Hawgin

Really RW? I had hardly noticed.

1/2oz spinnerbait, with twin willow leaf blades. I love the way that bait comes through the water, and there is no doubt when you have a strike.

I have been using Strike King Premier Plus, and the SK Bleeding series for the last few years. They are good quality and pretty inexpensive.

Strike King and Berkley

I can't use Chompers because everytime I open that bag I want to eat italian food. Then for the next few hours of fishing all I can think about is how hungry I am. I end up missing fish because my mind is elsewhere. Hey speaking of garlic have you guys ever eaten at........DANG IT! See how easily I am distracted. That's why I don't use Chompers.

I wouldn't think that hi-vis yellow would scare off fish. How many fish have been caught on chartruese colored baits?

I went to his seminar on Tuesday night at the KC SportsShow. He covered the same things he covered in Chicago. A lot of it was stuff I had seen or heard before, but some of the smaller details were new to me and worth trying so it was worth the time to go. Also, when you watch Ike on tv, love him or hate him, I think I am beginning to see that the loud, break dancing guy is just a character that he "transforms" into on the water. He seemed to be very personable, very humble, and truly enjoying what he was doing. He made it a point to talk to all the kids at the seminar, he never promoted himself, but rather the techniques, and he even promoted other anglers and some of their products. He spoke very well of Denny Brauer and Kevin Van Dam during his seminar. He really took the time to answer the questions asked (even though if I were him I would have blown off a few of the dumb things asked)? And he never got upset when one guy at the seminar kept interjecting his own commentary. Also he was very gracious in signing autographs and posing for pictures, talking to the people he was posing with the entire time. I know how he appears on the water turns some people off, but away from the water I have a new appreciation for this guys and the type of ambassador he is for the sport. If you ever get a chance to see his presentations I would recommend them.

On Tuesday night I went to a seminar by Mike Iaconelli and someone asked him what line he uses. He said he uses Vanish (obviously), but to avoid the memory, when he is spooling the line on the rod he takes a cloth and sprays it with a silicone spray, like KVD's line conditioner, and he runs the line through that cloth as he is putting it on. He said that helps eliminate a lot of the memory.

I had a Quantum Accurist PT, and I have fooled around quite a bit with the Revo. I prefer the Revo simply because I think they are pretty equal in quality, but the Revo sits better on the rod and in my hand. However, that part is just personal preference. For the same amount of money as those two reels I would get the Shimano Citica. Better quality reel, excellent reputation. Strictly picking from those two you mentioned I would get the Revo. I've yet to hear a bad thing said about them from anyone who has used them.

For soft plastics, it's really kind of a preferrence on the rod power. I prefer a medium heavy for fishing plastics, but a lot of people use a medium power. Either way you can't really go wrong.

I think any reel can cast lite lures. Obviously some like the 50mg and the pixy are better at it than others, but you can cast lite lures with anything. As far as a rod goes, if you are looking to fish a lot of lighter lures, I would look for something in a M power, fast action rod. For under $100 I would highly recommend a Fenwick HMX. Good quality rod, strong backbone, great sensitivity. If you are not interested in a Fenwick, then I think I would recommend a St. Croix Premier.

If it is the Energy PT that is a pretty good deal. The one thing I would tell you to check if this person will let you, is how the reel sets on your rod. I recently purchased an Accurist PT and after I got it home and put it on my rod I hate the way it sits up and is very difficult to palm. I am going to exchange it for a Citica the next time I go to BPS. I will say though that it is a pretty smooth reel and seems to have some pretty good cranking power. I think you will like it, if you like the way it feels in your hand.

I will be different. Yes, the are worth the money. At least the Sammy's and the Pointers are in my opinion.

I would say no more than 8-12 inches per jerk to start with, and then I will usually start with a 15 second pause. If that doesn't work, I will go with a longer pause, up to 30 seconds. Then I will try longer jerks, maybe 12-18 inches per jerk. Sometimes I will even just give the rod a full 3 foot sweep and then pause. Try some different things, and don't lock in on one pattern. Maybe 3 jerks work instead of 2. Try one long one. Mix them up within each cast.

It would have to be Denny B or Rick Clunn. They have so many years of knowledge that you could spend a month with them would barely scratch the surface.

Considering here in the KC area there are not a lot of places to catch huge bass, I would have to pick one of the big bass lakes down in Mexico so I could have a shot at my first double digit bass. I would also love to fish for peacock, but I'll take a monster greenback first.

tony- I would say that it is not necessary to fish with braided line on spinning gear if you are more comfortable with something else. I've always fished my spinning gear with Trilene XL, although this year I think I am going to switch over to Yo Zuri Hybrid Ultra Soft #8. I have used YoZuri on my baitcasters and I really like their line, so I am guessing their ultra soft will be top quality as well. Since you are fishing clear water I would recommend that you consider that line as well. I've heard nothing but good things about it, and I know it has a much higher breaking strength than they test pound listed. I think #8 has a breaking strength of around 14 lbs.

Senile1- Very nice. We dug through that boat for about 15 minutes looking for them. After finding a few open packages of treble hook lures in the bottom we stopped. I'm gald you found a few of the scraps we left behind. You will have to let me know how those work on Smithville Lake. I know they work where we fish.

Yeah RW I was pretty excited when we found those. They were not my ideal colors, but for that price who can complain. I think the colors we found were oxblood, red/black, and baby bass.

This rod will be fine for fishing jigs and plastics, and the tip is not to stiff for this. I fish all of my plastics on MH fenwick rods and they have great sensitivity to feel even the lightest bite. As far as the reels go, I don't fish a lot of spinning tackle so I can't help you much there, but as a recent convert to shimano reels, I say to buy and use as many of them as you can. You might as well pair a good quality rod with a good quality reel if you can afford to do so. I think you will really enjoy that combo, and you will see your catch #'s increase with it.

Around KC I know of two people the use ika's, me and my buddy Fatman1267, and he uses them a lot more than I do. The Cabelas here carried the palm trees earlier this summer, but they quit carrying them because they were not selling. A few weeks ago he and I went out there and the shelves where they had been were empty. We ended up finding them in the bargain cave for .25 per bag. We bought them all.

That color will be just fine for clear water. That is a great shad imitating color, and it is my second favorite color of LC's (I like ms american shad) the best.

I would say that most of the time I use green pumpkin, watermelon seed, or blue/black fleck, but there is one pond that my buddy and I fish and the only thing we can catch numbers of fish with there is a white or chartruese stick worm. I don't know why, I don't know how, but those two colors tear them up in that body of water. On other lakes, if I have tried everything else I can think of, I will grab one of those colors "just in case" but so far they have only really worked in one place.

Well yeah, except for that win over another BCS team, Notre Dame. Everybodies darling. The Mighty Quinn. Greatest college coach ever Charlie Weis. I agree that Michigan stunk yesterday, but that does not discount the fact that they had a pretty good season. As for Boise State, awsome for them. Anything that will help division I college football move towards a playoff system I'm in favor of. Having attended a division II school, and seeing my team (Northwest Missouri St.) play for 4 national titles in the last 10 years I am 100% in favor of a playoff system.

I have that rod in 6'6" and it is very sensitive, and a good quality rod. I use for fishing soft plastic worms mostly. It has plenty of backbone for fishing jigs as long as you are not fishing really heavy cover.