bigbill

First welcome to the forum. Welcome to the world of bass fishing. To me it's one of my best hobbies. I would suggest you read everything here in the articles and watch the videos with our gurus of bass fisherman we have here in our educational videos. To pick a bass rod can be tough without touching it in person. If your looking for a rod and reel setup for one lure and presentation the guys here can help you out. If you want a setup that can handle a few different lures and presentations that's possible too.

I received my panther martin order today. It arrived with there new catalog in the box. They offer all kinds of there products now. I ordered a set of there silver blade yellow / Orange fly and there gold blade yellow/Orange fly. These guys have the red streamer in the center of the flat. These are so successful to use I ordered another bunch of them tonight. In rivers I slow roll them around rocks into the back washes and pools. Most of the time the current spins the blade. In large bodies of water I reel them slow. Do you have any fish stories when using the panther martin spinners?

I have to order these for sure thanks. If we think about split shot worm fishing is pretty much the same way. Cast it out and they hit it as it sinks or on the move. Either way it's all good.

I have those trout magnets in my trout tackle box and never tried them.

Let's see how many ways I broke fishing rods. 1. Rolled up the power window and cut 6" off the tip in the dark. After my first time ever fly fishing for pan fish with my $300 fly rod combo I got for $125 on clearance. 2. Closed the door on the rod tip and trimmed the tip by removing a few inches. 3. Slammed the spare tire on top of it while making room in the trunk. Nice Garcia 5 star rod. 4. Closed the trunk lid on it cutting the tip off again. I had plenty of ice fishing rods at onetime. I was good for a new rod every spring. Then I learned to put them away in there proper place. I hope my curse is broken now with the more expensive rods I have.

There are bird lures for bass too. I been buying the mouse flys for bass fly fishing.

I'm in the rural country and I hear the 9mm's going off at 12am/1am. I figure there coon or varmit hunting.

No more snow, more Sun it's warming up. The wind has died down. Soon the trees will look like Christmas decorated with bobbers and lures before the leaves come out.

Listen to RW, ask Mike the jigman for advise for sizes, colors and types. Mike's a bass fisherman too that helps too. I like your style I do the same thing when I purchase baits I buy an assortment to get most of them first. Then I can add more later but the bigger part of buying them is out of the way. Hint, This forum is free because of the support from our sponcers they have to eat too. It's our way to give back to this awesome bass fishing forum. We're getting plenty of bass fishing knowledge here it's a win/win for everyone. It's ok to spread the wealth too but I try to buy from our sponcers first. If you haven't looked at Siebert Outdoors hand made new products lately Mike's stuff looks really good. If you don't see what you want ask Mike.

First if you need a scoped rifle to hit the "X Ring" then your using the wrong brand of rifle. Try a 100 year old Swedish 6.5mm mauser. It just may surprise you. Ok what's more important the rod or reel. Neither the fishing line is the most important thing. Invest your money into a quality brand of copolymer fishing line. I've fished with outdated 40+ year older new rods with decent Wal-Mart reels. I never had the top shelf quality bass rods. I can fish with any combination of rods and reels but I have to have the best quality copolymer line I can purchase. I started bass fishing with my trout UL setups. I found out it wasn't a good combination for shore fishing. I upgraded to a Wal-Mart quantum spinning reel and a Shakespeare BlackBueaty 6' rod. I did also upgrade to the Excalibur silver thread line. Again very affordable rod and reel but with a more expensive quality fishing line. Think about it the fishing line is the weakest link in the rod and reel setup. Using a decent quality quiet reel along with an affordable rod with a good quality fishing line you can handle catching any bass from dinks on up. Put your hard earned dollars in a good quality fishing line. Remember to learn to tie a good tight knot too. With a $3.00 to $15.00 rod, a $25.00 spinning reel and a spool of $15.00 high quality copolymer fishing line your good to go. The fish have no idea how much your setup costs.

Bomber model A and shallow A crankbaits. Norman thin N and fatboy crankbaits. Mann's baby 1 minus crankbaits. Rapala Orginal Floater Minnow. Rapala Shad Rap. Rapala jointed floating minnow. Rapala countdown jointed minnow. Rapala glass shad rap. There's a reason why the InFisherman Guys use the rapala shad raps in there TV shows. I haven't tried all the other brands of crankbaits yet. I have most of them but never sat there and used them. Don't forget the shad, garlic and craw scent just a little will do.

First, number uno, The 6" plastic split shot rigged worm is probably still the hottest all time bass catcher ever, EVER. It's probably over looked today by many pro bass guys but I still believe it's still used by many of us bass fisherman. The orginal colors of black, purple and natural colored worms still work today. Second, number duo, It's the pre spinner bait the inline spinner. It's still a hot bass catching lure. Again over looked by many younger fisherman. Don't sell this little pre spinner bait lure short. This mepps Anglia, panther Martin, Joe's fly, blue Fox, wordens etc still catch bass today after its been around for 5++ decades. It's never too old to throw out there. It's the vibration and the flash.

