Bluebasser86

It's a custom build 7' 10" XH/F ( more rod than is needed for the 168 honestly but it works), with a 300E and 25lb McCoy copoly.

The Palmetto Bug has more movement in the appendages than the B Bug does. The Palmetto Bug is much more durable than the B Bug but the B Bug does pretty well too. I like that the Palmetto Bug's appendages float up, especially since I'm fishing it slowly and dragging it along in the cold water this time of year. Both are really good baits but I'd certainly suggest trying the Palmetto Bug if you haven't yet.

http://www.ereplacementparts.com/shimano-parts-c-200301.html?gclid=CInOooWW18ICFY87MgodsG0A9Q ^That's where I've been able to find parts for mine on the rare occasion I need them. Or contact DVT and see if he can get the parts for you.

Like a 200B Bantam (greenie) or an older one?

For the rest of the story from Friday. I got there early (60 pounds of dogs stepping on your stomach while you're sleeping tends to wake you up fast). Disappointed when they said I had to wait until 8 to launch even though I could clearly see the plant. Became more disappointed as I watched the steam bank build while I waited. Right as 8 got there I saw one of the guys walking down to tell me I had to wait for the fog to clear. I told him you can still see the rock wall and flashes of light from the plant from here and asked if I could go no wake. He went back and asked and I finally got the green light around 8:30. I'd caught a tiny white bass and 3 13-14.5 inch crappie from the bank but I was ready to get after what I came for. Started out fast with a fish boiling on my slide swimmer my first cast. I got a couple fish on the jerkbait Curt gave me Thursday night before I thought I hung it up for a minute before it started moving and then launched itself. I couldn't get a good picture by myself but it was one of the biggest smallies I've caught from Wolf Creek at 3.25 pounds. They were eating the S waver pretty good and in hindsight, I should have fished it a lot more. Curt got there 30 minutes after I started fishing and something happened between when I left to get him and when we got back, they just shut off. I could get hit on a spinnerbait but I'm guessing they were whites because I couldn't hook one to save my life. We made it all the way to the cable when a fish finally ate Curt's bait. The only real saving grace is when we caught a fish it was generally a pretty nice one. The mud point on the other side of the cable was barren, I think I caught 1 small smallmouth and missed 2 bites and that was it. We fished the mud bank and Curt caught 1 little largemouth. Another pass down the rocks yielded 1 or 2 more fish. The fog was clearing so we decided to make a run up to the standing timber to see if any fish were holding in the trees. Thankfully the same stretch that was good to me last year was holding a decent number of fish and we started to look like we knew what we were doing. After a couple passes through the trees the bite was winding down and we were running short on time so we ran back to the warm water to see if they'd woken up. They weren't lighting it up, but the bite was certainly way better. I caught this really nice but oddly colored smallmouth. I know what it looks like but trust me it's because the picture is so blurry, it really is a smallmouth The S waver was my best bait the last time down, caught fish and missed several along with quite a few followers. Curt hooked what looked like a good fish on his but it came off before we even got to see it. I even managed to get a fish to hit the Slammer, which is the one in the picture above this post. I've had much better days, but I've had much worse too.

No sliding back glass? My last truck did and I usually stuck my rods through there, especially if I was going to be driving down dirt roads.

Seriously? I have no idea how many different kinds of each style of bait I use. They all serve their purpose and get used when the time is right.

Most of the lakes around here (where Kedhe is fishing) have very limited to no vegetation. What little vegetation we have is easy to fish around for the most part. The biggest issue you run into is moss which no bait is immune to. You can easily run a Ned rig over the top of weeds that have room above them though. It's a very small, thin hook and if you fish it with braid it's very easy to snap the weeds off from the hook. It takes some learning to get a feel for it but it's deadly when you get the hang of it. It catches way more big fish than I ever would have thought too.

I got this one on a YUM ribbontail They're a little thinner than I like but they work well for me, they just don't last long.

That's almost exactly what I use, an old trolling motor mount/shaft. I just use a Lowrance Mark 4 and it works great on a 2 man.

Whichever one is set right with the right combination of line/rod/lure is going to cast the furthest.

Burglaries always increase this time of year right along with people snatching packages off people's front steps. It's unfortunate but it's the same way every year. There's lots of simple and inexpensive ways to help protect your home from being broken into. If you've never watched a video on how easy it is to kick open a door with the regular lock plate that most come installed with, it's pretty scary.

6lb copoly

Most of those pictures are pure pumpkinseeds or green sunfish, neither of which are hybrids. The fish in his picture is either a very large and uniquely colored bluegill, or a coppernose.

I'm going to go home and mash down the barbs on all my treble hooked baits now... I don't have a picture of it stuck in me, but I got the back hook of this bait stuck in my side after it rocketed back at me when a fish missed it right at the bank. Thankfully gardnerjigman was with me and able to push it through and cut the point off. I was fine until it made a loud "pop" when it came back through the skin, got a little queasy after that, didn't help that I hadn't eaten in 12 hours I'm sure.

I have one but have had very limited success after giving it several chances. Even on my confidence building lakes it's been a struggle to get bit with one.

That's the only part I care about since they're the only live bait I really ever use. When I use them it's almost always taking them from a lake to the river for catfish anyways. Not anything in the lakes that aren't already in the rivers.

My brother in law (kanasbassfisher08) called me in the middle of a busy Academy Sports today. I don't know how many people know the "Thunder Buddies" song from Ted, but that's his ring tone. I got more than a couple dirty looks from the people around me.

Zoom Meathead, Zman finesse worm, Berkley power minnow, all nose hooked.

From the last few weeks.

I've fished with both and they're both very nice for spincasting gear. If I were buying one for me I'd want the higher gear ratio though.

I've never seen a live one but fishing with a friend on a private lake in South Carolina my wife caught 2 bass that spit up eels while she was fighting them, I was able to recover one of them. Inspired me to try an 11" YUM Mightee worm, my very first cast resulted in this.

Academy Ethos Composite Cranker. You can get them on sale for $40 pretty often like I did.

I use a hanger box to keep my baits straight.

That's an awesome looking fish!