lknbassman

Topwater plugs (spooks, Sammy's, pencil poppers, etc). Big in line spinners (Mepps, Blue Fox, Rooster Tail #3 or up) Big jerk baits (XRap, Pointers, etc) Gotta find em schooling or chasing bait. They roam at all times and never sit still. You have to collide with them to catch them. Live bait is always the best trolled but I don't fish that way so I don't catch as many as the guys who do it that way. Live bait is the most effective way to catch stripers though.

DOUBLE UP!!!! That is awesome! Way to go boating those two nice looking bass.

Ain't no catchin cruisers, it can't be done so don't worry. Go find some others that don't have ADD and can see and will react to your bait. The cruiser is the most frustrating fish ever, they don't even stop to look at your bait even if it did cost you $80.... A heartless fish sometimes the Micropterus Salmoides is.....heartless indeed......

Yup, caught my PB this year post spawn on a #5 in what color? Yup, the Sexy Shad. Call it hype, KVD madness or whatever you like but they work, they are cheap, and they flat out catch fish. Get you some #4S models that run 2-4 ft and fish em on shallow rock this Fall. I use em on Rip Rap on my home lake they just get hammered by aggressive fish. Best baits I've ever used and they ain't $80 a piece!!! More like $3.50 at Bass Pro.

I think fourbizz on here is your man on this topic. Send him a PM, he seems to have the swim bait thing figured out.

I'm pulling for McClelland. He's a jig fisherman, I'm a jig fisherman.... ;D ;D ;D KVD is too much like Tiger in golf in that he's so good that it takes the drama and excitement away often times for me. I'm not saying he doesn't deserve it because he does, he earned it but I'd like to see somebody else take a good run at the AOY title and make him sweat even if it's just a little..... Go get em MIKE!!!!!!!!

He's not kidding about packing dramamine and a jock either. That place is NOT for the faint of heart. That tourney is always a fun one to follow.

For a standard or 5" Senko use 3/8" heat shrink cut in a 1/4" width and put in the center of the bait. You can heat it up to get it bind more if you want to but be careful not to burn the bait. You don't have to heat it up for it to work as it's just adding structural integrity to the soft plastic so it doesn't tear as quickly. Run the hook through the shrink wrap and the bait. Will help keep the bait in tact a little longer and hopefully save you some $$$ along the way. Thanks to Wayne P. for that tip earlier this year. Hope it helps.

Drop shots, shakey heads, finesse worms, flick shake rigs. All of these are great highly pressure water lures and with the size of the body of water you can fish them effectively and not have to cover as much water as quickly to locate bass providing your electronics or your current knowledge of the body of water have you in the right spot to begin with. Read up on Aaron Martins on google he's the drop shot king and has a bunch of good pub on line about him and his approaches as well as bait selection, sizes, and colors. Good luck, think small and natural colors and I'd bet you'll be fine.

All that are mentioned. My go to would be an inline spinner size #1 or #2 by Mepps, Blue Fox, Panther Martin, etc in a trout pattern. Just match your lure to the forage and up your % of getting bit by both species. Good luck.

