The_Natural

That bait may scare the bass around here! I do need to pull the trigger on a few Mattlures- they will probably become the first (and only) swimbaits I own.

In water that cold, I like Norman Deep Little N's, Lucky Craft LV500max's, 5/8oz white Zorro short arm spinnerbaits, Pointer 78's or 78DD's, and football jigs.

I will fish them Texas Rigged with a 1/8oz pegged weight occasionally. This bailed me out last year during a ridiculously tough bite in our last tournament of the year. I had only caught two short fish all day, and went with a Watermelon/cream laminate Senko as a 'panic bait'. I still didn't have a fish 45 minutes after going with a Senko, and decided to peg a 1/8oz bullet weight to make it fall faster and dart more erratically when jerked. I immediately caught a 2lber to save me from blanking for the day, and when weigh in came around it was apparent everyone else was having a tough day as well. I took second place and big bass with a 2lber! That says something about the fishing that day .

I'll add that $15 is a lot of money for a lure, but not a lot of money in the grand scheme of things. I've gone out and spent $40 or $60 at the bar on coctails with nothing to show for it the next day. My point? Just plunk down the $15 for a Pointer 78 and see for yourself. If you don't like it, you can at least get $10 or $12 for it if you sell it.

I wouldn't say a lot of people buy expensive rods and reels to impress people- maybe cars or clothing...something people will actually see a lot. Nobody but your partner sees your rods and reels. I'm not going to be naive and think there aren't some kids who buy a high end rig because they see other folks online with them, and think they are the 'thing to have', but I do think performance is the main factor, something that is apparent immediately when you pick up a high dollar rod at Bass Pro and feel the incredible light weight. Weight is why I bought my first Loomis; I needed a heavy action rod, but all cheaper pitchin' sticks just felt like 2x4's. There is obviously a point of dimenishing returns, and if you don't care about having the lightest and most senstive rod out there, and just want a good combo that won't hold you back; I think you can spend $200 on a combo and be fine. I probably recommend a Shimano Citica and Loomis IMX combo more than anything (about a $300 combo)...this combo won't set you back a ton of cash, yet won't hold you back from feeling a finicky bass slowly inhale a football jig in 30ft of water.

Crap...I thought I was in the tackle section. Mods- please move my thread...thanks!

I've got both Senko rods, the 893 and 864. The 893 may be my favorite plastics rod- it will will pitch a plastic bait with a small sinker farther than I can cast it with most other setups. Of course sensitivity is unreal. I had a Pixy mounted to it, but my XXL hands can't grip that small of a reel very well, and it makes it difficult to use the Pixy or Alphas for jigs or worms. I ended up switching to an MG50, and it is ideal. I usually run that rig with 14lb Vanish, but sometimes go lighter or heavier. In closing, I will say go for the 893, the extra length helps in pitching, casting, and hooksets.

The Stacey King Jerkbait was on sale all last month for $10, but I was hesistant to order because I knew they had just redesigned this bait and moved the lip forward to the front of the minnow, like the Pointer and Slender Pointer. I thought they may be just getting rid of the old style, but I went ahead and pulled the trigger, because the price was right. I was elated when my package came today with my sale baits, and they were the new design. Here they are...they look like they should have a very erratic action, like the slender pointer, and appear to run shallower than a Pointer.

Some are, Yes, but not all of them. He did say 'In your opinon' guys, so lets keep this simple.

I'm sure it is CXX; the diameter he quoted seems about right (I know the 10lb is .011). He is reading off of the back of the box, so I'm sure Pline claims it has about every desirable property a line can have :). In the 6lb class, I bet even CXX doesn't have noticeable memory, and CXX's tensile strength or abrasion resistance hasn't ever been in question. I've never used CXX in 6lb, but I can imagine you score some extra bites with that thin of a line. 8lb is as small as I have the cojones to go!

Correct. Low, medium, and high in my post are referring to their market price point, nothing more. Percieved value is up to the consumer.

I usually consider rods in three markets: low end, middle market, and high end. I consider low end to be under $100, the middle rod market to be $100-$200, and the high end rods to be over $200. Low end would be Bionic blades, Extreme's, Shimano Compres, Falcon Lowriders and Croix' Premiers. The middle rod market are your Croix Avids, Falcon Cara's, Daiwa light and tough's, Shimano Crucials, and Loomis GL2's and 3's. High end are your IMX's, GLX's, Croix Legend Tournaments and LE's, Kistler Helium and Helium LTX II's, Megabass, etc. I categorize reels the same way. This is just the way I have always thought of it, nothing more to base it on other than my opinion.

