Avalonjohn44

I have a pair of the $22 Woo Davies glasses that are great too. More designer in look than those on your link, so I wear them when I'm not fishing too.

Here are my favorites: Cultiva/Owner Tango Dancer Chrome - walking bait Mister Twister Salad Spoon = soft plastic pond scum bait Booyah Buzz Bait - Black skirt red blade Megabass Type X Frog - Surface/subsurface bait - Tonomsa Color (looks like a bullfrog) Floating worm wacky rigged - Usually a Pink or White 6 inch Rattlesnake Floater

I love it that my $4 Bandit 100 and Bandit Footloose outproduce my $15 LC cranks. I don't know what it is about those little bandits, but they killed for me last year, in every type of water I fished.

The Dick's I shop at in Sterling VA is relatively new, and still in good shape. They are as well stocked as the Gander Mountain in Winchester VA. I have never had a problem with an employee there, but I notice that like most retail stores, they will have high school kids and senior citizens making up their staff, and in both instances it can be frustrating. But... I know what I want, have usually researched it, and knowwhat a fair price ought to be for the lure/reel/rod I'll be buying. I see the same problems at BPS and Gander (never been in a Cabela's) that you all describe. Every once in a while you run across somebody that knows what they're doing, but since this is rare, I think it should be incumbent on you as the consumer to know what you're doing. It saves you grief in the long run, and probably saves the poor old guy or dopey high school kid trying to make a few buck some grief too. Something I really like about Dicks is they will usually have a discount bin filled with some pretty good old lures. I got a nice assortment of yamamoto cut tails, terminator spinnerbaits, and yo zuri rattle-vibes simply because some plastic worms had melted all over the packaging and they were discounted. Last time I went there were a ton of excalibur lures in the bin.

Bagley has a good Balsa B-III deep diver, goes to 16 feet supposedly. It always gets to the bottom of the ponds where I fish...

Cultiva/Owner Rippin Minnow suspending is a great little hard jerkbait, and the baby bass pattern is absolutely beautiful, as good as any lucky craft or megabass finish. But my favorite is a soft plastic jerkbait, the 4.5 inch Sluggo, wieghtless in pearl, sometimes with the tail end (about a quarter inch) dipped in chartruese Spike-It.

It is my favorite bait, but not my most productive since I do not use it as much because they are $20... Every once in a while you can nab one on ebay for 12-15 bucks. There are also a few type-x knock offs that have been cropping up lately. They say megabass type-x "Styled" frogs. They look almost identical, but are not as perfectly sculpted and balanced as the real version. The knockoffs are painted very well, but smell like laquer, and some of the edges need to be filed where the plastic tag ends stick out. You can get a knock off for around 4-6 bucks. I also agree on that rebel frog, it is a great lure as well. I've had mine for years, it is dinged up and most of the paint has scraped off the top of it, but it still works wonders in small ponds.

I fish from a Kayak now, and would rather be in a bass boat. I like my kayak, but even after fishing from it for four years now, I can't get used to casting from it, and I can't take my desired amount of tackle. I also don't like getting blown around by the wind. I prefer to kayak for pleasure, but not for fishing.

Put em on Ebay if they don't work for you. You'll get enough to buy your fill or the renegades.

That tournament series of lures looks Sweet. Especially the White Crappie Crank and the Purple Shad... Amazing looking.

My Lucky Crafts and Megabass lures have been perfect every time. My favorite lures, my Bandit 100s, 200s, and 300s have all been true out of the box so far. I stocked up on these over the winter and haven't used them all, but I'm confident these awesome little cranks will be OK... I might be very lucky, but even most of my Rapalas run just fine out of the box. I have only had to tune maybe a 6 or 7 ever, and I have a lot of Rapalas. The rate is higher on my Bagleys, but not so bad either. I bought a half dozen Norman flat sided cranks, and every single one of those needed to be tuned, a lot. Almost every Rebel has needed to be tuned.

Well then I have the answer that will make everyone happy on both sides of the debate: Try the Roland Martin's crowning achievement: Helicoptor Lure, a great bedded bass lure. That or throw the Flying Lure, or the Dancin' Eel. Maybe the Kicktail Minnow.

Sounds like good advertising for FoodSource Lures and Gulp to me... I haven't used FoodSource, but I did about $35 on Gulp. All I got was a bluegill feeding frenzy when I cast it in. Tons of tiny bites, not one bass.

I like them, but only because of the cool name. Crippled Killer just sounds neat. I like the heddon torpedo a lot better though. I haven't used either one in years, but I remember the torpedo outfished the killer something like 5 to 1.

Has anyone tried these out? I just bought a few, theyv'e got a big head, kind of a sparse skirt, and a dual metal blade, that looks like he took a brass willow leaf blade and welded it over top of a silvery colorado or indiana blade - never saw that before. Has anyone tried these out?

Thanks guys. I'm leaning toward the stratos myself...

Both boats are 12,995 before delivery, prep, etc. Anybody have any experience with either (or both) that can help me decide which one is right for a first time bass boat owner? http://www.stratosboats.com/modelIntro.cfm?mid=5013 http://nitroboats.com/boat/index.cfm?boat=2123

I keep multiples of my favorites. I have a hard time finding Mepps Fury spinners in size 3, so I buy all of them when I find them. I go through three or four a season. My wife keeps wondering why I have a dozen and a half unopened spinners...

I did some searching around, and it looks like a lot of manufacturers offer different breaking systems as options on their trailers... Thanks for the advice!

Neat article. I bought some Woo Davies polarized glasses at BPS last summer for $22 and have never been happier with a set of sunglasses. They are better than my brother's $150 dollar pair of field glasses and look a lot more 'modern' too.

I can imagine, but my little Hyundai Santa Fe can only pull 1500lbs... :'(

Is it possible to get a bass boat trailer with brakes, like on a horse trailer or other type of trailer?

The original post says '72 bag for 35 bucks', but the ad says 72 pieces for $35... Does this mean 72 individual tubes, or 72 bags of tubes? I read it as 72 tubes, no 72 bags...Big difference, get clarification from Cabellas before charging in...

Amen!

I shop and sell on ebay a lot, and have begun noticing megabass and lucky craft knockoffs pretty regularly. The auction will say something like Megabass Style Type X frog, or Lucky Craft Pointer STYLE jerkbait... I bought a pair of the Type X knockoffs, and was pretty underwhelmed. It seems somebody probably cut their own real type-x in half, made a mold, and then painted it. For amature work, it was very nice, but not anywhere near megabass quality - Rough edges, some spots where the mold stuck to the surface making tiny ridges and tiny gaps, the lure smelled like laquer, etc. The paint job is very good, but not in megabass's league. I haven't actually tried the frogs out yet, my lakes and ponds are still frozen. To thier credit, the ebayers are admitting they are not real megabass or lucky craft baits. I asked a couple of the sellers who makes the bait, they are pretty evasive on who makes the lures, if they answer my questions at all. I guess the adage Buyer Beware Here is an example of what I'm talking about: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=006&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=160090869472&rd=1&rd=1 http://cgi.ebay.com/Lot-of-6-Lucky-Craft-style-pointer-jerkbait-crankbaits_W0QQitemZ110096358567QQihZ001QQcategoryZ7300QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem