jomatty

i dont have much to add but i too have a hard time at times. i practice pitching enough that i usually do ok in that regard but my skills with a full cast and especially with spinning gear are not at all where id like them to be. nothing worse than wasted casts, matt

i think the classic lure choice would be a single colorado bladed spinnerbait. a bulky jig with bulky trailer would be another good starting point

never even seen it but it looks interessting. looking forward to a follow up report once youve fished it

im no swimbait expert and it depends on the bait but ive been having a lot of success reeling steady and then just killing the bait and letting it fall on a semi slack line.

ive never fished a pond that a senko wasnt productive in

i fish a pond that is clogged with that stuff and i usually only bring the frog rod when i go there. the strikes can be a lot of fun when you see them coming from 5 feet away but like rw said it takes the fight away. instead of fighting the fish you are hauling in the weeds.

well you can use the paca craws for a trailer but they are too long for me to like. i havent got the baby craws yet. they are essentially a tube body so you cant just cut them down like you can a lot of craws. they are great t rig and the chunk is a great trailer. i thought i had settled on all of my trailer preferences and then i had to try these d**n things. oh well there is always room for another bait in my bag. matt

i almost hate to mention this because it is so obvious and no thinking person would be confused but... bringing up american indians or george perry...nothing could be more irrelevant. comparing the landscape and population of then and now is ridiculous. even talking about someone from the 70s or 80s would be irrelevant because they were just not as well educated as we are today and didnt know the consequences of their actions. comparing a relatively miniscule amount of native americans fishing strictly for substinence in areas that are so much less inhabited and "wilder" then anything we see these days could not be more irrelevant. personally if is saw a wooly mammoth walking down the road i wouldnt hunt it but i dont begrudge those who hunted them when they were around for doing so. thats about how relevant american indians and george perry is. the whole food fishing argument is ridiculous. if this guy needed to supplement his food source then he certainly wouldnt be targeting big bass. not only that but judging by truck and such he is doing fine. if i ever needed to track down a meal i dont think i would go throw a hudd all day and try to catch a 15 id get some plastic worms and know im gonna catch enough for a couple meals. edit: sorry i didnt see glenns closing of this thread when i posted and didnt mean to keep beating on this dead horse but just got a kick out of the american indian analogy

hmm a few things come to mind... when im fishing a frog in some really mucky stuff and all of a sudden i see the muck do a V from about 5 feet away and then just explode on it. when my son hooks up with something decent (hes 4) it is always exciting when im having a very tough day and then figure something out that puts some nice fish in the boat it is always a great feeling. matt

count me as another who is anxiously awaiting the shad bait. i wouldnt be surprised if it dosent become one of the more popular baits you make. matt

i would say you definitely still need to ask permission. it may be a public course but it is still managed and run, and is not a come as you like type of place. i would still try to be gone by the time the golfers get there and ask permisiion. if you play golf i think it helps too. when i asked at my local course i just happened to be finishing a round and i think that helped because i was a golfer who would understand about being on a course and also i was a customer.

so senseless. i dont have anything against someone keeping a few 12 inch bass or a mess of crappie but keeping a bass of any real size is just unimaginable. have you asked him about it and heard his response? just hard to imagine how he could justify this sort of thing. i mean its kinda beside the point but has anyone ever eaten a big bass, they are disgusting. and skin mounts start to look like crap after awhile, so even if he was somewhat unethical its hard to imagine why he would do this. especially in cali where most fishermen seem knowledgable and c&r seems to be much more prolific then other places like florida. anyhow very sad and im sure frustrating

for me it has everything to do with the light and water conditions. for hollow frogs i use the bronzeye that is green and yellow on bright days, white or the maroon-reddish one if there is a little stain and cloud cover, and black if the water is heavily stained or there is heavy cloud cover. ive even used a black frog at night with some success. soft plastics frogs are similar and i use green pumpkin or green pumpkin with a white belly when i can get away with it and black or darker colors when the water/light condition offer less visibility. matt

while aint texan makes some very good points you should not be too afraid of casting a jig imo. when first learning it can be difficult to feel the strikes on a jig but learning to know what is going on underwater iskey and casting a jig can help you start to learn this. zona did a good job describing the two ways people fish jigs on the most recent bassmasters show and guys like mike mcclelland do a great job casting a football head jig. it is one of my favorite ways to fish a jig, although i like pitching as well. i ussually dont go smaller than 3/8 oz jig when fishing for largemout and 1/2 is my go to bait. use the search function as tehre have been soem excellent threads on jigs recently. matt

