NOVA Angler

Make sure you have long cut Cope. The fine cut is a mess. I gave it up, but I did enjoy it out on the water. The problem is it started every spring with a fishing trip and then next thing you know I'm going through a can every couple days. I could normally get myself to quit by September/October. Having a baby put things in perspective for me so I decided no mas.

I am.

proreelservice.com has the pliers you are looking for. Thanks...I just ordered them as well as some Yellow Rocket Fuel.

Great bait IMO. I caught many many fish last spring with Rayburn Red.

What kind of swim bait do you like as a trailer? I'm expermenting with Skinny Dippers but was looking at the basstrix spintrix trailers....they're expensive at $2 a pop though.

Are special pliers needed to remove the spool pin? I've seen the tool that some people make at home, but I don't have have access to a drill press to make one. Any other suggestions?

Bomber Flat A

I use Yank'em Swimg Jigs as well. They are a great jig and Brad is a great guy. Give them a try! http://www.yankemjigs.com/index.html

Rockville, I'd be very interested to hear how you do on Sunday. My fishing partner will also be out on the river Sunday in some of the same places. Unfortunately I'll be out of town so I won't get to fish until the following weekend. I would love to hear an encouraging report. -Rob

To be honest, I don't think that fish is over 7lbs. Like you said, you can't tell from pics. Great fish either way. Congrats!

Try any topwaters? My club had a tournament there last year about this time and several people did well on Ricos. The other bait that produced well was a Megastrike shakey head jig with a green pumpkin power bait finese worm. My partner caught a 4+ on a deep diving crankbait along a roadbed. I caught a few fish on a Carolina rigged lizard. Too bad you didn't run in to one of these.... http://mccotterslakeanna.blogspot.com/

Hammer, How are your hookups with the weedless Hudd?

I guess that's putting it bluntly. Sheesh.

Adam that's a toad!

I have the older model of this BPS Stalker bag and I like it a lot. It looks like they changed the color and added a water bottle holder. They may have made some other upgrades, but I'm very happy with mine. http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_10200527_999043012_100000000_999043012_100-22-0

Steve, Congrats on the boat. I've bet you learned a lot and have saved yourself a lot of money in the process. Let us know when you take her out for the maiden voyage! -Rob

Probably Zima.

Haha...you even posted the location and time! It's all good. I have my moments as well.

In the words of Alton Jones on a recent episode of Classic Patterns, Rayburn Red is more of a burnt orange than a red.

I vary my retrieve speeds until I figure out what the fish want. Last summer I had a lot of success twitching it as fast as I could. I love the Spro Jr. Let us know how you do.

Post some pics.

I stand corrected. That looks like it to me.

It's no secret that spring (pre-spawn) is a great time for lipless cranks. We expect and accept questions about frogs in the summer, so why not lipless cranks in the spring? Folks are making too much of the influence of the Classic IMO. I just find that SK crank and lipless run great or they have issues and need tinkering. And I think a lot people buy baits, use them for an hour or so with little or no success, then say they suck, and sell them. It has happened on here and other boards I belong to. My personal favorites were the Rogue's after the 2005 Classic, chatterbaits after Rick Morris in 2006, and the original Sexy Shad craze in 07 I believe. I agree. I have several red eyes that need tuning b/c they don't run straight. That's why i switched to Xcalibur. Sure do miss that shimmy on the fall though.

I'm pretty sure that's a custom painted bait and the white you see is the paint flaking off.

Congrats!