Spankey

It’s nothing for a few of my buddies and myself to give each other a big hug and a pat on the back and a “I love you man” when we see each other. Heck these are people you/we think the world of. Sometimes you don’t see each other for awhile. Weird? I don’t think so. When I was younger I probably did and when I saw it I had an eye brow that rose. There are a couple of guys I’ve know that have passed. Worked, hunted, fished and shot clays with over the years with. I was always the youngest guy among us. Wish I would have told them that.

You might find a NASCI, Sahara in a 1000. That’s a nice rod. Personally I don’t think you need to put a $250 reel in it for panfish. The sensitivity and action of the rod is most important but I understand your point of not wanting to put a budget $30 one on it also. Have fun with it.

Yep, finger the line. Unfortunately I have not gotten my mega river smallie for the season yet but I’m liking the longer fore end when it comes to controlling than boating the fish. My hand moves forward away from the reel seat and I get a good grip on the fore end. Was a bit of a learning curve or just getting use to something different. And getting it as a gift I did want to use it. Way too nice of a rod to only have set around unused.

I have to agree with you 100%. I was given a VTS73MXF as a retirement present from two work buddies. That is the feel of this rod also. I hated this rod when I first started fishing it but has grown on me to where it is one of my favorite. I had a heck of a time with the longer fore end. Couldn’t get the tip of my index finger to touch rod blank when gripping real seat.

Sounds great. My uncle would only take bullheads from us. All he wanted. We’d catch them on farm ponds and at the quarry. But they never had great size to them. They got delivered in the old wash tub more than a few times. Don’t know what ever happened to that old galvanized tub. Would love to have it as a wall hanger today. Had the floppy handles on it with the wood grips. Thanks for the great thoughts.

Could maybe get away with cramming a ziplock snack bag with a few. Hards and softs. A Shad Rap, DT and a Rat-L-Trap would be in there.

I have a lot of great times and stories as a kid also. Most center around trout fishing but I have a lot of that posted. When I was 12 to 14 years old, a farmer that a neighbor hood buddy and I worked for had told us that there was a couple of Jewish doctors in town that wanted some live younger carp but they wanted them alive. (I mean no disrespect by calling them Jewish, they were, and they had some special ritual and process to taking care of them.) They would pay us for them. We knew at a young age that we could not truly sell them and at that time we were to young to even need a license. But those Doctors made sure we got compensated for them. They went as far as hooking us up with this real old local guy who made strawberry, vanilla and corn dough bait for us to use. Canned corn was all you really needed. The creek was fairly close by, catching a few each time was not real hard to do but lugging your gear around and carrying a big old galvanized wash tub around to boot was a real PIA. Some times we would thumb a ride back to the farm. Something you would not even think of doing these days. No cell phones back in those days. Riding our bikes was of no help. But we got back one way or another. The farmer drove us over to deliver the carp. Those doctors thought it was great. Now I never seen it with my own two eyes but I was told that they (Docs) would put them in the bath tub or some bigger tub and flush them with fresh water. ???????? Maybe a day or two? To this day I wish I would have said to one of them guys “show me what’s gonna happen with them”. I was not comfortable asking but was in my mind to. It got us a few bucks each time back in the day. Most times we would go get more fishing stuff at the hardware store.

I fish my jerkbaits much like a crankbait when I’m fishing them. Not the jerkbait fisherman y’all are. But the upsizing thing makes sense. I fish a Shad Rap all season, cool water and warm water. I’m throwing bigger now for the same reason. My season is winding down and I’m fishing for the bigger one.

I’m not setting the world on fire but Bombers, Rapalas and Rat-L-Traps.

OP, great post!

Good luck with that new Victory. I have not handled the casting models yet. When I retired a few months back two of my coworkers bought me the Victory VTS73MXF. I’m use to being able to having my grip at the reel seat and having my index finger touch the blank. The cork fore grip is longer than normal and doesn’t allow me to do this. At first I thought this rod was gonna be a bust with me. But I’ve been fishing my soft plastics exclusively for more than a month+ with it. I love it now. When landing a fish my hand shifts forward to the fore grip and actually gives me better control when landing fish and the longer butt section lays against my fore arm better. The rod is probably designed to be fished this way. I knew no better at first. SC labels it as a “Max Tactical”, whatever that means? I’m fishing smaller plastics with it now but next season I’ll use it for larger stick baits and worms. Hope you like yours, I love mine nowadays.

I’m more into buying spares these days or the occasional pattern that catches my eye and I’ll say “I’ll catch a Smallie on that”. Generally will catch at least one, multiple’s, more often than not. Not sure of your age but if you stick with bass fishing to 60+ years old you’ll have a big enough of a collection to burry any local tackle shop. Good fishing.

I’ve seen the TRD Craws at the shop and will say the style of them is nice. Not overly realistic image. The size of them is even better. The color selection I’d seen was fantastic. I just have not bit on them yet. I’d be more apt to try the craws over the Ned sticks.

My thought is the NED rig is probably a decent rig and very well could be better than some other soft plastics. I really don’t know because I didn’t jump on that NED band wagon. I’m not trying to be funny or poke fun at it. I really don’t see it as any different than fishing a grub or tube. In my mind a grub or tube is more of an attention getter. But that’s just my way of thinking. Do you bounce or pop a NED rig or do you cast it out and let it set there? I’m a bit old school. Have a bit of old river rat mentality in me. But for years it has been a common thing to take various straight tail worms, Curly tails and stick bait versions that had damage at the head section, cut them back and rig them on a jig head. For many years I thought the old Guido Bug Craw was the best thing going. Well like anything else good things come to an end eventually. Went with Zoom, they were pretty close and they put out a good product. Berkley Power Craws are my craw of choice. Rage Craws in my opinion has nothing over them.

