earthworm77

However, in the real world he is still a Doctor, Lawyer, Welder or whatever. I think that sums it up, he still has to go in every Monday morning and put his coat on the coat rack next to the desk and do his real job.

Isn't it crazy? 85.00 for a spare spool. You could get a whole new reel for that...of lesser qualiy of course.

It is kind of an interesting story how I got invloved with light tackle. Back in the late 1980's or so as soon as I was old enough to drive, I got a boat and spent like 250+ days a year on the water for several consecutive years. There came a point where I had felt my fishing was mundane and I had peaked as an angler. A trip to Florida and the advice of a guide to downsize changed my whole out look on bass fishing. Oh yea, I also caught a 13.9 on 6lb line while I was down there. Anyway I took this back to NY with me and dedicated a season to learning light line methods. By the next year I had become formidable with it and I was fishing tournaments with no experience against guys who we good anglers. The light tackle approach was wrecking them despite their experience and I gained a reputation as a good competitor as well as big fish guy. It was kind of the building block for my approach and I certainly gained part of my reputation based on light gear know how. I had gone on to take a really large number of bass over 5lbs despite using light gear. It worked out really well even though many people could understand that you could be successful fishing this way. The bottom line is that it is simply a fun way to fish.

If anyone is interested in the book, you can either PM me or go directly to my site where it is available. I'm not sure if I can post the website address but since it was asked about I will, if it is in any violation, I'm sure it will tactfully be editted. www.micromunchtackle.com

I'll stick by the W-2 thing. Jt, do you mean that a guy earns enough money from his job at say Ford to fish competitively and that he wins 80,000. or are we talking this guy works in the fishing industry for a major tackle company and they pay his way? The first example indicates this guy is not a pro, the second indicates he may be a pro but again, I think it comes down to what he says he does for a living come tax time. I make a good living off of the fishing industry through my company, journalism and competitive fishing I also do not consider myself a Pro.

Ouch, however, good flogging though Hale. Does anyone know why Parker got out of competitive fishing? I mean, he's been gone alomost 10 years or so and he won a few classic's, he is relatively young.

Disagreed, you are a Pro when your W-2 says Professional Angler or guide as your occupation. Everyone else just thinks they are. Pro Staff means promotional staff not professional staff. You could hold a dozen staff memberships but if your W-2 says you are a contractor, you are a contractor.

My thoughts on this, save another $19.00 and get a BPS Extreme/Shimano Stradic combo. It is ok to be cheap buyt you should skimp om quality equipment. This gear won't fail you when you need it most.

Avid, STEEZ2508 ML/L 11CRBB, 1RB 4.8 : 1 28.0 6.90 6/135, 8/110, 10/90 NEW ITEM is a shallow spool model. I know a lot of the Shimano Japan versions have both types of spools as well. In my opinion, they should just include a spare shallow spool, not market a totally different reel model that is the same except for the spool.

How about this Gman, take your 2pc mold and open it. Lay both sides head to head. Take your plastic mixture and divide it in half. Half of it sohluld remain without tingsten powder, mix the powder in the other half. Pour the regular plastic into the side that does not have the screw and fill the mold up as full as possible. Let it sit and cool so it will not run when you pick it up. Screw the mold together and then pour in the plastic with the tungsten powder. As long as the plastic is not piping hot, the powder should suspend and be fairly even throughto the half of the bait that you poured.This will give the bait its horizontal fall.

reel in all slack like these guys said and then it's a snap of the wrists. Agreed. It doesn't hurt to blast them with power and speed either. Set the hook like you mean it.

Many companies have regional Pro Staff directors that handle them.

I'm not sure if sticking your neck out is a good term here. The Kistlers Founded All Star Rods, and Castaway rods both very respected in the industry in fact All Star rods was one of the most popular rod companies for a while when they were running it. I believe Kistler rod company has been around for about 5 yrs. A little voice in my head is telling me 7 but I can't verify that. They are not a company that simply just popped up out of nowhere.

Avid, I've been using the "Soft" down here and I have found it essential especially in clear water. It is not as strong as standard Hybrid but break offs are few and far between.

The speculation that the early Helium's were built on Rogue blanks is merely just that....speculation. I can't confirm or deny it although many people make that claim. Until Trey or Cliff tells me that, it will remain unconfirmed. Correct about the early guides but I'm not so sure that Batson was in the picture then. I think they were original AMTak tips. If you have the ability to put your own guides on these rods, there are other higher priced guides that would make the rods even lighter. Is it necessary for better performance? No, but you could do that on any rod if you needed to.

