Branuss04

No more than 15#

That means you were almost perfect... something was just a tad off or they (some of them) would have bitten. Maybe you were a little too fast or slow, perhaps you just needed to kill it at some point in the retrieve, etc. BINGO!!! Change up the speeds. Burn it for 30 ft and kill it. Deadstick it on the bottom. You need to change things up a bit. But even changing things might not get you those 15 that just bumped it, but it might have encouraged a few to bite. That's just how swimbaiting goes.

It sounds like an issue from the pouring process. I have had holes in my 8in hudds. They aren't a big deal and shouldn't pose a threat to the bait, but if it bugs you, contact Ken and he will replace them for you.

10" 6oz $200 Crank bait? Everybody has their own opinion on what a swim bait is. To new guys getting into swimbaits, they look at a 4" Tru Tungsten as a swimbait. To me, I see this as a jointed lip less crank bait. I don't think everyone will ever agree on what is and what isn't a swimbait. I know some people say that paddletails aren't swimbaits (In most cases I agree to) but what about an 8in 3:16 Mission Fish. It's got a paddletail. How is that not a swimbait? This bait was created WAY before the lame paddletail craze came about. What about the people that say anything under 6in isn't a swimbait. Some of the best swimbaits out there are under 6in. Look at mattlures baits. How is his Hardgill not a swimbait? Or the Ultimate Gill? They are all under 6". Then there is the guy (Sorry, not trying to single you out) who said that swimbaits must swim just like a fish with very little head/tail movement. Well there are only a select few baits that imitate the natural movement of a fish perfectly. So all of a sudden those "Swimbaits" are no longer "Swimbaits" because their head moves too much? My point is that nobody will ever agree on what a swimbait is or isn't is. I've seen this subject come up in every forum I'm in and everybody has a different answer as to what they think a swimbait is. If you think a Storm Wildeye sunfish is a swimbait, so be it. If you think a bait only falls into the "Swimbait" category if it's over 8in, more power to you.

Maybe you should check the thread you already created about the same thing http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1241989217

Well...you aren't going to break off running that setup. Thanks for bringing that up, I lost two good fish the other day with 20lb cxx leader. Twas a bad day. Wow...I've never even broken 15lb CXX. CXX breaks every now and again. I broke off a bait that was priceless (Only 10 or so every made) on 30# CXX. As David put it, "Twas a BAD day"

A better way to judge what line size you need would be the weight of the bait, not necessarily the length. As there are 6" paddle tails that weigh less than an once and then there are 6" hard bodied swim baits that weigh 1.5 oz or more. But on average I use 15#-20# line for most of my 6" baits (1.2-2oz). I hardly use those girly paddle tube swim baits, but 15# would be plenty for those little things. As far as rods go, you don't need a special swim bait setup for smaller baits 1oz and under, most MH to H flipping sticks will do just fine. For baits heavier, Okuma 7'6" MH is a great small swim bait stick. the 7'6" H is a GREAT all around rod that can handle anything from 6" Mission Fish to 8" Huddleston and everything in between. This is a very versatile rod and if I ever have to bring just one of my swim bait rods, it's this one as it will throw 80% of my baits. Either rods paired with a Cardiff 300 (Or Curado 300 if you like the low profile reels) fit great as they both have good line capacity for 15# to 20#. What baits do you plan on throwing?

HAHAHA.... When I read your post title, The first thing that came to my mind for your type of humor was "kicking puppies". I guess stabbing monkeys is pretty close right? Mrlite..... there will be no spanking of monkeys in a public fishing forum... thank you

Impossible to narrow it down to just one, so here is a top 3. #1 - 3:16 Wake Jr. (This is the one bait I can't go on a trip without. It's ALWAYS tied on at the beginning of the trip to see if the topwater bite is on) #2 3:16 Born Again Armageddon (Favorite new bait. Haven't given it enough time yet, but it's got a lot of potential and looks great) #3 - 8in Huddleston (Not just any hudd, this one hudd caught me A LOT of good fish including a 9.1 and a 35.1# solo sack. It sits on a shelf and doesn't get fished until I catch a new PB on something different. I guess this bait has more sentimental value.)

I'll let you *** me.. check out the status on my latest TW purchase By the way, I made the order around 3PM on 05/07/2009. I love TW 8-)

I too noticed it was different, then I thought maybe the avatars got mixed up with someone elses, but upon VERY close inspection, that fish could only be yours.... or burleys ;D

That's enough to make me not print the coupon and go buy Bojangle's or Lee's Famous Recipe instead. x2 Free food is free food. I don't care what Oprah did, what she stands for, or anything like that...

Yea, the printing coupon program is lame!!! It didn't work for me at first, but I tried it 4 hours later and it worked right away. Good luck with it!!!

