Gangley

that was pretty cool, nice big bass as well

i was walking by a small lake/large pond near my house the other day and saw a bunch of shad (4-6 inches) lying dead on the banks. I didnt even know there were shad in this body of water. Atleast I know what baits to throw now

An In-Fisherman Article recently published regarding bass repellents testing done by Pure Fishing had some pretty interesting information in it. It described what things can be identified as bass repellents and some of them that I thought would be considered repellents werent, while other that i thought wouldnt be repellents, were. The most repulsive repellents were anything that contained deet (Bug Spray like OFF, Cutter, etc). It seemed to "repel about anything that swims, crawls, flies, or runs". "Touching a lure after applying DEET renders it repulsive for well over an hour". "Detergents and soaps also are offensive to fish". "The active ingredient in many sunscreens --PABA;p amino benzoiic acid-- also repels bass" "On the other hand, some substances widely considered repulsive to fish are not. The amino acid L-serine, found in human skin, spooks salmon, but has no effect on bass. We've also offered bass food dipped in motor oil and gasoline, and watched them gobble it up." After reading it, it sounds like the best thing to do is wash your hands in the waters that you are fishing prior top handling any lures that you might be using, that way you can ensure that you are not getting any unwanted scents on your lures. I just thought it was an interesting read and wanted to share it.

The twistlocks are not a gimmick. I get twice the amount of use out of my Horny Toads with the Twistlocks. I have not had an Owner hook fail on me yet and I use them almost exclusively now.

ZOOM Horny Toad followed by a Rebel Minnow

Patience, I have unlimited patience when it comes to spots that I know are fish holding areas. Ability to Listen, I will listen to just about any and all people who have advice to offer. Persistance, I will not give up on a lure until I have thoroughly exhausted all possible situations to use it in.

30lb braid is great on baitcasters. I always have two BC's spooled with 30lb and have NEVER broken off a fish with it. I have pulled up 6 foot trees with it, broke off the tree, then continued fishing the rest of the day with it. the ONLY reason I would go to 50lb braid is if I am fishing some seriously gnarly stuff. As it is, I fish pretty substantial structure and have never had a problem with it. This is not to say that nobody has ever had problems with it because im sure somebody somewhere has and I can't speak for them. However, 30lb fishing line is seriously tough stuff and I dont feel like there is any bass around that will break it. Just my opinion though

Well, I passed by a Gander Mountain while out today and decided to stop in to have a look. Seeing how I am using fairly light lures, I thought it best to check out the ultra light rods and go from there. I wound up getting a Gander Mountain Classic IM7 Graphite in 5'6" Ultra light. Its very "flimsy" so I am confident that I can get the distance needed when using my smallest of lures. Since I was there, I went ahead and got a Pflueger President 6735 and an H&H rod to go with it. I figure its about time to learn the ins and outs of fishing with spinning combos so why not right? Thank you everybody for the great feedback and suggestions, I greatly appreciate them all.

i think a madium action might be a tad too much for what this reel was intended for. thank you for the suggestionthough, Ill keep it in mind.

I recently recieved an Abu Garcia Cardinal 501i reel for christmas that I will be using for crappie and perch. I have no spinning rods for this reel and am looking for a decent rod to go with it for pan fishing. I use arificial lures that range from 1/32 to 1/4, with most being on the lighter side of that parameter. I would like to stay around 75 dollars or less if possible. What rod is a decent match for that spinning reel considering the type of fishing that I will be using it for? I'll add that I'm pretty rough on rods so a warranty, even a 1 yr warranty, would be nice. Thank you for any and all suggestions.

I do not have electronics so my weaknesses probably wont all be similar to others. However, my weaknesses include: 1.) Finding patterns or trying to determine where the fish might be given the current cicumstances. 2.) Determining what depth to fish at. 3.) Determining what color lures to use. 3.) Not being able to knock the bait monkey off my back

I am throwing my tree in a small lake that I fish in, but not for the bass to use. There is so much structure in this lake that throwing a tree in it won't really be of any benifit for the bass in terms of them having something to hide around. All of the structure is fallen trees, stumps, logs, etc. with no branches. I am throwing it in there hoping that the baitfish will use it as dense cover to hide from predators because there is no other really dense cover for them to hide in. I am placing it close to a structure point that I know the bass hang around occasionally and I am expecting the bait fish will draw the bass to the area in larger numbers. Who knows, I could be completely wrong in this approach, but I figure if i can attract the baitfish to it, the bass will come in time.

