blckshirt98

Here's a close up...it's like a smaller profile Yum Kill Shot with a little section of the tail dorsal fin cut out.

I'd describe it as a "ribbed reaper", though I can't really tell if the tail is a flat spade like the Yamamoto California Roll, or more bulbous like a fused crawfish claw.

I have a Gen2 Revo STX spooled with 20lb Sniper paired with a Phenix X3 glass rod - I use it for heavier crankbaits/chatterbaits and it works like a charm.

Just have a local shop spool it up for you!

As Greg Hackney said, bass will bite an Alabama Rig where all the baits have a big fat wire coming out of their face, so the fish really don't care about braid.

If you're just starting out I'd keep it really simple and try not to over-complicate things by getting tackle for multiple rigs and all sorts of different baits. If you only have spinning gear and you're fishing from the shore, what I would recommend to someone just starting out - Boomerang Snip Tool (to cut line) Long Reach Needle Nose Pliers (avoid pliers with a "fat head" because it can be hard to maneuver in a small fish's mouth) Spinning Rod/Reel 15# PowerPro Braid mainline 10# fluoro leader KVD 1.5 Squarebill Crankbaits (Natural Shad or Sexy Shad) 5" Senkos (Baby Bass) Size 1/0 Octopus Hooks (for the senkos) Dropshot Plastics - 5" KVD Dreamshots (anything green), 4" Jackall Crosstail Shads (Morning Dawn) Size 2 Octopus/Dropshot Hooks (for nose hooking dropshot plastics) 3/16 oz Dropshot Weights (optional) 1/8 oz Owner Shaky Type Ultrahead The squarebills should cover the depth you need from shore for a reaction bite, the wacky and dropshot rigs will cover your finesse fishing from the shore. The Shaky Type Ultrahead would be for the 5" senkos if you want to fish off of the bottom. 3 rigs, with an optional 4th, and you should be able to catch fish.

They showed a picture of the bait during Bassmaster Live on Saturday. They showed it next to a KVD Dream Shot (Dream Shot above, Half Shell below). It was shorter than the Dream Shot, I'd say 3.5" assuming the Dream Shot they had up was the 5" size. The Half Shell had ripples on the top of the body as well (like an upside down Gambler Shakey Shad). One detail I can't recall was if the tail was bulbous like the Dream Shot but my initial reaction was "it's a shorter Dream Shot with ripples". So definitely a bait designed for light drop shot fishing, to compete with other 3-4" dropshot baits like the Jackall Crosstail Shad.

I always prefer getting to the lake as early as possible and fish 4-5 hours and leave once it starts getting uncomfortably hot!

How about a rat style topwater bait instead of a frog. Surely there are a lot of small critters that swim in the water that the bass would be familiar with!

Mend It is awesome, but just be sure to use it in a well ventilated space because that stuff releases vapors that will knock out a horse. Also with Mend It don't try to stretch apart a torn plastic to try to get the Mend It all the way into the back of a split, because the plastic will start to split even more. Once it cures however, the plastic is like new.

I would look at glass or composite crankbait rods!

While it would be nice there's not enough money in bass fishing to produce those filler pieces. First place in a BASS tourney gets $100k; in other sports almost every athlete on the team makes that much each game. They do a decent job on Bassmaster Live keeping the viewers engaged, and the live chat really helps a lot, but even then there isn't a huge audience logged into Bassmaster Live. Also grats to KVD for winning his second event of the year. I was one of the ones who doubted if he would win one again, and now he's done it twice this season. Pie in my face, KVD is still the king!

Boonie hat so I get the full 360 head coverage, and a buff for my neck.

I always dropshot something in watermelon, 4". Kut tail, Dream Shot, Crosstail Shad...whatever I'm feeling that day.

IRFANVIEW is a great free program to edit/resize photos.

Any pattern resembling Sexy Shad always seems to work for me!

Phenix makes/made a blue glass crankbait rod - saw it for the first time a couple of months back at a local tackle shop. Look like TW stopped selling them and i don't see them on the Phenix website, but maybe you can give them a call and ask them about them -

I'd go as light as possible on the braid to get max distance, so 20# for sure. I'm wondering if your rod rated at 1/2-3oz might not load properly with some of the lighter baits? Don't worry about using a leader for the walkers/poppers, and unless the water is clear I wouldn't use a leader on the jerkbait either.

I would only replace hooks on hardbaits that come with a low quality treble. You should be able to tell if a hook is chintzy, like some of the Bomber squarebills at WalMart and even some of the Strike King hardbaits. I'll use either the Mustad KVD 1xSrong 2xShort triple grip trebles or Owner ST-36 or Owner ST-41 trebles as replacements. Split Rings I try to keep whatever the lure came with, though sometimes I'll end up bending a split ring and will replace them with either 6th Sense (oval) or Owner Hyper Wire (round) split ring if need be.

Ever wonder what makes Toledo Bend so good? Plain and simple, because Louisiana and Texas departments of Wildlife are making it that way. Louisiana alone stocks over 800,000 Florida strain fingerlings every year. At the Elite Series event this year many of the Elite Series pros participated in releasing over 70,000 fingerlings around the lake. Check out Brent Chapman's videowith his thoughts on bass fishing and conservation.

The surf is much harsher on a reel than freshwater, I use the more expensive Shimano spinning reels for LMB but the Sienna should do fine in freshwater. I'm not sure how he is getting tangles on spinning gear, like you mentioned it might be line memory and the line curling up on itself. I'd spool the spinning reel up with 15# braid, and use 8# fluoro leader (assuming you're using it for finesse presentations). That way you should only have issues if you snag on structure, and if you break off you'll only lose the fluoro section and not any of the braid.

I sometimes throw my Whopper Plopper 90 on my Phenix M1 MXS72M spinning rod with a 2500 size Shimano spooled with 15# braid, with no problems.

A couple of other points: - If you're on a computer where you use a mouse often, using the mouse will aggravate the elbow tendon, especially if you have a poor ergonomic setup where you arm is in a wonky position. You might think you're resting the elbow sitting in a chair in front of a computer but this is actually horrible for your elbow tendinitis. Just something to be aware of if you're on a computer a lot. - The cortisone shot in the elbow - my orthopedic surgeon said the long term damage is caused by general practitioners that stab the tendon itself with the shot, which compromises the structure and over time with enough stabs to the tendon, will cause it to weaken. My orthopedic surgeon placed the shot above/below/around the tendon so the cortisone still does it's thing, but without actually piercing the tendon with the needle, which he said is safer in the long run if you end up needing multiple shots as it doesn't damage the tendon.

+1 for the Shimano Sienna, which is on sale for only $20 at Dick's Sporting Goods. I use a Sienna for surf fishing and my reel is going into it's 3rd year of service and still works like a charm. I go cheap with my saltwater gear because of how corrosive the salt is in case I have to replace it, but the Sienna has worked great and has not needed replacing. Don't think you'll find a better reel for $20.