Gangley

My blind confidence is with a color and not a specific lure/bait. I tend to stick with the color red bug for most of my soft plastics. It seems to be my color of choice and my tackle boxes show that fact clearly. If I find a soft plastic that I have never seen before, and its in red bug, there's a good chance that I'll buy it and give it a whirl.

Texas for 3 reasons: Falcon, Amistad, Fork

Yeah you do, they are fantastic!

Great lure texas rigged or on a weighted hook. Shakey Head is fine as well, but the lure really needs to be moved/dragged to get the vibrating affect from the split claws.

Caught this yesterday on a Northstar Flip & Swim Jig in the Pumpkinseed Color with a ZOOM Fat Albert Grub trailer. 5.98 lbs

wow, his scales dont even touch.

Fantastic trailer or skirtless jig creature. Dont forget the regular Chigger Craw either. Its a little more subtle and doesnt move as much which sometimes is just what the doctor ordered.

I love the Yellow Magic's. I seem to be able to catch bass with those when no other popper is working. I have heard many good things about the zell pops and the rico's as well, but the Yellow Magic's are DARN good as well.

There are several ponds that I frequently drive by on my way to the In-laws residence, but I never considered fishing them because as far as I knew they were shallow drainage areas that were no more than 3 feet deep. While driving by one afternoon I decided that since I had a pole with me I would try it out just for the heck of it. The water was literally 3 feet deep all the way across, the color of chocolate milk, and choppy as heck because of a strong wind blowing. I fished for about an hour or so with a jig and never got a bite so I decided to pack it up and head home. As I was walking back to the truck I came across an older gentleman throwing a casting net out. I casually asked him how things were going and he said "just fine, trying to get some baitfish to fish with". I asked him if he fished the pond a lot and he said that he had fished it for 4-5 years and caught a lot of nice bass from it. Finding that hard to believe but not mentioning it, I asked him how big and he said "several in the 10-11 lb range, but nothing over 5 or 6 lately". I chuckled on the inside thinking that the older man was exagerating slightly and then asked him where. He replied "right here". Upon hearing this I smiled, nodded my head, and was about to move on when he busted out a cellphone and started showing pictures of some HUGE bass. I couldnt believe it! I thanked the guy for the conversation, wished him luck, then headed back to the truck thinking that next time I would bring a few different lures and try some other things out. As I got closer to the truck I decided to try one other spot for a few minutes just in case. I flipped the jig to an underwater culvert and let it sink to the 3 foot bottom and rested it there for 2-3 seconds before doing two quick short hops. At the end of the second hop I felt a SOLID thump and set the hook hard. It felt as though I set the hook into a power line pole. The line didnt budge and the lure never moved so I instantly assumed that I hung up on something and began to let the expletives flow until the line started moving off to the side. I quickly regrouped and started reeling in until the Curado's drag system began to scream in submission. She decided to calm down, after letting her run for a bit, and I lipped her out of the water. She was by far my new PB and I was stoked. She came in at 7.8 lbs or 7 lbs 13oz depending on how you measure. The old man came over, looked at it and said "thats nice, but there are much bigger in here than that, keep at it and you'll find them" I'll be trying, I promise you that.

2011 Goal was to catch a new PB (prior was 5.5) -Accomplished...7.8 lbs 2012 Goal is to catch a new PB in the 8lb range

I have a tackle tray full of DT06's and have yet to break the bill on a single one. I bang them off of rock, wood, cinderblocks, bricks, everything, and not once have I broken the bill on one. I have wore the bills down on a few to where the front edge of the lip is fairly close to the eylet, but they havent broken. Not sure if ya'll got a bad batch or what, but they have outlasted most of the bandits, bombers, and strike kings that I used. More importantly, they run true out of the box. For a little over a buck a piece, you basically stole them. An EXCELLENT crankbait that has proven itself to catch fish and will be around for a while. As a rule of thumb, I dont smack my baits on the water to get weeds off period. Its a bad habit and could potentially scare fish in the area so I don't do it. As Sam stated above, cast them to shallow areas (4-5 feet) with sandy bottoms and let them stir up the bottom. I usually reel in 3-4 turns of the handle on a 7.1, then pause for a split second and start again when running it across sandy bottoms. This has produced well for me. If you find rocky bottom, do the same but retrieve the with a slower turn of the handle to where you feel the lure just barely nicking off the rocky bottom. I generally dont like the crank to dig too hard into the rock, just contacting it enough to cause a deflection of the lures path. Again, its a fantastic lure that you purchased dirt cheap. Dont hesitate to throw them anywhere, if you lose or break one it only cost you a hair over a dollar. Also, if you are fishing where the fish are, your gonna loose some lures so remember that its just part of the game. Best of Luck

If its highly pressured, you might need to go small and more detail oriented. Try a YUM Crawbug dragged SLOW along the dam structure or a drop shot with a finnesse or trick worm. Best of luck to you.

Check Academy's

Ima Bass Ninja.... I completely understand your opinion and can see the basis for it, but I respectfully disagree. Personally, there is nothing I hate worse than trying to pretend I like something given to me that I really don't, then pretend I don't mind traveling to the store to return it. A gift card to me means "hey, i dont know what you want for sure, but you do, and I want you to be as happy as possible with my gift so I want you to have whatever it is that you really want". I know they will be happiest getting whatever they really want, and the giftcard allows me to "give" them what they really want. As far as lures, I would never pick lures for somebody else. If he has spent the money on several Revo's, then he has the money to spend on lures. Based on the ASSUMPTION of his spending habits, if he wanted certain lures, he would most be able to afford them and would likely already have them. If you dont want to do a gift card, then the nicest thing I can think of would be upgrading what you know he already likes. That reduces the chances of you getting him something that he doesnt like. For instance, next time the subject of fishing comes up, casually ask him what model Revo he uses. Make a mental note then go look for the upgraded model of that reel and get that for him. Same goes for the fishing rod. Figure out which Shimano rod he uses, then purchase the nicer/upgraded version of that rod. Hope this helps, good luck!

Send Karl an email, he might have some spare parts lying around

Awesome, glad to see your business growing and expanding!

Double Uni works fine with flouro

X2 However, more important than the head design is the knot. A knot with a tag end that sticks out even a little will drag in more vegetation than the head design ever will. Tie a good knot, have faith in it, and clip the tag end SHORT.

Nope, too stressful when relying on it for a paycheck. Fishing is fun for me because its not stressful.

I actually prefer a double wire guard for weedless, but I am in the minority when it comes to that opinion.

Though many of the members are really nice, its not the personalities of the members that bring me here. Its the knowledge available if you choose to tap into it. With such a large amount of active members, you can get reliable answers in a timely manner to just about any question you could imagine that is fishing related. When it comes down to it this site as a whole is a tool for me, a database of ideas, experience and knowledge. This board has enough depth in those areas to satisfy any fishing need I could imagine and so I try to draw from it when I can and add to it when given the chance.

I've heard it and seen it. I couldn't believe it, and to this day I still won't do it, but for that day and at that time, sparying WD40 on a plastic jig trailer was slaying the bass.

http://images.cabelas.com/is/image/cabelas/s7_119389_006_01?hei=220&wid=380 Cabela's Aqua Glow appears to be relatively close?

They work well on largemouth as well. I have better luck with them in the late winter when I am letting them sit on the bottom for long periods of time before using small twitches and letting them sit again.

Fantastic addition, I can't wait to read some of his stuff.