ClackerBuzz

'Rippin Mr Hankey'?

man's best friend for sure <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.liveleak.com/ll_embed?f=45f047277cb2"frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

do-not-hesitate. I wouldn't try lipping a treble bass until you can decisively lip a single hook bass. things aren't going to end well if ur one of those guys that tippi toes around a bass face, waving ur hand in front of him, hesitating while he spins in circles. learn how to master a single hooked bass first

a few years ago my hook up ratio went thru the roof when I starting throwing buzzbaits on my glass crank rod. so last season i decided to try chatterbaits and spinnerbaits on my MH crank rod. the hook up ratio was definitely better b/c of the delayed response. however the major downside was i could no longer deflect off wood and rocks. the glass rod slowly swept the hooks right into timber and rocks. after a few outings of constantly having to troll over and un-snag my lures i switched back to my MH rod. it's so nice being able to pop lures thru timber and over boulders. now I just make sure I give the bass a frog type pause on the hook set. I like JGBassinAL idea of Heavy glass or standard MH rod with mono leader. A composite crank rod would probably be a nice balance between the two and definitely bounce lures off cover easier. I like braid to fluoro on my MH chatter/spinner rod bc it's versatile. so realistically I'll just keep adding patience to my hook set. My glass set up is a Powell CB glass MH 703 with braid as main line and fluoro leader. 1/4-1oz rating

i gave up on that years ago b/c I had too many problems w/ marker and nail polish melting/fusing together w/ my soft plastics. it can make a nasty mess in the summer so i wouldn't recommend pre-painting too many.

don't use casting gear. you'd be ruling out the best part of weightless wacky rigged senkos: skipping them 30 ft under docks. you can skip them with spinning gear just like skimming a rock across the water when you were a kid. skip docks, laydowns/trees/bushes etc. it's so much fun and extremely productive. can you skip as effectively with a casting reel? recommending a beginner skip with casting gear is dangerous and overkill. buying a tractor trailer to drive back and forth to church looks cool but it's overkill. you'll only be able to skip a baitcaster after potentially dozens of birdnests, hundreds of dollars of replacement line and hundreds of practice hours on the water. or you can learn how to skip in 1 day with a spinning reel. plus casting reels defeat the whole purpose of easily casting light lures a far distance. 50% of my reels are casting but I use them for power fishing and heavy applications. all my finesse techniques use spinning reels.

^ and that my friend is corn that doesn't get stuck in ur teeth

nothing like aiming for the stars! a panic box should help keep the skunk off ya. http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/iaconelli_panic_box.html

man ur making me hungry

Jeff Little destroys river smallies year round. seems like most of his dead of winter sm come from dead sticking a small soft plastic ie tube/spade tail etc. i've seem him dead stick them from 20 seconds to 2 mins. not sure if the 'winter' query will carry over but here's a link to his youtube channel (KayakBassFishing). he's got at least 10+ winter river smallie videos. https://www.youtube.com/user/KayakBassFishing/search?query=winter here's vid of him using a blade bait and a vid with the hornet/beetle technique. treble hooks are def easier from a boat/kayak. it's the same retrieve but i'd go with RW recommendation from shore b/c the upward hook of a hornet won't snag near as easliy

i'm with scaleface and won't use them from shore anymore. i did use them from the bank years ago but quickly learned 1: they get snagged easy 2: if the bass are going to chase a rattletrap they will just as easily chase a lure that won't get hung up ie a spinnerbait/chatterbait/swimjig. i use them as search baits on large water b/c you can cast them a mile and cover alot of water. and it's easy to get them un-snagged from a boat. if you have lots of weeds I would use a chatterbait b/c the vibrating blade literally shakes weeds off so you don't 'waste' a cast every time you touch weeds like with a spinnerbait. just rip ur rod tip hard and they will shake the weeds off 90% of time. spinnerbaits are like static cling when it comes to weeds. however when around rocky shoreline i use a spinnerbait b/c it deflects better. the chatterbait heads wedge into rocks more easily than spinnerbaits.

lotta guys in the crappie forums rave about that rod. i'm sure you'd be happy with a St Croix also

I have the 6'9" L river runner and I love the action/power but I think Fenwick fell way short on the handle (pun intended). I've literally never had a rod w/ a handle so short. It's only 7 1/2". that small of a handle is fine while fishing small trout streams but it mean's I'm virtually making one handed casts when on open lakes. it's really hard to generate a fulcrum point with a stub of a handle. even with no handle i can still cast a 1/16oz tube jig w/ Baby shad about 60ft w/ 5lb braid. i'm going to extend the butt section this summer (need to experiment on some cheaper rods first). I can't wait to fish this rod with a longer handle. in comparison i think Fenwick nailed the smallmouth tech handle. the 6'9" has a 10 1/2" handle and it casts like a dream. my recommendation would be to position a reel at 7.5" on a current rod and see if you can 'handle it.

don't buy that meyers sports pal. like goose i have a Radisson canoe. it's airplane grade aluminum ie super thin. you can't take it into shallow streams or you will dent, puncture, jar loose the rivets...and even worse loosen the seam. a welded seam runs up the middle and there is a metal tracking piece over it. my canoe is leaking from that seam. it would take an aluminum welder, a whole lot of time to strip the inner ribs/foam, and a bunch of money to fix my leak. i just keep a huge bath towel in the back to ring out as my bilge pump. the cost/time/hassle is too much so i deal with it. i sold my second radisson (my lake only canoe) b/c the other one is sinking faster and faster. if you get a canoe go with polyethylene material. i also have a sit in kayak and love it as well. its better on small streams bc it can handle the rocks. i prefer sit in b/c i also live in the north. i didn't like sit-on top kayaks in March and November b/c it's just too easy to splash cold water on myself. i like to stand while i fish so i like being in the canoe much more. i also use a trolling motor with 2 batteries when on larger lakes and only my canoe can handle that