Avalonjohn44

Bagley KB2 Splatterback or Megabass Cyclone (japanese color name) in Brown/Pearl sides...

You need to set aside an hour or two 'escalating' with BPS Customer Service Mgmt. Once you get a live person on the phone, Do Not Hang Up With Them. Once the guy tells you he'll look into it and tries to hang up, ask for his supervisor and do not be satisfied with a voice mail. Only a live person. If the supervisor can't help, ask for the manager, and so on. Write everyone's name down in the chain of folks you talk to, then when you finally get to somebody in charge, give him the list of names and rant and rave how unsatisfied you are. Insist that they credit your account while you are on the phone and get a confirmation number on the credit. Be a terse, you've been treated poorly several times now. This is not being a jerk, or snobby or anything, you are owed the satisfaction you deserve. You cannot walk out of BPS promising them to pay in a couple of weeks, why should they be able to do that to you? I have never had a problem with BPS or Cabella's, but have had to do this type of calling to several places my wife orders shoes or clothes from. If you get high enough, your problem will be solved quickly. I even got a $25 gift card twice from a couple of places since my experience was so bad...

I have two and they both produce very well, also have the deep diver, and it is great. BUT, BPS has a knockoff that they put right next to the Rick Clunn bait, but for only 6.99. It is even packaged similarly. I think it is a better bait, at least where I fish. I usually used the RC while I had my brother use the same color BPS version since he regularly loses lures high up in the trees... He out fished me every time we went head to head with those baits... We switched baits because I just couldn't believe he was better than me - it's a big brother thing... Well, when I tied on the BPS version it just caught me more fish. We tried this out on at least a half a dozen occasions in different bodies of water... I would buy the BPS version, and will be stocking up the next time I go...

Heddon made something called the Zara Gossa, a jointed underwater bait that supposedly walked the dog underwater. I have one and it has caught some bass, but I rarely use it. Here is an ebay auction of one, hopefully this is the lure you mean: http://cgi.ebay.com/HEDDON-JOINTED-ZARA-GOSSA-BLUE-SILVER_W0QQitemZ7238044191QQihZ018QQcategoryZ7300QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

I have always thought they looked pretty stupid so never tried them. Bass Assassin has a similar bait, the K.O., I think I'll grab that one and try it because it'll be a few bucks cheaper.

I love the regular shad rap, but have not caught a single fish on the jointed...

I was wondering the same thing, whether to spray or brush paint. I can see where both would have advantages. I used to paint lead/pewter miniatures for dungeon's and dragons' type games, and prefer brush painting, but for sheer speed, an airbrush would crank out more baits... I guess the best answer would be to try both and see which one you like best.

I only have 4 norman baits, the Thin Ns in different colors. Not a single one was in tune when I bought it, and not one stays in tune for long... I'm gonna put em on ebay one of these days... I haven't used a DD22, which a ton of people here swear by, only because I don't have any ponds/lakes around here deep enough to use. And if I did, I have no boat yet, so a 22ft diver wouldn't be for me yet...

What you are describing is not a lot different from the Crippled Killer bait, a prop on the front and back, and some of the longer models are capable of walking the dog.

LOL, I took a swim recently in the potomac to retrieve my Rick Clunn 1.5... It was cool outside, but the water is still warm. Stripped down to my undies so I'd have some dry clothes when I made it back to shore...

I buy a lot of expensive baits, but don't think I am a bait snob... My favorite and best producing crankbait is still a Bandit 100 pearl with chartreuse back, got them on promotion at wal-mart a couple of years ago for a buck apiece, bought them all... And I will buy Gambler Ace's or Tiki Sticks before Senkos because it makes me angry to pay $6+ for 10 soft plastics... But I love Megabass baits - can't get enough of them. Unfortunately I can only rationalize one per paycheck on ebay... I also love Bagley cranks, and they are easier to get at 6-10 bucks apiece... I have some Lucky Craft lures, but they don't 'do it' for me for some reason, I have not found them to be as great as some have.

And don't forget that most scents are only there to block your scent, not taste good to the bass. And gulp sucks. And chatterbaits suck. And read the sticky post about senkos before posting your own 'new' senko question.

I would suggest Cajun Red. I love the stuff.

