Red

you have a great friend, he gave you a good quality reel there, i have three of em...keep at it, soon you will be casting a mile and hitting your target right on the nose! Cliff

oh yeah, dont forget to keep one or two for lunch, they are goooood Cliff

i rig them weightless too, or with a smalll splitshot a foot or so up....i throw them just fine with my abu 5501 Cliff

i do this too, it dosent seem to hurt the fish if your careful and you dont have to poke a hole in its face ;D

i think the proper knot is an arbor knot, but i just tie two overhand knots

well the fishing has been tough the last few days, mostly dinks and even they were few and far between...went out for a bit this evening and it was HOT....they werent touching any of my normal baits, topwater, cranks, trick stick...so i said, what the hell, and tied on a chart/white Hart spinnerbait with a red hook...a bait i have ZERO confidence in, my buddy uses them often with no luck...but i tied it on anyway.....was reeling in the third or fourth cast, and let go with one hand to get a bead of sweat threatening to screw up my vision...when i let go i lifted my rod high to keep the bait spinning while i wasnt reeling...thats when he nailed it...one armed hook set!...got em in along with about 7 lbs of weeds....it went 18", 3.5lbs....i have caught two others this year the same size, just cant seem to get past 3.5 lbs....anyway it was the only bite i had all night, but i was satisified Cliff

i am hoping to upgarde my rods a bit by next season, so i am trying to gather as much info as possible so that i can purchase rods that will best fit my fishing....this is not about brand names but about length, power and action for specific techniques....i have three reels so i will be purchasing 3 rods(possibly 4 and a new reel)....my goal is to have three(or 4) rod/reel rigs that will effectively achieve the following techniques crankbaits jerkbaits jigs t-rigs topwaters weightless baits(senko) spinnerbaits buzzbaits this is what i have currently and what i use them for, all the rods have abu 5501's on them 6'MH-XF-t-rigs, jigs, weightless 6'MH-F-topwaters(poppers, walk the dog stuff) 6'6" M-F-Cranks, jerkbaits, spinnerbaits, buzzbaits basically what i am asking is limited to 3(or 4) setups, what length, power and action rod would you use for each technique? i understand that i will get many opinions on this, so i just want to see what everyone has to say, thanks in advance for your help! Cliff

well i currently have Abu 5501's and i use them for everything, i love them and they work great, but i was just curious if i would be better off with a higher ratio reel for these applications, i was thinking of buying one of the new MAX series abu''s when they come out, but i may just buy another 5501 thanks for the input Cliff

generally, what would be the ideal ratio for crankin, topwaters, spinnerbaits? is this a preference thing or does a certain ratio work better than another? any help much appreciated thanks Cliff

thank you sir!

big inline bucktail spinners always worked the best for me...and dead smelt on a big hook under a bobber.....small pike will eat big lures too....i once caught a little baby pike that was shorter than my rapala original floater....steel leader is a must...my best fish were caught in the middle of the day on bright, hot sunny days

dear baitmonkey, i hate you Cliff

dear baitmonkey, that is waaayyy out of the upgrade range i am talking about...i currently use $20 rods, so i am thinking about moving up to something in the $75-$100 range.....maybe like the St. Croix triumph or premiere, or the falcon lowrider XG...now, if you know of any other rods in this range i should consider, please write me back ;D Cliff

LOL...well the real trick will be getting my wife to convert! anyway, if i do upgrade, it wont be a for a while, my stuff works fine and there are some baits that i would like to have in my arsenal first Cliff

i am new to LMB fishing this season so i am no expert, i have thrown LC's, rapala, and norman cranks....the LC's out produce the others by far....they have caught more and bigger fish...mainly the Fat BDS-2 in american shad Cliff

yeah, i have always said on here that my 20-50 dollar rods work fine, and they do and i like them, but the more i read about these top end rods, the more i want to save up and buy one just so i can know what one feels like....but i am afraid! ;D Cliff

yeah, with all the flooding we have had here this summer, the lake is closed...all the launches and parks are flooded, so no shore fishing there for me, but i have access to two small tanks..i started with basically no confidence in anything, since i have gaind confidence in cranks, topwater, t-rigs and senkos

well, i have never used or held a top end rod or custom rod so i cant really say if it is worth it or not, so i voted no....i do fine with my $20-$50 walmart rods...i guess i would rather spend my money on more baits Cliff

just put the fish on the ground next to your reel for a size reference....then hold the camera out in front and shoot a pic of yourself holdin the bass...then let it go...then get some crappies, cats, gills, walleye? and eat/give those away..they taste better than bass anyways

palomer on braid and cranks, double cinch on everything else.

come on back ed! everyone misses you and your videos....although i have never seen one(anyone got a link), you have offered me answers to my questions i posted and always seemed to say "good job" to anyone who posted pics of their catch. good luck either way! Cliff

although my PB came on a tiki stick, i have to go with senko type baits as well...i have caught plenty of fish on them, but only one with any size to it...most of my better fish this year have come on a LC crank...where my rapala crank have only produced one dink...IMO it is worth the 15 bucks a pop for the LC's Cliff

the only thing i can think of that was holding the fish in that area was nearby deeper water...two of the fish were caught near the weed edge on the far side of the deeper water from where i was standing...the other two, including the 3lber, were caught in the deeper water out in the open, away from shore....but when i went back the next day, i fished the same areas, the same way. with the same bait...i also fished other baits as well...guess maybe they just werent biting cuz i only managed one dink on the crank, not even a nibble on anything else...i was just thiniking the whole time out the second day that i wished i had that same bait in a different color, just to see if it made a difference, but my tackle collection is very small, i only have 3 cranks and two are the same color but differnt shapes and one is a bit different but got nothing on it either....guess it is time to maybe grab a few more bait in differnt colors, just so i have them on hand next time...then i will be able to answer my own question thanks guys Cliff

how important do you think crank color is? for example....last night i used an american shad Fat BDS LC crank and caught 4 keepers, including a 3lber...today i went to the very same place...weather conditions were the same and time of day was the same....the only difference was there was a sleight wind today, hardly enough to ripple the water...and today i threw the same crank and only managed one dink....do you think a different color crank would have made a difference? for the past month or so, the majority and the biggest fish have come on this same crank, or topwater...buddy was using the topwater so i threw the crank, plastics and jig and got nothing, but the one dink on the crank...i am just wondering if color would have made this outing different, or if was just one of those days where they arent biting..your thoughts? thanks Cliff

i just went last week in the gulf of mexico(galveston) we used dead shad, big ones about a foot long...no weight and a balloon about the size of a softball tied at about 4-6 foot up the line...we would pull behind the shrimp boats draggin their nets and drift the bait right in the shrimp boats wake...got one just about everytime...we caught 3 over 100lbs...spinners and black tips...tons of fun Cliff