Avalonjohn44

6.5 or 7 Foot spinning rod. I have managed to skip with a baitcaster, but usually only by accident...

Both Koppers and Spro. If the pads coverage is quite dense, I would go with a Koppers, they have an action like they are trying to jump out of the water. If there is a lot of open water in between pads I would go Spro, they walk better. Both are excellent when applied to the correct situation... Some complain of dull hooks on Koppers, but I have eight of them and never got a dull hook yet.

Just checked out the Vixens on Ebay and see that they go from $25 to $75 bucks... I have one that I got in a lure lot a couple of years ago but never really thought it was anything special. Will have to throw it on there and see what I can get...

Still balsa. I did not notice if the Bang-Os are spin tails or not.

Long rods help in many ways. They help fight the fish and take stress off of the line. You can cast farther. If flipping and pitching and using a pendulum type cast, you will be much more accurate with a longer rod. And if a crazy canada goose is charging you and hissing, an extra foot or so of rod it nice to swat at it with...

We used to do real well using doughballs soaked in vanilla extract. Mold it around a hook, cast it out and wait.. My dad used to make it and I used it for years growing up. Haven't tried it in years though. We used to get catfish, suckers, carp, eels, all sorts of bottom feeders.

Went into Dick's today and there is half of an endcap dedicated to the new Bagley baits. They had several Bang-Os, Honey Bs, and B2s in new packaging and some new colors... They are still made in the dominican republic and look pretty much identical (other than the paint schemes) tothe old pre-Jarmo Rapala/Bill Cullerton baits... Has anyone tried them out yet?

You can keep most plastics in a box. I keep my zooms, sluggos, yum, robo worms and strike king plastics in a few 3700 boxes. Never had a problem with them in there, even the ragetail line. Some you cannot. Gulp and Trigger X really stink, plus gulp will dry out and be useless. Other brandss, like Chompers, Gambler and Lake Fork have a very strong Garlic scent that will certainly stink things up as well...

I've seen people doing it with gatorade bottles recently...

Those and Rapala Countdown Minnows still produce for me. I prefer the countdown, they run as deep as you want them to, and fish don't often see them these days.

Here is an ebay link with multiple pics of the lure: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Matzuo-Wart-Hog-Floating-/220946560126?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item337170f47e

Definitely not a Bagley, they do not match any of the bagley body styles or the paint patterns. It is a Matzuo America lure called the Wart Hog.

Pros: Generally balsa baits are more bouyant, rise faster and many times have an erratic wobble that is difficult to reproduce in plastic. Some people put balsa baits in the sun on their dashboard, claiming that they hold heat and for some reason bass hold on longer to a heated bait... Balsa baits are the types of baits that 'hunt' more than plastics due to the irregularity of wood densities and grains. Cedar baits rise slower, more easily dive deeper, and are durable. Cons: Balsa baits are usually more fragile than plastics. They are prone to dings, cracks, splits, etc. They tend to be more expensive. Cedar baits sometimes split due to the oils and resins in the wood drying. Best balsa baits: Zoom WEC baits, Bagley's from the 70s and 80s, Brians Bees, Some Rapalas Best cedar baits: Catching Concepts, 80s/90s Poes

I don't know much about Arizona bassing, however they are the same species as virginia LMB... It is my understanding that water temps are just a part of the equation. As important as temperatures is angle of light penetration through the water. The sunlight is weaker in the winter, and there is not as much of it as the days are shorter... As the days become longer, the levels of light trigger the bass to begin to stage. Then when the temps stablize and reach that magic number the bass begin to spawn, some early, some late, most around the same time... So he might not be pulling your leg, but he is also not telling you the whole story. Prespawn bassing, if you can find them, can be awesome...

I prefer cranking over other fishing methods, and I buy and use a ton of different cranks. I wanted a cheaper alternative to the LC RC1.5s so I bought a bunch of the H20 squarebills off of ebay since I do not live anywhere near an academy sports. I got them because of the rave reviews from some on this site. In my opinion they are far inferior to their Lucky Craft counterpart, and they are going back on Ebay. Your post mentioned that cost was a factor, so LCs are out. However, you can do very well with some low priced baits, I heartily recommend Bandit 100s, 200s & 300s (100s=shallow 300s=deep) and Strike King KVD Square Bills. These baits all catch fish, all cost about $5 each at walmart, and all run nicely right out of the box. For $6.50 or so at walmart you can get Excalibur squarebills which are very nice, comparable to LC Rick Clunn 1.5s.

Don't forget that it is supposed to be FUN.

Any effort of erradication by man is probably doomed to failure, especially of a pelagic species of relatively small critters that seem difficult to detect. I say let evolution do the erradication thing, its way better equipped to do so than we are... If the Tiger Prawns are better adapted to survive than native species, then they will establish themselves and there is nothing we can do to stop them. If they prove to not be better adapted, they will very slowly die off in these waters and won't ever be a serious issue. I don't get too worked up about all of these so called 'invasive species', usually the reality fails to live up to all of the scary hype. Snakeheads, zebra mussles, largemouth bass, peacock bass etc, most find their niche right alongside native species... Only a few ivasive species ever really truly threaten native species. The python comes to mind in FL.

I use Lake Fork Live Magic Shad, Zoom Swimming Fluke, or sometimes just a plain ol' grub.

The KVDs are great cranks and a great price. I still don't see the 'hunting action' that they were marketed to do, but don't care, they catch almost as many bass as my LC RCs and for $5 I'm not so hesitant to throw them in the sticks. My best color is yellow with the black back.

They are edible and delicious, and produce quite a bit of meat. I don't see a problem here other than a possible run on cocktail sauce.

I am fully fluent in French. The french translation on most lure packages is: "Thank you for buying our lure. We surrender." Or something like that.

This is a pretty definitive source supporting my last post: http://aqua.ucdavis.edu/DatabaseRoot/pdf/200FS.PDF

They can spawn twice a year. It's unlikely but not unheard of.

I fish a private lake several times a month, and most days it is just as hard as anywhere else. You still have to find the fish. Just because it is a private pond doesn't mean there's a golden platter where you just grab your limit of lunkers and go on home... I just don't understand why folks would say don't brag about what you catch at a private pond. What a load of crapola. If I catch a twelve pound bass in a lake, river, farm pond, private pond or out of the tank at BPS itself, I'm happy as heck I caught it, somebody's gonna hear about it. My avatar will show a pic of it and it beats any bass that weighs less than it no matter where it's caught... Anyone saying otherwise is just one of those 'sour grapes' type of person.