bigbill

Lure Colors? Topwater? I been throwing the same BPS Topnocker in color #25 chartreuse for many years in and weather conditions, blue bird days, cloudy days, rainy days etc. I tend to stay with a proven lure that works rather than trying other colors and types. One day my mom & pop local bait shop had two of those cheap "producers" topwater spooks in Orange and one in green/yellow. I put on the Orange one early in the morning and caught four bass back to back. These lures were $0.99 each. I was purchasing the larger spooks from a bait shop in Florida but he went out of business. I don't see the larger saltwater spooks anywhere like the ones he sold me. I did get another orange one from him too. But I did find some on clearance again.

Does anyone still use the Culprit worms in 7 1/2", 10", & 12" lengths?

I get 18 pcs. 7 1/2" worms from culprit. Some come in 10" & 12" long too.

I'm going to be honest here. I started out using live bait for bass fishing at the cost of $50+ a week. I started purchasing lures a few at a time. Once I figured out how to use lures I fished with both live bait and lures at the sametime. It was live bait vs lures soon after. Then the lures started catching more fish using scents. I only use lures now. I was maxed out using scents but seeing how many bass it will attract I use less scent now. Using scents doesn't mean you will catch fish. We still have the lure and color selection plus matching the presentation to the situation as to what mood the fish are in. There are a lot of variables to contend with. If fishing was easy it wouldn't be called fishing. Bill

I have some older Shakespeare and a Mitchell baitcasters that all have flip up hoods like that but I can't find the dip stick to check the oil. Just kidding but they are neat. I would clean it, oil it and give it a wax job. I do that to all my older reels. Do you plan on using it? I would if I were you. I enjoy taking them out for some fresh air. And maybe landing some fish too.

Early in the AM in the dark I'm from shore off my low bridge or my other spot fishing it from the road side. From the roadside spot we do have big water snakes that I look out for. They usually scoot as they see me. In the dark I use the mister twister top prop or my BPS topnocker at both places. Off the low bridge I cast straight out into the channel along side the weedline the same way I do when it's light. I been fishing these places for well over a decade now. I know them really well in the light or darkness. I know where the weeds are weTher there submerged or on the surface. My snake stories; Water snakes can be very aggressive too. I was fishing at the other end away from the low bridge from the shoreline sitting on a large rock casting away. I was using live bait so this was many years ago. I painted turtle bit my bait so as I reeled it in a snake came out from under the rock I was sitting on. I walked it with my rod tip then picked it up with a stick and threw it in the water figuring it was dead. As I uncooked the turtle and let it go the snake was back. When it reared up at me with its mouth open ready to strike me I lost it in front of my oldest son who's in his 20's. I grabbed the snake with the stick and threw it up on the shore and smashed it with a rock over and over till it was dead then I threw it in the water for the last time. My son was in shock because he never seen me lose it so bad. I told him I see little kids fishing this spot all the time. What if was one of them. I hate snakes. I don't mind anything else not beavers, bobcat or bears. The mountainlions do worry me but it won't stop me from fishing. I'm sorry but the caveman just came out of me with that snake. I was sitting on a cement wall fishing in the water below. When I seen something in the corner of my eye move. As I looked a big 6' water snake coiled up and jumped off the wall into the water. At this same spot when my youngest son broke his leg doing motocross he was bored so we went fishing. He was on crutches. As we were leaving the same big snake was coming down the hill towards him. The kid balanced in the air on one crutch as the snake slithered by him. Again it jumped off the wall. I hate snakes. My buddy who has a boat told me that snakes come in the boat at night from the motor well. Is that true?

I guess I'm a collector.

I been collecting old bait casting reels. I been wondering how they casted them out? Did they take line off the reel and like flip it? I just find the old fishing stuff part of the history of fishing. I have the steel telescopic fly rods and the steel bait casting rods too. Then came the plastic rods I guess I have them too. It's funny I find the early plastic lures interesting too. All the old fishing stuff needs a good home too. Does this make me a fishing equipment hoarder?

I just removed two one piece pistol grip rods from my setups. These are new older med no name rods that my local mom / pop bait shop had on clearance. I'm using the longer handles now with the gap. I never did care for the shorter pistol grip.

I just picked up one of these razor tip light 5'6" rods. The last 12" or so of the rod at the tip is really a thin diameter. I'm not sure what to use this rod for? I read it was a light rod but it's more of a ultra-lite at the tip. I wonder if a 3lb bass could break it? The workmanship on this rod is awesome it's a $49 rod and I got it for $19. Does anyone use one? Last week I caught a decent bass on my ultra lite trout setup it was fun playing the fish more slowly taking my time.

