ChrisAW

I'd say Medium or MH power with a Fast action. The item code will vary depending on what length you want. Any idea what you want to use? 6'6" or 7'? longer?

I've been searching for ten minutes just trying to find a way to USE Virtual Earth. Not quite sure what it is, but atleast all I have to do with this is go to Bing.

My friend pointed this out to me the other day. Bing.com uses a feature in their maps that allows you to see a "Bird's Eye View" of some areas all around the US. This is not your normal aerial view, where you'll zoom in to 1000 feet up an not be able to get any closer. This is much closer. After messing around with it, I thought I might check out some of the lakes I fish. If the lakes you fish are on the clear side, you can see under water cover VERY clearly. I've found down tree's, rock piles, sunken dock sections, points, drop offs, and under water current channels. All kinds of things that wasn't able to spot while on the water. This could be a very useful tool for anyone who will be visiting a lake they aren't familiar with. http://www.bing.com/maps/ Just type the name of your favorite lake into the search engine bar at the top of the page. At the top of the map, there is a button with "Aerial" on it. It will lower, and also have a "Birds Eye View" Selection. If its available for your area, and the water is clear enough, you might find some new spots to hit.

You shouldn't need to cut any of it off. An adult bass can eat a bait nearly half its length. A 7" worm is nothing to a 16+" bass. But yeah, I checked my local Gander for SK finesse worms. They didn't have them. I was surprised to see they have RoboWorms though, because not even my closest Bass Pro had them and their fishing department is huge. I'll be picking some of them to use for dropshots.

I like my Vendetta. It's comfortable, very light at 14oz with my SX on it and is very well balanced. It balances on a finger right where the blank and handle come together. But, I haven't had it for more than a week, so thats all I can really say. I'm pretty excited to get on the water and see how it works for me. This is my weightless rig and I'll probably tie jerk baits to it as well, so I'll be fishing with it quite often.

I had a couple bass short strike these, probably protecting their beds. But The only thing that had actually ate them were Pike. Which is fun from time to time. But I got tired of fighting to get the hooks out of their mouths. I put them away until I feel like trying to catch Pike.

That would be a good company ;D

I use one casting Ugly Stick as a crank bait rod. Mainly because its a nice soft rod that allows the cranks to do their thing. The rest are a little higher up on the scale. I haven't been to a Cabela's in years, so I can't say what their rods are like. But I do like the one Ugly Stick I have. If theres any application that needs just medium/moderate action rod, I'd say theres nothing better in its price range. But anything other than that, I'd look elsewhere. Just depends on what you're going to be using this rod for the most. Some rods aren't available in certain actions, so let the fine people here know what you're going to be doing and they'll point you in the right direction.

I bought a bunch of these Red eyes last winter. I was looking for some lipless cranks, and I knew red was a good thing to have any nearly any bait, so I thought I'd give them a shot. Two of the 6 are Sexy Shad colors, and only one of the Sexy Shad colors caught fish. The 6 I own are: 01, 06, 25, 48, 86, and 91 as seen here: http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_90485_100005000_100000000_100005000_100-5-0 Out of those, the most fish were caught on 06, next being 48, then 91, and 25. 86 and 01 didnt catch anything. Not without lack of trying though. (Numbers mentioned are going by the picture. Seems the list with names is messed up) But we all know theres more to it than the color. I might have been presenting it however they wanted it those days.

Yep. A lot of companies won't mention that a lifetime warranty will only cover that rod as long as it is still an active model. As soon as they stop making or replace that rod with a new model, its no longer warrantied. But if they do warranty whatever it is even if its a discontinued model, they'll probably only replace it once. Thats why I hardly pay attention to warrany information anyways. I might be more inclined to do so if I was playing $300+ for a rod or reel though. But, even throughout my whole life owning mostly cheap stuff, I've never broken a single reel. And, the only rods I've lost were my own fault walking through a door. :

Thanks for the reply guys. It's still within 30 days from Gander so I will take it back to them and see if they have a replacement. Being that I'm left handed, it's iffy.

another $75 in hard baits today I just can't get the monkey off me! I can already see myself spending more on more crank and jerk baits so I have a selection of colors.

