Brian_Reeves

How long would it take for it to show up at the pump??? it ain't budged in a week.

Holy crap man!! Any real estate open where you live Hawg Caller????? Great fish and great picture. Thank you for being a part of this project and thank you for thanking me.

I've used it with a 1/4oz jig around deep, rocky areas with success. Funny thing was I caught more fish on the jig than I did the soft plastic lure. I can't remember the trailer that I was using, though I'm pretty sure it was a finesse worm by zoom. I didn't use a swivel though...didn't even think about it.

Only time I use them is when I'm night fishing because tying a knot can be a pain. I agree with Raul that you shouldn't use a snap on a split ring, though. The only other time I see myself using one is when I get older and my eyes start going out on me. I have more faith in a good solid knot on good line.

KVD to watch that guy cover water. I want to learn his tricks to a lipless crankbait...besides throwing them 4,000 times in a day lol Denny Braur. Being an avid jig fisherman, I'd love to see the jig master at work. I'd like to fish with both on Falcon Lake or Toledo Bend.

I'd go with high-action soft plastics on light (1/4oz) T-Rigs or use those same soft plastics on a thick skirted jig with rattles. I'd favor darker colors...at least watermelonseed...but would probably go with solid black, black and blue, or black neon. Soft plastics that I like that produce a ton of action are Rage Tail Craws, * ***, and 10inch Berkley Power Worms. If fishing on a T-Rig, place a bead in between the weight and the hook-eye. That will serve as a rattle. If the weight keeps hanging in the pads, get an insert rattle and peg your weight. As far as reaction lures, rattle-traps and spinnerbaits should be the way to go. I'd try a Hart Tackle Black Heart spinnerbait. It's a night fishing lure, but it's perfect for really turbid water as well. It has a shovel for a blade. As for rattle-traps, Fire Tiger is an all time favorite of mine.

If you're talking about head designs...I like bullet shaped heads that slice through grass and cover. Football jigs around heavy rocks. All others just kinda fall in between "GOTTA HAVE" and "Dont really need" for me. As for colors, all I need on my jigs is blue/black, solid black, or green pumpkin. Spinnerbaits, white, white/chartruse, and solid chartruse. Buzzbaits, white, chartruse, solid black. I'm pretty simple when it comes to colors.

I'm not giving up on any of them, but I'm wondering what sort of black magic has been cast on some of my long term favorite lures. Voo Doo sucks

I think that the best time to fish the hollow body swimbaits is probably when bass are actively feeding in shallower water. I have about 5 different brands of them and couldn't buy a strike, so my advice isn't worth 2 cents lol

I'm hoping to go fishing with Big-0 on Falcon Lake sometime next month if I can get the $$$ together...along with permission from the wifey

This is kinda the opposite of Roadwarrior's "what's working for you thread" I have a few lures that just stopped working for me. I mean I can't get them to work for NOTHING this year for some reason. Here's my list of 'wth is wrong' lures. Zoom Super Fluke is one of my all time favorite lures. I've caught like 2 fish on them this year. Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap. This is another favorite lure that I can't buy a strike on. I've tried every trick I know in all of my favorite colors...nadda Tubes (all brands) At one time in my life, I thought that this was the only soft plastic that actually worked. Now I'm starting to wonder if they work at all. It has me boggled. I'll switch to a tube on various rigs...nothing. I switch to just about any other soft plastic and wham!! Does this ever happen to y'all and some of your favorite lures/rigs?

Safe travels man and keep your head down over there. August ain't that far away. If you're ever in Louisiana, look me up and we can drink away Iraq memories lol.

That might explain something

I've put jigs on the bottem of my dropshots as the weight and did better with the jig than on the dropshot lure itself. I don't know about any dropshot jigs though. Gotta pic or a link??

Try a 1/2 to 1oz flordia rig (pegged texas rig weight) on your favorite straight worm. I prefer tru-tungston, but lead or brass works as well. Lead is just huge though, and kind of defeats the purpose. This is a technique to use if you want to punch through the grass. If you're wanting to stay above it, try low weight or weightless rigs. You can also try shallow cranks, which have been dynamite for me this year.

