Avalonjohn44

Not sure. Cordell started selling the plastic Big Os in 1973 and still sells them. I looked for a little bit on google trying to find a chart or way to ID them, couldn't find much, but I only went three pages deep...

If it is the plastic version then you have a decent crank, but it can't touch the legendary status of the original Fred Young wooden version these plastic baits were based on. There are some really crazy paintjobs on some of the older plastic cordell big-os. Cordell reproduced some wooden FY Big-Os a few years back. They mostly ended up in the Bargain Cave at Cabellas and are easy to find on Ebay. Some of the paintjobs are very nice, but I don't do so well on that crank.

Gander mountain will even honor %-off sales on these when there is a %-off sale on Strike King lures which they do twice a year or so. Then the deals are even better. I'm also a big fan of the Walmart cheapo spinnerbaits. Some odd colors that are difficult to find in other manufacturers. I catch a ton of fish on these, but they fall apart after a couple of months. The good thing is they are just as cheap to replace!

Zoom Ol' Monster in Blackberry. Favorite 10 inch worm out there, outfishes Rage tail Anaconda, Powerbait, and Culprit worms combined... Runner up would be the full size Brush Hog. That thing scares off the littler fish... That said, most of my best bass have come on Spinnerbait or Buzzbait.

dhami013 - The daiwa megaforce is a good reel to start on, easy to cast and it casts a mile. I learned on the daiwa viento which is basically just a megaforce with more metal parts and that's what sold me on Baitcasters... Now I throw them even more than spinning reels. My favorite combo is a 7' MH Veritas with a Daiwa Viento reel. I love that rod. Sensitive and powerful and light as heck. I use it for everything - Cranking, Spinnerbaits, Worms, and when it gets warm enough, topwater.

Cool, thanks. I was planning on fishing it that way, but might see if it works at all on top.

Gander had some of these on sale... They look more like a brush hog type bait than a frog bait... Which way do you use them?

One cannot hope to stop the bait monkey, one can only hope to contain him...

I just got some recently too. I haven't played around too much with it, but I know this thing has to work with Lake Forks Live Magic Shad....

It looks cheap/gimmicky. And the amateurish website doesn't help the product out at all. And you can guess by my avatar which frog I prefer...

Interesting, sounds like superglue to me. Superglue will do all of the things your bait does - seal and dry very quickly, even seal a wound if needed...

5+ club...

Mend-it doesn't glue the bait, it re-catalizes the soft plastic for a few moments, reverting it back to its pre-dried state. When it dries again, there is no seam, no hard 'scar' - you have a perfectly healed worm. Superglue, soldering irons, lighters, hot knives, etc all carry some small risk, Mend it is perfectly safe, no glued together fingers, no burns. I save far more money than the cost of a bottle of mend it in saved baits. I haven't had to buy a new bag of beavers, senkos, or brush hogs in over a year. Before mend it, I was buying a new bag of senkos every week and a half to two weeks. BTW, somebody on here a while ago says PVC pipe cement is the same as mend it. It is not. It is a gooey mess that deteriorates the plastic and leaves a horrible residue and scent. I tried several out. Even the purple stuff... UGh. On Edit - I would like to try some of this Venom glue folks are talking about now that some reviews are in. In no hurry though, I have 2 bottles of Mend it to use up...

I have tried to stop as well. Hard thing to do. It is so automatic that I don't even think about it anymore... Maybe this can be a resolution from here on out...

Wow, from the comments here, gotta go check out those UV Beavers...

I try to put it into perspective whenever I unintentionally kill a fish. While it sucks, it is not really detrimental to the sport. With our man made ponds, lakes and impoundments, and our catch and release practices over the decades, we have built up a far greater bass population than we could have imagined fifty years ago. Billions of bass nationwide exist where they didn't years ago, and billions more exist and live in places where before they were caught and eaten. A small amount of gill hooked fish does not put the tiniest dent in the bass population. (And neither does keeping a limit now and again to eat...)

Good rod. I have a Calico Jack Hurricane, the rod length says 7', but it measures 7'2". I love it, and just like you guys I have a Pflueger reel on there... Better than a lot of higher priced rods I have used. I'm glad to hear they can still be found since I need another - I had it propped against the counter one day before a trip, there was a crank on the lure keeper, and my big dumb lab walked into it and hooked herself. Tore out one line guide as well as the lure keeper as she dragged it through the house yelping...

I use clinch and/or improved clinch (wet line before tightening)on everything below 17lb test, and palomar on 17 and above. I only remember one instance of losing a lure and thinking it was a knot failure.

'Creatively filled' water balloons launched at inconsiderate boaters will solve this problem on jerk at a time...

Just remembered the GYCB Flappin' Hog, which is essentially a beaver bait. If they weren't more expensive and so fragile, they would be my go to beaver bait, even ahead of Reaction Innovations.

The Sweet Beaver is my favorite, it is hard to match the bait's consistancy... Soft with a lot of salt. I catch more on that than all of my other beaver baits. I especially love the Roadkill color. I know I can catch a fish anywhere with that bait/color. I just got ahold of some SK Rodents, and can't wait to give them a shot this year. They have Kevin Vandam's name on them, so they have to work.

I do well with a storm rattlin' chug bug, just working it really fast across the surface.

I fish from the shore so I don't have the typical boating pet peeves: * Trash. How hard is it to walk 20 feet to a trashcan or just to carry your trash out? * Drunken river tubers * Kids throwing rocks * Idiots walking up to me and telling me about the "10 or 12" pound bass they saw right there the other day and how I should go about catching it... * Teenagers. Teens by themselves are usually respectful and courteous. But add another teen to the first and they become annoying. Add a third and they are downright rude. It seems to be some sort of scientific law - The more teens you add to a group of teens, the dumber the entire group becomes. * People holding their spinning rods upsidedown. * Illegals or semi-legals coming in groups of 20 to seine net the area you are fishing and keeping everything from undersized fish, to crayfish and turtles. * Bass boaters that think since they have a boat it is more important for them to fish that area than you * Inconsiderate morons that choose to jump in and swim right where you are fishing. There are probably a lot more, but my blood pressure is going up...

I have never tried it in fresh water, but it bangs 'em up in the salty stuff... I've used live bait, grubs, and the old mister twister shad baits.

Was watching Bassmasters yesterday, Skeet Reese was saying that he finds it best to throw them in low light conditions... I don't know if he's right or not, I don't throw swimbaits, though I have grabbed a bunch to use this year....