retiredbosn

very nice fish, congrats

congrats gotta love bronze bass

I have a Curado 200 E5 last years model with 5.1 or 5.4 ratio can't remember 21 ipt, great reel for crankbaits.

I have 3 Abu 5600 EXT Pro's, they are a great reel. I stole mine for 70 bucks nib shipped.

Hey all been a while, hope all is well with everyone. My wife just recently took a job here in Aiken and I get to start finding fishing areas, seems like I've moved to bass fishing paradise. Lakes all around, plus the Savannah River, looking for a local fishing partner that would be willing to show me around or even tell me a direction to start. I am not the type to fish and tell. Anyway great to be back on the board.

All of the software programs that cover lakes in the country seem to ignore WV. Mainly because we do not have any real large lakes in the state, another strike is none are nationally known, add to that all lakes in WV are man made, so your best bet for a map would be Corp of Engineers just don't expect any detail. A better idea is find a bass fisherman who is familiar with the lake. Good luck. As an afterthought here is the link to the corps site for East Lynn http://www.lrh.usace.army.mil/projects/lakes/elt/

I wanted to add kudo's to Gander Mountain and St. Croix. Their customer service is top notch, long story short I'm getting a store exchange. I called St. Croix and they are willing to take the rod back, then I called Gander Mountain and they are going to look up the receipt for me and exchange the rod at the store. I bought the rod 2 weeks ago and still falls under store exchange. I'm disappointed with the rod but very satisfied with Gander and St. Croix's willingness to fix this. How many large corporate chains are willing to go back through their computer systems and pull a reciept?

I have another thread going in the rod category. I bought a dead stick, something wrong with the blank would be my guess. Anyway I lost the reciept, I called St. Croix and they are willing to take the rod back, then I called Gander Mountain and they are going to look up the receipt for me and exchange the rod at the store. I bought the rod 2 weeks ago and still falls under store exchange. I'm disappointed with the rod but very satisfied with Gander and St. Croix's willingness to fix this. How many large corporate chains are willing to go back through their computer systems and pull a reciept?

Have contacted St. Croix, more than williing to fix or trade up with me. The rod was manufactured Nov 2009 so they know I"m not pulling a fast one. Due to lost reciept it has to go back to St. Croix, if I had kep the reciept I could just go back to the store. Will let you know how it all turns out.

Title says it all. I have the chance to pick up a 96 Javelin 20 footer in excellent shape with the 175 Evinrude well maintained. I think I would be an idiot to let it go. Is it worth the price? Yes he is willing to put it on the water for a check out. My main concern is reliability, so should I keep saving or pounce on this deal?

I took it to the local tackle shop, their suggestion was to send it back to St. Croix. He wanted me to do the vocal chord test, I started low and went higher, all he did was look at me in amazement, no vibration through the rod. I lost the darn reciept, so I may be stuck with it. I am guessing that I got a bad blank, it happens I guess. Hoping the replacement is better.

line was Yozuri Hybrid 10lb, reel Curado E5, I've used this combo line and reel before with great sensation, but I am very disappointed with the rod.

I broke my crankin stick a couple of weeks ago. I picked up a MH Mojo Moderate action. Talk about a dead stick!!!! I can't feel a thing through the rod, no vibrations make it to the reel seat. Compared to my cheapo BPS Crankin stick, the Mojo down right sucks. I was fishing Rapala DT 20 and Bomber Fat Free shads in about 15 feet of water and I never felt the action of the bait or even when it hit bottom. You can't even feel a double colorado blade through this rod. I was/am amazed how crappy this rod is. I'm taking the rod back.

IMO the PQ is the best reel under a 100 bucks. I have 2, one Extreme, a Curado, have used and owned Accurist PT's. Hands down the PQ is the best reel in its price range.

Way to go boats, awesome

Cranks will also turn on their side when being retrieved to fast. Depending on your retrieve speed you may need to slow down as well as tune the bait.

Use bigger baits.

Bomber Fat Free Fingerling, Wiggle Wart, Bomber Model 4 A's, love crankin the timber. Then pitch plastics, either jig and trailer, creature, etc.

Don't know why craw colored cranks work but they do, and not just worked on the bottom. There are no shad in two of the lakes I fish but a Bomber Fat free shad in shad color works. The main forage specie in one lake is creek chub minnow and blue gill, the other alewife. But a shad shape and colored crank work in both lakes. Wouldn't think they would due to the different shape of the bait fish, both long and slender but a short fat shad bait still works.

Old Bomber Model A, original I belive, translulcent craw.

It's called the bait monkey and once it gets on your back it is hard to get rid of it. ;D

IMHO you need a rod like a crankbait rod, one with a slower action. With single hook baits that are moving you need to give the fish time to get the bait in it's mouth. If you are using a fast action graphite rod you are more than likely pulling the bait out of it's mouth. I had the same problem until I started using my crankin rod for my spinner baits, problem solved.

The guys whining about going to a place that you can rent boats should check into the price of renting a bass boat. The going rate here in WV is 200 bucks a day + fuel. I wouldn't pay a thousand a week for the priviledge of riding in a substandard boat. The boats you can get here are Lowe Roughnecks, under powered, loud aluminum, with small tiller trolling motors.

Crankbait arsenal as of now covers the water colum from 18 feet up to the surface. I have several FF Shads and Figerlings, a couple wiggle warts, Little N's Fat Boys, Bandits 100's, 200's and 300's, bunch of lipless, Shad Raps, DT's with coffin bill, couple of unknowns in there as well. Colors are Craw (reds, browns, green and chartruse), Shad (lavender, sexy), Citruse, and firetiger. Mainly craw colors and shads. I try to have enough color on hand and different actions from wide wobble down to tight wiggle to handle most weather conditions. Is there anything that you recommend, or would it be better to list what I have individually and then recommend from there? I also keep a chart of the type of cranks on hand and their diving level, actually taped to the inside lid of my cb box. I just print out the spec sheets from the companies. I try to do all I can to make sure I'm doing the right thing on the water. My success rate has soared this year. I'm excited that I may be starting to figure this crankbait thing out. Thanks

Got a question about cranking standing timber. Should I worry about the limbs that are still on the tree and under the water. The tree is in 15 foot of water but has a limb that is only 3-5 feet under water. Should I run a crank that designed to crank into the limb? Or is it alright to run a deeper diving crank and hopefulliy hit the trunk before starting the vertical rise to the limb? I can always reposition and hit the side of the tree without limbs and go deep then bounce the limbs later. This has me fairly stumped.