Banor

I dont see this as bashing. This has been a bone of contention with me for a long time. It's all about integrity. I understand how marketing hype works but I choose not to be fooled by it. In my opinion we are doing the youth and newer anglers a service by pointing out dishonesty in advertising. It bothers me when people take a pro at his word and run out and buy products the pro is touting as the best thing since sliced bread only to find out that it is mediocre at best. Especially when they dont even use the product. I am completely against promoting a product you dont use and intentionally misrepresenting it contributing to your success. Where has the integrity gone? B

When I'm finesse fishing I'll still use a standard hook set but I'll be using a rod that absorbs a bit more shock and will have the drag set appropriately so that I dont exceed the breaking point of the line/knot with the hook set. When I'm drop shotting and wacky rigging with a DS hook or Octopus hook I dont hook set like normal. I'll apply increasingly harder but steady pressure and let them hook themselves. B

I've heard the quote several times. Maybe someone else stole it from him? Or he heard it somewhere? Several possibilities. Bass must be different in your area than mine. This one was caught 5 days ago down in Tennessee. He gave it a good 3 to 4 taps before I set the hook. If I was fishing a JnP I'd have set the hook at the slightest twitch. The important thing to remember here is it works for me. It obviously doesnt work for you. That's the beauty of life. B

I'm not being sarcastic here, truly curious... Do you really think he pays his entry fees? I'm guessing he doesnt have a boat payment like alot of us? I'd be willing to bet alot of gear is handed to him? Those 3 major sponsors obviously dont include the tackle sponsors. He's promoted some lures for Brian's Bees. I dont know if he's compensated but if he is then I'd be willing to be his crank baits are coverd. My wife and I's yearly income combined totals 90,000 and I have enough to pay Stren(next year) and BFL entry fees plus local tournaments. Not to mention I pay for all of my gear and my boat out of my own pocket. I just picked up my first and only sponsor who is covering all of my BFL entry fees so that's even less of a concern. Let's just say for the sake of argument that he's not getting 300,000 - he's only getting 50,000 in sponsorship money. 50,000 would cover my travelling expenses for about 3 years. I just spent 6 days down in Tennessee fishing a tournament and spent a total of 1000.00 for the round trip. That would be 50 tournaments I could have financed without factoring in entry fees. If you budget well you can easily live on what we are estimating that Jason Quinn has made. It's all about budgetting. I agree with the above poster who stated we dont know what the mid level anglers are making. I fully intend to find out first hand. I'm definately not saying that anyone could do it but I do think we are making it out to be harder than it is financially. The toll it takes on family has the potential of being rough, I'll agree with that. Sacrifices have to be made. The only question is, "are you prepared to make them?". B

I"ve heard this quote before on TV by other anglers but they were referring to Jig and Pigs. Bass dont hold on to Jig and Pigs as long due to it being hard lead instead of soft meat. I've watched alot of the underwater videos and I also have the experience of nearly 75% of my fishing being T-rigged soft plastics. From what I have seen on the videos and personal experience when fishing with 7 to 10 inch worms the bass quite often do not inhale the worm immediately. They will grab it by the tail and turn while shoving it into their mouth. I personally think waiting a couple of taps when fishing soft plastics is the smart move and it is what I do. I've missed more bites setting the hook immediately than I have giving them time to fully eat the bait. This applies to soft plastics only and mainly T-Rigged or C-Rigged. B

Exactly! My first choice would be a toad though! B

Yes... and I dead stick it... and I swim it... and I slowly drag it and short hop it... and what RW said. B

I personally wouldnt use a traditional C-Rig for bedding bass. There are too many more viable and less likely to spook the bass presentations. I'd suggest a drop shot or split shot. You can also shakey head right in the nest. With a drop shot you can darn near keep the bait in the zone infinately. Flipping tubes and creatures can get the job done well also. To answer your question, I see too many other options available to me than C-Rigging. Just one man's opinion though, B

Hi Genie! Welcome to this board!! I got your Angler's Genie yesterday in the mail. Speaking of hand pouring. I am moving all the recipes over to it today!! B

2 weekends ago several guys from a different forum and myself had a pouring party and one of the topics of discussion was fall rates on stick baits. We had a couple of different hand pours, Yums, GYBC's and another brand I cant remember the name. We grabbed a bucket filled with water and spent about 30 minutes comparing drop rates and actions. The rate of fall obviously varied on the hand pours based on salt content. The action on the fall, i.e. the wiggle was surprisingly was not noticeably different. There was one distinct variable in the wiggle. This was how the bait hit the water. If you dropped the bait a certain way the stick baits wouldnt wiggle, regardless of brand. Even the GYBC's wouldnt wiggle if you didnt drop them just right. I think the GYBC is just a confidence thing as well as good marketing. It's very difficult to match the texture of GYBC's but if you are talking just the "patented" wiggle, I think you are fooling yourself that GYBC senkos are unique. Just my opinion, B

