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Everyone on here knows I have nrx, glx's, and imx rods. Also Shimano Core's, Chronarchs, Curado's Calcutta's and Scorpion reels. Yet this season I have been using almost exclusively Berkley lightning rods and Citicas, yes, the dreaded "G" series Citicas. My fishing success has not suffered one iota. Neither in numbers or quality. The lightning rod has decent sensitivity and is light enough. Nothing at all wrong with a lightning rod. You don't have to have an $800 dollar rig to fish. It's really nice, but definitely not a necessity. Hootie

Man o man I have been in a small drought for finding big bass. We have had a lot of rain and the ponds look like chocolate milk. Welp, I have a few ponds that I fish from the bank but I also have 3 that I put my boat in. One is great. I've caught my PB of 7.13 last year at this pond as well. I had 3 hours last night and so I hit it up. It was muddy...not orange but still. After an hour I had thrown a black zoom worm, a black/blue Ned rig, a black and blue jig, then with a rage craw trailer and was getting ready to throw a spinner bait but then..... With a black 4" lizard, I casted into a spot that I had caught a 5 on the spawn last year. It's under heavy cover and I can't skip sitting down so... My lizard landed on the bottom of the tree limb. I get this a lot but this time my lizard was dangling in the water. Well, since it was slow fishing and I hadn't had a bite, I let it set there and pulled it up and down letting it tap the water and go in and out. Since it was up in there deep I thought "hey maybe I'll get lucky" so after about 15 seconds of this I let it fall to the bottom (2 feet deep here) and I pulled it back and let it rest on the surface and this big fat girl took it!!! The entire limb went underwater!!! I set the hook so hard that my back is a little stiff this morning!!!! She fought and fought hard! I knew it was a new PB! Maybe over 8 this time! She went under the boat and I knew it was over but my 30 pound braid and 5/0 hook stayed true. She finally gave up the ghost and I netted her. She was just 3 ounces from last years PB! 7.10. I haven't checked my notes and pics but she may Just be that PB from last year. I just wanted to share. It's been a tough grind for a week for me. A total dinkfest but that's why we go back right?!! For the record her tail was mangled and had open sores on the belly side as well as her stomach. I was sure the spawn was over as its so late in the year but she was in an area that holds beds and was in 2 feet of water but I just don't know. This water has been in the 70's for a month now. Besides her bite I didn't get a bite at all. Nothing. Hence the title I'll take lucky over good any day! Have a great day guys!!! And yes she went back in. Big catch and release guy here. I have also got full video of this. May slap it on YouTube. I'll post a link if I do. It even shows the limb going into the water lol.

This is what I'm using a LOT in the bass post spawn, and the shad spawn being in high gear... It's the Strike King Swinging Swim Jig and the 3.75" Rage Swimmer in Green Pumpkin/Pearl. This is on the deck basically all of the time recently. The jig is a brim color and totally weedless, so it goes through everything making it terrific in shallow brush... and Green Pumpkin/Pearl is a NEW favorite color for me in many of the products we have... Hope yall like it too!

I want to Thank EVERYONE for ALL of the comments and discussion points in this topic! I would click the like button on every ones responses but it allows only so many at a time or per day and I often run short of days that I can be in the office, lol... otherwise I'm FISHING I 'm also one who tries to take all of the different opinions and ideas into consideration especially with this group here at BassResource. It's the FIRST forum I became involved with over 10yrs ago and basically the only one I relate to nowadays. Up to this point, all of my soft plastic designs have had the patented Rage Flange on them to add hyper action to otherwise low action bait designs. Also, this is the first boot tail style that I've been asked to produce. As you know, Boot tail swimmers have been around for years and have gone through an evolution of design changes as well. Rib designs on soft plastics were also implemented long ago and one of their biggest benefits is giving a softer texture or feel. Making the swimmer ribs to forward angles plus tiny short straight tips basically gives the same soft texture but adds more deflection when contacting grass, wood or other objects, as well as other benefits. Regarding the action and fish catching results... IMO, they're RIGHT and I hope you find the same Being able to produce them here in the U.S. for a good price plus adding 1 more bait which equals approx. 20% improvement over others is also important to me. I'm SURE that there will be several more colors added in the near future but I'm pretty happy with some of them we have now, like the KVD magic and the Grn Pmp/Pearl, they're getting Smoked in my waters! Is there another NEW Rage Tail bait coming out at ICAST??? YES and I'll give you a look at it in a week or so... It's just a different size model of one of my other designs that I LOVE!!! So I'll let you guess for now

