bigbill

Never knock your fellow man you'll never know what he has been thru. I never wish anything on anybody but there is karma and were all paying the price for big corporate profits. The American car manufactures are getting it right now

I have had lots of problems with turtles in the past but one turtle I never saw it until it bit my lure. It was hiding in the rocks in the shallows. Waiting for me to reel in a fish. It blended right in with the rocks. I lost my lure that day. I never knew turtles were that smart.

I hooked a 4' diameter snapping turtle once. It's head was bigger than mine. My son thought it was a log till it turned to look at us. It's a monster. Onetime the shoreline was full of yellow braid. The rumor is a guy hooked up with it and the turtle won. I'd like to see turtle man get this one.

Goose52, At Amazon they have two different prices on it. One is $95 and the other is $29. I searched for it by the manufacturers name on Amazon and the Garcia baitcaster came up and it looks exactly the same reel. I'm thinking they manufacturer it for Garcia too possibly. We are teaching them how to manufacture by sending our work over there. Every rod I have says made in China. I like to see things kept affordable so the younger kids can afford to fish too. I purchased very little when I was a kid, I would use my lunch money for some fishing stuff.

I only posted about this affordable baitcaster if someone wanted to try using a baitcaster reel at a affordable cost incase they didn't like it they won't have invesTed too much money. If they do like baitcasting they could purchase a better reel down the road. I did not mean to flame anyone in the process, sorry if I did.

Most of our tackle is manufactured there anyhow. Like what's the problem. Let's face it when I lost my job on '83, '84 & '85 due to cheaper imports no one cared about me or it happening. I worked only 9 months in three years. I knew it would happen to more of us as time went on. I changed my trade three times to survive. I want the best quality product for the least spent money and I don't care were it's manufactured. I'm done fighting the tide with layoffs. I went thru he'll with them. I think everyone should get a taste of what I went thru. Don't give me that buy American made stuff. Thank God my hard work ethics rubbed off on my three kids. They all own there own homes and have successful jobs. They have good educations too.

I been saying that for years now big baits means big bass. I do notice the larger fish won't hit the same lures that the smaller fish are hitting. When your on a smaller fish bite when it slows down switch to a larger lure same color. Example, I'm throwing a mepps Anglia inline #3 silver blade with a gray tail. The bass bite is on. As it slows down to a hault I put on a mepps Anglia #4 or mepps #5 silver blade w/Gray tail and the bigger fish will hit it. In low light conditions as day turns to dust at this time switch to a brighter color lure of the same type. You will land a few more fish. I switch from a joesfly in blackgnat in evening as it gets darker to a joesfly in firetiger apache. And fish till dark catching fish. I'm also thinking this will work in reverse from early morning while the sky starts to light up use the brighter colors and as it becomes satellite switch to darker natural colors it should work.

I just ordered another one, plus three spinning reels too. I'll see if I can get my pics working. With shipping it was $30. There marked now at $29.00 + $5 ship. I see the lures from China aren't 5 fer & 4 fer $4 or $5 anymore with some of them are $4 each.

My new Chinese baitcasting reel arrived today and it looks awesome. I hope to spool it up and throw a casting plug on it and test it. I'm impressed in the workmanship and the quality so far I'm hooked. The brand on the box is Dyna-Nicer model DM120RA it has 11 ball bearings. And a 6:3 ratio. Low profile Fully adjustable magnetic cast control Magnetic brake control Titanium coated line guide Proted aluminum forged spool New gear structure precision machined gears One way bearing for the power lock system(drag) Quick access removable side late unlimited anti reverse Soft touch thumb bar It says this on the box. Now to test it. The fit and finish looks great. It did arrive three weeks early. I'll post more as I get into it, I should of purchased two, one for complete disassembly for inspection of every part.

I lost two new state record fish already, remember the third time is the charm.

I had one like that one November. She bent my rod in half like I never seen it before. I put too much pressure on her then she spit out my money minnow. It's the only hookup I ever had with minnow. This is one of the reasons I'm going to heavier rods for casting the larger lures and harder hook sets. The rod tips are too flimsy.

If I was going to repaint anything I would use the brownells aluma-Hyde II it's a epoxy paint in s rattle can. First the prep is very important too. I usually heat the area I want to paint with a hair dryer or leave it in the hot sun so it gets the surface warm. Then shoot it with one coat applied even. Then leave it out in the sun to harden. I spray the plastic gun stocks and gun metal and it's holding up awesome. I'm sure it will work on reels too. The colors are limited but it's the best epoxy I have used so far. I do clear coat the gun stocks. That's a nice looking reel.

I just ordered some havoc sick fish and the strike king ones too just to try. I had many strikes with the yum money minnow but no hook ups, I need a trailer hook. We do not get much for $50 color & size wise. I figure with fall conning they will earn there keep.

I just ordered some havoc sick fish and the strike king ones too just to try. I had many strikes with the yum money minnow but no hook ups, I need a trailer hook. We do not get much for $50 color & size wise. I figure with fall conning they will earn there keep. For some reason my yum money minnows seem to lose there eyes from strikes.

I believe we still can find the culprit worms with the colored tails in 7 1/2", 10" & 12" lengths. Mister Twister still offers worms with colored tails too. I rent boats on one lake here were the black creme 6" worms still catch bass, but if we go to the other side of the lake we catch monster pike on the worms with the colored tails. I been purchasing the mister twister worms and the culprit worms stocking up on them. I do also use spike it to color the tails too.

