Avalonjohn44

I just buy the eagle claw lazer sharp hooks with the little wire weed guard. It works as good as anything else I've tried.

Is this where the weight is molded around the shaft of the hook?

Geez, You nailed it, we're just griping. You seem to really have your finger on the pulse of this thread...Whatever...

Big M - How fast to you rotate the baits? And what do you use to make it constant? A lost speed drill or something, or is the Devcon forgiving enough to rotate the bait by hand? Is there a way to do multiple baits, because I've got about 15 dinged up Bagleys and Thundershads to fix.

It would be cool, but how would you make it portable?

Kicktail lures are so bad... you can put one in your own mouth, yank on the line, and you still won't catch anything - not even yourself. They're so bad... you can't even catch a snag on one... They're so bad... <make your own joke, insert here>

I have a hook from Owner, don't know the name, but it is a a small wide gap with no offset at the top. At the bottom of the hook is a little clip with a spiral of metal that screws into the lure. I put the creature, and a lot of other baits, on this and let it sink slowly. No weight. It is very similar to the hooks you get with a banjo minnow kit. I started using that rig when I was trying to imitate the banjo rig with a better soft plastic...

Ebay here I come...

Some of my most memorable times fishing are when I was with a buddy or my brother or dad. The older I get, I'm pushing 40, I find I prefer to fish alone. I can fish as aggressively or lazily as I want, I can stay late or pack it in early without worrying about somebody else's 'curfew', I can definitely concentrate more, and analyze situations better. My wife says it's because I'm becoming a grumpy old man, but I think of it as a more serious fisherman...

I have not tried the Rage Tail frog yet, but have some and will give my opinion when I finally get to wet them... I have tried all of the others, and my favorites are: In Soft Plastic: the Gambler Cane Toad and the Sizmic Toads for top waters. The Cane Toad also works great under the surface if you like to fish your frogs a little deeper. Soft Bait: Scum Frog. Tried and true. The Spro Frog is too expensive, and I don't catch more fish with it, or hookup better, than the Scum Frog. It is equal, so in that case I will go with price and the Scum Frog easily wins. Hard Plastic: Rebel Wee Frog Crank cannot be beat!

The best and cheapest is the Bandit series. The Bandit Footloose runs 0-1 feet. The Bandit 100 runs 0-4 feet. Both baits are amazing for their $4 price tag. Only thing better in my opinion is the Bagley squarelipped Bs (B1, 2, &3) or the Bagley Bulgin Bs (also in 1,2,&3 sizes), but they will cost you more than $6...

Bagley has a new plastic suspending version of the Killer B 2, you can find a few on Ebay. I have two, and they are very nice. I believe there is a new Rapala Diving suspender, the XRap Shad I think...

I have the same problem, I have a giant Bagley collection, and I ding them up pretty regularly, I have a huge pile to fix. What I have heard from Big M and Stringjam is that you need to coat the bagleys with something called Devcon Epoxy. You can get it from WalMart. Apparently it is way tougher than whatever Bagley uses for a clear coat, but I haven't tried it yet. Hopefully then can better tell you the process.

I get that it is a top water lure, but I am thinking that I could imitate a dying bluegill with this lure by letting it sink, pitching it into heavy cover, etc...

Gulp works well. Chicken livers too. A dead bluegill if cutbait is legal where you fish.

Very nice photoshop. LOL

I don't get the fuss either. Just about every body of water, especially in NoVA is well known and well fished... They can be found on any county map. The VDIG has hundreds of pond/lake/river/reservoir access points too. Those are the same places we are all going. Just about anything else is private property.

Slug-Go Rebel Craw Mepps Fury Johnson Spoon Heddon Punkinseed (Pricey, but a super bluegill bait) Heddon Lucky 13

I give up.

If you have the time, I would get a refund, and spend a little while at Gander finding straight ones. Once you do find straight ones, they're worth it.

From what I've found, you have to look pretty hard to find a Sisson bait with a straight bill. I bought the same ones at Gander, and had to search a while for each color with a bill that was cut straight into the bait. It took some time. And it was not just this batch, I have found the same problem at BPS and Cabella's with Sisson baits. That said, once you find a good one, the baits are excellent. He has one series of baits made out of a wood called Jelutong, or something like that, and they are more durable than Balsa, but just as bouyant. When you get a properly billed one, you have a bait every bit as good as a Bagley.

Sorry. It just kind of evolved that way...

I'm sorry you are disheartened, but it makes no sense to violate what I feel is a a higher ethical standard than the VA DIGF. Unless I intend to eat it, I will not kill anything other than a tick or a mosquito, I feel it is wrong. The snakehead is not evil, it has not been proven to be a threat, and killing it because it might do something is wrong. To put me in the same boat as a poacher or an illegal immigrant seine netting every single fish out of an area is insulting and dead wrong.

This is Incorrect. Snakeheads have both as well. http://www.invadingspecies.com/Invaders.cfm?A=Page&PID=23 I will still not kill one. Not to get political, but some laws are bad laws, and I will not intentionally kill a fish just because somebody tells me too. I know it is just a fish, and I'm not gonna go to the supreme court fighting it... But just like when I use that little break in the median that says "For Authorized Use Only" - the risk is very low. Nobody is going to be able to see if I return one. Or if they somehow do, then they have to prove I returned it snakehead to the river.

I like their version of firetiger. It is not bright and glaring like a firetiger crankbait, it is a very mellow version, and it absolutely kills in some ponds. It looks a lot like a caterpillar that grows around here.