Didn't mean to offend anyone. Just in general we spend lots of money on equipment so we should use what we know will catch fish. Took me 73 years to acquire this stuff. Retired and on SS. I have watched the forums for a few years gathering stuff at bargain prices. with serious health issues, and figuring I'll kick off any minute, I decided to splurge and go out with a bang. Hopefully, before then, I'll put the stuff up here so others can do the same. Now, back to the $.20 savings.

5 Falcon Bucoo, 7ft micro guide rods brand new for 19.99 each at a walmart where my daughter goes to college. All had original tags, with 129.99 each. They had 5, soooo i bought 5

3.9 & 4.7 in clay colored water from the kayak

For my Calc class we had to do a final project of anything related to calculus. I chose to use our 3D printer to print a lure. I printed a spook lookalike, because of the simplicity of designing. If interested I'll include the math, I used to prove it would float before printed. Still awaiting the paint job, as all my school has is purple filament. Math: I used this function, as it mimicked the shape after revolved around the x axis- y=0.01x³ - 0.13x² + 0.51x + 0.14 Then rotated around the axis with this integration, from 0-7 π ∫((0.01x³ - 0.13x² + 0.51x + 0.14)^2)=Volume Volume=9.92cm^3 Now calculating the density from the mass given from the printing program Mass 7.83 grams So the density is .789g/cm^3 The density of water is 1g/cm^3 so this lure will float, and it does.

Bravo to Lews... Purchased a tournament MB roughly a year ago and recently had issues with the worm gear. Sent it in to Lews speed service and they sent me a brand new reel. If you have a tournament MB and your worm gear malfunctions, send it in to Lews because some apparently have defects and they will replace it.

Might have just been a turd hitting the toilet water. PLOOOOOOOOOOOOSH

Got myself a little graduation gift.

what have i done??? NRX 853cJWR came in yesterday! Will be my new jig rod, teamed up with a Team Lew's Pro Z 7.1:1 and 16lb Sniper.

These are why we can't drag them on the bottom in a lot of our lakes. If it's not those, it's all the moss on the bottom.

for the money, i can't find a rod that beats the lightning shock series. i still have 2 of them that get used on the river.

You can use it on the bottom, that is why there is a drag and deadstick retrieve in the six Midwest finesse retrieves where the bait never leaves the bottom. And sometimes the fish do want it slowly moving on the bottom, but at least for myself once they get out of winter and early spring the swim glide and shake retrieve catches far more bass and allows you to cover more water than the drag and deadstick. Usually between the months of March and October or November I use the swim glide and shake retrieve, and in the winter the drag and deadstick or even a straight deadstick is often the ticket. Of course there are exceptions to this, if the bass are active after a couple of abnormally warm days in winter the swim glide and shake retrieve is best, and if the bass shut down in the summer I will occasionally use the drag and deadstick. And T-9 answered your other questions very well, take his advice.

I don't really care if they knocked something off. What I care about is performance and cost.

I bet it will, but not sure they have Green Pumpkin/Pearl

so that he can buy them back again

I can no longer relate to any of that - nor do I ever plan to . . . A-Jay

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.

Nothing better than fishing for half an hour and being rewarded with that huge jump out out the mats for a frog! Missed a few good ones in the slop though.

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!

Sometimes yes. But his avatar indicates his last visit was 17 hours ago. Guess we'll see

Brand new to this forum. Like what I have read. I have a Predator Bass Raider 10E that I have been working on the past several months trying to get it ready to go. Lots of good ideas on this forum and have appreciated all the advice and suggestions that I have read.