Get some hunting in. Shoot more sporting clays. Work around the house. Stream fish for some trout.

I like dragging them around, bouncing them, and they are a preferred bait of mine fished like a swim bait around docks. I don’t fish a true soft swim bait real often. Colors are endless. I could only fish black, pumpkinseed, and green pumpkin and be fine with that. But put a chartreuse tail on them also. Firetiger is a good one. John Deere green is another. I don’t want to leave out smoke or white either. Or brown with an orange tail. All chartreuse is another decent color. Tubes are another good smallie bait. Fishing the same basic colors.

Try to throw as many presentation’s as possible. Everyone’s water is different even if it is a river. I don’t fish fall much differently summer. I slightly increase the size of some of my crankbaits but nothing drastic. It might just be a mental thing with me but I fish some Crankbaits that have a blue color to them that i normally would not throw during the summer. Water is clearer and that blue has proven itself to catch fall smallies. But I’m sure this is just a mental hang up. I do not fish a true NED rig. Soft plastics like Finesse worms, tubes, grubs, craws and lizards will produce for me on the river. I would not hesitate to throw any of these now. I like fishing single tail and double tail grubs. At any time. It’s not like I never fish and open type hook (jig head) but I’m more into throwing a weedless presentation with say a slider type or shakey head.

Guys just adding a post that these new Gen 2 Bombers are still catching some fish for me. Caught a few river Smallies today on them. Had quite a few that were curious but no takers. No bragging size fish but they worked. Fished two different patterns of the Guppy and 6a. I’m catching fish but struggling on the size I want. Have not been finding them on specific locations. Today I slow drifted a bank with stone and wood. But fished fairly shallow 5-8 feet. Thought a beauty might be hugging the bank. But anyway these lures run true and I have to believe they are getting down to where they are suppose to run because I make contact with them. I’m not gonna dis the hooks because they are sticky. Might be a cheaper Eagle Claw version but are sharp out to the hang cards. There is not a great selection of patterns. Patterns available are new and older Bomber patterns are not part on the Gen 2’s. A few that I’m throwing quite a bit the finish is holding up well. Holding up great really. In a lot of stone with them. For $3.99 the couple of patterns I chose, I have no complaints. Hope Bomber expands Gen 2’s into some of the older patterns. Or just into some common patterns among manufacturers. $3.99 what can I say. They exceed my expectations. Bomber is certainly not what it was 20+ years ago for sure. I continue to throw many old baits but to my surprise the new Gen 2’s do have some quality behind them.

You guys probably are not into it. Had an outside project I wanted to start and finish today. Want to fish at sun up for a couple of hours tomorrow. Didn’t want anything half butted and not completed for the weekend. Listened to a couple hours of Neil Young and Crazy Horse Band live tunes. A fan. A favorite. But most people I know could care less about Neil Young and his tune. I’m a product of that time. Good fishing.

On a medium action for more of the likes of crankbaits the sensitivity does not have to play as big a part. More of a shock absorber for swimming moving treble hook baits that are gonna get slammed or struck. Dare not to use the words “reaction strike”, will start a whole other topic.

I’m not having a banner year. Everything is off in my fishing world this season. I have not broken a PB which is ok and if I don’t ever again that will be fine. When ever I’m out I fish to break my PB. My season is not over yet. I’m still gonna be out. What I’ve lost this season is part of fishing. Nothing I did wrong, nothing I’d of done different. I had a few that broke water that I thought were decent river largemouths. Spit my lures like bubble gum. But in that same area I caught a nice 16” greenie after those losses. 16” is no prize but is respectable. At the lake I had a couple of losses. They were never seen. 15-17 feet deep. Fishing deeper crankbaits. While making my retrieves, at the end of the retrieve with the lure on a rise below the boat they were big time hits with definite mass. Largemouths ??? Where my PB Greenies have been caught. But I caught Channel Cats this season and past season on crankbaits in this same area. It happens. My unique catch of the season to this point is a fat White Bass on the river. 14+” I’ve never caught a White Bass, didn’t think they were in my river. White perch yes. Caught on a Shad Rap.

Fish loss happens. To you, me and the pros. It happens and it hurts sometimes because you did your job trying to keep pressure, good line, hooks, drag, only to loose a decent fish. There are those time when bass bite real short and get hooked with only a solo hook of multiple trebles on your crankbait. He gets to jumping and twisting off he comes.

Spinning Rods I can highly suggest the Abu Garcia Veritas “Winch”. 7 foot, medium, moderate action. St Croix Eyecon Series 7 foot, medium, moderate action. Both of these rods are meant for crankbaits. I’m not suggesting your CB hooks are not sharp but check them. Especially on your more productive baits. I have to agree with you that Ugly Stiks are soft. Too soft for my likings except for their UL rods to fish for trout. Both of those rods above are at about $100. Don’t break the bank but I don’t feel comfortable spending your money.

They are a neat fish. They are in my smallie river. There are a couple of guys I know (not real well but from the ramp) that troll for them. Over the years my experience with them is only what I’ll call a bonus catch while fishing for smallies. All of them were 36” or under. There is something to the video comments about their smell. Maybe not so much with the Tiger Musky but certainly the two Spotted I’ve caught. They had a strong smell of sulfur to them. Fish were not sick, strong and healthy. Have to put a shout out to In Fisherman from way back in the day that informed me (by video/show) that they are fish you don’t want to over-handle and to get them back in the water quickly. You guys have fun with them. Neat fish. I hope to keep getting a bonus catch once and awhile.

Real nice thanks for sharing. ?