VA BassHound

Who makes a 1/8oz jig with a heavy wire hook? I have been using Strike Kings 1/8oz bitsy bugs, but the hooks will bend when pulling big fish out of cover.

Norman Crappie Crankbait, and Rapala 1/4oz Husky Jerk

Here is a quote from Gary Yamamoto that I read from one of his articles in his insideline web site: "The reason I prefer the fifteen foot leader length is for landing fish. The critical point is when a fish is right at boatside. So by having a fifteen foot leader, you already have the knot wound onto the reel spool. The knot is not in the rod guides under intense stress when a bass makes that last power surge while trying to boat a bass. Also, when casting, if the knot was off the spool to start with, it can be felt bumping through every single rod guide. With the knot wrapped onto the spool when casting, the line has already started to behave and control its flight. By the time the leader knot comes off the reel spool, you may only feel it bump one guide on the cast."

My favorite is the Rapala Husky Jerk Model HJ08: 3-1/8"; 1/4 oz Silver

I prefer the Octopus hook over the Wide Gap Finesse based on the geometry. The Gammy Wide Gap hook has the hook point directly in-line with the eye of the hook. The Octopus hook is more "J" shaped where the point rides above the eye of the hook. There is a good article on this site that talks about this entitled "Picking The Right Hook" http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/hook-selection.html

The straws I use are clear, and I cut off about a 1/2" piece. I susspect the chances of cracking are greater in cold weather.

I only use the straw method on an exposed hook wacky rig. I can catch somewhere around 10 bass before the worm finally breaks in half. I can usally still use the staw piece on another worm though.

Another option for minimizing damage to a wacky worm, is to cut off a piece of a straw, and slide it over the worm. I have found that the straws from dairy queen work good on Zoom Finesse worms.

So far this year I have fished 208 hours and caught 1157 bass. Thats about 5.6 bass per hour fished. Seven of those bass were between 20" and 24".

I use them, and they are my favorite plastic frog. They are smaller then frogs such a the Zoom Horny Toad, which I believe results in more strikes. I have caught 119 bass this year on the Bullfrog color.

Try a 3" Culprit frog. I caught 21 bass off of it today. Its smaller then most plastic frogs, which I think results in more strikes.

Here is a site that compares skin mounts vs. replicas: http://www.silverdoctortaxidermy.com/SDRvsSM.htm

Whether its a replica or a skin mount, the quality of the work is going to depend on who does it. I have a 28 year old skin mount that looks much better then the replicas that I have seen at Bass Pro Shop'. Also, my 28 year old skin mount has not yellowed or rotted.

My most productive lure will allways be my favorite. And that lure would be a Zoom finesse worm.

Roland Martin has 9 AOY titles! I know he hasnt won the clasic, but Dale Earnhart only won the Daytona 500 1 time, but his 7 championships are what made him the best. As for KVD, he may well one day be the best ever, but he still has work to do.