Cgolf

Sometimes, but I do have to say that it is really easy to tell when they are giving you a bunch of BS. Also I generally just ask about lake conditions, temp and weed growth trends, I try to stay away from what bait are they biting on. You give me that lake condition info I can figure out what baits I want to toss.

I picked up the same color, my first choice was out and I have the 130 in loon so I wanted a different color. Curious to see how it works.

The Yum Crawbug has to fit this too, that thing is pretty darn close to the real thing and I have caught a ton of smallies on them. Also have caught the same fish on the bait too. Guessing like the worm, it just looks real and the fish can't help themselves.

Well the TW sale got me for a 1.22 on the plastic and 65 items. Thanks to generous family (my Wife) I was able to score me some Rage, Whopper Plopper, Anglers Choice, Zman, a HooRag and man the list goes on... Not too bad and really not a lot of money spent overall. Plastics, skirt materials, and sales can really drive the item count up without breaking the bank. May post some pics when it finally gets here. I am just impressed that I managed to actually wait till now without spending the cards lol.

For me it is a Bandit 100 for a crank. Reasoning is that it is a monster shallow water river Smallie Crankbait. It comes through rocks pretty well and has caught Smallie for me in the main seasons that I fish hard, if they are there,they will hit it. I have also taken this bait to the lake and had largemouth jump in on the fun too. While it isn't the most versatile bait in the world, as the old saying goes there are always at least some fish shallow. For soft baits I have 2 that get carried in one box. First is the 3-5" single tail grub, preferably a Kalins. I have caught almost everything on these including my PB Musky. A super versatile lure, can be fished on its own or as a trailer on say a swim jig. Can be fished at pretty much any depth and any retrieve that you can dream up. I like the tube for all the same reasons. I carry a Plano 4700 guide series double decker box with a good color selection of each to every lake I fish. I am glad that a lot of people get snagged by all the new baits out there, because the classics flat out catch fish.

Thanks everyone, a little less excited because some of my favorite brands I was going to stock up on aren't in yet and their dates have been sliding out. My goal is to have nothing that would be back ordered so that changes my order up quite a bit.

Just picked up two Lucky Craft baits for 6 bucks a piece at Cabela's, a bone pro blue flash pointer 130 and a fat CB bds1 OR Tennessee Shad. Not sure if I did good or not with these as they are my first Lucky Craft baits.

I will say his responses and how he handled this thread had me add some Rage Menace grubs to try on to what I hope will be an order this weekend. I had taken them off the list, but this thread made me change my mind. I like to buy products from good companies and good people, he seems to fit that so I am in.

That has caused a ton of confusion and while I love Zman stuff, their website promotes the idea of the bait as the technique. I wanted to start a thread to hopefully be added to the pinned thread of non Zman Ned baits. I have been doing really well with the Arkie salty crawlin fry cut into thirds this year, along with a 1/2 Anglers choice wart hawg which is esentially a skinny senko like bait, and of course Zman TRDs too. I will be experimenting a lot more.

Sorry, this was with a traditional Ned head 1/16 ounce, so I would be Ned rigging from that standpoint, but yes initially I did ask if you called it jig worming or power Ned with heavier weights. The cutoff for the technique is the jig weight 1/8 ounce and below for Ned, and above for jig worming. Retrieve sounds a bit more wide open though. That sucks, I have a beautiful huge sand flats in 4-6 fow with reeds to swim and drag it in. Reeds are awesome cover for bass fishing, easy to fish in and the bass love them.

For me I usually do some fishing in Northern WI, and it never fails that we get hit with at least 3 cold fronts in a week, even if we are up there in August lol. For some reason those fish are very neutral and don't like moving baits and are very drop and bottom oriented, they don't look up often. I will try some of the swimming retrieves this year and see what happens. Totally off topic, but I may give this a shot for jigging up deep water walleyes, the jig weight is spot on, I think it would work.

The thing I don't get is why not work a Ned on the bottom, at least the 1/2 Zinkerz that stands up better than the TRD, and take full advantage of its best attribute? On a 1/16 ounce working this slowly along the bottom on sand flats would be deadly. For me the stand up and the wiggling it does due to the flexibility of the bait is money, or by definition is this not Ned rigging or Midwest finesse? To me the bait and a weight is the Ned, the fish tell be the retrieve they want with it, swimming or bouncing off the bottom, etc. To be honest, a lot of the fish I target want the baits on the bottom and worked very slowly.

I have been collecting too as my wife allows, and thanks for clarifying. I love your attitude and that you are still out there chasing that crazy green fish. I hope I am doing the same as I get older and hopefully wiser. Tight lines

That's cool, Ned rig is about a slow fall, it reminds me a lot of slider rigging. I do have to say I don't think about retrieve much on the water till I hit on something that produces and then I replicate it. Most of my lake fishing with it is around reeds, so I don't swim it as much as you guys do. All I know is the rig has been money for me on rivers last year and early this year.

Want to second that not all of us throw combos like you. I and many others have a decent but limited budget for baits, so 20 cents less with an extra bait is a plus for some of us. I wish I was in your shoes budget wise, but I catch plenty of fish so I guess life isn't all that bad.

