Tokyo Tony

Yeah I just got my order of 4 swimblades and 8 bags of plastics (and three packs of skirts). I'm unimpressed by the swimblades. They seem like they'll be good (I only tried one out briefly), but you can't work them fast - they start to spin. So you have to work them relatively slowly, and they're less weedless than Booyahs and Chatterbaits. I do like the action - it's a lot crazier than the other brands - but we'll see if the fish like them. On the other hand, I really like the plastics, especially the cane toads. It's tough to find a toad that actually floats, but their floating version stays right on the surface, which I like in a lot of situations. Just caught some nice ones in the muck the last two days, and the fish seemed to prefer the cane toads to the more subtle toads (e.g. SIZMIC and Horny Toads). I like the huge kicking feet they have. The senkos seem decent, but I'll always prefer GYCB senkos. I also like the skirts I got - they look pretty good. FYI Thanks again for that post, Avalon.

Carp are sometimes near moving water. I know once I saw a 20 poundish fish watch my senko fall, and since I at first though it could have been a bass, I had to go home and change into a clean pair of boxers. Turns out it was a carp, and he didn't want the senko.

Bait Monkey really isn't a problem unless you're spending more than you can afford - I know that when I'm sitting at home and have nothing to do, often I'll go to Dick's just for the heck of it and spend a bunch of money on stuff that looks cool, or stuff that I "need" more of. I have a great time picking the stuff out, and a great time pulling out all my tackle and placing the new items in their respective areas. It's been said before, and I'll say it again. Half the fun of fishing (sometimes a LOT more than half, depending on how good the fishing is) is the anticipation. I love sitting around the night before going fishing and just going through which baits I think I'll need and imagining where I'm gonna fish them and the huge fish I'm gonna catch. Usually doesn't work out that way, but the anticipation NEVER disappoints, and I have the bait monkey, in large part, to thank for that. That being said, it is still ridiculous how much I spend on fishing stuff.

Same here. Hoping the order will be at my doorstep when I get back from work, but they charged the correct amount. Thanks for pointing out the offer buddy, we appreciate it!

My favorite is MegaStrike for all applications, but that was not your question. So for a spray, I use YUM craw scent. It goes on a little red, but as soon as the bait hits the water the red disappears but the STINK stays. The stuff reeks like freakin' gross rotten craws, but it's really good. I use it when I really want to stink the fish out. Caught my PB on a GYCB Kreature doused with this stuff.

jb_adams - a lot of people have success at night with plastics, but I am like you. Unless I'm sure a spot is holding fish, I'm not confident with plastics at night. I much prefer something with at least as much vibration as a spinnerbait with a colorado blade. My favorite baits at night are chatterbaits and rattletraps - I seem to have the most luck with those, and it seems to me it's because they're really loud and easier for the bass to find. Of course sometimes at night, depending on the conditions, the fish will still be spooky so these really loud baits won't be your best bet. But by far my favorites for night are chatter-style baits, rattletraps, spinnerbaits with a single large colorado blade, and walk-the-dog topwaters (I prefer there to be some moonlight with these so I can see the strike because let's be honest - that's the best part about topwaters). Black or black/blue, black/purple, black/red are traditionally the best general colors, but some people here have said that light colors sometimes do well. I'm sure the guys here can give you (and me) some tips for fishing plastics at night, but for now, I prefer the noisy baits.

Wow fish-fighting-illini - thanks for that explanation. I have some of those bobber stops and have never used them because I couldn't figure out what the deal was. That makes sense - you take the tube off 8-) I actually looked online today for an explanation on how to use them and couldn't find one. I guess it's assumed that you know how.

I highly recommend a reaction-type bait. I have had plenty of times where smallies will just follow or watch a slow-moving or sinking bait, then I'll throw and X-Rap and really jerk the crap out of it and they just instinctively slam it. And yeah, I'd try to stay away from shore, although one of my favorite things is sight fishing for really active smallies and watching them take the bait ;D

Well I guess there's always a price to pay for such good fishing, whether it's coming home to a nagging wife, or gigantic deadly sturgeon flying at your face when you're on the water ;D Seriously though, great story Fish Chris. Those fish look really cool.

I saw those spike habitat things also - but Bill Dance endorses them

Nice fish man, I wish I had a nice pond like that right down the street... And Avid, I know what you mean. When I started, all I used were black senkos, then I diversified my arsenal to include pumpkinseed and watermelon, and used those three baits almost exclusively for almost a year. Needless to say, I have become bored with the senko. It's an amazing bait, but now I pretty much only use it when the bite is really tough or if I really think it's head and shoulders above any other bait for the conditions. It's much more fun for me to catch a fish on pretty much any bait other than a senko. Never tried white before, but it looks like it works just fine FivePoundBluegill 8-)

No he means off the bat. Any hooks that are old and dull should be replaced. From your original post it sounded like you wanted to replace the new hooks on a Rapala with Gamakatsu hooks.

