BaitMonkey1984

My answer as of now is square bills. However, I saw a video tip where in heavy wood cover a guy took his lipless crank and removed the front hook to make it more weedless. I can't wait to try it out this spring. Just not going to throw a livingston lure in to try this, will start with a cheaper trap.

A sticker of something to this effect works for me:

Why don't you cut it off and get it to me. I have a single console Ranger, which is fine 90% of the time as I drive the boat, but when I take my Dad fishing he always drives. I guess it is only fair seeing he bought me the boat for a graduation present a few years ago.

Used to be a lipless. Last year I absolutely killed it with the 3 TRD's I received from MTB. I think I actually only went through 2 because they are so durable. This year I have hundreds of TRD worms and am ready to slaughter them.

I never fish deep. Im just not good at it. I need to improve on that this year. Anyhow, I was fishing this drop off and it wasn't a straight line. I had three marker buoys out along this 500 yard stretch to keep me where I needed to be. I am down at one end about done with a pass and turning around and some dumb wakeboard boat was over on top of the buoy at the far end investigating it. Spooked all my fish. I don't know who is worse-wakeboarder or jet skiers.

I agree. I use my depth finder and GPS a lot, but once I find the juice, or if the wind is kicking that marker buoy gives me a focal point that I don't get with my GPS. Maybe its because I'm old school and didn't always have a GPS, or maybe its because I like a visual target rather than keeping my eye on the GPS. In any event, theres a reason the elites all carry these. They flat out help.

In my line of work, I always tell my client's everything is about perspective. Depending on your perspective, your outlook can drastically change for the better. G Man says maintain "PMA" positive mental attitude and KVD says "remember, its all about the attitude." So let's flip our perspective here...now you have more reason than ever to buy MORE jigs to build a worthy cache. It is an investment, as you are protecting yourself against raising jig prices. After all, its not like your going to stop fishing or stop fishing a big bite bait like the jig. See if that works on the wifey.

I have experience with these. My dad and I have had three carrot sticks now. Two rods have been broken in the first year. Customer service is terrible. Returns takes forever and website and call center are unresponsive. The only good thing is the sensitivity is good, and warranty isn't bad. You can get a new rod for $40-60 bucks and add an additional rod(s) up to 3 I think for the same price. Break a rod, put in warranty and get a second rod for an extra $40. Then wait all winter for the shipment of the new rods.

Ok, so I was on the other bass fishing website and they have an article about Elite Series Pro Justin Lucas and his season from last year along with pictures of his boat, his rods, aka typical boring boat tour stuff. Its winter in NE so i read even the boring articles during the week, then ice fish on the weekends. So I am clicking through this boring slideshow and...., their is a picture of his battery compartment and he has a marker buoy stored back there. Pretty typical, I have a few in my boat at all times. However his buoy, was completely blackened by what appears to be a sharpie. At first blush, I thought it was nothing more than the effect of boredom at a fog delay. Then, it dawned on me. He colored his marker buoy to hide the sweet spot. Black is harder to see the orange, and this could prevent someone passing by at a decent clip to even see the buoy altogether. I wonder if you all agree that this was done intentional and for the reasons listed above. And part B,for all of you who do tournament fish what other techniques do you employ to keep your spots/lures secret?

EWG for all my team rigged worms too. For senkos I use wide gap finesse hook or an octopus hook.

White or black. In my opinion I don't think anything silhouettes better than those two colors. Having to choose between the two, I would have to buck the trend above where white is prevailing, and argue in favor of black. White comes in a close second, but I think black works all the time whereas white works the great majority of the time.

I had a late 80's 7.5 hp 2 stroke on my aluminum my grandfather gave me. I had it full tuned up when I got it as it had been sitting for a number of years. It worked without issue for 7 or so years. Then, it simply wore out. Needed a carb re-build every year and was temperamental. I was always working on it or bringing it into the shop. It was unreliable. I have a ranger and use that for majority of my fishing, but still like to go out in my aluminum boat for sentimental/quick trips. I was spending more time on some quick night trips working on the motor then fishing. I was able to get a few year old used mercury for a great price on craigslist and haven't had any problems since. Summers up here are too fast to be messing around with a motor. Get a new one and never look back.

Ok. So time for my real answer. I always have a wacky rigged senko, a spinner bait, a square bill, a flipplin jig, and texas rig on. I usually have 14+ rods tied up, so the other 9 or so rods change with the season. For example, early in the season I have multiple sizes, colors, rattles, no rattle lip less cranks on. This provides me with the ability to have my bread butter lures on that I can catch a fish on any day, any time of year. But also get pattern, season specific. It is my plan A and plan B.

