BaitMonkey1984

GYCB

What brand do you use- I have yet to see white braid and am curious.

This time of year I will throw a natural predator to bass eggs or a bait that can stay in the strike zone for extended periods of time. Natural predators like a lizard texas rigged is good. A jig or a shaky head that can he be moved a fraction of an inch at a time with some good undulation allow you to anger the bass into striking.

Don't say it and most of the hardcore anglers I know don't. Seems to be more of a weekend warrior mantra. I usually say something to the effect, I'm getting bit, there's one, or feels like a good one. I guess I don't see the need to specify what is on the end of my line, while I am casting a fishing rod, with a fishing lure, on a bass boat.

Like many people, including Darren I have pretty much tried everything out there. 3 years ago I was gifted a tackle backpack that included a few plano 3700s. I never thought I would use it, and I didn't for over a year. I then ran out of room in my tackle boxes (probably was only up to 4 at that point) so I threw a few packages of senkos in the plants. Gradually I had amassed 20+ plants each with a clearly defined and marked baits- green senko, craws, creature baits, terminal tackle. I used to go nuts looking for tackle and now I can find everything in 30 seconds. This is why the pros use this method- it saves time. Time saved looking for baits is more time left for fishing. Also, the plano boxes tend to keep the baits straight, which the gallon bags filled to capacity did not. Boiling water to straighten out tails on flukes all afternoon isn't fun. Two pieces of advice- do not mix elazetch baits in with other baits in the planos- they will react and melt. Secondly, don't be surprised if the plastic softener in the baits slightly warps the plano box dividers. It happens.

When I fished excuslively spinning reels. I used PP super slick 8 8lb-12 lb for everything. I didn't fish creature baits back then and not a whole lot of vegetation/thick stuff in my home lakes. I made the switch to bait casters 2-years ago. Initially, I tried braid because I heard it was easier to manage on bait casters. Maybe I was using too light line, but I was getting backlashes more often than not. So I bought a bulk spool of P-Line CX to keep costs down when I was learning on my bait casters. Got the handle of thumbing a bait caster and quite honestly have yet to think about throwing braid on any bait caster except my frogging/pitching rod. I have broken off more fish in the past two years, and some good ones this year really hurt. But I think that was operator error and I should have slowed down and played the fish more. I prefer the little bit of stretch in co-poly on my bait casters because I feel it is more forgiving then braid. I would recommend you try all lines out on all applications. I would stay with braid for frogging/flipping heavy mats, mono for topwater (it floats, other lines don't and that can negatively effect the bait) and fluorocarbon for deep cranking or finesse applications (floor is almost invisible under water so alb floor is great on a drop shot rod). Hope this helps.

I would bite that lure all day, every day.

So here is my two cents on this company. I am a Boston guy. Up here Charlier Moore is akin to Roland Martin everywhere else. I like Charlie very entertaining and great guy. He is extremely generous and after he was too busy to do a guide trip for me last year mailed me a package of free goodies gear, books, autographs, spices, hats etc over $200.00. So my Dad watches Charlie Moore and its about the time I get into fishing. He wants a carrot stick because Charlie Moore uses one. So naturally Father's day rolls around and I get him one. That was five years ago. He broke his first one, got a replacement and you can add an additional rod for cheap. So I get myself one. 2 years later my dad breaks his again. For a guy that fishes regularly they are fine if your not highsticking or cracking the whip on a hooks. If you have a newer guy/gal on the Rod its a matter of time till this thing explodes.

This is perfect in so many ways. The expense is challenging even to those who make more than a good living. It becomes addictive, I cannot tell you the last week I didn't blow $100+ on something fishing/boat related in the past year. Also, those bad days. Man, everyones had them. I fish with my old man a lot. I am on the water four days a week but when I go with my Dad, usually on Sundays I spend hours retying leaders, changing out baits, oiling the reels, putting line conditioner on the line, swapping out hooks, spraying scent onto baits, cleaning the boat, waxing the boat, packing a cooler. I literally sit in the boat in the driveway for hours just tinkering. Then you go out, lose a $15 bait here, a $9 there, a $6 there, bounce the skeg off a rock, snap a rod. And then, I just turn the radio up a few clicks, crack a beverage and realize this is till a good day out on the lake, fishing with my Dad in this great Country. I also realize that I am certifiably crazy.

I do not know why there is constant hating on this lure. My grandpa had the entire kit. Some long time ago he gave me a couple holdovers. They were the larger ones, est. 5", in a chartreuse color and with the nose weight and nose hooked. Those baits flat out caught fish by twitching the bait and letting it fall. I have tried looking everywhere for this particular size and color but keep coming up goose eggs. If anyone has these, and hate them - send them my way. I will show you all the fat girls those things can catch.

