paul.

no plastic that costs under $4.99 per pack will catch a fish - EVER! just kidding. keep it simple. one pack of craw or creature type plastic for jig trailers and tx or carolina rigging. one pack of ribbon tail style worms. one pack of senko type worms for fishing weightless. one pack of tubes. you're covered without spending a fortune. zoom is cheap, readily available (usually plenty at your local walmart), and effective. or just buy what's on sale. i don't plan on spending 5 bucks on a pack of plastics ever again. just ain't worth it.

the penetrating power of the owner hook in the big o jig is so shocking that it's a little disturbing what this thing can do to a bass. i have never seen anything like it. keep your pliers handy. my hookup % is through the roof and i pretty much consider any fish that i stick with the big o series to be owned. and this jig has bailed me out on plenty of fish i didn't "deserve" to catch because of errors on my part. i'd put it up against any other jig out there, even those that cost a lot more. crazy good.

all this talk about not caring whether you ever catch another fish under "x" pounds sounds incredibly arrogant to me. it's easy to talk tough on a message board, but i bet after a few days worth of getting your butt handed to ya by the lunkers, most of us would welcome a dink or two, especially if you got a buddy who is swinging "average" fish aboard left and right. it don't even take days for me - just a few minutes. humble pie tastes a heckuva lot better than goose egg.

couple pics from yesterday and tonight. bunch of live bait fish yesterday. 3 good night time swimbait fish tonight.

now that's hurtin' 'em right there.

another great fish. smokin' 'em like a cheap cigar.

rock on man! that's a nice chunk man. knew it wasn't going to be long.

one thing i really liked about the earlier ragetails was the crawfish butter scent. i'd trade the packaging to get that back. i've always emptied the packs into a big ziplocack to save space in the tacklebox. if the baits do become misshapen (and it takes a lot for them to lose their shape) you can put them in the oven on a cookie sheet (less than 200 degrees though) for a few minutes and they come right back. you can also boil them. best to consult with spouse before pursuing either option though. works with other plastics too.

3 like this in less than 15 minutes. Mattlures Hardbass.

yes. don't expect a revo or a curado, but they get the job done and do it well.

i checked online and they are advertised at a reduced price, $34.97 i believe, but nowhere near as low as i paid. they had plenty of 'em at the store where i shop.

5 bearing casting reels for less than 18 bucks? a lot of baits cost more than that. if you are a beginner wanting to start baitcasting reels or you just fun fish like i do, this deal borders on miraculous. not sure if it was just the jackson, tn store or this is company wide, but i thought i'd pass it on. good reels at the regular price, but this? wow!!! too good to pass up.

slow sink

3 acre pond in TN.

captain hook

the reaper

i haven't fished a regular one (yet) but i did get one along with the baby. i'll be able to do a comparison soon. my initial impression is that it's hard to believe such a small bait thumps so hard (about like a small deep diving crank or a #5 willow leaf spinnerbait). but that's what bluegills do (just picture yourself fighting a small bluegill) so the action just adds to the visual realism. i'm very impressed.

been anxiously awaiting my new mattlures small hardgill to arrive in the mail and i got it yesterday. put it to got work today and it hadn't been wet for 10 minutes when i got this nice one plus a few others. man, this little bait has some serious thump to it and moves a lot of water for such a small bait. i was really suprised. looks like i might have a new favorite pond bait. and of course the realism is second to none. looks great, swims great, and catches great. what else is there?

we're coming up on the full moon. bluegill will be bedding. wear polarized glasses and look for where the bottom looks like honeycomb. these are the bluegill beds. if the water clarity is poor and you can't see, chances are the beds will be in a "corner" of the pond. there will be at least one big fish staking out the bluegill beds and picking 'em off every now and then, particularly if there is a good ambush point nearby like a stump or grassbed. count on it. lots of good bait choices mentioned. one that would be an excellent addition is a mattlures bluegill.

looks like great fun. man you have to have a ton of confidence to throw a giant bait like that. awesome.

tried calling a couple of people to see if anyone wanted to go catch a bunch of fish. no luck. so i decided to try a different approach. went and kidnapped my friend Sylvester. We had a blast fishing ragetail and Siebert outdoors. it's been working so far so i didn't see any reason to change it. probably got close to 40 fish before dark. best 5 were easily 20 with the best one being about 5 or 6. and the best news was that i found 2 new areas that are holding fish.

https://www.bassresource.com/fishing/thermocline.html

Siebert Outdoors Big O Jig. Chartreuse head + sharpie. IMG]http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w110/jignpig_photo/100_0740.jpg

find the thermocline and fish cover and structure at that depth. jigs and plastics.