LOL, those people will get it on 5/9 and reheat it for her on Sunday ;D Just so you know this is legit... I just returned from KFC with my meal.

I guess Oprah bought the whole nation a free KFC meal. Here is the link to your free coupon. http://www.unthinkfc.com/

I hope you loose them all

Anyone that know's bizz knows that this is very true.... Nice call Burley!!!!

LOL... Dude where have you been :-/ . J/K of course Tubes for me. I won some and threw them the next day... caught tons of fish. It's nice to gain confidence in a bait immediately... I like it that way!! ;D

This was a brutal trip and I'm still feeling it, but as always, it paid off and I had a great time. This trip started off just like the other times we went to this lake. We got up at 3:00am, drove for 3 hours, contemplated or sanity and finally after much bit##ing and complaining we strapped the 35-40# backpacks on and went on our 3 mile hike. It wasn't too cold, but the weather wasn't great. As usual we were greeted by some great scenery..... ...... and great fishing..... Both Jay and I had some great catches. I missed both of my PB's by 1 inch (Brookies and Cutthroats). Jay got a new PB (I think) 19" 3+ pound Brookie as seen in the original post. The thing was giant!!! I was fortunate to catch two Lahontan Cutthroats. One at 19" and one at 20". These things are like catching big bass, they don't spazz out on you, they just go where they want to go and do what they want to do, your job is just to hold on. My 20" was turning me around in circles in my float tube, they are always fun to fight on 6# test. We caught around 25 fish between the two of us. The weather was a big issue this weekend, lots of rain, possible snow, windy, and cold. The original plan was to spend the night and do it all over again on Saturday, but after a fulfilling day, and the thought of hiking in again, this time in snow, did not sound appealing, so we quit while we were ahead and left. It was pretty cool because we could watch the storms come in over these mountains. Usually 15 minutes after they came over the mountain, it would hit us. Now you see them..... Now you don't. All in all it was another great trip. Both of us have been waiting for this trip since last October when we discovered this place, but have had to wait patiently for the snow to melt. RW - Yes we were pretty cold. This lake became ice free just a few weeks ago, and see the snow in the background. Add that to a hole in the waders and wet feet and socks and it became very cold. If it weren't for the fish catching part, I would have been fishing from the bank instead. Clipper. - Yes it is a hike in only lake. 3 mile hike with 35-40# packs. It's a very beautiful hike but the last 1/4 of it is pretty steep. We were VERY layered up as we new there was a really good storm coming in. Between the long johns/thermals/sweat pants, 4 pairs of heavy socks, and the 4 long sleeves shirts, I was comfortable, until I sprung a leak in the bottom of my waders :-/. One of my favorite things is hiking into the deep woods and fishing these tiny lakes/streams that hardly see a line. It can be so rewarding to just catch a beautiful natural 8in fish. It's a great summertime hobby over in Cali, as most lakes become infested with people, we go deeper and deeper into the forest to get away from the crowds and heat.

I'm not defending this company one bit, but saying that the revolution shad was a "Rip Off" based solely on the fact that it came out within a week of others is ridiculous. These baits don't just magically appear on the shelves. There is a lot of behind the scenes work (design, testing, etc) before these baits even reach the shelves. How much time I don't know, but they could have started their Rev. Shad before the other two companies but wasn't as fast throughout the design/testing phase.... who knows, but ask a bait builder how long it takes to create a bait from scratch and have it dialed in enough to sell on the shelves. I'm sure it would be more than a week. If your going to call the Rev. Shad a rip off then your going to have to call either the TT or SPRO a rip-off as well because on of them came out after the other... right? : I'm sure you can find better reasons to diss on Reaction Strike... I mean seriously, they are Reaction Strike after all

1st pic - Jays 19" 3+ pound Brook Trout 2nd pic - My 20" 3+ pound Lahonton Cutthroat :-X

About 4 years ago when I first started bass fishing and became friends with fourbizz, we would always talk on myspace about fishing, and one day he he sent me a message that said he "was going to go catch some pigs tomorrow night". I replied back "First fishing, now pig wrangling.... you have some weird hobbies". :-[ I quickly learned the "Fishing" lingo!!!! ;D

I'm sure everybody will say yes it is worth the extra money for the "C". I have the black and white screen unit only because I got a screemin deal ($50). It's a great unit and I have no Complaints, but I guess a color screen would be cool. I guess if you have an extra $90 go for it.

I don't know if yours are neoprene or not, but I used this: http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_41022_175009004_175000000_175009000?cmCat=CROSSSELL_PRODUCT .. and it worked wonders for me. No complaints

***** FORWARD THIS TO 5000 PEOPLE IN THE NEXT 5 SECONDS OR YOU WILL HAVE BAD LUCK FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!!!!!***** :