primetime

cats out the bag now. Megabass Like Keitech never filed patents, Academy has a house jerkbait which is the shape and size of the 110,Lucky, and now 5-6 brands are marketing the Ito shape...Academy has a floater which is actually pretty cool, or another house is a floater, I think someone else also knocked it off, but that is what happens when a bait sells well and patents are not locked in...Fair game.

D.O.A Lures chug heads are great for any swimbait, or soft bait. They enhance many presentations, not sure how they are not more popular in other states besides Florida as far as I know. These are great with a swim senko or fluke, caffeine shad and cut tails are killer...big 7 inch senkos will ride the surface and enhance the appearance. http://www.sportsmanswarehouse.com/img/products/original/1208487_2.jpg Plus they are cheap, you could buy 7 colors, have 35 texas rig heads for $15

The Pop Shadz are a copy imo from the Chug Heads that D.O.A. lures has been selling for years and very popular in the Inshore Florida scene as well as here in Tampa to Orlando Florida and apparently the Big O. Most guys use paddle tail swimbaits and the CAL 4" is like the Bass Assassin Turbo shad which is great for Trout in saltwater and I use swim senko's, Keitechs, the 3.8 fats will fit, the reg size fits well, 7" senkos and huge flukes work as well as 12" Ribbons. I don't like the pop shads only because they are limited in color and action and size where I can mix 7-8 colors with a Strike king Caffeine shad or even a swimbait and it acts like a keel, plus gives baits Eyes and you can add weight and it is something I have no idea why is not more popular. You can fish any bait back to the boat and find topwater bites you wouldn't normally know about...I know guys on the Big O use a lot of D.O.A. baits since the owner designs many of his soft baits for Bass specifically for Florida Bass fishing and the CAL flukes are killer in gold rush color and a black chug head... here is a pic, you can find packs of 5 for $2 online and they are a solid investment. I find the zman baits cast better than I expected but if using a weighted hook they land upside down from time to time and it is not a swimbait where the chug heads enhance the swimming motion, the Pop Shadz are topwaters, similar to the pop frogs they have had out for ever but are super light. These are legit https://www.google.com/search?q=doa+chug+head&biw=1366&bih=712&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=WeT3VKioJ8aZNu2UhNgI&sqi=2&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ#imgdii=_&imgrc=k8HKGKWnjE5xMM%253A%3BJUuiT83omPTTGM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.sportsmanswarehouse.com%252Fimg%252Fproducts%252Foriginal%252F1208487_2.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.sportsmanswarehouse.com%252Fsportsmans%252FD-O-A-Lures-Chug-Head%252FproductDetail%252FSoft-Baits-and-Lures%252Fprod70154%252Fcat101094%3B738%3B640

That's a Bass right there...Awesome Colors...Healthy and HUGE. Now that is a 7lb bass, big difference from a 5 to a 7. 7's are not easy to catch in Florida.

Here is the link to all the stories from the LI fisherman magazine and has info about the fly fishing story I had heard and it says 9.14 so I was close with the .4...I don't doubt a 10lb bass is on the Island at all, I have seen legit 7's and we used to fish a private lake my friend lived on called Black Lake in Monticello and it had huge bass in it back in the 90's. Average bass was 19" 4lbs and we pulled some fish over 23" and fat out of that lake... Here is the LI story and lots of debating it... http://www.nybass.racknine.net/illustrated/archives/threads/places/ronko.htm Posted by earthworm77 on 2002 AM: First let me say that I pride myself in finding big bass on LI. I've caught a ton...literally. A 22" fish is a great fish but a 22" fish is not even close to 10lbs or 9 for that matter. It may touch 6lbs. The problem is that most guys haven't caught a bass over 3lbs so they guestimate. To most, an 18" bass is a 5lber. They have no clue. I can't figure why the Fisherman mag, reported a 10lber being that it was obviously illegal pre season time...the reports are a few weeks behind. Next....no chance that fish came from the overflow. There are 3 places that come to mind...that I will talk about on LI where I know there are bonifide 10lbers swimming.......Ronkonkoma is definately one. Anyone remember Bill Doc Bartick???? He took an 11 in the late 70's. My Dad knows him and perhaps I can get some info out of him on it or at least a photo....next...Wildwood.....you may get shot fishing there but I've seen some giants including a 9-14 I took about 6 yrs ago. The last lake is Blydenburgh. I saw a photo of a ten cuaght on a flyrod about 10yrs ago. Although I've taken two 9's and a host of 7's and 8's from the Peconic, I do not think there is a 10 there. Just a gut feeling...I may be wrong. There are also a few other ponds on LI that I know have some tremendous fish with a 10 being a legitimate possiblity. __________________ www.micromunchtackle.com

