bass wrangler569

Definitely deep crankin', a lot of my local lakes are pretty shallow and aren't prime territory for deep diving cranks. I'm planning on working on it more this summer though. I really want to try to nail down some deep water techniques like deep crankin', dropshotting, etc. this summer. I plan on fishing some bigger tournaments and opens next year and I want to make sure I'm a little more well rounded before I try to hang with stiffer competition.

I'll let the other guys chime in regarding floating jerkbaits because I fish suspending jerkbaits almost exclusively. As far as suspending jerkbaits go (x-raps and pointers are top notch) your retrieve method changes with the season and conditions. In early spring when the waters still cold, you're going to fish with long pauses in between jerks, sometimes as long as 30-60 seconds so be patient. Also, when the waters cold you use more of a sweeping motion to impart action than an actual "jerk". As the water warms up your going to want to start increasing the retrieve speed of your cadence and using more aggressive jerks. Also, standard LC pointers work extremely well in cold water when the fish want a more subtle action, however, when the water begins to warm up, x-raps and slender pointers, both of which have a more aggressive action, begin to excel. As far as jerkbait size, in early spring and fall, bass often want a bigger offering so you are going to want to use bigger jerkbaits (100s and 128s), in the warmer months you can downsize some to match to forage. As a general rule, jerkbaits are clear water lures, but don't be afraid to fish them in stained or even muddy water as well. Also... if you have smallmouth water near by, look out, big smallies are often suckers for jerkbaits.

Sammys and RCs are definitely awesome baits, but you should make sure to pick up a pointer as well, especially since you said you fish clear lakes. If you only get one pointer my suggestion would be size 100 in ghost minnow, you can't beat it in clear water. You can never go wrong with ghost minnow, chartreuse shad, American shad, or baby bass.

Thanks for all of the input guys, as always I really appreciate it. And Sam, your post brought up a few questions that I hadn't even considered. I printed off a copy of your post so that I can use it to make a list of questions that I need to ask when making college visits this summer. Thanks!

I am looking at a lot of other schools too but Johns Hopkins just really stands out. My goal is to go into medicine and Johns Hopkins has awesome opportunities in that field, its also close enough that I can drive home easily on weekends if I want to, but its also far enough away that I'm not too close to home.

Yeah I checked out Princeton Review online a while ago but I'll have to check it out again and see what they have to say

haha yeah I Know LOL. Basically, I know its not going to be great so I'm really just trying to found out how bad it really is. I've heard from some its not that bad and I've also heard that everyone there is a giant stick up there @$$.

Okay guys, I've been doing a lot of research into colleges and I think I really want to go to Johns Hopkins. Its a hard school to get into but I have good SATs and high grades so I think I'll be able to pull of getting in. I'm thinking about applying early decision but before I really decide, I'm trying to get some info from people who actually went there. I know its an awesome school so I'm not worried about it academics wise, but I want to know how social life is and how people who went there liked the city and whatnot. Did any of you guys go to Johns Hopkins by anychance or do you know somebody who did? If so, did you/they like it?

Hey dude, totally unrelated to the topic but that is a wicked mask that you're wearing (I'm assuming its you) in your avatar. Please tell me you wear that when you're making a run in your boat! 8-)

If you fish from a boat, you really won't lose them often at all, at least I don't. I've lost maybe three total, two of which were because I was an idiot and was too lazy to retie when I should have, and the third was heartbreaking. I had a 5.5lb+ smallmouth literally slip out of my hand and break it off... Most depressing thing ever... :'( :'( :'(

X2 You have to decide if she is actually something special to you or not and then decide. Also, are you friends with the quarterback, because that is a big no no if you are. Remember, bros before "insert garden tool rhyming with bro here" If you aren't friends with him, is he bigger than you? If he is bigger than you, is he prone to violence and can you run fast? ;D Oh, and like others said, posting peoples pictures on a forum isn't cool. I know you probably thought nothing of it at the time but looking back you should realize that that wasn't the best move... :-/

Thanks, I'm hoping it goes well, its on the river and I absolutely love fishing the river so we'll see how things work out... And as far as the girl, the kid in the first picture looks pretty feminine lol, I don't know if its the same kid as in the second picture or not. My youth club kind of sucks, all of the kids are really young so are club tournaments aren't exactly very competitive but the state championship will be so I'm really excited about that. Do you fish in the adult club too?

I think a lot of it does have to do with stamina. My familly stayed on a lake in the poconos last summer and I fished between 12-14 hours every day for a week and I made it through the week fine. My dad, on the other hand, was fishing maybe 6 hours a day at the most and after four or five days of this, he was dead tired so I do think age and what kind of shape you're in is a factor. However, I think a bigger factor than age is desire. When you're somebody like Rick Clunn, you've already accomplished so much, and despite the fact that you still love fishing, I don't think the drive to be the very best is there as much as it was when you were younger and had something to prove. Like somebody else said, when you're young and working you're way up you're still hungry, and I think that hunger diminishes when you've accomplished as much as some of the older anglers have. I shoot sporting clays a good bit and one of the guys I shoot with is a recently retired-pro who used to finish very high in national competitions. He spent half of his life shooting 50,000+ rounds every year, and he's beginning to get burnt out. He's still as good as he used to be but the drive to be the best isn't there anymore and I think this is what happens to a lot of older fishermen to.

X2 on the translucent x-rap colors. I would fish them more than I do if they came in some more realistic colors like ghost minnow.

If your talking about the standard $4 xps jerkbaits, the jerkbaits themselves arent terrible but the hooks completely suck. If your talking about their pro series or whatever they call it they're okay but at that same price you could get an x-rap which performs better

Awesome job bro!!! I'm fishing the PA Junior Bassmaster State Championship this summer and if it goes half that well I'll be thrilled! Oh and what gives man, my club doesn't have any chicks like the one in the triton jersey, no fair... ;D ;D

I'll take any bite I can get but my absolute favorite bite is fishing pointer 128s in early spring. Big smallmouth absolutely crush them (ask the 20"er in my avatar). Its awesome when its really cold and you have to pause 30 seconds in between jerks. You're just sitting there and all of the sudden you rod doubles over and about flies out of your hand. Frogs are a blast too but there's nothing like a big smallmouth on a jerkbait IMO.

Hot d@mn those bait look good! Particularly the prowake, the colors look sick, especially chartreuse shad and bluegill. The price seems like a bit much at $10 for a single 5" paddletail swimbait. I usually don't have any problem shelling out cash for high-dollar lures but $10 bucks for a single 5 inch soft plastic swimbait seems excessive, they look good but not that good. Do they seem like they would hold up well? I'd like to try them on some smallies but the ones around here would tear that thing up quick and at $10 a bait that would start adding up quick.

X2....HARD over the head. Specially with a jig. And when you see the bass fly out of the water growing larger and larger, duck...

I'm not sure specifically but definitely over 8. The last time I can remember was in a pond using senkos. I had about a dozen in a row but none of them were over 3lbs

If you don't mind paying $15 to try a lucky craft pointer I promise you won't be disappointed. A good one to try is the pointer 100sp in chartreuse shad. It works well in both clear and stained water. That one lure covers about 75% of my jerkbait fishing.

Has NOTHING to do with fishing ;D A nickname from high school or college maybe! ;D

You're not going to find a better reel at that price.

If you are really interested in selling it, PM me.

They definitely get the stuff to you in a timely fashion but I wasn't overly impressed with their rod building selection. I get all of my rod building stuff from mudhole now, so far they have been much better. I will say that I ordered a bunch of skirt tying material from netcraft last year and they did have an excellent selection as far as jig making and skirt tying goes.