TNBassin'

The new Revo S look sweet. Initially I was gonna get a new SX, but the S on a Veritas would look and fish sweet.

I've noticed that Abu rods are incredibly stiff. I have a medium Vendetta and that rod handles everything I throw at it.

These days, worms have such awesome action in the water I doubt they look like anything but a meal to bass. Especially a good ribbon tail or a rage tail anaconda worm. Worms nowadays move a bunch of water and create a lot of vibration that really attract fish.

Caught a nice 2#er tonight on one of these crank baits. No problem with the hookset, and the hooks held up well.

If you like the space monkeys, try the rage tail smokin roosters. Awesome action.

The Yum Pumpkin Ed is a great shakey head. It has a heavier wire hook than I like, but it's still pretty darn good. I like Jewel's Squirrel Head shakey head. It's got a real light wire hook so you don't really have to set the hook hard at all. Just reel into it a bit.

It's absolute garbage. I might as well have had a Slinky spooled up, and this is after 3 treatements of KVD LnL. Supposedly this was the flourocarbon that casted and felt like a mono, but it's absolute trash. I stripped this stuff off after a few days, and tried out P Line Fluoro clear and it's like night and day. Don't waste your time or money on this crap.

My girl has the Carbonlite casting rod, and it's amazing. I have a couple of Vendettas and I'm jealous of the carbonlite rods. Very nice rod.

I like Trilene XL over Stren. I use 8# Stren on my spinning reel, yet 12# XL on my Revo SX and the Trilene is much better in all aspects. Especially line memory and limpness. I treat all my line with KVD LnL and it helps both brands quite a bit.

I've been using the yum pumpkin ed shaky heads. You can get them in a ton of variations and they never fail to stand straight up.

I was speaking about the vendetta. Retail at most places is still $80. BPS has them now for $59.99. Gonna go pick up a 6'9 mh to pair up with my new revo sx.

These look and fish like winners no doubt. Now what's gonna happen when I hook a nice bass? Will the hardware pull out of the bait, or straighten the hook? Who knows, but I doubt it. I'll be sure to post any issues or pics of fish I land with these though. Hopefully tomorrow night if all goes well.

I know, It's the most frustrating place I've ever fished. Discouraging really.

So I got my Mangler Lures order this morning, and have been testing them out for the past few hours. Unfortunately with zero luck, but you can't buy a bite right now in my lake. I wasn't expecting much from a $2 crank bait from a small, obscure company, but I have to say that I'm impressed. Immediately upon opening the package, I was amazed how great these look. The finish and detail of the lure, is to say the least, pretty awesome. They make regular crank baits look like some "Japanimation" offering. The paint job and finish looks phenomenal when light hits it just right, as you can see by the pictures although I'm eager to see how well the paint job holds up after extended use. They have good weight, and feel solid, and also have rattles in them which feel solid and non cheap. The bills on these are also thick, and weighty with zero flex. All of the hardware and split rings are thick and feel good as well. These lures don't look "made", they look "sculpted". Hell, they even have 3D gills to go along with the 3D eyes. I was kind of worried about the hooks on a $2 lure, and I know some of you were too in my other thread. Upon comparing them to my other crank bait hooks, like what came on my Mann's, Rat L Traps, and my Bagley's, I can pretty much say they are on par, if not a little more solid than those lures. They are noticeably stiffer than what you'll find on a Rat L Trap, and are surprisingly sharp. Will I change them out? Eventually, but they don't scream "I'm going to lose fish". They are good enough, and that's about it. I feel pretty confident that I can hook a fish and keep him/her there. Swimming action I would say was always consistent, and I never noticed the lures leaning to one side during my retrieve or when I allowed them to just float. They look great in the water, though I can't attest to what they look like 15-20 feet down. I was pleasantly surprised to say the least. All in all, to me these seem like a steal at $1.99 per lure. If you took these out on the street corner with any other crank bait and asked people to pick which one they thought looked like the more expensive crank bait, 10 out of 10 people I'm sure would no doubt pick these. If you stuck these in the water side by side with some well known baits, I have no doubt that you would be surprised at how great the action is. Other than eventually changing out the hooks, which like I said are just good enough, I just can't see how you can go wrong with giving these a shot especially for the price. From the minute you hold it and fish with it, you'll wonder how this can be only 2 bucks. Below are some pics of the ones I got so you can check them out yourself. I am going out tomorrow night, so I will try to grab some video of these in action so you can see how they move. This is the first review I've done for anything, so if I left anything out, or if you have questions about something just feel free to ask. I would recommend that you give these a try if you're a little light on cranks, money, or both. Are these the end all be all baits? Probably not. Do these deserve to be in your tackle box? Absolutely.

Shipping is so dang high on rods found on eBay though. That's the only bad thing. Amazon ships them for free if it's over $25, but their selection is somewhat limited.

I like the Abu Garcia Vendetta rods myself. They are a bit stiffer than rated, but mine has been amazing so far. Some places have them on sale for $49.99 which is a STEAL.

Keep'em coming guys. I can't tell you how much I appreciate you fellas taking the time to read the report and posting your suggestions. Douglas is a TOUGH lake to fish consistently, since the water levels are constantly changing, and there's pretty much no cover or vegetation around. It's so bad, that when the lake is finally taken all the way down, people will build artificial cover and structures in spots to make fishing easier during the season. I lived in Florida for awhile, and I did great there but it's so much different fishing Douglas. The Pros were here in may, and I'm not sure how they did.

My local BP has yet to get any of the new colors in. Really want the GP/purple/gold/black roosters.

I just started using it, but the Rage Tail smokin rooster is awesome to fish. Love the way it moves through the water. My most effective bait has been a black neon Yum ribbon tail on a shakey head though.

Will do. If they work well, I will be filling my box with them for that price. Hope to have them Friday or Saturday, so look for a review with pics by mid next week.

I'd go with shakespeare stuff before I'd try southbend products if available to you.

Retail is $79.99

I usually change out the hooks on my cranks anyway. I'm gonna give them a chance before I start calling them garbage. I'm always willing to give these small companies a chance.

I have the whole spool doused in kvd lnl for the second time to make sure it's nice and manageable. Probably spool up my new revo sx with it friday before I go out on the lake. Let you guys know how the line performs.

Academy sports has then in store for $49. The vendetta 2 is hitting soon to go along with the new revo sx, so all old stock is being discounted.