Red

Great post. The t-rigged craw has been one of my best baits this season, it is also responsible for my PB which you see in my avatar picture. It was a Green Pumpkin Rage Craw to be exact with a colored Tungston 1/8 bullet weight.

Central Texas, Waco to be exact. Fishing has been better for size and numbers. I have caught a bunch of decent fish, a few over 5lbs and a 9lber. Not to mention a TON of dinks. I attribute this to reading often on BR, slowing down, and trying new stuff. Plus I have an Insider who fishes Lake Waco regularly and has for years, he has been a great help.

I don't fish much in weeds or anything like that, but I do fish some serious timber. Google earth Lake Waco and zoom in on the north end and you will see what I mean. I use a 6'6" HVY Allstar Custom with 50# PP. I like to use jigs and t-rigged craws. Cranks on occasion just be careful and don't set unless your sure its a fish, or you might be one crank short! Spinnerbaits are always good as well. Thats all I got!

The floor is a must in my opinion, especially if you like to stand. One problem I forgot to mention about the floor, it makes it alot heavier. I think I am going to cut mine in half seems I am mostly by myself. I will just keep the floor piece in front where I am fishing. I suppose you could run the wires under the floor, but I take my boat off and store it by my house so it would just be hassle each time. I am considering putting a quick disconnect on all the wiring so I could run it under then just leave it there. Then plug everything in each time. Either way, everything works great, I love this little rig. It is cheap and easy, just the way I like it! ;D I have been trying to organize a club/tournament in my area for small boats, just isn't enough interest though. Too bad, I think it would be fun.

Here are some pics of my rig...The Bass Tub ;D Full shot loaded and ready to go to the lake. Here is the front light, clamps on, battery (D cell) operated. Rear light, alligator clips to battery. It also folds down out of the way. Graph Seat with Riser I welded up at work and aftermarket padded seat. Life vest strapped under it. Three rods straped in on one side, three is about the max per side. Tangles alot though. Last is the floor with the plywood I added. Someday this will get carpet and the BigFoot switch for the motor will be screwed in place. I highly recommend the plywood, makes a world of difference when standing. All my wires just lay on the floor, if I had a trailer they would be strapped neatly, but I have to remove everything for storage. There ya go, still looking for any horizontal rod storage ideas.

The dinks were still going crazy on that Bandit tonight, we caught 14 total. Taylor is younger and not too good at casting yet, but he did great and got alot of practice in. He did catch this one. Then he made a really nice cast up next to a big stump, I told him I had a feeling he was gonna get one. Next thing I know I am reaching for the net! He had a nice three pounder or so on but it came unbuttoned right before it was within reach of the net. He was so excited and he didn't even catch it. It was a blast. Thanks for looking! Cliff

I will post pics tomorrow if I remember, forgot tonight. My boat hasn't taken on a drop of water yet in the hull. I have been meaning to caulk around everything that I screwed on, but haven't got around to it yet. I only have screwed into the top "rail" section, nothing down in the floor area or anything like that. I will shoot some pictures tomorrow.

is what my nephew told me tonight. We caught 16 total, all dinks but one, so much fun though. All were caught on Bandit 200's Pearl w/ Chart Back. Then, on his very last cast, he caught TWO sunfish at once!! I have never seen this kid so excited, it was great. Takin his brother tomorrow. Thanks for lookin! Cliff

I have the 8 footer with a 30lb Minn Kota on it. I guess I am unlike y'all, I just screwed the depth finder right to the hull! I also screwed some of those rod deck straps for bass boats to the sides to hold my rods. However I am brainstorming a new idea for this to eliminate the tangling. I have four rods of my own, which isn't too bad but add in my buddies two or three rods and it can be a mess. No prewires for me, they just lay on the floor. My motor is on the front so I had to splice longer wires in. I also tie the anchor to the seat bracket as someone mentioned. As for standing it is not a problem, especially since I cut a 3/4 piece of plywood to cover the entire floor. Trust me this makes a HUGE difference. The regular floor is kinda "spongy", with this plywood it is nice and solid. I also added a nice padded seat and I welded up a 6 inch riser as well, so I sit up a bit higher. I would think that having rods standing up in the milk crates would be in the way of casting, no problems with that? I always launch at ramps so loading and unloading is no problem. I also have a battery operated red and green light clamped to the front and the "post" light mounted on the back with clips to attach to battery. Live vests are stored under the seat, tied up under there. Anyway I love "The Bass Tub" and I have caught a ton of fish from it!! I will try to get some pics up here soon. Also I welcome any ideas for horizontal rod storage. Cliff

Doh!! Busted! ;D

Not my first time but it was Jeff's first time. Actually the first smallie he ever caught was the bigger one he is holding in the pic above, we guessed around 4.5 lbs, not a bad way to start I'd say. We did have a great time! Cliff

The results are in!! Well for just plain old distance, the STX prevailed, however only by about 6-8 feet max, it was very close. Then we did distance with accuracy, I won that one easily. But that really is a skill thing not just the reel. Next was pitchin, again a skill aspect, I won. I think what it really boiled down to was knowing your own reel. I could not cast his STX as far as he could and the same for him with my S. I won also with 17 bass to his 13 total for the trip, however, he caught the biggest Largemouth and the biggest smallmouth. Good times!

