Cgolf

I always have run with a small snap, next time I can try without. The others were so easy it was just frustrating. it was really windy all week, if they are more sensitive I could use them in calmer water. I have a 16 ft aluminum boat with an 80 lb trolling motor and needed 30 to 50 percent power to move into the wind. Boat control was a blast lol. So if heavy waves and retrieving at an angle to them could throw it off that could be a factor too. The provoke did something funky too once in a great while, maybe I was just pushing the limit of when jerks can be fished, especially finesse jerks.

This last week I fished some new to me Jerkbaits along with my standard shadow rap. I got to try the Ima Fit (see other thread it wasn't a success), Jackall Rerange and 6th Sense Provoke. In the past I lost a lot fish when retrieving the slack line after the rod sweep. For some reason I did better with a spinning rod. This year my setup was my Lew's crush combo. What I started to do was reel fast pause for x time, reel fast, pause for x time, repeat. This worked super well for me while the jerkbait bite was on. So if this is totally the wrong way to do it, I will stick with it, because I don't believe I missed a fish all week on jerkbaits. The provoke was a nice surprise, every hit was like the fish was trying to kill the bait. I didn't expect jerkbait bites to be so aggressive. Even a walleye slammed it.

Awesome thanks, I didn't think it was normal, but knowing jerkbaits are a totally different beast I wanted to check. Thought maybe the crazy odd action was by design.

This week before the plastic bite disappeared I used the Arsenal Assault bug quite a bit and really liked it. It got bit a lot more than the menace and I caught 26 fish on one, lost a second to a snag after 15 or so fish, and the third had a lot of fish on it too and is still rigged and ready in my box. I do wish they also offered it in a smaller size as well, it is not a small bait. I know some will say they are different baits and shouldn't be compared, but for me I see them as a more economical option to the menace because they hold up longer and are close enough that I could use one or the other. I rig both on a slider head and probably fish my bait a lot longer than many would. I sometimes find that a well munched on bait sometimes produces better than a new bait out of the bag. The reaction innovation spicy beaver would be an option if they offered better colors.

When TW had these on sale during the 25 days sale, I bought a couple in each size along with the Jackall Rerange which was also on sale, and a couple of Provokes not on sale. The Provokes and the Reranges worked great. The Flits got a lot of suggestions on here when people asked about what jerkbaits to get. The Flit both ran to the right when jerked and when I tried to reel them back to the boat to recast, both a 100 and 120. Very disappointed with them and feel like i got ripped off! Did Ima dump a bunch of seconds for the sale, or is this just how they are? I didn't try the others because I already wasted enough time with the first two. What am I missing here?

Ugly stick med spinning rod with a Shakespeare reel of some kind. I mostly river fish and keep this combo in the truck at all times during the season. Don't keep the high dollar rods in the truck for obvious reasons.

I guess deals weren't horrible depending on your point of reference. I got a couple of nice sticks for 50 percent or more off which I thought was fair with the 1 year warranty 3 to 4 years ago. Today's prices flipping through most of them, I saw some Avids for low 100s but they didn't hit my buy price. Glad you found some good deals:) I also got a couple of Dobyns new in the 40 percent off sale, so I was able to be picky or I may have grabbed a couple of Avids that were under 130.

The B stock prices are very disappointing. About 3-4 years ago I got a Mojo swimbait for 65 and an Avid X for 100. Seems like they have really bumped up the prices on the B stock rods.

I think I paid 130 for my combo, and the rod is pretty nice. Got a nice moderate action that worked well for lipless and square bills. Gonna try it as a jerkbait rod next week. Oddly my crush is quite, either my SX or STX is loud, but smooth. Best deal I got was with the STX and SX Reels on deep discount I had ordered a Revo S for 50 with them and they sent me a left handed reel instead of a right so I ended up getting that for free, awesome customer service. I had the Daiwa Mag with twitching bar which was a 60 buck reel that gave me tons of problems with the bit that lays the line on the spool evenly. It would get out of sync and click on the side plate. But man that thing casted sweet. Barely needed to use my thumb even casting 1/4 ounce cranks into the wind.

Surprised for the hate on the crush. That thing is the best casting reel I have, distance and backlash control. Also have a abu stx, sx, and daiwa viento, and the crush is my favorite. The viento is a great real though, doesn't cast as far as I would like, but barely need to use your thumb when casting, wish I would have bought 5 more when they were 80 bucks years ago.

