hoosierbass07

I would suspend Poche the whole year from all B.A.S.S. related tournaments since he's the one that started the whole mess.

Some lures I've bought the last few weeks.

I find the FLW broadcast to be horrible. I don't even DVR them anymore and try to watch them. The Bassmaster broadcasts are a little better but I still find myself fast forwarding through most of the broadcast unless I'm really board. But MLF - that show is becoming one of my favorites. I don't care for that new qualifying show, but the two hour MLF program, I put right up there with Hook & Look, Lunkerville, Salt Water Experience and Bill Dance as my favorite shows. I will watch all two hours of MLF too without fast forwarding thought it. What I like best about it - it shows the pros both being successful and struggling and catching lots of small bass like I do!

That's interesting. What does "reconditioned" mean? Broken but fixed? If I pay $60 for a rod I don't want one that's been broken.

What is ffo?

I would go for another HMG but I would have to order one online and then I would have pay for shipping plus an extra $7 for shipping which would make the $99 HMG a $120 rod. Gander Mountain has some Abu Garcia rods too. I'll take a look at those this week.

Gander Mountain has a 10% sale going on this month. I love my Fenwick HMG spinning rods. I'm now in the market for a nice seven foot baitcaster rod to throw crankbaits and spinnerbaits. I will admit I think those HMX rods look nice, very nice. They feel nice too. They come with a five year warranty. But, are they the same quality as my HMG spinning rods? Will I get my money's worth out of one? They want around $89.00 for the HMX rods. Any opinions of the HMX baitcaster rods?

That cart I'm building is slowly coming together. I think I need one more small piece and I'l be ready to put it all together. It should be a nice and solid cart. I figure the best thing about this is that if it breaks or something falls apart I will be able to easily fix it since I built it in the first place.

$60 shipped to your front door sounds like a good deal.

What company delivered your kayak and did it arrive it good shape? Any scratches or anything like that?

This winter I'm trying to build the kayak cart in this video. So far I'm 2/3's done. Anybody out there ever build this or other kayak carts? The guy in the video made his cart for his Ride 135. I'm using the exact design but my kayak is a Ride 115. I don't really want to pull my kayak out of the shed to measure it till spring time. I'm hoping it will still work good on my kayak. I read on the Wilderness Systems site that the Ride 115 is actually one inch wider than the 135. Anyway, if this cart is too small all I would have to do is cut another piece of superstrut/unistrut and buy another axle rod (around eight dollars). Then again, I might pull my kayak out and do some measuring before I start doing some cutting of the axle rod.

Well, want I'm wanting to cast are crankbaits and spinnerbaits. I'm not much of a crankbait user but I want to use them more this spring. So I figured I would put my one baitcaster to use. I weighed my main crankbaits I'm going to be using this spring and they weigh from .35oz. to .65oz. with most being .350z. The spinnerbaits I weighed are about the same. My only crankbait rod is a Vigilante 6'6" medium that is rated for 1/4 to 5/8 oz. lures and 8-17 pound line. I figured if I use crankbaits a lot then I will get some snagged so I better use heavy line. But I do wan to use a line that will let me cast a crankbait out far enough for it be effective.

I put new line on my baitcaster and went outside to practice, casting a practice plug in the back yard - in 34 degree temps. Nothing like casting into tree limbs every fourth cast and getting backlashes. lol. Where oh where is spring?!!!

I went to my first two outdoor shows last year. First one was a small one at a 4-H fairground building near Terre Haute. I only spent ten minutes or so at that but it was decent and I met some guys from El Grande Lures who made me a deal since I was new to fishing - for $10 I got one pack of their five inch lizards, one pack of their giant lizards, and one pack of their stick-baits. It made me happy. Plus I got one of my two big bass of 2014 on that five inch lizard. I asked El Grande lures if they were going to be at the Indy show and they said the cost to rent space at the show was too expensive, they could not make enough money to justify it. I've read similar comments online about that show in Indy. My second show was to the big show in Indy. My first thought when I walked into it - Man,who can afford all these thirty thousand to fifty thousand boats and pontoons? Yikes! The fishing department was very busy with a lot of people and lots of booths. I didn't stick around for any of the talks though. I don't hunt but it was fun walking around the hunting area. The coolest part of the show - I walked by an area that sold duck calls. So I'm walking and all of a sudden I hear duck calls from the left and right. It was the coolest thing. I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone or something, in another world. My brother was with me and he said all those duck calls were very expensive - in the hundreds of dollars! Wow. The Indy show had a lot of representatives from the lodges. They didn't seem very busy. I couldn't find me way out of the Indy fairgrounds when we left. lol. I had to drive around for ten minutes trying to find the exit.

