Avalonjohn44

I would have laughed at that before last year. I fished a pond in NoVa (Shouse Lake) and saw a bass go after a bat - twice. At first I thought they were after the same bug, but the second time it happened, the bass came out of the water for the bat. I would never have dreamed that a bat, while flying, would be prey for a bass.

Mr Twister lures used to have a banana scent which I loved. I always nailed bass on their grubs, but they are hard to find anymore. I bought a bunch of Mr Twister 'Exude' baits (worms, lizards, grubs) on Ebay, but haven't used any of it yet. Anyone tried it?

I don't have an actual box, but I make sure I have these lures at all times, no matter the conditions: Mepps Fury #3 or 4 Red, Rebel Crawdad matt firetiger, Trick worm style Yellow/Black Fleck & White/Black Fleck 7 inch floating worm(don't remember the manufacturer, but I bought about 15 bags of this 'spongy' bait before they went out of business), Matt Chartreuse Bagley Fat Cat 0-2 foot diver and 0-5 foot diver, Johnson Spoon Nickle Finish no trailer, Sluggo Assortment of sizes and colors, Rapala Countdown in a basslike photo finish that they discontinued a few years ago - I have 3 left.

I don't use wiggle warts, only have one, but to me, that looks more like a Bandit than a wiggle wart. Bandit makes a bluegill pattern that looks just like that.

I love the normal broken back/jointed minnows, have been fishing the light blue/white belly for about 20 years now (I can barely believe that - 20 years!). As much as I love that lure, I hate the jointed shad raps diving rapala. I can't buy a bite on it for some reason.

I fish torpedos every way you list. Depends on how the fish want it that day. I will also walk the dog with the bigger torpedos, (it works with these baits, not as good as others though) the little ones are too light. My favorite way to catch them is with a more or less steady retrieve, with a ripping/slashing motion ever so often. That way works best near lily pads for me. I found out about this retrieve when I got hung up on a pad and ripped the bait off the pad angrily with a leaf sized chunk of pad on the lure. I began reeling really fast to get it out of the water, de-leaf it and recast. I caught a nice 2+ pounder before I could get it all the way in and recast. I've caught fish that way ever since on the torpedo.

I have a lot of the walmart $1 spinnerbaits. They work just as well as the other spinnerbaits I've fished.

I love burning a Bandit Footloose just under the surface.

My best day ever was on the upper Potomac River, near the American Legion Bridge. My partner and I caught over 100 smallmouth each, some catfish, a gar, and some big unindentified white fish (probably just very large shad???). Did not catch a single one on a lure, my friend and I used weedless wieghtless hooks and a few helgramites we found turning over rocks. We stayed out for probably ten hours, were burned to a crisp, and thouroghly enjoyed every second.

I'm having a great time with the Megabass Cyclone this year. Pricey, but it has caught me fish every time I've used it. You can get them on Ebay for about $14 bucks, some up to $!8 or $19... If you are just starting out, and can't afford more lucky crafts or megabass, go and buy four or five Bandit 100s and 200s. They were my go to crankbait last year, and I've done alright this year on them too. You can't go wrong with a Bandit, they are great little cranks.

I store a couple of sluggos and sluggo ss's bent intentionally, sometimes they'll work when a regular sluggo or jerkbait won't. Might work on other worm types too.

It isn't cost prohibitive either, at $39.99... I may have to pick it up as soon as possible. Carrying two bulging tackle boxes one for hard baits, the other for softs, is getting to be a big pain in the...um... shoulders...

Not to derail the thread... but, I stole the second picture and made it my background.

Whoa, that's a big purse! Good luck!

I missed it too when suggesting mepps as my secondary bait... I would stick with Bandit 100s, 200s, Chartruese Back, white sides.

I agree with the Bandit 100, would even go with a bandit 200. If that doesn't work, Mepps Black Fury#3 with red dots...

Wave Worms makes a 'fat senko', called bamboo sticks, I believe. I had a pack, went through them in a two day stretch, haven't seen them around the stores since...

Found a Rapala broken back blue/white. Have used it for years, caught a ton of fish on it. Lure was essentially free to me...

Got flurries in NoVa today, left for work this AM, temp was 34. I thought at first that the white stuff falling was blossoms coming off apple and cherry trees... Nope, it was that @#$%ing snow.

Megabass Type x for $22 on ebay. Also keep bidding on a certain color Ito Vision 110, but they go too high...

The banjo minnow actually works, much better than the flying lure, the helicopter lure, the kicktail and all the rest. That said, there is a wide gap between being better than those other gimmicks, and working as well as say a Fluke Sluggo SS...

Sluggo SS, Wacky Rigged Trick Worm Weightless, Senko.

Sorry Mods, I meant to put this in the Fishing Tackle forum.

I fish in NOVA, and white slays them for me most of the time. One of my favorites is a white Tiki Stick, bass hammer it in ponds, on the Potomac, and on the Shenandoah. I like throwing a white spinner bait too, sometimes with a few strands of green or chartruese in the skirt, or silver tinsel. White works great in clear or stained water. I even find white working in slightly muddy water. Not 'chocolate milk' muddy, just a little brown.

A couple of weeks back, Hank Parker aired the show where he went night fishing with some guy in California. The guy showed a modified crankbait for a second, and then hid it from the camera. I think he added a second treble hook to the split ring on the back of the crankbait. I might have missed it or seen it wrong, he only showed it for a second. Would this work, do you think, or would it mess up the action too much?