I have a couple of spinning setups with 20 lb fireline, that I am not afraid to toss in thick stuff. Generally for me a spinning rod is way more accurate, better distance control, and you can very easily get a vertical drop which is criticall when fishing vertical cover for neutral bass. I have even started fishing 1/4 ounce swim jigs on a spinning rod and it works great. I run either 10 lb fireline with red label 10 lb fluoro leader or 20 lb fireline with 20 lb sniper leader. I love working my baitcasters, but they just aren't suited for lighter lures fishing vertical cover imo.

I have a ton of topwaters, in a lot of different colors and they rarely work for me. That is what I am missing. Doesn't stop me from throwing them, but it seems the above is the most important factor. My best day with a plopper style bait, yellow perch, was mid day not a lot of wind and bright sun in 5 fow, go figure. I have a lot to learn.

The jig box is very nice. I do get more jigs in other boxes, but like the way it organizes them. But if cramming as much crap in a box you can is your goal then even the jig box wouldn't work for ya. But to be honest I think it holds more than 60 jigs and chatterbaits, if you need more than that, that is a bait monkey issue not an on the water need?

I haven't tossed the booyah ones yet, but since they are the old xcaliburs, they will be awesome. Like others said they run a little on the shallower side, but the have a wide roll, and aggressive action. I always thought of them as fishing much larger than there size, as they punch a big hole in the water. Especially compared to a more subtle square bill like a bandit 100. Those two baits are my one two punch when fishing square bills.

Most I will spend on a rod is 150, spinning reel 75, and baitcaster 150. Those are the maxes, most of my combos come out around the 200 mark for the price bought on sale. If you go by full retail my Dobyns champion XP and Daiwa Viento combo would be up there pretty good. Wish I would have bought multiple Vientos when they were on sale for 80$, really nice reel.

Hard Candy, bluegill, Motor Red, and green pumpkin purple gold in the menace. Straight green pumpkin baits are not allowed in my boat, they don't work for me.

That really sucks and feel awful for you. Jerkbait box is the most valuable in the boat. Do you think the clear lid on the Edge box vs the opaque lid on a standard Plano led to this? It is possible that the material on the standard planos reflects enough light to keep this from happening.

If it had to be just one line for both it would be suffix 832, but that would be a hard switchover on spinning reels. Then again I may just switch to all spinning setups and stick with fireline. I have been using that stuff since it came out and I don't ever see a reason to put something else on a spinning reel. I don't believe it would work on a baitcaster though. I have been using a Fluoro leader the last couple of years, but it isn't a necessity.

They do have some walleye stuff that I find interesting. I will have to dig into that side of the site more to see what they have. Maybe enough to justify an order some day;) I have been to Thorne bros out of MN a few years back and thought they had a nice store, mainly musky though. Have never ordered from them though.

I don't understand the fishusa love. I see their prices as a bit high? Got the new rapala v blade from bass pro a buck cheaper a bait. Am I missing something?

I will justify my not spending the money. Almost everyone of my rods/reels were bought on sale, most were significant discounts. Same with tackle the last 7-10 years, most was gifts or bought on one of the holiday sales from different shops, but mostly TW. I run a 2006 Lunker v16 that was like 12k new back then. No fancy electronics, just something to tell me the depth and if there are weeds or not, no video game fishing for me;) For me if I can catch say 10-15 fish per menace grub or tube vs 1-2 per senko, the math says go with the first 2 options. I think the above statement applies to many on this site, not just me. We all try to squeeze as many toys as possible out of our budgets, than the bait monkey usually finds some more in the cushions;)

I have once, but when I caught it, it was no longer my lure. We had a local kid that didnt have much so I gave him some lures and one happened to be a swimming image I hadn't used much. 6 months or so later, I snagged some line and sure enough I caught the lure I had given away. Never saw the kid again till many years later, so wasn't able to give it back to him.

The standard Senko doesn't work for me or my style of fishing so don't care how much he charges, not wasting my money on them anyways. Swim Senko I have done well with at times and found when I tested trailers on swim jigs, they had the wildest tail action. So over the years I have bought them when I found them on sale and stocked up for the 1 lake I fish them on. Refuse to pay full price for them though. Fish these on a slider head, but hope to try them on a swim jig this year.

After this sunk in, I went and double checked my tackle bag to make sure I had a couple of bail springs packed just in case;) Appreciate the reminder.

For me there is only 1 must have for fishing down to about 6 feet, a Bandit 100. I have caught lots of brown and green bass on this bait on both rivers and lakes. The rest are nice to haves and have there moments where they shine. If I was pushed for a second, the Red Eye shad is close, but would still lean towards the nice to have.