rocknfish9001

"stretch" grubs? i must know more. Are they like strike kings' 3x plastics? I wastched KVD do a presentation, and he did a bit on shakey heads. Said he used 3x finnesse worms since they float. By the way, if you havent seen him, youve got to. He answers every question perfectly, is really nice to fans, and puts his sense of humor into his presentation. I see him every year at his dad's tackle store in kalamazoo, which is only a 45 minute drive away.

Hey, i talked about mustad ultra point hooks.

In what areas does each one excell in? One of my favorite baits is a mann's mannipulator on a slider head, followed by a zoom trickworm on a shakey head. I use the slider head in grassy structure while fishing it simaler to a t-rig, and a shakey head in more of a clean bottom using shakes, hops, and drags. What are your experiences with both of these techniques?

KVD (lives like 45 min. down the road) Larry Nixon Denny Braur Rick Clunn

Most of my hooks now are gamakatsu. Although i did find that mustad ultra point hooks are pretty great themselves. I saw a comercial where they scrape them on wood and they were "still sharp". I tried it myself, put some gnarly scrapes in a block of wood, and still sharp enough to stick to your fingernail. I was impressed. I learned that high quality hooks were super important the wrong way. I went to Lake Magician here in southwest MI earlier this year, and got skunked and watched everybody outfish me. I had more bites, and less fish. Same thing happened at Indian Lake, Pipestone Lake, and at the St. Joe river. I thought my hookset needed work, my rod wasnt stiff enough, my line was too stretchy. Guess what, never came to think that those walmart brand jigheads and year old eagle claw hooks were to blame.

Its a tie between 2 of them. The first was with a buddy. I was working a scum frog over some slop and stopped it in ioen water to remove a tangle in my line after about 30 seconds, i twitch it again and the lure is engulfed. I fight the fish for a little bit, and about 10 feet from shore, it jumps. And this fish is 6 lbs. My neighbor was with me, and he can attest to that, seeing he has a 6 lb. bass hanging on his wall. Anyways, it was the first jump, and it threw the lure. The next was on the same body of water. I was fishing a super fluke for the first time ever, and i was loving it. Every couple of casts, i hooked into a bass. I already broke one off on the hookset because it was in scum, and i caught about 10 fish without re-tying. I put a fresh bait on, and casted way out into an opening in the slop. I worked it a little, and sploosh! The fish was on. This is the most memorable battle with a bass i have had. That is because it would pull line out, and jump all the time ( 4 times if i remember correctly). It never tired!! I fought it for about 2 minutes and it ran into the thick weeds and broke me off!! Another 6 lb. fish gone. The weird thing is, story number one happened on a saturday, and number 2 was on a sunday, during the same weekend.

I have come to the conclusion i need new gear, and lots of it. I realized that since almost all of my boxes are rusty, and my bags are torn and worn. A lot of my lures are nasty with rust, weeds, and grit and grime. I am pretty much starting over here. I am going to get a new tackle bag, with new boxes, and take my best lures that are still in perfect condition, and buy new cranks, hooks, weights, jerkbaits, topwaters, etc. etc. Sounds like fun? Well, sounds expensive, but im sure it will all be worth it. Anyways, in my quest for the perfect tackle box, what lures (stick to hardbaits) do you believe are absoloutley necessary to a bass fishermans tackle arsenary? I have a healthy selection of spinnerbaits, jigs, and soft plastics, so leave those out in your posts. thanks....

I am looking for somebody that knows some really great jigheads. The type of jigheads i am looking for should apply to grubs, craws, reapers, and small worms. I am currently a fan of mushroom shaped heads. Sharp hooks are an absoloute necessity as well. The best jigheads i can find are always from small local companys, and are priced a little higher as well. My 2 favorites are D's (Mishawaka, IN) 60 degree worm jigheads, they have great gamakatsu hooks and a sweet mushroom shaped head, and i just got some other jigheads, the same style made by some company in allegan, MI. What have you come to love as far as companys and designs go?

