Handy

I have bought quite a bit of stuff from them and has always been a prompt shipper. The quality of hooks and worms/grubs is pretty good, good combo of stretchy and soft but durable. Paul

Well I can say for sure that I didn't figure it out, but I have many ideas now because of you guys. And while I was there I was carpin' too and no bites on my corn either. I would never have thought of putting a slip sinker ahead of the lure to keep it down, I will definatley give that one a try. I am off to go fishing. And as always no matter what I do or don't catch it's always fun. Thanks. Paul

Well I did try a wacky rigged senko, 5 inch watermellon green with black flake. I didn't even think of a trick worm or shaky head. Will have to try that friday night! I was even throwing small crappie cranks and grubs and no go. Thanks for the help guys. Paul

I went fishing with my brother the other night and couldn't even catch any on live bait. Now we could see them in the shallow water (2 ft?) cruising around and ocaisionaly sitting still. I tried allot of things and they wouldn't even look at them except one, an LC pointer. I would work it as slow as I could but the second I stopped and it would rise a little bit it would swim off. I was thinking a jig but as I don't have any I couldn't throw any(don't have confidence in them). Any idea what was going on or what to throw next beside a jig? Also as far as I could tell they are not bedding yet and I think the water is too cool where I am yet. Paul

Hi guys, We always talk about working the jerkbait in jerk, pause, jerk jerk cadence or any cadence along those lines. But I got to thinking what about just slowly swimming it then pause or just slowly swimming it. What about swimming it fast? Anybody have success with this type of jerkbait swimming? Thanks. Paul

Well were I live largemouth seem to ignore jigs and go after plastic better,at least for me. Not to much smallie water near me that I am aware of. I have never caught a smallie though I would like too. I think I will stick with plastic "jigs". Thanks for input guys. Paul

I have used "normal" bass jigs for some time with very little success. Frequently I use a yamamoto hula grub and have decent hits on that but not the typical jig. My question is does the hula grub fall into jig status as performing basically the same thing? I am thinking I will take all of my jigs out and just keep my hula grubs. I have allot more confidence in the hula grub and not the jig. And I swim a hula grub allot too. I should also add that I am running my hula grubs on bass stalker jig heads. I am also trying to streamline the tackle box because the hula grub is more dual purpose than the standard jig. Just looking for some input. Thanks. Paul

I have done just this a couple of times to make a crank more "weedless". I also remove the front treble on my cranks. I have found no difference in hookup ratio(at least for me). I seem to remember an article in a bass mag that talked about some pros adding single hooks to their cranks but I can't recall what mag or if I am just imagining it(LOL). At least for catch and release purposes it would make sense. I still think about doing this to more of my cranks. Paul

When I finally got one I threw it allot but never once got bit. Somewhere I just recently read that it's an excellent waleye lure. Maybe that why I didn't get one bite, no waleyes where I fish(LOL). I will use it this year but if I still don't get bites it goes to the kids. Paul

No I don't have any pics. About the most I can do is direct you to the lunker City web site. They are the company that makes the slug-go. My best description is tall and this with a boat type tail. Paul

Anyone use these? I read in-fisherman frequently and they talk about them allot. They say to rig them flat instead of the "correct" way. They always claim they work very well. Just wondering if anybody could give me some real world feedback. Thanks. Paul

No one has mentioned the slim senko. I got some just for this reason, to use on a shakey head. I just haven't gotten around to using them yet. Paul

Where I live I have had some decent success with them. Some of mine had very sharp hooks and some were very dull. The paint seems to be the same to me. My only real complaint it the snap on the blade. If you look closely some of the snaps look like they could come unsnapped easily. When I find one that does look weak i put a different one on. I did just get the flippin version and I can't wait to try it out. This last fall my dad and I went fishing and he found a very large bass just sitting in shallow water. my dad made many repeated casts to it but it never moved. I went over and pulled chatterbait right by him and he smacked it hard. I had him for a minute but came unhooked because I had my drag set to light. But as a whole I am pleased with my chatterbaits. Paul

Well I will defend them just a little bit. I have found that where I live they work well for crappies and I did catch one bass this last fall on one. As for gulp, waste of money! I only carry 2 blade dancers(1 small,1 large) and that is for when I go to my crappie holes. Good thing I have kids(LOL), they get all my stuff that doesn't perform. Paul

I am glad to see there are some fly fishers and tyers here. I don't feel so alone anymore(LOL). I tie simple flies, wire gill bucktail, wooly bugger and I tie bucktails on leadheads. My last fly was a bunny strip on a leadhead. I have found I tie better than I can cast, I have trouble getting distance. I have gotten some odd looks fly fishing for bluegill and largemouth. Paul

