Spankey

Just a thought if you fish an ultra lite crank the same speed, same cadence, on the same structure or area you'd fish a DT 6/10 or SK 4/5 what makes it a finesse. I would think a topwater plug like a skitter pop or even a Rappy F-9 floater twitched in a n eddy pool might be more of a finesse. *NOTE* I like this thread, I'm not starting a war or trying to insult anyone. Just throwing some thought out there. Thanks for posting this.

There isn't enough time in a season to throw all that. Even if you fished every other day.

It appears that the majority feel ultra lite crankbaits are assumed to be finesse crankbaits. This interpretation might be right. I fish a lot of crankbaits but the only presentation I feel in my fishing that may be on the finesse side might be fishing a Rapala countdown or a suspending crank trying to entice strikes in a zone. I relate finesse more to worm fishing and fishing it slow like a split shot or drop shot rig. Finesse I guess is ones view to how they fish. And what they fish. I really like your thread, something to think about, good fishing.

Zee I've been down to your BPS many of times, when I first started going there I believe the bass fishing selection was better a number of years ago. My service call put me near there and I never went home until I stopped by BPS. The saltwater selection has really grown. I'm not knocking that or mean that in a negative but that's just my view of it. I don't care how much house brand they carry but they have plenty of buying power to be full line dealers especially in areas where bass fishing is a serious thing.

When my spirit got broken I was a broken man so to say. Than you (I) start fishing it half-heartedly and after a few attempts to me that is just a waste of time. Can't say this of many lures of recently. I'll make it work this season for sure. I'm to much of a Rappy addict. With something similar, in '14 & '15 I could not get my topwater game/mojo on for anything. I almost threw all my topwater stuff in the river and watch it float away. It was true frustration. Something that bugged me far more than the Scatter Raps. I tried to fish my way through it. Than this past year without really doing anything different it was back to where I was catching fish and having fun with it. Head game, Head case type of thing I guess.

Great find. Mine can't compare but many years ago while fishing some bridge pileings on the Delaware River I snagged a Charlie Brewer spinning set up. Not in very long because it was in very nice condition.

Not sure if I posted this prior but this is something I have to revisit this coming season. I'm pretty much a Rapala freak but please don't take away my Bombers and Bandits. These Scatter Raps just have not worked out very well for me. Have bought actions and patterns of what works under normal conditions but have left a lot to be desired. Found them to be a bit frustrating so I have not fished them that much the last few seasons. Some suggest I've been fishing them too fast. Very possible. Will slow things down some and work on various retrieve speeds. My have been fishing them too early. Might be something to fall into place when their metabolism level is higher. Just one of the very few things I want to fall into this season. It's a Rapala, I believe in it, I just have to get to work for me.

Can't say about the swim baits. Have a few shallow hard craws that are pretty decent.

Some of you guy are lucky to have a shop on the water and converse with the staff. Have a real interest in what your doing. And I whole heartedly agree with paying the extra cash for the conversation and possible insite to conditions. I have years of time and cash tied up in bass fishing that's not even the issue. Can't kick though, trial and error and common sense have treated me pretty good.

The jointed SRs are hard to come by. At least for me. They are easy enough to order. Lures, tackle, rods, reels around my area suck and I don't live in the backwoods. Pretty suburban. Just can never find what I want. But no BS that is how I use a jointed. Have one tied on and throw it as a change up.

I'm a Rapals freak. And just a thought, because I'm not comfortable spending your money. Go out and buy a couple of jointed Shad Raps. I find having the change up and slightly different action to get bites. To me finesse is more of a presentation. Never thought of my Rapalas as a finesse bait but you could be onto something. Good fishing.

With the buying power Cabela's and Bass Pro Shops has their prices should be better. And for their size they are not full line dealers. Example Strike King. As big as both companies are they BPS should have every pattern available one way or another.

Zee don't know if this helps but Susquehanna has a big weekend coming up next week. Both in the shop and on-line. Just a thought. Hasalways been worth the drive to me. TW & ST make life easy and to the point. It's a hastle running around and wasting time, I know my time is worth something. Don't want to waste it. BPS doesn't care if you go to the store or not. If they did they wouldn't put out 400 lbs. of mail to me every year. I have a so called mom & pop, DICKS (literaly) and a couple of Wallys. They are no prize.

