Avalonjohn44

I disagree about not using diving cranks at ponds. I use DTs and diving cranks at the ponds I fish, I just generally fish them more slowly than I normally would. I will gauge the depth with a spinner bait or worm, and get a feel for the bottom before throwing a diver, but once I learn a pond (which only takes a short time depending on the size), I'll toss the deep divers. With a little luck and a lure retriever, you won't lose any baits. The thing you have to get past is pulling crud off your lure after every other cast.

I fished them on a shakey rig last night and got three, all about a pound and a half.

My friend swears by the 'Charlie'. I have three that haven't hit the water yet. I hear Megabait is out of business, so stock up on the Charlies if you like them.

If you live near a Dick's Sporting Goods, they usually have a few bins of discontinued stuff, or stuff that is in damaged packaging, etc. Prices are usually excellent, but you have to wade through a lot of junk lures. Be careful of exposed hooks in those bins.

They probably haven't seen a good old fashioned Sluggo in a while. Try a 4.5 incher. Another bait that I love, that was hot for a while in the 90s was the lunker city Helgies, a hellgramite styled bait that is great for ponds. I would also try really 'burning' some baits like a senko/tiki stick or a worm that are normally fished slow. Some of my best bass come from twitching the heck out of a wacky rigged pearl tiki stick, reeling rather quickly, or really swimming a tequila sunrise power worm just under the surface. I would also start using a buzz bait about an hour before dark and cover the water like crazy with it. Don't give up on the buzz bait.

I catch most on a pumpkinseed senko, inclear or stained water. The senko version of pumpkinseed is very orange, with black fleck, different from what a lot of other companies call pumpkinseed (brown with black flecks). I also do real well with pearl tiki stiks.

You cannot go wrong with a bandit. They have 4 different depths: Footloose 0-1 foot, 100 2-4 feet, 200 4-8 feet, and the 300 which is over 8 feet. They make a ton of colors, and each lure is only $4. They are sturdy, have interesting paintjobs, and I have never had one not run true right out of the box. For me, Bandits outfish every single other crankbait out there, including the mega-priced baits.

I bought a bunch of berkley cranks from Kmart last year for about what you're paying, and tried them out. The lipless cranks work fine, just as good as rattletrap or rapala lipless cranks, plus they have some cool colors. As for the medium/deep diving cranks... While they do have a different look than most baits, and berkley supposedly put tons of research into them, I did not catch any bass on them. I caught crappie on them, but no bass. I tried them on about a half dozen outings before switching to other crankbaits. They look kind of cheap and flimsy, and for me, in my area, did not work.

I fish them plain. I do not seem to get any action with a trailer. I vary my retrieve based on what is working. If a fast retrieve gets strikes, keep it up, if not, slow it down, etc...

They are not an exact copy, but are very similar. The RC does not rattle, the BPS version has a single metal ball in there for some noise... Update: I have fished with my brother 3 more times, and we used those two baits exclusively... We are still about even...

The Johnson Silver Minnow is in my panic box, best spoon ever, IMO...

Chatterbaits.

I heard that a drunk Lindsey Lohan drove Vick to the dogfights, and Brittney Spears was in the back seat with her kids on her lap rather than a seatbelt. They were all just getting back from an Anna Nicole Smith tribute.

I'd join if you'd have me. Yahoo? NFL.com?

I think a fish can get hurt purging something, especially when they are regurgitating anything with a dorsal fin. Those spines in the fins sink into a soft throat just as easily as they do to you if you grab one wrong. We've all gotten finned in the palm or thumb. I always thought that a bass swallows a shad or bluegill head first so the spines went down easily. I would think regurgitating is not as controllable as swallowing and those spines would be able to rip up a fish's throat coming up... I don't have any 'facts' or proof regarding this, but it would concern me if I saw somebody forcing a fish to regurgitate...

Cool! Cavitron is my favorite buzz bait. Kicks the crud out of booyah and strike king.

rbrick - Those cane toads are great, aren't they? My most fished lure is a Bandit 100. I catch fish on it from early spring to late fall, and love it. Spinnerbait is next, followed by a trickworm or similar style bait.

I've been in a kayak fishing and many days count the number of snakes I have seen. My brother and I had a 'hundred snake day' one summer. Never even seen a fish near a snake, let alone hit one. Then again, I have seen a bass go after a bats, dragonflies, a big bullfrog, turtles, sticks, an alligator hatchling (on a discovery channel show), and fish bigger than it was, so I can't completely rule out a snake lure. Eventually you will probably get a bite on a snake bait, but you won't win a tournament on one, or outfish a senko or spinnerbait...

