airborne_angler

Let me begin by saying that a Drop Shot has got to be my number one producer in the lake I fish. But that is also a problem for me. Im usually throwing small drop shot specific baits and all I seem to end up with is smaller fish. I want to venture into larger baits,and hopefully start getting into larger fish,but I dont have the confidence to throw larger baits on a Drop Shot for fear of being skunked. So I keep the "Training Wheels" on and throw those small baits and catch small(12 inch and smaller) fish Anyone know of a sure fire larger profile bait that works well and can catch the larger fish on a Drop shot. I like to hear from both the suggestions side and from the personal experience side of the house.Ive got a HUGE assortment of soft plastics at my disposal,so whatever bait anyone names off, I probably have somewhere in storage.

So I've got a 14# mono main line and a 10# FC leader about the length of my arm. I know some will say I need to up the # test on both my main and leader,guess ill figure that out when I give it a try today,if I hook up. When I was in my mid teens,I used a c-rig for the first time,had no concept of line stretch and such,probably only used 10# for my main and 8# for a leader,and all went well...

Have a baitcaster setup with 14# Mono. Wanting to run a Carolina rig. What's better for a leader,Mono or Fluorocarbon? My train of thought is that mono floats,but it also stretches,and to my knowledge buoyancy in a Carolina rig is somewhat desired. With FC there's less stretch,the line is less visible,but the line sinks. So what's better for a Carolina rig,Mono or FC and why?

Dont know if Chris Brown is still at Strike King...Read somewhere he has ventured on to bigger and better things. I may be wrong...If he is still there,rest assured he WILL take care of you. I has the finish peel off on a series 4 Crank and I also had some Redeye Shad Baits swell up on me from the sun. Chris sent me several of each,a catalog and a hat,no questions asked...totally unexpected,a class act.

So I stand corrected...Now what did I do with that slice of Humble Pie?

As far a knots go,id say mine is the arbor knot,I use it on probably EVERY application where I have to secure something...For me its quick,easy to tie and will hold well,and since its a slip knot its adjustable. Anyone else?

How many of you own a boat and DONT own a plug knocker? A plug knocker is a totally invaluable tool to have in the boat.Not only can you get your hung lure back,but sometimes you pull up other lines with it,that got hung on the same snag. Ive pulled up Spinnerbaits,spoons,and just all sorts of bait fishing gear thats been lost by others while working to retrieve my own stuck lure.Its pretty neat because you never know what your gonna pull up. If the day is slow,ill mess around on a snag with my plug knocker to see what else I can pull up. If nothing else,the blades on the spinnerbaits can normally be reused. If they are too tarnished,paint them...The bait fishing gear,well the hooks are normally rusted out,but you can usually get some swivels,large splitshot sinkers and bass casting sinkers out of it. The bass casting sinkers make great disposable Dropshot weights. My personal plug knocker comes from Bass Pro Shops. Its a heavy weight and if the weight doesnt knock the lure loose,its got some chains that hang down to hopefully get into the hooks. http://www.basspro.c...ct/44428/133047 *NOTE* If you purchase this one linked above,the FIRST thing you should do is retie the line that goes to the retriever,its normally barely tied,and will likely get easily lost if not retied.

Bad thing is even a Plug knocker is unlikely to get a stuck A-rig back

Was watching a vid last night and the guy mentioned there's a right and wrong way to rig a brush hog. Not sure if its true,but the explanation made sense. Try this...take a Brush Hog,and let it hang off the edge of your hand,(the edge you would do a karate chop with) or even form your pointy finger and thumblike a gun and let the bait hang down between the 2. Now take the Brush hog and drag it slowly over the "edge" of your hand and watch what the "pincher like" appendages do. Then take the bait and flip it on its other side and try again. Theory is that if its rigged correctly,those "pinchers" should spread open as its coming over cover like rocks and logs. If its rigged the other way,the pinchers will close when dragged over cover. Not saying it REALLY matters,but there's a visible difference in how those pinchers act when rigged differently. May help trigger some strikes. *EDIT* Now that I think of it,this theory may not be correct. In the video demonstration,the guy was dragging the Brush Hog unrigged,no hook or anything. If the bait was rigged correctly,I would think the hook might keep those pinchers from contacting the structure,and the hook is going to cause the bait to ride tilted to one side or the other...