I prefer the stickbaits that I pour myself. 8-) B

What he said! B

I am going to have to disagree with that statement. Your opinion is based entirely on your own experiences and I respect that and you are to be commended for taking good care of your fish, but the keep-alive products success is based on many scientific studies and chemical analysis. Some are designed to make the fish look alive in the livewell and others are designed to prevent delayed mortality in bass. There is a big difference between the Sure Life products and the Rejuvenade. Rejuvenade is designed to make the fish active by the addition of natural additives that irritate the fish, causing them to be very jumpy and stressed. The jumping around in the livewell causes injury and stress on the fish. Most of the fish will live for the length of the tournament but after they are released the delayed mortality rate is somewhere around 60%. I have compared fish that have been exposed to Rejuvenade after a weigh-in and I observed that the main parts of the gills were pale and the tips were white. This is caused by the lack of blood in the gills. Please Release Me and Catch and Release by Sure Life Labs is designed to dramatically reduce the delayed mortality. Sure Life has done many extensive studies in witch they have supplied the anglers of a tournament with Please Release Me and educated them on how to use it. Then they collected all the fish from each tournament and transported them to large holding ponds and kept them there for a little over a month. Then they drained the ponds and counted the fish and the mortality rate was 2%. Sure Life Labs accomplishes this by providing an additive that has a mild natural sedative to calm the fish and several other additives that help speed the healing of any hook wounds and sores that may be on the fish. There newest product has an added antibiotic that fights any bacteria the fish might have including Large Mouth Bass Disease. It also boosts there immune system. Studies have also been done on tournament fish that aren't exposed to any additive and the delayed mortality rate is around 50%. So yes you can keep them alive while they are in the live well without the additive but can you keep them alive after you release them? The one thing to remember when using any additive for livewells is to follow the directions. If you don't that's when bad things happen. +1, +2, +3..... B

This happens alot You do need to pre fish. I like to pre fish as much as possible. You just have to manage your pre fishing correctly and dont burn up your fish. B

This is why I get my major equipment from the local tackle shop owner who calls in the order to his distributor the day I ask for it. It hasnt sat on his shelf and been handled by countless customers or pre-owned for a few days. Of course I have no idea how long it's been at the distributor. B

Trailer hook is a must. On buzzbaits it's a double must. B

Now that's funny right there. B

Wait, do left handers count???? 8-) ;D B

Wow, somehow I now feel so insignificant!!!! That's a nice stash of reels. I'll try to slowly catch up. Sheesh... my kids will never have food on the table again!!! B

Obviously this is unnacceptable... I'd be rather miffed if it was me. That being said, just remember citica's are on the lower end of the price point. The chances of quality not being perfect is greater. However, it's still time to register some complaints. B

Dang! Reel Mech went there!! Ok Ranger364v I cant let yours be bigger than mine! I'm up to 2 Castaic 200's 2 CU100B 3 Chronarch mg50 1 CU200DHSV 1 CU200DPV The Posse is really enjoying contests like this... I can see them smirking! Before you say it Reel Mech, all I have to learn is how to use smooth, light reels compared to Quantums B

I got them just in time to fish that tourney on Douglas in RW's home state too! GMAN you'll cry when you see the price tag. I got the 50mg's for 210 each out the door brand new Hate me! B

How soon will that flag ship? B

So... I just pulled the trigger on 3 Chronarch MG50's a CU200DHSV and a CU200DPV. What kind of status does that give me in the "Posse"? B

While this is mostly true, I've found that long casts also may be needed when the fish are in shallow stained water with moderate brush. By moderate, I mean there are plenty of gaps for the fish to get a good look at you. Under these circumstances I use braid and long casts. I also use mono backing but I only spool on enough to cover the spool with a couple of layers. This leaves me more braid for longer casts and I can also clip my line off more times when it is frayed or when I need to retie a knot, before I have to respool. I'm with ya Senile and it makes sense. I'm curious though, you consider a long cast in that situation 50+ yards? I wouldnt be able to hit anything accurately at 50 yards. In the situation you described I'd just back off far enough to accurately pitch and would be using braid as you suggested. No way I am throwing anything thin diameter at wood and heavy cover. B