ww2farmer

If I were to make up a basic "starter" kit of crankbaits it would have this: 1/2 Lipless crank of your choice.. A small square bill ( KVD 1.5, bandit 100, etc..) 2" mid depth crank (wiggle wart/bandit 200/sk series 3/etc....) and a medium sized, easy pulling, deep diver (SK 5xd/Bandit ledge 250/etc....) Keep the colors simple....something natural, and something bright, with shad, bluegill, or crawfish as the "theme" for those colors. And as a cranking newb............I would avoid the big, heavy, hard pulling deep divers that require cranking specific gear to toss. All of the baits I mentioned can be used on your "regular" gear just fine to start with.

Every time I go out. I am confident in myself, but I know there is a whole lot of room for improvement. I learn more from the bad days/slow periods than anything else.

Same here......and the best thing I have ever done with the hollow belly swimbaits...................is forget about fishing them, and use a swim jig instead. I am not anti-swimbait, I have caught some hogs on jointed hard baits, and I like a solid body soft plastic baits (like a skinny dipper), with a light tungsten sinker pegged to it's nose, but for some reason the hollow bodied baits and I don't play nice together. Could be time/place thing, but I have enough confidence in the other stuff so I gave up on them.

The reason I change the stock hooks on the SK cranks I buy and use, is not because they are not good hooks, but because they are too light of wire for me. The KVD sqaure bills come with a regular wire, standard shank hook.....I change them because that's not the hook I want....but I have used there stock hooks, and they are fine. If it came with a 1x strong, short shank hook, I would have no reason to change it. The stock hooks are VMC on SK baits, same as Rapala, yet every one thinks Rapals's come with some fantastic hook.

For the $$ I have been really happy with my Lowrance Elite 4. It's $299 most places. If you don't need/want color sonar and/or GPS you can go down to the Elite 4x which is under $200.

I like the Caffeine shad better than the fluke too............but for the $$ not more than the Havoc. I have used a lot of soft jerkbaits, and the fluke isn't even in my top 3, I like these all better. #1 Havoc "the jerk" #2 GYCB "D-shad" #3 SK "Caffeine shad" The fluke is not a bad bait, it has a loyal following, and catches a ton of fish, I used to use them a bunch too. I just like other stuff better.

I recognize the frame on that guide. Is that an Abu Garcia Vengeance? If so, contact Abu first before you do anything, they might just take care of it for you.

Welcome to BR. Personally I like the Havoc jerks a little better. #1, they have a higher salt content than the Zoom's so they "stay down" better with out any added weight. #2 They have a nice little "shimmy" on the fall, and #3 at $2.99 per/10 they are pretty cheap. I like a 4/0 Gamakatsu "super line" EWG hook with the Havoc baits, it's plenty big enough, and with the extra weight of the super line hook, as well as the weight of the bait, I can cast one weightless on MH bait casting gear with ease. As for color................pick one they all work. I keep it simple, I go with one bright color like white or pink, and one natural color like some version of watermelon or green pumpkin.

Ice fish, and buy new bass tackle, but that's about it. I actually like the break. Keeps me from getting burned out. I'll know when I have "lost" it when I don't get excited for the ice to melt in early spring, or bummed that I have to put the boat up in the late fall.

Had me as beeing from Buffalo, Rochester or Milwaukee. Pretty close. And the least likely to be from New Orleans, El Paso, and Fort Worth,

In the cold water period around here (water temps less than 50) I usually have the following rigged up and on the deck at all times. Drop shot Shaky Head Finesse jig Lipless crankbait Suspending jerkbait

The ones I make.

I use braid as main line on ALL of my reels. Casting or spinning. I use a fluoro leader quite often. About the only times I don't are when I am punching thick grass, frogging, or fishing topwaters.

I have caught more fish on C-rigged Zoom trick worms probably than all other baits I have fished on it combined. The way I fish it is simple, cast it out, let it sink, and either let the wind drift my boat along while it drags on the bottom, or I will drag it on the bottom with my rod if the wind is not blowing enough to get a good "drift" going.

#4, and #21 for me.

That's incorrect. The 1.0 comes with #6 hooks. The 1.5 has #4's, and the 2.5's have #2's. I replace the stock hooks on all three with the same size Mustad KVd 1x strong, 2x short triple grips.

I am not a huge beleiver in "match the hatch" or that color matters too much, but I do keep a few colors of square bills around, for different water conditions. Mostly crawfish, perch, and sunfish/bluegill patterns for me.

I am one of the said "horror stories". I will never buy one of there rods again.

I'll switch a lot of things before I switch colors. If I am not getting bit on a jig, color has nothing to do with why.

I use a swim jig in heavier cover, and/or clearer water...........which for me, means about 90% of the time. I keep my trailer selection simple.....Rage tail grub, if that ain't working, they are probably not on a swim jig bite that day.

Green/brown or black/blue. No picture needed...........use your imagination.

All unwanted Abu Garcia products can be sent to me for proper disposal.

I just put the gen3 7:1 STX I got on my brand new Veritas 7' MH that my wife and kids gave me for christmas, seems like they were made for each other LOL.

Wife and kids got my a 7' MH Veritas casting rod, and a bunch of my usual baits and lures......senkos/beavers/paca craws. Couldn't have done better if I was buying it for myself.

I have kept track loosely, between April-Nov. I put the boat in the water about 125 times a season. That includes tournaments, full days on the water, evening trips after work/morning trips before work, partial days when were rained out at work, etc.....