Brad_Coovert

Only certain models have cork, the remainder have EVA grips.

5" Senko, Watermelon/Green Pumpkin Laminate, Wacky Rigged 1/4 oz. White Booyah Spinnerbait, Single Colorado Blade in Silver 1/4 oz. Accent Buzz B-2, White Netbait TMac Worm, Summer Craw on 1/4 oz. Spot Remover Pro Model Jighead Arukushad 75, Ghost Minnow

SPRO Little John DD

Netbait 7" T-Mac in Summer Craw. Catches fish everywhere I have used it. Brad

Any opinions on the Minn Kota Fortrex? My Maxxum 74 is officially dead and I'm looking at a new TM. I'm looking at the Maxxum 80 w/BG and Fortrex 80 w/BG and US2. Just wondering if the features of the Fortrex are worth the added $147 and was hoping someone here might own a Fortrex. Brad

The new Sebile soft Magic Swimmer has some good action, especially on the fall. Looked good in the tank. They had them rigged on a weighted EWG style hook. The 5" Tru Tungsten is a little bigger than the 4" SPRO BBZ Shad. The 5" is gonna be a much better bait and a much better seller than the little 3 1/2" one IMO. The new SPRO BBZ1 Jr. 6" looks good and should be a great bait. They didn't have any packaging for it yet and did not say when it would be ready to ship. The 4" BBZ Shad has two new colors that look pretty cool. One is a bluegill pattern and the other is a perch pattern.

If you straighten out a BMF hook, you have some serious pull. They are a super strong hook, stronger than any hook I have ever used. Brad

Fished on Guntersville from 4/4/09 - 4/9/09. Arrived at the lake in the afternoon on 4/4 and after checking in at the state park cabins, hit the lake. Fished the cove next to the airport runway and my partner and I caught 14 in the few hours that we fished. Biggest was about 3 1/2 lbs. My partner lost a nice fish at the boat that would have been easily 7lbs. Not bad for a few hours the first time we had ever seen the lake. On Sunday 4/5, we fished all day in same cove and caught 57 with the biggest just over 4lbs. No big fish, but a ton of solid 3-4lb. class all day. Monday 4/6 was a very cold and windy day. We finally went out at about 3:30 PM after the main part of the rain had passed, but the wind was still fierce. We ended up on a hump across from the Waterfront ramp and caught 8 solid fish despite the wind beating on us and a very short day. All of the fish were over 3 lbs. with the biggest around 4 lbs. Tuesday on 4/7 it was COLD and was spitting snow on us all day. I was surprised that even with the water temps falling almost 10 degrees since Sunday, the fish were still up really shallow. We started on the hump again and fished the nearby bank next to a church camp. Caught another 17 nice fish with the biggest at 5-12 and many over 4 lbs. Wednesday on 4/8 it was much warmer and the fishing was still good even with the bluebird skies and windy conditions. We ended the day with 33 more fish including a double hookup with my fish at 5-7 and my partners at 5-5. That was fun trying to get both those fish in the boat at the same time. We also had a lot of fish over 4 lbs. that day as well. Thursday was our last day and we ended up with 25 more fish with the biggest at 5 lbs. The fishing was very slow most of the day, but finally picked up when we got on some large baitfish schools and feeding bass. We only used a few baits. The nice weather and lack of wind on some days would not provide a lipless or crankbait bite. We ended up catching our fish those days on Spot Remover jigeads with Netbait Tmac worms in Summer Craw. The fish were killing this color worm and we went through several bags of them. Weightless 5" Senkos in Green Pumpkin/Watermelon laminate also worked well. When the water temps dropped and the wind picked up, the lipless bite picked up and we caught a lot of fish on 1/2 oz. Redeye Shads and Norman Thin N's in sexy shad colors. I also caught one of my big fish in a SPRO BBZ Shad in Sexy Lavende Shad. As for depth, none of our fish were deeper than 5' and all of them came off banks or humps with sparse grass. We will be back next year! You better plan on coming as well deadeye! Brad

I'm heading down to Guntersville on 4/4 for a week of bass fishing. I've never been there and was hoping to get some info on the lake for this time of year. I'll be staying at the state park in some cabins with about 12 other guys. I know very little about this lake other than I have heard it has a lot of grass and lipless crankbaits are good baits there. I'm hoping the some of the bigger fish are up and shallow by then. Any help or insight would be appreciated. Thanks. Brad

