Avalonjohn44

That happened to one of my lightning rods back in the day, I used to crash through the bushes with my rod tip facing forward. I hit a rock and busted out the little insert. In my case it was plastic, not ceramic. I cleared the rest of the material out, and filled the grooves in the tip with epoxy, then buffed it smooth. I use the rod still. It still casts well, even better with KVD spray overtop the epoxy. Don't remember the brand of the epoxy, sorry. On Edit, this is something I had no qualms about with a $35 rod. May not be a good solution on your $100+ rod.

Koppers Live Targets look pretty good. We've had a cold spring in NoVa, so I haven't tried these out yet, but they look superb. I hear a lot of complaints about dull hooks out of the box, but the two I have are just as stabby sharp as anything else I have.

It is not certain as to the extent of a Bass's ability to see the ultraviolet spectrum. They have been shown to have the receptors in their eyes to see the ultraviolet spectrum, however little other study has been done on this. Tightlines lures has done some research in this field, and they incorporate colors from the UV spectrum in their baits. I haven't gotten to play with thier baits to test their effectiveness for Bass... What has been shown is that many animals, from insects, to fish to some birds can see the ultraviolet spectrum, and they can use it to identify a variety of things from mating displays to prey/food sources (for instance flowers for bees). UV cameras have shown that fish, flowers, and insects do have complex patterns reflecting UV colors. The problem I see with a coating spray is that it would make the entire lure 'glow' UV rather than look natural to the fish. Rather than seeing the complex markings of a sunfish, they Bass would see an entire glowing fish. It might work, because things as dumb as a pink sluggo or trickworm work, but more study would be needed to say for sure. And if we still aren't completly certain how scents, enzymes, oils, etc work for bass, it will probably be some time before we are certain about UV light. Here are some sites I found about UV: UV Pics of Flowers: http://www.naturfotograf.com/UV_flowers_list.html About UV and bees: http://science.hq.nasa.gov/kids/imagers/ems/uv.html Scientific American article on Fish and UV: http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=forget-x-ray-vision-these-fish-have-2010-02-25 Similar to the Sci American article: http://www.livescience.com/9853-fish-uv-light-distinguish-faces.html

Great article about the bass consuming plastics. There have been times when my plastic has come off a few feet from shore and I didn't bother retrieving it. Will make the extra effort now.

KVD Line and Lure Conditioner should work. If not, warm soapy water and a toothbrush.

Power Shallow Cranker.

I also use the pink in any water, clear, stained, etc. I really love the pink Sluggo. When fishing is tough, it is one of my panic baits.

Cheepo Lews Rattle Trap, chrome/blue back. 2nd would be the Dean Rojas Fighting Frog, Green Pumpkin.

Good idea. I was talking to a bagley rep a year or so ago about placing a large order of a specific color. They existed up until a year ago at least. Their website is still working too: http://www.bagleybait.com/ http://www.bagleybait.com/dealer.html

Drop shot with what bait? Depends on the bait, conditions, etc Senko Rigged in what way?

There are a few on Ebay, some for less than $10 incl shipping...

I've had to eat crow several times pitting my tackle bag of cranks and bag after bag of worms against my brother's tiny collection of Rebel Crawdads. His tackle box consists of about five Rebel Crawdads, a single rust stained Rebel Wee Frog, a few bobbers, weights, and a half rusted pack of snelled hooks. That SOB catches quality fish every single trip just throwing that @%#$ing crawdad. I want to choke him every time he catches a fish and looks at me with that dumb grin and says: "Hey John, guess what I caught that one on..."

Thanks, I should have hit you up! I still have a few bags hanging around, but I only use them for a special occasion...

I've been fishing them for a couple of years ever since I found them pre-rigged at walmart. I like them on a swimbait hook, but still prefer them on a long jig head hook. Most days these produce for me, but sometimes the bass flat out do not want them. They are really heavily scented with garlic. I left a batch out to dry after repairing them one night and my whole kitchen smelled like them. Might have to drop some in the spahgetti pot...

