jdw174

I stopped in the one in Clarksville, TN this morning. It looked like a plague of locusts went thru the place. Still, I managed to grab several bags of YUM plastics for $1.48 ea. They had some Rapalas left....couple other things, but nothing interested me that much.

There's far too much talking and not enough fishing on either one of them, but the BASS production is better, IMO. I would hope McKinnis takes the TV back to the "thrilling days of yesteryear"....the way it was when Bob Cobb did the commentating.

BPS, Strike King, and Bomber cranks. Caught a lot of fish on those. You can get some really good prices at Lurenet's website on Bombers. None of those will break the bank. I have a topwater box, and perhaps the best producing lure in there is a BPS knockoff of a Sammy, gotten when BPS would offer their "5 lures for $5" at the beginning of the year. In soft plastics, the Zoom Trick Worms is hard to beat. They're not fancy, but they do the job. I carry several different plastics, but they're always there. I don't have any WalMart SB's, but I have a box of others, some more than a few years old..and they still produce. My favorite is the Mann's Hank Parker model with twin Indiana blades.

Mostly on reviews of a bait, and whether or not they fit into my fishing style. For instance, I like to fish shakeyheads, and when I read the article on the Hag's Tornado I ordered a couple of bags. It quickly became my favorite soft plastic for that, so this year, I ordered several more bags. Over the years, I've never listened to what a pro was pushing in the way of lures.....until KVD came along with his RedEye Shad and the Sexy Shad color. I've caught a bunch of fish on that lure and it remains my favorite lipless crank. I also listened when read about shallow running square-bills and now throw those in place of spinnerbaits most of the time. Thanks to a gift certificate I got this year, I now have several of the new KVD 1.5 and 2.5's and have high hopes for them. As for price, let's just say that $7+ spinnerbaits give me a pucker factor of +10, not to mention $15 cranks. If you like 'em and can afford them, drive on, brother. As for me, I stick with Bandits, Bombers, SK's, and a couple others. Heck, I've done very well on BPS copies.

I used the Hag's a lot this past year. Just got a bag of 8" to use for c-rigging. I use the 5" for shakeyhead fishing. Love 'em 8-)

I use 3 different sizes at different times, but if I had to choose just one it would most likely be the 3/16oz.

Read somewhere that he was the last of the original "Band of Brothers" left. RIP old soldier.....and thanks.

I use them for skipping underneath overhanging limbs, boat docks, etc. If it's really brushy I fish them T-rigged. If not, then wacky-rigged with the Owner wacky hook. I long ago got over the need for Senkos only. Yum Dingers are $3/pack at WalMart, work just as good (IMO). Got a couple of packs of SK Ochos to try this year.

Hope that works better for you than it did for me. I ended up making a return trip a week later after going thru a totally different "cleansing" process. Those little bottles you drink and the pills never even bothered me. Ended up with the old gallon jug which I had to drink in about 8 hours. Now THAT worked ;D

You might want to try www.thedigitaloasis.com . I bought my 898 from them and saved a bunch over regular catalog prices.

Not much to show........four of the SK KVD squarebills and a few more bags of Hag's Tornado worms. That's it.

If you can live without the side imaging on the TM (and lots of people do), both Lowrance and H-Bird offer units in your price range with the down imaging. IMO, that makes it a WHOLE lot better than just an ordinary graph. You'll be able to actually see what's down there instead of looking at a colored blob on the screen. Most dealerships will have them set up in demo mode. Take a look.

Ordinarily I just use the "el cheapo" round weights from BPS. Last summer I got a couple packs of the Lunker City Bakudan pencil weights and like those, but the cost + shipping will send me back to the BPS brand when these are gone

You can use any good quality photo for wallpaper. Right click on the photo and select "PROPERTIES" to see the size. I have a 19" monitor and the 1024x768 resolution will fill the screen completely. Try taking a camera with you next time you're on the water and snap a few shots. One megapixel snapshots will make good wallpaper. In the meantime, BassCat has some nice shots of their boats for wallpaper on their website. The B.A.S.S. site has a couple too.

I carry 3 colors of standard beaver-type baits and Brush hogs in a couple of colors.....that's it.

Took the rig in for what turned out to be a long overdue visit. Memory not what it was, I thought it had only been a couple of years when it was actually five ! First thing I noticed that the sign that used to say "Labor $65/hr" now read "Labor $85/hr, 1/2hr minimum". Oh boy..... Second thing I noticed was the lack of fancy rigs. There were two new Z521's on the floor, along with a Triton 18XS. Only glass rig outside was a Ranger 188. Spoke with one of the salespeople and he said that sales of glass rigs was way down. "Look at that one there (indicated the 521". What do you think it goes for?" I said $55K....he said $60K. "How many people can afford to walk in and plunk down the money for a rig like that?" He also said that people who used to swap every two years are now going to every 3 or 4. Even tin boats are $20K or better, although he did say that tin boat sales were pretty fair. After looking around and knowing the prices, that 12 yr old Triton of mine looks better and better. Recent upgrades in electronics and TM and I reckon I'm good for quite a spell. Had the lower unit oil changed, compression check, replaced 6 plugs, filled the oil reservoir, new battery strap, two more bolts added to the TM mount, and a test run in the tank. Total bill came to $339. It beat the crap out of $60K

has he ever flipped? I think that if he did give up on cranks for a tournament, people might think he was sick or something. i think the only time I've seen him flip was in a segment of the Bass Pros. I don't think there's a segment of fishing techniques that he can't do......if he has to.

Loved the look of that walking frog......until I saw the price . Ain't no way I'm paying that kind of money for ANY lure : .

Just gassed up the boat last week......35 gallons of non-ethanol.....$110 . Add $12 for a couple cans of SeaFoam , add a splash of Ring-Free, and I'm good for quite a spell.

Maybe someone else's chart.....certainly not mine.

the rods are not bad rods. ive owned 2 and liked them. the problem i have is the warranty. the OP says thats not an issue. what model did you not like? i tried my friend's spinnerbait/worm rod....like fishing a wet noodle. way too floppy. i bought a lamiglas excel, its a 100x better rod than the tessara. its stiffer, you can actually fish a worm on it. the only rod i would think of buying from that line up is the cranking rod. that rod makes the perfect small crank bait rod. I second that. It's the reason I bought it in the first place. Works well with shallow running cranks and lipless baits. It actually doesn't do badly with spinnerbaits either, but a worm rod?....never.

I think Bill Dance is the absolute worst for "jaw jacking" larger fish, followed closely by B.A.S. S. tournaments when those fish are slapped all over the boat. I'm hoping McKinnis brings back the landing nets.

You're not alone in this one. Did the same thing once

I did two things that helped my legs/back while fishing. The first was to install a recessed trolling motor pedal. The second was to purchase a pair of Wolverine Cutlass C3 boat shoes. They are super comfortable....far better than any tennis shoes I've tried.

When I need to break off on braid I'll just wrap the line around the handle of my pliers a couple times and give a nice pull. A lot of times I will just straighten the hook or uproot whatever I'm stuck on. A couple of times I've wrapped it around a mooring cleat and backed up with the tm. Works every time