Cgolf

I do shop my local shops some, but I did watch a few years back when they upped the price on everything a couple of bucks when new management took over which really bothered me that they did it all at once. They have gotten a bit better lately, and I do like the people that work there. The bulk of my tackle comes from TW, and with the deals they have and normal prices, you really can't beat them. I will say that the local shop is now going to carry Zman stuff, so I don't have to order as heavy from TW, because I now have a place to buy it. When we vacation in the Northwoods, I do try to purchase from the same store every year that has really nice guys that run the shop.

I took a look at them today at gander and wasn't super impressed with the finishes, but will pick a couple up before the opener. I have till May, and am hoping that DSG comes out with another coupon pack and I can pick those up and a few other items and get my ten bucks in reward dollars. Also was annoyed that Gander had them labeled for 9.99 and all there other stuff was really expensive.

I haven't tried the two brands you mentioned, will be trying the Rage Menace this summer, I do fish the Anglers Choice Killshot at 8 baits for 5 bucks. Designed as a drop shot bait it has a ton of action on a jig head and my guess is it imitates a leech really well and does hold up to multiple fish. Pricey yes, but very effective tool so I will pay the bit extra to use them. The only thing I will say about the pricier plastics is that I do think a lot about the purchase before I buy them, unlike say the Havoc pit boss that I finally bought to try that was a thoughtless add on to my purchase at Wally World since they were under 3 bucks.

I have used it for square bills and swim jigs and really like it. It would work great with most bass jigs around heavy cover.

I am with northflorida, Watermelon red for me has produced in everything from dark rivers, greenish water to gin clear. It does seem to be more consistent than plain watermelon so the red does add something that gets it bit everywhere. Definately a confidence color for me.

I agree about the hard Hooksets, except for the time of the year when their mouths get soft and they tear a hole allowing the baits to just drop out when you land them, if you land them. That time of year I just accept that I will lose fish. Being primarily a river guy I have switched to a hit it as soon as you feel it as hard as you can and as you are reeling in, reel the tip down and give a good secondary set. This seems to work well too and a vast majority of the fish are stuck in the tough meaty upper lip, needing a pliers to release them. I just worry about giving a fish too long with a bait and deep hooking them, has happened to me when learning the Ned rig and stick baits. So I do drop the tip, if is just in the secondary set.

Do you line watch to know if they have picked it up or bumped it? Awesome info, thanks. The two most aggressive hits I had of course we're musky, which of course left me two shadow raps light. Do you go with a fast or slow tipped rod? I would guess slow for a softer bait action, but want to do it right this year.

Seeing the thread about a jerkbait starter kit, the question I have for you guys is how do you set the hook when they crush the bait on the pause when you have some slack in the line. While I got a lot of hits on them last year, my hookup percentage was incredibly low. Since I use either a snap snap pause or a pull pull pause retrieve, how do you know when to rear back and set the hooks. I am guessing it is more of an art like deep water walleye jigging and I just need to learn it, but I would love some tips to shorten the learning curve.

Thinking about this a little more, it really depends on the body of water too. Stained water the fish don't seem as color sensitive, but on clear water the fish are hot and cold on colors. Some conditions will only hit smoke purple or other more natural colors and not hit water red, and then an hour later due to the weather changing it has completely flipped itself on its head. Dingy water I may throw maybe 2 different colors in a trip vs 10 to 20 in clear water. So I was thinking Clearwater lakes when I take a lot, on local lakes I take 2 3600 boxes of prerigged baits and that's it. Well maybe if I switch colors more often in dingy water I will catch more fish, hmm a good reason to buy more stuff, awesome lol

Not sure if this is supposed to be the classic release or not, but does anyone know if it will hit the shelves for the WI opener in May? If it is that release, the way in which I was told led me to believe that it was not a state secret, so there may be another bait.

That sounds awesome, I have a crap ton of Kalins, I betcha this would be money around reeds/bullrushes. Thanks for the idea.