I just went through a bag of Dean Rojas Fighting Frogs really quickly the other night. The fish mauled them. They were eating them faster than I could repair them with mend-it. I switched to a brush hog, and nothing. Once my mend-it dried, it was game on again. Might've been just the right bait at the right time, but they wre crushing them the other night. I'm a believer in Big Bite now.

http://www.charliesworms.com/home I used to stock up on these when down in FL, and as far as I know, they were only sold locally. They went out of business a few years ago and they quickly sold out in stores, and being in VA I was unable to stock up. Well, they're back in business, and ready to sell nationwide. These baits look similar to many out there, but I've had better luck on these, from thier version of the brushog, lizard, and 8 inch worms. Whether this is due to the 'high floating plastic' or the strawberry scent, or something else, I dunno. If these get sold in a store near you, I highly suggest grabbing a few bags. Great baits!

On the miniscule chance that the world record bass is swimming in the northern VA area... I would totally keep it.

I bank fish too. I will make about ten casts or more with the same lure to the same target. I will try multiple presentations with the same lure before moving to another lure (ex - If I try a Spinnerbait I will use it several different ways until I catch a fish or exhaust the possibilities of the lure. I'll try a slow retrieve, medium retrieve, twitchy, yo-yo, burning under the surface, etc before switching to a less flashy bait. There are certain targets/places that I know will hold bass, and I will wear that spot out with fifty casts and five different lures until I have caught one there. If nothing works, I will move on, but will be certain to try that spot again later. It helps to carry multiple rods. I usually carry four or five, each rigged with what I think will work that day. This gives me a lot of flexibility with my method, but it's sometimes a PIA carrying all that gear around. Sometimes I'm a little CDO (That's OCD in the proper alphabetical order )when I fish.

Another vote here for the Veritas... You can also try the Skeet Reese Jig/Worm rod, also very nice and you can find them on sale often at Gander. I have both, both are excellent rods.

I love the Culprit Firetiger color... Unlike the various bold/bright crankbait versions firetiger the soft plastic version culprit makes is a very subtle... Love it in stained water or clear. Other favorite colors are Black Shad, Tequila Shad, Blue Shad, and Green Shad. Oddly, I don't do so well with the Red shad. Dunno. Folks around here swear by that tomato core worm as well, but I've never gotten a single fish on one.

Go to Walmart and buy a couple of Terminator spinnerbaits in Green/White (get one with the willowleaf shaped blades and one with the rounded blades) and a couple of bags of Kinami Flash (same product as the Senko, just marketed in a different package). Toss that spinnerbait out and retrieve it. You will catch fish. And if you miss any fish that hit the spinnerbait, throw a Kinami Flash senko at that exact spot. You will catch more fish. If they are not biting the spinnerbaits at all, just fan cast that Kinami Flash. Texas Rig it or Wacky Rig it, cast it, let it sink all the way to the bottom and then twitch it sloooowly back to you. You will impress your friends and will cause your girlfriend to swoon at your newfound fish catching powers.

As far as I know, Ebay is your best bet. The Gander Mt near me used to sell bagleys, but hasn't for about a year now. Bagley is a strange company - I don't know how they stick around, I can never find their baits in a store and they do not have a way to order online either. Good luck finding any.

The Big Bite bait is called a Trick Stick, it is the same exact bait as The Chapman Baits Trick Stick, the Gander Mountain Trick Stick and the *** Trick Stick. I don't know who the original manufacturer is, but from what I understand anyone can resell Trick Sticks and slap their own name in front of it. As a bait it is great. Nothing is as great as the senko, but these are very close, and have the added bonus of lasting more than one fish.

1. Bagley Bulgin' B wake bait. 2. Buzz bait. 3. Horny Toad.

I can't make the switch. I grew up reeling with my left and so need to buy BCs that can accomodate that. The problem wasn't so much that I couldn't reel with my right hand, it is that I couldn't set the hook with my left hand/arm. I just didn't have the coordination and the strength in that arm. It used to be hard to find lefty BC Reels, but there are plenty of options these days.