Festivus

Can someone please pm me the pure fishing code. I desperately need to upgrade some rods and reels and this is a perfect opportunity to land some serious savings and shop for family. Thanks.

I have to agree. The clearances at Academy have not been the same the past few years, very lackluster. Not many real deals and the selections have been underwhelming. Also, it seems that Academy is not restocking some of their best H2O Xpress lures and the ones they are restocking are not up to the same standard in terms of finish and overall quality. They haven't restocked many of my favorites and their entire saltwater lure line is practically gone. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come but just a result of this crazy pandemic and supply chain issues.

What happened to the reels? Did you ever use in saltwater? Thanks.

How did you rig them?

Makes me wonder if Maxscent is that good then. May have to try it out.

Thanks for the feedback. Can anyone comment their experiences with bone versus the other white underside colors on topwater. I know it is a staple color and I have some and will usually choose it first but has anyone been able to compare bone to the sexy blueback herring or the sexy shad or chartreuse shad or the sexy chartreuse shad or the.....you get the idea. Thanks.

I was going through my tackle and noticed I picked up some blueback herring colored topwaters and crankbaits, probably on sale. They don't look bad and shouldn't matter overall, actually look very similar to all the sexy shad derivatives that strike king puts out just without the shad dot. Thing is my time on the water time has been limited this year and my confidence color on any type of lure is chrome or shiny. Should I give them a good try or just sell them? Anybody throw this particular lure color in predominantly shad lakes? Also, what color would people say actual threadfin and gizzard shad are compared to blueback herring, what colors are in their scales? I'm looking at the sexy dawg topwater in sexy blueback herring and it has a pearly very slight blueish paintjob with the chartreuse stripe and no dot, their sexy shad has a white paintjob with sparkles, then their chartreuse shad has a blueish overall paintjob with the stripe and dot. Almost too many choices. Thanks for any insights.

Academy makes two different versions, three if you count the saltwater ones. One is called the Crank SS, for super shallow, and looks very similar to a Mann's Baby 1 Minus but much better quality, paint is better and will hold up and the hooks are good VMC hooks. They have another that is an acronym, something like SCSFW and that has been around for a while, looks alot like the Strike King. Mentioning SK, they have a 1.5 shallow, which is basically a wake bait, and a larger 2.5 actually labeled wake bait. I haven't had a chance to throw the SK 2.5 yet. The academy brand is very good.

I heard a lot of good things about the Silver Buddy blade bait in particular. Had to try one out. Found one and was surprised as it looked like an unfinished lure, very bare and the blade wasn't even that shiny. Was even more surprised at the price, very pricey for something so generic and bare. I was hoping the thin metal blade may produce more vibration or something as that has to be the reason why these lures are so popular and why they are so much more expensive than other blade baits. When I took it out on the water I looked at it wrong and the blade bent. Couldn't believe how easy it was to bend the blade. Didn't catch anything on it and blade was ruined. Was pretty annoyed, paid full price for it. And I thought the Reef Runner Cicadas were overpriced, not compared to these now. Bought a few Cotton Cordell Gay Blades, or I think they are calling them just the Blade now, and haven't looked back. Very effective and moderately priced. My first choice now. If I can't find those I will choose literally any other blade bait before the Silver Buddy, it seems that many other companies either use or import the same blade blank as the SB and jazz it up and are able to sell them cheaper. IDK but I'll use Johnson Thinfisher, Cordell Blades, BPS Lazer Blade, etc. etc. literally anything before I buy another one. Just my 2 cents.

Here are two videos that will show you how to make your own heavy braided line split rings. Seems like problem solved. I'm going to do this with some lures that have weak looking split rings.

I have several of these original Heddon Zara Spooks that are silent and want to give them a chance but everytime I'm on the water I grab something with either a single knocker or a rattling topwater. How do these silent Zara Spooks produce compared to their noisier counterparts? I hope this isn't hijacking the thread as this was going in that direction regardless. These old time hook hangers on the Zara Spooks seem to keep the hooks from scratching up the paint job but can give the fish leverage enough to throw the hook. I've seen people add two split rings to fix the problem but those new hooks with the heavy duty braid look like the best overall fix to me. The Sexy Dawg has a rattle sound but their Hard Knock version has a very pronounced one knocker and is probably even a little louder than the Heddon One Knocker. Only thing is that the Sexy Dawg hooks are sharp but not as stout as I would like, especially the Jr. version.

Went to my local Cabela's last night after not going for several months. I used to religiously go every two weeks because they would always have items on sale or clearance that wasn't advertised if you looked close enough. Always ended up buying something every time. Last night they didn't even have any bins which is always filled with their BPS brand lures. So disappointing.

Anyone else? How do they compare to Strike King Tour Grade or Premier Plus or War Eagles? Those are the other spinners in my line up. Thanks.

I picked up a few of these and they look pretty good. Good ball bearing swivels, good hooks and has the underspin that they are known for. It's basically a good quality spinnerbait with an underspin. Anyone try these or have any luck on them. Don't really hear about them. Just curious if they run true and are worth putting in the rotation. Hate wasting time on the water with something that won't run true or isn't effective for some reason. I also have a few of their buzzbaits, Primal Buzz, I have high hopes for those even though I don't fish buzz baits all that much as I'm usually throwing a spook type lure. Thanks.

I have noticed that ever since they took over Cabela's they are worse than ever. I never really liked or shopped at BPS but now I avoid Cabela's as well. With Cabela's they always had the Bargain Cave and would put things on sale/clearance to get them out of inventory. Occasionally some real deals to be had. BPS took out the Bargain Cave saying it "was losing them money". Funny, how Cabela's kept it for so long if that is the case. They carry a decent amount of inventory but everything is already 30% over priced and their "sales" only bring them back down to normal prices. And all they do is remove brands people want and replace it with BPS brands or take the good Cabela's brand items and just put their name on it. Just bad. I also, never walk into a BPS unless someone has a gun to my back. I just find it practically belittling to walk through their turnstile. And I don't think it's just me but for such a large retailer with huge brick and mortar operation the stores are always "dark" and very hard to find and browse items, I know it's not just me. They also have the items awkwardly placed so it's hard to find stuff and you always have to go back and look 2 or 3 times before you locate it. And their forced and corporate folksiness is just weird. Whew that felt good to get that off my chest. LOL. I was one of those people that used to love going into Cabela's and just walking around and browsing with no intention of buying and then walking out with something everytime.