Cgolf

Read somewhere about insuring tackle above and beyond your home owners policy. Does anyone do this? For those that do a couple of questions, for Crankbaits it has been pretty easy finding baits online and putting a replacement value to them. The question is what kind of value do you put on baits that are out of production? For soft plastics I box up 90 percent of them and there are many I don't know the brand on. For valuing soft plastics how do you do it? Obviously unlike hard baits these are expendable. The ones that are bagged are easy, the rest I am struggling with. One thing I learned in this is how much cheaper TW is vs two other big name stores.

I will second the speed clips. The only issue I have run into with them is that they are difficult to hold open, at times I will use a needle nose pliers to hold them open. I also use them for soft plastics too. I use a lot of slider spider jigs. Berkley has a decent snap, but it can be a pain to get the bait on the snap.

I have a bunch of the smallest size they sold 2" body, that work well in a shallow rocky stretch of river I fish. The smallies like them and they don't wedge easily in the rocks like other baits. Have only used them on the river, maybe I should take them out in the boat this year.

The best tackle deal I ever got was some old raps at an estate auction. The hooks are good and the quality is very good, even had the red hand painted mouth and bright silver foil. All for around 2 bucks a bait. The clackin series is really high priced along with the tail dancers. I know the tail dancers are a walleye lure, but River smallmouth say differently. X raps were getting used in a lure eating section of River this fall with really good results, but now that I know the cost I may pitch something else. Usually that stretch is for 5ish dollar baits knowing I will lose my fair share during the season. I have a bunch of DTs and so far have only broken 1, hope that trend continues, because I do like them. I just try to keep myself from slapping them on the water to knock off the weeds. But Yeh for an F9 floating rap around 10 bucks is a lot to pay.

I have a lot of Rapalas, most have been bought over the years and some when I could find good sales. I decided to inventory my baits and put a value to them to see if I should insure them. When I was looking up prices for the minnows I couldn't believe it, the new shadow raps and scatter raps are cheaper. I thought the new baits were more expensive because they were unique, guess I was wrong. When did this happen, was it gradual or did they bump up drastically at some point. If I had to guess it might have been when people started paying more for imports, they figured why not raise our prices too.

Really curious what the price point will be. Bill Lewis has been all over the board price wise.

I bought some older Rapalas at an estate sale. All but the one in the picture had Rapala finland on the bill. Any idea what this is?

Can't wait to get my hands on their version of the swim senko. While I love the swim senko, it is really pricey for a soft plastic is fragile. Now Yum just needs to come out with it in smoke purple.

Little pricey, but looks like a good idea, especially for low light situations. If that could keep me from using a headlamp that would be great.

I keep a log for my River fishing, it is pretty basic though. Keep track of air temp, water temp, date, time, and number of fish caught and on what baits. Will jot down special notes if something is different, like rain moving in, water rising, or water falling. I do go back to it, so it has been helpful.

Used to have an awesome shop in a hardware store till new management came in and marked everything up by 2 bucks. I have a Cabelas Distribution center about 2 hours away I make it to once a year and a full store being built about 35 minutes away, kind of excited for this. That said I have a Dick's ten minutes from work I will hit every so often, but mostly I order through TW because for the most part I save a ton of money. I do like Cabela's fishing poles because they go on sale often, so it will be nice having them close by. Only time I was overwhelmed was the first time I hit BPS Gurnee, after that I knew what to expect. Having a big selection was very nice.

Me too, jet looked on the Bill Lewis site today and the only info they had was the news release from before icast. I hope soon, but weird so much time has passed with no info.

Wish they had this deal in store, I would have a couple right now. Dick's does seem to be expanding what they are carrying this year:)

I have the 3600 size cabelas advanced angler bag and love it. I did turn it into a hanging bait bag using PVC tubes. They do go on sale from time to time too. I also have 2 plano soft sider 3700 size bags with the hard plastic bottom that work great. The hold 3 of the 4700 double decker plano boxes. Zero complaints with either bag.

Looks nice, only comment I would have is the lack of waterproof bottom depending on how you store your boat could be a pain. On vacation when my boat stays out in the elements, the wet carpet in the morning or after a rain wicks and soaks the bottom of the bags. Since then I have gone with the hard plastic bottomed bags. I have been very happy with all of my tackle bags from Cabelas, good quality.

Soft bait Tube - flat water and sun - smoke purple - overcast or choppy water - water red Hardbait Squarebill model depends on the bite.

The Charlie Brewer classic spider head, which I believe has a 3/0 light wire hook. Other companies sell a similar product with heavier weights, beefier and larger hooks. The slider heads have caught numerous bass for me up to the 20" range and some nice pike too. Only downside don't always stick the tough mouthed pike, but that may actually a good thing.

I really havent seen a whole lot of difference in hits between the thin walled tubes and the thicker walled tubes over the years. What I have noticed is it all seems to be about color and how I present them. One style I have found that may make a difference is the Trigger X flipping tube that has a ribbed body (sure lots of jokes here) and I just purchased a bunch of swing oil tubes with a similar design. Hoping they work as well as the trigger X tubes, they are a little bulkier so I shall see. As for rigging have always gone with a slider jig, may do an insert head, but like the weedless nature of the slider head. For scent tubes shine with gel scents. I use either atlas mikes or rage and put the scent in the body of the tube and it lasts many casts and multiple fish.

Tried something I read in an article from KVD. Last year got hit with a big front and put a size 7 willow on a 3/16 oz bleeding bait. I left the small front blade alone, only replaced the back blade. I needed a trailer hook on it to get a hook near the end of the blade, but it worked well. This was northern wi in early July with water temps in the low 60's in clear water. Wouldn't toss it all the time, but something about it triggered the fish to bite in tough conditions. Just to add, normally with the 3/16 it is small blades that time of year.

Looks like a great Bass/Musky lure for here in WI. Many times get musky hits and follows fishing swimbaits and bigger cranks for bass.

Smallmouth (River) Most Bandit 100 Lunker Yum Crawbug Largemouth Most Tube slider rig Lunker Tube slider rig

Has anyone gotten their hands on these? I have had great luck with the swim senko, but hate the price and lack of durability. If the work, they are a great deal. The only bummer was they don't have it in smoke purple. Curious on action vs the swim senko.

I too like the XCalibur square bills. I had a lot of success with them last year when the fish were active. I even hooked up with a 40+ musky. What I did find though is these things are aggressive and push a ton of water. On a trip last year they were hot most of the week until a front hit and I could only scratch out a fish here or there. I switched to a Bandit 100 which is super subtle and caught a bunch of fish. I have thrown the KVD bait and it is also more of a finesse bait compared to the XCal, so maybe some find it to be too aggressive of a bait.

For me I have a box of 5" kalins grubs along with some 4" from other brands and assorted tubes in the boat. A tube is probably the most versatile bait, it can imitate a baitfish or a craw. I feel I can catch bass anywhere with that box. Colors depend on lake but water red, green pumpkin, for both clear and stained water. Smoke purple is great on clear lakes, especially when the sun is shining. Kalins rons craw and motor oil red grubs produce well too for me. I fish mostly south central WI and Northern WI lakes.

Tackle warehouse 25 days of Christmas was good to me. Got a bunch of Santone swim Jigs, and then did another order and picked up a bunch of netbait pacas and some new squarebills. Already have another order planned for shadow raps, and skirt materials to tie a custom perch skirt for swim jigs.