I use the cheaper Wal-Mart locking standard snap swivels on my what I call dead lures they don't do any side to side movement. Like jigs, worms, carolina rigs, brushogs etc. get the standard locking snap swivel. With my spinnerbaits, inline spinners, crankbaits, topwater spooks, etc. I use the ball bearing snap swivels. So they will hinge faster movement wise. I figure I get a little more free side to side wiggle with my crankbaits. Plus I can change out my baits much faster than trying to tie when I can just about see the line with out my eye glasses on in the daylight. Forget about tying knots at night in the dark. Before I fish in the dark I retie all my rod setups snap swivel wise. TIP; When using the locking snap swivels or just knots RETIE OFTEN. After every decent size bass is caught please retie. Knot failure isn't an option. Don't lose a new PB or that fish of a lifetime.

On overcast cloudy days I pump up the chartreuse colors. I try the smaller sized inline spinners like the Joe's Fly 1/4oz bass size in fire tiger apache and help tiger. These also have a Colorado blade for more thump. Now if it's in the middle of being overcast to cloudy days I would throw the mepps #3 Anglia in silver or gold blade with a brown or gray bucktail. Next I would try the spinnerbaits. Don't forget the YUM Shad scent. I've had a lot if success with these lures on overcast cloudy days and rainy days its all about the thump.

I think if you add weighted hooks you need to add up the weight and add that to the front of the rig so it runs level. It has to be balanced to run correctly. Then I would troll with it shallow were you can see it if the weight needs to be adjusted so it runs horizontally correct.

I did purchase all the brands of scents I could find. I started using the baitmate brand and found out that scents do work. The yum, riverside, BANG, snake oil, all worked for me. The megastrike down didnt but maybe it was old? But I get up, get dressed the exact same way, put my shoes on the same way, wash my hands with big orange then go fishing. I do not get gas I don't want oil on my hands.

I put away my auto pistol and picked up a new S&W model 58 in 41mag with a 4" barrel in nickel finish. It's my new CCW piece. I love the larger S&W N Frame revolvers. My LGS had a sale on the S&W N Frame revolvers they were priced between $599-$699. The list around $1,100. Plus I love the nickel finish too. I don't mind it having the key loc too if it saves one child's life it's worth having. But any guns should be locked up if you have children in the house.

The number one home protection is get a big dog the shelters are full of awesome dogs it's your first alarm that something is wrong. Then the backup is the "00" buck, there is nothing the "00" buck won't solve for up close and personal defense. The next choice would be to look for an older S&W K38 Combat Masterpiece in 38 Special with a 4" barrel. These are awesome revolvers built by the older S&W craftsman. It's quality is still unmatched today. It's still light for any woman to handle it. The 357magnum tend to be on the heavier side unless it's an older ruger police service six with a 2 3/4" barrel.

First I'm no pro nor do I claim to be. But I take my time to try different things and realize that little changes using the same lure can scream success. I know you experienced guys will know how to do this. I setup my Mann's classic white spinner bait 1/4oz using a mister twister 4" split double tail grub as a trailer and a strike king trailer hook. This Mann's classic spinner bait has two blades one Indiana and one Colorado blade. I also prefer the blue glimmer skirt over any white skirt too. I just focus on installing the MY Grub trailer on as straight as possible to match the centerline of the lure so together it will run vertical. The mister twister 4" split double tail grub looks like it's alive and swimming when it moves threw the water. One shot of yum shad scent and your good to go. The setup is very important but the presentation is the key to success too. The speed when it's adjusted will run above the sight line were we can see it but the bass can see us too or below the sight line were we can't see it. If we hold our rod tip up at 12 o'clock when the speed is adjusted fast enough the spinner bait will run on top with the blades moving right and left slapping and popping the water. So we can adjust the position of the rod and the speed to make the spinner bait run at any depth even used as a topwater lure too. My first few casts are above the sight line. If I get no action. My next cast will be slower so it runs below the sight line. Most of the time when using it below the sight line the action will pick up. If your new to spinnerbaits start out small using the strike king mini spinnerbaits setup like I explained above here. Remember the speed is the key when it comes to the depth you want it to run at. The 12o'clock rod position will make it run topwater using the correct speed. It's not luck in fishing it's skill. What brand of spinnerbaits do you use? Now how do you setup your spinnerbaits?

Using scents on my second cast with senko type worms does give me a longer time to set the hook. I usually let the senko do its thing first with no scent just the salt if it has it. But it's on my Carolina rig with the ticker. Using scents, with a rattle/ticker the only thing left is the lure action, our presentation and lure color.

