Rob G.

Those look identicle to the Gander Mountain, Black Magic brand. I prefer those over the originals personally. They are still soft, but hold up better than the originals. They are an awesome bait that can be rigged lots of ways. Just use your imagination. I am always skeptical of buying prior to handling soft baits. Sometimes you get what you pay for (or less), other times sweet deals can be had. Crap shoot!

I personally like them and have caught a lot of fish on them. Good price too!

I have been fishing out of float tubes since 1987. I too have used the flippers, but despise having to propel myself across the water backwards. BPS sells some flipper type things that move you forward. They are only about $20. Mine have lasted since 1988 and I have done nothing to maintain them. I bought some for my Father in Law and they have changed very little since I bought mine. They actually upgraded the straps instead of cheapening things up. I recommed you try these, much easier to fish when you are moving forwards, facing forwards, rather than backwards.

I gotta pipe up here. I turned a buddy onto Delo's and he ordered 10 new Curado's. Great rebate and free shipping! Anyways, when his order arrived at his house there were only 9 reels in the lot. He got ahold of Delo's and they fixed it promptly! It is great to hear of great customer service these days!!

They are the best value in a cranking stick around. I own one, also own a Falcon Cara Reaction crankin rod. I am not going to say that the Falcon is not a better rod, but I would do find with only BPS crankin' sticks. Occassionally you can get them for about $30 on sale too. I use 6'6 in medium action for most applications.

RM, thanks from me also! Muddy, you're alright too.

I do not use snaps on lipless cranks at all, and the reason is that I fish traps around and through weeds a lot. The snap is not as weedless as a well tied and trimmed knot.

Bronzeyes are the best and toughest frog (rat) bait that I have ever used. I prefer the Jr. size. Here is a tip, slip a tube rattle into the hollow body and hold on. Somedays bass do just slap at rats, other days they absolutely inhale them. Usually you can adjust something if you are getting short hits, such as type of retrieve, speed of retrieve (very important), or color of bait (this usually works). Another trick is to trim the rubber strands down a bit and leave one side about a 1/2 inch longer than the other. Makes it easier to "walk the dog". These are just like all baits, they are not mastered in a day. You will find more and more ways to hone this technique with experience. Just like throwing a crankbait. Somedays it is just chuck and wind, but there is much more to crankbaiting than that. I almost forgot, it is very important to throw on heavy braid, ie 60-80lb test. Both for the very low stretch quality and so you can winch in a 2 pound bass and 10 pounds of weeds. LOL. Not much fight in a fish when they are enveloped in weeds though.

Swimjigs, rattletraps, buzzbaits, flukes- so you can take up line slack quickly.

4pwr, The Omega is a definate improvement over the 33's. I have one for when I take non-fishing friends out. My buddy also has a few for his 10 yr old son and I have seen the kid catch numerous LBM and SMB on the Mississippi River. I have handled the reels and they are very smooth and require very little maintenance. The Omega would be my choice. They are a bit on the heavy side. Wallyworld carries them, go check one out for yourself.

Bobby, thanks a bunch, cannot wait to try them out this Spring. My first tournament is April 1st again this year on the Mississippi River pool 8 I believe, exact location not yet named. It will be a cold one. Shakey heads will probably be the game to play. Looking forward to using the Shak-E2. Anyone know where I can obtain a catalog with all Bobby's products?

Unless your g/f is an avid fisherperson herself, do not let her buy you lures unless you show her explicitly what you want. You will end up with some lures that either look really pretty, or the dumbo working at the sporting goods store talked her into. You pretty much are gonna have to take her by the hand and show her. No offense intended, but this is usually how it works.

Gasoline is the same way, I carry a box of latex gloves in my truck for when I fuel up on the way to go fishing. I get funny looks wearing the gloves fueling, but I know I catch more fish. Many noxiousl odors work the same way.

Fog extends the crepitscular periods of dusk and dawn, but makes boating more dangererous. I welcome fog as long as not ina tournament. Simply put it increases both the morning and the evening bite. In the fall it can be a pitfall, the water never gets the sun it needs to warm and move the fish shallow.

Thankyou!

If you are referring to the Prodigy baitcaster, it is actually made by Silstar. It is the same as one of the Pinnacle reels. I got a break on the price of these and bought three of them the first year they were on the market. They are junk. Two went kapoot before the first season was finished. Cabelas replaced them. The third went kapoot early the next season. Cabelas replaced it also. Long story short, all the replacements went kapoot soon thereafter again and I returned them to Cabelas for store credit. These reels look decent at a glance and seem to have a very free spinning spool, but do not waste your money. They will not hold up and will only cause you inconvenience and aggrevation. For the money, either an old model Shimano Curado, or an ABU Revo SX is a far better choice and they will hold up for years with minimal maintenance.

Personally I prefer the Falcon Cara Reaction series cranking rods.

Getting my boat up on plane, wondering why all the water is spraying over the bow, then noticing my trolling motor is still deployed. My most frequent one, after respooling a reel and rigging the rod after a half day of fishing I notice that I did not put the line through the level wind thingy.

Just wanted to wish everyone a happy and safe Thanksgiving!

I think I need to apologize. A few times I have made, or rather tried to make, jokes about using live mice on this site. I do not really condone this practice or even know that it would work, nor will I be trying it. I did not mean to mislead anyone for real. I figured the concept was so proposterous that it would not be taken seriously.

How to texas rig a live mouse.

I have gore tex that I wear if it is cooler, but when it is warmer I use Frogg Toggs. Great buy now that their price has come down. They also fold up very small compared to gore tex and do not weigh much at all. I always keep them in my boat. If you buy them, get the model with the bibs, not the pants. If you are in driven rain or riding in a boat while it is raining you will stay much drier.

I fish the Mississippi River almost exclusively, not all of it has really fast current, but some areas do. Do not discard a crankbait or rattletrap on a burner geared reel, especially in discharge areas. The bass are normally in these areas when the feed is on. Moving baits that imitate their primary forage can be unbelievably productive. If the current is really flowing, opt for a shallow crankbait such as a Bandit 100 instead of a deeper bait. With deeper baits sometimes the water will push your line faster than the bait and this can cut down on your hook up ratio. Also when fish are staged near a discharge, they will normally rise to smack a shallow bait just as well as a deeper bait, sometimes better.

Yes had this happen several times. Most commonly with smallies. Smallies in pack form will follow a hooked fish to the boat and sometimes try to steal the bait from the hooked fish. It is always fun.

This is my mainstay for texas rigging. Also if you put a stop above and below your weight you can slide the who weight forward to instantly have a mini carolina/mojo rig. Just remember when sliding the stops to lube your line with spit and move them slowely. They do cause some friction. I have never had a break off because of this rig however. Very weedless.