The_Natural

Please don't take this as being pompous; I'm just wanting to share some facts. Kinami and Gary Yamamoto Custom baits are just trademark names; with the Kinami's being a Yamamoto Enterprise, or division of Yamamoto. An enterprise essentially means a business venture or undertaking, and the Kinami entity was formed by Yamamoto solely to market to large retailers like Walmart; hence the packages with fewer Senkos (I mean flashes ) to keep cost down to match the demographics of that market. He put his son in charge of that division. Kinami and Yamamoto share the same plant(s), roll off the same assembly line, and are identical baits.

Are you putting it on spinning reels? I would definitely not recommend regular Hybrid for spinning reels.

Please elaborate. I didnt know that there were better hooks out there unless you pay alot more money Whoa! I must have missed that post. I agree with Senko77...I'm a major hook snob, and the Lucky Crafts are as good as you can get in my book.

Pixy's can be bought all day long from Brooklyn Bill for $270 shipped. I have two Pixies, and they are just unreal.

As said...it's purely cost. I switch all my hardbaits to red Daiichi 4x trebles, and buy them in 100pks ($23.99). It's just too expensive to buy the filler packs for 4-$5 for 8 or 9 hooks.

3/16oz Baby Boo Jig...L/C Pointer or X-rap...a trap...and a crankbait (norman deep little N, Berkley Frenzy, Bandit Flat Maxx)

I imagine it is only online. Our local BPS doesn't even stock Yozuri. As said, the regular Yozuri is stiffer, has less stretch, and is more crystal clear versus the Ultra Soft. I'm not a fan of Ultra Soft due to the color; it may seem petty, but we all have our quirks . It just looks white to me, while the regular Yozuri and Pline CXX look crystal clear. The fish may not even care, but I lose confidence when I don't think it's perfect. Then again, Pline CXX and regular Yozuri probably aren't for everyone; they are no-nonsense lines that do have some memory, but I have methods to minimize it.

I would go with a Curado 100 or 50mg.

Well, you should take comfort in knowing you bought THE Megabass rod to own; it is pretty much known as Megabass's finest offering. I don't think their is a better looking rod on the market. If I pull the trigger on a Megabass; it will be that one.

Bass Pro has 1000yd spools of Yozuri Hybrid for $6.88 in clear and green. I picked up several spools; that is a great price. This is not the Ultra Soft, but regular hybrid.

I think it can...Daiwa on Daiwa :)

That's pretty surprising; the tips are Fuji SIC's.

I've got a few BCR's with the recoil guids, and I love them. Granted I don't use braid, they aren't noisy with mono/copoly/fluoro, and they won't break or lose a guide insert. No grooves on any of my rods. I've got titanium framed SIC's on my Steez rods, and I like them as well. Guides aren't something I notice really at all...I'm surprised when people say they dislike a certain guide; I honestly can't tell the difference while fishing.

I think the Brian's Bee's and WEC baits are the benchmark of balsa baits.

I own 8 GLX's...some are BCR's and some are MBR's. The Loomis GLX blank is the pinnacle of sensitivity; Zander claimed in his test of the BCR803 that it was "the most sensitive rod I have ever fished with". However, comparing the Loomis to the Steez; the Steez is significantly lighter, and has that Japanese refinement (as does the Megabass). Sensitivity of the rods are about equal. The reason I went with the Steez over the Megabass is weight and warranty...I think they are both beautiful. My only problem I found when I shopped for MB is that Japanese anglers are short, and they use shorter rods. It's nearly impossible to find a 7' rod in a MH or H power. I'm just glad they brought the Steez rods over to the US...they were unaffordable for me at between $550 and $700 for the JDM rods. The 7'1" Compile-X is identical to the Japan version, and even rolls off the same assembly line, but is $500 in the US versus $650 from Plat. I'm not sure why that is. I wish they would release a Megabass line here in the US with a Lifetime warranty like they did with the Steez so we have some more options if we want that Japanese refinement.

Congrats! That's a great looking rod. I actually shopped the Elseil as well as a few other MB's before going with the Steez, but they are all superb rods. Let us know how she performs.

Pointers will definitely float in 40 degree water. You can only make a bait suspend at a certain water temperature- colder water is denser, and warmer water is less dense. It would be impossible to make a jerkbait suspend perfectly in any water temp. Lucky Craft's are designed to suspend in 52 degree water in my experience. I fished a slender pointer last month right after a pond thawed, and it floated as well...the water was just too dense. You can add a suspend dot or two if you want it to suspend in water that cold.

Starting from scratch; I would go with tungsten for all my weights.