I purchased my frog scent from bogbait they offer frogs too in real life sizes. Baitmate did offer a worm/crawler scent but I don't see it anymore. If your misses uses that chopped garlic that comes in a jar don't throw that garlic juice away when the chopped garlic is gone. It's free scent use it or send it to me....

I been talking about using scents for eons ever since this site first opened. But I'm just a shore fisherman what do I know....just kidding but something's we just have to learn on our own. With some fishermen it's an ego thing. I run into these thick heads all the time. I was catching 2 1/2 to 3lb bass constantly one night at my favorite hot spot. There were crowds of fisherman all over the place But no one really knows how to bass fish. I was throwing a bomber crank with baitmate bass scent on it. A local barber who was fishing walks up to me and asks do those lures work? Before I could answer him I landed a bass. Without me saying a word he says I guess that answers that. Then he asks me if that scent really works? Again before I could answer him I landed another bass the same size. Again he says that answers that. Then I hear hey buddy give me a shot of that scent on my spinner bait will ya? The first baitmate bottles would squirt a long stream of scent. Fishing off a low bridge before the evening hit I would squirt scent in the channel one good shot. The water current was going away from me so I'm attracting every bass from down stream. Trust me it worked. Plus on my very first cast I would sent out a spook soaked with scent. Then it's come to pa pa after that. I caught bass in numbers "but" I couldn't break the PB of 6lbs. I was fishing from 5pm till 9pm till darkness. When I switched to fishing in the darkness 4:00am till first light this is when the bass got bigger. I'm thinking the crowds in the evenings all casting up to 1oz sinkers God only knows why we're driving the bigger smarter fish away. After it quieted down the bigger shy gals would move into the shallows to feed till first light. This tells me that scents can be used as a long distance attractant in a "current" situation too. I have heard of some guys with boats dropping a scent bottle hanging on a rope with small holes in it to attract bass. But in fishing from shore in the same spot everyday eventing the water with one shot of scent does work is you have the current in front or under you. But like I said before once I attracted the bass everyone caught bass if they tossed the right lure. Now the guys who witnessed me catching bass one night would show up the very next night with new lures, new rods/reels and new tackle boxes too, plus a bottle of scent. They would catch bass like I did. It's funny how I influenced fishing tackle sales in my area. I was a field salesman for fishing equipment. I was a mentor to some of these people who wanted to catch fish too and that's awesome because I'd like to see everyone catch fish too. I happy to see them catch fish because I was just like them before I learned how to catch bass. I do stop fishing to help out kids to teach them how to catch fish too. I think we need to invest our time for the younger boys and girls because there the future fishermen.It's like buying stock in America. Where all different but when we talk fishing were really the same people think about it. Fishing helps us bond together and interreact with each other. It gets us talking to each other on common ground. Take a kid fishing and mentor a kid today they do need our help. God bless, bigbill Btw, Using scents from shore location does matter. You need to know where the points, dropoffs, flats and deep holes are so you know how to fish it. Using a portable hummingbird fish finder the one we cast out can tell us this. Now on your first cast soak up a spook and cast it as far as you can cast to get the scent out there. Then put very little scent on each lure after that. Now if your not getting any action with your lure change colors, change lures till the action starts. The bass will tell you when your on the correct pattern. To me the colors of our lures matter as much as using scents.

Sorry it's a lite bait caster rod. I have a nice pleuger lite bait casting rod. Does anyone offer a lite baitcaster reel? The only smaller sized bait casting reel I seen so far is the Shakespeare alpha reel. The average bait casting reel appears to be too large.

I use only a coploymere line most of the time because of the less stretch over mono. I do also use the red Cajun line in the shallows up to 10' of depth. Now there are different types of copolymer. I notice I need to wet my cinch knots using the vicious copolymer line. I find the Excalibur copolymer silver thread is the best. I still have some of cabelas brand copolymer that feels like silver thread line. I also use the yozuri copolymer line too.

Using megastrike did nothing for me. I been using the original baitmate bass scent, baitmate craw scent, baitmate worm/crawler, baitmate garlic scent, baitmate live scent, yum shad, yum craw, riverside craw scent. I use the bm original bass scent first. If it's slow I switch to the bm garlic and I've seen the action pick right up. I also throw my senkos with no scent unless my weedless barb comes up open after a strike and a miss. One shot of scent is a hookup on the next cast. I made a mini carpenters tool box to carry my scents.

MY first son catching his first trout. you couldn't wipe that smile off his face.

I understand sorry. It wasn't ebay but i will becareful were i shop from now on. Funny my Chinese baitcaster is still working great.