Kana

FL, the biggest i caught so far here in japan is the beast in the pic, she was about 8 pounds or so. but there are bigger, by far, and are often caught! about the stop on the retreive, basically i retrieve then give a jerk and wait about 3 seconds so the trap just sinks, then i start the retreive again. its worked so far...

oh me too me too... japanese bass dont see the original ratl trap often, unless im throwing it. i hit the river on monday and was throwing the 1/8 oz. in crawfish pattern. i caught a few when no one esle was getting bit! recently i lost my only 1/8 oz that i had in the shad pattern, so my dad sent me 2 in every color and size! not that they work all the time but when they do, they catch fish. only down side, the hooks suck a****S so i have to replace them all （and not all at once either!). i have found that ive been catch most my fish parrallel to the bank, close to weeds,if not in them, from 6am till about noon. the most consistantly productive retreive is a stop and go. i found a small school, thay wouldnt take in a straight retrieve. i had to "kill it" for them to hit it. there have been sometimes i have to retrieve at a medium pace for a bite. but not as common as giving the bait some iregularity. good luck.

my father just sent me a lure retriever from BPS. I almost exclusively fish from shore, and i get hung up a fair share, and have losy many precious megabass, rapala, lucky craft... well the list goes on. ion my last trip i unsuccessfully used the lure retriever, as i got my live pointer snaged on a submerged log. thing is, as i put it (lure retriever)on my line, there just wasnt enough of a angle to get it to my lure, i tried for more than 20 minutes to get that lure back, but i just couldnt get it down to where i was snagged. any ideas or hints?

before moving to japan, i really liked terminators. in japan, fish dont see these much, so ive had some luck with them. but now that i have evergreen, jackall, O.S.P. and Deps, i cant wait to get back to the states and try these bad boys out! it just really sucks that most lures here are over the $10 mark (for one) even strike king, and some other off brands that are imported are sold b/t 8 and 13 bucks a pop. i think the very first lure i owned was a all white single colo blade i got from some small tackle shop, it caught a lot of fish for me before i lost it. so i always make room for spinnerbaits.

i most always use snaps when attaching my lures. its easy and quick, but just remember its not a reason to neglect checking your line, you still ahve to check it time to time, or it will break when you least want it too. barrel swivels are used on c-rigs, in line spinners like rooster tails, and weightless soft plastics ( i seem to think they cause the most line twist vs. weighted plastics) but thats it for me. as for steel/wire leaders i dont use them. i will tie on flouro as a leader if i need to, or on c-rigs. this is just what i do, and everyone has a different approach. hope this helps.

i dont personally but old heddon lures get a nice return here in japan! i have a friend that does online auctioning for people here in japan for those lures. if i knew where to get them id get in on the action!!!!!!!!

im a chef and depending on the kitchen im in i can get out often. when i worked for marriott i cooked b-fast 5 days a week, 5am to 1:30pm i had a lot of time to fish! then i moved to banquets the shifts ranged from 8 hours to 16 hours, i ididnt fish often on busy seasons, but in down times we got 3 to 14 days off depending whats going on. (i often got paid on my days off thanks to PTO) now that i work in japan, i have no "regular" days off bu t work from 8:30 till 6pm so i have some evening time to hit the lakes. just depends whats going on, its not ideal, but the work is fun, and money isnt too bad.

just me, but i would fish! LBH just for you... truck seat or boat seat?

i caught my largest bass ona 1.99 walmart crank. the catch was that it actually ran true and had a nice tight wobble. the color was a brown back, pearl midside and orange belly. i just lucky, because of the 20 or so i purchased imediately after that one 3 ran as well as the first one i bought. hit and miss!

go home and deep fry some catfish!!!!!!!!!! godsmack or system of a down

sorry it took so long to get pics. go to photobucket.com in the search area type: scottkanasugi you will find 6 pics of ther reverse t-rig as i have described. sorry about the quality of the pics but you should get the general idea. the plastic in the pic is a 3 inch craw, i used a 3/0 hook, and the smallest bullet weight i had. the wire was a sandwhich bag twist tie (yes they work and are dirt cheap!)the line is hard to see coming from the head, sorry. if you have questions let me know. kana

hatem, go mariners!!!!!!!!! spring or fall fishing

yes under the following condition: ( in japan we have used lure shops, condition decides price. Yesterday i was at my friends shop and picked up 5 180 live pointers in a few colors, for only 5$ a piece, all in mint condition! hit the lake today, it was the only thing they liked!) bacon or sausage

ill try to get a fe w pics together for you guys

god's as long as theyre not near me! better cost/performance ratio: Gloomis or St. Croix

chris, i have never seen the screw in weights, do they stay put? with the rig i mentioned i just like how everything stays together. however, i would have my doubts on the effectiveness of the rig on larger plastics. nice to hear your response, thanks. Kana

i hit a lake with a friend last week and he shared a rig that i had never seen before "seza" rig, a cross between a reverse texas and a jig style setup. its weird but ill do my best to describe it, if some part is unclear let me know. first off as forenote, you need to make your own custom weight for this application, this is how i did it. i took a small gauge wire that i recycled from guitar strings (0.011 gauge) ( the wire must be strong enough as not to bend when you insert it into the plastic bait). cut off about 4 inches. i bent the wire to resemble a horseshoe, but the ends remained straight as opposed to the slight outward bend. i inserted this wire straight end first to the backside of a bullet weight. as the straight ends came out the tip of the weight i bent them outward as not to pull trough the weight. (this now gives you a bullet weight with a small wire hoop protruding from the rear of the weight, wire bent at the tip to keep the wire from pulling out.) Next the plastic: we were using 4 inch crawfish style plastics. we pinched off the last 1 inch of the tail then pointed the hoop of the wire on the weight slightly to insert into the plastic easier and not tear through the sides. insert the hoop into the bait, it should penetrate about a 1/2 inch. note the depth, then remove. thenfrom the head of the plastic (the claw end) insert the hook (we used 3/0 hooks because of our type of craws) texas style into the craw, however, before inserting the hook throught the tail portion, re-insert the weight so the hook will pass through the hoop as you bring the hook through. (it may take a time or two to get it right) then rig weedless. you now have what looks like as reverse texas rig. ( the line now comes from the head, while the weight remains at the tail giving a more true crawfish image while giving a better hookset postion ( imo) this is a clever Japanese adaptation of a texas rig. it worked well for me ( i caught about 10 fish b/t 12-15 inches in 2 hours. my partner caught double what i did). we were fishing timber, and areas covered by floating debris ( a regular t-rig brought down the debris with the bait) we were also using 10# yo-zuri hybrid, with not a single rig lost! has anyone heard of this? if so how did it work for you? if not please enjoy a japanese secret! i have dubbed it the ITO (Yukihiro Ito) RIG after the friend who showed it to me.

24 inches, and a touch over 8 pounds. went out with a guide and my father on toledo bend, hammered them on a walmart 1.99$ crankbait. when i got home i bought every crankbait that wally world had in that same pattern. of course i had to send a few to the guide that put me on the fish!

i too grew up in louisiana, and my grandparents lived on a secluded swamp, in which gators would come up to the house in the evening, sometimes on the porch! needless to say i wasnt allowed to play outside at night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

outboard ice cream or cookies (homemade)

chris, thanks, im one of the few, it seems, that didnt know. ill have to try them ou this weekend.

winter jig spring crankbait summer ratl trap fall spinnrbait

sweet tea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 7 inch senko or 12 inch worm

dodge jittter bug or spook

good luck abel, tight lines! (all day!)