In clear water on clear days, you definitely want a translucent skirt of some sort, and you want to be working your bait fairly fast, in the top of the water column. I took second in a club tournament last year fishing gin clear water, throwing a 3/16oz Leverage spinnerbait in the 'Naked Shad' color. This was post-spawn, and the fish really preferred the smaller profile of the 3/16oz Leverage. My boater was throwing a full size, 3/8oz white Booyah spinnerbait, and he only had one keeper all day, and I was culling by noon. It just proved to me yet again how important picking the right size and color of a bait are, not just the right type of bait. In clear water on cloudy days however, a white skirt with painted white blades is the ticket. On cloudy days, there is no sun to reflect off of the blades or skirt, and the white skirt/blades contrast against the sky. I purchased some Falcon 'Red Eye' spinnerbaits last fall, and they are designed for clear water/high skies. They have translucent skirt colors, and they incorporate silver colorado blade ahead of a very small willow...ideal for burning in clear water. Here are some clear water/high skies spinnerbaits. Top left is the 3/16oz leverage, and the other three are Falcon 'Red Eye' clear water specials.

That definitely sounds high. The most expensive Lucky Crafts that local retailers carry are generally the Slender Pointers, which retail for 18-$20, due to the fact they come with three sets of Daiichi trebles, versus 2 VMC's on the Pointers. I don't even pay retail for those. Backwaters puts Lucky Crafts on sale once or twice a year, and I stock up. They still have some on sale, but most have been cleaned out. They had all their BDS series, Pointers, and Sammies for $10.80, and Slender Pointers were around $13 or $14. You can check out their remaining sale Lucky Crafts at http://www.backwatersonline.com/category.cfm?Category=1552

I just noticed on the link provided to BPS that Booyah came up with some catchy names for the colors . I tell you what...after Reaction Innovations named the Sweet Beaver colors with their 'unique' ;D names; I think others are following suite (only a little more G rated ). I smell clever marketing!

I love the "A Day on the Lake with a Pro" articles in Bassmaster. They are hands down my favorite articles, and something I really look forward to reading. They really give insight on how the pros pick apart water trying to establish a pattern. The article has become somewhat of a bragging right among pros I've read, and they all want to do well when the spotlight is on them. There is no hiding what baits they are using, because the writer is right there next to them. You get to see the baits and approaches they use; not what they say they used during a tournament. When Scott Rook launched his boat, the water was an icey 49 degrees and stained. He starts out cranking a DT10 and catches a 2lber, and then shortly after ties on a RC 1.5 in blue/chartreuse. This spun me for a loop...I don't bust out shallow cranks until the water temps get into the mid to upper 50's, and even then it is only on warm sunny days in pockets, and I have a limit few with a super tight wiggle that I feel are suitable. Water this cold usually calls for a trap or subtle medium/deep diver, not a non-flat sided shallow diver with a searching wiggle in a bright pattern! As I shake my head, I read on as Scott goes on to catch 3 4lb+ fish in a row on the RC...I couldn't believe it! That article definitely opened up my eyes and altered future prespawn approaches...Scott broke all 'my' rules when he caught those fish.

My go-to cold water jig for the past couple of years has been the Booyah Baby Boo Jig in the 3/16oz size (40-52 degree water). I have caught countless cold water bass with this jig. I was checking out the Booyah Bed Bugs at Sportsmans Warehouse, and they are very comparable to the Baby Boo jigs, with the only difference being the shape of the head and line tie. The Bed Bug and Baby Boo Jig share the same skirt, hook, and size (3/16oz), with the Bed Bug sporting a round head with a slightly different angled line tie for jigging and shaking on a more vertical presentation versus the Boo or Baby Boo Jigs more weedless/snagless head design which excels in cover. The Bed Bugs look like they are designed to be shaken...maybe off the bed they could be worked in conjunction with a shakey worm on points and ledges :-?. Anyway, my tremendous success with the Baby Boo Jig tells me this thing should be very good, and I plan on picking some up . I have probably 10 different brands of jigs, some expensive, some not so expensive, and I think the skirts on my baby boo jigs are the absolute best I own. The 3-D green pumpkin, 3-D black/red flash, 3-D PB&J, and 3-D watermelon red are staples in my jig box. Just thought I would share...

I'd take the Compre...I think they fish like a more expensive rod, and feel they are the lightest and most balanced of the bunch. I will post rod weights of the rods in contention to help aid in your decision. The Compre is a great rod at a great price, with a tremedous warranty. Oh, and the newly redesigned black blank looks sweet to boot 8-). I will say that I think it is an extremely close race between the Compre, Premier, and the Lowrider.

You should correct your post to say Compre or Premier, which are both $99. Of those two, I would take the Compre. I owned a slew of Compre's before I dove in to the high-end rod market, and I feel like they perform like a more expensive rod. Of course the Premier is a great rod as well, and the difference between the two will be negligable. I'd go to Bass Pro or Cabelas and hold both...you should know pretty quickly which one feels better in your hand.