Gangley

The Zel-Pop....great popper

Berkley or ZOOM Ribbon Tail Worm Worm ZOOM Z-Hog Beaver ZOOOM Horny Toad Berkley Chigger Craw Trailers

Get a job that pays well first and foremost. The best way to accomplish that is to get a college degree in a MEANINGFUL field: engineering, physics, science& technology, etc. Sociology and psychology degrees are a dime a dozen so make sure the time and money you put into college are well spent and result in meaningful accomplishments. Once you have the degree that is worth something, put it to use and become accomplished in your field. The money will come and when it does, invest it however you want (retirement, fishing, hobbies, etc). Its a lot easier to be succesful at something if you have a little money and time to throw at it.

Style of head is important if you want to avoid losing every jig on every cast. In teh case of rocks, football heads are generally more adept at coming over rocks better. However, if you are gonna spend a full day if jiggin the rocks, you better bring a WHOLE lotta jigs becaus you will lose plenty of them. A good rule of thumb: if you aren't losing jigs, you aren't fishing them in the right places.

I read the question 2 different ways: What is the hardest technique to learn and what is the hardest concept to learn. The hardest concept for me to learn was that fish can always be patterned. They are not mindless and do not float around aimlessly from place to place for no reason. Identifying the pattern for the day or week is key, and it takes time to learn it. You will not learn a pattern by catching one fish in one spot, but combined with multiple fish in multiple spots you can form a rough pattern by which to work from. The hardest technique for me to learn was how to pitch a jig and make it skip multiple times across the water surface and into a specific location (ie under docks or large overhangs). GREAT TOPIC by the way.

Best: Quit changing baits so often, to catch a fish your hooks gotta be wet Worst: Fish don't bite on bluebird days

For me, the thing about the Rapalas that keep me coming is the quality. I never have to change the hooks with regularity, and they have almost always ran true out of the box for me. Sure, I have caught fish on other cranks, but I usualy have to tune the other cranks just to get them to run correct and I have to change the hooks after 10-15 fish. Doing that gets old and it has gotten to the point where I abhore the thought of having to tune the crank right out of the box so I stick with Rapala when selecting lures in the <$8 dollar range.

Spooky Shad

Great results for a quality business. Congratulations on your expansion and good luck on your future plans!

Academy has Big Bite Baits YoMammas in bulk for dirt cheap. They are sold in packs of 25 or 50, but I can't remember for certain.

repainted and relabled Curado 200 E7's? j/k Nice reels! That Calcutta B is very nice, one of the better round reels made. I wouldnt mind having a few of those in the boat.

None of the worms that I use, other than a squirel tail worm, float. You can use any worm weightless, but generally the larger the worm the easier to cast when fishing weightless.

Ive caught 7" dinks on 10" worms before with no issue as well Like JFranco mentioned, length does not determine hook size, girth/thickness of the plastic bait does. With worms, I prefer a gap between 2 and 3 times the girth of the worm. Therefore, I usually use a 4/0 on a ZOOM Ol' Monster and a 5/0-6/0 on the 10" Berkley Power Worm since they are bigger bodied than the Ol' Monsters. I hook the worm through the head and go deep before bringing the hook back out through the belly of the worm so that I can slide the worm up over the knot like mentioned in a prior post. This not only hides the knot, but protects it from the sinker as well when the sinker is not pegged.

I have used his jigs for a while now and have never had a single complaint. I have smacked the heck out of some of their jigs on all-day flipping ventures into concrete structures, and they keep holding up well. Their premier jigs are the best in my opinion, bar-none! If you are a little nervous about the price, start with the pro series until you find a color that works for you and then purchase some premiers in the same color. You won't be disappointed, Their spinnerbaits have the same quality as their jigs. Pick some of them up as well, they are excellent. My avatar came off a Northstar Flip & Swim Jig....I'm a believer!

PB&J or Ham Sandwhiches Bottles of Water Grapes or apple slices

If I have to pick one of those three, it would be Gander because its closest. However, all three are WAY over priced and I refuse to pay extra $$$ at any of them considering I have 2 Academy's within 5 minutes of me that are cheaper in every department. I just cant justify spending an extra $1.50 per bag of plastics, especially when I'm usually buying atleast 10 bags of plastics to go along with a bunch of other things. The only thing the big three are better at is having a larger selection of the more expensive lures such as the Lucky Crafts, Spro's, etc. If I need some of those, then I have no other choice and thats fine. If what I need is something I can find elsewhere though, you better believe I'm gonna go elsewhere because there is a 99 percent chance that its cheaper elsewhere.

White soft plastics rarely get used. I will throw a bone popper and white/grey back cranks, but rarely do I throw a solid white soft plastic. Actually, I think the only white soft plastic I have ever thrown was a pearl white fluke. I have no doubt that white works, its just not one of my confidence colors.

I actually prefer heavier gear for dropshooting and have done this with great success on Lake Fork. I used a Curado 200 E7 with a MH Bucoo rod, 20 lb flouro, 3/8 oz bullet weight resting on a bead, and a 5/0 straight shank hook about 2.5-3 ft up. 28 fish that day, with most in the 3-4 lb range.

I only fished for about 1.5 hours today and it was SLOW. I had two hits while fishing for bass: missed one but got one. I was flipping a Northstar Custom Flip and Swim jig at a location where I have caught other nice bass and spent about 30 minutes flipping before I got my first bite. I didn't even feel the bite, just noticed my line going to the side and instantly set the hook. I started reeling it in after the hookset and thought I caught a dink until it decided to turn and bend the rod tip down hard. Got her to the edge, lipped her, weighed her, photographed her and released her. She weighed in at 5.75 even on the3 dig. scale. Northstar Flip & Swim Jig with ZOOM Fat Albert Single Tail Grub in Green Pumpkin

Some of the fish on Lake Conroe here in south east Texas already have bloody tails. Pre-Spawn has definitely started here and some of the fish are already spawning, but most wont spawn for a few more weeks if the temps stay the same (water temp is 64 degrees during the day).

Clarification Size can be interpreted multiple ways so to clarify what I should have clarified in the first reply, by size I mean physical size (displaced volume) with included characteristics(style), excluding mass. Since my skills are lacking in the cranking world, I keep enough cranks to fill 3 plano boxes and try to keep it organized as simply as I can for me: Shallow, Medium, and Deep divers. Once I figure out what depth they are at, I know which box to use and I will then decide on size/style of crank (large flat sided such as a Little John DD, small fat body like a Fat Rap, long slender minnow) to use which is where I normally go WAY wrong, haha. Shortened up: Since depth is my main concern when cranking, I organize my tackle according to depth and will choose size/action second. I know there are large and small size variants of each action, such as small rattle traps and large rattle traps, and I am by no means a cranking guru and will never pretend to be, but that is how I organize my crankbaits.

Depth. Size is something I figure out after I learn what depth they are at.

Cotton Cordell Crazy Shad Devils Horse (retired) Cotton Cordell Red Fin

awesome lure, but it might be time to change those rings and hooks out

Strictest gun laws and high crime rate......why does it not surpise me that the two go hand in hand?