fretfishman

great bronzeback, supreme! welcome aboard to a first year angler and glad you're loving it. smallies for the win! thanks for the pic - keep bringing them in.

kudos, LBH. swimbaits are a lot of fun and I'm glad you're diggin' it. may everyone have the success and joy you're having with them!

my guess would be that people are used to paying these prices for yamamoto style baits, so commanding similar price tags for all of those baits is fairly easy. if that weren't the case I'd say it's not only the skirt being attached to a very soft plastic, but also the same impregnation that the senko goes through. when you look at a fat ika or hula grub it's not really lacking much plastic compared to a 4-5" senko. I think the real question is why we pay this much for any of these soft plastics. ;D waveworm are priced very nicely for their soft plastics! I have been trying waveworm senkos lately and they're working just as well as yamamoto. I plan to get some *** soon, as well.

thanks for the tip. I rigged up two of the smaller weights on top of a soft swimbait and, not only do they clack together, but when you fish it in more of a horizontal than vertical presentation it makes the bait do an awesome mortally wounded fish imitation. (when rigged wacky) it works even with stiffer soft plastics since the weight is centered.

I still have a crystal minnow and a lipless crank from yozuri. got them when they first came out and they're wonderful. very nice appearance and action on them. (replace the hooks right away on the cranks, imo)

I've been fishing the yamamoto hula grubs lately in a dark maroon color since all the lakes I've been fishing have an over abundance of crayfish at the moment. I rig it texas with a tungsten weight for reduced size - I always use the same retrieve pattern for the first couple catches since it always produces fish. nice profile to this bait and the legs or skirt represent a crayfish pretty well. sometimes I rig the bait backwards once they finally stop biting it and I've fished all the areas I want to fish. in a medium to shallow section - cast to target area, sink to bottom, give two light snaps (enough to just flare the skirt), then one big pop and let fall to bottom. they almost always hit after the pop, but sometimes on the initial fall. if they don't follow with a very slow drag across the bottom and the fish is yours. it's been fun, as I've been catching 2-6 pounders every time I go out. anyway, blah blah...figured I'd share since it's been a lot of fun lately. I fish some senkos, finesse worms, yum crawbugs and swimming senkos right now, too, but I can pretty much fish the hula grub for hours and hours and catch smallies, lmb, wipers and tiger muskies. what a great bait. I had a nice 45+" tiger on today and wasn't expecting him in the cove, so he fought a bit and just frayed through my line. grr! I didn't want to put a leader on since I was fishing smallies in the area, but I guess I learned the lesson since I was using 10 lb. line. (sigh!)

what they said. I'll add that often I find myself rigging a bait backwards if a good bite has stopped or I know there's still a big fish in there but is wanting something a bit different. the appeal of a senko doesn't really change much backwards, but the subtle difference can draw strikes - you proved that, of course. try rigging a crayfish lure backwards and working it slower...bass get mad! they see those claws go up in defense and watch it slowly charging towards them...gulp! dead crawdad...or so they thought.

I've had more success swimming a jig on a deep to shallow retrieve with jigs, but your mileage may vary? I'd say try all retrieves until you find what they want since you've already got the location problem out of the way. start with your fastest retrieves first. ie: swimming jig if you have a baitfish or bluegill colored jig I'd probably throw that one on for the swimming jig, but you may find that a swimming senko or spinnerbait works better after you catch a couple fish on a swimming jig. seems like the biggest fish will come out and pound your swimming jig and then once those couple fish are caught you have to switch. I've had great success with swimming jig, swimming senko, spinnerbaits and roadrunners working in the deep to shallow ledge realm. if they're real finicky you may want to go with a roadrunner in white/silver, a 2.5-3.5" tube or a 4-5" roboworm (or other finesse worm) in a laminated shad color. g'luck!

if you're using it strictly for topwater I'd probably go with a nice mono or copolymer since a bit of stretch isn't a bad thing with topwaters, and you shouldn't have to worry about cover too much if you play the fish right. the stretch helps with times where they don't get a good blowup on the lure and sometimes helps hook them. I've used flourocarbon a lot and been fine, though. I've never limited myself to using one rod for topwaters, though. having said that, I don't use mono, so I'd suggest P-line's Evolution copolymer. I've been using it the last couple weeks a lot and love it. rock solid line that feels really good and holds up as well as Ultragreen from Maxima, but without the overly stiff feel and low castability. g'luck!

