buzzed bait

i use a palomar on braid and depending on the line and situation i might use a uni knot as well, but those 2 are all that i've needed. to join 2 lines together, i use the uni to uni. it's easy to tie and never given me any issues.

there's a video i saw a while back of greg hackney fishing for crappie and he hooks one and gets it wrapped up in some brush for a second. when it gets free his rod seriously loads up and ends up landing a big bass that had come along and ate that crappie and somehow managed to hook itself in the process!

found some good deals and picked up some gently used or new out of package baits: zenith z claws and spro chug bug balsa baits, makers unknown big m, thunder shad, wec and unknown and some imakatsu battle bats to go with some waddle bats i already had

weird yes, but super cool paint job on the walking stick!

100% same coverage as a brand new one. mine was in fact still new, had the tags on it...

i would say very good. they're not on par with the couple of NRX rods that i own and use for bottom contact, but they're also not too far behind.... i've used mine for jigs and t rigs and never once felt like it was lacking any feel. i got mine direct, called and talked to richard and he made me a steal of a deal on one they had taken in for an exchange where the guy wanted a power heavier or lighter and so i picked up a brand new one minus the depreciation factor!

call sportsmans outfitters and get you a daiwa tatula casting rod for $80 shipped right now.... i just got a 7'1"MH XF last week. For $80 i'm not sure you'll find a better quality rod right now...

probably would have to try a custom phenix k2 with all the bells and whistles....

i'd opt for the dobyns. i have a dx 703 hp that i've used for an all around rod, but it works pretty well for t rigs. they're very well made and dobyns has excellent customer service.

i have one and it's an incredible reel. i also have a patriarch and the supreme is just about as good. for that price, i might have upgraded some of my older trions to supremes!

Was using bob smith epoxy on most. A couple I tried some triple thick glaze spray from rust-o-Leum. It works pretty well as the coating but it seems to want to crack the paint on a couple baits so I went back to the epoxy. The clear coat is the hardest and most aggravating part for me!!

stopped by DSG last night to spend my $10 rewards certificate....

stopped by dick's sporting goods and the lucky craft hardbaits were 2 for $12 and yum plastics were $2 each if you bought 5 or more.... had a $10 rewards certificate too so all together i spent $13 for 2 LC jerks and 5 bags of dingers!

brad, i just wanted to stick up for john for a second here. he's actually a good guy and not nearly as dumb as his comment here would lead you to believe.... honestly, i'm sure he was either drinking, under stress or being physically forced to make such a stupid remark!! i mean john owns like 7 figures worth of jigs so we know he didn't really mean it..... that said, my old man sold our house we used to live in and stored a lot of his excess stuff in a shed in a similar situation behind his shop.... old, humid and no power. not necessarily his tackle, but a lot of his stuff was nearly ruined from keeping it in there so i'd look elsewhere knowing how much you treasure that collection!

so i bought an airbrush and all sorts of paint a while back and hadn't done a thing with it until a couple weeks ago. i got some megabass knockoffs, griffins i think, and have been trying to figure it all out. lots to learn, these were just some freestyle ones i did. i've been mostly just trying to figure out the airbrush and paints and get a good feel for how it sprays. anyhow, here's a few of the ones i've come up with so far. the clear coat part is what pains me. the epoxy looks good when done properly, but it is not user friendly! it's really fun and almost therapeutic in terms of just mixing up some paint and going at it with nothing to go off of... next thing i'm going to work on is making some stencils and try to make some cool craw patterns and work on some more colorful bluegill type schemes. critique away guys, i can handle it!

picked up the small ones in a trade with j bab and then bought the 68 special in silver/black and have an albino on the way as well. ready to start chucking some bigger baits!

yeah they're almost a must have for fishing flukes!

i use 3/8" black heat shrink tubing from lowe's or home depot for senkos. i'll run the hook through the bait to make it perpendicular to the bait. i like to use berkley fusion weedless wacky hooks for this method and it flat out catches fish. the heat shrink tubing is a must for getting the most out of each worm.

i've converted as many of my hooks as possible over to ones using that CPS deal, makes a huge difference for me

i just came here to see what had blue stumped!!! i knew it would be something abstract!

you'll be hard pressed to find a lake around here that can support a healthy population of all 3. in GA, smallmouth are few and far between, period. most lakes around are either predominately spots or larges, but not a lot have a healthy mix of both. lake fontana in NC is likely the best bet to find all 3 in the same body of water, but that's one tough lake!!

the site and process are a bit dated here, but lisa and ed have a great selection, great prices, great service and shipped my order very quickly. the eyes i received from them were a step up from the ones i had previously ordered off of amazon. http://lisaandedseyes.ipage.com/

some nice work there!!

my goodness!!!!

if with a friend or my dad, we're just casting and having a good time. the guy in the front is getting the cleanest water still, but the guy in the back can cast wherever he wants too. now if it were a tournament and i didn't know the boater, i'd be fishing to about that halfway mark, especially if you're fishing slow right beside the boat. if you don't like it, get your own boat i guess!