Pretty common on the rivers I fish here in Penna. I find them to be on fish that start to get to a chunk or respectable size. Never see those marks on dinks and runts. I read somewhere along the line that they are a healthy thing and nothing to be concerned with. Correct me if I'm wrong or if you find out differently.

Finding my kick of to be a tough start between high winds, snow and a Nor'easter coming in for this Tuesday have not been unable to get in the water. Only positive thing going is boat is rigged up, my tackle is straightened out and arranged, my rods are rigged and ready, touched up a lot of my treble hooks and now my weekends are free from here on out. Just trying to stay positive.

Picked up a new motor cover, live well additives and some culling items today at BPS and for what it's worth all the Power Worms, Grubs, Lizards and all were only $2.97 per pack. Just passing it on. I replenished some stuff at that price. The 100 bags were not on sale. Don't fish them like I use to but in my opinion the old Power Worm generally will work any day and if someone is interested in getting started in worm fishing a perfect worm to start with. Just for what it's worth.

There is some interesting stuff in there for sure.

^^^^^^^ Great advice. In clearer water I do throw natural patterns but I don't throw anything that's ghost like or anything translucent. Never lost confidence, never had the desire to use it. But I'm pretty anal and if I'm not feeling it I don't go with it. But that narrow mindedness does and will cost me fish I sure.

The Wally near me sucks for the most part. But one day this week I picked up my oldest grand son 8 different Cotton Cordell Big O's. They were a mix of the ones that are $2.96 and ones that were $1.96 from the $#!T box on the bottom shelf. The guy there rang them up for $1.00 each because of the mess they had. He didn't care. I wasn't gonna complain. They seem to be slightly different from my Cottons but if the run pretty true the grandson should hook up with them. But you sure had a good find though. Good luck. Good fishing.

I'm not much for jumping on the new things all that fast. I've been fishing Bandits since they hit the scene years ago. I do my lure comparisons against Rapalas. The Bandits were a winner from the get go. Some of the great patterns of yesterday are long gone. The G-Loc trebels are gone. I'm lucky to have those patterns and spares. Hope they bring some of those back again. I'm not sure where Bandit is going as a company. To me and just my personal opinion some of their new patterns are lame. Great post. Great lure. Have caught many smallies on Bandits. Tuff to find a good full line dealer of Bandits these days.

I found a few of those Shock rods for $10 and some Garcia Vengance rods for $13. Took them to work and the guys scarfed them up within a half an hour. I sold them for those prices I just wanted to pass on a crazy find and I knew these rods were better than what they are most likely using. I thought about keeping a Vengance cause it feels light for a MH. One of the guys had to have it so I let it go. I have more than enough rods. I thought the Shock rods could stand to have another guide but what do I know I'm not a Rod builder. Good find and with a reel you can get a pretty cheap combo. Good luck with it.

I change out very few hooks. Stock hooks on Rapalas, Bandits, SK,s and Bombers don't seem to be an issue for me. Bandit use to use a triple g grip treble back years ago. I did love that hook and bought a box of them to switch out when needed. I break a few trebles a season with my pliers but can't complain about that. I'm more about keeping my hooks sharp. I would say that SK hooks do seem a bit cheap but I'm not ready to change them all out yet. Not loosing fish over them.

I've only been messing with the RES in some red patterns. Trying to fish this color abit more often. I generally fish a Rat-L-Trap brand but red color choices are tuff to find. The Strike Kings are good quality and I like the few I have.

I primarily fish the 1/4 oz. Mini Trap. Seem to be the perfect size in my opinion on the river. I dont mess with the Teeny Traps. 1/8 oz. Too small, abit light, seem like a handicap to my type of fishing. Do on occasion throw a 1/2 oz. trap but not often. Somewhere in in my travels a while back I'm pretty sure I saw these real small traps. Under 1/8 oz. but they were not Rat-L-Trap Brand. Some off the wall stuff.

I don't fish worms that size. A lot smaller. 4", 4.5" and 5" so I'm in the 1/0 and 2/0 range. I prefer a light wire straight shank gammy or the rebarb type straight shank. Those Power Worms are most likely a 4/0 hook not so much a no. 4 as package says. Berkeley power worms are good stuff. A lot of nice worm choices in 6" and 7". I don't know what it is to fish worms that size. I just assume for river smallies they are just too big.