Was going to say Scott Martin. Love his shows but he is relentless with the sponsors. Love every rod/reel combo he describes like we all don't know it is going to be his okuma signature this/that with trokar hooks. Love you Scott but had to call you out!

Livingston cranks were half off so re-stocked up on those. The shadow raps were half off in only some colors so got some of those as I heard good things and had none. VMC tungsten was half off so finally going to try out tungsten. Thats about it, nothing great but some ok deals.

Most versatile would have to be a zoom magnum trick worm. Could use in almost any scenario. Also, the larger size works well but you can also cut it down for smaller sizes if pressure is tough. In regards to color, I would go with a green pumpkin with chartreuse tip. Pretty good color across the board conditions wise.

Circle hooks and maybe get a strike indicator as it seems your missing the bite. If you let the fish eat the bait too long without setting the hook, this results in gut hooked fish. Circle hooks will help but you need to set the hook sooner than you are.

d**n those are nice.

I fish them around rocks with a standard ball style jig head.

I would go with a white spinner bait for all year and a red spinner bait for spring. You can easily change out most blades so I wouldn't concern myself with that too much. If you aren't willing to change out blades, I would go with one willow and on colorado blade on each. Nice flash and decent vibration.

Yea, pretty comparable. Talons are a bit cheaper than the power-poles at all major retailers I frequent. Never used them, have no friends that have. I am looking to get 1 or 2 shortly, and for me a major factor in my decision is space. The Talons don't eat up the battery box like a power pole does to my knowledge. Thats important for me because I do not see how I could realistically fit the power pole accessories in my back compartment. Talons to my knowledge are self contained and do not present this problem.

Back when I started fishing, I was in the same position. I didn't have a lot of combos and didn't want to continuously re-tie. I used a snap swivel to connect hard baits and had a texas rig on my other rod. I was able to fish may different baits quickly with these two set-ups. It got the job done for me for years. I wouldn't think of using it today, but I also wouldn't do anything differently if I got a chance to re-do it. It will work fine. It won't be optimal but the difference is negligible in my opinion. One day, you will be like the rest of us and have more fishing poles than you can fit in your rod locker. Good luck

My biggest "needs improvement area" is patience when trying out new techniques. I am a junk fisherman, plain and simple. I spend countless hours rigging up baits and usually have 10+ rods on deck. Last year I stuck with the Jig and texas rigged pretty well, however didn't give the drop shot or the carolina rig much attention. A few casts and onto something I am more comfortable with. I gained a lot of experience and confidence in a texas rigged crawdad/creature bait. It is now one of my go-tos. I need to give the other presentations and techniques a chance because they may be super-successful as the t-rgigiged berkley powerbaits crazy chigger craw was for me last year.

My 19ft ranger has a 82b thrust motor guide. I don't fish rivers, only lakes. My 82b thrust is more power than I need all day long. I usually only have my motor on power 6. If you don't fish current, 80 lb thirst would be overkill. And that goes against my general rule- get the biggest motor (gas or trolling motor) that you can afford. I would only consider the 80 if it was your only source of power and you fish big lakes. Otherwise 55 should more than suffice.

I agree. My go to spinner bait is the terminator t1. Have a thin diameter, light wire. I think that is what gives the bait more action than most. It is like the GYCB senko of spinner baits. Do you want to catch fish or do you want to complain about durability after catching fish. I know my answer.

No one is touching the Pats. Carolina showed they can't play a full 60 minutes of football when it counts. Denver had a tough time beating a disheveled Pittsburg team. When push comes to shove, the Pats history speaks for itself. They simply get it done.

Bad year for me fishing. I got out more than ever, just didn't get my butt out early in the morning or late at night. So that definitely may be to blame. Also, we had a tough winter here in the NE last year, so weather may have impacted the fish. I personally think it affected the deer and the bass negatively. Enough excuses.... I caught my biggest bass this year, a paltry 4lb even bass on a terminator spinner bait casted parallel to a dock. I love these spinnerbaits and I just retired one in my favorite color and tied this on. On my first cast the spinnerbait hit the water flat, making a slapping noise like a beaver tail. A Bass hit it instantly and the fight was on. The fish jumped near the boat and I saw something fly through the air. I get the fish unhooked, take some photos and release her. Then, I look down at my line to see if I need to retie and realize that the"something" flying through the air was half the spinnerbait. The spinnerbait wire snapped at the line tie. 100% catch ration on that little bait.

I think quite the opposite. Most of my fishing buddies are also my hunting buddies. So I for one am glad to hear that a young kid is expressing an interest in something most young kids today never even give the time of day. Most kids today want their video games. If he's interested in guns, great. He can help take care of our outdoors when you and I are gone. That is if Obama doesn't try to trample the second amendment even further in his last days of his presidency.