We had an awesome trip to northern Ohio to visit my folks an brother. We got a bit of fishing in and my brother surprised me with a guided smallmouth trip on Lake St. Clair on the Canadian border!!! We caught a bunch of nice smallies before the weather forced us to leave. All caught on drop shotted 4 inch senkos. We also made a trip to a small weed infested lake locally that had some wicked top water action, nothing really big but tons of fun!! All caught on horney toads. And on another local lake we managed to land a couple nice ones. These were caught on rage craw and power worm t-rigged. I also enjoyed helping my dad build this little roof over his doorway and the boys had fun picking fresh veggies from the garden. We had a great time. Lots of fun and good eats too! (thanks mom!) Thanks for lookin! Cliff

FYI..both the S and STX that will be used are the older models. My brother does have a new SX we might throw in the mix as well. I think we will have apicthin contest too, I know I can smoke him at that!!

I am a huge Revo S fan, my brother recently purchased an STX. While he was visiting I tried a cast or two with it, and it is nice. I am leaving this weekend to go visit him, and have challenged him to a "cast off"!! My S vs his STX. Same rod, line and bait. Do you think I stand a chance? The only advantage I have on him is more experience with baitcasting gear. I think I can take him! I will post the results. So in the mean time why don't we get some predictions in this thread!!

I use the cheapo Flambeau bags from Walmart. It holds three "normal" sized boxes, I don't know the numbers on them. Plus it has two large exterior pockets I use for plastics. One of those pockets unzips and folds down, in there I store scale, pliers, sunscreen, etc etc. Also two smaller outer pockets I use for terminal tackle and other smaller items. Plus a pocket in the top, I store spinnerbaits and buzzbaits there. Here is a link, scroll down to the AZ3 model. I think it was $22 at Walmart. http://fishing.flambeauoutdoors.com/otdrs_fishing/soft_tackle/soft_tackle_systems.asp

I fish a small buster boat. Lake Waco is pretty big for my small boat so I mainly fish the small "backwater" coves and such nearby the marinas and stuff. All the places I fish are no wake zones. It drives me nuts when some idiot goes blastin through full throttle sending a huge wake my way. Couple weeks ago this guy on a jet ski was way back up in past the marina, like maybe 100 feet wide cove. I and another boat were fishing. This guy was doiing tight circles and goin crazy in there. Finally this very large houseboat(large man not large houseboat ;D) owner started screaming at him calling him everything in the book! It was great! He left after that. I mean d**n, you got the whole big lake, wahy ride in a tiny little cove!

I know 5lb bass are common in Texas. However they are not common for me...yet! I have caught a few and I get all bent out of shape and excited, shakin so bad the pics turn out crappy! But I love every minute of it. I get excited when I catch any fish, but when I feel that weight of a good one, there is nothing like it. My favorite moment is when I feel that one single solid "tap" and I just know it is a good fish even before I set the hook.

I don't know alot about unions or anything. Several years ago I worked for a contractor as a carpenter. It was a small business run by four lifelong friends, maybe 30 employees total including office workers. Anyway, my company got hired to build a large commercial building, one that would normally be built by the union carpenters. All the other workers on the job were union, the electricians, plumbers etc etc. The carpenters union began protesting because they didn't get this big job and my small comapny did. The owner of the job told the carpenters union that if they didn't stop, he would hire all non union workers for the next two large buildings to be built right next door. They stopped, I guess because they didn't want all the other unions to get ticked when none of them got work on the next jobs. Thats my only experience with unions. Cliff

The fish in my avatar pic. This past spring on green pumpkin rage craw t-rigged with a 1/8 tru tungston bullet weight. She came out about a foot of water. Other bigge fish I have caught on weightless fluke, jig, and spinnerbait.

One of my best baits the superfluke, I like the smokin shad color. I rig it on a 4/0 G-Lock hook, I like the hook on top, not in the belly slot. Like mentioned above, retrieve with twitch and pause method. I almost always get bit on the pause. I think the flukes way of falling is the key. However, I have caught fish by fishing it very very fast keeping the bait on the surface. Cliff

I noticed they dropped them as well. I don't own a fenwick and never have. Recently though I tried my brothers Elite Tech froggin stick with an STX. I would love to have one for pitchin to this heavy timber I fish. Nice rod in my opinion.

I have three, fourth one coming next week. It is all I have, plus one black max. I fish them pretty hard. I haven't had any issues and the oldest one is about three years now. I flip and pitch and also make long casts, they excel at both techniques. I fish mostly in heavy heavy timber and they haul bass out of it just fine. All of mine are the older versions. For my $ they are the best. Cliff

Got the word from a buddy that the crankbait bite was on so I figured I would give it a shot yesterday evening. He recommended a Bandit 200 in a shad color, I chose the pearl with chart back. I managed to catch 4 bass, one crappie, and a catfish!! This one below was the biggest one. This was a HUGE confidence builder for me, I haven't had much luck on cranks. I lost that crank and didn't have any luck on other brands in similar depth and color. Something about that bandit they liked. Thanks for lookin! Cliff

Thats funny stuff. But I want to know, what do I do with the points if I happen to accunulate a few? Can I cash them in for certain "things" ;D