Yea my Walmart has the huge ones as well,but I dug around in the box and scored.

Sorry if this has been covered already,but my local Walmart and others I have been to,have a bottom shelf box of Asst'd Rapala baits for $4.96 each. $5 for a crank seems a bit much,but compare some I have listed to a normal price of $8 or $9 and its really a bargain. I went through the assortment and I found the following: Countdown Original Minnow Rap in a good assortment of sizes and colors Flat Rap in a good assortment of Sizes and Colors Large Skitter Pops DT Thugs with the Sureset hooks DT-10 Cranks There may be more,but those listed are what came to mind. I bought the 4 DT 10 in Perch and the 4 DT Thugs in Charteuse/Brown back I found. A deal I couldnt pass up. So keep your eyes peeled on the bottom shelf where the $1.00 Spinnerbaits,and the $2.96 assorted Pradco (Rebel,Bomber,Cotton Cordell and Arbogast) Hardbaits for are located,the Rapala Treasure Box is right in there under the pegged Rapalas. The label with the UPC for the $4.96 baits will read "Rapala Treasure Chest Asst." I mention this because im sure some regular pegged Rapalas will get dropped in the box,and personally id hate to go to the register with baits that fell off the pegs,mixed in with the $4.96 ones. Can get confusing ya know,when the price doesnt jive with whats advertised and such

Anyone throw these frequently? I don't throw cranks much,and for me,If I catch even one on a crank,its a good time. Last year,in my season opener,I boated 3 on a Shad patterned DT6,This years season opener was exactly the same,with the exact same bait. Yesterday,I boated 2 on a silver/black back DT10 Sureset. I'm kinda liking these DT Cranks...how's everyone else like em?

Just because the waters you fish don't have a certain forage naturally,doesn't mean you can't throw it and be successful. The other day,the first day on the water this year,I was throwing a Rapala DT 6 in a Shad pattern and boated 2 fish that went about 2# each,one dink and lost another that might have gone 2# at the boat. I'm telling you this because there isn't any kind of bait fish forage in this lake at all. Bottom line,as I have learned here at Bassresource.com is,Bass are opportunistic predators. If they see something that they perceive as food,they're likely to eat it. Bass eat everything from Fish,frogs,crawfish,even mice,baby ducks and birds. Bass have even been known to be cannabalistic,they eat each other.

Well this is good info to know,I appreciate it. Ive loaded up on Football Jigs as Ive heard they dont have as much a tendency to fall over while on the bottom. So now that I understand it,A football jig is for Deadsticking,dragging,crawling twitching and shaking like a T-rig and the other styles are designed to get bit on the fall and "stroked"(popped off the bottom sharp and violently) sound right?

While I haven't actually fished this jig,I've tank tested a 3/8 oz version in my 55 gal aquarium with a trailer attached. Everytime the jig settles down,it falls/leans over,giving the trailer a sideways stance. Should I be concerned about this? To me it makes it look unnatural. If it does make a difference,how can this be remedied?

Just doing some fantasy fishing in my mind and thought of a concept. Wondering if anyone has tried something similar and how it performed. Picture this: You run your mainline down and attach it to a spoon,it could be a Mepps Syclops,a ZRay,a Kastmaster,or just a plain ordinary spoon. You take the hook off the end of the spoon and tie a length of leader of your choice. At the end of the leader you put on a bait(artificial or natural,your choice) Could be a fluke,LFT magic Shad,plastic worm,French fry,Senko or whatever. In theory,would the spoon have erratic action,thus giving the bait on the end of the leader an erratic action as well? Or would the spoon just act as a weight and pull straight when retrieved? Perhaps experimenting would need to be in order,as different spoons may have different action,or no action ay all with this set up.Likewise,perhaps the size of bait on the end of the leader could hinder or enhance the action as well. Seems to me if an erratic action can be achieved,this may be a killer setup. Thoughts,ideas and opinions are welcome.

