Avalonjohn44

But not at the same time, one of them might get suspicious...

Not only might the temperatures and constant sunlight hurt the gear, but any piece of dirt off the street can see into your car and might steal your gear. Had it done to me once.

Thank you for that. It needs to be said.

Got some of these this weeks, they look pretty cool, a little bulkier than the zoom swim fluke with some more texture as well. I have heard them compared to the RI Skinny Dipper, but never used that bait. Has anyone gotten to try these out yet? Reviews???

I don't like they way they look. I will stick to my Stanley Ribbits.

Lure retreivers don't work so great from shore. I have had both kinds linked above and have been dissatisfied with both. My new method of getting snags out from shore (aside from swimming for the bait which I will do) is to let out about half as much line as you already have out and put open your bail or freespool your BC... Loop your line around a really stout branch. Heave that branch past your stuck lure. It will come out more times than not. I have saved many baits this way, the rest I get back by wading in after them... This method works better than any lure knocker I've ever tried, and even out does the bowstring method...

I bought some swivels, shaky heads and dropshot weights. Good price, I haven't gotten to try the hooks out yet though. The lures don't look that hot to me though.

Out of hundreds of cranks bought, I only consistently have problems with Norman lures needing serious tuning out of the box. Most others run true from the get go.

Strange notion, packing a bait in something edible. Would we then have to keep them in a vending machine? Rotate them out if they sit for too long? Would all Bass Pro Shops and Cabelas be subject to restaurant laws? Will there be prepared food taxes on lures? And don't get me started on the enviro-extremist perpetuated myths behind the buzzword biodegradable...

Mine has select colors in with the 40% off green tag. Tons of Booyah buzzbaits and Terminator spinnerbaits. I don't like the Space Monkeys, but picked up a couple of bags just in case...

Agree. It's still hard to beat Grubs, Mepps Spinners, Johnson Spoons, Rapala Floating Minnows, and Creme Worms(the original Trick Worm...). Old school still works...

The only people I see that reliably say bass have a memory usually apply it to what they are selling. The Berkley folks will insist that a bass can memorize a crankbait, but then insist that they do not remember plastic worms. 'Coincidentally' Berkley sells mostly plastic worms... I believe that animals can be conditioned to negative stimuli, there are too many experiments out there proving this to argue otherwise. However, those experiments are held in controlled environments where the animal is tested with those negative stimuli over and over, hour after hour, day after day. Bass, even in Japan I think, don't get enough negative stimuli to recognize particular lures. My buddy and I hammer my home pond with RC1.5s all year long (when there isn't ice), and we still get bit plenty on that bait.

This. I think this might be the best advice yet. I use a 7ft MH fast tip rod for cranking, and once I got my drag set properly I rarely lose a fish. I lose more fish on EWG hooks than on trebles.

I have never met a pond that didn't like a topwater frog.

When fishing muddy water, if I am not using a topwater racket causing bait, I use either Black, White or Firetiger. Mostly white though. The way I reason it (and I might be wrong as usual) is based on what I learned in science class way back when. White reflects all light while black absorbs all light. Given two baits of the same size/shape/vibration, I would think that based on sight alone this would tip the advantage to white. There are times when white doesn't work in muddy, and then I switch to Firetiger and then black.

I love my Veritas, it's the best rod I have. Once my Gander Mtn restocks I'm getting another. Have only had one carrot stick, not the one you mentioned, and it broke the first day I used it. Not buying another.

I have extended the life of hundreds of baits with mend it and have not noticed fixed baits smelling bad after they've dried, nor have I noticed any drop off in a mended bait working. I rarely use the mended bait the same day, usually if I have a ripped up or tired looking bait, I put it in my pocket and fix it that night, and then use it again on my next trip. Usually that's several days later so maybe if there is a residue, it has dissapated by then.

I buy lures both to collect and to use. Sometimes that gets pricey, buying one to use and one to display. But it has given me the opportunity to compare baits from both sides of the spectrum... On one hand my cheap baits outfish their counterparts handily: The Wee Frog by Rebel totally outfishes my Megabass Type X Frogs. My Rebel Pop-R outdoes my Pop-x and Ricos. And my trusty little Bandit 100 is as productive as my RC1.5s... (And I am not afraid to throw my expensive lures into snaggy spots. I swim right in after them if I snap the line ) But in some instances the more expensive baits are clearly better: The LC pointer outfishes all of my other jerkbaits combined, bar none. My Tango Dancers (Owner/Cultiva) outfish all of my other spook baits combined (Sammy included). And my RC1.5s and 2.5s beat every other crank I own (other than the above mentioned Bandit...) And some just don't seem to matter. I can't catch any fish on any jig, expensive or not. I can catch the same amount of fish on my $1 Walmart Spinner bait as I can on an $8 Terminator. And Gander MTN Bulk Senkos produce just as well as the GYBC real Senkos... My scum frogs get just as many blowups as my Spro frogs (can't wait to get my Kopper's wet though...) What I'm saying is that it isn't cut and dry. Some high dollars clearly outfish the bargain baits, and some bargain baits clearly outfish the high dollars. It is situational to the bait. I think sticking rigidly to one philosophy, either nothing but price lures or only cheap lures, limits the fisherman's ability to be the best angler he/she can be.

Maybe you got a bad one? My two have hooks that are thicker and sturdier than either of my Spro Frog hooks. I don't know if they are gammy hooks or what, but mine aren't dull either. The paint job is gorgeous, and while a bass will not see the top, it will definitely see the sides depending on the angle. The detail on the sides, the prominent eyes, the ear drum and the legs, I think, will only help you get strikes. I haven't gotten anywhere close to topwater temperatures yet, but I can't wait to put this up against my Spros and see who comes out on top.

What exactly was wrong with the hooks? Was it a defect particular to that lure itself? My frog has some great looking wickedly sharp hooks.

Love them! They are a lot more supple than senkos IMO. I love these baits on a shaky head.

If you can fish a spinnerbait, you can fish a crankbait... Sometimes you have to pull crud off the crank after every cast. If you are like me you already know how to fish it from reading and watching others, what you really need is patience. I am not a patient person, and hate pausing all the time to clean the lure. Patience is the hardest thing to learn... That said, there are some basic things you can do, like learn the depths of the grass and know exactly how far your crank dives. For example, don't throw a DT-10 where the grass is 2 feet below the surface. Some people clip the lead treble hook off so the hook lies closer to the body making it a little more weedless. You can get a more sensitive rod or fish with a more sensitive line like braid so you can feel if your bait is about to get bogged down, and rip it out of that grass.

I fish a lot of different ponds/lakes in my immediate area and there are several that are later than the others... One pond, which is surrounded on three sides by steep mountainsides is in the shade most of the day, and the spawn is sometimes a month or more later than the others.

I just use the cheapo eagle claw weedless hook. They are easy to find at walmart, they are not expensive, and seem sharp and strong to me.

I was salt water fishing with a snapper popping rig, which is a large popper cork, a two foot leader, and a little hook with a piece of surgical tubing. The baby bluefish just kill this rig. Normally I cast side arm because of the long leader, but I started throwing overhead. I really went for distance on one cast and put all I had in it. I felt something slam into the back of my head, but didn’t really feel any pain at first. I thought the cork had hit me. I kept fishing for a while until my brother asked me if my head hurt. I said not really, but it felt hot. He said it should, you’ve bled all down the back of your shirt. Sure enough, I felt my scalp and there was a good inch long tear just seeping blood. There was a tiny chunk of scalp skin on the end of my hook.