LApanic

A good way to poke around to find out if they're is any submerged timber, rock etc and to gauge the depth on different areas of the lake is to spend a slow half day dragging a carolina rig around and see what you bump into. If you use a 1/2oz or better weight, you can get some pretty good distance and slowly drag looking for "trash" aka, bottom irregularities and depths, you'll just have to pay close attention to your line and how much goes out and how long it takes for it to go slack on the surface for depth...another trick for this is to put the line over your index finger and make sure it has good contact to the side of your finger right outside the level wind. I worm fish this way 100% of the time and find it's a good habit to get into for sensetivity. If the water has a slight stain to stained water and big bass, throw a Junebug or Junebug Red Zoom Ole Monster 10.5" worm on the carolina rig and you might just land you a staunch dragging around. I could go on and on, but the last little nugget I leave you would be Google Earth! Find the pond on google earth and roll back the history slider to years past and you might find a lot of good info that will help. Especially if you can find a time where the water was low or real low to see more of the contour of the pond and look for structure and irregularities also. Bass do roam but have to relate to something like vegetation, structure/cover, sharper changes in depth (ditches, flats, etc) so if you can locate anything above, thats a good area to start and see what you come up with. Good luck...fish it often...keep a log if you can remember spots, baits etc, and just dissect it till you find a pattern...one clue at a time

If you haven't heard already, about two months ago the TVA sprayed the vegetation/grasses pretty heavily (from what I hear) on the majority of Lake Gunstersville I live and fish a with a club in South Alabama and have a 2 day club tournament at G'ville the last weekend of September and am worried about the spraying and the scattering or affect the spraying did to the large population of big bass. When the tourney was announced in January, I had a pretty good idea of how and where to locate the bass, obviously grass, but am clueless now. Any info, tips, do's, don't, etc on how any form of vegetation spraying will bass as far as location and feeding would be GREATLY APPRECIATED. As you may know this is a heavy grass lake, which I love fishing grass lakes, but understand it was chocking a lot of the lake up especially creeks but just wish they would have started spraying in October Thanks Guys/Gals

The gluing of the trailer bait is one thing I forgot to add, the newer Chatterbait Elite baits have bigger hooks with a trailer keeper on the bait, but the original I always use a dab of super glue to hold it near the skirt ring and even do, out of habit with the chatter bait elite

Rod: 7'-7.5' MH (HVY Glass rod is optimal) Reel: I use a 7:3:1 on a lot of baits like these because I can burn it or slow it down, but a 6:3:1 would work fine Line: 17-20# Fluorocarbon (depending on the grass thickness) Works best IMO in grassy areas with Millfoil and Hydrilla almost like a lipless crankbait, you can rip it free from the grass if it hangs. With that said, the reason it works better in grass is because it comes through grass real well, compared to spinnerbaits. I generally throw a chatter bait more often than a spinner bait unless theres a lot of lay downs in open water. As far a trailer, I would use a trailer 99% of the time. My favorite trailer for my chatter baits are Big Bite Bait Cane Thumpers. For Shad colors I use the Ale Wife, Bluegill colors I use the Easy Money or Tilapia and for Black & Blue chatter baits I either use the Talapia BBB Cane Thumper, Berkley Havoc Grass Pig (Black & Blue) or a Black & Blue swimming Senko (Gary Yamamoto) I fish a lot of grass at Lake Seminole, so naturally I fish a chatter bait a lot and caught my PB pond bass on a Chartreuse/White Chatterbait, Ale Wife Cane Thumper Trailer and the paddle tail dipped in spike-it. Brett Hite won the FLW opener at Ockechobbee with a chatter bait and flipping and then the BASS opener on Lake Seminole with B&B Chatterbait in the mornings and a Bluegill colored one later in the day....actually here's a video on the BASS site where he goes into depth on his setup, style etc from his win on Seminole....http://www.bassmaster.com/series/elite-series-vault/3507518581001

