Cgolf

I would guess that St. Croix does more business, I could be wrong and having seen the St. Croix factory they are definitely a small business. Also in the tackle world, Dobyns and St Croix to me would be small companies. Others are owned by large umbrella companies. My other choice was an order from Siebert. When I compared the two orders Siebert was mostly the Rage Ned plastics, which for me are definitely not a need. I have a ton of Ned plastics already, just wanted to try the Rage stuff at a decent price point. The rods win because I am slowly upgrading my 10-20 year old rods as the budget allows and this was an excellent opportunity to upgrade.

I generally fish smoke purple, smoke purple gold, and smoke red tubes. The first two for sure remind me of a bluegill in bright sun, so they work great when sun penetration is good on clear water. Not sure what smoke red represents but it also cleans up in clear water. I have also used sand colored tubes and while they get less hits, the bass choke them when they do hit them. Once the sun goes under or it gets too wavy cutting light penetration the smoke purple based baits lose their effectiveness and water red cleans up.

Actually a miracle happened and I convinced her today. She was good since I was helping a small business that was definitely in need of moving stock. I have been all over the sale thread today. What a difference a day makes:) Got a 6'3" champion bc, great for 16 ft deep v's, and a medium sierra spin to pair with my medium light sierra I got last year.

Between 200 and 300 smallmouth and largemouth a year since 2006 most years, but some years were really down because of river conditions or bad weather on vacation. The bad years dragged the average down to 181 bass a year. Total largemouth since 2006 - 1635 Total smallmouth since 2006 907

I assume that it just means that everyone's packages will be later than expected. While I ordered the Dobyns rod today, I would be cool if they shipped it later, not an option when you purchase, but the deal was too good to pass up. My wife is also in favor of helping out smaller businesses right now. Even though I got a screaming deal, it sounds like Gary will be happy to be moving stock to bring in some cash, so win win.

Alright, ordered 634CB Champion XP Perfect action and length. Fish out of a 16 foot single console deep V with high gunwale up front, so I should be able to roll cast baits easily. So hard to find a short mod fast higher end stick! 693SF Sierra to compliment the medium light sierra I have. Essentially got both for a little over the regular price of the champion.

That is awesome and it answers our question of does answer does it help the little guy, it does. I used to listen to Ultimate bass radio poscasts and heard Gary often, but never ordered any of his rods till last year. The Sierra instantly became my go to spinning stick and blew away my St. Croix stuff! I thought I got a great deal from TW, this would be better yet. If I had the cash, I would replace most sticks now, but will slowly upgrade to Dobyns stuff:)

so I assume sportsman's outfitters out of Dothan AL is legit and the place you are talking about? See a champion BC and a Sierra spin that would be perfect. How good are they at shipping rods? TW like or DSG like?

For some it is too long ago to remember, but guessing I had success pretty quickly with some lures. Others like Jerkbaits took a long time to learn, but now they are a goto bait. I rarely give up on a bait. I won't overfish it the day I am drawing a blank, but will toss it out there on other trips to see if I finally get bites. Only bait I have given up on is a senko, mostly because if the fish in the area are that slow I will find other fish.

All off the above. Fishing reeds last year the hot ticket was drop it, let it sit a second or two, two short quick shakes in place, start retrieving back to boat and fish on. I had some go pro footage and every plastic hit had the shake in place move, took a day to realize I was doing it all the time. Basically fish it the way you would any Texas rigged plastic. I rarely use the slider/Ned/Midwest straight retrieve. N WI sees a lot of cold fronts so bass like the bait to sit a bit. Not afraid to throw it in heavier weeds minus the snap. Of course some weeds are too thick for a 1/4 ounce head.

Here is a better picture of the rigging. Had to go back to 2017 on twitter to find a good picture. I wouldn’t be a good rep for baits lol. The hook up rate is really good with tubes and baits like the menace and kalins 5” grub. Makes you wonder if the extra wide gap hooks are really needed as much.

I have used them exclusively for 15+ years. Essentially they are a worm weight attached to a hook. They make a heavy wire and light wired versions in 2/0 and 3/0 hook. The Menace rigged on the slider spider heavy wire hook landed over 20 bass. I had to rerig it exiting the nose on the other side because it got so tore up. I actually saved the bait lol. They just work great but only go up to a 1/4 and weights aren’t exact which is a downside to some. I will say that bass don’t seem to throw the hook a lot either. I do like to use a snap because I fish vertical cover a lot and I feel the snap helps the bait fall vertically. Impossible to use a snap with a standard Texas rig with a worm weight. They definitely fit the KISS principal.

Wondering if ultimately we will see a shortage of gear due to supply chain issues because of the virus? Even though we both are working my wife is making me hold off on a Siebert order till this passes. I couldn’t convince her with the Dobyns sales. Will need to find a screaming deal to get her to let me order lol.

