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.

I use a king sling knot on my rapalas.

I would say Roland Matin and this is why: 19 BASS titles (BASS record) 92 Top 10 BASS finishes 19 Top 10 FLW finishes 19 Second Place finishes 132 Top 20 finishes 25 BMCs BASS Times in money: 184 BASS Total Entries: 278 BASS Total Weight: 7,065-6 BASS Career Winnings: $1,052,367.10 Career Earnings: Over $1.5 million 9 BASS AOY titles (BASS record) 25 BMCs fished

The following is a review of Professional Grade 100% Fluorocarbon. http://www.tackletour.com/reviewtrilenefc.html

1/8oz Strike King Tri-Wing Buzz King

Pelican Raider, I believe that the extra speed comes with the efficiency you gain. This increase in maneuvering ability is due to the fact that bow-mounts "pull" your boat through the water, in comparison to a transom "pushing. I think you will find you spend less time correcting with the trolling motor on the bow.

Polish Fisher, I have not put a small outboard on my basshound yet, but eventually I would like to. There is a space specifically designed for a fuel tank on the basshound, I use this space for the battery that runs my transom mounted trolling motor. The best advantage of have two trolling motors is they act as a ruder. If you have a tm motor on the bow and not the stern, the back end of the boat wants to come around. MA1232, if I only had one trolling motor, I would have it on the bow. I find it much easier to control the boat and fish with it mounted there as long as you put some weight in the back of the boat to keep the back from coming around. I also believe you get more speed with it on the bow.

I have a bass hound 10.2 with the exact motor configuration that you have. My 28lb minn kota endura is on the bow and 55lb minn kota on the transom. I did exactly what low budget hooker suggested and unscrewed the trolling motor head from the shaft and spun it 180 degrees. I have a big foot switch to turn the 55 off and on, and use the 28 to steer. I also have a deep cycle battery for each. I get a top speed of 4.2mph on my gps with both wide open. This boat is not to small for 500-600 acre lakes. I have had mine on lakes up to 845 acres. No doubt that with more wind you will be on the motors quite a bit since the boat is so light. The only time I have ever needed a pump was when I got caught in a thunderstorm. I ended up pulling it up on the bank and pulled the drain plug after the storm passed.

Marty, there is a reason why fish weights on hand held digital scales are not excepted for qualifying fish for state or world records. That reason is that they are unreliable.

I have owned 2 different Berkley digital scales, and they were both junk. I would weigh the same 5lb weight on different days and get a different reading each day, none of which were ever 5lbs. A more accurate way of depicting the size of fish is measure the length and girth with a tape measure. I try not to get caught up on the weight of fish. When someone tells me the weight of the fish they caught, I take it with a grain of salt, because unless there digital scales can be calibrated it will always give a unreliable reading.

I have a 10.2 BassHound with a MinnKota Endura 55 on the back and a Endura 28 on the front, and with both wide open, I get 4.2mph on my gps.