Bluebasser86

I'd consider all those baits to be boot tail grubs instead of swimbaits, but they're very effective at times for sure. My favorites are the Zoom Swimming Fluke, Havoc Grass Pig, and the Big Bite Baits Cane Thumper if I'm trying to keep it cheaper. The best I've fished are the Keitechs though. They're more expensive and I don't really fish them on a swimbait hook, but if I'm in open water where I can fish one on an open hooked jighead they'll fish circles around the rest.

Academy has some good stuff on sale, I spent a little over $200 there this morning

Best advice you can get for water that cold and muddy. If you had water in the low 50's you'd have a much better chance but if your bait doesn't hit them on the head in cold, muddy water then you're not going to get any baits. If you're dead set on going I'd be dragging a bulky black jig on any rocks near deep water that have sun on them and I wouldn't even bother getting on the water until 10-12 so the sun will have warmed things up a little bit.

Yes I do. If you do it a certain way the baits will kick out occasionally and you can make them ride higher or lower in the water column as well.

Fishing around zebra mussels I can easily go though 6-12 a day, and most of our lakes have zebra mussels now. That's why I don't buy Trokar or tungsten weights. I'm not a fan of the straight shank, flipping style of hook but the new Ike approved HD wide gap VMCs are very sharp and very strong.

We're both pretty centrally located, and I have little hope for the water being thawed before late March with the way the extended forecast looks. I'm not sure exactly where you're at but I did the extended forecast for Columbus, IN and there isn't a day above 40 in the forecast until the 7th of March. The warmest day between now and the 15th is 49. Only 6 days between now and then above 40 in fact, that's not melting much ice.

The Demon color DT is sold out in 3 of the 5 sizes on TW now Almost all the rest of them are still in stock though

I've got several spinnerbaits in my garage without blades from a tournament this past fall. I needed the biggest willowleaf blade I could find and a bluegill or firetiger skirt so a lot of other baits lost their blades to go on a different bait.

Flipping with spinning gear is easy, pitching is considerably harder. Both can be done with practice. The hardest part imo is finding the right equipment in spinning gear without ending up with a pool cue rod that's hard to use for extended periods of time.

Could always paint your own? Wouldn't cost much to get a couple tubs of powder paint and paint them.

I work midnights, and as my post count shows, I'm on here most of the night usually. I check it again when I wake up in the evening and sometimes when I get home from work in the morning during the winter time.

I modify my own so they vibrate harder and kick out occasionally during the retrieve.

Never been able to catch a thing except for a few white bass on blade baits. I'm sure I'm just fishing them wrong but I do well with jigging spoons during the same time of year so I just stick with those.

I've got a bright chartreuse shirt I wear during weeknights tournaments that says in big, bold letters "If you can read this you're fishing too close!"

X2. I have the 6' 10" LTB ML/XF and it does the grub/drop shot thing better than any rod I've ever fished. I prefer the 6' 10" M for shakyheads but as long as you aren't fishing any heavy shakyheads you'll get by alright. It's a great walleye jig rod also and fishes small cranks nicely as well.

You think your fish don't eat big baits?? I live in Kansas, I'm sure you've heard of the terrific bass fishing here Still, I fish 7-8 baits and regularly catch fish, it doesn't take a big fish to attack a big bait. It's especially true if you fish where there's smallmouth. This fish wasn't even 4 pounds and about swallowed my 8" Hudd. and I've caught a bunch of bass on my 7" Slammer that weren't much bigger than the bait. but then one of the fish you're looking for will blast the thing and you remember why you're tossing big baits

There's ways to make the rounded blades vibrate just as hard as the coffin shaped blades

A common question after a day of fishing "Where'd you catch them at?" My response "Right in the mouth!"

We didn't need tickets last year, but you better plan on being there early in the morning to get a seat! We were almost locked out of the final weigh in but thankfully they decided to open another section of seating or we wouldn't have been watching it.

I understand people wanting to fish, especially those that traveled long distances to be there and have maybe never fished the lake, but fishing a spot you know someone in the tournament is fishing is very disrespectful. I was on the water every day of the Classic last year and we did quite a bit of fishing but never on a spot one of the pros was fishing. The one time we were fishing and Ike pulled up to the point we were on we immediately put our rods down and backed off the point and let him have it. They're trying to make a living, I'm not about to get in their way or interfere with them trying to do that.

I've got a few. I love fishing bladed jigs through cover but I hate how much they snag up, this bait is the solution to that It's a 4/0 Gamakatsu EWG worm hook so your trailer can be rigged Texposed to protect the bait from hanging up. Another version of it, but with a 6/0 Owner Twistlock XXX, went ahead and rigged a Havoc Subwoofer on the back to give an idea of how weedless this bait really is. I just got a new Trokar Swim Jig mold so I tied up a few on those heads. This is actually a 5/0 Mustad, but I poured some on 5/0 Trokars and 6/0 Eagle Claw lazer sharp hooks. Couple more of the weedless version This one is just one of my standard football heads with a 4/0 Mustad that I've caught thousands of fish on. My favorite way to take pictures of my baits

Go to BPS and get their power handle reel handle and replace those goofy Mickey Mouse ear paddle handles, that's what I did why my Lew's.

Quick and easy fix for those skirts that are falling apart. They even come in some different colors so you can try to match the skirt color a little.

I only carry a few dozen in the boat at any given time, all my home made ones though. Any time the water is dirty my black and blue home made version is one of the first baits I'm going to be throwing! It's quickly become one of my top big fish getters for sure! I've just recently starting making a much more snag resistant version that allows me to fish them through timber and other snaggy areas very slowly without hanging up. Gave them a test run last week and they were a huge success. I got big fish and first place in one of the week night tournaments with one of my vibrating jigs last summer. and caught my 2 biggest bass of the year in 2012 on them, of course the biggest one was on a black and blue one

I like them on cloudy days or anytime the fish see a lot of spinnerbaits.