IntroC

Most of it depends on the lake your fishing. We have lakes up here that if I don't catch at least 15 to 20 fish I don't consider it a good day and has the potential for 40 ,50 fish a day. There are other lakes you could fish all year long and 10 fish would be an excellent day. Its all relative to the body of water your fishing. Like others have said a fishing log has helped me immencely.

Stanley Ribbit Frogs are my pick. They catch as good as Rage Toads and hold up a lot better. I like scum frogs when I need a floater but if I'm just buzzing a frog I put on a Ribbit. The Scum Frog will last about as long as one Ribbit but for the price of a Scum Frog you get 5 Ribbits.

Hope they bring back the Grass Rat

Since I have bought a lure retreiver about 10 years ago I can count the number of cranks I have lost since then on one hand. One of the best purchases I have made. I remember seeing them things on the shelves chuckling to myself thinking they were a joke till one day I lost about $50 worth of cranks and bought one thinking what do I have to lose for a $6 dollar lure retreiver. I have literaly saved hundreds of dollars since. Also have caught way more fish because it took the fear of loosing cranks out of the picture. Jigs and other soft platics I still loose my share of but they cost no where near what cranks cost. So I'm OK dealing with that.

Was doing some smallie fishing the other day with a 1/4 oz footballhead jig(hooks ARE sharp) and a craw trailor and was having a very hard time hooking fish with this set up. I'd feel the hit and set the hook, feel the weight of the fish then nothing. So I switched to a Texas rig with a 1/4oz bullet sinker and it took care of the problem. I would rather be using the football head. Curious if the problem is maybe I'm setting the hook to hard? The only thing I could come up with is that the hard hooksets are popping open the fishes mouth. Is this possible? Open to suggestions. Also I'm using braid.

I fish with my Dad quite often which I woldn't change for the world but if I could pick a well known person for a day it would be Al Lindner. Actually a few days would be better.

Strike King cranks are hard to beat. Can't argue with the success these baits have had in pro tourneys. Rapala DT's are also a proven bait at a decent price.

I agree. Evers just keeps getting better every year.

I changed out the stock hooks on all my SK Series 5's with the KVD 2x hooks in size 4 and I seem to be missing a lot of fish and was thinking of going with the 2's. I put them on and they look a little oversized for this bait. Does anyone fish these with the size 2's? Does it kill the action in any way? Has it made a difference in your hookup percentages? Thanks.

I was doing some internet surfing and ran across an interveiw with Mike Long the big bass guru. I'm not sure how old the interveiw was but Mike was talking about a book that he is writing. I guess I'm curious if he currently has any books out yet and if so what were the names? Thanks.

I agree with the decision. Good for B.A.S.S.

I have been keeping records now for some time....weather conditions, watercolor/levels, baro, anthing I can think of and moon phase is one of them. I have scheduled my vacations on days that were supposed to be premo for fishing according to the moon and bombed. Have also had excellent trips on days when the fish weren't supposed to be biting. I think so many other factors trump the effect that the moon has that it becomes a non-issue in most cases. I know there are musky guys that swear by moon phases. If it has any effect IMO it would be on ultra clear water lakes where there may be major feeding going on at night that could effect the day bite.

Bagley Grass Rat and the Rebel Minow Slvr/Blu back in 4.5 inch. They still make them in the 3.5 version but thats just a little small for my taste. Suprises the heck out of me that you don't hear more about Rebel Minnows as far a mionnow baits go. These things catch fish like its going out of style.

I'd have to test the waters a little first. Would love to compete against fellers like KVD, Ike, and Reese to name a few. If I had 365 days out of the year to fish and dedicate my time to nothing but fishing.... anythings possible.

Use heavy braided line. The bass don't mind. If using baitcasting gear put #50 on. Spinning go #20 or #30 whatever you can get by with and still make decent casts. PowerePro is a good braid for casting. I'm sure there are others out there just as good.

The one Francho has a picture of on his post is similar to the one I use. I bought one that didn't come with a spool and have spooled it on a wooden doll. The only thing I use it for is cranks. This thing cost me about $6 and it has easily saved me hundreds of dollars. Up until this year I don't believe it has ever failed my. Then this year I had two that I couldn't get free. It has improved my fishing leaps and bounds by giving me the confidence to fish areas i previously never would have. I have pulled up anchors with it and one time I sent it down to retrieve a lure and pulled up two others. The thing is awsome. I remember seeing these things on store shelves thinking there is no way that thing will work. Than after loosing about $50 worth of lures one outing I thought what have I got to loose. Bought one and the rest is history.

My most productive popper. Frog pattern.

Same here.

How stained is the water your fishing? Is it a recreational lake? A perfect night time lake would have water on the clearer side and heavy recreation during the day. Usaully stained water lakes are better to fish during the day. Sometimes reading threads on night fishing you get the wrong impression that all lakes have excellent night bites. That really isn't the case. If your hammering them during the day I would stick with fishing during the day. If there is a lake you know holds good fish but are having a tough go during the day chances are there may be a good night bite.

Carp where introduced from Europe and are an invasive specie. Have also heard in extreme cases carp can replace up to 75% of a game fish populations. The more carp you have in a lake the less gamefish will exist. In other words lakes have a carrying capacity of fish per acre. Where I live I have never seen the introduction of carp(which is never purposefully done) end up being a good thing. Its a matter of how bad it will it will effect gamefish populations. I say shoot as many as you can and give them away, bury them or trash them just like you would a gopher.

I personally have never had that good of luck with them. $10 to $20 on Ebay....I'd be selling. At $2 a piece you got an excellent deal.

Am curious if they still make these? Did a google search and it seems that it may be discontinued. I have had the same one now for probably over twenty years and replaced the rear skirt a few times. Would be a shame if these lures are no longer made. Awsome action and amazingly weedless for an openhooked topwater. Anyone know where I could find one? Thanks!

My link I seen a fishing show with Jeff Kreit and Patrick Sebile and they were fishing heavy weeds. Kreit was using conventional weed baits while Sebile was throwing a flat shad snagless. At first Kreit refused to use it because he figured his hook up percentage would be terrible. Patrick was killing em with this setup and Kreit finally switched over. I see no reason why you couldn't make and liples crank weedless by removing the back treble and cutting off the downward hook on the front treble.

Thanks fellas.

I'm not much of a spinnerbait fisher but got into some smallies that prefered them over other baits. I noticed that my spinnerbaits where not running straight up and down. Is there a way to correct this?