Anyone here in the Merrimack Valley Area. My home lake is Long Pond in Dracut,MA. I am looking to join a club this year and really up my game. Have been serious fishing the past 7 years. Got 2 boats. Really looking to elevate my game, and don't know anyone who fishes tournaments or as serious as myself. Any clubs or any good sticks in the area who wouldn't mind sharing their knowledge hit me up. 31 year old normal, no- nonsense guy.

Lures.

Spell check always does. I used to go back and fix it. Now, I just roll with it.

I have been looking for some new swimsuits. The Yum money minnows are good but I go through them quick and they are costly. I should use mend it but I don't. For whatever reason. Tackle Warehouse has a great sale on Big Bite Swimsuits. $2 for 4 5" swimbait. I have never used them but they look pretty darn good.

The Sebile lipless cranks are my favorite lipless. Even on the end of a bomb cast, you can hear that rattle the entire way back to the boat. I have had dabbled with lipless cranks in the past and have consider myself efficient with this bait. I got a MTB with the senile lipless, tried it one day and slaughtered the fish. It outfished a seiko during tough late fall conditions- needless to say it made me a believer. I went ahead and filled up a 3700 plano box with them.

My goal is not to have the boat trailer come off the ball. No damage other than having the safety chains snap. Been trailering boots for 6+ years on an almost daily basis and that still gets to me almost 4 months later. In all seriousness, my goal is to learn presentations I set out to learn last year and quickly abandoned. Specifically drop shot, carolina rig, and deep cranking. My small lake has one deep area 22-30 feet. I know it hold the big girls seeing the rest of the lake is avg 12 ft depth and there is a rock ledge and several points nearby. But I just love fishing docks and shallow cover. I want to beat my PB, caught 2 years ago at 6lbs even and up here I think I really need to move deep to have a shot at that.

Always listen to music. My ranger didn't have one when I bought it. Put in a nice Kenwood deck and some really nice speakers under the console. The only issue is the speakers under the drivers side console face backwards, so I have to crank it for me to hear up on the trolling motor. If someone's fishing on the back deck, it is impossible to hear one another and listen to the music. O well, you live and learn.

I got into the keitech craze late. I started fishing regularly about one year ago. I tried the EZ shiner on a small jig head. I didn't get that many fish. I was fishing a yum money minnow on the yum money minnow swimbait hook and didn't want to retie so I put the keitech ez shiner on the yum money minnow swimbait. This is the only way I fish it now. The action is great and hook-up ratio is about 90%. They are not durable at all. You are lucky to get 2-3 fish on a bait. Generally you average 1-2 fish on each. There are two schools of people. Those that are happy they are catching em and those that want to complain about durability. Fishing aint cheap, but buy what you can afford. And when you hook enjoy it, dont fret that you just went through a pack of $10 plastics.

Ned rig on this sandbar the bass stage at.

Works out well because I have yet to find a reel for my new lipless crank bait rod I got for Christmas. Im sure I will be able to find an Abu Garcia or a Lews to pair it up. I bet I won't be able to find and Ned rigs because they are always out of stock at every single store. And I always forget TW has the,..great now I go from responding to a thread to placing yet another TW order.

Just realized that I failed to mention depth. This is extremely important. Before, sorting lures by depth it was extremely difficult and time intensive to find the right color and right depth for a spot I was fishing. Also, I change lures often which exacerbated the problem. Ever since I changed my crank bait by depth I use them more often, and I have much more success. If I am sitting in 7ft of water, I am able to find the lures in that depth range in all the different colors in a moment. Doing so has made me a much better crank bait fisherman because the bait running is at the right depth and digging, deflecting etc. Success has resulted in my crankabit collection growing 10 fold.

I go salmon fishing one week every summer with a bunch of friends and Dads. We fish two people per boat because we fish with down riggers and you are only allowed two rods. One friends dad is a diehard, after a night of partying he still makes sure he is up first thing in the morning, gets his coffee, gets the smelt, and then he's off to the dock. If you aren't there after he is ready and the boat is warmed up, he leaves without you and you either down fish that day, fish with someone else, or get a ride out to his boat. Last time this happened, my buddy got pisssed at him and hasn't been back up since. I thought that was bad, but I would have given the kid 15 minutes then left him on the bank.