senko_77

Hopefully Randall will post a reply to this thread. He's taught me everything I know about them. They will catch fish from post spawn all the way through late fall. What Randall has taught me most is how effective they are in the dead of summer. They have to be fished fast, and if you can find the right right cadence, it will draw huge reaction strikes.

Fish will crush a lipless crankbait as long as the water isn't hard. The biggest key is wind. As long as there is a chop on the water, I'm chuckin one.

Thanks Glenn! Just a quick question. On the list at the bottom of the page, I can no longer click on a user that is online. It basically doesn't provide a direct link to them. Is that a glitch on my computer, or is that the way it is now?

LOL. So true.

thats the way i see it. i dont care about bait ethics or anything, three qualities determine if i'll buy a bait: good price, good quality, catches fish. So, how would you feel if you came up a with a original bait, and I come along and copy it and sell it and my bait out sells yours. Wouldn't feel very good would it? Usually the rip-offs either don't swim correctly, or fall apart easily. Everyone has their own opinion though, and I must respect that. I would be more than happy to send you a BBZ-1 Shad, and as our member SLO-ROLL says, you can try and tear it "smooth up" The BBZ swims perfectly, has a tough paint job, and when you get one, be the judge on if it falls apart ;D

Change your retrieve. If you were bobbin the bait, walk it, and vice versa. When they are hitting but not completely committing, it means that your close to having the right presentation, but you need a small change. You said you already changed speed and color, so that is the only thing I could tell you. I'm also assuming that you were using braid/heavy rod?

JT, Myspace used to be the thing, but now it's Facebook.

ROFLMAO!

Here are a few surefire ways to get your feet wet with soft plastics. If I need a fish, this is exactly what I have tied on. 1. 1/4 Buckeye Lures Spot Remover with a green pumpkin Zoom Finesse worm. Take the tail of the worm and dip about 1/2" of it in chartreuse colored JJ's Magic, which is a worm dye and also a fish attractant. This will help the fish hang on longer, which will help you learn what a fish feels like compared to the bottom. Cast the bait out and let it sink. Then, position your rod at the 2 aclock position, then raise it slowly to the 12 aclock position and give it a few seconds to sit. Reel in the slack and repeat until you feel a tap, tug, or the weight feels "mushy" which means the fish is running towards you. 2. Take a 3/32oz Picasso Shakedown jighead and put a *** Finesse Worm in Watermelon/purple color. Make sure to make sure the hook point isn't exposed so you don't snag on the bottom. Cast it out and let it sink to the bottom. With a little bit of slack in your line, give your rod tip a few shakes. Pretend your shaking someone's hand when shaking the reel. This is a basic way to start learning this technique. Ironically, it's called "shakyhead" 3. Lastly, take an *** Trick Stick or any other senko style bait and tie on a small Gamakatsu Finesse Wide Gap hook in the 1/0 size. Pinch the bait in half, then put the hook right through the middle of the bait. When you let go of the worm, the hook should be impaling the worm right through the middle, and each end of the worm should hang down to the side. You don't want to fish this bait with any weight, but it takes a bit longer for it to fall. The slow fall and wiggle is what makes this rig so effective. Cast it out and count to 30. If you see your line jump at any time, set the hook. If no fish after 30 seconds, lift your rod tip up a foot or 2 and repeat the process back to the boat. If you do any of these 3 techniques for a hour or 2, I guarantee you will catch some fish. The biggest key to fishing plastics is learning to fish them slow, learning how to use them to learn bottom composition, and learning to detect the light bites! Good luck dude! Hope this helps ;D

You don't like that? I think it looks sweet. I like how it looks beaten up. Looks like a bigger fish has been munching on it a bit.

I'm not to big of a crank fisherman, so my opinion is probably worthless, but the only time I care about what my bait is made of is in the Pre-Spawn. One of my favorite techniques is to go find shallow wood and stump fields and crash a square billed shallow diver through it. Fishing a bait made of balsa is an absolute must in this situation. The Bagley B2 is just disgusting in this scenario. It's virtually weedless and the fish can not help but crush it. Now I'm gonna contradict myself by saying that the 1.5RC from Lucky Craft is another spectacular bait for fishing shallow, but it's made of plastic. So I guess that statement just ruined my whole argument ;D Thanks for sharing Mrbassky

Awesome stuff Thad.

Soft plastics like a *** Finesse worm or Duper Fluke are both awesome choices for the green stuff. Also a A.B. Strokin Toad when the water is a bit warmer. Another technique that I really got them with the last few months was to take a Rabbit Dog Spinnerbait and rip it through the grass. I could throw a toad 10 times at the same spot, then the spinnerbait, and BLAM!!! They would crush that spinnerbait

Welcome back! I bet you can't wait to hit some of those trout eating fatties!

I don't like it, but I had to go with $5000+ I have all my entry fees totaled and that alone is over 2k. Gas, tackle, FOOD, hotel, etc. and I will easily be over 5 grand when 2010 rolls around. Wish I could find someone to pay for me!

I've never fished for smallies, but the largemouth around here crush a Sammy or Spro Dawg in the 100 size.

Loops in a spinning reel

I've had pretty good success when I've thrown them, but I haven't been able to get out on the water much lately. I've fished the slow sink and fast sink, and from all the times I threw it, the fast sink seemed way more versatile to me. The slow sink is basically a floater because it falls so darn slow. When the Spring of 09' rolls around, your gonna see some big numbers being put up on the BBZ Shad.

I think the mop jig uses regular round rubber. Rather than trimming the skirt, they just keep it long. I know there's a site where you can buy round rubber, but I'm not sure what it is.

He may have paid more, but he also didn't have to wait 16 weeks to get his bait back which is what the turnaround time is for Sixth Sense Baits right now.

x2!!!!!!

I honestly don't know if the brand of weight matters, but I doubt it does. I will shoot a message to my contact at TT and let him know about the problem. I don't have any extra Force Beads at the moment, but when I put in my order in January, I will be more than happy to send you a replacement package to see if you like them. Just shoot me a pm as the new year gets closer and I will get them to you!

That is the best paint job I have ever seen. I wouldn't pay $100, but I could see how someone would. Does anyone on here know how to paint like that? I would be more than willing to shell out some green for something like that.

Send them back and get a replacement. The Force Beads aren't supposed to break. I'm sure that TT would like to know if there are beads out there that are cracking. Give them a call or shoot them and email and I'm sure they would be glad to help you out.

Good question Arul. Hopefully I can clear your issue up. The beads are magnetic, but are very weak. It does cause your weight to stick a bit, but when you cast it out, and use your normal retrieve, wether it's hopping, crawling, stroking, swimming, etc. the bead and weight will stick click together. Here is why Tru-Tungsten decided to make the Force beads magnetic. All living things have a magnetic field. Some research that Tru-Tungsten did indicated that the lateral line on bass could pick up that magnetic feeling of a living thing. So Tru-Tungsten's thought was that is the bait now had that small magnetic field for the bass to pick up on, it would convince the fish even more that the bait was real, and it would also help the fish find it easier in dark conditions or muddy water. Now, personally, I don't know if it makes a huge difference, or a difference at all, but, I do know that it increases my confidence in what I am throwing and that is a major key in catching fish....and if the magnets don't work, then hey, you got a pretty loud bead that doesn't break. Hope this answers your question