I just corrected it, I was getting numbers confused...I think it was 9.4, I am getting old, I fished the Island 20 years ago, but I know there was a fish that was caught on a fly rod at Blydenburg park when I was in High School that was huge and we fished the lake every weekend after reading about it, but then again, one man's 9lber is another man's 6lber...I was just watching the George Rose Ronkonkoma video and his 7's were 4-5's where I am from...I think the 11.4 was stuck in my head since it has been state record for so long....Good call, I realized after I typed it that 11lbs is awfully big for NY so I checked, but I have always believed the Blydenburg story and will have to check as the Long Island Fisherman had an article about it years ago and when I used to fish the Dave Romeo bass tournaments as a kid the story was told by almost everyone as true... I think it was 9.4 or something close to 10....The 10 at forge was a fish caught years ago by someone I trusted, but after that video I think some scales are broken....

I was just watching the George Rose video, and his "7lber's" sure looked like solid 4-5lb fish to me, no wonder he claims to have landed over 100 7lb bass on long island and Wildwood alone or something crazy, and this was the 90's...I am thinking the Blydenburg fish may not have been 11.4 but 9.4, 11.4 is the state record but I know it was a large fish. It was weighed at the local bait shop in the late 80's I think... All I know is I fished NY from a little kid till mid 20's and older Brother still fishes NY and CT and we never landed a fish over 7.5 and that was a 24" bass, so I guess if a 21" bass is 7lbs, then I caught a few dozen NY 7lbers, and heck, I may have some 15-18lbers here in Florida. 21-24" NY Bass is not going over 8lbs although you never know.

Google it. The story is this...100% true..Guy takes his kid out to try a new fly fishing rod, they are fishing at that ramp in the wooded area, it's like 2-3' deep, no cover, and they cast out a popper on a fly rod, and bam....11.4 long island record bass...That is fact...First cast is how I was told but it is a documented record, I also know someone who landed a 10.1 from Forge and it was caught by the railroad tracks on a jig in winter.

If you contact the local DEC they will give you the location to where they sink all the Christmas trees in Lake Ronkonkoma. I am not sure if they still have enough funding for that program but in the 80's and early 90's the best spot of fish on Ronkonkoma was the brush piles. IF you You Tube George Rose shiner fishing on Lake Ronkonkoma he is catching fish every cast and the brush piles were put in 8-12' of water. I forget the exact location, I was young when fished that lake and I never liked it since 90% of the lake is not very productive so when I went out with my friend in our Little Bass Hunter wthout Electronics and at that time in High School we really on threw Spinnerbaits and weightless plastics and topwaters, so we only fished visible structure and once the Sun comes up that lake is tough, we would do well near the creeks and shallow structure that everyone fishes, but I did take a trip once with my older brother who knew where the brush piles were and this was 20 years ago, but they are not far from the ramp, guys make their own as well, and the best fishing after the sun comes up is in the 12' range as that is where the brush was placed. I didn't look at this map but I have one that I will PM to you that shows the brushpiles and the DEC will also give this to you for free, they are located in Ridge, and used to be very helpful. They stocked Tiger Musky in Ronkonkama or Hybrids and I know guys would catch a giant Musky every month or so. I don't think it has smallies, may have hybrid stripers, but I will get you the location of the brush piles, but my buddy who still fishes the Island found them by simply fishing near other boats and watching where they anchored. That Lake is known for producing Bass in the 5-6lb range often, and it is probably top 5 for a potential double digit fish, but if Blydenburg produced an 11lber than anything is possible. If you can get out east the lakes out there have less pressure, Wildwood lake is a lake that hold giants, and once you learn to pattern that lake you will love it and is fun to fish as it has everything you could want....That is a topo that is fun to read and the entire lake holds fish at certain times, but in spring the spawning flats are easy to find and are simply.....Great.