You don't wanna catch the dinks that will short-strike a soft jerkbait anyway. Any bass 1lb+ should be able to inhale it. Anything smaller should be able to inhale it unless it's a bluegill or a baby bass. And I would think that a stinger treble would noticeably hinder the action and eliminate the weedless property of these baits.

I've always thought it was funny how the frog companies often come up with intricate designs and different colors on the back of the frog, designs that the fish may see 1/500 casts. They look cool to the fisherman, but they really don't make a bit of difference to the fish. For me, give me a black, green, or brown frog and I'm happy. I've found the SIZMIC toads in all black are awesome for night fishing.

I'd say that's pretty much the whole ball of wax.

I just read Doug Hannon's answer to question #14 and he said he crimps the barb on ALL his hooks. What? Do you think that's true? If he's actually caught over 800 10 lb+ fish with no barb, it's hard to argue. I STILL think no barb = fewer landed fish....confusing.

My brother has had good luck taking the skirt off a chatterbait and using a Sizmic toad instead - it looks pretty cool in the water. And Joe's Flies - those are great baits for trout. I use them when I occasionally go trout fishing, and yes, they are difficult to cast more than 10 feet, but I can cast them 30 or 40 feet with an ultralight spinning setup with 6 lb braid (and a 4 lb flouro leader). No reason why they couldn't work for smallies or dink LMB.

Awesome, thanks for the replies guys. Definitely have some new ideas to try out there. Those bass have it comin' ;D

Personally, I find it MUCH easier to work on spinning, but I think that's a matter of personal preference. 95% of my walk-the-dog fishing is done with spinning equipment. Just a note about the LC Sammy: I find that the hookup-to-strike ratio is MUCH higher with this lure than any other walk-the-dog bait. It seems that when you get a hit, they're just automatically buttoned up. It may be because the hooks are premium and generally larger in proportion to the bait itself than with other similar lures, but it may also be magic because I replace all the hooks on my Zaras with Gamakatsu, but the ratio is still better with the Sammys. Also, I've used two Sammy imitations - they both looked exactly like the Sammy - and the action sucked. I'd have to say that the Sammy is worth the 20 bucks or so. I also love the little popping noise they make at each turn.

I never use trailers either, but if I did, I would use the ones that come with Booyah Boogiebaits.

If you're worried about fish seeing the line you can use even more or a flourocarbon leader - I've used up to 20 feet of flouro leader in really clear water conditions. Of course you give up a little feel, but it's still way more sensitive than pure flouro and mono. It may not be textbook, but I use almost exclusively braided line now. If I need more give, I use a softer tip rod, and if I need to finesse it, I use a long flouro leader. I do have two rigs with #6 flouro P-Line for certain applications, but I really can't stand giving up the unbelievable sensitivity of braid.

Thanks guys - I will try the jig/Kreature rig as well as finesse jigs, but as for the Cavitron: I actually bought a black on black on after reading your post RW, but buzzbaits don't seem to produce too well on my home waters right now. I've caught one fish on it after using it a few times - Zara Puppies seem to work much better around here. As for hopping jigs, the pond bottom in the "fishy" areas in my ponds has weeds that grow up about 2 feet off the bottom, so it's tough to fish a jig there. I'm gonna try swimming a finesse jig with a small SPRO frog as a trailer and see if that works, but I still feel kinda stumped.

Hey guys, I've been struggling lately on the little chain of ponds I usually fish after work. I know that fall is supposed to be good fishin', that the bass start to fatten up, but I wonder if the same is true in little ponds in the Northeast - 5 acres or less. There aren't any creeks in these ponds, and the main forage is little minnows, bluegills, and terrestrial critters that stumble into the ponds. The main cover is weeds around the perimeter, but these weeds have almost all turned brown and are obviously dying. Haven't had luck around them lately. Is it true that when they start to die the bass don't relate to them as much because they suck up the oxygen? What type of advice do you have for me? I've been using flukes, senkos, jigs (where possible), t-rigged worms in the weeds, topwaters, rattletraps, spinnerbaits and X-Raps, but haven't had much luck. I haven't caught as many or as big fish. The only bait I can seem to get them on is the X-Rap (or little dinks with the senkos), and topwater only seems to work for about 40 mins around dusk. Any advice for little NE ponds at the beginning of fall? Thanks guys.

Fishing is number one, but I also love Texas Hold'Em (I live close to Foxwood's), golf, skiing, and mindlessly watching TV for hours while I play internet poker.

http://cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/pod/vertical-pod3.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/pod-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat20431-cat350005_TGP&rid=&indexId=cat350005&navAction=push&masterpathid=&navCount=1&parentType=index&parentId=cat350005&id=0011367