First, In fishing the same places every year I notice what was the hot lure last year isn't so productive this year. We're like a baseball pitcher when he throws a change up. When your about to leave when your skunked throw a crankbait in firetiger. The water conditions might not be the same as the water gets deeper. Now with a big change from muddy to clear water conditions it's like being in a dark room and someone turned on the lights. Now there out searching for food in the dark conditions and moving into cover as the night turns to daylight. It's the same game but there normal cycle has been broken. You change from brighter colored, larger sized lures for muddy conditions to smaller sized, more natural colored lures. Now the speed of your presentation should change too. Remember in muddy water conditions the lure speed is the slowest. In stained water conditions it's a slow lure presentation. In clear water conditions the lure speed is the fastest presentation so the bass can't get a good look at your lure. Now mother nature has turned the light on with the clear water conditions. Ok it's natural colored lures fished a little faster. Your shad natural colors(example). But the fish are probably in deeper cover during the day. It's a good time for a bottom bouncing deeper crankbait or a Carolina rig with a wacky rigged senko, a brushog, or a split shot rigged worm. There on a schedule now. There near the shoreline ambushing baitfish in the dark/ low light conditions. Then they start to move deeper as the sky starts to light up. When daylight arrives there in the deeper cover. Now if you have submerged weeds I use crankbaits that float and stop and twitch them over the open weed pockets. I also drop a seedless mister twister/mepps timber doodle in these pockets too. Just let it fall with little twitches. I have out fished my buddy using live minnows while I used the timber doodle size 0 silver with the 4" mister twister split double tail grub trailer. We both were dropping our baits into the weed pockets. My point is there are many needless lures out there so never let the weeds stop us from fishing. It's skill not luck in fishing, luck is at the casino.

Life sometimes is testing our will, our strengths, to see if we can survive. My prostate cancer in 2013 is in remission but the new test is my spinal stenosis. Big word? It's arthritis in the canal in our spine that carries the nerves in it. Yup it's a test of my will and how much pain I can take. I lost my job in '83, again in '84 and again in '85. I worked three months a year during those three years. Yup life tested me back then too. I grabbed my two new husqvarna chainsaws and started cutting firewood to support the family and heat the house. I flat out refused to lose everything I worked very hard to get. I survived it all. It taught my kids if dad could survive that situation than we could survive anything. It made them stronger seeing me being strong willed. I did firewood till the early 90's. It was a great full and part-time job between jobs. These recessions really took its toll on the American tradesmen. What was our industrial manufacturing might is long gone now. My relaxation was taking the kids fishing too.

I have a one AA battery mini flashlite that clips on my hat brim. I keep one in every tackle box as backup.

Bluebasser 86. Hush puppies???

Chicken livers left in the sun to ripen for a day. Then fish with them.

Look at Joe's fly in the 1/4oz bass size in firetiger apache and glo tiger. He offers a few different colors in glow blades. My point is I use a hot chartreuse spinner bait shirt too. There is a cloudy dark day or early evening at before twilite and dark stained to muddy water conditions use, try a brighter color amongst your darker color baits. Prey upon all the basses sences. Use a rattle, a good vibrating blade like a Colorado or a Indiana Colorado mix blades. Don't forget a scent. Prey on all the basses sences in the darker waters conditions. On a very slow day when I have exhausted my ritual of baits I put on a firetiger crank and caught a bass. I'm a decent bass fisherman that doesn't believe in using live bait. It's still a learning and ongoing process. Remember I can't read the water conditions fully from shore. My quote is when in doubt throw firetiger. I stay upbeat, I still see it as a challenge to figure out which color will produce the most success. Don't be afraid to break the norm if nothing is working. Why do we have all these colors. I never give up. I focus and stay motivated its fun to figure it out.

Where gooses info on bending the blades?

These little lures can be killers.

I let my 4yo grandson talk to the people who try to sell me stuff it's great to see how fast they hang up.

I was logging near a popular lake here on a hill above it. It's off the main body of water were two dog leg shaped inlets are. I watched for days two big pike working both dog legs together. They both had the baitfish boxed in. You never know for sure till you see it

I need to scale down from the 9606 split barn roof tackle boxes. I carry two plus three more different ones for shore fishing. Next I'm going to make a box that has a rod holder storage, tackle storage a seat on wheels that folds up to fit in the car when empty.

She couldn't cross reference the parts from a newer reel by matching up the part numbers. Quantum did that for me. I found two awesome service ladies who know there products that won me over. It's quantum reels and Bushnell scopes. Bushnell saved me lots of money by cross referencing the special screws I lost. There's a gal in Maine at Wal-Mart that talked about guns with me too. I love talking with knowledgeable people who are educated on there product line. These longtime employees know what there talking about while others just want us to go away.

For pike lures I go to overstockedbait bait and tackle. For a rod setup I use "fish and save". I prefer inland saltwater tackle for spinning. I have the heavier bait casting setups too. I run into 28" to 23" pickerel while bass fishing too. I also enjoy the fight. Watch your fingers they will snap and bite you. I have a state park with a lake that they stock with trout. I don't see many trout taken from it. I did witness a big pike feeding in the shallows probably eating the hatchery dumb trout.