.ghoti.

It looks like the green ones are just in the fly rod series.

Try a bunny strip ( rabbit fur leech imitation ), on either a drop shot or split shot rig. Once it gets soaked, you can cast a bigger one with a spinning rod with no added weight, for shallow water. It's more fun with a fly rod, but the bunny strip is one of the few flies you can cast with a spinning rod. Rabbit fur looks more alive in water than anything else. Except for something that's actually alive, that is. One of my "secret" baits for tough times. Cheers, GK

Agree with fivebass, you gotta use a slip float. I've done pretty well with this on Table Rock, fishing for smallies. Not so good for LM. All the largemouths I've caught on this rig have been small. If you down-size everything, you'll have one the best rigs for crappie, anytime, anywhere. Cheers, GK

I have two of those BPS microlite rods; a 7' and an 8'. I use them both for gills and crappie. Do yourself a favor and do not put a "micro" reel on one. Get a regular sized spinning reel. I use a 30 size Quantum reel on both of mine. It's not for the line capacity; you don't need much line when panfishing. It's for casting and line handling. Those tiny spools result in more memory and more twist, and lousy casting, even with 4lb test line. The microlites are on sale every year at least once. They are a lot of bang for the buck when on sale. Cheers, GK

I use these; the double sized. http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_37109_100011010_100000000_100011000_100-11-10 Ten "pages" on each side hold a lot of plastics. I use a sharpie to write on the top of each side what's in it. Thay have four small zippered compartments on each inside front panel for terminal tackle. I use one bag for Senkos on one side and Ikas on the other. Another bag has worms and flukes. Another, just tubes. Another for trick worms and craws. One more for Cut-Tails and hula grubs. Each side of each bag has the correct terminal tackle for the baits in that section. I was a little concerned at first about the zippers, because i tend to stuff these things full, but the zippers have held up. No problems at all. In fact the only problem I've had is the markings I've put on them with a sharpie. I've been caught out the rain more than I probably should, and the writing will wash out if the bag gets soaked. That's actaully beena blessing in disguise, because it's allowed me to re-organize a couple of times, with fresh markings. Great little bags for the money. They go on sale every spring, and I pick up a couple every year. I have sevaral that I don't use since I trimmed down on plastics last year. For short trips, I'll take pages out of the regular marked bags and fill up a spare for that particular trip. Works out nicely. I keep all my spare plastics, in the original packages, stored in a closet in the house. Except for the Chompers baits. If the package is opened once, the smell will not stay in the bag. I do not keep those in the house, or in the car. Cheers, GK

Nathan, I'll give you a call next time we go. There's always room for one more. Cheers, GK

the current bid is $46 I'll give you 50 bucks for "em I mean it.

Catt, the "peg" on the Spot Remover that goes into the bait is way too big for the Slim Sticko. I tried it. The Spot Remover is a really good jighead, but not for these skinny baits. Cheers, GK

fourbiz, if you haven't already, take a look at the post Chris put up entitled Crank'n. Everything you need to get started is right there. I'll add one thing. Use a good graphite rod. I know a lot of people say that graphite is not the right choice for cranking; fiberglass is what you're "supposed" to use. Well, I don't buy it. A good graphite rod will transmit the vibrations a lot better. And, a lot of crankin is all about the feel. I've never used a glass rod that came close the the level of feel that graphite delivers. Maybe there are some out now that do this. I don't know; I haven't bought one, and I'm not likely to do so, anytime soon. An erratic path through the water is the other key. Crank it, pause it, rip it, twitch it; do anything put just wind it in. Move your rod tip up and down, side to side, make the bait change directions. Deflecting off something is the best. That's where the feel factor comes into play. You need to know what the bait feels like. With a good sensitive rod and a little practice, you'll soon know what's going on at the end of your line. Cheers, GK

I haven't had any break, and I like to crash a crank into things. Rocks, stumps, whatever; I try to hit it with a crank. These have been good baits for me. I'd try sending them back to the manufacturer. I've sent baits back to Rapala that didn't run true or suspend properly, and they will take care of you. They even sent me some freebies, once. Cheers, GK

Nice post again, Chris. Man I wish you were around more often. Who's crank is that? Is it one of yours? Inquirying minds want to know. Cheers, GK

It's really simple; a slim sticko on a TruTungsten Ike's Spike jighead. I got a bunch of these skinny stickos when I bought a Sticko kit from BPS. I didn't see the skinny ones in the box when I bought it; I discovered them later when I opened it up to try them out. I tried one on a small EWG hook, and was underwhelmed. I put them away and forgot about them until I ran out of Zomm finnesse worms one day. I'd been enjoying some slow, but steady action using the finnesse worm on a jighead when I ran out of the color that was producing that day. I put on one of the stickos and toosed it shallow to see what it looked like. It had a lot more movement than the finesse worm. A nice wiggle and erratic fall, a wiggle when it hit the bottom, and nice wavy action at it slowly fell over. I thought id I was a fish, I'd eat it. And they did. That was last summer. Been using them occasionally ever since. It was this year that I tried the Ike's Spike. Found some on sale at Dick's. The hook shape is similar to an EWG, so it puts the point and barb laying on top of the plastic, just like an EWG. It also has an extra little bend at the head that holds the bait against the jighead nicely. Now this is one of my go to baits. There's something about this combination that just puts fish in the boat. Give it a try. You jusy might like it. I know the fish do. Cheers, GK

