CWB

Looks like you guys had a great day!

The Rage Shad is my # 1 bait. I've never had any issues with it, except missing some fish that hit it. I've switched to a 4/0 superline EWG hook and had better hookups. Make sure you rig it in the center, use a heavy gage 4/0 or 5/0 EWG hook, which will act as a keel, and break the tab where the tail is connected. I even cut the little stub that is left to be sure tail works absolutely free. I have had problems with the toad landing on its back but now use a 1/16 keel weighted hook and it seems to work better. It does right itself if you let it but in slop you don't always have the luxury of waiting for this and need to start your retrieve as soon as the bait hits the water or it will get fouled.

RIGHT?! Everytime I see CWB in the "My fishing Trip" section, I know at least three four things. 1. He went to the cabin 2. He threw some Rage Shads 3. He caught something worth taking a picture of 4. He's gonna wear the hat with the "N" on it. (is it a Nevada hat....?) No, it's the hat form my son's high school (Niles West) that I have had since coaching the feeder baseball program for 5 years. I did get a new one each year but this one seems to be my lucky one.

I heard they reinforcing the chairs when they heard you are coming. Yours will have a spillproof beer holder and extra padding. ;D

It's slop. If it bunches up at the bank and there is some decent depth, frog it!

Read the attached tip. For frogs but probably for all topwaters as well. http://www.snagproof.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=26 Make sure lure disappears. I recently had a couple of explosions like Bobby is talking about and reeled down and felt the fish and right before setting the hook, the line seemed to go limp and I missed him. Maybe he felt me when I felt him and spit the bait. Probably best to wait but next explosion I get, I'm going to hit him right away and see what happens.

Kelly- Great to hear you are feeling better. Big-O- I know the special feeling you must get when you take out vets with you. I just feel bad we didn't have a better day. Just got back from a tournament at Rockford College. My son (17) hit a 360 foot homer with a wood bat in front of several College coaches and scouts. Can't hurt his chances.

I'm with CJ. A guy I work with is from Tennessee and recently came back from vacation visiting relatives. He handed me a jar that looked like an orange juice jar filled with water and told me to take a sip of this. Smmmooottthhh. Packs a wallop too! That homemade "white wine" is good stuff.

And welches on a shirt won on ebay. Think of it like this Mike. You can get two glasses of that exquisite wine you so desire for the price I won the shirt for.

Put it on the hook with the point at the eye and 180 Degrees from the hook point. Use a heat gun or in a pinch a lighter will work. It will shrink the tubing around the hook shank. Try to keep the heat just away from the pointy part so you can adjust its size as needed. Once you shrink it too much, its done. If you want the barb on the other side, rotate 180 degrees before heating.

Great read. Love fishing from a tube. Your rig puts some boats to shame.

X2... mostly a gimmick. Maybe somewhat of a coverup scent. From my fishing and others remarks, there is no proof behind coffee as an attractant. Does smell good though. I think the whole point to it is covering up the scents or odors on a bait that will make a fish drop the bait and cause them to hold on longer, giving you more time to get a better hookset. http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/scents-and-attractants.html If you believe it's marketing, you could be right but I believe it works. I remember a study done by In-Fisherman some years back about human skin PH levels. Roland Martins was very low and Ron Lindners was very high. Their conclusion was that scents can only improve your catch ratio and will never hurt it. I think the term "Attractant" is a misnomer. Although I am pretty sure there are times a fish will sniff out a slow moving bait in cover or dirty water. Only the bass know for sure.

