Avalonjohn44

Culprit makes a Firetiger 7.5 inch worm.

Man, that is a great picture. It puts a lump in my throat and makes me well up.

I disagree with killing something just because it might do something bad in the future... Keep in mind that humans are non native species on this continent. We are overpopulated. And we spread tons of disease too. Unless there is currently an epidemic being spread by blackbirds, I would leave them be. If there are thousands of sick, weak, emaciated blackbirds (like overpopulated deer sometimes get) then by all means, thin the herd. It doesn't sound like that, it sounds like they are thriving. It sounds like somebody just likes killing stuff, and has found an easy target. Just my $.02.

There is no such thing as a poisonous snake. Poisonous means if you ingest it you will get sick. Mushrooms, Wild berries, and many common plants can be poisonous. Copperheads, Cottonmouths, Rattlesnakes are all edible and cannot poison you. They are venomous however, meaning if they bite you they inject you with venom... Sorry, just being picky. I love snakes, keep up the cool pics!!!

I have fished 10 times this season and caught 32 keeper bass, (and some dinks that I don't count). So, I average 3 keepers per trip. My best evening so far has been 7 bass, my worst, (three times), has been 1 bass (coincidentally, those three trips are when I brought my 7 y.o. daughter and my 2 y.o. son...). I would love a 10 bass day, but would have to get a lot more fishing time in - not easy to do with 3 kids and a wife that is jealous of my fishing...

We had one moving in to northern VA yesterday evening, yesterday was in the high 90s to low 100s, today highs will be 85. I love fishing when a summer cold front is moving in. The bass seem to get really aggressive on cranks and on spook top water baits. I missed it last night, but will try and get it tonight.

I can't skip with a baitcaster, I always use my spinning reel. I have a 6.5 med-heavy Calico Jack Hurricane rod that seems to do OK skipping for me. I try to keep the rod tip low with no extra line between the tip and the bait, and release my cast as my rod is parallel with the dock or platform I am skipping under. It takes a little while to get it right. You will ruin a soft plastic pretty quickly, and probably dull a few hooks banging up against pilings and the bottom of the dock... I wouldn't try skipping expensive yamamoto lures, they tear up very quickly. I skip tubes and spidergrubs most often, but also throw stike king zeros, craws, zoom trickworms, zoom finesse worms, and a few others. The sweet beaver looks like it will skip real well, but I can't buy a bite on a beaver for some reason, so I haven't tried skipping them. I have also skipped a johnson spoon far under some docks, it skips like a bullet when you hit the water right. My buddy skips those storm bluegill swimbaits with quite a lot of accuracy, and he does OK with them.

I love the way the Rick Clunn Lucky Craft 1.5s look, bought 3, haven't used them yet, and the Megabass Cyclone and Type X frogs are beautiful to behold and fun to fish, my favorite crank is one of the cheapest of all - A Bandit 100 in chartreuse back/white OR in splatterback. Time and time again these lures produce numbers and quality. Last summer I threw a bandit almost all the time and had one of the most fun fishing seasons that I can remember. This summer I'm trying to mix it up, but I always keep coming back to that darn Bandit 100.

Hydrillakilla - They work wonderfully. The fish in the ponds I go to go nuts over them. They are simple to use, I have had great results fishing them several ways. This catches fish for me as well, or better in some areas, than senkos. Matt Fly - The Lake Fork website is screwed up, but it looks like I'm gonna have to order these from online. Jimzee - I think I'll try JBC outfitters on your recommendation...

I can't find these anywhere but Walmart, and they only have the pre-rigged version in my local stores. Those work fine, but the jighead rips the bait up rather quickly. I haven't found a store with any in stock. I was in TX last week, and Cabellas didn't have them in yet, and the two Dallas BPS stores said they weren't carrying them. My local Gandermountain carries Lake Fork stuff, but no Live Magic Shad. I am checking Dick's this afternoon... Anyone know of any other retailers that carry this bait? I would rather not buy from an online store or ebay.

I like the look of these, but the price makes me put my hands up and say no for now... Does anyone use this lure? I saw the bass tear it up on El Salto on TV, but they tear up everything in El salto...

Wave Worm's Tiki Stick. Good smell, slow fall, strong material. I catch more on Tikis than on Dingers and Senkos combined.

I saw those, but didn't pick them up because of the price. All they had was a large 'bulk' bag so I skipped them... Can't wait to try these out now...

I got black, watermelon, black/blue, and pumpkin. I didn't even see EP's secret... The Bass Pro in Orlando had a very limited supply.

I have always looked at these with a dubious eye, but hear more and more folks using them. So I bought a few bags of the Gambler 5 and 8 inch paddle tails. I know there are numerous ways to fish them, but what is everyone's favorite method, and time when you should use one?

Anything Gulp. I also cannot buy a bite on Sweet Beavers, believe it or not.

Buzzbait, A spinnerbait right under the surface and skimmed just under the edges of the pads, a Salad Spoon, Sluggo, Weightless trickworm, or a spro bronze eye frog.

Here are my favorite pond lures: Weightless worms: Charm Assassin - Dirty Yellow Sluggo - Shad Trick Worm - Banana Swirl Trickworm - Pumpkinseed Powerbait - Black Leech Wave Worm Tiki Stick White Texas Rigged: Powerworm - Black Powerworm - Tequila Sunrise Powerworm - Pumpkinseed Cranks: Bandit 100 Rapala Jointed Floater Others: Booyah Black/Red Buzzbait Green and White Spinnerbait Mepps Fury #3

The Salad Spoon is my favorite lure for fishing slop in the summertime. I have caught more on these than on the spro frog in the same conditions. The lure plops really nicely into the water, and the tail has a unique gurgle/slapping sound. Steady retrieve it over pads or slop, or twitch it, jerk it, whatever. Bass will blow up on it. Use a large hook with a wide gap.

Bagley makes some great bluegill and crappie cranks. They come in a few really detailed colors, and dive a variety of depths. Plus you won't have to spend over $20 per lure like for Matts Swimbait or those Japanese baits... Also, don't waste the $3-4 bucks on that pack of Storm Bluegill swimbaits - the really stink.

I've never heard on one, you should patent the idea.

Matzuo crankbait lures are junk, and if their rejects become keychains, I can't imagine how bad the defect had to be to have it become a keychain... I made the mistake of buying a ton of Matzuo stuff out of the $1 bin at Dicks. I bought about $25 worth, and not a single lure works well. They roll over, are untunable, and break apart. I have dumped all my remaining Matzu cranks on ebay. Now, the Matzuo spinnerbaits are another story, very, very nice. As to selling the keychains after outfitting them, do it. Just put in your description what you have done...

The original bass assassin is a fluke, but they have an entire line of cool stuff. My favorite is the Charm Assassin, a trickworm/finesse worm type bait. It is my favorite soft plastic worm, currently. I fish it shakey head style, or weightless. It is a high floater, and I have had great success with both methods. I have my PB on a Charm Assassin. I think the scent in the Bass Assassin line is better than anything else out there right now, but maybe only because it is something the fish don't see a thousand times a week...

Save your money. Senkos are a gimmick. Banjo Minnows are where it's all at. just kidding.

I have one, it certainly looks nice, a shallow crank bluegill. It runs on its side, and no amount of tuning fixes it for me. I don't use it anymore. I keep meaning to buy more to check out if it was just one bad lure, or if they all suck. I suspect I just got a bad one.