Slade House

for sensitivity in that price range, don't go with the veritas, i broke 2 of those and they weren't very sensitive.

I prefer large white sea bass to eat. largemouth is just too fishy.

when in doubt carry a hook file or sharpener on board. with trokar you should be fine without, but doesn't hurt to have one

here's a tip someone just taught me. with the hand you hold your rod with take your index finger and tap the rod to move the popper a smaller distance as needed. If you are trying to move something a small distance , the index finger tap seems to do the trick for me. also the Megabass Pop X is one of the best poppers. After holding and examining all Megabass's Pop X line at iCast , i can say that yeah its worth the $17.99. The paint, and the design of the gills that allow water to flow through them is amazing.

and the missile bait baby d-bomb in green pumpkin red or purple kills it. it got me a 7.6 and a 8.5 (in pic) in one week this year, as well as a dozen or so 5-6ers. drop shooting the fuse 4.4 deadly too.

(when i fish lake CA$iTa$ in CA.) I use the Megastrike Shake2 EWG pro . My deadly combo has been the 3/8 or 1/2 green pumpkin with a missile bait Baby D-Bomb in Green Pumpkin Purple (new color). I've been pitching this into rocky drop offs and just slaying it. Or pitching it at fallen timber. a week ago i caught a 20.8 lb bag with this combo ("Pitching" is the key) Yes, it does pick up a lot of cabbage, but I'm not fishing it in the grass. sometimes a have a 5 gallon water jug on my boat so i can see exactly what my lure looks like underwater. I've used Yum (2nd choice) , Owner, the crappy Bass Pro Dragon Head , Savage gear , buckeye and more shaky heads. I used to use the Yum 3/8 with a wave worm tiki craw . Now the tiki craw can be shortened by clipping off the senko like tube before the head. I started to notice that only when i clipped it short enough so that it would stand up every time would i get a bite ( verifying this with the 5 gallon jug) so having my bait stand up is key for my shaky head fishing. The megasrike shaky head stands up no matter what you put on it and that's why i love it. as for being heavy, well a friend of mine caught 15 in 4 hours this afternoon using a 3/4 oz jig while my other buddy caught 4 using a 1/2 oz jig, gotta adapt.

Dance was on my flight down there, but I really didn't see much of him during iCast. on the other hand , Jimmy was there a lot of the time , and was very friendly and accessible. great interview. also , Jimmy had a stack of signed photos you could grab at the hi-seas booth

this is why i have 2 largemouth in a big aquarium, you learn a lot by just watching them underwater. great video , reminds of the old school bass fishing book from the 80's. thanks !!

get a Phoenix boat , i wish i could.

Watching a 1968 Volkswagen beetle come up to a launch ramp and launch a decent size boat. i have a video of that somewhere

I would check with Rich Tauber for guiding on Lake Casitas. US open champion, and the bite has been slamming at lake casitas (it's actually on your way from San Fran to San Diego. if you can make clear lake go there first

megastrike green pumpkin 1/2 oz shaky heads. Wow is all I have to say. that is all

Missle bait baby d-bombs + megastrike ewg pro shaky head 2 in 1/2 , pitch that towards a log.

learn how to use pitching to cast , period , just learn it and use it.

In january, caught a 7.5 on a monday , and the 8.6 you see in my picture 2 days after that on a green pumpkin red missile bait baby d-bomb texas rigged with a red gamagatsu 3/0 EWG hook and a 1/4 oz strike king tungsten bullet weight.

I don't use swivels on any rigs i fish. Seriously how long does it take to tie a palomar knot anyway? for C-rigging i use carolina keepers and those seem to work fine. and if you're tying leader use an alberto knot. swivels are for Alabama rigs that's it

I think when you fish in a tough lake to fish, and you see a father and son or daughter fishing together using what obviously will never work, i have to go over and donate something to increase their odds of having a lasting memory of that trip together.

I have been raising a few baby bass (florida strain) in a large aquarium since april, i caught them using just a tiny tiny gold hook weightless (with nothing on it) NO they will not eat dead fish period. they will eat frozen bloodworm ice cubes though (not the ones with shrimp in them , they won't eat shrimp) and they will eat feeder goldfish (15 cents each at petco) if you have 4 usually you will end up with 2 or 1 because one will dominate the others. as for their habitat they love cylinders they can swim in and out of.

my highlights so far, Strike kings new vertical spoon with eyes on it. interesting concept. Megabass's new buzz bait (can be found on their jp website. Duo Realis new G87 20A deep diving crank bait is amazing. a new company called shane's bait's alabama rig with replaceable arms with clear rubber sleeves covering all of the wires. they also have a double blade buzz bait with a 3 arm alabama rig below it (little float things behind the blades for buoyancy). Missle bait making the baby d bomb in green pumpkin-purple, and their new green pumpkin-watermelon color in the fuse 4.4 , and their smaller shockwave. and green Minn Kota's new ipilot trolling motor that has a button that automatically stores and deploys the motor for you+ an anchor lock button on the foot pedal (so you can launch your boat without getting in it , hit the deploy button to deploy the trolling motor and then spot look your boat while you go park the car , amazing, but they don't have a groove going down the shaft for wires now (I don't understand!!?). Raymarines new 12.1 fish finder with chirp. Hydrowaves new H2 unit with 5 different delay features, and 14 preprogrammed sounds as well as their "bream " sound pack. and that's about all i can remember for now, more tomorrow

i did a 545am to 8pm day on thursday, not uncommon for me

got bit on a drop shot early on , but that was about it

going to iCast 2014 next week for my first time as a buyer , any tips from anyone who has been before?

if you want to go fishing at lake casitas , I have a spot for you on my boat. you gotta just pay for gas and you can't bring more than 6 rods. its less than 90 minutes from where you are. Right now im pretty much there 7 days a week. As for tournaments, Casitas has a really good series of tournaments with good prize structures (better than the B.A.S.S. ones). right now tournament season is kind of winding down (there is a night tournament this saturday). winning weights at the tournaments have been averaging around 22lbs. Im actually looking for a new tournament partner so send me a message, ill take ya fishing. I will be at iCast next week, but message me we can figure it out.

yamamoto's baby craw on that.

what's been working very well for me is using a standup shaky head. its deadly in all types of conditions at all times of years. Ive tried all types of shaky head combos but what has been getting me consisent big fish is the following. get a 1/2 oz or 3/8 green megastrike shaky head combine that with a missle bait baby d bomb in green pumpkin and boom , there ya go. you get 4 for 5.99 , good deal. i also recommend yum pumpkin head standup shaky head in any weight above 1/4 oz. with a watermelon red wave worm tiki craw. as for your setup , you really just need to change out your line to some berkly green mist 8lb nano-fill, for a spinning reel , its the best. tie an alberto knot onto a 10lb flurocarbon leader. now here's a tip i learned for quiet entry when casting really far with a spinning rod. so cast really really hard and far, and at the very last second before your lure hits the water, grab the line above your reel and pull back on it to soften the speed of the entry. if done corectly you willl know.