This is my total package when it comes to finesse. I don't use dropshots, but they are a good rig to use when the bite is tough as well. 1) Split shot Finesse worm or 4inch curl tail worm. I t-rig the worm on a 2/0 light wire red gamakatsu hook. I use the elongated split shot weight because it's a bit more weedless and favor weights 1/8 or 3/16. There should be about 12inches (but can change) of line in between the hook eye and sinker. I fish this like a carolina rig or swim it slowly. 2) * on a 3/16 or 1/4oz jighead, hook exposed. I switch to this when bigger jigs are failing. I also use them on a regular jighead or a title shot jighead for flipping and pitching heavy cover. Great swimming rig when the spinnerbait/crankbait bite dies. 3) 5" * trick stick, t-rigged, weightless. Yeah yeah, it's not really finesse I guess, but I use it when the bite is tough and faster moving baits don't work. 4) Beetle Spin, 1/4oz, black and chartruse or the greenish color. Fished just as you would expect. That's about it for my finesse fishing, and I don't think any of those will be considered by many as true finesse rigs, but they work for me when the bite is tough.

You could go by total inches instead of weight. You measure, record, photograph, and release. The photograph is just for verification, but good friends won't lie to you. I'm trying to put together a kayak/canoe/electric powered jon boat fishing club...no gas engines allowed...when I move back to louisiana. We are probably going to go by total inches instead of total weight. Just one option.

Size of fish is really eluding me this year, but I'm fishing off of small ponds. I just found out that Ft. Hood and the DWF aren't managing these lakes for bass and not stocking them, so the big fish are probably getting coats of batter put on them. It's sad, but I'm moving in a month or two anyway...so hopefully the fish are better where I'm going. Numbers has been sketchy...definitely not like it used to be, but I'm still doing really well. better than anyone else that I know on post. Anyway, here's what is working for me. 1) This bait never fails me. On several different riggings, the summer craw colored Rage Tail Craw is my number 1 producer right now. 2) Mann's baby 1- baby bass colored crankbait is always a good choice when bass are chasing small forage above grass in shallow water. This lure is a go-to right now along with the rage tail craw. 3) Rebel Pop-R has been my number 1 topwater for probably 10 years. True, it gets more time on the water than buzz baits, walk-the-dogs, and everything else, but it always rocks. I love these things. 4) * Trick Stick T-rigged weightless seems to be the only lure that will work mid-day for me right now. The grass is too shallow and too thick to punch it effectively and bass are hiding in the pockets, unwilling to hit reaction lures. The trick stick is doing it's fair share of work, but I'm running out of them. Hopefully I get to place and order in a few days. 5) * *** on a 1/4 ounce jighead, swam just above the grass has been pulling a good number of fish when they are a tad more active.

I think pro-staff is just a term coined for sponsored anglers that help in the testing and development as well as endorsement of lures. A sponsored angler is someone that helps advertise for the company, but isn't involved in the aforementioned. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's how I understand it.

I enjoy fishing them, but on the little grass choked lakes that I most often go to, I can't really fish them effectively. THere are dozens of lipless crankbaits on the market and the Rat-L-Trap is still somewhere high on the list. One was used to win the Classic by Boyd Duckett...so they definitely still work

Toledo bend, without a doubt. God I can't wait to move back to louisiana!!!

I think with many of the kids, it's more about the free stuff than the advertising, staffing, and tournament success. I could give you a hundred free jigs, but that doesn't mean that you'll be any more or less successful on the water. I think that, when sponsoring someone, companies want to see someone who as a drive and desire to be successful, has shown results in tournaments, and will do what they can to promote, develop, and test their product line. Most people aren't willing to do that, I don't think.

Congradulations man!!

I'm on board with SFC_Al. I can't stand a thief. I'll keep you and your daughter in my prayers and one day better times will come your way. I really don't know what else to say and there isn't much I can do. What you've been through speaks tons about your personal strength and character. Keep on keeping on and hopefully things get better soon man.

That's awesome. My daughters have the same combo too lol. It's good that so many people are getting their kids into fishing. Hopefully it will continue to be one of the favorite past-times of people in years to come.