That's interesting and something I've not done before. I might try that. I read online that baitcasters are easier to learn with heavier line. Last year I had on twelve pound Sufix mono and I could cast it OK but I hardly used it in my fishing. In fact I think I only used it one day out of the whole year. I paid $200 for that baitcaster, I want to get my money's worth out of the dang thing. lol.

For those of you that use baitcasters, do you feather the line when you cast during the whole cast? I mean, do you keep your thumb touching the line while you cast during the whole cast? I have one Shimano chronarch 200e6. I've had it for two years but I have not used it much. I just on 17 pound mono line yesterday. I want to use it more this year for spinnerbaits and crankbaits. I know, 17 pound line might be too big for crankbaits but I want try 17 pound line and see if it's easier to learn how to cast baitcasters. Thanks!

What about using braid (around 20 to 30 pound) on a spinning rod for spinnerbaits and crankbaits?

This winter I've been watching a lot of youtube videos on bass fishing from kayaks and boats/shore. I've noticed some hard core fishermen who mostly use spinning reels and they mostly use braid with a mono or fluorocarbon leader. I'm seriously considering trying out thirty pound braid on one of my spinning reels with a mono leader for bass fishing. But, I mostly use soft plastics split shot rigged and Texas rigged. I'm wondering - can soft plastics be used well with braid when you are using a Texas rig or split shot rig or mojo rig? I fish on two kinds of water - very clear strip pits and greenish/brown reservoir. Also, can thirty pound braid be used to super finesse fishing like the Ned rig with little mushroom jigs? Thanks!

Crankbaits are way over priced. I wonder how much they really cost to make $0.05?

Man, you should be on Lunkerville. You should call that show up and plan on recording this next winter for the 207 TV season. lol.

I have never done any winter fishing for bass but I've been reading up on it a lot. I don't get it - why are hard baits always preferred for winter bass fishing over soft plastic worms? I keep reading about jerk baits, crankbaits, spinnerbaits and jigs. And I keep reading how the bass will not chase much so you have to move everything real slow, basically throw it right in front of their face. But with crankbaits and spinnerbaits, those are moving baits. I know you can reel and stop, reel and stop, but you still end up reeling them/moving them. Why aren't plastic worms considered great winter fishing lures? They are the best all around bass catching lure in existence. If you cast a split shot small trick worm in front of a bass in winter and cast a hard crankbait in front of it, are you telling me it will probably go after the crankbait? I does not make sense to me - crankbaits, lipless crankbaits, jerk baits, jigs, all pushed for winter fishing but the mighty plastic worm, not much talk at all. So, if plastic worms are not good for winter, why is that?

What kind of seat do you have in your kayak? I bought a Vapor 10 over the summer and have been trying to find a better seat besides the lousy seat it came with.

Are bear hair jigs any good? That would be pretty cool to have a jig from bear hair.

Thanks for the info. I checked out those Andy's Custom Bass Lures. Those hair jigs look nice. I seen some with bear hair, fox hair and more. I just might order five or six of those things.

Were can I find online hair jigs that are good for bass fishing? I keep reading on the In-Fisherman site about those Midwest Finesse guys using hair jigs and how great they are in the Midwest. I've looked and looked online and can't really find any nice hair jigs designed for bass fishing. I want to buy a few so I can try them out later this early spring. Can someone tell me who has them? And no, I don't want to make my own. I want to buy! lol. Thanks!