J Francho

As long as you know its the right bait for you. SFT....good people there.

I bought some Gander plastics once. I gave them to a buddy to fish, and he threw them in the garbage - total waste of money. Couldn't get a fish to sniff them. Beavers, twin tails, and senkos. The Senkos didn't sink, and I actually think the beavers and twin tails have fish repellent in them. I'm not usually so down on things, but they were a 100% dud. I know, you can probably go through your note cards and give me stats.....but I don't need anything to remember a goose egg. God bless ya' if you can catch on Gander grubs. Too bad, too. I was really hoping their beaver knockoff would replace the RI's in my bag. They were about half the price.

Even pricier baits...I have a one eyed Sammy 115 that has literally caught more than 100 fish. Some pretty good ones, too. IIRC, I paid $12 for it a few years ago.

Are your grubs and jigs older than me too? Last I looked grubs were about $4-5/pack and ballheads were maybe $3 for five. Lets say you make it through a day losing 2 ball heads, and burn through 1/2 a pack of grubs to catch 6 or seven fish. That's $4 for one day. That's what a fat free shad cost. I guess I'm missing the math point here?

A couple hundred? On one bait. All it takes is half a dozen, and I've already beaten out more value than a bag of senkos.

Lure selection is just problem solving to me. You simply have to get the bait to fish to trick them into eating. There are some exceptions - topwater, big swimbaits. But for the most part, you use a certain bait due to what the situation dictates. For that reason, I don't have just a few baits.

When I was crunching my numbers, I started with hard baits but couldn't make the math work for ME. It all depends on how many fish you think you can get out of a hardbait before you lose it or it becomes unserviceable vs. how many fish you think you can get out of a bag of plastics. If you never lose a hardbait, and get more than a couple of hundred fish on it, then the math works out in favor of the hardbait. For me, I recall I had 1 lipless crank that I got about 70 fish on before I lost it - so - $6.00/70 = 8.6 cents per fish - still more expensive than my grubs. Your spinnerbait example is good though - get one for $4.00 or less, if you never lose it you might catch many hundreds of fish (just keep sharpening the hook) BUT, don't forget to factor in the cost of the periodic skirt replacements... So, when doing the math on hardbaits, give realistic consideration to how long you use a single bait before it is lost or "used up" and also factor in maintenance costs for the bait (hook replacements, new skirts, repainting/touch-up, etc.) EDIT - after posting, I saw the top-water examples...that's true, you might fish one of those a long time without losing it and it might be the winner! Also, my grub math is skewed as I didn't factor in the price of hooks used over and above the one included in the bag... :-? Used up? I've got plugs that were my grandfathers. Some of my Rebels and Warts are from my teenage years Get a plug knocker to fetch hung baits. As far as pike go, in my experience, if you're catching pike, 80% of the time you're fishing in the wrong locations. For at least ten years, I fished cranks almost exclusively. From when I was 15 to about 25. I buy a crank once, and I can catch tons of fish on it. Yes, I fished worms, but they were a luxury. Hooks, weights, and worms. On a bad day, it could cost you $3.99 for a bag of Culprits. on a good day, times four. That crankbait I bought for $6. Its there when I run out of worms.

I use a shorter rod for DS in deep open water so I can se the bait on my graph. Too long, and the bait is outside the cone.

For different baits. Some guys (me) like a slightly faster taper for shallow cranks and vibe baits than the slower tapers normally be used for a deep diver.

Tungsten Carbide is probably what fishing weights are made of, which probably has a lower melting point. But I thought I read it was around 1600°F? [edit]Nevermind, answered above. [/edit]

MS Mini Slammer Black Black Dog Small Shellcracker G2 Ghost Lucky Craft RC Wake Baits Chart Old school Sub Warts two craw patterns not available anymore

Bang for the buck? Not plastics. Not jigs. Any decent hardbait will do. A Terminator spinnerbait would do you well too.

Adults have been griping about kids since the beginning of time.

What? Huh? Why?

Set the hook - someone took the bait!!!!!

LMAO....this is ridiculous. Nice tan, BTW.

Mid April for browns. Its a chuck and duck affair, on the piers. Chromers were a bust this past weekend, and with 12° temps, all but the bigger waters will be frozen. We could also do a little off shore action.....remember this gem:

The brown is do-able. I'm on a mission to nail a swimbait brown, this spring. They come in shallow, near trib mouths to eat gobies, alewife, and I know I've filleted more than one with a 'bow in its gut. I've caught browns on tubes, crankbaits, rattletraps, drop shot worms, and flukes. No reason I can't add swimbait to that list. The bucket brigade is gonna think I'm nuts, though, LOL.

Who knew the extra four bearings in the knobs would make such a difference!

Docks and beds.

I don't care about 50-80" of snow we get every winter, but 12° F? COME ON, MAN!

LMAO....its a farce. Let me get a brown on a 'bow pattern, and its yours.

totally agree.chris i also agree on the supreme xt which has the carbon drag. Flooger spinners impress me. Can't say the same for the BC's. The only things you gotta look at are IPT. Some models are a little slow.

Actually, I do bench test drags. And I offered the solution. :D

Roller....cheese has to be on the outside.