- rebel pop R - rapala skitter walk - zoom horney toad

I remember seeing some of these pictures in magazines before. I know i have seen picture number 46 in an advertisement somwhere, its killing me because i cant remember were i saw it!!!

32 inch female, caught swimming a grub for walleyes

26" and 27" caught swimming 4" grubs for walleye

Here are some steelies i have caught in the last couple weeks 27 inches, caught drifting a wobble glow tipped with a nightcrawler

I was thinking about trying them this spring. How do the work on smaller fish in the 2 lb. category? Im curious if any people in the northern states have tried/ had any luck on these.

Or the time i tried 10 inch worms for the first time. A couple casts in, i felt a tap, and instentaniously set the hook, which was a no-no when using a 3/0 hook on a 10 inch worm. I was heartbroken, because this is the same water i caught my pb in, and lost 2 fish everyone agreed was 6 lbs. each. I put my worm back on the hook because the fish pulled it off, and casted in the same spot.... tap.tap..... the line moves a little and stops. I normally wouldnt wait this long, but with the size of the hook and worm, i felt that i had to. I reeled in the slack and had a mighty hookset that could have tipped the boat over. I had contact. Except my old beat up "pond reel" which is a 10 year old ryobi baitcaster decided now was a perfect time to fail me. The drag just let out and i failed to get the hook into the fish......... :'(

Once i was on a lake on my neighbors bass boat, which is a treat because he always puts us on some fish. I went out and missed probably 20 fish through the day on t-rigs, tubes, and jigs. I lost several during the fight, but most on the initial hookset. I was fighting more fish than anybody, but ended up getting skunked. I have never been out-fished by him and my fishing buddy. I always manage a few. Not this time.

I have used power pro, and it is my favorite braid to date. It blows spiderwire out of the water. I am curious what the difference is between fireline and power pro, as far as advantages and disadvantages go. I understand that it is a much different material.

The lure that catches MORE bass than any other, although they are usually smaller, would be a 3.5" tube in advacado color, rigged with an 1/8th oz. insider jighead. This is usually my go to anywhere

I am going to spool up with some new line. I am going to use it in the river over the winter, so it needs to hold up to 10 lb. walleyes and steelhead. I am currently using cajun red cast line, 6lb. test. I have broke off one fish, and the ones i hook into take a very long time to land, about 3-5 minutes per fish. Depending on speciese and size. Anyways, i was thinking about using braided line, so i can get better feel, hooksets, and hopefully increase chances of landing fish. Btw, what is the difference between fireline and other superlines? The next choice is yo-zuri hybrid. I have no idea what the big deal is about this line, never tried it, fill me in. And the final choice is using florocarbon, and i would like you to assist me in choosing a brand if that is the best choice. I have been using vanish in 8lb. test and have problems with the line fraying, and the knots holding. What should i use?

yep, those are the spoons i used, and had great success with

never mind, they are selling the spoons with trebles. I didnt know rapala made spoons with trebles..... Anyways, you can get a bunch of discontinued colors if you want to pay $10 or more.

Whittler, strike king is re-making the old spence scout, complete with metal hardware and everything. They kept the old vintage design. Munkin, I found a website that still sells that color and the weedless spoons!

just wondering, what do the patches look like? I am a far cry from getting a largemouth, seeing it has to be 6 1/2 lbs. (kept) or 23 inches (released) My best is just under 6 lbs. and 21 inches long. I looked and saw that i qualified for bluegill as well.

There are 3 worms i use. That would be mann's mannipulator in tequila sunrise, usually t-rigged 1/8 oz. weight. Mann's jellyworm on a 1/8th oz spider slider head. And the original culprit worms

Either excallibur fat free shad series baits. (i believe theyre made by bomber now) or rapala FLAT dts. The flat ones have a big coffin lip