ChrisAW

I wouldn't say thats always the case. Gander Mountains name brand spinner baits are 3.99 a piece. But they are made by Strike King, and are the exact same thing SK was selling for 7 or 8 dollars a piece. They even say Strike King on the blades of the GM ones. Whats the difference there?

While it's not the same lure youre talking about, I found the Trigger X Big Moe makes a decent topwater plastic. If you rig it upside down, the tail will make a good commotion and it can be worked pretty slow too.

I've only had any real problem with one other fisherman out on the water. For whatever reason, even though he never seen me catch a fish, he kept cutting me off along the shoreline I was fishing. I moved three times before I got really frustrated with him and started to go off on him. After a few unkind words were exchanged, he thought he would be cute and cast right across the front of my boat. Well, he didn't expect me to pitch my jig out over his line. I felt his lure catch on my jig, and I set the hook on it. His line sprang up without whatever he had tied on, he got extremely angry, and was cursing me out as I was starting up my boat and moved one last time. I guess he finally decided not to follow me after that.

One of my managers went to a big vendors show out in Minnesota a month ago or so, and he seen them giving some of the Havoc baits away. He gave me a pack of the Pit Boss' since he doesn't really do as much flipping as I do. I went and threw one into my neighbors pond and I'm actually kind of surprised by the amount of action the appendages have on the Pit Boss. They look so simple, but I'm intrigued and I'll be giving them a fair shot this year. Other than that, Big Bite's Fighting Frog is one of my favorites. They have nice action, a handy slit down the middle helps make sure the hook can pop out plenty to get a good set, and have a good profile with the craw style claws.

Awesome, thanks for the link.

Well, after having to sell my procraft last year, I'm looking for less expensive ways of getting back on the water. I was looking at canoes and kayaks and everything, but I have a perfectly good aluminum 12' boat sitting out behind the barn that I could just get a motor for and everything. The only thing is that I really can't stand fishing without a deck, or sitting for that matter, and I know it wont be stable enough for a casting deck without some kind of stabilizers. Are there any options I have besides outriggers? I have fabrication skills and wouldnt have much trouble making something like some sponsons or something of that nature' though those make me any more stable or will it still just roll? Any help would be appreciated.

Definitely. The hookset was the best part of the video in my opinion though! So I guess not many have ever used this technique? I guess I just gotta give it a go. Every time I've used the conventional Carolina off the points in my favorite lake, I'd pull up 5 pounds of weeds and probably missed bites because of it. So I usually give up and fish a different technique. I guess the only downside is that you'll lose the clacking and clicking noise from the weight and beads, but a rattle might help with that.

I was watching a video on youtube of Bub Tosh fishing a point with a type of "Carolina Rig" that seemed to more of less just be a dropshot with a leader. I was curious how many others fish this rig vs the normal carolina? It seems like it would be better for me since the lakes I fish the most are extremely weedy. And after just trying it out in my friends pond, I can see that my bait will actually stay up off the bottom This is the video I'm speaking of.

I'm using 20# on two of my reels, I can't say a lot though, I haven't been able to do much more than some pond fishing.

I've been selling these reels like crazy at my Gander store. We have them marked half off, and then another 25% off on top of that. $80 reel for $29.99? You better believe that's a good deal.

It really doesn't. The tip on the Vendetta is a LOT softer than the SR rod. Thats half the reason why I'm asking if I should switch them.

Well, I sold some stuff this weekend and decided to spend some of my profits on a couple rods to upgrade a few cheaper spinning rods, and as well as get a new flipping/pitching rod and reel, mainly because I want a rod for punching mat's as well as one to have a jig tied on. I ended up buying one of Skeet Reese's Honeycomb Micro rods, the Heavy Cover rod, thinking this would be a great rod for jigs. But now I realized how heavy it really is, and I'm thinking of switching it out with my Vendetta that I was using before, but I'm curious what you guys think. Both have Revo S's, one with 20# Flouro and one with 50# Sufix, so reels can just be switched as easily as I'd like. Skeet Reese Micro 7'6" Heavy Fast 3/4 to 1-1/2 oz Lure 12-30lb Line Vendetta 7'6" MedHeavy Fast 1/2 to 3 oz Lure 12-25lb Line The Vendetta is softer which would probably be better for jigs, but the lure weight seems like it would be better for punching mats since the weight alone that I use is at least 1oz, and I have 1-1/2's as well. But being that I'd really need to horse a fish out of that cover, I was thinking the SR rod would be better for that. What would you guys do?

