EastTexasBassin

I love my Daiwa Megaforce. Its an excellent reel for the price. I use it for flipping heavy cover and fishing deeper structure with jigs and t-rigs. The 7.1 to 1 reel ratio is great for getting bass up out of cover in a hurry. Using it has made it a lot easier to keep the bass from wrapping themselves up in the trees. The twitchin bar is handy too. In my 2 man bass boat it helps me to steer the trolling motor with one hand and fish with the other. Learn how to set the hook with one hand, you'll be glad you did. A full press of the twitchin bar takes up about 7 inches of line. If your other hand is holding something/doing something, you can still set the hook. Lower the rod tip as you press the twitch bar 2 or 3 times really quick, then set the hook. You can do it in one smooth motion after a couple tries and it's just as fast as a normal hookset.

How thick is the trailer? On those, I usually just insert the hook over to one side (front or back) of the trailer as opposed to going straight through the middle. The 'thin' side goes against the rattle.

CONGRATULATIONS!!! I know you can't wait to take him fishing. My first will be born in a few weeks and I already got him his first rod&reel. I bet you probably have too.

Nearly all of my fishing is on small bodies of water. I fish from a buster 2 man bass boat with a trolling motor and an eagle fish finder. I mainly fish creature and crawfish type plastics either weightless or t-rigged. I'll throw a c-rig in windy conditions when I need more weight. We had all of the trees that were around the lake pushed over into the lake a few months ago, and this has really improved fishing. There are always bass hanging out in the submerged trees. I usually do fairly well with the GYCB Flappin hog and the GYCB Kreature in the trees. Another hot spot is the grass beds, and my best lures for the grass are the lake fork tackle 'live' magic shad bait rigged on a 5/0 hook with weight insert, a senko or trick stick, and a tiny trap. (really small rattle trap) I also put the lake fork tackle shad on a chatterbait head sometimes when I'm marking suspended fish out in the deeper water. A weightless Fat Ika just outside of the submerged trees is hard to beat sometimes. This is my "if all else fails" method. Even in the coldest part of the winter here I've still caught bass on the flappin hog and Fat Ika. I give it a hop, count to 10, double hop it, count to 20, hop it, count to 10, etc...

Lately I've been doing really well with the GYCB Flappin hog just t-rigged. I've gotten far more bites this way than with it on a jig head. It's so small, but it has caught me lots of 4 to 6 pounders as well as my first 10 pound bass last week.

Great pics, looks like you had a great time! My first kid will be born in a few weeks, and I've already bought him his first rod and reel. I can't wait until he's ready to use it!

In the areas that I fish, the entire bottom is covered in fallen/submerged timber. Anything less than 20lb test and you don't even get to see your fish. You'll feel her wrap you up in the trees and then she's gone. Scraping back and forth over and under multiple branches causes most lines to fray and snap. If I get hung up, I do have to move over to it to get it off but this is a small price to pay for getting that 8 to 10 pounder out of the trees without breaking off.

I like the Jack's Juice crawfish spray and the carolina lunker sauce gel tube. Both apply easy and stay on for many, many casts. Fish don't spit the lure back out

Yeah man. I'm gonna have a hard time putting it down. I've caught many 5 and 6 pounders with it before. I'll never go fishing without a camera again...

I caught my first ten pounder today! (10lb 2oz) She was a BEAST! I wish I had a camera with me but fortunately I caught her in front of several of my fishing buddies. They wouldn't have believed me if they weren't there. I caught her on a GYCB Flappin Hog, t-rigged on a 3/0 hook with a quarter ounce tungsten weight. I was flipping around submerged tree laydowns when she hit it. I caught her on a private lake in East Texas. Before today the largest fish that anyone had caught there was 8 pounds.

I caught a bunch of fish on these yesterday. I rigged it on a 5/0 wide gap hook, with a weight insert in the back of the biggest section. This makes it stay horizontal on the fall. (a weighted hook would probably be easier) My biggest two yesterday morning were 5 pounds 5 ounces and 6 pounds 1 ounce. I fished it more like a senko...let it hit the bottom, then point the rod tip at the water and sweep it all the way up to twelve 'o clock, then feel for the 'bump' on the fall. I like the way it swims, and the tail sways back and forth on the fall too, which looks very nice. The only thing that sucks about them is each of them can only catch one fish. After each fish the thing was torn up too bad to re-rig and swim right.

...if you frequently wake up your wife by setting the hook in your sleep.

Cool. I'm wanting something that can easily be removed because I leave the boat at the pond and just bring the battery home to recharge it. I like the spade under the wing bolt idea. Thanks.

I just got an Eagle Cuda to put on my Buster 2 man bass boat and I just want to make sure I'm powering it OK. How do I attach it to the trolling motor battery? It just came with a wire end, a black and a red. Should I get spring clips to clip it on top of the trolling motor clips? Can anyone point me towards a picture? I looked through the related articles here but couldn't find a picture of the battery connection. The manual was less than helpful. thanks

Flying eagles! This stuff is hillarious.

I like the goose and the bat lures...this guy is nuts. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130193059220&ssPageName=MERC_VI_RCRX_Pr12_PcY_BID_Stores_IT&refitem=130193453575&itemcount=12&refwidgetloc=active_view_item&usedrule1=CrossSell_LogicX&refwidgettype=cross_promot_widget http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110210477201&ssPageName=MERC_VI_RCRX_Pr12_PcY_BIN_Stores_IT&refitem=130193453575&itemcount=12&refwidgetloc=active_view_item&usedrule1=CrossSell_LogicX&refwidgettype=cross_promot_widget

Yeah, really. I might have stayed in if there was fishing involved.

Thats me too man. Each of my days off lately has been thunderstorms or incredibly strong winds. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Friday.

I use 20lb Berkley Vanish Transition gold for jigs and soft plastics. The sensitivity is great and I can actually see it which makes it easy to detect subtle pickups.

I've only caught one fish with a chatterbait but she was a little over 5 pounds. I don't have much confidence in it. I've tried it so many times, and as soon as I switch to something else I start catching fish again.

My top producers for this past year have been 1. 5 and 6 inch senkos 2. Flappin Hog 3. Rattle Trap 4. GYCB Kreature 5. I'm embarrassed to post this one, but the freakin thing catches so many fish. When the usual stuff doesn't work, I throw a 4 inch Banjo minnow. Works every time.

Last Sunday. Caught 5 fish for 14.5 lbs all together. 2 four pounders, 1 three pounder, 1 two pounder, and one that was a pound and a half. Caught them on t-rigged GYCB Flappin hogs and GYCB Kreatures. Both color number 301. (brown with green and purple flake)

I'd have to say Yamamoto. I've caught more fish on senkos, flappin hogs, and yamamoto kreatures than anything else.

caught one about the size of Burley's on a baby rattle trap

We spotted a couple of snowflakes yesterday down here in Texas. Everyone at work stopped what they were doing to run outside, its such a rare sight here. We're still bass fishing