With their weight system, I think they do with light line and spinning tackle, so a review video said, braid to flour leader

So, I saw a Japanese video several months ago that peaked my interest on this bait. Not only did it look like a Devil-horse, one of my personal favorite topwater baits, put it was suspending with a fall like a Lipless crank bait. Fresh off the boat, as some would say, they look like a fish catcher for sure instead of a fisherman catcher. Compared to a Lucky Craft Pointer in price ($14-$17) isn't too much for me to give it a try, unlike the Megabass Vision 110 (i'll stick with a Luck-e-strike RC STX for a 3 treble jerk bait.) But, wanted to know your thoughts on this bait, Have you tried one? Caught fish? What was the conditions? Every video and review I've read has recommended 4-10# line on spinning tackle, in clear water?? Duo Realis has a G-fix Spinbait 80, that is beefed up for casting gear which is more my speed, but being in South Alabama, clear or gin clear water is almost impossible to find. So what's everyone's thoughts? Thanks for sharing!

Just ordered one, amazing $2.55 INCLUDING shipping. It will take 2 weeks to get here but you can't buy a Big Mac for that!

Wow! BIN FOR $2.55! I'll try anything for 3 bones. Worst case scenario if it doesn't work just right....backup scale for $3

my mistake, agreed to agree

How would you use a cull tag? Besides using a accu-cull clip (which I will never use), even though it says fish stay clipped...a "clip" is one less thing I won't to worry about over time that could fail, especially when it stays submerged under water for hours on end. I always catch and release....use additives in my live well, deflate swim bladders when necessary and cut hooks off if I ever gut hook a bass. Have had 2 bass die on me in the many years Ive been tournament fishing and those wen't in the fryer. Long story short, when it comes to fish care, a small puncture is very miniscule in my book. Letting a bass touch the carpet or ground for the small water fisherman is more harmful....just saying

If you're just weighing them, the fish grip sounds like a good idea maybe except for the xtra ounces added to the bass' weight.Personally, if I'm weighing fish the I'm going to puncture a small hole anyway for a cull tag. If you leave the cull tag in the gill opening in the live well for a while it will do a lot more damage to the bass than a lip puncture, especially if there are several bass in the well. Also, a small puncture will heal quick and does very little to no harm to the bass' health. Not trying to say your wrong by no means just wanted to clarify that

Cool, affordable yes, and a lot of features as well! Thanks

and don't want to give my first born of a limb for it. Some suggestions (based on experience) on which one from Tackle Warehouse would be the best for the price of course accuracy is king! Thanks Guys and maybe gals?! Here's the selection....http://www.***.com/Scales_Culling_Systems__Weigh_Bags/catpage-ACCWEIGHT.html

Just like a reel that doesn't work just right or squeaks, or a rod that may be a little long to work a spook from the deck of the boat without hitting the water....call me crazy, but I will set it down or do what I can to fix it because believe it or not, it will always play first fiddle in your mind instead of focusing on catching and landing fish with the best execution. Firm believer in the G-Mans, PMA (positive mental attitude) approach. Caught good fish the same day on a devilhorse but the props and balance was off and something wasn't right at first....it payed off to take 5 min....sit down and fix the issue and move on

Thanks bud, like mentioned before, if I have confidence that I can catch big largemouth, on the same spook color on the same body of water. Im probably gonna catch bass big or small either way cause Im not gonna set it down after 3 cast

I don't think thats actually why they make magic markers, but I get where your coming from. To me Id rather spend 5-7 bucks on a paint job that will last for years than spend $3 on a marker that will have to be reapplied way to often, especially for a tournament angler. I can understand adding a little color or touch up as I do with red and black sharpies, but the whole belly of a spook!? A standard yellow "magic marker" may do the trick for some, but it's a confidence/mental thing for me personally.

Thanks for the input guys! It truly helps a lot!!