The Shimano Stella is the finest reel anyone could ever hope to own....period!

At one time I owned 22 Helium LTA's. I've culled the herd to about 14. Simply put, I won't use any other rod. I don't understand why anyone has anything negative to say about Kistler. They make a great product. I've never had any issues with the reel seats, Batson products are very good quality. If you want to compare apples to apples, they are on par with Fuji. Kistler was one of the first manufacturers to incorporate many of the more preferred design characterists for custom rods in their off the shelf models. Other companies have followed their lead. My LTA's are the 2004 models which I prefer. This is due to the fact that they have switched blanks a couple of times. I haven't had any need to get the LTX II's. I'm not a fan of St. Croix at all. The three that support my summer crop of tomatoes make excellent stakes though. :

Those loud colors can trigger strikes at times, no doubt. On a regular basis, natural colors will be far more productive. I guess my answer to your inquiry is that despite the fact that we think we know a ton about bass, we do not know everything but the percentages heavily favor throwing more natural or less agressive colors. There are times however, ie: the fall where bass especially smallmouth wil anhilate chart or orange. I had a day where pink sherbert was the only thing they wanted. Perhaps these colors do well when the area is saturated with anglers using the old standby's.

color is not the most important factor unless it is exactly, it only matters when it matters

Anyone up for discussion?

I don't think this has anything to do with lack of knowledge as someone alluded to. It has everything to do with patience. Nothing wrong with moving around until you find them however given the circumstances and weather, this time of year, perhaps he really should slow down. I'm all for moiving around until you actually find fish.

Black Grape-This dark, deep grape has been my number two favorite. It is so versatile and effective. Add some green flake and you have Junebug. Green Pumpkin-This dark watermelon green with black flake has become a standard among bass anglers everywhere. Watermelon-This clear wine bottle green color is a great natural hue. Pumpkinseed-Perhaps few other colors have received so much attention. This cloudy brown with black flake is another must have. Red Shad Laminating black and cloudy red into one package produced one of the most popular soft plastic bait colors of all time. This on is a killer. Roadkill Camo-This color is a hybrid changeable color that appears green in the light but brown to the eye. It features a copper highlight that makes it deadly. Of course there are tons of other effective colors but you would be hard pressed to start with any colors but these. I'm a firm believer of throwing colors that other guys do not have or can't get access to. This is one of the reasons I started hand pouring my own baits. I've developed a strong arsenal of custom colors that really have paid off for me. It is amazing to check out a color palette from a hand pour company to see just how many unique colors there are. The amount of combinations is endless. You can add bloodlines and glitter to several simple colors to form an entirely different color that fish may have never seen. If the fish are not biting, you may be in the right spot, you just may be throwing the wrong color. The effectiveness of some colors can vary by region. In the North East where I grew up, there are some old stand bys that guys down South or out West may not ever fish, let alone know exist. Colors like Erie Green, New England Craw, Road Kill Camo and Pond Scum are a few of the more well known colors that are deadly in my part of the country. Erie Green is a mustard color that features chartreuse or pale green or gold micro flake, as you can guess, it is deadly on Lake Erie. New England craw or blue craw as the locals call it is a brown green pumpkin with a solid blue tail. This color is popular for tubes and jig n pigs. Road kill has been tremendously popular among tube fishing smallmouth fanatics. This color is a copper brown and green pumpkin mix that features a pearl copper/gold finish. I've been making this color in a soft stick bait and it is super deadly. Pond Scum is a subdued watermelon that features multiple flake colors and is deadly as a jig or chunk. Other colors I've seen in different regions of the country are Florida June Bug, Florida Red shad, San Juan River Craw and Table Rock Shad. There are likely countless others and they don't just work on those specific areas from which they are named. Roadkill Camo What do you look for when you page through the endless supply of plastics from the major catalog houses? Do you flock towards the wacky colored soft plastics like a moth to a porch light? Colors are available in almost endless combinations. There are combinations of colors with solids, translucent hues, laminates, and of course all of these colors with an endless amount of glitter flecks. But, does color catch the eye of the fish or is color only for anglers' satisfaction? Why do manufacturers bank concentrate on producing colors rather than revolutionary baits. Shouldn't their baits have other features that make them attractive to fish and anglers alike? Think back about any really successful day you ever had on the water. Likely you can remember much about the specific day and likely you know the exact color you were throwing. I would guess that more anglers forget the bait they used but remember the color. I got em on a red shad worm that day. Scuppernong was the color that nailed all of those bass. I'm not sure if color is as important to bass as we think. I feel it grabs the anglers' attention first. Of course there are some colors that work better than others in certain situations but there are outside factors that determine that. Does a bass smack a bait because it is black or because the angler dropped the bait right on top of the fish? I can't answer that either with a definitive answer but it may be the combination of both. I'll go on record as stating I prefer natural colors to abrasive bright ones. Subdued baitfish and crawfish colors seem to work most of the time and you can generally find a hue to match any water condition. If you think about it, it doesn't matter what the water clarity is, there is always some type of forage present and they are not pink! I stick with the match the prevalent forage theory There are your ordinary colors that match the bottom of the lakes or streams such as rock bottoms and forage, where blacks, browns, greens dominate. There are colors that match baits such as, clear colors like shad. There are colors that match sunfish, bluegill. What about un natural colors? Do they have their place in nature too? Red could mean blood, injured and dying prey or gills. There are also gaudy colors like yellow, pink, orange and chartreuse. These really duplicate nothing in nature yet at times they are extremely successful. There is no doubt in my mind that color can absolutely influence the bite. I try to keep my choices and selection in check and manageable. You really can get caught up the vast amount of options.

