Avalonjohn44

I just got three glammer shad spinners at Kmart for a $1 apiece. They look like the Matzuo spinners, are they any good?

I liked the early ninties Diamond Shad by Strike King. It was different (and better) than today's version. I also love Yo Zuri's Rattlin Vibe...

Cool, thanks!

So a hunting bait is a correctly tuned crank that for whatever reason acts sporadic every so often?

I have recently seen those two terms applied to crankbaits. I have gleaned that a crankbait that 'hunts' is a rare lure to find and it is a treasure to its owner. I have seen that some crankbaits are now being called searchbaits in bass magazines. Are the two terms simialar? What do they mean?

I can't yet justify spending 7.49 a pack for soft plastics, which is what Gander Mountain is selling them for (the good colors anyway) in Winchester VA...

Lucky Craft lures look, feel, and generally perform better than most others. I usually only buy them with gift cards that I get at my b-day or Christmas, or if I can steal one at a good price on ebay. Just wait though, you'll buy a few Lucky Crafts, like them, then move on to a really pricey lure like Megabass Type X frogs, or Anthrax 100s... The Bait monkey works overtime on those baits.

I like a Chug Bug - Chrome Blue, or a really shallow running crank, like a Bandit 100 or Bandit footloose. I also have a gold and green foil-bream colored Bagley Honey B (I think it's a honey b...) that runs 0-2 feet that is really good in the rain. Last year a black/blue chatterbait did really good at my pond in the rain too. I would cast it onto the opposite bank and drag it into the water. The bite came only a couple of feet from the bank.

I have a Berkley hook sharpener, it stinks. I have heard a lot of folks talking about their dull Chatterbait hooks and wonder what they do about it. My chatterbaits have some pretty dull hooks, and I want to hone them.

The fish where I am don't seem to care for it backwards, but like some others here, I have found that it walks the dog really well. On a spinning rig, 6 to 8 lb test, I rig it weightless and then walk it like a spook. Most of the time it is just under the surface, but sometimes that skirt breaks the surface and softly gurgles - bass seem to love that sound. I plan to try a slower retrieve walk this year, trying to get it down a couple of feet. I also plan to give the skirt up method a few more shots...

The cool thing about living in VA is you can legally carry your firearm on your hip. After about a half dozen only little run-ins (mostly with illegal immigrants that siene-net every single fish out of an area), I was cornered by six non english speaking thugs that grabbed at my rod tip, tossed rocks near me, and kept shouting something and laughing like loons. I was pretty far from the main road in, and luckily game warden came by and the idiots calmed down. I followed the warden out of there. I started carrying my gun with me since then, have had nothing but peace and quiet since... Far worse, in my opinion, than ill mannered fishermen, are professional crabbers on the Chesapeake and Delaware bays. I crab as often as possible, and not being a commercial crabber, I anchor and just pull traps all day instead of running a line of traps. A few times I was out there real early, in a rental boat, and have been run off by some very aggressive commercial crabbers. They get real close to my boat, make a crazy wake, holler, throw bait at my boat, etc. One guy harassed me for about an hour or so laying traps all around my boat, gunning his engines, cursing, etc. I ended up cutting about a half dozen of his traps loose after he was out of sight and hightailing it out of there..

LOL, me three. I hate those hooks.

Pumpkinseed Senko.

Do those commercials and magazine ads get to you? Here's one south-philly born redneck that isn't afraid to admit that I get choked up when I see those ads. Gonna take my daughter fishing tonight.

I got a rattletrap for free with a case of Valvoline oil. It's red white and blue with a yellow valvoline insignia on it. I'm pretty sure it won't catch a fish. That and the Budweiser Can Fishing Spoon probably won't work too well for you...

I love this bait, and usually fish it without a trailer. It is one of those old standbys that alway work for me when nothing else will. I keep it next to my Mepps Fury #3 another last resort bait...

Try this: http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/community/inthefield/fieldguides/guidebooks-category.jsp?oiPage=fieldguides&hierarchyId=92&cmCat=netcon&cm_ven=netcon&cm_cat=N/A&cm_pla=N/A&cm_ite=netcon Look towards the bottom for the Swim Senko Link.

Gulp. Helicopter Lure. Mann's Undulator spinner bait.

South Bend makes some junk. So does Renegade, Storm, Cotton Cordell, and Lucky Stike.

My daughter always asks me to try it. Maybe I'll let her this spring...

I have a pair of the $22 Woo Davies glasses that are great too. More designer in look than those on your link, so I wear them when I'm not fishing too.

Here are my favorites: Cultiva/Owner Tango Dancer Chrome - walking bait Mister Twister Salad Spoon = soft plastic pond scum bait Booyah Buzz Bait - Black skirt red blade Megabass Type X Frog - Surface/subsurface bait - Tonomsa Color (looks like a bullfrog) Floating worm wacky rigged - Usually a Pink or White 6 inch Rattlesnake Floater

I love it that my $4 Bandit 100 and Bandit Footloose outproduce my $15 LC cranks. I don't know what it is about those little bandits, but they killed for me last year, in every type of water I fished.

The Dick's I shop at in Sterling VA is relatively new, and still in good shape. They are as well stocked as the Gander Mountain in Winchester VA. I have never had a problem with an employee there, but I notice that like most retail stores, they will have high school kids and senior citizens making up their staff, and in both instances it can be frustrating. But... I know what I want, have usually researched it, and knowwhat a fair price ought to be for the lure/reel/rod I'll be buying. I see the same problems at BPS and Gander (never been in a Cabela's) that you all describe. Every once in a while you run across somebody that knows what they're doing, but since this is rare, I think it should be incumbent on you as the consumer to know what you're doing. It saves you grief in the long run, and probably saves the poor old guy or dopey high school kid trying to make a few buck some grief too. Something I really like about Dicks is they will usually have a discount bin filled with some pretty good old lures. I got a nice assortment of yamamoto cut tails, terminator spinnerbaits, and yo zuri rattle-vibes simply because some plastic worms had melted all over the packaging and they were discounted. Last time I went there were a ton of excalibur lures in the bin.

Bagley has a good Balsa B-III deep diver, goes to 16 feet supposedly. It always gets to the bottom of the ponds where I fish...