Compre rods are real nice for around 89$. Honestly, though, as much as I love Shimano, I'd try out the Berkley Tactix rods. I got one for a shore rod since it was cheap and love it. it's a 7'6" medium heavy flipping rod. the guides looked cheesy and I was skeptical when I was looking at them, but they're actually real smooth. we'll see how they hold up. also, there's a small section of the rod near the reel side that acts as a telescoping compartment for the rest of the rod length...probably shortens the rod by a foot. (helps fit into many boats, etc) I went to the store planning on a daiwa heartland - another awesome rod for the price, but they didn't have any. The Tactix rods are incredible for 50$...so as long as durability holds up I'll be real happy. Don't forget to try the Shimano Compre rods, though. They're hard to beat for 89$ or so.

I rig them on gammy 4-5/0 offsets and have no problems with super fast to super slow retrieves. I'd say maybe you're letting some slack get into the worm? make sure you're rigging the body straight and you should be fine.

if you guys are wanting to see a decent video of a test running braid against a sharp rock search youtube for braid test or a similar phrase. it puts mono up against fireline, power pro, sufix and (I think spiderwire?) can't remember, but either way it's a decent test and will show some abrasion resistance qualities. just keep in mind there are many more factors it won't show - castability, visibility, etc., so you can't put a whole lot of stock into it. anyway, found it pretty interesting to see similar results to what I've found and maybe it'll be useful to someone.

cheesesauce, that thing is frickin' huge! I can't imagine that thing being very fun to catch, though...much like reeling in a tree. I'd never eat it, either...that thing has to be 80-150 years old, LOL.

the worse it smells the better it'll work. powerbait sucks for catfish, in my experience. throwing some shad, chicken livers, blood, hot dogs - and anything else you can think of that would stink - into a blender and putting them in an ice tray with a treble hook eye sticking out the top works well. the blood is an attractant, but it's also for consistency, so use as much as you need to make the bait stick together well. once it's frozen you're good to go. throw it in a cooler with some ice or dry ice and once you cast it out it will slowly start exuding into the water and create a blood trail for them to hone in on much like a shark. as long as you have the right consistency it won't totally melt and fall apart, though, so it lasts a while on your hook. just another gross suggestion for a gross fish. they sure do taste good if you filet them right, though.

i've had great success with the gulp brown trout worms - since you mention a trout worm. rig it up with a tandem hook setup and throw a splitshot about 2 feet ahead of it. retrieve it back with quick, sharp snaps and pause. add in a very slow crawling retrieve now and then and you should see plenty of action. it's very effective for me with trout, crappie, perch and gills. I even get some bass eating them. I'd probably go with the black color if I were using it at night, though, and fish it with less weight so it gets higher in the water column to create a nice silhouette for them to hone in on. this is why ultralight tackle rocks. ;D

bluegill are great eating. I prefer walleye or crappie, but they're very good. if you can hook into some bluegill at least .75 lbs you'll be in heaven. the filets are decent and they're much more fun to catch on ultralight tackle. roll them in butter and then cornmeal or make a pecan-crusted breading with crushed pecans, bread crumbs and some Ol' Bay.

guess it depends on the fish and game you're wanting. having spent plenty of time on Blue Mesa Reservoir in Colorado I'd say it's mighty fine. lots of nice mackinaw, rainbows, kokanee, etc...and plenty of beautiful land surrounding it for hunting opportunities. not to mention the bald eagle, golden eagle and big horn sheep sightings there quite often. hell, the big horn sheep will stand 10 feet from you and allow you to enjoy their presence. if you weren't limiting your choices to western states I'd opt for new zealand. I've seen the fishing there recently, the housing/land is almost half as cheap as the US and the view is like colorado or montana mixed with the bahamas.