Thanks for the info, now I know I'm on the right path.

I went with the okuma 55 reel because of its larger spool. I'm not sure what test braid to go with yet. I was thinking about 20 or 25lb braid. . Maybe 30lb braid being the max. Now what color braid? I'd like to stay away from using a leader since its mainly topwater or to 3' below the surface.

I guess you can call me more of a crankbait guy. When I purchase a brand of crankbaits and have success I go after every color it's offered in first. Then I go after the ones that run at different depths too. I did find out that all these colors do not catch us the fisherman. All these colors do catch fish at certain times when other colors don't work. My hottest producing crankbaits are; 1. Bomber Shallow A in redapplecraw craw 0' to 3' this lure has a unique BB rattle sound to it. This redapplecraw craw is the hottest color in my area and I noticed the crawfish are a blend of red and brown. I use a shot of crawfish scent on it. Presentations; Cast it out and reel it slow enough to keep it under the surface. This great for over submerged weeds. Cast it out and twitch it since it floats. I use this presentation over the open pockets in the weeds. Make this lure look like it's an easy meal to the bass. I use a lot of different colors in the bomber cranks but if your on a tight budget I'd go with a baby bass orange bottom, redapplecraw craw, green craw, Brown craw, silver shad and a firecraw/firetiger. You could also try to match the crawfish color in your area too. 2. Rebel BIG CLAW Crawfish crankbait. I been using the chartreuse with the green back. I also use a shot of craw scent on it. Presentations, Since this lure floats it can also be used topwater with a twitch too. Just let it sit and twitch it like it's wounded. I cast it out. Then use the rod and sweep it back so it dives to the bottom(10' depth) then I slow reel it enough to keep it on the bottom. The bass love this lure. This is a very hot lure to use when the crawfish are dancing on the rocks looking for a mate in the spring or after the spawn when the bass are hungry. It seems to work most of the time too but sometimes are hotter than others. 3. Norman Thin "N" crankbait. In chartreuse killer. I like this color the best and so do the bass. I use yum shad scent on this one. I also use the other colors with success too. Presentation, I cast it out and slow reel it while twitching it. Or pause and twitch it since it floats. I hope this helps the little guys just starting out with lures. Or someone trying lures with little success. Please post your favorite crankbait with your presentation. The presentation is the key to success. Remember on a cloudy day or in stained to muddy water it's the brighter colors like chartruese that will work.

Since my 9" castaic trout lure floats I do keep a rod setup ready with bigger treble lures to retrieve it. It really looks real reeling it slow so it stays near the top. When it gets hit I wish I could catch it on camera.

I was just thinking about braided line too. The second rod I picked up is a bit thicker in the upper section. I should be able to hold there heads up now so they can't go down in the weeds. One night I caught a snapping turtle the size of my 30" tall jeep tires. On my freshwater setup. He was clawing the bottom of the drop off all the way up. I was using night crawlers then. After the turtle stirred up the bottom the catfishing was awesome as it got dark. They were hitting the panther Martin lure with the yellow blade and the black spots with a shot of bass scent after we ran out of worms. I seen my last big bass hit my topnocker I guess to stun it then she turned and ate it. I seen her upper fin and part of her body out of the water. I lost my new state record.

Nice job. I believe anything that's a tad different than the norm will work.

I picked up a inshore 7' rod that has some of the backbone I'm looking for. I found another one that's stiffer at the top section of tip. I find it funny we don't really see some of the spinning rods like the crankbait rods are with more stiffness at the top. But fishing from shore with the bigger fish I think the inshore setup will work with my larger heavier lures. I have the mister twister super top props repainted in bass lure colors. I had the mister twister top props redone in bass colors too I want to try these with some smaller pike lures I have too. I'm seeing the bigger gals swim by me at the drop offs so I know they are there. I just picked up an okuma exipoir #55 spinning reel for my inshore setup. It's going to be like fishing with a tow truck now. Now I need to figure out what test line to use next.

Every so often I will try one. I tend to give up and go back to what I know works for me. I know it's my fault for not sticking with them. I'd like to learn the rest of the lures I haven't had success with yet. I know it's me not using them correctly. I do have one of the four prop Hart buzzbaits too. But I'll try the smaller ones first. So far I'm good with topwater, spooks, poppers, spinnerbaits, inline spinners, crankbaits, minnowbaits, jig n pigs, plastic worms, creature baits, senkos, bushogs, grubs etc. I use the split shot rigs, carolina rigs. I haven't tried the mojo rig, the drop shot rigs yet. I'm just using what works for me. Somedays my fishing time is limited because of my health. So I end up rushing on somedays because I know I won't last for too long. I just fish till my knee pain starts up. But I stay fishing thru the pain sometimes too.

Now there are ball bearing snap swivels and barrel snap swivels. I've had the barrel snap swivels wear out and come apart, I guess I had it on for too long. The ball bearing snap swivels I have never wore out yet. Let's face it nothing last for ever. So it pays to change out the snap swivels often if we fish slot. I do retie often and after the bigger bass are landed.

I purchased three of those 9" castiac rainbow lures when they were the only big swimbaits for big bass. I cast them out using a saltwater rod setup and reel it slowly in. I can't figure out any other way to use them from shore. I purchased three hoping to wear them out. I wait till most of the fisherman are gone before I go splashing about with these big swimbaits. I never casted it out in the dark or low light yet. Is anyone else from shore using these.