Cgolf

While it hasn't been top of the line stuff the last couple of years I can always find 50-100 bucks of stuff that will get used in the next year. I like that they have added extra off on more brands on the BF sale so they get a pass off this one. For what it's worth TWs 25 days sale has been better than some other ones out there and still over half of the days left for something good to pop up.

Don't have it in hand yet, but finally ordered a Pflueger President reel from DSGs 40% off sale today. Picked up the 35 size for 38 bucks and managed free shipping too. Figure it will balance well with my ugly stick I toss plastics and spybaits on.

I did their somewhat expensive swimbaits and it didn't apply the discount, so must exclude some things.

Not sure how that works, in store was a non deal for me, so just had it shipped, easier that way.

It apparently excludes megabass, I was going to get a swimbait. Could get a President spinning for 35 and looks like it will do free shipping because the original price was over 50.

Curious how the Lunkerhunt prop series fish and hold up. I held off on BF because I figured I had enough ploppers, home made spin frogs, and that duck thing to last me a while. They look pretty cool, especially the baitfish one.

Just a quick note on the TW sale. I have been grabbing screen shots of the last 2 years as well as this years to do a compare and found that so far this year prices have been lower on most items that were also included in the sale last year.

Just picked up some Yum dingers in Cali Craw gold flake and Mardi Gras. Actually really excited to compare these to Zman baits in almost identical colors on the river next year to see which catches them better. Went and checked TW and found out the dinger comes in some cool colors, glad I don't have a gift card for the 25 days sale or I would be in trouble lol.

The local cabelas had the SPRO Rat 50 for 23.99 in brown and morning dawn. Checking their website this may just be a we got lucky find. Hoping my wife picked one out to put under the tree. Already have a 30 I got on a BF deal to toss on my standard bass sticks.

They are in Cali so it will be going live soon, had today as the date on FB

Looks Like Last Chance Tackle is doing a 25 days sale. I have no idea good or bad on this site, but saw it on FB so it must be ok right?

Norman Deep little N and Rapala DT series

Really curious how these will take some abuse from rocks and snags. I have some of these coming from TW and some Morels from Siebert. The price point on the Berkley jigs is very good.

Try an experiment if you are ever floating over some gills. I dropped a crappie slider over the side with no scent and dead sticked it for a minute and some gills came up and inspected it, but did not try to eat it. I pulled the bait up and put some scent on it and dropped it back down dead sticking it again and that same pod of gills started attacking the bait and I even hooked one without trying lol. That can be an eye opener for those that doubt that scent makes a difference, now I wish I would have had a go pro at that time to get it on camera.

Scent can be huge, especially with lethargic bass. Best example is this. First hour of vacation fishing I had landed 4 bass, using scent, to zero hits for my father in law, no scent. He kept the same bait the whole time. I finally convinced him to put the scent on the bait he had been using, he was not a believer yet, and within 3 casts had a hit and landed a fish within 5 minutes. He now carries his own tubes of scent. I have also seen post frontal bites where they will not pick up a bait without the secret sauce, baits were allowed to sit on bottom and the fish were either there or you recast, so presentation was consistent. The first time I fished the coffee tubes I had a bass hit it three times before finally hooking up. Some will never believe in adding scent to baits, but I have seen way too much proof in the field that it makes a difference.

I keep my rigged elaztech baits in a plano double sided 3500 sized box and that seems to not warp as bad as some other boxes. I do vent the box by drilling holes in it to make it a hydro flow box to limit rust. I really don't like the idea of storing rigged baits in a sealed bag after using them on the water.

You guys must have bass that school up like walleyes lol. 25 bass an hour is nuts when you think about it, almost has to be a fish a cast. Have to figure 1-2 minutes to catch and release a fish right, more if it is a toad?

If the fish are deeper you could also use a salted plastic to help with the depth issue. The bouyant Zinkerz might hinder a deeper water presentation. If I remember indiana uses a sub 4" bit of a zoom of other brand finesse worm and I really like 1/2 an anglers choice wart hawg. 1/2 a senko or senko imitation would work too. I just like the wart hawg because it has the diameter of a finesse worm without the funky worm shape, where finesse worms slim down and puff out at the tail. Saw on Facebook that the tail floats up, so they must not have put much salt in them. I have 6 bags of the 3" on the way that will end up under the Christmas tree for me. Can't wait to see the colors in person, the pics I have seen look really nice.

One way to save some dough is go cheaper on the spinning combo. While I have two St Croixs, Eyecon and Premier, I find myself using my ugly sticks with 20 to 30 buck reels the most. I have a couple of Shakesphere Excursion reels that have lasted me ten years of hard fishing and run 20 bucks. as for tackle, when on a budget, get only what you know you will use next year, this of course is impossible to decide lol. Try to limit buying anything that does the same thing as tackle you already own

They also probably don't want to compete with the shops that carry their products undercutting them might be bad PR. Very rarely do you find better deals on company sights vs stores.

Picked up a swim bait and a topwater that looked ok while out shopping Friday. Was nowhere near a shop that would have had big sales which was probably a good thing. Curious if the smaller number of posts has to do with the file size limit on photos? I use an app, but definately post less pictures because it can be a pain.

Probably the biggest was a largemouth I caught when I wax around 12 on vacation in Florida on a 2" yellow twister tail. Some 30 years later I remember the hit but not the size of the fish other than big.

I support the industry as well, I will just not carry it all in my boat at once. The rest will be available for the next trip. That said a tube and Kalins grub are my 2 best lures of all time, but I too like to learn new to me techniques. I have yet to fish a soft plastic behind a split shot, one of these years I will give it a toss. Not at all, because if I can limit my choices and streamline my thought process that will mean more fish in the boat for me.

That is what is cool about checking the baits that the Elites or FLW guys use. They all thought they had the magic bait and it can be a completely different bait or color from the other top finishers.

I agree with this and justify my tackle choices this way. I will say though that sometimes I get blocked. Say for post frontal bass, I have 10 different lures/techniques I could catch them on and I spend way too much time figuring out which option to use. Maybe I just need to figure out where they are holding, up in the water column or bottom, pick the lure/technique based on this, so that does mean I need to try and carry multiple lures/techniques;)