I'd say the daiwa procaster rojo (around 50-60 on clearance right now), quantum accurist ac500cx (59$ at cabela's - not sure elsewhere), or if you can spend 20$ more the best deal I think in the lot of them - quantum accurist performance-tuned for 79.99. if you can't splurge the 20$ extra I'd go with the procaster rojo if it were me. g'luck!

if I were to think that fireline's the worst braid out there I'd have to say that spiderwire is a non-existent p.o.s. to me. it's absolutely horrible and you couldn't pay me to use it. power pro's nice and I do plan to try the stren microfuse or whatever it's called. I've never been much of a stren fan, but you never know. all in all, I just like a visible braid to see my line jumps and prefer a finish that doesn't come off by softly running your fingers on it. (ie: smoke fireline) I prefer western filament's braid. some of it is bias - my hometown is grand junction, which is where they're operating from - but if it were junk I wouldn't fish it. good stuff and they've been making braided lines for far longer than anyone I can think of. I think dodgeguy said it best. it's line - find something you feel comfortable with for any number of reasons and give them your business. things like sensitivity and visibility are negligible between the brands, for the most part. find one that does away with your little pet peeves - the smoke color coming off in my fingers or mouth on fireline, for example. after that - as long as it brings in fish you're set.

thanks for the replies, guys. good to know the guides aren't as bad as they look. 140$ is pretty nice for a powell - didn't know they dropped the prices. is it a limited time special or permanent? just curious...I'll check out their site, though. had someone pm me that they're getting in some carrots so I'll probably chat with him about those.

I can't stand rubber band type collars. the zip tie suggestion seems solid, but having tied flies, I tie the skirts down much like a bucktail muskie jig. it's very solid for years to come, is tight and compact and allows you to match the color easily if you're into that.

truly great work on your video, bobby. the presentation will make total sense to any level of fisherman and that's intriguing. hell, I'm ready to buy a couple of your products now. I like the amount of research and effort you're putting into it. so many companies on the market these days that just copy other things to rake in some quick cash - not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's nice to see companies trying to make a difference and be innovative. watching your video was much like watching a berkley video which, in my opinion, is great.

thanks for the comprehensive write-up! good stuff. I like the stanley ribbit except for the way it sinks so quickly after the cast, but you can cast it a mile, so I always cast past my target anyway - not a huge deal. it has a great "subtle buzzbait sound and water kick to it, which is great. plus it looks so much more natural than a buzzbait. granted, though, when they're aggressive enough a buzzbait is all you need...they're going to hit it like a mack truck. thanks for the insight on the other frogs.

Mine's very similar - I use the same rod type, same 20 lb. braid depending on the water. if it's an especially clear and low cover lake I'll just run 10 lb. braid with a flouro leader. only thing really different would be jig choice. I use an Ike's finesse jig, a swimming jig and some home made 3/4 oz. + jigs. colors range from white/silver to black to black/bronze with the occasional black/blue and black/red. for trailers I love the standard uncle josh's in white and black for spring and have been using berkley craws or doubletail grub for summer, but I'm fixing to try the rage tail chunks soon. sadly, most of the time a white/silver tinsel-tail roadrunner works as well as a jig here in colorado, even for big bass. also, swimming works as much or more than standard jig methods for me here. the swim pattern that has produced the best fish for me in clear lakes here is a medium speed while slowly sweeping the tip up and then slowly dropping it back down while reeling in slack. the jig's a lot of fun for me, though. I like how versatile it is and sometimes that super wacky retrieve pattern you've resorted to draws a couple of fish you thought were otherwise impossible. edit: oh, I forgot about the Beast! I use the berkley beast for a trailer often times just to get a little more movement and some wacky appendages on there to entice them.

roadwarrior's advice is very sound. lots of good lure choices there and tubes are always number one for someone's smallie lure list. it just represents so many things based on how you fish and rig it. the subtle changed from rigging it differently can make all the difference. I'd bring a few different tube choices - color and size. standard sizes might be 2.5-4 inchers. don't just fish a couple colors and toss it, though. a lot of time if you work an area quickly with a tube rigged in a few different methods you'll see different results. it matters much more than color. the most important thing he told you would be "fish structure, not cover". very important to understand this, imo. g'luck!