Arizona Fishing regs states the following: "Anglers may use one line or pole with no more than 2 hooks. An artificial lure is considered one hook." So that being the case,I want to do a standard dropshot but the weight on the bottom is going to be a "Westy worm" (pre rigged worm with 2 hooks) Based on how I interpret this,I am legal,and would still be legal,even if I were to put a jerkbait on there with 3 hooks,in addition to the dropshot hook up above. Am I correct in my thinking based on how the regs read? Thoughts,opinions?

Ok so that narrows it down. Further research shows that the bait I have(pictured) is a MANNS BIG GEORGE,and the bait pictured is in its correct configuration(with the exception of the split ring I added) The SUPER GEORGE is ad pictured in the response,with the spinner on the rear. So this new found info makes me believe that because this bait is in its correct configuration,it may actually be a one knocker rattle bait.

Got this bait in a "lot" I purchased at a thrift shop.Its tear shaped and it has a single rattle in it,similar to a one knocker. I added the split ring as a line tie Anyone recognize this bait,who makes it and how old is it?

I started throwing Rapala Xraps at a local pond last year and just tore up the fish. Thinking it was just the small pond,I tried on a local lake and boated 2 dinks while battling seriously fierce winds. I'm totally stuck on Xraps.

I purchased a couple of Bomber Square A's at BPS a few years ago. They are both Chartreuse with black backs,but there are 2 sizes. I have the smaller of the 2 sizes tied on currently. I havent been on the water yet this year,and I havent ever thrown this bait,but I just feel it in my bones its gonna produce,even if they are dinks,I just feel im gonna get bit. Anyone have a similar feeling about a bait theyve never even thrown?

I'll never buy spots again. Leave em in the sun and the swell and distort.SK Redeye Shads do it too. There's a difference in customer service though. SK replaced the swollen baits no questions asked. I had to pay the postage to ship my Cordell spots so they could inspect them. I sent them probably 12 of the brand new baits that I hadn't even tied on. They called me and said they would replace them at no cost to me. 2 hours later I got a call that they changed their mind and they wouldn't replace them and would be sending them back. Would have been nice if they would have honored their original decision. No more Cordell products of any kind for me!

Anyone ever had success with the 3" Culprit Flippin Craw as a Jig trailer? Ive rigged one up on a 3/8oz football jig. Tried it out in my 55 gal aquarium to see what kind of action it would have. Looks as though it would go into the "defensive" posture really easily.Other than that,it doesnt do much. Hows it work for others who have actually tried it?

The weather has been really nice the past couple of day and id like to get out and lob some swimbaits. The size baits ill be throwing are Mattlures Baby Bass,Huddelston Shad,and Huddelston 6"Trout and Optimum Line Thru baits. I know theres gotta be an "Optimal" line Brand, # test and material,but I dont want to shell out any more $$$ and want to use up the stuff I already have,Soooo....Here are the lines I have at my disposal at the moment which I "think" would work well for swimbaits. Bass Pro Premium Excel Mono in 14,17,and 20# test in Clear Blue/Transparent Berkley Trilene Big Game in 15# test in Green With those being my choices,what should my bare minimum # test be for throwing the Swimbaits ive mentioned above? Based on my line options above what would be the most optimal,all around best # line to use? Ill be throwing the swimbaits on an Abu Garcia Ambassadeur 6000 along with a Medium Heavy7"0 Berkley Lightning Rod. I know my rod and reel choice may not be optimal,but its the most stout setup I have at my disposal.

Went to a thrift shop yesterday and picked up a 1 piece 5-1/2 ft Daiwa Apollo 2900 medium action rod which is rated for 1/2-1oz lures and 8-16 lb test line. Along with the rod is a Daiwa MA 1000X with a 5.2:1 gear ratio.The reel has a flipping switch so I'm guessing it's a good close quarters reel. Based on the specs of this combo,how well would this combo do as a cranking setup?