martintheduck

It's the caffeine shad with the straight tail... not the paddle. The caffeine looks awesome on a steady retrieve despite not having a paddle tail. It has a lazy looking movement to it...the tail moves a bit and the body wobbles around something SEXY - not the hard continuous paddling of the paddle tails. I can't describe it any different than that. Spend the $4 on a pack and see for yourself. As for dips... no place here sells JJ's, so I've ended up using some stuff called "spike-it" from academy. It actually has worked really well. The dye is potent and the garlic scent stays all day.

Steady retrieve they flutter around really nice...or popping them they look real good. I was letting em sink to 15 ft and burning em yesterday.

Seems to be a common thing for me - "No, I won't try that thing I've never tried before... I won't like it." Well today I broke down and bought some SK Caffeine Shad, and WOW!!!! What a great looking bait. They are SO soft, the fall is so sexy it's scary, and the swim action is creepily realistic looking. Reminds me or a senko. They are heavily salted and have a nice weight so you can crank those suckers for miles in a 1/4oz swimbait hook. Will be fishing them tomorrow with a 1/8th or weightless. Fished some really muddy water today with a white caffeine shad/chart. dip tail and they CRUSHED it. I mean C.R.U.S.H.E.D it. Just wanted to pass the good word along - if you haven't tried them, DO IT!

Edge owner here... don't get one. The mount is absolute CRAP. I've been getting really aggravated recently - sometimes 2 isn't enough and 3 is WAYYYYY TOO MUCH.... the variable solves that problem!?!?!?

I've had a single big bag filled with like 50 bags of plastics, but today I actually dealt with it.... Said "to hell with it" and finally did a LITTLE organizing. 1 gallon ziplocks. Shoved all my worms in one, all swims in one, all creatures & trailers in one. I've been against this idea for awhile and finally conceded today - glad I did. My boat feels "cleaner."

I can really only comment on the warranty part of your question. With my Yamaha, I brought the serial # to an authorized dealer and they could pull up warranty information and told me how much was left on mine. When you get the warranty information pulled @ the dealer, ask them if there is a way to tell a/b "proper break-in." I know they run the diagnostic-type-program on it ----it tells amnt of time running various RPM's plus overall hours. Mine didn't have a "play by play" breakdown... like "minute one - 3k rpm, minute 2 - 4k rpm, etc etc..." I'm curious to see what happens here...

^ That's one of those ideas that is so simple, I never could have thought of it!

11 more days bud!

Do whatever you want.... you'll be fine.

A live crawfish!? That's rowdy man

I tie all spinners with a palomar knot. Will work fine on any of the ones pictured. Sadly, when fishing the bottom, snags are part of the game.

Just search for one on google. I bought one like this from the local tackle shop --- http://tacklehookup.com/products/tiptons-golden-rule-lure-retriever If you're a shore fisherman, it won't work. If you're fishing from a boat, you get directly over the lure, get the fishing line tight, hook this contraption onto the line while holding it's attached rope, drop it down the line and slack the fishing line. Should knock it free. if it doesn't on first try, just jiggle the retriever around via the rope a bit and it should come free. Honestly, I wasn't convinced one of these things would work, but they do. Granted, it's kind of a hassle and cumbersome, but it does work. ANYTHING that helps me save money fishing is a good thing.

What are you snagging in? Pads? Deep weeds? I've been hoping for awhile that someone would make a spinner AND jig with a hook similar to an offset worm hook.... give me the ability to rig a craw trailer on t-rig style. I've been fishing deep in the river for the past weeks and there is a TON of debris on the bottom. Lost 2 spinners and at least 5 deep cranks. Picked up a lure retriever the other day and it has already saved me $10. It's my new favorite tool.

Straight tails of curly tails? Been wanting to try to curly tails since I've become a HUGE fan of robo straights.

Basically it's a finesse c-rig. Take a c-rig, get rid of the swivel, swap beads and bullet weights for small BB-style-crimp-on weights.

Any empty space you have that will not be accessible for storage, fill with spray-on foam to help buoyancy. Consider adding a bilge pump in the rear. Is it a "console john boat" or a legitimate tiller john?

This is the most ridiculous advice thread I have seen on here yet. YES YES YES YOU SHOULD LEARN HOW TO ******* SWIM! Even if you know how to swim, you should still wear you PFD. This makes me so ******* angry. Go spend ******* 2 hours of your ******* time at a ymca and learn to ******* swim. I mean seriously?!?!?!?! You're considering buying a boat!?!?!?! You've got to be kidding me man! Don't be ashamed that you can't swim.... you just never learned.... that's okay. Be ashamed that you want to spend a significant amount of time on the water and refuse to concede that your wife IS CORRECT.

Been pulling this one out of my bag of tricks to nab some fish in heavily pressured water. I usually rig it with a #4 or #5 shot 12-18inches up and a 1/0 offset worm. Run 8lb test on a Med. spinning rod. For bait I've been using a 4inch zoom grub or a 6inch curly tail worm. What bait's do y'all rig up when fishing a split shot? Heck, do you guys even fish a split shot? I haven't seen many people bust this rig out.

That's deep, man.

I've heard good things about joe bobs for bream. Been wanting to get out there, but if I'm making a drive I convince myself to just go to Caney and catch big bass. Based on everything I know, I found the PERFECT spot yesterday on the river - creek pouring out into about 100yard cut @ 5ft, good current, THOUSANDS of baitfish in the water...fish jumping EVERYWHERE. Went back in there and ALL GAR. Ended up catching 8 gar on top-water poppers and giving em' to some guy at forsythe. Those gar had the fattest bellies I've ever seen. Look abnormal. I'm with you as far as the river is concerned though. Gaining confidence has been tough. I read an article a few weeks ago about river fishing and one about fishing when they are deep... I wish I could find the links, but they both gave me some pointers that really helped me get some confidence - they just reinforced what I had been doing already and gave me the thought "you're doing everything right martin, the fish just aren't where you are..." When it comes to fishing deep, just find the contour lines and fish them like you are "beatin' the bank..." If you think the bass are 14ft down, just run 14ft down all along the shore line. That has helped me getting on some with deep cranks. Then the article about river fishing gave me some more confidence. Said something like "it's tough, it's either ON or OFF." Also mentioned you can most always find fish in brush piles near the shore, stumps, and laydowns. I listened to that advice and started flippin' for hours at a time into all that stuff and have had good success. If the fishing picks up in the coming months, I'll invite you fishing or something... I just hate to invite people along when it's an all afternoon G.R.I.N.D. I feel responsible when things don't go well and dang that's depressing!

I'm sure it will all depend on what the water level and flow looks like. Right now the river is basically at pool stage and theres not much of ANY current. Maybe the water will rise once there is some weather happening up north. I really can't give you a straight answer but I can speculate. If the water rises and we get a good current, more oxygen will be in the water and in the shallower water - so - flip jigs and creatures into brush, laydowns, stumps, etc... (on the backside where they can get shelter from the current). Try squarebills. Try compact spinners. Right now I've still been having luck running bright color deep divers, but I've been having most success with black and blue 1/2oz jigs. Hooked the biggest river bass I've ever seen the other day (at least 5 pounds) in some stumps, muscled him up near the boat, he ran and tangled in the logs and shook the hook. Thats the first time I've literally cussed and yelled about losing a fish!

The best idea.... do it.

USAA does boat insurance through Progressive. I have auto and home through USAA and took the boat through progressive.

X2 to most everything said on here. Spend some extra $ and get a solid TM to begin with. You'll be looking back wishing you would have bitten the proverbial bullet.