rfrazier

Nice fish. That reminds me, I need to get a sexy reel for my puls-r, I keep neglecting it!

I wacky rig them and let the bait do most of the action.

Good work. I like your choices. You sure you don't need one more setup.... just one more.... ;D

d**n that thing looks good

For a family system I would recommend the Wii. Mariokart, smashbrothers, mario galaxy etc... fun multiplayer games. You don't always have to use the Wii controllers. Gamecube controllers work and are my favorite controller out of all of them.

The Fuego is listed at 7.4oz as well as the curado 100d and sol. I like my fuego a lot more than my curado, and didn't pay much more for it. My brother has the sol, and I agree it is a great reel and likely better at throwing lighter baits, but between the two you can't go wrong.

Love my fuego. Picked it up for 165 nib off the forums here. Put it on my carrot stix and together they form "the popsicle!" Can throw light baits and cast with ease. While casting the other day I noticed I could see the holes in the spool, time for more line. <-----------

Haven't heard anything bad about these rods. Many people on this forum are high on them. I have an All Star Platinum casting rod that is great, but I would probably recommend buying a used st. croix avid.

I'm at Oregon. Everyone that joins pays $20 to go towards van rentals etc. We get a pretty good deal from the state motorpool on vans. Volunteers from a local club, "Emerald Bass Club", serve as boaters for our tournaments with the students as non-boaters. All of our members personally pitch in the same amount of money into a pool to help out the volunteering boaters with gas. Our 4 representatives in the national champ drove from oregon to texas, and got someone to loan a boat in texas. Our club president won 5 grand for the club in a tournament over the summer so that payed for a lot of it. In the past the club has cleaned up the basketball arena etc for money which is what most clubs here do, but we are trying to not do it this year. From what I can tell just about every club is scraping for money just as you are. We are just starting to bring in some cash sponsors.

Where in the Willamette do you live? Will you be fishing from shore? Tenmile is pretty heavily fished, but it is a good lake and pretty area. I fished it back in October with the UO club and caught a ton of small fish but nothing with any size. Depends on where you live... Tenmile, Mercer lakes on the coast (mercer is tough right now). Cottage Grove has been the best lake I've fished so far. Fall Creek is another decent spot.

Personally I would buy a rod off the flea market section here. I have had nothing but great experiences buying used rods on this forum and another. You can get much better rods buying them used, and I have yet to get a rod that wasn't as advertised. The pflueger president is a great reel, I would also recommend the shimano symetre for a little more. Have not fished the supreme yet.

The Curado 201DPV was my first low profile baitcaster, it was great until I got my hands on a fuego, 50mg etc. I think more people are finding they enjoy lighter, and potentially smaller baitcasters, which are abundant in the Curado price range. I own a Curado 101d and like it a lot better than my 201 which I am planning to sell.... I have Diawa fever.

Of course. Ive never fished live bait for bass but I use baitcasters all the time for rockfish, halibut etc. Why would you have any doubt? :-?

I picked up a pack, briefly tried them. Wouldn't say they are a bait you really need to get.

Saweeeeet! You forgot to whiteout the reflection in your sunglasses, total spot giveaway! ;D Nice fish as always.

x2 :-?

I've been picking up more and more jackall baits lately and am impressed. I love the giron, it is a very versatile bait and fun to work. You can make it mimic a dying baitfish, burn it back to the boat, just let it fall, swim and stop, swim and stop. Very realistic looking bait in the water and a blast to use. I just picked up a Dagored which i'm going to try tomorrow. Received a Mikey a while back, but joint/back tail section is funky/needs to be sanded. Big fan of the flick shakes as well, have produced for me.

Yes this has been one of my go to baits lately. I fish it with a wacky with the wacky jig head. Bailed me out of my last tourney.

Most baitcast reels capable of casting weightless/very light baits are probably out of the price range you are looking to spend as far as I know, unless anyone can suggest one.. I use a spinning setup for most of my plastics, so maybe I'm wrong.

You say you are primarily fishing cranks and spinnerbaits? I would definitely change it up and stick with the senkos and brush hogs. The fish are definitely in pre-spawn mode and close to shore in NorCal. Try to spot them/ sight fish. Make a note of where you see other people landing fish, they are likely to be there the next time you go out.

pm'd

http://www.bobbybarrack.com/ Bobby will put you on fish in the Delta.

Frogs can be very effective in open water.

I was wondering the same thing. Seems like all the colors work, go figure. For me: Black/Blue Flake. Watermelon/ Red Flake. Pumpkin. Junebug.

I purchased the Okuma 7'11XH over break and paired it with a curado 300. It works for me, and I won't be upgrading anytime soon.... down bait monkey, down.