I like sexy dawgs and would be my second choice if the spook vanished, but doesn't have the same knocking sound and even buoyancy IMO. With that said, when the bass are running shad in October, a bone color Sexy Dawg with a white dressed treble, I can work faster and thats all I throw to schoolers. The rest of the time the ol' Spook is the ticket for me anyways

I think everyone is confused the color that was on the package is FL Bass BUT try and find a FL Bass with this color belly (which the top of the bait isn't as dark as baby bass either) Top is the same as far as I'm concerned If you look closely at the first image in the black box, it's FL Bass labeled BUT fellow belly. Even the eBay seller sold them as "yellow belly bass" color. I've got 3 and a lure painter if need be, so all is good BTW: Pradco Outdoor Brands IS... Arbogast, Bomber, Cotton Cordell, Heddon, Rebel, Booyah, Silver Thread, Xcaliber, YUM and are based in Minnesota. All these companies lost quality of the brands when the joined this big conglomerate, and get crap like this that happens. If you've ever been in a Walmart and seen the bargain boxes, it's all the brands above that have large....running out inventory...sales. the barcode label says Pradco and despite this, buy a pack of plastics out of the box and look for the plastic color....just says "Bass Assorted." Especially with these old tried and true lures that aren't Scatter raps, Arashi's or Livingston sound chips, so to speak, they'll change and change and will eventually die completely...unfortunately The dressed hook is my addition BTW, lol

I've ordered the only two I've found and have a guys that paints crank baits for me and already let him know there might be a little more business in his future. Jeff, he does an awesome job, check him out at basscapitolcustomlures.com or Bass Capitol Custom Lures on FB.

Oh yeah, Walmart stockpiles the FL Bass!

We look at our club as camaraderie first and competition 2nd, in a sense. there are 3 no membership partner trails along with the Club so they're isn't a lack of tournaments by any means. Know that Im in a position to change things up some want to make the right decision to keep ******** Bassmasters alive. Because if it wasn't for that draw club, I would be drunk right now, probably firing off random pistols from my couch on the back porch, instead of working my a** off as a developer during the week thinking about Saturday AM and how much I love competitive fishing and don't even have a boat yet (december can't get here quick enough!) Plus I look at my son's future as well along with other youngsters

I know it's gotta be changed sometime, it's just going to have to be the right time! We've had non-boaters, several, say....I won't be back if things change to the open boat format

This was something I have been pondering for months now trying to look at all the pros and cons and have found little to no cons to this format EXCEPT in our Top 10 classic. Historically there is rarely a co-angler make the top 10 and fish open boat against the other 9. I was actually the first one in a while last year, but was fortunate that my father-in-law didn't make it and was able to take his boat and truck and fish it. Our fall back now is just that, if your a no-boater and make top 10 then one member has a 16' stick steer aluminum that is available, but thats all. So my thoughts is either just have AOY for co-anglers and no classic (which makes the most sense) BUT there are several boaters that go no-boat just to switch it up some. So that brings me to our yearly point standing and having one set of standing for all...with unidentified anglers/co-anglers OR my thoughts were to have, like you said, 2 completely different divisions...points, AOY and all. I'm a no-boater and don't like the rule either because when I get a boat soon and fill it up, I wanna run it every tourney and not cherry pick stuff to put on the back of someones boat. That is the main reason I want to find something to keep getting new members as others fall out. the kid's derby's and etc is a great idea and already do a big fundraiser thats a "Men's Night Out" charity benefit we put on...like a ducks unlimited deal, rods/reels/guns/beer/bbq/2 auctions. The only problem with being more "open" is the guys in their 70s that started the club like our "referral/vote in" a friend deal even though we don't mind publicity. To be honest it's a lot of old school BS, that is at it's turning point right about now. Got young bloods running the show, but as much as I hate to say it, just have to wait for the old to move on and the new to come in...it's just life.

Ill pay shipping if you want to just get rid of it!