gripnrip

Teal and A-Jay are spot on. I have used Optimum and it is a great product. I am using Muscletech at the present time. I get it from Sam's Club. It is about $20 bucks less than Optimum. I am on a budget so I get the Muscletech. If I weren't, I'd be using Optimum.

Hey man, we've all had that "Where's my keys I can't find them anywhere?" moment. They wound up being in your hand while walking around for 10 minutes. Been there. Done that. And have the t-shirt.

Evidently the magic lure at this time is a Livingston prototype we can't get our hands on yet!

I fish Grand Lake all the time. The lake has a bunch of willows to pitch and flip. I use beaver style baits. The Missile D-bomb what I use most of the time. They also have a baby D-bomb that is a bit smaller. If you really want a craw imitation that goes thru them and give the fish a look that I doubt many of the fish have seen, go with a Missile fuse craw. I use those when the bite is tough. Any Dick's sporting goods has the Missile line. missilebaits.com

I'm with DVT on this one. Check your guides and make sure the line is thru them. I have missed a guide before and it cost me distance. Not to mention line damage. Also, if the reel is casting fine with another lure of the same weight, it could be that the bait is catching air to slow it down. It could be like throwing a spinner bait into the wind.

You bought the kit to huh?

KVD uses the term as do other pros. I believe Rick Clunn started using the term first. Most of your balsa or cedar bait have a better chance at "hunting" Plastic ones do "hunt" they are harder to come by. We do our hardest to get our cranks to bang off of cover or structure for that reaction bite. A "hunting" crank to me is one that is running true and then kicks left or right for no reason. Almost like it hit an invisible stump or rock. I have purchased 2 or 3 of the same crank when they are on sale. There have been times only one of them will catch fish no matter when I tie it on. The other 2 haul water and have never caught anything.

I have the 6'10 rod. It was introduced last year to compliment the 7'4" and the 7"8" rods. I have those also. The 6'10, I use for smaller crankbaits like square bills and shallow divers. Based on what you stated, I think you'll love the rod.

How old are they? If they are young, they'll go about 10 minutes before getting bored. If I were you I'd start them on inline spinners. They'd hardly ever go 10 minutes without a fish. Those things catch anything. There's a reason Ike has some in his panic box.

Just Facebook for me. Once a day that's it!

I have pretty good luck with my KVD 1.5 and 2.5 hunting like jhoffman said above. I like the Luck E strike better. I catch more fish on them. The Lucky Craft components are better and it seems better quality over all. Although I have "not" found one that can hunt. $5 vs $12-$15 is a no brainer to me. Out of 20-30 bucks I'll find Lucky E strikes to hunt. I want them to hunt. You do the math.

I'd get there a couple hours before weigh-in. There usually isn't much to do at a normal Elite tournament. If they have a meet and greet night, go to that. I went to one about 7 years ago. I had my son with me and all the pros were very polite. They posed for pictures and signed autographs. One even grabbed him and put him in the boat. He opened up one of his compartments and handed my son some new baits. It was pretty cool.

I always think of those things when I'm off the water! Or the next day.

I'd buy one. I can't wear it to my club meetings or on tournament days. I wouldn't want to give away who makes my jigs!

Original for me! I was skeptical at first. I always have a back up tube now!

Good stuff fellas. I'll be studying up and hopefully I'll be improving!

I've read them and have the movies! I have some books in another series. I can't quite remember the title or authors. I just wasn't that into them. A little more complex than Jordan's writings. "Jordan has come to dominate the world Tolkien began to reveal." - The New York Times Eye of the World was the first book. "Wheel of Time" is the series. Oops. The other series was Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steve Erikson. I think when I'm done with the Wheel of Time series I'll give it another shot. The reviews are high.

We've had threads on here before over this exact topic. I remember in one of the MLF lesson shows, Ike used a bladed jig for most of his catches. You could clearly see it was a "chatterbait" style jig. In the lessons show he plugged the Molix bladed jig. He didn't even use it in competition. So when a pro says I used this to catch them, they get the from me now! I rely on suggestions on this forum or buy and try out baits for myself. No more going and buying because said pro says to use this lure!

I personally thought the guy announcing the dog competition stunk worse than anything. I liked the coverage. Mercer can be annoying at times as well as Zona. I thought the "live takeout" was awesome. Except the last day was horrible. Hopefully they'll get that fixed. You can't really complain to much IMO. It was free and the coverage is getting better.

Nailed it flyfisher. I don't necessarily want to write articles. Just better responses. I love to read all kinds of books. At the present time I'm reading Robert Jordan's "Eye of the World" series. Some of the books have 1000 pages or more. It has more to do with what I highlighted in red. What makes me sick is watching the wife. She has superb writing skills. I sound like Mongo! LOL Thanks man. I'll check it out.

Ok fellas. I really stink at this subject. I'd like to get better at writing and sentence structure. I had a ton of problems in school during English classes. I took Comp 1 two times and never grasped the class. I haven't been diagnosed, but I know I have ADD. Basically I look back at what I just typed and cringe when I read it back to myself. Just like the above sentences. It is the main reason I type short replies in the forums. A little help on books or sites would be appreciated. I'd just like to get better! Thanks Darin

Amen to that. Drinking my coffee now. I have this window open at all times. In other windows, I check prices on lures, read articles, research techniques, watch videos, ect. . . . I am obsessed with bass fishing. End of story!

I'm glad you decided to go. It was a great time here in Tulsa last year. I was glad to see Randy win. He'll be an excellent champion. It was nice to see some enthusiasm from a winner.

I'm with ya man. I don't really buy the "bait ball" thing by Live Target either.

Yup. Use the blue gill color. http://www.***.com/Lake_Fork_Live_Magic_Shad/descpage-LFLMS.html#multiview Also use jigs and other baits that have the browns and orange in them. Siebertoutdoors Brown craw color worked well for me the last 2 times I fished Eufaula.