Had the pleasure of fishing with Koopa last Friday. First off, Big salute to him for his 3 tours in Iraq and the injury he incurred. We all owe him a debt of gratitude. Anyway, an unusual day to say the least. I had fished a couple hours the night before and caught about 8-9 fish with one good one. I thought we were going to be in for an awesome day. I started out throwing a Rage Shad (what else) and he was using a horny toad. We started getting hits almost immediately but couldn't seem to connect. Then I hooked and landed this guy. We kept getting hits and misses and were really starting to doubt ourselves. We took a break for lunch and went into town for a while. Came back out in the afternoon and got a couple on senko's then Koopa got a nice one on the toad by letting it sink into a hole. He was smart enough to change baits and put on a keel weighted Space Monkey and started getting bit pretty good. Stubborn as I am I kept on the Rage Shad and finally got the hit I was looking for and connected. Felt like a monster and then it jumped and I saw it was a Pike. Lots of fun buy not what we were after. Koopa got a few more nice ones and I got one more dink. Just as he seemed to have it figured out, he had to leave. In all we must have had 40 hits and misses on the surface baits. Ironically after Koopa left, I respooled my SHE MAN O reel and tied on a Cavitron and went out on the dock to test everything out. 3rd cast I got a 3 pounder. Called Koopa and he wasn't amused. Slept in Sat. as I was frustrated and tired from Fri. My dad came up late morning and we started to close up the cottage. He asked me if I wanted to go fishing for a little bit as I had to get to Wisconsin for my sons Baseball game but I couldn't say no. Boy, what a difference a day makes. I got 6 good hits on the Rage Shad and got all but one in and that was a bite off. My dad got 2 on his 4" Sluggo. Here's the 2 biggest. Good to spend time with my dad. He was just diagnosed with throat cancer. Koopa is camera shy.

Smallest Rosco Duolock snap I can get away with that is tested above line test I'm using. Usually size 51 or 52. Don't like tying to the split ring as the knot always seems to move to the split portion. Oval shaped split rings are better.

Solid advice FFD! I use a BPS Cajun twintail trailer and do pretty good. I've never found a trailer to adversley effect the bait but that can be subjective. I've been using the *** and Strike King skirts like J.F. suggests more that seem to eliminate the need for a plastic trailer. I think one reason for decline in spinnerbait bites might be that it is probably the bait the fish see the most. I'm not talking about tournaments or even experienced weekend warriors. Just about every novice I see is throwing a spinnerbait, probably due to it's ease of use and snaglessness. Just my 2 cents.

Thanks to all of you! There is a tear rolling down my cheek as I write this. The support is phenomenal. The old guy doesn't have a computer but I'll have them over for dinner and show this thread to him. Thanks again to all.

My dad was just diagnosed with cancer in his throat for the second time. He had surgery a few years back and had part of his voice box removed. Now he is going to have the entire voice box removed. He will have to breath and talk through a hole in his neck. A scan showed no cancer anywhere else so surgery should cure it, along with radiation afterwards. I got to fish a bit with him this past Saturday and he seemed in good spirits for what he is about to face. Please keep him in your prayers.

Don't know how to interpret this. Female bass grow bigger. Doesn't do any good if they can't reproduce. Another sign of how we are messing up our planet. I could see this happening in San Francisco but seriously it's scary what's going on with our planet. Probably due to Global Warming Further research is definitely needed. Better pollution control would help also. I noticed the article mentioned the incidence was highest in the Southeast. Possibly higher water temps and pollution due to population are contributors.

Practice, Practice, Practice. Definitely turn your brakes up a notch as J.F said. Also, spinning gear can present it's own problems if you don't pay attention. If you reel in a loop or twist and get one of those deals where you have to carefully pull the line off without causing a knot, you could be in trouble. I always manually flip the bail over, day or night, and pull out line or extend my index finger to be sure there is no loop. Of course with a buzzbait or such, use B.C. gear.

Rage Shad/Buzzbait/Frog. Topwater A good hard crankbait bite is hard to beat too.

I hear ya FOM. That's usually the first thing I do when I get up to my place is pick up the cans, butts, bait containers etc. Then there are the weeds that get chopped up and float onto the beach. That's part of the game though. The worst is pulling line out of either your trolling motor or big motor. I check the big motor after every trip. If there is a bright side, I have found alot of good lures through the years, but the trash bugs me. I saw a guy toss his pop can overboard a little while ago and asked him why he didn't just toss it out when he got back in. He said it would rust away in a couple days. I informed him cans have been made from Aluminum the last 50 years or so and I actually saw him fish it out with his net. Probably threw it back in later but at least I felt good.

Neat trick with the rattle!

Have pretty good luck with the HooDaddy's. Similar Yum Wooly Hawgtail.

Hater!!!! > I only wear my Kentucky Lake shirt to special occasions like dinner at KFC, so it won't get ruined. Show some respect. I guess Muddy will have to hook me up with a MOOK shirt.

Just added to favorite sites. Thanks.