I have so much tackle I buy with intent to sell, but half of it ends up going into storage. I used to carry a dozen boxes, 2 gym bags full of plastics and lures, my organization is terrible, I will reach for a crank and it will be tangled with 20 other's and it drove me insane one day. Know I buy a small binder and brind only 3 boxes with me and strap the plastics to my belt since I only use 10% of what I have. I find I do better if I bring less, I am not temped to try something new and shiny all the time. Less = more fishing time for me...But I am ready for the day when fishing tackle is hard to find. I used to bring 3 boxes of just topwaters but that is overkill for me.

Are theynot making subwarts anymore? There is a local shop that has a ton of old tackle and there are a few subwarts on the wall still, I guess I should grab them, I only have a few left. I am sure you can find them on Ebay, just be careful buying from anyone who custom paints lures and throws away the package, or someone who sells other imported items besides just fishing and sells lots of lures in numbers like 31, 18, 42 as the Chinese are making copies of all the older lures that are discontinued. There is a guy selling all fake Whopper Stopper lures, Megabait stuff, and Ebay knows all these guys are selling fake lures "Custom painted" but nobody has 2000 vintage lures to sell out of the blue....I have turned in many sellers on Ebay who are getting $100 for 6 fake lures, send the links to Ebay with the link to the shop overseas selling the fakes for under a $1 and they do nothing. Drives me crazy, I hate people who steal and for some reason nobody cracks down on the online fishing tackle industry. I never buy any Japanese lures on Ebay anymore unless from a legit dealer....Thanks..I will let you know if I find a bunch of Subwarts when I visit my buddies shop....I know there is a bin full of old chug bugs and it used to have subwarts and If so they cost nothing.

Thanks for the detailed information as learning this about a lure takes a long time but you had me at "it will run with weeds on the hooks" since that is the key for my type of fishing with wake baits and I also use barbless trebles so I crush them down or shave off since they are able to shake weeds easy or pop free for reaction strikes. I fish the smaller Eggs on spinning tackle and mono for shorelines, but I love the idea of the larger size and if they hold the T3 Inline trebles the Xcal Cranks come with that is awesome as they are stout trebles and large as well, so I can use them with braid and horse fish without any bending issues. Awesome info, I need to get my hands on the larger one's, I also have found that barbless trebles help in the weeds if snapping free or shaking them off for reaction strikes. I crush em down or shave them off, and fly fishing floatation foam in the can added to the line gives you an extra 2" of buoyancy for most baits, I have some Long A's where I melted and bent the lip, pulled of a treble so it has 2, and sanded paint off sides that will work at a decent pace in 3-4" of water no problem, but excited to try out the larger Egg which does have a shape that fish are probably not used too seeing. Thanks again for all the detail, I will try it all out. when burned as fast as you can turn the handle it will reach max depth and become unstable but just enough to begin to take on a form of hunting action while refusing to blow out and even when made to blow out it will very quickly recover on the surface and get back to work. There are 4 different ways to fish the bait that I have found will catch fish depending on how they want the bait. 1. slow wake 2. powering through cover on a steady retrieve like a big body super shallow square bill 3. walking the bait while transitioning from surface to subsurface in a classic walking motion with longer 'pulls' between pauses (it won't walk surface or subsurface alone) 4. burning the bait as it reaches ever increasing levels of instability at max depth resulting in a side to side hunting esq action The negatives are that the stock hooks suck and are hard to find replacements given the short distance between the hook hangars, although the hooks from an Excalibur XCS 200 square bill fit very well. Despite BPS' massive color pallet, the colors are limited for whatever reason. Purple Tiger is a favorite. The small size The Egg doesn't scale well and is not nearly as good as the big one so give the small one a pass. Guys in the know are paying good money for custom painted 'The Egg'. Anytime a $4.29 bait sells for $15+ in custom painted variations is when it is time to take notice. Just super sayin.

