Felix77

Feel better ... welcome!

I would hold on to it until you need to restock or get inspired by a new lure you want to try. I know it's hard to just sit on a card. It's like giving a child a $10.00 at a candy shop and telling them not to spend it.

I remember seeing this a while back. Don't know if it would work in the upstate NY waters. Have to give it a try.

x2 on the drop shot.

The best modifications are those made by the lunker bass beating the crap out of my lures. Seriously ... the most common tweaks I make are to jigs. Flaring out the weed guard, trimming the weed guard and trimming the skirt to round out the profile.

black, black grape, green pumpkin blue flash, black w blue fleck

Looking for input on lures for catching pike in early spring. I do decent with spinnerbaits but thought it was time to expand my toolbox.

I assume you mean the Fat Albert Grub. If so then x2 on the suggestion. I only use trailers when nothing else works otherwise I go without it.

I didn't like it. I tried the fluoroclear and found I lost sensitivity over straight FC or Braid with a FC leader.

X2 on the Shakey Head. Deadly from shore with a finesse or trick worm.

I do very little pike fishing. One tournament per year. The setup I use is a 6'6" (or 7') MH Baitcaster with 20lb Mono and a steel leader. Setting your drag is the key!

Congrats ... Boat *** ... especially since I only have a conoe. :-)

Simple do you want to spend more time paddling or more time casting?

After all the numerous positive responses on this site about Megastrike I bought all 3 scents to try out this year. I bet if I rub it on the ice right now the fish would crash through. LOL I also bought JJ's Magic which also has a great reputation around people on this site. When I want the wife and kids to leave me alone I just open the bottle for 2 seconds. The stink drives them away quickly! LOL

Rub it in ... that's ok. Once global warming kicks in New York will be the place to catch Florida Bass.

Any $50 rod/reel setup will catch fish using a senko. I have a $65 Abu Cardinal setup which I love and keep in the car for those Emergency Bassin' moments. My tournament stuff is more expensive. All depends on your budget and what you are willing to spend.

LOL ... isn't that the truth! I had to learn to watch these shows because what seems so easy on TV is not so easy when you first try these lures out. I don't know how many crankbaits I lost trying to learn to fish them like the pros did on TV. They throw it through stumps, trees etc like it's nothing. You never see them snag. I must have snagged more than ever and lost a bunch in the process. So far in one year of cranking I have only caught one fish. Needless to say that is my least confident lure. The senko is my #1 confidence bait followed by the spinnerbait but I want to learn other tactics. The challenge is to keep doing it until you learn the right way to do it I guess..

How does this compare to the presentation you are recommending?

You and me both buddy. I am a co-angler so the deepest waters I fish are during tournaments. Otherwise I am fishing from my canoe.

I looked into this about a month ago. A whole bunch of online research. There seemed to be a lot of honest appearing claims that it works but a ton of rumor and not enough fact. The company (WD-40) says that it's a myth and that anglers looking to use this should conserve the environment and not use it as an attractor. It is a pollutant. http://wd40.com/about-us/myths-legends-fun-facts/

I'm a big fan of spinnerbaits. One of the methods I used I learned from Ike. He used a stuttering method to cause the spinnerbait to move in an erratic pattern. Hard to describe but the action is done with the reel. Quick turn, Quick turn, Slow turn ... vary the quick and slow turns. Also vary the number of revolutions of the handle for each turn. Example 2 quick turns, 2 quick turns, 4 slow and steady turns, 1 quick turn, 1 quick turn, 2 slow and steady turns. In watching it underwater it causes the blades to flutter like crazy. Best with double willow bladed spinnerbaits IMO.

Project Manager for a large IT company.

There are fun ways to do this without breaking the bank. I make my own jigs skirts and then buy prepainted heads to match. I do the same with spinnerbaits and chatterbaits. Fishingskirts.com should have all that you need. Their stuff is pretty good. Lastly if you want to pour your own baits you can make your own molds and then recycle lures in them. Look it up on youtube. All don't break the bank and provides you with some fun wintertime projects. Good luck.

You are talking about a multi-hook rig correct? Like a drop shot with a finesse jig and craw correct? I heard about that and had that on my list of things to try when drop shotting. I also heard of using a larger fly for a drop shot hook. Something else I am going to experiment with.

I go strictly FC on 3 of my baitcaseter. (10, 15 and 20lb FC) and 12lb Mono on another for topwater. I only use braid on spinning and 90-ish% of the time I use an 8lb FC leader with the braid. It's a confidence thing I guess.