I learned on the spook and didn't consider it overly difficult. I have not fished a sammy yet, but found that a Cultiva/Owner Tango Dancer is a very easy bait to walk, and it very well made. And cheaper than the sammy.

I love Sluggos and Sluggo SS's. For some reason their popularity died down lately. I still keep them well stocked in my tackle box and go to them frequently. I love tossing a sluggo into thick wood. To me, the coolest thing about sluggo is they are thick so you can customize them rather easily by cutting chunks out with an x-acto knife or razor blade. I like to cut a V notch out on each side about 2/3s of the way down the bait. It makes it more floppy. I have also sliced the tail in half, and cut chunks out of other places to get it more erratic. Lunker City has some killer baits, check out their homepage: http://www.lunkercity.com/ Helgies, Sluggos, and Salad Spoons are some of my favorite all time soft plastics. The Ozmo looks very cool as well, I have some, but have not tried them out...

I crank them too, but not steadily, I jerk them every once in a while during the retrieve.

I love it when a small bluegill can just barely fit the treble hook in its mouth, and then gets all three hooks in his lips... Pain in the butt to get them unhooked when they do that...

I only get down to richmond once a year at Bassarama time, and Greentop is packed to the gills on those days. It is a tight store to shop during that weekend, but I have been pretty happy going there. During Bassarama they usually have cool give aways if you spend a certain amount. Last winter I got two free spools of yo-zuri hybrid line, and a lure that I can't remember the name of. The only thing they didn't have when I was in that I really wanted was some Megabass lures... one of the few brands they don't carry.

I've used a shaky head most recently, but love them weightless with a large ewg hook to make it sink very slowly. I've also had success with jerk bait hooks, the ones with the weight on the hook shank.

Zoom flukes have worked well for me in the past, but right now I'm doing really good on the Gambler Big Stick with only a tiny bit of weight (half of a lead nail weight) and a Bagley B2 Square lip.

I'm a Yankee transplant in VA. In Jersey, everyone named their boats (at least at the shore they did, I dunno about inland), but I don't see it as much in VA or WV. Do you all name your boats? Anything really clever that you'd share? When I finally get my boat, I'm gonna name it 'Scotty Best'. When I was a kid, my grandfather's boat, now dry rotted in storage, was named 'Scotty Good'. It was a play on a insulting Italian phrase my grandparents would use for my dad and uncle (their son-in-laws), in a fond way, not a mean way... My dad said the phrase sounded like Scotty Good to his ears, and when he suggested the name to my Grandfather, they thought it would be a hilarious name for the boat... So when I get mine, I'll keep a bit of tradition, and keep the Scotty part, but since it'll be a better rig, Best is better than Good...

My friend with a boat encounters this all the time. He has a road cut near his house, and always puts about ten large chunks of flat shale or slate rock in a cardboard box. When some rude idiot gets on his fishing spot trying to edge him out of the way, he ruins the fishing spot for the next hour or so by depth charging the area with large chunks of rock... He has gotten some angry words, but they never seem to try to muscle in on him after that.

I did once. I walked right past the checkout, went to my car, opened the glove box, retrieved my wallet, and headed in to pay for my stuff...

I fish some pretty fast water for smallmouths and find that a willowleafed spinnerbait works very well. A BPS XPS Pro Crank in splatterback has gotten me some good fish too.

Yum is OK, but not great. I do not catch more on Yum than I do on similar styled baits, scented or otherwise. In my opinion Gulp is absolute trash, unless you are fishing for catfish or bream. I sold all of my Gulp on Ebay, and good riddance. You can add all other soft plastics up for me (including GYCB!), and they do not come close in numbers to the fish I have caught on Zoom soft plastics. Zoom is the best in the business. They have the best color selection and tons of different styles of baits, and they are readily available in every store from Walmart, to Gander MTN, to BPS. If you broaden your search for zoom products online, you will see some crazy colors. There are some Zoom colors on Ebay that are amazing - Pumpkin Spice, Raisin, Banana Seed, and other weird ones... Recently however, I have discovered Gambler Lures, and have been pulling fish out of the ponds with Giggy Sticks and Big Sticks like crazy. If this keeps up, they'll beat out Zoom, but for now, Zoom has the best baits out there.