Avalonjohn44

You probably left a zipper open on your tackle bag and they slipped out... I've done it a few times...

Rod is med-heavy, 6.5 ft Calico Jack/Hurricane. Quick tip. Line is 12lb Cajun Red Cast. I'm going to try the larger hooks tomorrow...

I've seen them on Ebay, and sometimes they go for a good bit of cash... Never tried one though.

I'm all for catch and release, but in reality, it is one fish, and at that size it has mated many times and spawned plenty of successors. So I would keep it, get the sponsorships, and then rake in the dough... You know that you'd get to go on your choice of fishing shows, meet the big guns, Hank Parker, KVD, Bill Dance, etc, and probably get invited to a bunch of tournaments for free just to draw in the crowds, free boats, equipment, and on and on...

Sorry, yes, they were 3/0 & 4/0... It's the same rod I use when I fish most soft plastics other than frogs. I use a med/heavy rod, 12lb red cast cajun, and slam the hook home on them usually... Should I switch to my frog rod?

Got my biggest last year on the Shenandoah/Potomac convergence below Harpers Ferry WV, Just a hair over 4lbs.

I'm pretty sure it involves fractions and polynomial nomenclature. And Pi.

Nice video! I got some of the free ones you sent out, and I have managed to not lose them yet. They really do stand up better than anything else. When I see them in the store I'm definitely gonna stock up.

I would like to propose that catching a bream does not avoid a skunking... Do I have a second? I skunked out almost every time I bring my kids fishing. I spend most of the day untangling lines, getting snags out, and pulling bluegill from hooks... This year on 16 trips so far this summer, I've skunked out twice. One of those times I got five bites, and missed every single fish... The other I threw every bait I could imagine and didn't get a single follow... 2007 it was 5 skunkings on 38 trips... 2006 it was 8 out of 30... I guess my ratio is improving!

Scream for me BassResource.com...

I tie that or a rebel crayfish onto my kids' lines and they catch fish all day long. My daughter one day caught 3 nice bass in a row on her micro rod, and she fought the things up and down the bank.

I'm still waiting to get my hands on a few of these baits...

I've never gotten a fish on a Sweet Beaver, except on by accident (I had it rigged up, and my rod fell against the bank, and the beaver hit the water and a bass nabbed it...). I know by looking at them and watching their action that they should work, so last night I headed out with just some beavers, and they finally produced. I tried them t-rigged, c-rigged first, but got nothing. Finally tried them weightless and got 8 fish over an hour and a half. What was not so cool, is I would have landed 20 fish if I had hooked every one. At first I was using a straight shank #3 Owner, and was missing a bunch. Then I moved to a #3 Gammy EWG, and began catching, but still missing. I tried a #4, but it was too big... Anyhow, I missed 150% more fish than I landed. I did not have the hook point buried, but had it resting in that little groove. Don't know what I was doing wrong. I detected bites no problem, and was setting the hook as hard as I normally do. On several of the lost fish, I could see that I was yanking the bait completely out of the fish's mouth - they had completely taken it in.. .Help. Also, I tried an experiment with the beavers... I began throwing one without the claw section in front separated, and got no fish and no bites. I pulled the flaps apart, and got some fish/bites. I kept alternating, but if I left the claw flaps together, I didn't even get a bite...Anyone experienced that?

BTW *spoiler alert* Is it definite that Two-Face is dead?

Catwoman would be another one... But she is kind of a good guy sometimes these days... I would like to see a bunch of lower tier villains all thru the next movie, all being manipulated by someone behind the scenes that turns out to be the Joker at the end... I know w/o Ledger it would be hard to do, but I think it was the writing that made the character so good. Ledger's acting was great, but any capable actor could pull it off, I think. Wouldn't it be cool if they borrowed Lex Luthor as the next villain?

I second Burley - Read some Ayn Rand - Atlas Shrugged or The Fountainhead. Amazing books. Atlas Shrugged especially mirrors what is happening in the world today. Many eerie parallels, just as with 1984. For some light reading, I highly recommend anything by Orson Scott Card's, particularly the Alvin Maker series (Historical Fantasy), and the Ender series (Ethical Sci Fi).

Ouch! I would have swam after those lures. I have heard good things on here about them.

I have a friend that loves them. I don't care for them though. They are kind of 'cheap', rip up easily, and roll when they swim. Twice, I bought a charlie that crumbled after a couple of uses. My friend had the same experience. And back then, megabait sent us some new ones, but why put yourself through that hassle? Unless you can get them out of a bargain bin somewhere, your money would be better spent on getting some swimming senkos. The megabait Mr Bill is supposed to be a better version of the charlie. I have one, but it sits on a shelf. I hated the charlie, so never tried the Mr Bill...

It kinked up on me horribly, and snapped. Lost two good lures on it before switching to a new spool. That one did the same thing to me. The fault was probably all mine, but I'm leaving the stuff alone. Gulp is a great bait... for catfish, and bluegill, and turtles. I can never get the nuisance fish to stop eating it, and have not gotten a single bass on the stuff. Reel Magic did absolutely nothing for me... So, I switched to the KVD line and lure conditioner, and really do get more distance with my casts. My reels feel smoother with it too.

It looks really good though. Very realistic, kind of like an Alewife/Bunker. I like it.

I have had nothing but trouble with Okuma Spinning reels. Have bought three over the last 2 years, and have burned out every one of them... I maintain my reels well too. My Pflueger reels have lasted years. Nothing but Pflueger from now on.

I bought some of the sexy shad baits - Strike King Crank 5, Mann's Elite 4-, Strike King hollow body swim bait, and the SK Red Eye shad. So far, none of them have produced a fish. At first I though that I just needed to throw them where there are some shad, since I fish mostly ponds and small lakes without shad... But then why do all of my Tennessee Shad colored lures work? I'm thinking the Sexy Shad pattern might be a regional thing...

Very nice, can't wait to see more pics.

Any updates? I loved watching the process of your other swimbait.

My pal and I have been experimenting with mashing down barbs this year. The results have been Great. I have more fish so far than last year, so losing fish is not a problem. And gut hooks with a mashed barb come out very easily. We are not clipping the barb, but mashing it as flat as possible against the hook. I would never have believed that I would land as many fish as I have.