Brett's_daddy

Okay, we are going camping for this Labor Day weekend and the campground where we're going borders a fairly large river so I figured i could get some bank fishing in while we're there. What kind of a setup would i need to bring? What kind of baits would you use? I don't have any idea the flow rate right now (sluggish or fast). I have never really fished rivers so any info would be greatly appreciated. As for what's in there, it's a mixed bag of bass (both kinds), pike, trout (Rainbow and Brown), bowfin, perch and panfish are all possible.

Okay, we've all heard the recommendations and seen other guy's photos of their catches...Bone and Black are considered the premier fish catching colors in just about any type of lure from hard topwaters to swimbaits to soft plastics...as long as you have a variation of white and black you should be able to catch fish. That may be all well and good for most people but for me personally I have never caught a single fish on Bone or Black colored lures...not one! Most of my catches have been from lures either in a natural forage color or Green Pumpkin/Watermelon Red Flake. What are colors that you have never had any luck with despite them being extremely popular color choices nationwide?

With a topwater lure always look at the bottom of the lure...that's the color that the fish see so while the color of the top of the lure catches the fisherman, it's the bottom color that is most conducive to catching the fish! With the Pompadour I'm not really sure it matters much as that thing makes so much commotion I'm not sure how much of the lure the fish actually sees and if they hit it just out of annoyance for it being so noisy...lol.

This is always the preferred route and I always try to support them but if the price difference is too great (especially if free shipping is offered) my wallet forces me to order online. Also of note, most local tackle shops can't order everything as in they have a certain amount of vendors they deal with so the availability of tackle, rods, reels etc. is limited to the brands their vendors deal in. Another factor is that most local tackle shops (mine included) have to meet a minimum dollar amount before they can place an order so they can't just order your specific lure or reel unless they already have a large enough order being placed to meet the minimum requirements. Most local tackle stores are at the mercy of their vendors as well...for example if a local store buys let's say 5 of a certain lure at "x" amount of dollars and a big box store (or large online retailer) buys 500 of the same lure the vendor price for 5 compared to 500 is significantly higher in most cases which makes it very hard for the local guy to adequately compete. this is very unfortunate and I have first-hand familiarity with this type of situation as I used to work for a small family run office supply business which had been around for many years but then a new Staples opened up only a few miles away. This initially devastated our sales as everyone had heard of Staples through mass advertising and as more newer (non-native Vermonters) moved in Staples was the name brand and they would automatically go there for their office supply needs. Eventually people would stop back by and realize that on some items we were very competitive price-wise but there were many that we simply could not compete on.

Usually it's 15% off. As for exclusions, that varies from sale to sale so it's hard to tell.

I know with my full size Pompadours it feels like you have a brick tied on your line so I throw mine with a 7'5" H/F iRod Fiber with 50lb. braid.

Can you PM me who this is please? Whatever I decide to get, customer service is a big deal to me!

Well, with Fall fast approaching it will soon be flat side crank time and i was just wondering what is the best bang for your buck flat side crank? I don't really want to spend $10 per lure but I also don't want to buy a cheap lure and have to turn around and upgrade all the split rings and hooks which makes any savings a moot point. Let me know your thoughts!

I noticed that your retrieve appeared to be a straight retrieve (no pauses) and very slow...is this the best retrieve for them? I have a couple but haven't caught a single fish on them but I've always used a faster retrieve, maybe i should slow down...lol.

Nice!!! Wish my Wal-Mart had these deals!!!

Try these...https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Dirty_Jigs_Pivot_Point_Football_Jig_2pk/descpage-DRTYPVT.html.

Academy Sports has some nice sun wear clothes by Magellan at very reasonable prices.

Best "House Brand" baits bar none!!!

Their past few sales haven't been that bad as far as exclusions go. I think I was most disappointed in their 12 Days of Christmas last year where it seemed for the most part they were trying to get rid of unpopular items that weren't selling and pass them off as something special near Christmas.

Abu Garcia Veritas Winch can be had for $99.

But with Berkley's baits you don't have to wait for the sale, they are already reasonably priced to start of with. Despite what it looks like I'm not trying to argue, just saying that i believe some companies these days are severely price gouging the angler so I'm not begrudging Berkley for making almost the same bait but at half the cost...as long as they are of the same quality/performance of the "copied" bait! Yes, I'm sure they are but I'm not zeroing in on the Whopper Plopper and R2S necessarily, this just happens to be the bait that started this post but Berkley has new baits coming out that are "copies" of several popular baits from many different MFG's. I say kudos to Berkley for bringing otherwise too expensive of lures to the budget minded angler!!!

Berkley appears to be doing just that! If Berkley can do it so can some of the other lure mfg's. I'm 100% positive that Berkley will still make money on these lures so I'm thinking there is probably some serious price gouging going on with other lure mfg's...especially the larger company's. Hopefully Berkley's new baits will be just as good performance-wise as the "originals" and the other lure mfg's will lose enough sales to them that they will have to come down in price to compete with Berkley!!!

I bought a pair of Cocoons for about $55. I love them and they were one of the few that cost less than a hundred dollars and fit over my prescription glasses. I think they definitely perform better than the Wal-Mart specials I had been using as far as spotting fish in the water. They also have a lifetime warranty!

If they make quality baits at half the cost of other similar baits I'm all for it! The prices on the popular baits have gotten ridiculously expensive. I mean 15 - 20 years ago none of us would have dreamed of spending $20+ on a single lure but nowadays that's almost the starting point for a quality hard bait so if somebody like Berkley can come in and make similar baits for half the cost and they perform just as well people will buy them in droves and maybe that will make all the other lure mfg's take notice and they in turn will lower their prices to more reasonable levels and we'll all benefit from it ?.

River2Sea Bubble Walker 80, comes in Loon color, can be walked or popped!

On another note...how do you like that Movement? Which model is it, the wake or the 80X? Is it really that much different from a normal 1.5 squarebill?

Speaking of that...what colors of this bait do you think a pike would like?

I was recommended by a Cabelas employee to try the Bio Spawn Exo Stick Pro. It's a 5" worm and has a perfectly flat end in which to add a nail weight to and the middle is thicker than the ends which makes a perfect spot for the neko hook.

Actually It's fallen victim to too many of the same type of lures and I haven't used it too much so it hasn't caught anything yet but it does have a nice action to it.

I have the smaller 80 size but I think the 128 would be a fine LMB lure. I've had bass hit lures that are as big as they are so I wouldn't sweat the larger size...if a bass thinks it can fit in their mouth they will eat it!