A Question of Color Historically, bass anglers have gravitated to either of the two ends of the spectrum of beliefs towards fishing soft plastics: those who feel that brown, black and purple are the only ones necessary, and those who spend more time searching through boxes of different colors than they do fishing. Today the majority of us will fall some place between the extremes, often wondering whether we carry too few or too many choices. Does color really matter? You can look to the waters you fish for the answer. Let's consider that each species of fish, or at least various parts of their bodies, come in a rainbow of colors. Bass are shades of green, with some species having fins approaching red. Sunfish run the gamut of greens, reds, blues, yellows, purples and oranges. Most catfish are gray, brown or black. Salmon range from silver to bright red. If color hadn't been important to their survival, countless years of evolution would have resulted in all species looking roughly the same and certainly they would be all colored the similarly. In addition, scientists have found, the eyes of fishes have rods, cones and a pigment called melanin, which means that fish can see color. Bass even have a mechanism built into their eyes giving them the ability to detect differences in contrast (dark versus light) - an asset when water clarity is poor. I believe the bass can differentiate between colors and at times can be locked into specific colors. When this occurs, you might experience good action on a particular hue while a different color gets ignored. Generally I try to imitate natural forage when I'm selecting a color. I have found that this is often the most efficient way to go. I've seen first hand how fickle bass can be if you are not throwing the right color so I truly feel that it does matter. Call me a purist but those trout anglers who match the hatch streamside are dead on. It can't hurt to try to mimic nature as best as you can. The alternative is to plug away with reckless abandon. I just feel that you should make an educated decision when it comes to picking the color of the bait on the end of your line. As I stated, bass can absolutely lock onto one color. Science has proven that bass can see color better than humans. Consider a trip I took about 5 years ago to the deep woods. I had just been introduced to the Senko and was given a sleeve of 200 pearl blue shad baits in 4 inch size. My partner and I managed to use the whole sleeve up in an afternoon of fishing. To say that these fish were keying in on this particular color is an understatement. We switched colors several times but the action slowed until we put that pearl color back on. In this instance, the bass were locked on to the natural shad color we were throwing. Switching up provided us with little activity. I've noticed within the last few years that a few colors in particular have been the most consistent producers for me. Green Pumpkin, Black Red Flake, Road Kill and Watermelon have all been deadly for me. While none of these is a dead ringer for an exact replica in nature, they are subtle hues that produce just about anywhere I've thrown them. I certainly will not argue about what colors bass see best. I've heard so many ideas about which color disappears as depth increases. Consider that a bass has very good vision and perhaps just because a human can't see red in the depths, maybe a bass can. That might explain why baits with red gills that imitate blood trails work so well. The amount of colors one can fill his tackle box with is staggering. When I started fishing in the 70's, there were only a handful of selections and they still catch fish today. If I was asked what my favorite colors are, I would likely list a half dozen or so that would likely take fish anywhere in the country. Color changes in water So, as far as I have stated, color is important, but which specific color or colors will matter most? When selecting soft plastics to throw, it's important to know which colors are actually visible to bass in their underwater world. Sunlight is composed of different wavelengths of light, each corresponding to a specific color. If you want bass to see your bait, the wavelengths of the colors in it must be present in the light. This isn't a problem when looking at your baits out of the water; there, unfiltered sunlight makes your soft plastics look vibrant. Unfortunately, that's usually not the case below the surface, where light gets filtered. This interesting color is called copper melon. Essentially watermelon but when the light hits it, the color reveals its copper accents Water is transparent, but it's never pure or absolutely clear; it always contains suspended and dissolved particles that filter and absorb light passing through it. In most bodies of water, this effect blocks the majority of the light, and thus color, in