'm used to steering "by feel". I tell by the position of my foot, which way I'm going. With electric, you have no choice but take your eyes off of fishing, and look at your arrow every time you change direction. Very distracting. I know some people just love them. Great for them. It's just not for me.

I'd agree that a higher quality reel performs better than an entry level product. These reels do routinely offer consistent & repeatable performance which can be a big help when learning to use the equipment correctly. So theoretically this should help a "beginner, but often times it does not. Perhaps think of it like learning to drive - You could certainly learn on a Bentley but most do not. What does really help speed up the revolving spool usage learning curve, is instead of having a high quality reel, which may not be necessary ~ having high quality instruction is hard to replace. It's extra challenging to teach ourselves something with out it. A-Jay

Really? If anyone try's to give you one, let me know, I'll take it. I'm just the opposite, I'd never again have a cable steer with those tall foot pedals that you have stand with one foot up high and try to hold your balance while being rocked by boat wakes. Or, you have to cut a hole in your deck to bring it to a reasonable level. I just use my toe and my foot on the floor to operate the foot pedal on my Terrova. I can do it standing or sitting, I can move the pedal anywhere in the boat, or operate the motor via remote control from the helm. I can point the motor in one direction, put it on constant run, the the motor will hold the course without me touching it, or hold me in place if I want. It's all what you get used to. To the original poster, keep fishing and keep at it, you'll get better the more you use whichever type you have.

Yelp! And they are no comparison to Champion!

Trout baits will work anywhere but Texas. Don't even bother trying

(1/8th oz) Gamakatsu Premium Round Jig Head + Zoom Fat Albert Grub (Green Pumpkin) + a Drop of Loctite Super Glue Professional Liquid. "Bait of the Year" for me so far... absolutely deadly. WolfyBrandon

Memorial day is still over a week away.

Love the old school trucker hat. They are back in style now. I heard the hipsters love them.

I've used braid for every type of fishing. I even use it when I go trout fishing. I love it. I can't stand how other lines have memory and get twisted up.

Some one correct me if I'm wrong. Mister twister's sassy shad the first swim bait, Rapala had the first minnow, Mepps the first French blade inline, Panther Martin the first shaft through inline, Fred Young the first square bill, and Heddon the first lipless crank bait. Heddon the first walking style surface bait, Don't know who made the first spinner bait , plastic worm or living rubber skirted jig. Every manufacture all over the world has copies of all these baits. If it catches fish someone is going to find a way to make it cheaper. Sometimes the cheaper copies work, other times they don't. When I had very little money I always bought cheap nock offs. Now I tend to buy the mid priced brands. I think it would be a very bad decision for a company to no make a type of lure because they didn't come up with the original idea. I see nothing wrong with this type of competition. That is my opinion, but I have been know to be wrong from time to time. If the idea is protected by a patent than that is a different, issue, and illegal. I'm still waiting for a cheap version of the helicopter lure.

Why do I fish? Im married, with children...

I have enjoyed greatly every single bass that I have taken to meet Mrs Frying pan. If taking away a fish causes you discomfort look for another hobby.

Or maybe a very talented and creative guy might look at a bait and think this could have been better, not just good enough.