DocNsanE

Just saw this kickstarter where you can get a 3D printer for $179: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tiko3d/tiko-the-unibody-3d-printer?ref=popular (if the link doesn't work search for tiko unibody kickstarter) I was wondering if anyone has tried using a 3D Printer for Tacklemaking?

I was a little shocked when I saw this pop-up in my email: A KGB Operative quoted a post you made haha

I have a that rat -- glad to hear it's working for others, it hasn't produced for me yet, but I didn't have much confidence in it. I'll keep throwing it this year and see what happens.

I currently keep all my plastics in their original bags and zip tie them together and label the zip tie. But I have over 50 packs of plastics now and it's getting messy. I was thinking of making the switch to plano boxes, possibly the water tight ones with the seals. I know someone mentioned the zman plastics shouldn't leave the bag, are there any others I should worry about?

I would also recommend looking around for a tatula, but I honestly don't think you can go wrong with any of the rods listed in this thread. Best idea is always to go to the store with your reel and mount it on some rods to see how they feel.

sounds like a job for the jika rig? haven't used it yet, just thought it could be a good fit

I think faster is better, like 7.x:1, but I think it really comes down to a personal preference. You aren't moving the bait with the reel, you are just picking up slack, so any reel could work, you'd just have to adjust how much you crank.

navionics has a webapp that has a lot of lakes on it, might have whichever body of water you are looking for. Just search for navionics webapp and you'll find it. Now what you should be looking for, well that's something someone else would be better at answering than me... but I'd there is a ton of things to look for. Spawning areas and winter hold outs can give clues on where the bass will be in the early and later portions of the year. Look for points, bluffs, ledges, humps, etc... any kind of structure that is different from the rest of the area could be a spot the bass relate to. Once you have identified some key locations to check out, look for cover on the structure and that might be a big ticket.

x2

my lord, best way? I don't know if there's an official best way, I'd say it depends more on what the conditions are and what's the structure/cover you are fishing. The beautiful thing about soft plastics is there are so many ways to fish them, it's insane how versatile they are... texas rig, carolina rig, jika rig, rage rig, drop shot, wacky rig, ned rig.... there are almost certainly more than even those but each of the ones I have mentioned can be excellent in its own right.

You could also throw a 10" worm or a fluke on this thing which would be quite a different look from a jig

Thanks a lot everyone for the info! That's a great list of affordable baits I'm going to have to look into. I really appreciate your input and experience in this area. The only swimbaits I've thrown are the soft plastic paddle tails and I love them. Can any of those baits be thrown on a MH or I really should wait until I buy a H before I consider throwing one?

Hi! Welcome to the forums! You've certainly come to the best community on the internet for bass fishing! Do you know what are the specs of your rod? (length, power, action, ex: 7' medium heavy fast). That could help us propose some techniques that could be well suited for your equipment. Are you new to fishing in general or do you have experience fishing other species? It's also a good idea to go flesh out your profile a little. If we know where you are or what types of waters you are fishing, you can get some advice better tailored to your situation. One of the members of this forum runs the most popular educational fishing channel on youtube, you should check it out -- it's a gold mine!

One that has surprisingly worked for me... if you already have a good amount of lures, but you can't help but buy more, try a tackle subscription service such as MTB or LTB or whichever.... Every time I went to the store before I couldn't help but get my fix and I'd always spend at least $80 on lures and plastics. Now that I have a good foundation though, I've found that getting a box in the mail once a month satisfies my addiction and when I go to the store I only buy what I actually need and will seldom spend more than $15-20.

sounds about right to me.

Up here in my neck of the woods, we simply don't have any 10lbs bass. Biggest I ever heard of was around 7lbs and the biggest I've personally caught was about 4.5lbs. I've seen some of these 10" swimbait posts go by recently and I was wondering what you guys would recommend for a swimbait if I wanted to go after 4-6lbs bass smallmouth / largemouth?

wow great prices... is shipping expensive?

I wouldn't say I have a go to bait since I try to fish the conditions, but I guess if I am not having any success I'll usually revert to a wacky rig. That being said I have a favorite in most types of baits. yum dinger F2 in Ozark Smoke caffeine shad for a soft plastic swimbait (I have to get my hand on some Keitech's though) Rage craw for a craw imitation Big bite kreiture bait for a creature Zoom Super Fluke (I have to get my hands on the GrandeBass Flash after the review that was posted last week) Rapala Original F11 Silver or Gold for a floating jerkbait Rapala Husky Jerk for a slower presentation (only tried those so far, got a BDJ 115 in MTB that I can't wait to throw) Hula Popper in frog color or Zara Spook for top water, or a double bladed buzzbait Jitterbug in black for night time fishing Frogs I have a couple and they all seem to produce equally I don't have much confidence in my spinnerbaits, crankbaits or jigs at the moment so I can't say I have a preferred for either of those presentations. Kind of funny because those seem like real go to presentations for a lot of people. My goal this year is to really build confidence in jigs.

d**n doesn't sound too good... one of the reasons I love the F2 Dingers was they caught as many fish as senkos (for me) but they I could catch more fish per worm on a dinger

Yeah... I had the berkley lip grip. Tested it out on 5 different weights of little aerobic weights and it was accurate. But I stored it in an area that compressed it and now I can weigh the same fish 5 times and get 5 different readings.

yeah I was a big fan of the F2 dingers as well, wondering if these new baits will be as good. Hopefully they won't disappoint!

Wow quite the plunge! I wish you the best of luck and hopefully it'll produce a couple of truly memorable fish which will help you forget what you paid for it I've jumped into the lake for a $6 lure when getting hung up bank fishing. I'd jump into 50 degree water for that thing no doubt!

...and today I've learned of yet another rig I need to add to my arsenal.

With my spinning rods I switch hands but always cast two-handed and have done so since the first day I started fishing them. I feel very comfortable with either hand and can skip the bait accurately this way. I just bought my first baitcaster a few weeks ago and haven't had a chance to fish it yet but I have a feeling the learning curve for my opposite-hand casting will be a lot bigger than it was with a spinning rod.

hmg, veritas, tatula, *** black, phenix maxim, etc... it's been said before but in that price range there are a lot of great offerings. Bring your reel, slap it on some rods, and see how they feel.