Crankenstein Crony

Does anyone out there use any Bass Assassin gear? I know they have been around for a while, and I have seen their baits from time to time, but I have never tried any of their stuff. I happened to stumble upon their website the other day and noticed their baits are very reasonably priced. Just curious what you folks think.

I have 2 Carrot Stix rods. I have a 7 ft medium spinning rod that I throw senkos on and I have a Wild 7'6 heavy casting rod that I use for flipping and pitching and jigs. They are both sensitive rods, have good balance, have great back bone, and are very light. I really like them. I hope to pick up a Wild Black sometime here soon.

Best - Don't be content with the knowledge you have. Never stop learning. Worst - (On day of tournament) Hey I fished here yesterday and caught 18 pounds.... Needless to say, we caught nothing out of that spot and sat on it all day long.

There's a lot worse things you could be spending your money on... As far as an addiction goes, I would say you have a healthy one!

My favorites are Strike King 5xd's and 6xd's, Lucky Craft CBD20, and the Rapala DT20

If that were me, I'd be having goose for dinner

Sweet!!

I like the Rage Tail Baby Craw and the Rage Craw. They work really well. But when it gets cold and the water is in the 40's I still like a good ole chunk of pork.

My philosophy has always been "hook sets are free" which was already stated above. When in doubt, set the hook.

Revo Winch

- I was testing out some new gear at a river that runs through my local park. Some little kids chased several geese into the water and sure enough I caught myself a big ole Canadian goose. - Fishing for gills I caught a 10 pound leatherback turtle. That was pretty neat. - Caught a seagull fishing for crappies with my grandpa on a cane pole. - When I first started fishing I caught my brother... hooked him right in the ear. - The weirdest thing I've ever caught was a red Nintendo 64 controller. Caught it while cranking a stretch of the St. Joe river near my house.

I have 2 Catalyst spinning reels, and 6 Quantum bait casters: an old Accurist, 4 Catalysts (2 orange & 2 salt water silver and blue), and an Energy PT VI. Never had a single problem with any of them. I use the orange Catalysts and the Energy PT for cranking. I crank the snot out of those reels and have never had an issue with them. I have been debating very hard myself on getting a Smoke. The Smoke reels are awesome! I have used my buddies Smoke several times and it is great! If you decide to buy one, you will be glad you did.

I have Tour Edition PT VI. I mostly crank with mine, but its an awesome reel. I casts smaller cranks like my 1.5 square bills, series 1's, and series 3's just fine. I get good distance with it. I've used it for throwing series 5's, 5xd's, and 6xd's and it flat out bombs those bigger baits. I don't know who said they aren't smooth, because mine is very smooth. I was very disappointed I didn't have the extra cash to get a couple of them from Cabelas on their black friday sale. And I agree with nwibass, it should you a very good pitching reel.

I have a pair of WileyX Zak's and they are light weight, but other than that I have nothing else good to say about them. They don't block out enough light, their polarized lenses are garbage, they weren't very comfortable, and their warranties are worthless. I had an issue with 1 of my lenses, 4 months after I bought my glasses. They were still under warranty, and they wouldn't do a thing for me. Their solution was sending them the glasses, paying $75 to have new lenses put in, and then pay $10 shipping to get my glasses back. If you are looking for an inexpensive pair of glasses, check out Strike Kings glasses. They are cheap, light, comfortable, and they have some decent lenses for what the glasses cost. Also, Solar Bat's are decent glasses for the money. They have an awesome yellow lens and their mossback green lens is awesome too. Like some of the guys above, I like Costa. Only issue I have with those is they are a bit pricey for my small budget.

I am very fortunate to have several good buddies who work at my local tackle shops. As long as I have cash on hand, they can purchase what I want and I get their discount. This works out great because I can buy more gear or higher quality gear at discount prices. Not to mention my wife is a "sale" shopper. So when she sees that everything on my receipt is at discounted prices, she thinks she is rubbing off on me!

I have a 7'6 heavy action Micro Magic that I use for fishin' jigs and I love it! I want to get a couple more!

I've been thinking about buying a Tournament Speed Spool for a while. I've got 2 Speed Spools and I really like them! Let us know what you think.

I bought a Sexy Shad silent Red Eye just to give it a shot. I thought it would work well in some of the clear water lakes in my surrounding area. I love throwing rattling Red Eyes, so I was hoping the silent baits would be just as awesome. But after further review, I have to agree with ww2farmer. Even in the clear water lakes, the silent bait didn't produce any better than the bait with rattles. I was hoping I could get the same kind of awesome production out of the silent Red Eye as I get out of the silent square bills, silent series 5's and silent 6xd's. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. I will stick with rattlin' Red Eyes.

Messing up the bait would be my biggest concern. Most likely you are going to ruin the bait, so you are out $4 or $5. Then to replace that bait, it's going to be another $4 or $5 to buy a new one. Companies make rattling crank baits and silent crank baits for a reason....

Good job! Keep up the good work!

1. KVD 1.5 2. 6xd & 5xd 3A. Reaction Innovation Sweet Beaver 3B. Strike King Rodent

I think of it as being a switch hitter in baseball. I am right handed but Ken Griffey Jr was my favorite baseball player growing up, and I wanted to hit like him. I learned how to swing from both sides of the plate and it came in very handy during my high school baseball years. It gives the hitter a bit of an edge over the pitcher. If you are good at switch hitting, you are more valuable to your team. I fish my spinning reels left handed because when I first started fishing, I learned on a left handed reel. Because I was comfortable using left handed spinning reels I started out using left handed bait casters. Once I became proficient with a left handed bait caster, I forced myself to start using right handed bait casters. Now I can interchange them with no problem. And like Hooligan, now I have both left and right bait casters for different situations. The more you learn, the more you know, the better off you are!

My favorite jerk baits are the Rapala X-Rap. I've caught a lot of fish on the Rapala Husky Jerk, the Bomber Pro Long A, and the Storm Original ThunderStick and Jr. ThunderStick. I haven't used Strike's King Wild Shiner a lot but I have caught some good fish on them. Like Hound_dog said, you need to have several different brands because they all act different. Sometimes the subtle difference in bait makes all the difference in the world.

I've had the most success fishing them on a shaky head and on a drop shot.

My favorite fluke style baits are the Strike King Caffeine Shad in ghost shad and pearl blue, and the Strike King 3X ElazTech Z Too in blue glimmer pearl belly. But I have caught a lot of fish on the Zoom Super Fluke's too, pearl, glimmer blue, and bait fish have all produced very well for me.