Hey Catt, we all know how to fish post-spawn, post cold front, post storm, etc. What the heck do you do post hurricane? Hope you weathered the storm safely. Agree with Alpster. This has been on of the most informative threads lately. Over the last couple of years I've been using tubes less and less. They used to be one of my go to baits. Two years ago I got on trick worms and flukes; last year was Ikas and Cut-Tails; this year it's been hula grubs, and now SwimSenkos. And, I always have a senko on one rod. Tubes just got pushed farther and farther down the list. I gotta put "em back in the rotation. Thanks all, for jogging my memory. I've always been a fan of Zoom tubes and Power tubes. I have several others in my tube bag, but those two were my best producers. For rigging, I switched from an EWG hook to the Gammy G-Lock hook. It holds the bait better, with a lot less sliding down the hook. I always put the weight inside. I've tried several different ways to hold it in place, but the best seems to be the old style "bass casting" sinkers. Insert one into the tube and run the hook through the eye on the sinker. Works like a champ, and they are cheap. A split shot with a rattle behind it works pretty good, too. On a side note, why are these called bass casting sinkers? I've never seen or heard of any bass rig that employs these things. I also put in a Berkley crappie nibble, the ones with glitter. When you're working them through the water, they shed "scales", and add a good taste. My catch rate goes up when I use them. Greta thread, gents. Cheers, GK

Norman cranks are the best value cranks on the market, and have been for quite a while. Very durable, decent hooks, lots of colors; not that you need lots of colors. Every now and then I get one that needs tuning, but not that many; maybe one out of eight. Litte N, Thin N, Fat Boy, Deep Little N, are some of my favorite baits. I don't leave home without "em. Cheers, GK

I've tried it. I see no evidence that it does anything at all about line memory. It may help casting a tiny bit by reducing friction between line and guides, but what little it improvement it provides is gone as soon as it's washed off; which doesn't take long. I've used it on reels. It may help protect the finish somewhat. But only between uses. The first time you put the reel in your palm it will feel a bit slick, but it wears off quickly, so the protection is very short lived. This stuff should be kept out of your reels. Gears need grease and everything else needs oil. Nothing inside your reels needs silicone spray. I do use it to clean my rods and guides. It works pretty well for that. A shot on a q-tip will clean up rod guides very easily. The can I have will last a long time for that. I won't be buying another. I'll go to wally world and pick a can of silicone spray. Three times as much, for half the price. I'll tell what it's really good for. Spray down the weather strip around your car's doors with this stuff. It makes them a lot easier to open when the ice storm hits. Cheers, GK

Thanks, man. That was awesome.

Three of us spent all day Saturday and half of Sunday fishing this wonderful place. No giants, but a ton of fish. I caught around 80 Saturday and around 70 Sunday. The other guys did almost as well. Half a dozen three's, a dozen two and a half's and two's, and a lot of one to one and a half pounders. Maybe a dozen dinks. The Fat Ika bite was hot most of Saturday. Caught most mine on a blue Ika, reverse rigged, and weightless. Tried a few on other colors, but, blue was it. The other go to bait for Saturday was a slim senko on an Ike's Spike jighead. Couldn't get much going on any other baits. I got a few on a Senko, but most of the fish were in 10+ feet of water. There was just enough wind to make fishing a senko that deep problematic. I'd tried the SwinSenko and the big Cut-Tail worm, T-rigged, and got very few bites. Tried an Evolution jig, with Power Craw trailer, with the same results. They just wanted the Ika or the Spike/Slim Senko. Alternating between those two baits kept me busy all day. Sunday was a different story. We were on a different lake, and the active fish were much shallower. I wasted about an hour figuring that out. The hot bait was a SwimSenko with no weight. One of the other guys, in a different boat was killing them on a pre-rigged worm with one small split shot. Hearing that, I switched to the Swim Senko and started catching. I'd toss it right up on the bank and crank it back slow and steady. Did the same thing with a weightless Cut-Tail worm. Alternating between these two baits was the ticket for Sunday. I missed the first 5 or 6 fish that hit the Swim Senko. I was fishing it on my Ika rod, a MH, fast action TD Light&Tough rod. I pulled it out of their mouth every time. I switched to a Setyr rod; a medium power stick with a very soft tip section. It's made for spinnerbaits, and I'd just about decided that I didn't like it. Well, I like it for Swim Senko's. That super soft tip lets the fish get the bait all the way in it's mouth before it loads up enough to take it out. I even gut-hooked a couple. I was going to try to sell the rod and pick up another Avid, but I'm going to keep it now. I was using Roaswarrior's rig for the Cut-Tail worm; T-rigged, weightless, with a bead. I never asked what the bead was for, so I assumed it was used as an attractor, and put on a large, bright, shiny bead. It worked like a champ. I tossed it up shallow, twitched it out across what little flat there was, and let it fall down the drop off. Deadly. Thanks RW, I've always fished the Cut-Tail on a T-rig. About the Slim Senko; *** now has a few colors of their version of the bait. I'm all out of the ones I had, and I'll be trying out Brent's version soon. I'll let you know if they work as well as the ones I had. If you're anywhere near Missouri, you've gotta try this place out. I've been there about a dozen times over the last three years. My worst day fishing there was better than my best day fishing anywhere else. It's that good. I've had several 100+ fish days. It's an old strip mine. There are lots of pits, lakes and ponds to fish. There are boats stashed all over the place. The largest lake is about 250 acres, and has three boats on it. There are several in the 50 - 75 acre range that have two boats on them. Smaller pits only have one boat. Fishing will not be crowded. Cheers, GK