BINGO! Fancy baits don't catch fish, skilled fisherman do. Don't believe me? Check the golf business. How many of you guys have or know a guy with $2,000 worth of golf gear who couldn't sniff at breaking 100? The answer.....PLENTY! Nice looking baits, can't imagine they distance themselves from other swim baits all that much (I think Huddleston owns the record courtesy of Steve Kennedy's domination at the Delta last year) by an order of 4X the cost but if they do it for you, then more power to you champ... Need some evidence? I just watched a video on swim baits out on Castaic in CA called "Big Bait Posse" and the guys make their own out of wood on a band saw and catch giant fish. Know he's there, put the bait where he lives at the right time under the right conditions and you'll improve your chances of catching fish. $80 is $80 bucks dude ranch and if this were a golf discussion I'd say spend the money on lessons not a new $500 driver unless you absolutely know how to use it.... Check eBay for evidence of failed driver, iron, wedges, and putter purchases.... You can't buy a game and just because you shelled out big $$$ for baits doesn't mean you're going to catch more or larger fish than anyone else. My guess is that 3-16 sells a lot of great baits and the large % of customers who will shell out the cake for them will have moderate success with them just like the majority of baits sold world wide regardless of price which is why there are so many to choose from. Most fishing equipment is designed to catch fisherman not fish and they work to the tune of a several hundred million dollar per year business conservatively speaking. Nothing against the company, I hope they continue to do well and bring American jobs to the State that they are in but with regard to the price, it is what it is fellas and that is out of reach for the majority of anglers tournament or otherwise. If you can fish, that means you can first find fish, pattern them, and know how to present the right baits to those you are targeting. If you can't, you can't. LMAO...... Your guess pales in comparison to reality. On 3:16's. Sure am glad i didnt waste my money on Glx's and GUESSING! Since we're guessing, I'm guessing you are representing them since you feel so good about them. There's no guessing here or anywhere else about GLX's pal. They work and are worth the cash. Check annual sales if you need a little help with the math. The numbers are what they are. Oh yeah, and I did actually buy mine with my own hard earned cash. Glad they worked for you, wonder how many folks that have those high dollar baits that caught nothing but lip from a spouse for blowing $80 bucks on a fishing lure? Good to see you supporting the economy out there, how about you buying about a thousand more and maybe their price will come down some so others would actually take a serious look at them. Looks like you got your $80 bucks worth champ. Or did you get em free? It's real easy to talk some smack when you don't have your cash on the line pal. Fess up, they flow em to you or did you lay down the cash for them? Hey 3-16 guys how about you send me a dozen free ones and I'll throw em too??

By the looks of that LM PB I'd say you are doing just fine. Keep on fishing and learning like all of us do. It only takes a lifetime and then you realize you haven't even gotten started yet... Enjoy every moment of it. Just watch out for the bait monkey, he's lurking and will get in your ear and tell you all sorts of lies about what lures to buy, sizes, colors, how many, and so forth. Keep a watchful eye out for him!!!

$80 is actually a reasonable price for some of those ultra detailed large hard baits. To answer you question though, a rod won't ever catch you a single fish if you don't have a lure tied onto it. I'd rather fish with mediocre rods/reels than cheap lures. The rod and reel will have little impact on my ability to catch fish. If I had my choice I'd go for the 4 3:16 baits than the loomis. The 3:16 baits will drastically increase my odds of catching bigger fish. The rod won't. You are not serious? You'd rather fish with an $80 bait on a $40 rod? Does that mean you go for cheap line too to go along with your $80 bait? Let me guess cheap hooks go along with that too? The right rod has as much to do with landing fish as anything. Don't believe it? Check the polls on here and see what the number one lure of all time is... A rubber worm. A $.10 cent rubber worm with a $.50 cent hook on good quality line and on a good quality rod has stood the test of time. There's no arguing it, it is what it is. Next to the boat and boat accessories(Motor, TM, electronics, etc) pro anglers have more money tied up in dollar per item terms of their rod arsenal than anything else they own. Dollar per item, not total dollars in their whole bait arsenal that by the way does include reels. That's not by accident. Get a nice fish on that $80 bait and break your not so stellar rod, lose him due to the wrong rod for that bait, or break him off on that cheap line you sacrificed money for to get that hot bait and you'll be more than bummed out while it swims off in some fish's mouth now won't you? :'( Think about it for a minute. If you can swing $80 for it, pony it up and good fishing. Just don't put it on lousy line or a sub standard rod, you'll regret it later if you do.

