Amarley

Depends on the day and weather conditions, but generally in the fall you can get away with fishing larger shad imitation baits. The bait fish have had all year to grow, so they will be as big as they're going to get before possibly dying out over the winter. I'll fish bigger baits on my swim jigs, a-rigs, jerkbaits, etc. in the fall than the spring.

One thing that has helped me this year is narrowing down my tackle for each trip. A lot of us get in the mentality that we need all of our tackle all of the time. What I have done when time allows is keeping one extra plano clear box. Each trip I do my homework and fill that box with what I think will work that day on the water. I will also pre-tie all of my rods before I get on the water. One trip I may have A-Rigs, jerkbaits and rattle traps. The next I may have jigs, shaky heads and deep cranks. Then I may have spinner baits, frogs, swim jigs and square bills. I almost always have jigs and shaky heads in the box. My catch rate has improved tremendously since I've taken this approach. Very rarely do I wish I had something that wasn't in my box for the day. I think it's hard to have one box for all of the time. The only thing I could think to keep in a box like that would be jigs, senkos, shaky heads and maybe a spinnerbait. But it's all on personal preference and confidence. I think it's also important to pair the kids together based on their fishing styles.

I like the $2.99 price of the Havoc Beat Shad, especially to throw on A-Rigs where I could lose a whole pack in one cast. How do these compare to the Keitech's on an A-Rig? I really like the wide action of the keitechs and the beat shads look similar.

The Keitech plastic is softer than other paddle tails I've fished. Even the Reaction Innovation Skinny Dippers get bent in the ziplocs. You could try it out with a couple of them. Biggest loss is a couple baits.

Wow, that puts things in prospective. I might have a nervous breakdown! I left my boat docked with my tackle in it one night and couldn't sleep I was so worried a night fisherman may hop in there and get my tackle!

I lost an entire A-Rig this winter. $10-12 for the A-Rig, $5 for the jig heads and another $4-5 for the swimmers. I was not happy.

The jigs were excellent quality btw. I made a big deal about the service, but the product is excellent, too. I can tell he took time to clean paint from the hook eyes and used a good quality finish paint when baking the heads. I tie my own skirts, but I've heard his skirts are excellent as well.

Big bite baits makes a few plastics that look like bluegills.

I order quite a bit of tackle online. Most of the time I have to track down my orders and make sure everything has shipped. I just placed my first order with Siebert, 20 football jig heads for some upcoming tournaments. While it wasn't a very big order, all of the jigs were shipped and received within three days. Things like this are huge in fishing, especially when you need an order in a hurry. I didn't ask for rush shipping, or pay extra, but Siebert gave me excellent customer service. I was really impressed with such fast shipping on such a small order. I will be a return customer.

I went a little unconventional and got the 109-HU. Now I can turn it around when I'm on the deck and look at waypoints and a fishfinder.

There should be an option when you power on to go system status: http://www.humminbird.com/Category/Support/FAQ/CheckingSoftwareVersion/

Personally, I'm a fan of the Mustad Short Shank triple grip trebles. I learned a hard lesson when I lost my biggest fish of the year last year on some stock trebles on a BPS blade bait. Never again. The gama's are good though, I keep them on my spro cranks. I will use a size 4 or 6 depending on the size of the bait. I like to use a 4 when I can, but sometimes the bigger hooks change the action or can get hung up on one another.

Run some seafoam through it when you think the carbon is building up. Works great for me.

