BASS302

Wow, that must have been a fun surprise.

Fishmount, Nice bluegill, wish I could catch one that big!

I'm wondering if anyone catches catfish on a regular basis on hard lures? I've caught a few catfish when bass fishing. They've been on lipless baits and chatterbaits. These lures have no odor/scent so it must be the vibrations that attract the catfish? (I don't know much about catfish)

A long time ago (when I was in college), I used a Rapala Fat Rap FR-7 quite a bit. I only have a couple left (in my tackle box - the rest are in various lakes) and I see at the Rapala site that they only make the smaller FR-5 now. Does anybody know an equivalent lure for the FR-7? The FR-7 body is 2 3/4 inches long, about an inch at the widest part. The bill is about 1 inch long. I'm not sure how deep it dives. The lure doesn't have to be balsa wood, and needs to be affordable (less than $10).

Baitmaker, Do you do any other woodworking? The reason I'm asking is because your baits remind me of some of the realistic duck decoys I've seen.

Amazing! Especially the foil ones!

I do something different. Back when I was in college, one of the "Big Three" outdoor magazines had an article about spinnerbaits. The article suggested using, as a trailer, a willow-leaf spinner blade attached to a ball-bearing swivel attached to the hook with a piece of tubing to keep the swivel attached. I've been using a size 3 willow-leaf (sometimes a 3.5). I do this to 90% of my spinnerbaits.

BassObsessed, Thanks for the report. Wow, 14 pounds larger than my PB! My dad and I used to fish for trout at Lake Chabot (a long time ago).

I've never caught any fish on the first cast with a new lure. The best I've ever done is 12th cast with a new lure. It was the first time I fished using a redeye shad. I caught a catfish. When I went to unhook it, the fish flopped and the rear treble hook went underneath my index finger fingernail. So I had this 2 1/2 lb catfish flopping around hooked to the front treble, and my finger stuck to the rear treble! There's all this blood from my finger on my shirt and when this couple walks past, I'm sure they are thinking it's fish blood on my shirt. "Luckily" the fish flopped a couple more times and made the hole in my finger large enough so the hook (which was past the barb) slipped out.

Where is the best place to obtain these? I see them on a website 8 for $5.99. Is that a good price? TW has has something similar, P-Line Technical Snap. Is that the same? It looks slightly different.

I don't like to use split rings to connect line to crankbaits. I've been using Speed Clips, but I've just bought some Fastach clips. Which are better, does anybody have a preference (and why)?

I thought I had a problem buying too many lures. When I want a lure, I buy three. One to use. One just in case I lose the first one. A third one just in case I lose the first two! Then I realize the lure comes in 12 different colors, and two sizes. Then I realize I need to buy more tackle boxes. Then ...

If I remember correctly, The Roland Martin Big Bass spinnerbait had the Blue Fox logo and the words "Roland Martin" and "Big Bass" inscribed on the willow leaf spinner blade.

Don't use a snap. I had a medical issue a couple years ago and I thought using a snap would make it easier for me by reducing the number of knots I had to tie. Bad idea. The spinnerbait didn't feel "right". For spinnerbaits, I now always use a knot. I do use a snap on crankbaits (I remove the split ring from the front if it has one)

Thanks for your responses. Yes, it's actually the rod I use for trout fishing (it's ML, and it's great for casting 1/4 oz kastmasters). I fish from the bank, so only use one rod at a time. I was hoping that I could get away with using that rod for both trout and bass, but it sounds like I should either fish for trout or bass at one time (or ensure the lures I take with me are within the rod's design weights).

Thanks guys.

I have a spinning rod that has "Lure wt: 1/16 - 1/2 oz" written on it. Will I damage the rod if I exceed the lure weight when casting? Can I cast a 5/8 or 3/4 oz lure with the rod without damaging it? Obviously I can reel in fish or weeds weighing more than a pound, but that's a different sort of strain on the rod than casting.

Cotton Cordell Super Spots are inexpensive. I like to drill a hole and let some of the BBs out. Plug the hole with epoxy. If you let varying amounts of BBs out, you can get lures with different weights.

1) ** Cotton Cordell Th' Spot (I think it's 1/2 oz) - any G-finish. 2) * XCalibur Xrk50 - Ghost, Pearl Melon, Citrus Shad 3) Strike King Red Eye Shad (1/2 oz) - Sexy Shad, Gizzard Shad 4) * Cotton Cordell Super Spot (1/2 oz) - Smokey Joe, Chartreuse Perch * = No longer made in these colors. ** = No longer made. I only have a couple left : (

Go to www.lurenet.com to see the colors. The Booyah colors for the One Knocker are different from the Xcalibur ones. Xcalibur had Ghost and Pearl Melon that worked really well for me.