Always way more than I need and a lot of it goes unused. At the same time though not enough, because you always find a situation where you want to throw a particular bait and then you realize it's at home.

Other than retiring a few river crank baits that defy the river gods I have carried a small stuffed Nemo my kid got me last year. Come to think of it though I did catch my PB Smallie and Musky when I had it with me, so maybe..... Now if I catch my PB largemouth this year then there is definately something to it lol. But for real I would say no.

Nice fish! So no weight at all, split shot or mojo? How well does the rig cast without any weight?

The reason that a lot of these stores trend towards clothes is because of the high margin on them. I will say though that I won't go to the new Cabela's here anymore because the fishing section is tiny and it is mostly clothes. The are really missing out on sales to fishermen with 5 trophy muskie lakes within 45 minutes of the store and a strong group of bass and walleye fishermen to boot.

Could be because when I am on the river I fish a lot of skinny baits like the zoom c tail worm and havoc juice worm that aren't much thicker than the keeper on most jigs. Anything meatier like a tube or crawbug or heck even a 5" grub, I usually use a slider head. I could see the keeper working well with the crawbug or a creature bait. I will have to try the jigheads on those baits this year and save the sliders for where they are needed, the river is all rocks with very little vegetation so open hooks are fine.

Those look nice, it is too bad that Gopher doesn't offer a version like this for those of us that don't pour our own. It is just kind of funny to me that over the years the bait keeper has only been useful when fishing the small crappie tubes, it has been a hinderance when rigging anything else on a jig head.

I do like the gel style CAs, loctite right now is the only brand I know of. I have a Zinker glued on a fireball jig and the glue is holding solid while the bait is pretty much torn off the jig. Not sure if this stuff is better than other glues, but I have not run into this issue. I use the gopher heads which have the double barb lead keeper and some minnow heads that had a keeper that was rather large. The gopher heads are very economical and I like the hooks that they come with.

I have cut off the bait keeper in the past and had pretty good luck with jig worms. I cut it off some mushroom and minnow heads to start rigging up for next season. Also with the loctite gel control that stays where you put it, it is much easier to glue the plastics to the jig head, unlike the thick CAs of the past from my RC hobby that went everywhere except where they were supposed to be. I just hate fighting to get the Zman baits positioned properly on the keeper and tearing up baits like the Arkie crawlin fry. Anybody else do this.

I will still fish the same baits, soft plastics spinnerbaits and cranks on cover that I know holds fish. The only concession I might make is going a heavier weight on the soft plastics. There have been many times that I had to give up on the 80lb trolling motor and just do drifts across cover. This is the only downside to a 16ft aluminum boat, it does not track well with the trolling motor in heavy chop.

Pretty close, the bottom is similar to a standard 3700 and the top is closer to the slims. They are great boxes, TW or the Plano site should have the dimensions.

I am with you on smaller boxes, I use 3500 size max for shore fishing, so for me sling packs are awesome. I know a lot of guys though don't like the smaller boxes which rule out a lot of sling packs.

This is a bag I have that I got a long time ago that had I fly fishing chest pack that strapped onto the front straps. Attached some pictures, it has two side pockets that are pretty spacious along with 2 bigger front pockets one having 2 small pockets integrated into it. In the main pocket I have 2 4700 guide series double decker boxes in their. Something like that would probably work pretty good for ya.

Knowing the Orvis bags, I have one, can you get a couple of 3600s in yours? The one I have wouldn't do that. If price is not a big deal fishpond usually makes bulletproof gear, you do pay for it, but the quality is really good. Saying that Jim if you have a fly shop in your area take a look there, they should have lots of solutions for bank and wading anglers.

Best thing to do is go to a sporting goods store like DSG that caters to more than fishing and look at both fishing packs and standard backpacks. That way you can see how the fit and how the pockets are set up in person. REI stores have a huge variety of packs if you have one nearby.