I will second the weightless soft plastic option. A Sluggo or Zoom Jerkbait would be my first choice, but I would also try a soft plastic frog (Cane Toad or Sizmic Toad) fished under the surface - I catch more fish on my toads by letting them sink rather than buzzing them.

I have tried it with no luck so far. I haven't given it a fair shot yet though, I've only tied one on for about a total of 1-2 hours. I plan on using it more though as it continues to get hotter.

A couple of weeks ago I went crazy and bought four of the Rick Clunn Lucky Craft cranks. I love them. Great baits, great quality, super paintjobs, big sharp hooks - everything about them was fantastic. A few days later I bought the same (or very similar) colors only I bought the BPS XPS Professional Hardbaits. They look nice, shiny red eyes, red hooks, and packaging made to look like Lucky CraftsI figured what the heck, and got four of these, the same colors I got in the LC baits. I fish mainly with my brother, and let him use my lures, but I keep him away from my LCs. He is a sucker for the lures we used as kids, and usually grabs an old battered Rebel Craw or a Mepps spinner. I love him, but he loses lures a lot, so I'll fish with Lucky Crafts, Megabass, or Bagley lures, and try to keep him away from that stuff. Well, we've gone fishing three times since I made those purchases, (on the Potomac near Harpers Ferry WV, on the Shenandoah between Front Royal VA and Winchester VA, and on the Potomac near American Legion bridge near DC) and I noticed my brother staring lovingly at the splatter-back Rick Clunn LC bait I had. I handed him the BPS XPS bait in the same color they look really similar, except the BPS bait has red hooks. I usually trounce my brother, but after taking count on the last three trips, and having three solid trips wading the river with quality and quantity smallmouth, the race was just about dead even I caught only a couple more fish than he did over the past three trips... He ties on the same color crank I do, only uses the BPS XPS version. The moral of the story? The Lucky Craft baits are beautiful, productive and fun. And cost $14.99 each. The BPS Baits are beautiful, productive, and fun. And you can buy two of them for $14.99 Remember, I am not one of those that screams all day saying you don't need expensive baits, I have a bait monkey in each pocket and grab just about everything that I see But if you have ever been in BPS and find yourself making your way to the register, culling baits as you go to get under two hundred bucks You just might want to put the Lucky Craft bait back, and stick with the BPS version.

Part of the guide experience for me is just being out on the water with somebody that knows their sh**, pardon the expression. I have gone on a few of guided trips on the Potomac where I was paired with another fisherman. Usually this went off without a hitch, but a couple of times I got stuck with some rich a-hole lawyer or something that moaned about everything from the size of the boat to the smell of the guides sunblock. The guide usually handled this well, but you could see his stress, and it made me and the guide uncomfortable. The jerk would see our discomfort and think he was 'in charge' and then be more of a jerk... The first time I ignored it, I know I should have said something to the other dude, but didn't, and we all had a crappy day fishing. The second time I got stuck with ea complete jerk, I was quiet for about an hour. After hearing him threaten to not pay, I opened my mouth and told him if he didn't start enjoying himself, then he would be swimming home. The guy shut up and the guide drove him back to the ramp where he let him off the boat. Just like justfishin, the guide refused to take the guy's money. The jerk was pretty embarassed, but I had th guide to myself for the rest of the day...

I have not noticed a difference whatsoever. It was simply 'the hot thing' one summer, a few years ago. Then it was chatterbaits. It'll be something else next week.

Brown Pepper and Watermellon pepper are the only two that I've tried so far. I also bought a few other colors, white, black, florida 5-0, and a watermelon swirl that I haven't thrown yet. The first two have been producing like crazy.

I picked up a bunch of these when I was at BPS recently. They are great! They have a fatter body than any other toad, and the boot style feet are set at the perfect angle to both gurgle when fishing the topwater, and to flap alluringly when fishing under the surface. The body is plump and hits the water with a soft plopping sound that I have only heard when fishing the Salad Spoon. The body has lots of ridges like a sweet beaver, and they are heavy with garlic scent and Bang attractant. They are pretty durable too. Their sink rate is very slow, which is something I prefer. Hookups have been excellent as well, I am using the Zoom Horney Toady Hooks with the screw at the top of the hook. The fish are gobbling these up in NoVa right now. So far the Sizmic Toad has been my favorite overall producer, but I can see the Cane Toad being right up there.