If that's a five pound fish, the young man in the picture must be about 6'9" and around 260 pounds. Most five pound bass aren't.

I have one of these, awesome knife for the money. http://www.knifecenter.com/kc_new/store_store.html?ttl=Columbia%20River%20Knives&srch=eqCATE%20CODEdatarq%3DCRT%26eqKEYWORDdatarq%3Dultima I'll second the rec's for Kershaw, Cold Steel and SOG. I have knives from all of them. All are very well made. The Moran's are indeed legendary. Wish I had one, but they're out of my price range. In the same class are Randall's http://www.randallknives.com/ There are too many choices. Knives are like fishing tackle. Once you get started, they're are always more you just have to have. Cheers, GK

Glad to hear all went well. Now's a good time to catch up on your reading. I was out of the game myself recently, so I know, at least in some small way, what you're going through. I didn't have major surgery, just angioplasty and a stent. They made me do nothing for about three weeks. Pay attention to the doc's directions. They seem to know what they're doing. Remember; NO HOUSEWORK. That includes windows. Cheers, GK

I have a few Energy PT's, but not the tour editions. And I have Johnny Morris reels, but not the elite. I used a buddy's Supreme for a day. It and the JM reel are the same reel, with different names on them. I like all of them. I don't find any of them uncomfortable to use for long periods of time. If you can, put one of each on a rod, and see what they feel like when you slap it in your palm. All cast very well, all have good drags, all are smooth. It all comes down to how well each fits your hands. If you're new to baitcasters, the dual cast controls on the JM, or Supreme, can really help out while you're learning to cast. I had my wife using one of my JM's, with very few problems, on her first day with a baitcaster. She used it for about 4 hours, and had about three "over-runs". I use mine, both the PT's and the JM's, every time I go out. Cheers, GK

Here's the ones I don't leave home without. Baitcasters 7' MH fast T-rig & jig 6'8" M X-Fast Senko & Ika 6'9" ML fast Tube & Fluke 7' M mod-fast Crankbait & spinnerbait 6'3" MH Fast T-rig & Jerkbait Spinning 7'2" MH fast anything small, usually has a jigworm on it I have quite a few more, but these are the ones I use all the time. Cheers, GK

High_Budget_Hookers just doesn't have that ring to it, does it?

I have noticed an increase in catch rates when using a scent. I use some on almost all my soft plastics, but not because I believe that I'll get more bites, or that the scent attracts the fish. I do not believe that. I do believe that the scent helps to mask whatever odor/flavor I've added to the bait during handling. The idea that bass will follow a "scent trail" to your bait is a load of high grade fertilizer. This may be true for catfish. I don't know, and don't care. Bass are primarily sight feeders, and will use sound and/or vibration when they can't see. Scent/taste only come into play when the fish has the bait in it's mouth. That's when my experience leads me to believe it makes a difference. Bass wil spit out something that doesn't taste right a lot faster than you can react. What doesn't tast right? Well, there are a few obvious things like sunblock, bug juice, cigars, etc. There are probably other more subtle things that we're not aware of, or in control of. A bass's sense of smell is much more sensitive than ours. What you had for dinner last night, or for breakfast two days ago, may very well be the difference. Besides, I believe in stacking the deck in my favor. The scent of a bait is one of the things we can control. Why not control it? Cheers, GK

The Falcon boxes will not fit in a bag designed for 3600 boxes. They'll go in a 3700 sized bag easily. They are in between a 3600 and 3700. That's the only thing bad I can say about them. I wish Falcon had went with one of the "standard" sizes. The hook box is the best, hands down. Cheers, GK