Zman baits are great because of their buoyancy and their durability, but about any soft plastic 3" or less will work on the jig head, or perhaps a bit longer if it doesn't have much bulk like a finesse worm or similar. I think Ned caps it off at <4." A lot depends upon whether you are fishing for 101 bass in 4 hrs like Ned promotes (where Zman baits excel), or just finesse fishing in general. A couple non-Zman baits I've used with great success include the Zoom finesse worm, tiny brush hog, and 4" lizard. An Erie Darter Jr. is also killer, but it doesn't hold up well on a Gopher head. I'm not a huge fan of seeing how many different baits I can get to work, instead preferring to stick with just half a dozen or less proven baits/shapes/colors. I'm a big fan of simplicity (K.I.S.S.) in this regard. -T9

I think I heard a bomb go off in the kc fishing world!

Absolutely nothing wrong with using Z-Man plastics on heavier heads to fish more like you're used to and take advantage of their buoyancy attributes. I believe the point smalljaw and I are trying to make is that at that point, you are no longer "Ned rigging," but instead back to traditional jig worming techniques. As for walleyes, check out this link of interest: http://www.in-fisherman.com/gear-accessories/drew-reeses-midwest-finesse-walleye-tactics/ -T9

Waded my local river last night after work from about 6 to 8 last night. I started with high hopes but I must have had some bad karma brewing because things went down hill fast. Started about 3 casts in when I hit a tree limb on my back cast and lost about 50 yards of mono. Next I was wading in about 2.5 feet of water and my wading belt came loose. Into the muddy water fell my tackle bad and tucked snugly in the back was my Cumara casting rod and Curado 50e. After about 5 minutes combing the bottom I found it thankfully. I fished until dark with only 2 dinks. I decided to walk back downriver to my car. I tied on my new black Whopper Plopper and started moving. Casting toward the other bank in about 12 inches of water I wasn't expecting much. Then BOOM. A solid 3# smallie crushed it. After a short battle I got him to the bank and started to work on the trebles. My luck had turned around... Or so I thought. The fish made a quick flop out of my grip and buried two hooks of the rear treble into my pinky and ring finger (my other first.) I bit down, took my pliers in my left hand and started working them back out. Thankfully this was a brand new bait so hooks were as clean as can be. I took a quick pic of the fish rinsed the blood off my hand and went to the car. Looking back on the picture this morning I had to ask myself "was that one fish worth all the pain and frustration." It was.

Take apart and give a good cleaning and grease those moving parts. It may be that the mechanism that does that function is so dirty it won't engage. If you can't get it, BPS will probably fix it for $19.95 + shipping. They've fixed 2 reels for me for minimal cost. I had the same problem with a BPS Rick Clunn reel that I bought new. It was basically a $100 reel on sale for about $70. I had some buyer's remorse. I took apart and lubed it and it has slowly gotten better over time. Now it's one of my favorites. Kinda like a good 191A1 pistol, it needed some breaking in.

yes, its a common thing during the unpredictable spring months when spawning takes place.

The space in between the spool and frame sounds like you have the spool tension extremely loose. You might be able to add/change drag washers to be able to tighten the drag down without cinching it down, but as long as it is tightening I'd probably not be real worried about that. I've had very good luck with Okuma reels, but haven't tried one of their more inexpensive reels, so not sure if those are known issues with that reel or unique to your reel.

I think I'm gonna go with the SV 103.

I would start with two basic colors, white and bluegill. I use 1/4 oz for water 1-5 feet, and 3/8 for anything deeper than that. The most durable trailer that works great is the rage tail menace. I would get a pack of watermelon red, and a pack of pearl white. Siebert outdoors is a great source for both, I tie my own jigs but source the heads from him since they are such good quality.

Fished it today try pitching jigs, hollowbody frogs and flukes. I caught a decent number today but no big girls...

I learned my lesson in a former life. I was working on a job at a hospital and university complex in St Louis. I could get in early and park at a meter, and the fine for the day was less than the cost and hassle of parking in a garage. I would go once a week and pay my fines. What I didn't know was that once you got over a couple of outstanding tickets they put you on the "tow" list. I came out one day to see my company van being hooked to a tow truck. When I tried to convince the local police officer that I would pay all the fines and he should let me go, he told me I had two choices, either let them tow my van or go to jail. I said if I go to jail you are still going to tow my van. He agreed, and I realized that I was about two words away from being cuffed. By the time I paid a"dangerous" hookup fee, towing, impoundment, fines and penalties it cost me $400 and a half a day of jumping through hoops. In the movie Cool Hand Luke he ends in prison, and ultimately dead for messing with the parking system. Don't let this happen to you!