Thanks for getting it started Fishing Hard, I appreciate you doing it and hope it turns out great for you as well.

Tracking Number: 0309 1140 0001 3416 0009

Takes: (1) Package of Powerbait - 7" Electric Grape Power Worm (4) 10" Hardnose Snake - Green Pumpkin (1) Bomber Model B - Peral/Blue/Orange Belly (1) Black and Blue Jig with Rattles Reasons: I have had great luck with the Watermelon Red Flake Powere Baits, and in some instances and cloud cover situations, they actually look purple. SO I wanted to try out the Electric Grape to see how they do. The hard Nose snake just looked interesting, so I wanted to try one. How in the world do you rig this thing? As for the Bomber Model B, I've been looking for a large bodied, square billed, shallow runner for a while, this thing looks great! With the Jig, you can't ever have enough black and blues Puts: (1) Rapala Jointed Shad Rap JSR5 - Baby Bass (1) Lake Fork Live Majic Shad (1) Package of Rage Tail Shad in Smokey Shad (1) Package ZOOM Magnum Finesse Worms - Watermelon Candy Red (1) Terminator Tiny T Jig Black and Red 3/16 oz Reasons: The LFLMS doesnt catch as many fish as other swim baits, but when it gets one, it's usually something worth putting in the livewell. This one is new and unused, still in package although the package is damaged. The Rapala JSR5 in Baby Bass is killer in my local ponds and shallow portions of lakes with good cover. Make sure you do a very slow retrieve to start off with. Best results have been on very slow retrieves with occasional pauses although slow retrieves alone have done good as well. This one is new and unused, but it is not in a pacakge. It will be in a plastic bag. The Rage Tail shad is new to me, I havent had a chance to really use one so I kept one out of the package for future use so there are 4 left in there. The Terminator Tiny T jig is black and red and 3/16oz. Its NIB. The ZOOM Magnum Finesse Worm has worked good and produced nicely. Its a thicker worm but has produced well on a shakey head and has also done well wacky rigging. Primarily used in stained and dirty water. I will post the tracking number when I drop it off tonight.

Once I caught my first bass with no assistance, it has been an obsession. After that first bass though, I sought out every piece of information I could. I have had great teachers (Father In-Law, Step Father In-Law, uncles, cousins, and my grandfather who is now in Heaven), and great "books" such as this site and others. One of the things that helped me the most though, was inheriting my grandfathers tacklebox. It wasn't large or fancy or new, but it was a fisherman's tacklebox through and through. What was inside of it got used, and if it didnt work for him, it wasnt in his tackle box. Knowing that what he had in his box was stuff that worked well for him, got me to researching the internet to figure out what all the lures were. By doing that, I was able to research when to use them and the proper way to use them. Knowing that he was able to catch many bass with them gave me the confidence to use them. Doing that helped A LOT.

Package has arrived. Gonna take a while to go through it all, it is PACKED. Will try to post some puts and takes today, but if not I will have it shipped out tomorrow regardless and post puts and takes then.

Thanks, anxiously awaiting it!

we have egrets which are VERY similar, may even be the same family of birds, and they will celan a pond out FAST. They are shot when we see them on our ponds.

ZOOM Horny Toad 7" Berkley Power Bait Rebel Minnow Jig Rapala DT6

The Karu Lures does well. It makes quite a bit of vibration and noise as it clacks against the football head. A lot of people have great success with it.

ZOOM, but Berkley is coming on pretty good

Owner followed by Gamakatsu and Mustad. Usually use Owner for heavier cover fishing with frogs and creatures because they take more bumps and dings from objects without loosing their sharpness. In open water fishing it will be Gamakatsu or Mustad.

Thanx for all of the great replies guys, i really appreciate it. Great Information!

Just a heads up, but I will be out of town from the 19th through the 21st. So if the package arrives during that time and I dont respond here online, then ya'll should hear from me no later than tuesday the 22nd