Bandit 100 yum small crawbug on 3/16 slider spider head Kalins 5” grub on slider head Tube on slider head Rage menace on slider head Red Eye Shad 1/2 ounce these baits have probably caught 90% of my bass I would be lost without my slider spider heads

Liking the sound of this. Their end of year sale was crazy, got most baits for 5 or under. Got the monster sized Cloud 9 deep diver, really excited to throw that one. Tempted to use a leader due to deep water musky and pike. They look like high quality baits and from comments on the boards I expect them to hold up. The popper is an interesting design too. The hyper jerk and hybrid swim crank are going to be on my next order too.

For me it is Rapala. I have had good luck with almost all of their baits I have tried and they cover a wide range of applications. Not sure of a second though. Other brands I just have a few of certain classes of lures, but haven't tried the full line. One I have tried most of their line, Strike King, I have been hit or miss with some cranks. The ones that work are incredible, the others are zeros for me, so on average just ok. 6th sense so far has seemed to be good quality to me and thanks to a sale I have a good representation of their full lineup. So next year we will see if they become a goto brand for me.

I haven't used the elite shiner, but have used the 4" turbo shad on the river over the years with good success. Their plastic is a bit different than others. It seems to hold up very well and just be a bit firmer. Not having used this on still water, I might think the more durable/firmer plastic may take a bit more speed to get the tail going.

I have a trout creek walking distance to my house and have taken advantage of that as weather and water levels allow. Bass open April 1st, may drive to river close to house if allowed at that time.

On the vacation lake fishing 12 hours a day, many days I will use 5 or less lures because I am dialed in. When out on my local lake for 2 hours with no clue what mood and where the fish are I may burn thru 10 to 20 lures.

I am new to catching fish with jerkbaits. In the past I struggled to get a good hooking percentage. Last year I fished one on a 6’ medium ugly stick GX2 spinning rod with a Lews American hero 6:2:1 gear ratio. Couldn’t find the IPT for this reel, but another Lew’s spinning reel geared the same was 24”. Make fun of the cheap rod and reel all you want, but I went from a 10-20% hookup rate to well over 90%. Next year I will use that combo for baits up to a 1/2 ounce and my Lew’s Crush BC for heavier baits. The rod that came with the crush combo seems like a good fit for jerkbaits. Otherwise I will see if the older Cabela’s rods I have suit my style. What I am noticing is we all need different setups depending on line type, hook set style, etc. Don’t think there is a one size fits all solution for any technique.

When I was 10 we vacationed at a timeshare in Florida, and my parents bought me a pole with some 2” yellow grubs to fish in the pond by the pool. I remember casting up against shore near some wood, and thought I had snagged up. Second big pull and all heck broke loose. I wish I had a picture but I know it was big, and the local kid that was watching was amazed at the size of fish. So in my mind that is my biggest bass, not sure if it was now or not, but the fact that I remember the feel of the take 36 years later, it was a big bass regardless.

Glad someone else likes ugly sticks. If people could get past the slightly heavier stick, they work great for some presentations. My M GX2 spinning rod excels as a jerkbait rod and spybait rod. I also does really well as an all purpose rod fishing a very rocky stretch of river from shore and is forgiving enough to fish trout too. Underrated sticks imo and hope the trend towards fast action lets up soon and we see a majority of moderate actions again. Bandit 100, has caught me hundreds of bass and I know they catch the same fish multiple times. They must have a special something something to their action that says legit food that the fish don’t become conditioned to them. Yum crawbug, cheap and my number 1 bass bait of all time. Simply rig it on a slider head, a little craw scent and hold on. Rage Menace, initially I wasn’t a believer and thought people raved about it on here because it was the site sponsor. Well I still hate the price, but have bought a bunch of them during sales, they flat out produce. Use them for both bass and trout fishing now. Rapala shadow rap great jerkbait at a great price point. I have added some pricier models, to see how they stack up against the shadow rap. Berkley fireline, seems like I have been using this forever on spinning reels and I hope the never stop making it. Use it all the time on a rocky river without any issues. Embarrassed to say how long I go without respooling. Suffix 832 this stuff is just great line, and has mostly replaced the power pro I used in the past. Tube and 5” grub (preferably Kalins) If I had two types of baits to fish for the rest of my life these would be it. Super versatile, cheap, and they whack em.

I have 3 that oddly I never fished. The purple pearl one looks like money, and is a good clear water color. I will have to give mine a toss this summer, assuming I can find them;)

Here it is with jerkbaits on top and cranks in the bottom. The crank in the bottom left is a sexy Shad SK 8.0 square bill to give you an idea of size. Probably not as bad as I thought, I just end up converting them to a plastics box eventually.

It’s ok for crankbaits, but the top is like a skinny 3700. For plastics though that is the best box I have ever found. I have many of them to store different plastics in and they are the only box I purchase for that need. If I remember tonight I will get a picture of the one it’s Crankbaits in it.