Yes, the BBZ does have issues on the cast, but its action is awesome and it does catch fish. The finishes are great on the Herring, Natural and Dirty Shad. The Sexy Shad color is a good color, but I do not like the way they put on the glitter in the final coat. The BBZ is a pretty tough bait as well. I sell a lot of these to Europe, especially France where many guys are using them on pike. I have seen some great pictures of big fish coming on these baits and they are holding up well to the abuse. The TruTungsten is a good bait as well. It does have the advantage of having adjustable weights so you only need two baits to have floating, slow and fast sinking rates while you need three baits with the SPRO. But, the TT bait is a lot smaller profile than the SPRO and is for me, in a smaller bait category than the SPRO. I use both both baits. Brad

SPRO Bronzeye, Bronzeye Jr and the new Bronzeye Popper. River2Sea Bully Wa Scum Frog Bigfoot DEPS Basirisky All are good frog baits.

The Chigger baits are good baits, but I like the Paca Chunks and Craws or the Rage Tail Chunks/Craws better as far as action goes. The YUM Crawbug is a great C-Rig bait. Brad

The XR series baits are great baits. I have all three sizes in both standard and one knocker. Make sure your try both. i have days when a quieter bait like the one knocker works better. I know a lot of guys hate the "sexy shad" color craze, but the Foxy Shad color is a great shad color. I like the Xr version of this color best because the back is a darker blue. Brad

Also look at the KSH Custom weights for hollow, paddle tail baits. They slip inside the bait and have a small ring to tie your line to and another to put a split ring and treble hook on. The weights go up to 3/4 oz. I believe. Brad

Yes, the pins are basically "glued" in under the finish. As Thad mentioned, the best way to free the pin is to push it loose from the top using a small nail and pliers. This will keep damage to the finish on top at a minimum. Then, all you should need is a small needle nose pliers to get the pin in and out as it should move more freely. Brad

The Ristos were great baits for me, better than the DT's have been. I have some Ristos that are about to be sent off for some custom painting to match the Norman 133 color. Brad

Wake/Slow with no balls - Floats Wake/Slow with one ball - Barely sinks below surface Wake/Slow with two balls or Slow/Fast with no balls - Slowly sinks Slow/Fast with one ball - Faster fall Slow/Fast with two balls - Fast fall, like a normal lipless bait.

I do not know if it is still made, but Flitz is a good polish for blades. Brad

Someone will need to weigh the baits. I've asked three Tru-Tungsten sales reps what the weight and fall rate of these baits is and I got three different answers. My guess as well as a couple of the reps is that the wake version is around 1/4 oz. and with balls added to make it a slow sink is about 3/8 oz. With the balls added to the make the sinking version the fast sink, I would say 1/2 oz. For the fall rate, the fast sink is close to a foot per second in my experiences and the slow fall is about 2' - 3' per second. The wake just floats. I would think that the MBR844C you have is way to strong of a rod for these baits. I normally throw mine on my heavy power crankbait rod as these baits are not much different in size/weight compared to a normal crankbait. Brad

I like the SPRO Bronzeye series, R2Sea Bully Wa and Step Wa baits, the Scum Frog Big Foot and Lil Big Foot and the DEPS Basirisky baits. Frogs can leak around the nose, but also around the area the hook exits the body. Just squeeze them now and then and keep fishing.

A $17K, 17' tackle box. ;D Before I had that boat, I had 6 rods and a soft sided tackle bag with some Plano boxes. Then came the boat with all that space...... You know the story.

I'll throw in another vote for the SPRO Bronzeye Popper. Good bait.

Fopr me, lipless baits seem to be one of those baits that on any given day, one brand, size, color, etc. just flat out kills the fish and the others don't. I use all three sizes of the Arukushad, all of the XR and XRK series baits, 1/2 and 1/4 oz. Spots, R2Sea Twin Vibes and several LC baits and seldom will any two have the same catch rate. When I'm hunting fish during good lipless conditions, I will rotate through several baits and normally will find the best one pretty quickly.

On crankbaits, I like the EWG. On topwaters and jerkbaits, I like round bend. IMO, baits that bass have a tendancy to slash at, like topwaters and jerkbaits, get better hookups with round bend hooks as they stick out more.

There are a ton of great spinnerbaits out there and you have mentioned some great brands. You can keep it simple with spinnerbaits or get very serious. I do not throw them a ton, so I only have a few in double willow, tandem colorado/willow and single colorado in sizes from 1/4 to 1 oz. My basic desire is to have a bait that will stay at the depth I want, at the speed I want and that runs true without rolling. I normally can find the bait I need in my small selection. I know other guys who throw spinnerbaits all the time and are constantly changing blades, etc. to get the perfect balance, speed, depth, etc. for the situation they are fishing. Just like most baits, you can do a lot with spinnerbaits.