D4u2s0t

most of the health nuts I know are pretty miserable, even though they won't admit it lol

I stated that I did this in the initial post. moisture is somehow getting in the box...

I bend over backward to keep the boxes dry. I may have to get a small, light wire brush and clean up a few lures and maybe toss a few more. I expect a few worms hooks, trebles, and split rings to rust, but I noticed I had a rust spreading thru my jig box a few days ago. if properly taken care of, nothing should rust. Don't put wet items back in the box. Leave them out of the box until they dry, and then put them away. Prablem solved

I NEVER mix used baits, hooks, weights, etc. with unused tackle. Never get any rust, but I used to when I mixed them up.

I've had similar luck with any of the quality spinerbaits available... but mostly buy either strike king or booyah. which bait you use depends on the conditions... are you burning the bait, slow rolling the bottom, want a lot of flash, want alot of noise? It's hard to just pick one, and you should have an assortment (you don't have to go crazy) of baits depending on the conditions.

i go between 2-4 times a week. Fridays if i don't have work i'm out all day, weekends too. During the week, I'll wake up a few hours early to hit the water. On paper, I don't have the time, this time of year working 70-80 hour weeks and owning a home that requires tons of yardwork... but gotta do what you gotta do. i'll glady take that extra cup of coffee to stay awake and get out early before work.

if it's not running right, you need to fix the way it's hooked.

there's dozens of posts about every rage tail bait with thorough instructions, and they also come with detailed rigging instructions. take a quick look through this forum, you probably don't even have to go to the search function, there's a few on the first page alone.

You can't get any kind of good answer without being much more specific... is this your first casting reel? if not, how much experience do you have? Is it rated for the weight of the lures your throwing? Windy conditions? Do you have the brakes adjusted accordingly? Are you using your thumb to slow the spool? What size line is on it?

if you have a private pond that hasn't been fished, the fish will most likely hit anything that passes by. try a variety of baits, and see what works.

the bass don't move much, so you have to pretty much drop the bait right in front of them. Deep water is best. If you have pickerel, they stay active under the ice and are easier and more fun to catch. I use either live monnows on a tip up, or some type of jig (kastmaster or similar) witha piece of worm or mousie in the hook.

there's been quite a few crappie posts lately, and there's some great answers. I'd take a look

I love spinnerbaits, and I like the KVD approach of "always doing something" with the bait. I almost NEVER do a straight retrieve, I'm always either varying the speed, give a pause, give a twich... I especially like to give a twich either right before or right after cover, whether it's an isolated lilly pad or weed, a stump, a rock, etc. When you twitch, do different things... The bait will flutter differently if you twitch it by jerking the rod down, vs. jerking the rod to the side, or straight up. If you try it in clear water, you can see what the differences are. When I twitch, or pause, it's very, very quick... If you were watching, it would be hard to even notice probably unless I pointed it out and told you to look for it. But that split second makes the blades and skirt flutter, and makes the fish have to make a quick decision. When they see the bait coming, they have time to think about what they're going to do. Take away their ability to have that much time to decide to bite, and your chance of catching a fish goes up. If you watched me work a spinnerbait, you would think i was burning it in real fast. But in reality, the bait is moving slowly through the water, but doing lots of "stuff"

Like said, it comes down to preference. I have NEVER caught a fish on a fat ika, lipless crank, or a lizard.... so I don't use them. Doesn't mean the bait is not good, just means they're not good for me. I love the rage lineup, never have issues with them running true, and find them to be very durable. I catch many fish on the same bait without them tearing or not having the same action they have out of the box. If they're not running true, you need to hook them properly. But, the same can be said about majority of baits... if you don't hook a bait properly, it will spin in the water. As far as castability?? I'm a lil confused... I have the space monkeys, roosters, craws, chunks, lobster, and shad. And they all cast a mile and a half. I almost always have a rage bait rigged up on one of my poles, and probably use them more than any soft plastic these days. But again, like the op said, it comes down to preference, there is no right or wrong here.

yea, when you say things like "He's not that old, only early 50's" lol that's the sign my man. When you're "young" you think a person in their 50's may as well be on the death bed lol

This it the response I can picture burley giving if someone else posted this... Burley: It's simple... get off your lazy *** and go to the changing room. That's what you get for not trying them on lol. Can totally picture that.

Without more info, hard to tell... My guess is the bass were guarding beds, with the bluegill waiting nearby for a possible chance to raid the nest. That's what I would say after hearing a bass circling around like that. If you pull those bass off the beds with the gills right there, you can bet the nest will be raided.

I have some nice daiwa and fenwick rods, and believe it or not 2 of my favorite poles to use are my 18 dollar combo, and my fiance's 30 dollar ul combo. I'm on the water 3-4 times a week on average, so these things get some usage. I use these light poles more than any of my pricier light poles, and when my fiance comes out fishing I get a lil upset that I can't use her "crappy" pole lol. The second she puts it down, I make a grab at it. My dad's coming up to hit the lake today, and this is the first pole I made sure was rigged up and ready to go. Will all cheap poles last and hold up to lots of abuse? Probably not. But doesn't mean you can't find a nice cheap combo that will last a long time and performs well. I've had one of these poles for a few years, and my fiance's probably a year and a half. These things have seen tons of use. I would be willing to bet I would put more fish in the boat with these cheap poles than many anglers using setups 10 times the cost. Like many things, it's the person using the equipment, not the equipment. You should still buy the best you can afford, if you have $200 to spend on a pole, I would absolutely not recommend buying the 30 dollar combo. But, if that's all you can afford, don't let anyone tell you that you can't buy one and still go out and have a good time and put fish in the boat with it.

I texas rig them, and it really shouldn't take much movement to get the tail moving... are you using the real ones, or a cheap knock off?

nobody said they can't back up, it's just not something they do often, and there's a difference between a fish backing up and getting more stressed after a hard fight. Hold your breath for 10 seconds, not so hard. sprint around the block at full speed, then try doing it... not the same.

if that's happening on your spinning reel, you probably put the line on wrong, or you somehow twisted the line very badly. I would try re-spooling, and make sure the line doesn't twist when you put it on.

no. when water goes through the mouth, it gets pumped into the gills, the oxygen gets taken out, and it gets expelled through the back. It just doesn't work the other way. Think of it was a one way pump.

because it's letting significantly more air and water into the gills than they're designed to handle. It would be like if someone was trying to revive a person, and stuck a tube from an air pump down their throat and turned on the pump. You don't do that... you lightly blow in the mouth with cpr. Same concept.

gills are designed to flow one way, not 2 ways. It may not kill the fish or anything like that, but if you're trying to release it as unharmed as possible you want to just move it forwards, or even in a circle. fish build up lactic acid when they're stressed, and too much will kill them. Ever catch a fish, release it and it swims away strong, then 5 minutes later it's belly up? Could take minutes, could take days to die. so especially after a good fight, or if the fish is out of the water for a while, (it's usually one of these 2 reasons why a fish won't swim away) you don't want to stress it any more than that. Most fish CAN swim backwards, but it's not something you'll see often. Usually in a pinch, if it is in a hole or something like that and can't spin around.

these days, a degree is not much more than a personal accomplishment. A very small percentage of people actually pursue what they "thought" they wanted to do before school. and in todays day and age, a degree no longer necesarily means more money. so go where you want to go, don't rule out certain schools, and have fun. that's what school's really about