.dsaavedra.

love it! I'm using IE7 and my bars are blue also, but i don't really care, i think it looks kinda cool

they look good. I like the tiny ones

trout and pircherel look awesome!

if i wanna send poop to someone, i certainly don't have to pay 20 bucks for it! ;D

they're good. get 'em.

are these the big, thick lily pads that raise out of the water about a foot, or are they the small lily pads that lay flat on the waters surface? the first kind is difficult to fish, and i dont fish it much, but i fish the second kind all the time, and i just fish a trick stick in all the little holes and pockets and edges of the lily pads. fish hit it crawling on top too.

I will gladly accept mod duties if the name of the forum is changed to "Amazing metal bands forum: for people to worship amazing guitar players who blow the heads off anybody, anyday"

Thad and FROG, like matt said, i would definitley care if i made a living off my baits, but i dont even sell my baits. i've only sold two! sure i'd be a little upset if someone took the idea of one of my baits, but i wouldn't lose sleep over it. but from a consumer point of view, i really dont care if the bait was copied. just as long as it looks good, is good quality (which it appears the reaction strike isn't) and catches fish.

i haven't used the DT 03 Flat because i've been too busy catching fish on the DT 03 FAT! ;D

its not very common to gut hook a bass on a hard bait. i think i've had it happen to me once. usually they get hooked in the lip or somewhere inside the mouth. they have to be super aggressive to swallow the crankbait deep enough to get gut hooked. how are you getting rapalas for a dollar a piece?

that was great ;D

i just checked TW and i saw the BBZ-1 Shad for 19.99, and the Reaction Strike Revolution Shad for 16.99. where are you finding them for half of the price?

thats the way i see it. i dont care about bait ethics or anything, three qualities determine if i'll buy a bait: good price, good quality, catches fish.

non-sense! rapala has an array of lures to fit your needs, so do other manufacturers! just go to www.***.com and browse through their selection of crankbaits. they organize their crankbaits by shallow, medium, and deep runners. www.basspro.com also has a wide selection of hardbaits. here is a list i'm making off the top of my head of crankbaits that would be good for you: any kind of topwater rapala DT 03 FAT rapala DT 03 Flat rapala DT 04 rapala DT 06 rapala orignal floater rapala jointed rapala shallow shad rap rapala husky jerk bagley bulgin B bomber square A bomber 2A bandit footloose bandit 100 and there are so many more. just browse around the internet! as for leader, i really dont think its necessary. especially if you are fishing with mono. some people who fish with braid like to add a mono or fluoro leader, but i never do. i really dont think its necessary with crankbaits because the lure is constantly moving, and its more of a reaction strike bait than a finesse bait. the fish just see or hear the crankbait and smack it, unlike with worms where they can sit there and look at it before they take it.

they look great! something to think about: if you make a horizontal tailfin out of lexan or something similar, and install it in the tail of the bait, it will really help to stabilize the bait and keep it horizontal when walking it under water. thats something i just learned on tackle underground, and i just thought that was really cool! i was thinking of making a sub walker with a tailfin after reading about that.

you can use the UL to cast hardbaits that are too light to cast on your bigger setups, but i'd use one of the bigger combos for most of the hardbait fishing. most people usually have a whole array of different styles of hardbaits, not just one style. find out what works where you fish, and get a few of them. try new styles to see what works. rapala is a good start though rapala DT's are my favorite and most productive hardbait. hooksets for hardbaits are generally "sweep sets". this is where you swing the rod to the side instead of snapping it up like you would for a worm. the reason for this is because a snap set can pull the bait away from the, or tear big holes in their mouth and allow the bait to fall out very easily. i dont really set the hook much with hardbaits, the fish tend to hook themselves, but i do pull back on the rod when a fish hits.

your setup sounds alright for crankbaits. generally, people look for a medium action on the rod and monofilament line. medium action means that the rod flexes easier and further down when stress is aplied. to put it in perspective, a fast action means only about the top 1/4 of the rod flexes, medium action means about 1/2 the rod will flex, and a slow/parabolic action means nearly the entire rod flexes. i'm pretty sure there is a sticky about rod actions and powers in the rods and reels section of the forum. but your setup sounds like it should be alright for fishing crankbaits. as long as the rod isnt very stiff, you should be good.

i have one DT flat, the 3 footer, and i havent used it yet. but, i would go ahead and get some for 4.88, its one of those lures you can't go wrong with

making hooks seems difficult, modifiying hooks isnt that hard. just do like Jig Man said and get a torch and get the metal red hot and bend it to how you need it.

what do you mean by this? if you mean i was trying to cover for myself because everyone disagrees with me, thats not true. i was just explaining myself a little better than i did in my first post. my opinion of the baits still hasn't changed. i'm not going to take this thread off course any more.

didn't mean to stir up controversy. i like baits that are very realisitic, and look just like the real thing. i have never seen a bass with such a broken and defined lateral line. i never criticized his baits, i just said what i thought about them and gave a suggestion. i also never said that my baby bass was better and/or more realisitc. they are painted very well though, good transitions between colors, smooth topcoat, etc. etc. i just dont like the pattern, thats all. seriously Thad, nice work, didn't mean to be negative at all.

hmmm, i just get a blank page with "Service Unavailable" on it... :-?

word.

exceptional work! the gold one is my favorite!

i dont particularly like the lateral stripe on the baby bass, but the painting is excellent! maybe try to make the lateral stripe look a bit more realistic on the next ones?