Jigfishn10

OMG, that's awful. Good to hear that your alright. Good thing your wife was home, who nose what could have happened.

You gotta go an get it checked out. Like CSimon2 points out, you could have problems down the line. Sheesh, I'd hate to be with you if a 5 lber comes unbuttoned.

I actually will paint blades on occasions. I've been using white and black for the most part. Smallies love chartreuse blades up here. I don't have powder painting equipment so i usually take a nickle plated blade and sand/scuff (220 grit) it up to take on a spray paint and then a clear coat or 2. You're gonna laugh, but when the waters here get stained to murky from a recent storm, a caution orange blade does the trick for me. Try an stay away from painting a 24k gold blade, at $1,460/troy oz, those blades are just too darn expensive to paint over...LOL Good luck and post some of those painted blades.

Nice fish for sure, Crestliner2008, I've been out twice myself since iceout. You're right, spinnerbaits were the lure of choice with them. I caught 3, with the third one possibly my new PB. Good luck this season.

Good post Bluebasser86, I personally like the skirt that way. I don't use trailers a lot, but when i do make spinnerbaits I leave the bottom part of the skirt long. I think it really changes the whole profile of the bait. If you do add a trailer hook, you could always cut the middle section of the bottom skirt material, giving the bait more of a twin tail look.

I'd be curious as well. About a week ago I caught a LM while testing out a spinnerbait I just made. It was 23.25" long x 21" girth. I went on a few sites and I got the following formulas to measure weight: Length x Length x Length/1600 = 7.85 lbs Length x Length x Girth/1200 = 9.45 lbs Length x Girth x Girth/1050 = 9.76 lbs Not that I want to sell myself short, but I tend to believe it was 7.85 lbs or in that range. Good post.

I've seen it done with the grub on the main hook and the end of the grub hooked on the trailer or the grub is laced on the trailer hiding the hook eye of the trailer. The trailer is then put on them main hook eliminating the use of a piece of tubing to hold the trailer in place. I very rarely use a trailer hook, but the laced meathod is what I like. Much more action to the trailer, IMHO.

Pretty much the same, I was throwing a popper with a BC and the wind kicked up causing a nasty backlash. We were hearing a fish keep jumping and my buddy asks if I have a fish on my line. I looked down at my slack line and replied "no". I finally get the backlash picked thru and the fish jumps again. I reel up the slack only to figure out that the jumping fish has my popper in it's mouth. Turned out to be a 3lbs smallie. bilgerat, that 5 lber you got is actually a great early season technique. I was using that last spring with excellant results. It's best when you have a steep bank. A lot of times they hit just as the lure enters the water and other times maybe 1 hop down the bank.

Thanks for the kind posts, guys, I really appreciate that. Bluebasser86, for some reason I remember those. I know I have an old Cabelas cat floating around somewhere, I'll have to check that out. Now you got me thinking...LOL Cadman, my 10 year old daughter came up with that one, should I let her know your thoughts? LOL

Good to know that the rest of the 159 games of the season doesn't mean anything.

Congrats guys!

I haven't fished it, but it does look interesting. Based on the pic as BPS, it appears to have a pretty stout wire although it won't totally eliminate any tuning to the bait once it gets nailed. It uses a bearing for the rear blades which is always good and at 5.99 it's fairly priced. I tried to go on Hart's website to get more tech info, but what you see is what you get. They had the Hart Throb years ago and that was a real nice spinnerbait. IMHO, Hart is a good manufacturer and I don't think you could go wrong with picking one up and letting us know what your impression of it is. Give it a whirl.

You answered you're own question...LOL...you have no confidence with them and you used them a little. Buzzbaits can be a lure that can give you a lot of headaches, heartbreaks and great rewards. You think they should produce, but they don't; the time you get a fish on one,they come unbuttoned; the fish you end up getting is bigger than you expect. That's a buzzbait. You sound like your still pretty new to bass fishing, but I suggest that you stick to basics at first and then expand: Color: Light colored buzzbaits on clear sunny days and dark colored on overcast and low light conditions (evening/before sun-up) and don't be afraid to mix that up. The fish will tell you what they want. Speed: On an aluminum blade, you can bend, slightly, the wings of the blade in and out to vary the retrieve speed. Bring a Bic pen with you so that when you bend back in, you can recreate the curvature of the blade with the pen. By doing this you can make it go faster or slower. Retrieve: Steady and fast or steady and slow: staright retrieve an adjust the pace - fast or slow. Stop and go: Stop and go will drop the bait in the water a bit and then you'll have to speed it up a bit to get it back on plane and on top of the water. I use this a lot, fish love it! Sound: Leave as is with an aluminum blade; this will produce a moderate sound. Bend the wire blade arm so that the blade "ticks" the head of the lure or the wire, this will produce lot louder sound. Now it's up to you to find the structure and cover to put the above to work. Hope this helps and go get some fish!

That's awesome GT!. I made my first casts on Tuesday and again on Wednesday. FELT GOOD TO DO THAT AGAIN!

I noticed a lot of posts were made yesterday. As of noon time today, this site was still in "maintenance mode" for me. Someone had mentioned a vote up or down, what does that mean? I will have to say tho, I like it. EDIT: Never mind

1/2 oz spinnerbait just before the Nor'Easter hit on Thursday: The snow started flying when I released her.

I wanted to try a Zonker Strip (rabbit fur) trailer for a spinnerbait so I made this one up: I chose a single spin for this time of year and I have a snap for quick blade changes. We had just iced out about 1 1/2 weeks ago when I first tested it and got a nice 2 lber and a 1-2 lber. The Zonker Strip had great action in the water, much better than I expected. 2 days later we were expecting a Nor'Easter to come thru the area so I decided to hit the water again. Here's the result: I guess she like that Zonker Strip...LOL Whatcha think?

DBatey was in this month's Field & Stream for his custom lure paints. This month's mag featured the "30 BEST LURES NEW CLASSICS THAT CATCH MORE FISH". As part of the 30 lures featured, Field & Stream had 5 custom painters paint a Rat-L-Trap in the "Color me Custom" section of the article.Dbatey featured his "Melorite" (Dwain I hope I have that correct) paint scheme. It looks awesome. Check it out guys! Congrats DBatey.

Yep, I fished with Dave Orsani...had a great time. Caught a lot of nice fish that day.

I just think that the overall profile of the bait looks a little more realistic...if you can get realistic with a SB. I'll use your description in the future though, it sounds a heck of a lot better than mine.

I like it! I install the skirts on my spinnerbaits that way as well. Good job Skeeterman225.

I'm 90% sure I can make it. I should have a def by Wednesday latest...I'm hoping to know tomorrow. EDIT: I'm not sure if this has been covered, but are we gonna need a permit from the town to fish this, almost like you would have to do for a T? Maybe a dumb question.

I can't wait! Hopefully you can keep the thread up longer than 8 hours...LMAO

Why, you planning on copying that one too! Did you ever have the mattress police at your house? ;D

I finally made it down to the water this afternoon. It was about 45*, windy and the water was COLD. The real reason for going this afternoon was to try a spinnerbait I built yesterday (Sunday). I ended up catching 2 fish...LOL...I don't believe I ever caught a bass this early in the season. Here's the spinnerbait: The trailer is a zonker strip (rabbit tail), man, does that have some action in the water. The blade is attached to the bearing with a snap for quick blade size changes...worked today anyway.