Thanks for the options and suggestions. I like the BPS Egg and have only used it on spinning gear but I need to do some modifications and start throwing it more. I do like the action and it does hunt extremely different than most wake baits. I picked up a bunch during a BPS sale when I was in Orlando and may throw some 30 lb braid on a baitcaster and start throwing some of the smaller wakes. I guess the Shellcracker is worth it. I kind of figured I would get that answer and also other high priced baits as with wake baits they get a good look at the bait and often follow and turn away at the boat or near shore. I could live with a Red Fin in Gold on overcast days and smokey Joe and silver on sunny days, and rippling redfin on pressured waters, but I need some quality wakes in some new colors. $30 is not that bad for a topwater which I consider a wake bait so I should not lose it, however, I recently lost a brand new Gunfish I paid $15 for on my 3rd cast because I heard a bowling ball drop from a tree near a shoreline while land fishing, and just had to make the attempt at skipping it under some branches to get that fish....I missed by only 7-8' and skipped it up in the trees. I need to put my Yak in the pond this week and go get it, I figure at night is a good time since it is gold and shines like an xmas ornament and while I am at it I have some Chug bugs and Sebile Stick Shads to grab in the trees since I am always trying to imitate a large wounded shiner..... I am addicted to Lucky Craft baits lately and will also check out the jointed wake bait. I guess you can throw anything on casting gear, you just need to have the right reel and rod. I need to research which casting reel I have is best for light baits since I like a wake bait far away since water is usually clear in places I throw them all day long, and I notice most strikes happen far from the boat... Thanks....

I love to throw subwarts on my light action spinning rod and I was wondering if you big up the treble hooks or do you leave the hooks as they are? The subwart is one of my all time favorite cranks and I picked it up again this spring for pond fishing but I am afraid of losing big fish, but every time I change the hooks it never produces. If you could provide any help I would appreciate it. Thanks for your suggestions.

If you need a rod and reel, I would focus on getting that out of the way first. I have never used the bass pro combos in that range but I am sure they are plenty good, bass pro makes quality stuff for sure. For tackle...BPS brand lures are good, the xps series floating minnow for $2.99 is a great floating minnow bait and if I was stuck to one lure I would pick a floating minnow like the original Floating Rapala, but now they make them in plastic for longer casting and all you really need in fishing is this.. 1- few floating minnow baits 2-few crankbaits- stick to square bills, don't need to buy expensive ones, get 1 in chrome, 1 in gold, 1 in a color to match local forage or that you like 3-popper and walking bait- few spinners or spinnerbaits, pack of worm hooks, then pick a few packs of plastic worms....You could get by just buying plastics and terminal tackle, however, having different lures to use like a popper, walk the dog type lure, lipless cranks etc...make fishing more fun, and nothing beats a topwater strike...Oh yeah, get a booyah or bps weedless frog if can only afford 1 topwater lure, for worms, the bass pro swizzle stick is awesome and will produce when everyone else is striking out on the senko...

I had a similar experience a few years ago ordering from them, and they even sent me some decals and extra baits as well. I place a new order every year from them because of the fantastic service, plus the Slider Worm is one of the first baits I ever used for bass fishing as a kid, I was in love with the black and chart tail slider worm and still use them to this day as my go to finesse worm. They make great jigheads and offer some awesome designs that are not available elsewhere, especially the weedless jigs. The Slider system is no joke, it catches numbers and good fish, If fish will not hit a slider, you are most likely in a bad spot.....

I love the Charlie Brewer Slider heads...Have been using them for years and still throw the slider worms and slider grubs...The Charlie Brewer webpage has some cool light line stuff on that site that is unique and people are missing out if not using them for sure.

ok thanks. I have seen this in magazines with the zinkers and mushroom head... I have not tried it yet, I was thinking a nail weight for some reason and thought the TRD was the name of the rig, and Ned was with a nail weight and either wacky or no jighead at all. Too many rigs out there but looking at how many people use this it must be legit....Impossible to put every rig in your arsenal these days....By the time you master the drop shot you have 9 new light line techniques that are waiting for you......and I am a sucker for trying them all, I just picked up a bunch of the strike king elaztach baits from a local shop and some zman elaztach stuff, I think I had a pack of Zinkers in there or if not I definitely saw those Hula sticks which I have been wanting to try....A lot of these rigs overlap if I step back and think about them, kind of like arguing about the Mojo rig, c-rig, and split shot rig.....