BINGO! Fancy baits don't catch fish, skilled fisherman do. Don't believe me? Check the golf business. How many of you guys have or know a guy with $2,000 worth of golf gear who couldn't sniff at breaking 100? The answer.....PLENTY! Nice looking baits, can't imagine they distance themselves from other swim baits all that much (I think Huddleston owns the record courtesy of Steve Kennedy's domination at the Delta last year) by an order of 4X the cost but if they do it for you, then more power to you champ... Need some evidence? I just watched a video on swim baits out on Castaic in CA called "Big Bait Posse" and the guys make their own out of wood on a band saw and catch giant fish. Know he's there, put the bait where he lives at the right time under the right conditions and you'll improve your chances of catching fish. $80 is $80 bucks dude ranch and if this were a golf discussion I'd say spend the money on lessons not a new $500 driver unless you absolutely know how to use it.... Check eBay for evidence of failed driver, iron, wedges, and putter purchases.... You can't buy a game and just because you shelled out big $$$ for baits doesn't mean you're going to catch more or larger fish than anyone else. My guess is that 3-16 sells a lot of great baits and the large % of customers who will shell out the cake for them will have moderate success with them just like the majority of baits sold world wide regardless of price which is why there are so many to choose from. Most fishing equipment is designed to catch fisherman not fish and they work to the tune of a several hundred million dollar per year business conservatively speaking. Nothing against the company, I hope they continue to do well and bring American jobs to the State that they are in but with regard to the price, it is what it is fellas and that is out of reach for the majority of anglers tournament or otherwise. If you can fish, that means you can first find fish, pattern them, and know how to present the right baits to those you are targeting. If you can't, you can't.

Good luck with them fellas like I said earlier. For your sake, I hope they never make this list (OUCH) http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1216787515

Storm soft swim baits - useless but at $4/pk not the worst beating over all I suppose. White Senkos have done nothing for me but other colors are great so I can't blame the bait just that one color. I sure hope that new $80 3-16 swim bait lure doesn't make this list.....Ouch if it does. Those guys are certain it's worth the $80 but not this guy, uh uh, no thanks.

Get the Bait Monkey to lose my address and phone number......

Big O, PLEASE GET US OUR SPACE MONKEYS BEFORE FALL GETS HERE!!!!!!!!!!! We gotta have em!!! Can't wait to flip and pitch that critter.

Yes, both of those baits you mention work well here in our clear water. Most big bass and bigger stripers come on medium to smaller sized baits around here. A lot of striper guides fish 1/8oz Road Runners on planer boards and flat out tear em up. Go figure...... Clear water, tons of small baitfish, and ridiculously heavy fishing pressure calls for smaller baits here quite often. Little split shot worm rigs and small shakey head rigs outperform most baits on Norman from post spawn through Summer. It is what it is..... Fortunately some bigger baits will work when the conditions are right particularly 5" senkos and 4-5" topwater plugs. I wish it were true but bigger isn't always better as much as I wish it were.....

Guys that thing is AWESEOME. I watched the video again and the Space Monkey looks like it's falling out of an airplane without a parachute! It just cracks me up watching it swim. No doubt it'll be beating the face off of a fish on the way back to the boat after it calls him up out of some deep cover. That is the greatest looking soft plastic ever. Get em out here for us to throw before it gets too cold to use em!!!!

Don't doubt it'll work. Doubt they'll sell many of them however. $80 limits who will seriously look at these I'd think. I hope if people invest in them that they pay dividends. That's a lot of money to commit to one bait. Like the man said earlier in this thread, it don't float so good when it's stuck in a stump. Good luck with them if you try them out fellas.

Just read up on KVD's 2nd place finish at Wheeler Lake on the Strike King web site and he said the spoon played a big part in that tournament for he and the other anglers along with other baits. I've thrown various spoons this Summer out to deep ledges and tried a variety of retreives but with no luck so far. Anybody having better luck with spoons this year? If so mind sharing some techniques and target areas? Thanks for any info!

The space monkey had me laughing out loud at how crazy that thing looked in the water. That's gotta get bitten out of sheer anger if anything. That thing is outrageous, can't wait to try it out!!!!! ;D ;D ;D

I have 4 of them. Here's what I think: 1) Jason Quinn Summer Patterns - Good 2) Marty Stone - Winter Fishing - Average 3) Gerald Swindle - Spotted Bass and Fall Fishing - Great 4) Joe Thomas - Fishing tough conditions and hot water discharges - Good I spoke to Jason Quinn at this years classic and he said they may be making some more of these with more specific situations. I'd love to see one on flipping and pitching with the latest/most modern tackle. The KVD series is good. Not great, just good. His newer stuff on "The Bass Pros" DVD series from Bass Pro Shops is easier to follow and is more informative I think. My .02...