blckshirt98

The way that crankbaits move in the water, I don't think the fish, or any living creature, can see the detail on the crankbaits. General shades of light/dark to offer some contrast to the surrounding water, but it's the movement/action/depth that's most important.

3.5 hours was the perfect storm of the two registers in the back of the store closing and only one register in front being open, and me getting into the one long line in front. They then opened up more registers but by that time I was already about an hour or so committed and didn't want to lose my spot. By the time I checked out all the other registers were clear lol. I would have been better off digging around for another couple of hours then getting into line, probably would have been an hour wait.

Damiki Air Craws I think have the best "claws up" appearance in the water! However with enough casts the claws can go flying off as the plastic weakens. ZMan Crawdadz go straight up because the plastic floats like a marshmallow, and looks unnatural IMO.

You sure can, I actually prefer to use spinning gear with lighter crankbaits (Strike King KVD 2.5-ish is largest I'll go on a spinning reel, but the 1.0 and 1.5 size cranks are fantastic on spinning gear) but once you get to the heavier stuff I like using casting gear since there's no bail to flip over by accident and send everything flying.

If shopping at Cabela's don't forget to get giftcards online at a place like CardPool to get an extra 11% off. I do this with Cabela's and BPS, completely legit.

The Wal Mart here in San Jose has a fishing section and I went Saturday night. I now know what to expect when Armageddon arrives. Shelves were 80% empty and lots of stuff was just sitting at the bottom of the shelves or in boxes all around the store. People putting stuff in carts and dumping it off elsewhere in the store so you have like motor oil in the food section, lighter fluid bottles mixed in with baby clothes, and basically things strewn about everywhere. It was one giant treasure hunt and I spent 2.5 hours looking around before tapping out. The fishing section was pillaged of all rods, reels, and tackle storage, but there were a surprising amount of soft plastics/hard lures/line/terminal tackle left. Senkos, Roboworms, Yum/Zoom/Strike King plastics, Rat L Traps, Strike King spinnerbaits/crankbaits, Rapalas, Rick Clunn cranks, PowerBait, Kastmasters, Booya A-Rigs, jigs, spinners, etc. I walked out with 2 lb fluoro leader, a cheapo hook remover, three Rat L Traps, a 3/8 oz Kastmaster, a KVD Sexy Dawg Jr, LHunt Micro Spoons(score!), PowerBait, two packs of trebles, three packs of drop shot weights, a Strike King Spinnerbait, a pack of Mustad swivels, a 5XD crank, and five KVD squarebills in the 1.0-2.5 size range. Downside was the checkout line was 3.5 hours long. I found some other stuff to make the trip worthwhile but they'll have to mark stuff down by 75% before I make another trip to clean that place out. Otherwise saving a few bucks isn't worth waiting in those checkout lines again lol.

I didn't like the look of the bait in the video. If I wanted something with a headfirst shimmer on the fall I'd probably wacky rig a 5" senko and stick a small tungsten nail weight in the head.

I used 20lb FC Sniper this past year and it worked flawlessly.

I'm a big fan of the Phenix XG Glass crankbait rods! Own two of the XG3 rods, wouldn't use anything else!

Spinning - 10 lb FC Sniper, Casting 25 lb FC Sniper If only one line for ALL reels, 14 or 16 lb FC Sniper, I'd have to think about it.

I haven't used one yet but I'd think the moderate action would be fine because if you're chucking 3+ ounce swimbaits you'll be lob casting them and that moderate action will help you launch those suckers.

I always look at losing tackle as, every now and then the fishing gods require you to donate some tackle to the waters, and they're taking their tithe.

It can be as cheap or as expensive as you make it. If you're in it just to catch fish you can buy some cheap Ande's mono, a pack of hooks, wrap it around a plastic water bottle, and make a dough ball or dig some worms out of the ground. If you fish from a pier you don't even need a license. Unfortunately for myself and I think the majority of us, part of the fun is gearing up - picking out the rods/reels/lures you're going to use for that day and getting your tackle packed up for a day on the water. It's like those action movies where the hero walks into a weapons cache/armory with 100 different types of guns and explosives and he gets to pick and choose what he feels like using to kill some bad guys. We just do it with tackle.

When I start using them, it will be jigs.

I'm pretty sure it was a system glitch. TW always has their markdown prices in red font, but the CI4 reels were in the normal black font like it was their everyday price. I'm sure they just fixed it once they caught on people were buying reels at the cheaper price.

I use two hands always, partly because I'm paranoid I'll lose my grip and launch the rod/reel into the water.

I have braid and fluoro setups that I tie direct to lure with no leader. Main things to keep in mind is the depth you're trying to reach since braid wants to float and fluoro will sink, and, braid has no stretch so you might pull the crankbait away from the fish if you get a strike.

Phenix M1 MXS78M

I'm surprised at all the dropshot responses, it's the one technique where I'm almost 100% confident I'll catch a fish if the fish are biting that day. Guys could be reeling in bass with crankbaits to my left and right, and I'll still just stick with the dropshot and catch some. I'm the worst at detecting bites off the bottom - jigs, t-rig. I'm horrible at watching my line because I always like to look around at what's going on around me either in or out of the water, and I don't have a comfortable hand position to keep a finger on the line.

Reading all this made me remember my first bad incident - I was still fairly new and had bought some of the original D&M Piranha Chatterbaits, the most expensive bait to date for me at something like $8. Third cast at a local reservoir, I got hung up on a rock, had to snap it off. I got so ticked I used nothing but soft plastics for months before mustering up the courage to tie on another hard bait.

Oh my god, they JUST changed the price within the last hour or so. I was on the site this morning when I posted and saw the 1000-2500 sized reels at $147...they're all $219 now. Grats to the people who got in on that deal!

Ugh now I need to go back and see if more stuff is being marked down. Does this go through the end of January? February?

One thing that might need to mentioned is that for anyone looking to fish swimbaits in a tournament, many tournaments have a rod length limit of 8'. Just something to consider before spending a few hundred bucks on a nice swimbait rod then realizing you can't use it in a tournament you may want to enter.

This isn't bass specific, but if a reel is being used for both freshwater and saltwater, are there different bearings/grease/drag washers that should be used if upgrading or does it not matter? I'm thinking of sending some reels in and wondering if I need to speciify which reels will be used in salt.

$147 is such a good deal, I paid more for mine used. Do I need another trout reel, that 1000FAML is looking perfect...