For years I Carolina rigged small cranks to get them deep, mostly to offer the fish something different at that depth. The past few seasons, although I have a lot of confidence in deep cranking, I've been physically unable to. I saw Bill Dance using that rig with a lipless crank and figured any bait could work with it.

Not to get too deep into semantics, but anything from an 1/8-oz on up is typically considered "power finesse" in the eyes of a Midwest finesse angler. Pretty much the same for any jig head that uses a hook larger than a No. 1. Presentations that meet either or especially both of those criteria then pushes you more toward actual shaky head fishing or jig worming, and moves you away from "Ned Rigging". Again just semantics, but I think I'd argue that there could be no such thing as "Power" Ned rigging. Ned rigging isn't concerned about triggering bites with faster fall rates, but instead putting something small and almost neutrally buoyant in front of a fishes face for a good period of time, usually in shallow water. If we need speed to trigger a bite, it would be accomplished with a straight swim retrieve, not a heavy jig head. -T9

Here's pics of 4 of my 5 best from Saturday that went for 21 lbs. (4.75, 4.5 4.5, 4.2, and 3.5, one of the 4.5's I forgot to get a pic after weighing)

I've switched to mono backing just to save cost on line. There really is little downside, just make sure not to add so much backing that you are getting down to your connection knot on a long cast.

Actually buzzed bait, the comment is that Flake and salt makes soft plastics firmer in texture or feel... durability is most ALWAYS better regardless of the recipe of plastisol when there no salt or flake, so you're on the right track when discussing durability for sure! Also in response to your other question, any soft plastics that are removed from a quality made soft plastic bag and placed in fishing boxes of most any type will start to lose it's oil and elasticity. That's just the nature of the beast, lol... hope that helps!

This just doesn't look very talented and creative in any way except to move in on another bait companies bread and butter. You hang that picture up in any court room and you will be hard pressed to find a jury (unless the jury is blind) to say someone didn't copy someone else work. Only a elitist bass fisherman and not even all of them will commit to saying that isn't a copy. I know I know its been going on in the bait industry its a cat n mouse bs game etc. But seriously is this the best SK could come up with? I guess it just irritates me that this is what business has come to. Just dirty in my book and sure some others have done the same but since when did two wrongs make either right. Put yourself on the receiving end of some stunt like this and I bet those who think its all fair etc would have a 180 view when it was their $ on the line. SK can add to here 2016 - Copied the Keitech FAT Swing Impact but with our great innovation we reversed the ribs, lengthened the hook slot, and shortened the bait by .05 inches With Over 2,600 Strike King Brand SKUs we ran out of ideas so we copied a successful competitor.

No regerts .

Gophers and ShroomZ, mostly 1/16 but also 1/32nd. 1/8-oz. is a brick and would be relegated to deep water or straight swim retrieves. Ditch the baitcaster -T9

Welcome to BR !!!

I can say that I'm glad I didn't. My wife is a couple years older than me, thousands of dollars in debt to student loans, and makes less money than I do. Granted, it all depends on what you choose to major in and if you're able to find a job in that field, but with the way the economy is, I'd have a hard time doing it.

Mainly because my dad took me.When I was 4 I caught some kind of little fish while fishing at Ft Fisher NC.When I was 8 or so I caught a good size black drum while surf fishing at ocean isle beach in NC.Then I was hooked and wanted to go all the time( when I wasn't playing baseball).I started bass fishing when I was 14-15.And its consistently been my favorite although I love all kinds of fishing.I do it now for fellowship with friends and family and God,sometimes for food( although we usually eat more saltwater and other freshwater fish than bass.) And just because they're really interesting and fun to catch.I think they're really cool fish.The adrenaline rush when a fish picks up the worm..Enjoying time on the water but seeing the lights on at home down the lake...Feeling that nice little breeze as you make your way up the lake..Seeing the G-kids excitement in catching even a small fish...The shock of a fish nailing a top water bait when you least expected it...Seeing bass bedding around the full moon when you were expecting they would...And on and on And on.....

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.