Ok...I just googled the death trap Daiichi's for info. Apparently they are a 4x hook with a wider round bend than Daiichi's standard 4x's. They do look good!

Wow Munkin...that place has incredible prices on the filler packs of hooks; $3.30 is cheap! I haven't seen the Death Trap's...what is the advantage? They look like a standard hook.

The Revo's are sure getting some great reviews; the $99 Revo may become the best choice for the under $100 reel shoppers.

The great thing about our hobby is the fact you don't need expensive equipment to be successful. There will always be the debates about whether you need expensive equipment or not, and the answer is no...to a point. I think there will always be 'tackle junkies', whom want and use the best, and then there are the fisherman who simply use rods and reels as tools, and don't care about how 'pretty' their stuff is or whether their reels get boat rash. My uncle is one of them; a guy who fishes the stren series and could care less about what is the latest and greatest, as long as it works. Look at Denny Brauer- he could have an arsenal of Daiwa's Steez reels and Steez rods, but he chooses to use the Team Daiwa X HSDF reels and Team Daiwa 'S' rods, which are both middle market products. He was asked why he doesn't use Daiwa highest offerings, and he stated that he has just always used the TD-X reels and S series rods, and they work fine. You gotta love that answer! Staying on topic, it is hard to limit myself to one reel, but the one reel that blows me away every time I make a cast are my Daiwa Pixy's.

Yes; if you have decided to get serious about your bass fishing, a baitcaster is a must. Baitcasters allow you significantly more bait control by enabling you to feather the spool, and the ability to throw heavier lures easier. If you tie on a worm with a 3/8oz bullet sinker, it isn't possible to get your bait to a target 30 feet away with no splash with a spinning rod. After tightening down the spool tension knob and turning the brakes on the highest setting, its inevitable that you will still backlash some, but it isn't horrible, and you shouldn't be intimidated. I learned when I was 11 on my uncle's Abu Garcia XLT plus Synchro paired with a lightning rod, which was a high dollar combo at the time. I started fishing tournaments at 13 in a bass club, but couldn't win money until I was 16. The things I learned in my bass club were invaluable, because there was no internet at the time.

I just use the standard 3700 boxes, and the 3731's (deep 3700's) for backstock plastics. I do like the Falcon spinnerbait wallets and Falcon hook/weight box, which are the only new or innovative storage systems that I have actually found to work better than what I've always used.

I'm sure it works just fine...I see a lot of anglers using it. I just prefer garlic oil, but all scents will serve the same purpose of covering up unwanted odors, and I feel may buy me an extra second to set the hook.

I wouldn't have any idea about how that warm water effects the bass's spawn cycle, but given the water temp and clarity, I'd probably fish the side of the lake where the water is pumped in, covering water as fast as possible with a shallow crank like the Lucky Craft Rick Clunn RC 1.5 in chartreuce copper and a topwater in the morning such as a gunfish in chartreuse shad. I'd also have a pitching bait tied on to pick apart cover. In unknown situations on unfamiliar lakes, I always just try and cover water as fast as I can until I locate a concentration of fish. Good luck!

You can return anything that is unopened for store credit.

Wow! 67 degrees in January?! You must be fishing in Florida. Telling us where the lake is will shed some light on what stage the fish are in. If you are indeed in Florida, the lakes are obviously shallow and weedy, and I know the fish spawn very early in the year, but to be honest I'm not sure of the exact cycle. 67 usually says that the fish are in the last stage of the spawn, but I know things are different in Florida.

There is no short answer for the line that is going to work well for you; it all depends on what you want in a line. I don't think there is any other way other than just trying several lines until you find one that has the properties you desire. For me, Pline CXX serves all my mono/copolymer needs. For fluorocarbon, I've used and like several, but will probably stick with Vanish due to performance and value.

You should really stock 2's, 4's, and 6's. This will cover all your bait's factory hook sizes, and also allow you to experiment with going up a size on some baits. Like RW recommending his Yozuri Hybrid, I'm a huge fan of the Daiichi 4x trebles for replacement hooks, and you will save a ton of money by going with the 100pks ($23.99) versus paying $5 for the 8 or 9 hook filler packs. The 4x hooks are quad reinforced, and are a heavier guage wire (comparable to Lucky Craft stock hooks).