Tubes

For those of you who think I'm completely crazy, here is some science to back the idea: "Let's start with what is universally true: craws do change color. In a study performed by the University of Michigan, Dr. Robert Thacker found that crawfish have red and blue photoreceptors. In lakes where blue-green light transmitted best, the craws were lighter in color. And in lakes where red light transmitted best, the craws were darker in color. There has also been clear data to support that swamp-like bottom composition results in very different coloration than rocky bottom lakes or tributaries. I'm not carrying around a spectrophotometer from lake to lake measuring the color intensity, but I do have a few traps that I'll place at different points around the lake to collect samples of crawfish, which is ultimately the most effective way to match the hatch. This is really important to do because local bait shops often import what they sell from farms, where conditions can be completely different from what you're fishing. When they'll change color is when they're molting, or shedding their shell. This results from outgrowing the one they'd worn previously. This process has also been known to change the color entirely based on habitat. What researchers have found is that molting is initiated by a chemical that's released in the body that's been linked to the different phases of the moon. An article in Bassmaster Magazine had this to say about colors and moon phase: 3-4 days before and after a full moon throw brown and orange or olive and orange,black and red as you move further into the moon cycle, new moon nights should warrant dark brown and black, and to use black and blue as you move to a sickle moon."

I fish the walls a lot different than this guy with a jig. I'll have to try that method. I have success keeping the rod tip up and dragging the jig down the wall. I try to keep in contact with the wall as much as possible. It seems like he is trying to get reaction strikes on the fall more-so than the "pecking" strike of a bass hitting the jig as it rests.

Does anybody change their jig and trailer colors based on moon phases? I pretty much stick to green pumpkin, pb&j and black and blue, but have talked to some guys who fish colors depending on the moon phase.

More "Synergy" = less choice. Bad deal, and I've always dreamed of buying a new Triton!

This one makes me nervous. It's dangerous in any industry when one company can corner a market. I worked in corporate acquisitions for a number of years, and here's what my strategy would be if I were Johnny Morris: 1. Announce that all brands will stay independent, only have common ownership (i.e. Bass Pro/JM). Pronounce that BPS will be a premier boat dealer with more selection than just Nitro from now on. Declare a win for consumers because a company that loves the outdoors will own all premier boat brands instead of a greedy Private Equity firm. 2. Behind the scenes, start consolidating internal functions (sales, accounting, management, HR) everything but manufacturing, and centralize the R&D function. Increase synergy and profitability. 3. Plan a market strategy to "stack the brands". Always make Nitro the most price competitive, Stratos falls behind Nitro, Triton falls behind Ranger. 4. Keep all four brands until the sales shake out. Drop the low performing brands, take the R&D budgets of the low performing brands to reinvest in the high performers. Increase profitability across the board. 5. At the end of the day, consumers will be left with 1 or 2 brands. My bet is that we will see Triton and Stratos fall to the wayside within 5-8 years as JM writes down the acquisition and hits his payback. We will be left with Nitro and Ranger. JM will have very large supplier power and will also be able to control the dealership markets which could hurt brands like Bass Cat, Phoenix, Skeeter, etc. To spell it out, JM could say that boat dealerships cannot sell the other brands if they want his brands on their lots, or could give better pricing structures to exclusive dealers. He will also have supplier power over Mercury, Evinrude, Honda, Yamaha, etc as he will have more purchasing power over the motors to power his boats. My gut tells me this is a big loss for consumers and a huge win for JM. I would be surprised if Mercury, Yamaha and Evinrude, Bass Cat, Phoenix, Champion, etc don't throw a fit and try to challenge the acquisition. You may ask why this hasn't happened already because the three brands were already owned by a common owner. The difference is that JM owns the whole supply chain, manufacturing and now distribution. JM also owns the biggest source of competition, Nitro. Also, remember what happened to Procraft and Astro when JM bought those brands.

Whatever you do, don't try a blade bait. They absolutely do not ever work.

Could be several things, here are the top 3: 1. Old gas 2. Old fuel lines/air getting into the fuel as it goes into the engine. Did you prime your bulb before you put in and started the motor? (Replace your main fuel line and bulb) 3. Gunk in the carbs- Run some Seafoam through your engine, it's just a gas additive, about $10/can Good luck! Sounds like an awesome rig!

I'm in the market for a new spinning rod. I want something to throw small jigs and tubes with this winter.Any recommendations? Would like to stay around/under $200.

You must have a great wife. Mine would kill me!

I've heard you can send the 899 ducer back and exchange for the HDSI for $85. I know the HDSI ducer shoots 800 kHz, does it make a big difference with the images you get?

How do you like the Humminbird 899? I am about to order one today and want some feedback.