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There are a number of threads here on the BR forum that include 'rod warranty' stories. Some positive - some not so much. Here's a positive one. While fishing in Mexico earlier this month, I had a St Croix Travel rod blank fail on a hook set (from a surprisingly small bass). This has happened in the past and the first time St Croix replaced them under warranty. Since then, most all of these rods have failed in a similar fashion. I no longer ask to replace them as I've decided to go another direction for my travel rod needs. Instead, I've utilized the Gold Star Up Grade Program - including today. As required by St Croix, I sent them the damaged rod along with the required documents (proof of purchase & a short note describing what happened along with my up grade rod request / selection. Spoke to Gretchen at St Croix today - who said that they had received the rod. (took about a week) St Croix reimbursed full credit for the damage/exploded Tidemaster rod towards the newest 2018 Legend Tournament Jig rod - They are spinning me up a new one - should be here right after the new year - cost me $20 bucks in return shipping - I'd say that's fair. It should be noted here that the two rods (the damaged & replacement rod) had / have the same MSRP. As a faithful St Croix customer, I have 'several' rods from a variety of their rod lines - these travel rods Are The Only Ones I've ever had to mail back. While each rod warranty situation is different, the few times I've had dealings with St Croix, the interactions have always been friendly, professional and super easy. They have met or exceeded my 'customer satisfaction' level every time. So if this is something that is important to you as a potential customer - I'd say buy with confidence. While I hope you never have to use their warranty program, rest assured that if you do, they'll be there. YMMV A-Jay

This is about as close as I'd come . . . A-Jay

I think that's why they are moving to texas, lower taxes and a central shipping location, to save money from the one customer that wanted a free rod after 4 years of use and abuse. And won't be returning lol

Even though it's right before Xmas and still have gifts couldn't pass up the deal. Got this honey 8:5:1 for 119 all said and done.

If you break a rod after using it for 15 years, it certainly wasn't broken due to a manufacturing defect. You more than got your money's worth out of it and it's time to buy yourself a new one rather than expecting a company to replace it out of their pocket. jmho, Dave

Gary Dobyns is a very generous man and takes pride in his company and customer service. To bash a companies reputation because you modified the rod, voiding any warranty, broke it after 4 years and expecting a free replacement is beyond reason. It sounds like you did get a new rod for $70. How do you know the rod had a factory defect and you didn't damage the rod after 4 years of use? I know of no rod company that would replace a 4 year old modified rod free. Tom

Finally closing on a house! After a month saga of our bank completely fudging our application twice due to incompetence...while under contract...we chose to switch lenders and they did everything in 2 weeks and kept the sellers on board. Apparently our original lender felt culpable enough to fully refund our appraisal with an extra $75 dollars....

Vertical vs Horizontal I throw blades baits when the bass are holding in creek channels & round standing timber in 15' of water or deeper. Pinpoint em with electronics, sit over em & vertically jig em. I throw Traps in 15' of water are less, I'm looking early pre-spawn bass that aren't quite committed to the coming feeding frenzy but are shallower than there were. Stability as in stable weather; I don't care what the ambient temperature is as long as the weather has been stable for 3 or 4 days. In order to take full advantage of stable conditions one must have the ability to pick and choose the days you fish.

Some new topwaters I won't get to use until next summer. and an old school stand by.

I had a few young fisherman approach me that were chucking and winding chatterbaits, I was pitching a 6 inch speed worm with a 3/8 ounce weight and a 4/0 jungle hook. They asked why I was finesse fishing lol

Finally dipping my toes into the JDM rod world. Extreme Mission Type F.

Loch Raven MD. Got out Sunday December 10th early morning. Day after the snow storm. Clear sky's and 29 degree's. Snow still all over the ground. Some areas 4 inches. I'm shore fishing this time of year. Ive never tried bass fishing in December in my life. Always thought it was a waste of time. Come to my surprise I caught the biggest bass I have ever caught. 8.55am I felt like a strong snag, keep in mind Loch Raven has heavy grass and vegetation right under the surface, yanked the rod just to check and felt a huge pull back. Had a nice battle. Bad thing is I was by myself. The wife was suppose to come but 29 degrees is a little cold for some. I was able to weighed it once I got my scale set. I some how switched my Berkeley scale from lbs to kgs and was trying to figure it out with a 4.8lb bass in one hand. Panic was setting in but I got it. Weighed it. Took a picture with it on the ground next to my boot, a couple selfies and also got a 30 second video of me weighing it and releasing it. Its never to cold to bass fish.