The Bass Pro in Auburn Hills MI was pretty well stocked as far as I could tell. I didn't go for any reels, but the shelves behind the counter didn't have any bare spots. I believe they even had the Red Eye Sexy Shads still ;D I already had too many Red Eyes before the Classic, I don't need anymore. The only problem I have about BPS is that the nearest store to me is 45 minutes to an hour away. They have a LOT better stock on everything compared to Gander Mountain, atleast. Theres a Gander about 15 minutes from me, so I go there most of the time. But they have such a small selection of lures compared to BPS. Not to mention they hardly have any left hand reels in stock. The nearest Dicks is about 2 hours away. As much as I'd like to go there, I can't justify a two hour trip to them unless I'm already heading that way.

On my reel, I find that two of my centrifugal brake weights cannot be turned off. They do not click back into place. These weights on any other post click back, and any other weight on these two posts will not click back. I was curious if everyone else is the same, or if I have a defective brake? Seems kind of weird to me, because the two that cannot be turned off are right next to each other, and I've always been told to keep the brakes "symmetrical."

I did end up with the SK worms, in PBNJ, Dirt, Green Pumpkin Red, and Coppertreuse! haha, Midnighthrasher must be telepathic, I didn't read his reply before I went.

Thanks guys. I wasn't sure which ones were which, so I'll make my mind when I get down there.

Yes! I have been. I'm thinking about going to BPS today so I can stock up on more essential hardbaits. I just about have soft baits covered for the most part...

I'm looking for a floating finesse worm, or atleast something that will keep the tail up off the bottom. I have about 6 different colors in worms that sink, and I'd like to have another kind that will float. I wasn't able to find an answer through searching though, so I figure I should post the question since I plan to run to BPS tomorrow possibly. My only thing is, is that I don't keep them in the bags. I like to have them in boxes. I have a multitude of Plano boxes that I can switch in and out of my tackle box as I see fit for the trip I'm taking. It just makes things easier for me instead of rustling through bags of bait. I was planning on some Strike King worms, but someone mentioned he had problems with them wanting to melt or deform when keeping them outside the bag? Can't recall, I wasn't able to find it again. Any help will be appreciated guys.

:-[ Done that a couple times with cheap rods. Even that hurts, I can't imagine what I'll feel like if I crack the tip off of my $80 rod, let alone if it was $100+.

I'm thinking he may have been more worried about the oils or grease becoming too thick or something with below freezing temps. But that shouldn't be the case. I will still end up taking mine apart and cleaning/greasing them before the warm season gets here. Best thing about it, is theres no grass to snag Practice with something other than a lead weight though, it will punch through the ice crust and get stuck too. You'll end up chasing it every cast. I've been doing this for a couple weeks now. Couldn't help it being that I bought two new rods and reels for this season, so I had to get a little practice in.

Duh! I didn't think about that. :-X

Aren't you supposed to keep even numbers of brakes set too? Like, if you set one, you're supposed to set the one across from it as well?

X2 Pline. CX Premium 12# was suggested to me for my new reel. I'm very impressed with how it casts. Just need it to warm up here so I can put it to use.

Yes, I'm probably wrong with my guestimate. It was a good distance, but being that there is about a foot of snow on the ground, I didnt walk it out to check. I was also fighting winds so I had the spool tension a little tight and the brake on max. I tied on a 4" Senko with a 2/0(I think) EWG this morning just to see how those cast. Being that the wind wasn't so bad today, I was able to mess with it more and had the brake off completely. It was throwing that senko beautifully. Again, didn't walk it out, but I may do it right now just to give a real number. Edit: Winds are back, but I rolled out the measuring tape and stuck a stick at 100 feet. Most casts were a couple feet short of that, some started to make it passed when I turn the brakes down. My hands started to get a little icy though, so I gave up for now. But yeah, my guestimate was pretty far off. 100 feet isn't as far as I seem to want to think it is.

Thats good to know. I was a little worried about it becoming one of those situations where they will find the simplest little mistake to keep you from getting your rebate.