thats is interesting. sounds like he is trying to get an interior weight but one that will give the benefit of not letting them throw it like they sometimes can with a jighead. the only thing that i dont really get is that he is swimming it. for me the biggest benefit of a interior weight is the spiraling fall. for swimming i dont see why a regular unpegged t-rig wouldnt work just as well. matt

at the golf course near where i live i just walked in and asked. they were already familiar with me because i would golf there sometimes, but i dont think that mattered much. they said it was fine, but i had to be off before the course opens and after it closes. not great but the fishing is ok and i can often get out for an hour or two in the morning and do some fishing at dusk or at night.

i love the change in the womans voice. all smooth and such and then she sees the fish and is like "holy $#$#@$"

when i first started pouring plastics i got the idea to maybe try to sell some of the baits i was making. i was pleased with the quality and had a few baits that were original and worked. after crunching the numbers though i decided that there was just not that much money in it the way i wanted to do it. some folks seem to do well at it but they seem to be very much the exception. if i were going to go into the tackle business i would consider swimbaits to be the best route. they are gaining popularity every year and you can sell them for enough that you can actually make money at it. the first step however is coming up with a great product. original is great but even more importantly is high quality. it sounds like you have not made tackle before, so i would start with that before even considering borrowing money and doing anything else. matt

i honestly havent tried the javellon just the lake fork one. only problem is that the biggest they currently make is 4.5 inches so it attracts a lot of smaller fish, although it appeals to the big boys as well. i didnt realize the javellons were that expensive. good god that is crazy. if they hold up as poorly as the lake fork ones (which i dont think is that poorly but i did go through 2 packs fairly quickly) then that would be way too expensive for me. The lake fork ones are like 5 bucks for 4 of them through brad. i will definitely be getting more and am anxiously awaiting the release of the 5.5 inch ones that are supposedly in the works. i would definitely try a few packs out as they are good, although i cant compare them to the javellon. i found another way to fish them the other day and that is through sparse lily pads. i just drug it and swam it through there and caught a few good ones. ill let you know if i come up with anything good but as of now the ones i am making are definitely not as good as the lake fork i used as the master to make the mold. as far as how well they produce it may be close as the action is good but they are difinitely not quite as nice. it is hard for me to pour these baits and takes a long time to get a few that are good enough to use. i think to really make much progress with these they might need to be injection molded or something. matt

i know for a fact that im more excited when my son catches a bass. when i have a good one on i often think something along the lines of "stay on" or "dont come unpegged" but when my son hooks one i think things like "please God dont let this fish come off. ill do anything just for the love of God let him land this fish". it makes him so happy which seems to make me even happier, so i know exactly what you mean.

i have that pole too!!! or at least my son does. hes caught many fish with it using senkos and grubs but now has upgraded a little. once i changed out the line he was good to go and even caught a 4 lber using a "guppy" that he caught with his little net. ahh i miss that rod...

amazing fish and another well told and interesting story to read...

my wife thought that looked really cool so we have one. she threw it for awhile and to be honest it looked really good in the water. she hasnt caught anything on it yet and i havent got desperate enough to try it yet but the action is good and i cant really see why it wouldnt work at least ok. i mean its just a crank bait with a soft plastic tail, i dont see why a fish wouldnt eat it. that said, im not in a hurry to tie it on, and will need a pretty good reason to do so. my wife seems more willing to keep trying with it so we will see...

id experimented with them some and almost written them off. i mean i caught fish swimming them with a pegged weight but i just like other options better in almost every situation i can think of for that sort of thing. a couple of days ago when camping with my son i found something that really worked well. we were at a small lake that is over 90% ringed with pads. i got a few fish on a bronzeye and a few on a ribbit but then the bite completely died off and nothing... tried a weightless swim senko dragged over the pads and it really produced. i would keep my rod tip high and alternate between swimming it through the sparcer areas right on the surface and fishing it essentially like a horny toad or ribbit. may prove to be a good option when the fish want something with a little smaller profile in pads or mats but still can be caught on a topwater frog. matt

generally i think it is fine but make sure that they are not too large or they will get tangled with each other and be an overall headache. thats my opinion anyways