aceman387

I do the same thing bassin b does.I have 12 totes labled with masking tape and a magic marker.One for finesse worms,one for senko,yum dingers,etc,etc.If you go the tote route start with 3-4, don't buy a bunch like me because you will then feel obligated to fill them all up.lol

I would buy a pack or two of some baby brush hogs in green pumpkin color,they are a good all purpose creature type bait.

Welcome from another illinois (south suburb,chicago) guy.

I grew up with a couple friends who were genetic freaks like that.I would spend hours lifting and running to try and better myself and they would sit around eating pizza and drinking beer and staying out all night.I hate to admit it but when it came time to compete against them they were still better than me.

Congrats on your new boat.I bought my first kayak last spring (ride 115) and found the kayak experience so relaxing and rewarding,its like meditation being out on it on the water. You can expect bigger fish totals for the upcoming year because kayaks are quiet and stealthy,no boat motor or trolling motors to spook the bass.I have bass and turtles swim up from the bottom of the lake to come up and check me out all the time,they swim up and stare at my yak trying to figure out what the heck it is,they must think its a floating log,I should mention if your married you should pre warn your wife to expect to see less of you this coming year lol .I bring a thermos of coffee,jug of water and some sandwiches and stay out all day.

I use a spinning set up with braided line (10# test 2# diam ) with a 6# floro leader and never have a line twist problem.I have a habit of closing the bail by hand before i start turning the handle on a retrieve.I found out that helps out alot with line twist prevention.

I remember reading an article this winter about double digit bass and the author commented about how big bass are reluctant to chase fast moving lures and like to lay dormant during the day and come out at night to do most of their feeding. I belong to a strip mine club with ultra clear deep water and i had one of the guards at the guard house tell me that if i want to catch the big bass i should take up night fishing and come out around 10 pm and fish till 2am or so.I happen to be a morning person so i never could stay awake long enough to test his theory.I have caught all my bigger bass during the day on soft plastics working them slowly and deadsticking them at times,its painful but it works. Once you locate where the big bass are hiding try working some soft plastics or jigs and slow down.

My favorite is black & blue.I have green pumpkin and watermelon but i have the best luck dragging or hopping or swimming a 5/16 black & blue color,you would think the greens would work better in the clear water but i also have great success with a 7"berkley power worm in blue fleck color in the clear strip pits on cloudy or sunny days.

I fish some crystal clear strip mine pits and stealth is the key,like ww2farmer stated the key is to not be seen and heard.I fish mainly soft plastics and jigs and i have caught bass on all sizes and colors.I have been out there fishing on flat calm sunny days and would see bass flee from a good distance just by turning on my trolling motor.The best thing i ever did was buy a fishing kayak,they are so quiet and stealthy that i have bass and turtles swim up to it and try to figure out what the heck i am.I caught the biggest bass of my life at the strip pits on the very first time out in it,she was 24"long and over 7# easy and i caught her on a wacky rigged 4"watermelon yum dinger at 1.15 pm on a flat calm sunny day,the worst type conditions for clear water fishing. Long casting distance is a must so all my spinning set ups i use are the u s supercaster reels,the wide spools give you better casting distance.

I fish strip pits that you can see the bottom at 20 feet,I use 10# moss green power pro braided line with a 6# floro leader and have no problem catching bass,even on sunny calm days.

Has anybody tried one or bought one ? What did you like or dislike about it?

I have been tempted by the tackle warehouse sale to upgrade from my legend elite spinning rod (es70mf) which is 4-5 years old to a nrx spinning rod.I have never owned a loomis rod and i was wondering if i pulled the trigger would i expect a huge difference in sensitivity between the two?

I fish clear strip mine pits and my favorite lure over the years on calm sunny days has been a wacky rigged 4"watermelon colored yum dinger. One the other rod i will tie something faster moving like a 3"watermelon colored grub rigged on a 1/8 oz jig head .i use 10# power pro braided line in moss green color with a 6# floro leader.I rarely shore fish anymore since buying a kayak but i would think you would have better luck shore fishing with a chop on the water or overcast rainy days so the bass are roaming more and not so spooky,night fishing is great on clear water also. Don't be scared to throw the kitchen sink in clear water on because i have caught bass on all kinds of lures and all kinds of colors but on flat,calm,sunny days (which can be tough) i always go with my two favorites i mentioned above.

I have been disappointed so far,hopefully better commercials are coming after half time.

Another vote for the eyecon.I bought a 7ft lite model and its my go to rod for finesse and ultra light type fishing.

I am an avid collector of soft plastics,eventually your wife will reach the point of shaking her head at you to shaking her clenched fist at you.lol

This ruffles my feathers also.Shame on bps for picking on the little guy.I plan on spending my money elsewhere also

Tackle warehouse for me also.The only time i go to bps is if i get gift cards for the holidays or an emergency outage.

One of my older fishing mentors always puts his soft plastics in a zip loc bag with bacon the day before he uses them,he does catch bass often but is it the bacon or all his experience ?

I tried bounce fabric sheets once but still got bit.I think some people are more prone to get bit than others.I had an old timer tell me to put some moth balls in the bottom of my boat to keep the biting flies off your ankles,I decided to wear long pants instead.I wasn't sure what would be worse, the biting flies or inhaling moth ball fumes for hours.lol

I only wear cotton t shirts in the hot summer,short sleeve,long sleeve.I see some guys like the colombia pfg clothes.I bought one colombia pfg short sleeve polo type shirt and the thing is so frigging hot i cant wear it except in the fall.I don't know if they are all polyester or what but cotton is the only thing i can keep cool in.

Cabin fever seems to hit me around jan-feb when the bitter cold keeps me indoors.I have this ritual i do every winter which consists of me dragging all my tackle out of the cold garage into my warm basement and sprawl it all over the place on the floor,as weird as it seems i find it kind of meditating to grab a cup of coffee and go down in the basement and sit amongst it and try and sort it into different binders and boxes.I am mainly a soft plastic fisherman and i have accumulated a vast inventory of soft plastics over the years ,so much so that i always happen upon bags of stuff i had forgotten i even bought.I will find my self organizing and unorganizing my tackle over the next couple months to keep my sanity lol. Thank god we have bass resource for this time of year to read,i would think this site is responsible for the reduction of bass angler cabin fever suicide deaths every winter.lol

I had on old landscaper friend tell me to stuff dryer sheets in my pockets to prevent the mosquito's from biting,i tried it once and for me it didn't make a difference,all it did was make me smell pretty.I believe what worked for him was his cigarettes not the fabric sheets,he chain smoked all the time while he worked.I would think a fine cigar would work just as well,plus they make a good fishing companion.lol

My wife just asked me why i was laughing so hard. You guys just made my day with these posts.

The ride 115 is plenty stable for sitting and fishing,I often fish sitting side saddle on it with my butt on on the side with my legs dangling in the cool water with no fear of it tipping or flipping.I stand in it often,mainly to pee.I have gotten better with the balance thing while standing up the more i do it and i hope some day to try standing and fishing (a goal of mine for this year) The balance thing may be due to my age (52) but i have noticed my sea legs have gotten better the more standing in it i do. No problems to report about the ride 115,do some research on line about it.Kayak fishing is a blast.Ed