From now until Dec 24th 2017 we are running a 20% sale on all Keitech, Strike King, Rage Tail, Owner, Moaner, and Zman in stock items. http://www.siebertoutdoors.com/Sale-Items_c27.htm

I'm kinda glad TW is only putting garbage up for the 25 days sale....keeps me from buying even more stuff i dont need!

Didn't the Googan Squad relocate there?

Oh my... Rage Bugs are calling my name.

I grew up near Lake Winnebago in WI where there is an annual sturgeon spearing season. I never had a tag myself but went with my uncle a couple times. When the water was clear it was amazing how well you could see everything while sitting in a dark shack.

40% off one item at Dicks online up to $50 till 3pm. Just ordered a budget, Daiwa BG for $52 after my reward cert. Not too bad a deal!

At his website, RichZ.com ("Bass at the drop of a shot").

I only starting fishing Briery a few weeks ago, launching yak at Landing Road access, but during my first outing there I was surprised there was so little vegetation, I chalked it up to being late November but had no idea of its history and the grass carp issue. I usually fish Swift Creek Res. which is shallow & choked with hydrilla so Briery being deep (relatively for us) with so much standing timber is nice different type of fishery.

I would put Aaron Martens at the top of drop shot experts. If you can take his vedio's, try and watch Aaron discuss drop shotting. I agree that drop shot ins't a good horizontal rig, slip shot is. Tom

8.5 their best song https://youtu.be/7lvMNLhJrb0

I mentioned a name few of today's angler recognize Dave Gleibe. Dee Thomas introduced the flippin presentation using long jigger poles and Catts link gave everyone the history of flippin with Fenwick rods making a 8' flippin rod for Dee with a reel. Fenwick also sponsored another bass angler Dave Gliebe who was working with Dick Guamer at Fenwick of the development of a telescoping hangle 8' rod with a reel for Dave's new pitching presentation. Dee Thomas only fished a few B.A.S.S. events and returned to California Delta tournament bass fishing, being away from his work and wife wasn't for Dee. Dave Gliebe went on to win several B.A.S.S. events, qualified for 3 Classics and set the record weight during Florida event in 1977. Dave and Dee competed head to head for decades on the Delta, Dave pitching, Dee flippin. Tom

@LionHeart actually I cast, flip, & pitch with one rod. As I mentioned earlier it's each technique is about distances. Example: as I approach cover, I'll start at casting distance, then pitching distance, & then flipping distance. Technical I should say 2 rods cause I attack each target with a Texas Rig & a Jig-n-Craw!

While I do on occasion drop-shot a small plastic worm, I have more success using a black bunny leech streamer tied on a light 2X long 1/0 straight shank hook with a horizontal eye. More bait movement even when fished in place. oe

I have a built in pool which the wife loves and I have no use for.however it does serve as a good test tank.roboworms seem to need a little bit of a taut line to Stand out ,they still get plenty of bites.if you want baits that sit horizontal or even slightly nose down try reins bubbling shaker or any of their zman baits.

I catch piles of bass on blades in the winter, they are an excellent bait when the conditions are right, as with anything. If you're fishing shallower than 15', a blade becomes much less effective. My guess would be that it's because they just fall too fast at that depth, but I have no way to prove that. If you're fishing vertical, your boat is really close to the fish at that point too. For me, a 1/4oz blade is best in the 15-20' range, and deeper than that I go with a 1/2. However, I have caught them as deep as 35' on a 1/4oz. When the bass get moody, the shift from 1/2 down to 1/4 can make a BIG difference. I think it's almost solely the slower ROF that triggers the bites when the 1/4 is outfishing the 1/2. I don't do much yo-yoing with lipless cranks, I probably should. Usually when I do well with them in the winter, it is fishing them as slow as I can on a steady retrieve, and popping them whenever the bait comes into contact with anything. Like @Bluebasser86 said, lipless is the way to go in 10' and less!