I was hoping to get a few suggestions as to some good wake baits to throw on heavy casting gear over submerged weeds and also on edges, structure etc.... I mainly throw the Red Fin and Ripplin Red Fin, and for smaller profile I go with the Yo-zuri SS Minnow which is a saltwater wake bait so it casts easy compared to say the Ima Roumba which is not easy to cast on heavy braid or designed for heavy gear. I am looking for something near or over 100mm or 4". I have my eyes on a few. Strike King Wake Shad and Kong Shad (Lipped versions if I have names wrong) Jackall Mikey Rapala Bx Minnow- $15 & Rapala bother's me for a lure I have not heard anyone talk about at all..... Academy bluegill baits- for $3-$5 my guess is these helicopter, do not cast well, get tangled easy, etc...But am I wrong????? Buckyeye Wake UP I like a lip on the jointed baits that float other wise I tend to fish them to fast, I figure Lucky Craft must have a good wake bait right? I do love the Lucky Craft colors and Japanese colors. The Gyron is a good bait but does not cast the greatest, so a lipped fatter bait or quality bluegill sunfish pattern would be great....Thanks in advance. I know the Black Dog Shellcracker is popular but seems like a bit much for a jointed wake bait, but is it really that good? I am open to any brand, Casting distance and action on 40-50lb braid or 20lb Nylon Mono or copoly is what they are thrown on most times & distance is super important.

I just starting experimenting with it but have been using Flick shake worms and not sure about this rig yet, I do love putting a nail in one end of a worm to cause the worm to float upright off the bottom, or in the back of a senko on the MJ rig to get more swing, I fish Senko's fast like a fluke and always jab a nail in back and behind the sack to get a gliding action....It works best over weeds, long casts, and getting the glide is easiest on a 6-7" senko, MJ rig or without the blade...Ned rig seems like a light line only clear water rocky bottom rig but I could be wrong?????? I think Ned rig means wacky rig with short shank jighead, nail in one end and shake???? Yes, or no? So many rigs out there now...

At one point about 15 years ago all I threw was tubes in Ny and then maybe a spinnerbait or power worm and I did well in college and I truly only used those 3 baits.... I recently started using tubes again after I realized very few people use them unless they are struggling with the standard soft baits-Worms and flukes and creatures.. My favorite way to use a tube is unweighted or a light weight (bullet weight unpegged 1/16-1/4) and I swim em slowly or use the 5" yum tubes they used to make that are long and thin instead of using a sluggo or fluke over weeds.... 2 types of tubes....Flipping tubes which are double dipped, thick, and I rarely use them, I just do not get good hooksets with all the plastic for flipping, but I love a "Finesse tube" I call finesse the Zoom style tubes, original Gitzit tubes, and any thinner tube..the Power team Food chain tubes are great for easy hooksets, I put some type of buoyant floating material in them so they float, stuff em full of megastrike and any and all scents, and fish em on a c-rig all year long, 3" tube, gamakatsu split shot hook through the front, thin tube, 1 foot leader, or split shot, and drag and pause....It works, so does using a tube instead of a fluke, Ika and Hydras are awesome and cast a mile....The Ika is just fantastic, I have not even tried to rig it backwards like everyone prefers, I do well just working them on the surface, or slow rolled ticking weeds...You can't fish a tube wrong, just make sure you leave enough hook point for hooksets.....Mustad and Eagle Claw have new Tube hooks that are Kahle shaped hooks that work well, Mr. Twister also makes a Kahle Hook that has the keeper barb, wide gap keeper hook in 5/0 hold most tubes in 3-4" well. Keeper hooks are good, just make sure you are not using heavy braid and horsing fish, they bend, they are not heavy cover hooks.

