Avalonjohn44

I am a huge Bandit fan. I like everything from the footloose (0-1 foot diver) to the 100, 200, & 300. They are great little baits. They come in just about any color, use whatever works well in your area, they'll have a similar pattern to other baits that you've used. I stay away from the flatmaxx, I do not like the action, and two have split open on me. I can't wait to find a couple of the deep diving 700 series. Up to 16 feet I think...

ANY Matzuo Crankbaits, The Berkley Frenzy Cranks, Berkley Blade Dancers, Chatterbaits, Mann's Undulator, Tornado Spinnerbait, Helicopter Lure, and a whole bunch of no name stuff that I bought while having bait monkey DTs over the winter...

Bagley has the Bulgin' B series but they are a little difficult to find. There are some on ebay, but not the bigger ones. If you have a BB3 square lip you can experiment with heating the lip up and bending it to make it wake, but that could get expensive...

I fish in some very mucky areas where I am hesitant to go w/o waders. I've lost shoes in the mud before. When I go there, I wear an old wetsuit that I got at a garage sale. It has rigid soles so no sticks or glass poke through. I cut off the sleeves and the neck because it got a little warm. I was thinking about cutting off the torso altogether and just using them as pants...

Anything with the word Bagley on it... Really, my absolute favorite is the good old Bagley Balsa B Series (BB1, 2 & 3) with a Square Lip in Black Back over Chartreuse.

That comes to $5.50 a bait. I would say you got a pretty good deal. I have had some great luck with Poes.

How much were they?

I Voted BPS, but really it's a dead heat btwn BPS and Cabelas. I've never had the customer service problems others report at BPS, plus I like their name brand baits better than Cabelas name brands...

How about 'Revolutionarily Mediocre at best'. It is an old gimmick like the flying lure, helicopter lure, or kicktail minnow...

five.bass.limit - can you order them online? I looked for a place but could not find any.

Rick Clunn 1.5 Any Color, but I am partial to the Splatterback.

It isn't a lot different from the Lunker City Salad Spoon, which is one of my favorite baits. Same action, same sounds... The rage tail is a tiny bit different, I'll stick with the Salad spoon for now.

The belly of a frog or minnow are pretty stark looking, flat white, with not too many features. Also remember that in most cases a bass isn't simply going to be viewing the bait from directly underneath, but at an angle. At an angle, he will have a view of the side of the bait and will see the eyes, the scales, the markings, etc. I do agree that the bottoms of baits should have some more detail, but not much more.

110, French Pearl

I will use a sluggo before a lot of other more modern soft baits. I love them, the 4.5 inch for largemouth, the little 3 inch ones for smallies. My favorite color is just plain old black shad, though they have a blue shad one that is just as good. My biggest bass on a sluggo came on a chartreuse blue fleck one. I most prefer to use them weightless, and I like the action better than a fluke. It is a little stiffer, and can be 'walked' like a spook. You can also wacky rig it, but I don't do that too much. I will use a sluggo before a senko or a fluke. Pick some up, bass haven't seen them in years, and they're fun to use!

Just bite the bullet like the rest of us bait monkey addicts, go to BPS, then Cabellas, then Gander, then whatever mom&pop store near you, and buy 1 of everything. 2 if you can carry it all...

A Trickworm, because you can fish it wacky, t-rigged, weightless, shaky, and on and on.

I agree, and have to admit he was right. Last years 5/5 was way better. These are better termed as Crappie (and crappy) Lures, not Bass...

They are hard to find if you don't live in the South. They are sold only in Academy Sporting Goods. I checked their website, and they do not sell online... I want some too. They look sweet.

I haven't gotten anything on my chatterbaits. I am going to try throwing a Fluke or a LMShad on there... Very cool idea.

Here's mine: 1 Spinnerbait Terminator Willow Leaf Green White 2 Bagley Killer B2 in Late Spring Bream Color (kind of like Perch) or splatterback 3 Zoom Trickworm Any Color 4 Buzzbait Booyah Black/Red 5 Mepps Fury #4 Black/Red 6 Bagley BB3 Chartreuse w Black Back 7 Bandit 100 Chartreuse Pearl 8 Rapala DT series Yellow/Purple 9 Bass Assassin Charm Assassin Dirty Yellow 10 Slug-Go Shad or Arkansas Shiner Honorable mentions to the Rapala Countdown, Megabass Cyclone, Senko, and Gambler Cane Toad.

Bagley's are my favorite because of the craftmanship and variety. I love to collect them, and have a second set I fish with. (I'm a huge Bagley geek...). Bandits are my second because of the sheer amount of fish I've landed with them. Megabass are my third because they are the most beautiful lures out there, and still catch fish.

I like it a lot. Sexy Shad kind of color. How much?

I look at it like there's the 'BIG 4', and everybody usually prefers one over all the rest...There are: SpinnerBaits (including Inline spinners and buzzbaits), Soft Plastics, Crankbaits (including topwater stuff like poppers and things like hard jerkbaits.) and Jigs Then there are crossover baits, like the soft jerkbait (flukes sluggos, etc) soft swimbaits (Magic Shad, or similar) and buzzfrogs. These all are 'soft' but fished like a spinnerbait or a crankbait... Whatever classifications you make, some anglers usually prefer one, or two methods over the others. I prefer Crankbaits, and throw them far more than anything else. Many times I will throw a crankbait as a searchbait, and go to a suspending jerkbait to work a fish producing area more thoroughly. Sometimes then I'll go to a soft plastic... When I am not fishing cranks, I prefer spinnerbaits. I only reluctantly throw soft plastics as a first option, and even then I prefer to throw a soft plastic 'crossover' bait like a Cane Toad or a Sluggo. I fish with a lot of friends that use nothing but plastic worms, and some days they beat me, some days I beat them, but usually there is not that much difference and we break even. A lot of it depends, I think, on the competency of the angler - I will throw the same soft plastic they throw, and watch them catch 5 fish to my 1 on the same exact bait. Or, they will put on a similar or identical crank that is producing for me, and the opposite happens, I catch 5 to their 1... I like to think I am very good with a crankbait, but I know I need to get much better with a soft plastic. But I'm lazy, and fishing time is precious because I have three kids and a demanding wife, and so I follow my strengths, and usually do well enough... I don't think my success/theory would translate to tournament success, but those guys are usually really well rounded, but I do pretty good, as good as anyone I know or see. I remember some pros that used cranks much more often than not, like Denny Brauer and David Fritz. Rick Clunn uses a lot of cranks too

I would not bother with this Gander. I might be spoiled, but it is nowhere near as good as the Winchester VA Store. Not enough freshwater baits, and what they have is pretty much what any other Retail sporting goods store would. Which is understandable with all the brackish inshore waters to the immediate east and south of Richmond. Just go straight to Green Top.