the first 5 feet. So the deeper your bait penetrates, the less color it will reflect or hold. To complicate things, water itself absorbs different wavelengths of light at different rates, so some parts of the spectrum penetrate deeper than do others - a critical factor to consider when choosing a bait color. The depth and order in which colors disappear will depend on the amount and type of suspended and dissolved materials, and no two bodies of water are alike. That's why different lakes, even those in the same region, can have entirely different colors producing fish at the same time. There has to be some degree of truth to this. While some anglers may disagree that color is not important, I've seen the Color-C-Lector, which is a device that measures light penetration and can pinpoint what color is most visible at a certain depth. Coincidentally, it has been demonstrated to me that the colors this device chooses are usually the ones that work best in that depth. Early on I realized that bass fishing is a game of variables. It all depends how you approach it and from what angle you start at. There may be no wrong way to go about it but there definitely are more consistent ways. Regarding color, I've long heard that dirty water baits should be bright and clear water baits should be subtle and natural. This is a mere generality; it certainly is not a golden rule. I've caught bass on clear worms in a mud flow and taken fish on gaudy colored baits in gin clear water. I really don't think that many of the old fishing adages are really consistent enough to be considered fact. I think that as these rules of lore were passed on through generations they gained momentum and formed a grasp on what we as anglers look back and associate the good old days of early angling to be like. It takes time on the water to learn what baits are most visible in every situation, but there are general guidelines that will help you pick colors. Match the hatch? Maybe not. So now you understand that color matters, and you have a selection of hues to meet every situation. How do you pick a color to use in a particular situation or even for the first cast of the day? I feel that matching the hatch is the way to go. Ultimately, we're trying to trick bass into eating something they think is real and the main thing I take into consideration is the forage bass are eating. Casting shrimp patterns when bass are chasing schools of shad will only reduce your odds of success. After you figure out what the bass are feeding on, choose a soft-plastic bait that approximates the size and color of the forage. Try light-colored plastics when bass are eating baitfish and darker colors when crawdads are their fare. Unnatural-looking soft plastics will in certain situations out produce baits that look realistic. Sometimes that's due to conditions that are obvious, while at other times there seems to be no logical reason for the behavior of your quarry. If water clarity prohibits you from using a natural shad pattern, even when you know the bass primarily feeding on shad you need to use common sense and adjust There are no sure things in bass fishing, but having confidence in your baits is a big step toward success. You're more likely to catch fish by giving your confidence color choice a chance. Even when fishing unfamiliar waters, the basic colors are likely the ones that will point you in the right direction. There are several schools of thought regarding bass and bait color. Some anglers will argue that a bass isn't at all interested in the color of a bait and is instead focused on the action or vibration of the bait. Others will argue that bass definitely tune in on color and will strike a bait based on its accuracy. Still others will say that you must match the hatch to consistently draw strikes. Effective Colors For Bass Fishing-my top 7 Black, Black or any variation of black is likely my favorite color. Black Red Flake, Black Blue Flake, Black Blue Purple Flake

I missed the comment about smaller fish. In truth, the great thing about Lunkerville is the fact that nothing is staged, you catch a fish, the fish is on tape, whether it is large or not. I would guess the large magority of bass anglers do not catch large fish on a regular basis, that is likely why we tune in to websites and fishing shows to see how it is done. These shows are not done from private stocked lakes by professional anglers. It is real life fishing done by guys who do it for free. Essentially it is reality show fishing. If you have a bad day, there is no set up fishing with pre caught bass. Thank again to Mike for having me on the show and for producing a show that has a unique angle on bass fishing. Hope all is well for the holdays Mike!

I think there is a difference between simply just randomly tying on baits until one works and the versatility to tie on the right bait.