TorqueConverter

Baits are basically tools. There is no magic bait that does everything and when you locate fish it's amazing how receptive they can be to variety of baits, so I would put emphasis on locating fish by seasonal movement and classic seasonal patters over bait selection. Don't be afraid to anchor and take you time picking apart an area. Here's some real good tools: 1/4oz - 3/4oz jigs with a creature trailer. Shallow crankbait double willow spinnerbaits (if it's too weedy for the crankbait) some sort of do nothing stick bait like a stick-o

I remember when I used to throw T-rigs on something very similar to that. Back then (and it wasn't even that long ago) we called them "normal fishing reels".

I would be highly suspect of any reel that states that it is "specifically designed for crankbaits". It's beyond me how you design a reel for crankbaits other than [insert ratio here]. That combo should work very well, but I'd go Tatula and a MH Diesel Glass. Personal preferences.

The Jackall Cover Craw is probably worth looking at too. It's not durable at all but is designed to glide backwards, has caw pinchers on it and it weighs a ton. The Trigger X Hodad glides backwards too and has a lot of action but doesn't weigh anything. There's more and more baits coming onto the market designed to glide backwards. If you don't like the Palm Tree/Fat Ika then try others or jsut wait until a better bait spawns into existence.

Last time I went yard fishing I got brand new DT16 stuck in tree.

Great wake bait. I like them at night with long pauses.

1/2 oz Buckeye mini mop with GYCB Flappin Hog II.

Braid by miles

Usually we set them up to our own idea of an ideal setting out of the box and then make small adjustments on the water (when changing baits) with the spool tension. Centrifugal brakes are more often than not, a set-and-forget. When setting a reel up fresh out of the box, I like to turn the centrifugal brakes off because some can be engaged from the factory, and then do the drop test with a 3/8 oz weight to adjust spool tension. One spool tension is set I begin to turn centrifugal brakes on while loosing spool tension until the sweet spot is achieved. This is what I do with an internally adjustable 6 pin brake. With externally adjustable braking you're able to do some adjusting on the fly because it's not nearly as much of a hassle to adjust the brakes.

Here's a link to that Fat Free Shad modification I was talking about, if you're interested. http://bassmadness.blogspot.com/2009/01/shavin-crankbait-lips.html

It's more of a cold water spring time bait, under docks when there is minimal weed growth, in my opinion. I prefer them with creature baits instead of weenie worms.

If the line tie is on the bill of the crank, then trimming or even changing the shape will most likely ruin the bait to the point where it won't run. If the line tie is on the nose if the bait, then yes you can play around with shortening and shaping the bill of the crank. There have been some instances where people have been able to successfully modify the bill of a crankbait with a line tie on bill. Some of custom crankbait builders are known to shave a tiny bit off of bill to make the bait unstable and hunt. Some pro used to reshape the bills on the bomber fat free shads to get a tighter action.

I was some other junk there and saw the sale. Just a heads up to you Sebile fans. http://www.cabelas.com/browse.cmd?categoryId=544924980&WTz_l=SBC%3Bcat104793480f They've got a bait number of sales going on but the Sebile stuff is the most heavily discounted. Free shipping on orders of $49 or more with promo code 94FREE, so don't forget to use that.

I'd rather use their MH power Crankin Stick than a carbon lite for topwater.

I must have been raised too well, because there is no way in hell I'd buy a higher end rod miss-tagged as a lower end product. I'd have to let them know about the mistake and move on. This is coming from a guy who hates Walmart. All of you in this thread are some stone cold shoppers.

Generality speaking any sort of sent scent additive is not going to have an effect on your ability to attract fish to your bait or hold on the bait longer. So why do people use it? Faith. Anglers have faith in products and they have tendency to draw causation from correlation. Until some peer review paper on the affects of chemical fish attractants comes out, then I'm not buying into any advertising slogan these "attractant" companies are throwing around like holds on X300000 longer!. I don't care what Bubba on the 123 pro bass tour has to say, I want to hear from the biologist(s). A lot of these scents are also soft plastic lubricants and help to prevent baits from becoming bent or drying out. I use F2 for lubrication when I boil my plastics to make them softer, as that has a tenancy to dry out the plastic making them sticky, and I can't imagine the F2 scent hurts anything.

They're Doyo OEM reels like Lews, BPS reels and the other Pure Fishing stuff. Good reels.

http://www.basspro.com/Bass-Pro-Shops-Prolite-Special-Casting-Combo/product/1311080716304/ I'm sure it's a good buy at $60, but I bet the rod is nothing special. Judging by the looks, it's from the same OEM as the Quantum Accurist and ect, PT reels. I have an Accurist PT and it's every bit as good as my Pro Qualifier.

I am always amazed by the incredible lengths people go to, to try to make senkos work better. There are baits out there with as much, if not more action, and last for fish after fish. Still, the ingenuity shown here is neat.

If you go Veritas, go MH because the rod is a broom handle. I love my 7' MH for pitching jigs and working big texas rigged ribbon tails, but it it absolutely unsuited for frog fishing. It's got the light weight and power figured out, but the almost complete lack of a tip on the rods makes frogging difficult.

DT6 DT10 DT14 DT16 DT20 Pick your 3 out of there.

How could it be faster than a 3.8 if it is direct drive? Am I missing something here?

Nope but they might after all the salt dissolves out of them if you're really desperate to get one to have some buoyancy.

If you can get a topo map and then mark structure on a handheld GPS then that will go a longs ways. If not then focus on the visual structure such as points and humps/rock reefs if the water is clear enough.

The Freshwater Angler Largemouth Bass is really good bass 101 book. The seasonal movements of bass by water type paired to satellite imagery is useful in locating bass.