People love to pay crazy money online for all this UV and led stuff lately, and I am about to purchase a large batch of either a blinking frog/Mouse combo or swimbait version since I can't believe the amount of Glowing lures and LED crankbaits, poppers etc. are selling right now. The Banjo minnow still rakes in a good chunk of money, the walking worm made money, and this mighty bite is popular, and when we sold the blaze lipless cranks that blinked (at tackle shop on weekends), I could not convince people to NOT buy one for $3 (same price as a ratttle trap or spot) Most purchased 2 since what if somebody purchased all the secret weapons? The Live Target Frogs and baitball lures are the most coveted by the average guy who walks into a tackle shop, Savage packaging is awesome looking and the bright colors also make them a must have for casual people just fishing for a day for fun....I have been trying to compete with people that I am helpless against when I import a good quality walking lure, good paint, triple grips or vmc hooks, but $3 is too much as everyone has seen the 4-5 colors I can afford, shape and size, looking back my best selling items to date are spinners with frogs on the treble hook and buzzbaits with frogs, and small glow shrimp in 3mm & 3" earthworm imitations that smell like oil do really well, but legit Bomber quality lures is a loser and Mighty Bite is a good thing for America and Bass Fishing since it brings customers. I spent a chunk of change last night on TW site on terminal tackle and had to spend $50 for free shipping even though I paid the $5 in case I do not get my tournament winning items on time for next weekend. I was buying on impulse and looking back today, I over spent by a good $15 simply because I wanted that Fintech weedless ighead really badly, blade runners, and also the wrecking ball when Mustad and VMC would have been better options, so impulse is key, buying fishing tackle is boring if you already have certain brands you know are good, because deep down, every time I pay for a Gunfish in Wasagi flash I am buying it hoping that the lure does what is impossible and basically get bit on every cast. Is it really 12 bucks better than the H20 Pistol, Bass Pro Slim Dog, or Matzuo or even a hurricane?????? sorry for the rant, hopefully someone can unscramble this, as I need to wrap this up early since I was online all night working out the logistics of this new venture which should be interesting. The Frogs are actually legit quality, same as a viscious or Cabelas Chuck it frog...any input would help, I know UV is legit, it is led's I am leary of but I am not fishing them....

I plan on heading down to grab a PQ for $50 if they are the good ones and not the scaled down version which I recently was told about, but I like their rods, the Bionic blade Micro guide feels better than the more expensive one's to me and I need a heavy 7'6 spinning rod, and figure I can pick up a deal on a spinning reel like a Browning or Extreme.Then I will probably fill a few baskets of stuff I don't need if they do a good job with bogo's, bins with mixed baits, and if Bass Pro is going nuts, then so is Dick's and Gander... I just spent $60 on terminal tackle and a few packs of soft baits on TW last night, jigheads are expensive, and so are good hooks and of course, leader....XPS is on sale bogo and I hear their Fluoro is good, but I finally trust Seaguar Abrasix....

having grown up in NY and getting requests from friends to send them soft baits all the time, I can say that all we used 10 years ago was: Black-black/blue tail-black-chart tail-Grape-pumpkinseed-Motor Oil-Smokes... I now hear everyone asking for watermelons, watermelon seed, panfish colored swimbaits or something with chartruese in them, I always like a sexy shad up north since Smallies love chart, plus it can be a bluegill or shad depending on brand...Clear water, just go with your gut, I always do well when I match the water color with is usually a green pumpkin or smoke and then try a flake from both ends of spectrum...Red and purple or blue...GYB makes some awesome smoke colors which is why I still pay for GYB baits...Smoke with blue and gold often kills it as does that translucent black or natural shad they make...GYB put some science in the color or at least made a combo containing them all. What matters is you buy them all, then figure it out. I never use pink, but I see more sherbert swirl worms selling at shops than I do watermelons in Florida lately..not sure why, but I have noticed it is hard to find in stock at times as well....still won't throw it, just can't believe in it, but metholianate I trust...

Think big...Bring a Gaf just in case a 25 takes a swipe and you are not sure if you can swing it....