Well we still have 10+ inches of ice, it only recently started warming up. That, and I had a woman taking up all my time the last 3 months, but now that thats over, I have time to get to getting ready for spring.

I can completely understand that. I myself am a mechanic, so I'm all about taking stuff apart and generally have no problem putting them back together. I just make sure everything is in sight, and don't really miss anything when going back together.

Well, I guess its not spring yet. But When you have nothing else better to do, why not get started on getting those reels clean, oiled, and greased? Two down, 5 more to go! I can't imagine how much some of you guys with a boat full of rods and reels dread this part ;D

X2. These are made by Cotton Cordell Cordell now. If not, they look exactly alike.

I'd be ecstatic if I could afford this right now. http://detroit.craigslist.org/wyn/boa/2247152760.html

We have these at my store. I don't really think they are that large, so I cant imagine it would get that heavy. I'm not sure exactly how much they hold though, after looking at the pricetag, I'd pick something else. I know there are better options out there for that kind of money. I'm currently using a backpack with three 3701 containers, a 3700 container, three little 3500's, a spinnerbait box, and a Falcon plastics bag. Its not lite, but its not too heavy for me to carry around on my back all day shore fishing. But I'm a big guy, so not sure if I qualify to give you my opinion on heavy

Cool, thanks for clearing that up for me guys. I already have the equipment for it, sounds like I just need some 1oz tungstens and I'll be good to go.

This sounds like the perfect technique for a lake I fish on pretty frequently. I'd just like to clear something up though, thats been puzzling me. My lake has spots of both hydrilla and millfoil, and I've done good fishing along the edge of it and lighter plastics into pockets, but never thought of punching down into it. Does this stuff basicly just layer up and have open area underneith? This is definitely the ticket for the lakes I fish I'm sure, its nothing but weeds and mats. I'm just curious what this stuff looks like underneith.

The inside of the curve on a river has less current than the outside of the curve. Ever notice how a creek or river will be deeper on the outside of the curve than the inside? Thats because the faster current will remove sediment from the outside, and the slower current will actually allow sediment to settle on the inside. So if there's no nearby current breaks, they'll likely be holding on the inside of a curve.

The latch on the hook for my winch strap had broken on my trailer, so my hook could fall off if there was slack on it. So one day last summer when I went to launch, the hook had fallen off while I was backing into the launch. As soon as the boat floated up, it just went straight out into the lake. I jumped out and tried to beat it to the end of the dock, but no such luck... Sooo I jumped in and retrieved my boat. The swim felt good, but dumb at the same time.

All mY local walmarts only carry gamakatsus, but I have been getting some good prices on random soft baits. I can't help but go and check out the clearance baits whey time I go. I even got some elaztech style Strike King baits for a dollar a package, bought those out then an there.

We got two of these in at work, the Stella 4000FE. I didn't really know about the Stella beforehand, and I scanned the UPC to price it and about crapped myself when I seen how much it cost I yelled out some slight profanity at the sheer thought of spending $700 for a spinning reel. But we told the manager of the fishing section to come out back and pick them up, and he took one out to take a look at it. Such a thing of beauty. A slight wind blew through the loading dock, caught the handle and started to turn ;D I don't care if I ever become a millionaire, I'd never spend that kind of money on a reel. But more power to those that do I guess, I just couldn't imagine loosing my grip on that bad boy and watching it sink to the bottom. I'd have to have it tethered to me at all times.

Alright thanks for the replies guys ;D