Jaw1

Never met a lay down I didn't like or didn't try to fish.

X2 on the French pearl. I've got 8 to 10 110s in different colors but fish French pearl 95% of the time. Never had any luck with my pro blue.

This. I also nose hook a shad shaped worm with no weight. Let it sink slow then work it like a minifluke. I vary my hook size for sink rate and casting distance. I have 2 ponds that I fish on occasion. 1 gets pressured the other gets fed by hand either minnows, dogfood, bread(bass eat bread believe it or not) usually about the time I decide to go fish it, or so it seems. Both can be hard to fish add in the small baitfish population and it can be impossible to fish at times , but the shad shaped worm does save the day.

Try the taxidermy sites maybe they have something you would be interested in. I use some from time to time. Chicago and bear air web names I believe

I agree with smalljaw in that building your own baits is not a money saver in the long run, using cheaper components will get old to you after awhile and you will want different/ better stuff thus spending more money. That being said for me it's just fun to do and a great way to pass the winter or rainy days. I still buy store brands when I'm compelled to but I pour my own and play around with paint schemes just because I can and I enjoy it. Spinnerbait fishing is my least favorite way to catch fish these days so I don't but or build many anymore unless friends ask but lurecraft in General is enjoyable and I tinker with it all

Another vote for lews, as a $100 reel candidate and if you can swing it the new *** rod of your choice in the $100 ish range should do you good. Me experience is you get less with the packaged together combos as opposed to buying separate

Going to respectfully disagree about the hooks. I fish these with 8 to 10 pound test on a light rod and I have had a lot of the hooks break and of course bend. All hooks bend just seems these bend more. I will still continue to use the factory hooks because I'm fishing for fun not tourney fishing these days. I have never been willing to change out hooks on new baits before they are damaged but I do once they are.

It's not a new material for me actually. I've tried it in the past and just thought it would be worth another shot. I don't have a problem with keeping them away from the sun or other plastics as they never left my shop. I guess my mentality is why would I want to spend my time babysitting any soft plastic. Just not worth it to me. I understand some people like them but I guess I'm just not interested in messing with a non user friendly product. For the record I don't like the sk version either. But if it's your thing go for it. Just surprised about the latest package I bought and was wondering if it was the norm

The bigger version have caught a lot of fish for me but the hooks are not that good. Nothing beats a 110 to me though

I'm a mega *** but the rick clunn knockoffs have caught plenty of fish for me. As mentioned above the hooks are week but I do not change hooks for fun fishing. I have some of everything mentioned above and catch fish on them all but the 110 just out catches the rest. I plan on trying the duckett jerkbaits that are very similar in appearance to a 110

To much hassle to go through just to use their product, but I understand different strokes for different folks. I have a few packs of their craws and whatever their small swimming fluke type bait are.When they are gone I think I'm done

Yeah I've experienced the mess that occurs when they are mixed with other brands. Learned that lesson years ago but they melted/ deformed in their original pack with no other bait present. Maybe a bad pack. I do not like elazetech(spelling) plastic not matter the manufacturer and had gotten rid of all that I had until I decided to try this technique. Should of learned my lesson

Not a heat problem it's not that hot in my shop

Has anyone had problems with Z man plastics melting in the package? I've had plenty of issues with Z man plastics not playing nice with other baits but this is a first for me. They are trd baits I planned to try Ned rigging with. I got a pack out that I bought about a month ago that were stored in my shop in the original package unopened to show a friend. They are melted to each other, pretty much useless. What do you guys think happened? Never have liked this type plastic but decided to give it another shot. My mistake.

1.#5 shad rap black/silver 2. Shakyhead roboworm margarita mutilator 3. Zoom big critter craw watermelon red 4. White 3/8 buzzbait 5. White 3/8 chatterbait

Not sure about the new rods but I owned 4 of the originals ($150) rods and liked them, never broke any and I used the 7/6 for pitching. I beat it up pretty good with no issues. Probably would still be fishing them but wanted to try something new, sold them to 2 buddies that still use them.

I use the cricket hopper and poppers pond hoping in the summer almost exclusively. It will get bit by anything and everything in a small body of water. The cricket hopper in the bright green color is my favorite but hard to find locally

I have a self imposed rod and reel budget of around $200 apiece max. I have owned higher and certainly have and do own cheaper. I'm not a collector but my wife would argue that. I don't begrudge people who will only buy higher priced gear nor do I look down on the ones who fish the cheapest they can get. You can define bass gear any way you want in my opinion. Whatever works for however you choose to fish is what counts. I enjoy your posts Bigbill I get a kick out of them and hope you enjoy the feedback. I have friends who are much better than myself at catching bass who think we are all crazy for spending more than 50 or so dollars on any gear. They have no problem spending $30 to $40,000 on a new boat though. I guess we all have our prerogatives.

The cost of building baits of any kind is directly proportional to the indebtedness of the build. Ex plaster of paris molds compared to custom cnc or buying hand picked balsa vs scrap wood. My point being that the more your interest grows in any hobby the more your investment grows. If your just looking for budget baits try the bargain bins but if your actually interested in building your own be ready to spend accordingly.

Mine would include #5 shad rap silver/ black catches all size fish Shaky head (roboworm 4"and 6" Yamamoto shad shapes worm rigged either with a small bullet weight or weightless Fluke style bait in all sizes depending on the time of year

Createx wicked and regular transparent createx colors,and com.art. either one will get you started both are waterbased remember to pick up some of their reducer also.

Boogerman buzzbaits and hdrogorrilla (spelling?) Paycheck repo man and the one walking spook type baits Yellow magic poppers

Double willow nickel blades white or white/chartruce skirt also like white blades / clown skirt on occasion

Didn't take the first time for some reason

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