I am interested in detail more than depth as the deepest body of water I fish is around 20+- at best. I am looking for fine detail as the smartcast just can't get that fine. You guys have definately pointed me in a good direction. Thanks. Paul

Hi guys, I just bought my first boat and now I need a good sonar to go with it. I do have a Humminbird fishfinder smartcast(the larger one) and I really like it for what it is but I now want to step up with getting the boat. My boat is really a 2 man foam filled platic pontoon, I think the brand name is Dolphin(?). This is my first water craft, though I have always had accsess to my dads canoe. I have looked at some entry level graphs and the Humminbird matrix 17 looks good. Just looking for some educated info. Thanks. Paul

Just yesterday I got my Rapala jointed X rap and 12 inch titanium leader back! I was fishing for northern in one of the pits I fish allot and lost my X rap and leader. That was more than 2 months ago. So I go fishin at my favorite spot at this pit and I see somthing floating in the water about 2 feet out and it kinda looked like a mangled big frog. Well as I keep fishing I keep looking at this floating thing when it just doesn't look like a frog anymore so I take my pole and bring it in. Boy was I surprised when it turned out to be my x rap and leader. I didn't get any fish yesterday but I didn't go away empty handed. I had snagged in about 6-7 feet of water and the next day after it snagged I went back with a magnet on a stick and a rake and wadded out to see if I could dislodge it but after and hour and a half no luck. I really thought it was gone. This is a first for me. But I would assume it doesn't happen often(LOL). Paul

Hi guys, I don't mean the the super deep no bank kind. I fish a few older pits that have a shore line to them and are really no deeper than 10ft except one thats 20ft. All the articles I have read talk about creek channels, drop offs, stumps, chunk rock and so on. Well the pits I fish don't have any of that to speak of. There is a shallow end and it gradually gets to the deeper end(more or less). I do catch fish in these pits and quite a few times caught some really nice largemouth bass, but it never seems consistent, like they just happened by and took my bait. The water clarity is ussually a few feet. I am looking for any tips I can get to fish these pits better. And of course catch more fish. If it helps I am in north central Iowa. Thanks. Paul

This is the exact question I have been wanting to ask. I have both rigged and ready to fly, but I use the wacky more and catch more on it. I have only caught one on the t-rig. I have even caught crappie on a wacky rigged senko. I also know that on a wacky with a o-ring the senko will last a long time, I still have one from last season from wacky wormin. The one largemouth I did catch on a t-rig destroyed the senko enough that I can't t-rig it. Might be able to wacky it yet though. As I watch the fall on both rigs the wacky bends into a flat "U" and the t-rig is quite flat(more horizontal). I still throw a t-rig once in a while but I often succumb to wanting to catch somthing and throw on the wacky rig. Don't know if I helped or if I just rambled on. Paul

Well here is my list, Buy to much stuff and never use it, I get hung up on my color choices, sometimes I switch lures to often. Thats what I come up with for now. They are probably the worst ones. Paul

Hi guys, I usually fish like normal but never catch anything right after ice out so I know I need to change how I am going about this. The lakes I fish the ice has finally gone out and water temp is around 40 degrees. I have read that in cold water to fish slow, how slow? I have used my fish finder and can locate them and they seem to be right on the bottom. I dragged a grub across the bottom very slowly where I found the fish but no bite. I say "fish" because I don't really know wich fish yet because there are allot different kinds in the lakes I fish but I am after largemouth bass. Would I be better of with a husky jerk and let it sit in a long pause? If anybody has ideas and tips for me I would like to hear them. Thanks. Paul

Well after posting this question I got to talk with another fishing buddy. He said what he did was buy a normal locater and got a kit to make it portable. Then all he does is stick the transducer in the water. He says it works quite well. I will have to see it work for myself before I do that. thanks for the input guys. Paul

Hi guys, I just recently came across this cool looking fish locator and was wondering if anyone here has tried it and and could give some feedback on it? It looks like something that could really help me being that 98% of my fishing time is spent fishing from shore. One of my fishing biddies says they are junk because at Cabelas there are a ton of them in the clearence isle that are from returns. I really don't need allot of info in the display. mainly I am looking for depth and structure. By Hummingbirds own site it seems like it would be perfect for me but I am looking for a real world experience from use. The model I am looking at is the RF15. It has the biggest screen at 3 7/8 inches diagonal. And it even has water temp too. The average price is $169.99. Thanks. Paul

I have seen that show twice. I know he put the swivel on after the weight leaving one end of the swivel free. Then tie on the hook, put the head of the worm on then take the swivel loop that is free and take it and put it on the hook end bringing the swivel up to the head of the worm. The swivel ends up right under the head of the worm keeping it in place. If I remember correctly this was intended for heavy cover. Hope this helps. Paul