I know the Ned is supposed to be a lightweight presentation, and for rivers I go 1/16 ounce, but I would think that sometimes say a 1/4 ounce may produce better due to the faster fall rate, which bass can sometimes be really picky about. Would this be the power Ned presentation or just a shaky head with a half Zinkerz or TRD?

About 30 years ago we were vacationing in Florida staying at a condo complex and they had a pond with some bass in it. We bought a Zebco combo for me to fish with and I was tossing 2" yellow grubs. All I remember is casting out and thinking I had snagged something. When I yanked back to free it, all heck broke loose. I managed to land it and the local pond expert (I was 12ish and this kid was younger than me) eyes bugged out at the fish. I wish I truly knew how big it was, but it was probably a 20"+ fish. I was just a young kid happy to catch a big fish. Funny how the memory came back once I saw the topic. Hadn't thought about it in a long time, but man I can still remember the feel of that hookset.

Whoops, forgot the second half of your question for river fishing. For the Crawbug I use the 2.5" in crawdad color (green pumpkin top and orange bottom) on a 1/8 oz jig. On the river you cast out and work if back slowly over the bottom allowing the current to bounce it along. If eddies are available on the river, cast into them and bring your bait across the current. When reeling in don't give up on the retrieve in gnarly current, because smallies will hold in this current in washouts or by rocks where there is dead water, but they can poke their head up and grab an easy meal. It will snag up on rocks, but you can pop it loose most of the time, and many times you will get hit right as it pops loose. You will lose your share of jigs if you fish this a lot, so go with cheaper jigs with decent hooks. You may have to experiment with jig weight a bit for your river. The goal is to contact bottom, but not to snag up every two feet. You also don't want it never contacting the bottom. For the Ned rig I use a 1/16 oz jig for my waters. Personally I would go with the Crawbug, they are cheap (3 bucks for 8 and are even available at Wally World) and don't have the handling issues that Zman baits have to start off with. Green pumpkin Texas red and black neon also worked well for me. The only thing I will say is the larger size crawbug was a bust for me, I think the smaller one matches the hatch better for the river system I fish. Once you really get into river fishing, the Zman stuff has a lot of pluses, but not to start out with. Scent can be optional, but I am a big believer in it and use it on almost all my baits.

For River fishing I use the Ned rig a lot, I prefer 1/2 Zinkerz over the TRD, but both work well. I have also caught a ton of fish on the smaller 2.5" yum Crawbug. I generally fish it on a slider head, but have used a round head jig too. With the crawbugs I put some gel scent in the hollow body, and it really seems to help. I do also put gel scent on the Ned rig.

Here is my 2 cents for starting cheap and fishing on a budget. For a rod reel combo I would go with an ugly stick spinning rod, with a 30ish buck reel. You can't beat an ugly for the price, well built serviceable rods that last, I still use one 4-5 times a week. Have tried other cheaper rods, and most broke very quickly. As for the cheaper spinning reels, many have lasted years for me, and while the drags aren't perfect, they handle the bass that I have caught. For line I use fireline, which will last ya at least a couple of years. As for baits, I would start with 4-5" single tail grubs and some weedless jig heads. If you can find kalins grubs go with them, otherwise Zoom and BPS are good too. Cranks, I would start with something like the bandit 100-300 series depending on the depths you fish. You could throw in some tubes and a worm or two. The most important thing is think long term, I have been a budget fisherman most of my life, but through sales and just time passing, I have a good enough selection of baits and rods that I don't feel limited on the water. Good luck

Just curious, in general what you get out of pro staffing? I assume it is discounted product in return for social media posts, trade show attendance, and product placement in stores. Thanks for the answer

For plastics I have settled on the Plano guide series two tiered 4700 boxes and a few standard 3700s and 3600s. I have attached pictures of my Crankbait bag and the box I use at home for bait storage. If I am on a longer trip and need more cranks than the bag can hold I will toss them in a deep 3700 box.

You looking for bulk storage or on the water? I actually use a custom bag for crankbaits that I hang them in PVC pipe for on the water, and have larger plano boxes that I store them in at home.

I thinks some are reacting to others saying this will be awesome because it was a rage branded bait, and it might be, we won't know till we get it in our hands, but it is definitely not all that different like some thought, the rage lip on the tail would have been pretty cool. I will wait for the reviews to come in and then maybe purchase some ketechs and rage and see how they work. This is my first year with swimbaits and I will be trying the few brands I have first before the bait monkey wrecks my life with too many choices lol.

So I have a question for you all, what are the benefits and costs of being a pro staff angler. For me personally, I would only want to pro staff baits and gear I already use, and know it is good stuff. I have seen a few guys bounce around sponsors and I know that has to cost them a little bit, especially when you get into rods and reels. I assume that most pro staff deals get you a great discount on product, and what they expect may vary? What are some different levels of expectation that are out there? I just saw a Yum pro staff request that talks about social media presence. I assume others look for trade show attendance too. To my other question, is NPS worth it, and how much does it cost to get a resume submitted through their site? I currently promote some brands for free on social media because I like and believe in their product. I am on the fence with the pro staff thing, because I could see myself spending even more money to get properly geared up with their brand. I also have always undervalued myself going back to my RC racing days when I could have had a full paid ride if I would have just asked, sadly I never did. So learning from that I may not want to pass up some opportunities if they are available.