Interesting time today. I went exploring other parts of the pond I’ve been wading in lately, felt like I was walking in quicksand. My knee-high boots were basically pointless, as it rained last night and the pond was up considerably. I managed to stumble on a sunken branch and puncture my boot, but thankfully it didn’t pierce my skin—it bruised immediately. And I also caught what I think might be a bowfin(can anyone confirm?). He was fun to bring in, and I’m super glad I didn’t try to lip him when I got him close. Also happy that I had my grippers nearby, put him on the scale for fun—3.2lbs.

Can't say that what I do even remotely resembles pitchin' or flippin'. I call it throwin'

It's kinda like the term "finesse" has come to mean small lures, lines, & rod-n-reels. Finesse: skillful handling of a situation or resourcefulness in handling situations.

If I was seeing this on a lake in my area at this time of year, I would think that it is weeds that once might have been standing up and are now dying and are laying down. Just a guess on my part.

People always look at me and one of my buddies when we are talking deer hunting and we say something like "seen crab claw and that dumb one walking from the y line down towards old faithful, gonna see if I can hunt the ponderosa and shoot super spike."

The boiling water trick works. Gene talks about fixing flukes this same way. Dont know that storing them over the winter would be any worse than any other time. The hot summer can get them hot enough to deform so if you have tweaked plastics that would be when i would think it would happen

A ten to fifteen second dip in boiling water should do the trick.

Those things are wicked!!!! That would be the solution if you could still get them. They hooked as well as a round bend and hold as good as, if not better than, an EWG style.

I've had that feeling before, but you gotta stay after it! When one big girl eats that usually means more big girls are eating!!!

I saw a video (can't remember which one) where Brent Ehrler recommended the opposite - EWG in back and round bend in the front. He said that with round bends he lost too many fish that had the back treble only. Not saying he's right or wrong, just food for thought.

I've done it with large Spoonplugs, but pretty much always avoided it with most every other crankbait. I could possibly see it working well with Traps. Theory and reality sometimes don't mesh. Try it and let me know how many you miss/lose

6 year old daughter wanted a pink fishing set up from Santa . Went to Cabelas at lunch planning to grab a kid combo, they had an end cap with the pink pflueger presidents for $25. Bought two.

It makes sense in theory. Give it a shot.

Partly cloudy, 46, and a 12mph SSW breeze on tap for this Saturday. Jerkbait weather!!!

A 3/8 or 1/2oz jig with a trailer on it is going to be up around 3/4oz. Again, I vote for a 4 power Gloomis for that.

awesome fish! congrats bud!

I fish Lake Cherokee off Cherokee Road in the city of Richmond and have caught some beautiful bass. Two years ago the homeowners on the lake installed an aerator system to help put more oxygen in the lake. I was told that they had to do this to help keep the lake clean. Last year the grass went wild with all the oxygen being pumped in the lake. Grass everywhere. So what did the homeowners do? They put grass carp in the lake this past spring. And guess what? The grass is gone. The homeowners I know say they put in only 15 grass carp but there is no way 15 grass carp could eat all that grass in the lake in one summer. Of course, I will go back next year and fish again but the bite was very slow and the bass smaller than in past years.

Only had a few hours yesterday on La Cygne in the johnboat with a trolling motor only, but still did pretty good considering how limited I was in area and time.

That is exactly what I do with a lot of my crankbaits. I always feel like if they get the front hook, then they're eating it well and I want the holding ability of the EWG. If they're nipping at the tail, I want the hooking ability of the round bend. No idea if it works like it does in my head, but I've talked myself into believing it so that's what I do.

It's provided the day before take off.

2018 Rod & Reel arsenal.... (10) Shimano Aldebaran 50 (4) Shimano Calcutta 400D (4) Shimano Exsence 3000 (1) Conquest 905C (4) Conquest 904C (4) Conquest 903C (1) Conquest 842C (4) Conquest 842S (2 not in pics) (2) G. Loomis IMX Pro swimbait 966C (not in pics) (1) G. Loomis IMX Pro swimbait 965C (not in pics) (1) G. Loomis CBR 959C DD (not in pics)