BassFishingMachine

Does *** have them? Also do they make a larger size, other then 3 1/2 inches, thats kind of small as I plan to fish them for striper from the surf.

Yeah, as Rayre said Fat Ikas, I assumed you had them already as there kind of old news. But if you don't have them definetly check out a pack or two.

Hmm what would I get? GYCB Flappin Hogs, GYCB Kreatures, Paca Craws, Ragetail Craws, Sweet Beavers, GYCB Kut-Tails, Manns Stone Jig, GYCB Hula Grubs, Glue to repair softbaits, and some Bill Lewis Rat-L-Traps just to name a few . Happy Shopping ;D Oh yeah, and some tru-tungsten bullet weights, particularly screw-in.

Dicks is ok in my opinion. Like everyone else pretty much mentioned they have a good variety of softbaits and hardbaits etc, but they don't have specific baits in which you'd find at bps, and other big outdoor stores. So if your not too picky on what your looking for bait wise, then its a pretty good place. Mine carries a good amount of powerbait baits, Zoom, GYCB (senko/fat ika/baby craw only), yum, and shaw grigsby baits, as for hardbaits they have a decent amount of rapalas, storms, daiwa, very few lucky crafts, cb bombers, rebels, heddons, arbogast, booyah, strike king, terminator, roboworms, slug-os and probably a few more things that I forgot about. But I one thing I higly recommend is like bass_fin@tic said, they take EXTREMELY long to restock, im talking months upon months. So if you see something you like, don't buy a few thinking you can come back if you need more, cause if there gone you might as well just come back next christmas, buy them all or buy as many as you think you'll need, trust me and fin@tic on this. I made the mistake of asking for gift cards to Dicks as presents from relatives for Christmas, mainly because I wanted to buy myself a Shimano Stradic. Well im still waiting on them to get it in stock, they only have the extremely small sizes. (They said they'll have it in stock by mid March, but im sure thats gonna be a load of crap.) So yeah, if you like what you see, buy in quantity! Oh yeah one more thing, in my opinion I wouldn't shop there for rods, as their selection is pretty crappy, I personally think your better off going to a small tackle shop or a local big outdoors store when it comes to rods.

Well give me something to go by, what are you looking for in specific? By this I mean what category of baits? Flipping Baits? Hard Jerkbaits? Soft Jerkbaits? Swimbaits? Jigs? Creatures? Worms? Etc

As of last year, I got into plugging for striper from the beaches of NJ. Anyways I just wanted to know some good plugs that are work best for you guys, so I know which to pick up come spring. Can you list your top 5 best plugs? Mine would be as listed in no particular order: 1. Gibbs Pencil Popper [Color: yellow/white belly, white] 2. Bomber Long A, I think its called [Color: Black "for night", schoolbus pattern, silver/black back] 3. Saltwater Xrap [Color: Silver/black back, or Bunker Pattern 4. Atom Striper Swiper [Color: Red head/white body, although I hear blue head/white body is better] 5. Gibbs Polaris Popper [Color: Red head/yellow body/white belly] So what plugs am I missing?

Wouldn't splitting the guard into a "v" shape expose the hook point? With the hook point exposed I think you would pick up more weeds, I may be wrong though. Looking forward to the responses.

Hey, I recently bought a pack of their mealworms, but I've also noticed they have garden worms, and other things. Just wanted to know what you guys think of these baits, do they work like a live bait? How do you fish them, can you just rig them on a hook and let them sit on the bottom like you would live bait? I intend to fish them for panfish, and maybe give them a shot on trout, just wanted to know how you guys feel about these baits.

Soft Jerk baits, Aggressive topwaters, Hard Jerkbaits, zoom junebug lizards t-rigged with a small bullet weight, spinnerbaits. If your specificly targeting big pickerel I'd use 5inch Zoom Super Flukes, in baby bass or white. Big walk the dog baits, and zoom june bug lizards (as that caught me some quality picks). Remember to fish these baits aggressively, they love to chase, fish the soft jerkbaits with constant twitches, the topwaters with constant motion, they are like bluefish.

Trout Magnets, or tiny tubes on the jighead that comes with Trout Magnets, also Powerbait Nymphs work well on these jigheads too. I don't use any bobber, I just slowly twitch it along the bottom.

All I know is one of my evolution jigs in the 2 pack they come in, basiclly meaning 1/2 of the jigs I bought stands lopsided on the bottom. The other one stands pretty straight, but for the money I paid this is just something that leaves me shocked. As for the skirts, they are bundled up on one side of the jig, and strandless or little to no strands on other sides. Why is it that a booyah jig, or a terminator jig, has so much nicer skirts, yet they are cheaper? Please even out the skirts on the jigs and double check the "standing ability" of the jigs before selling them. I won't be buying another jig or jighead by evolution until I see some changes made, and as you seen by majority of the responses changes are well due, remember its not just me, I've also talked to guys I met while fishing the banks and they tell me the same thing I just said. We fisherman expect top quality when we pay top quality. Just my 2cents.

The thing I don't understand though, is I thought in colder waters bass don't like to chase baits. If thats true, then why is a lipless crankbait a good bait to use in these colder periods? As a lipless crankbait pretty much keeps moving, and I would consider a bait that requires chasing to grab. So why is it that a lipless crank is a good choice if the bass doesn't go far for a meal in these colder months?

For everyone who's lakes are frozen and are going to start fishing for bass again in March, what are the baits you'll most likely have with you to start with on that first day? Mine will probably be Rapala suspending jerkbaits, power minnows, some small jigs, zoom super fluke jrs, rattle traps, spinnerbaits, and maybe some white stickbaits. And a few baitfish immitating topwaters that I will only throw if I see some surface action, or if its unusually warm. What about you guys?

x2 I could careless what its named, as long as it catches fish, thats all that matters to me.

I tryed the pliers and still couldn't get the rattle off, I don't understand why these companies build their jigs like this, do they not know that some people thread the trailers up onto the jigs? Idiotic imo... I also believe every jig that comes with a rattle should be removable, wouldn't that be best? I know their are times when a rattle is prefered, but there are times where it isn't. Anyway If you guys come up with a way of removing it, I'll be glad to hear it :-/.

Like JohnJ said, the water is pretty cold so, I tend to use smaller size baits. I'd go with 1/16oz-1/4oz tops if your planning to fish them recently. Although im fishing areas of water that are no more then 5 feet deep mostly. For Jigs I like Booyah Jigs, especially Booyah Baby Boos. I like strike king bitsybugs (they aren't quality, but they still catch fish, inexpensive so you can throw em around cover with no worries). I also like Terminator Jigs, particularly their finesse Jigs. For colors I use Black/blue, Black, Watermelon Red, Greenpumpkin Red, Brown/purple, Brown/green, Brown/black/green, Brown. Any of those colors seem to work, the Black, I use in muddy water, and the black/blue you can pretty much get bit with anywhere, anytime. For trailers I like Yum Chunks, in 2.75 inch for my smaller jigs and 3.5 inch for my larger jigs. Paca Chunks are great too, amazing action, but their claws rip off fairly easy which is why my fav is still the Yum Chunks. GYCB Hula Grubs I like, for when im fishing the jig a little quicker then normal. Zoom Super Chunks are pretty good too. Also a cut in half Berkley Chigger Craw is a pretty good substitute to the Yum Chunks/Zoom Super Chunks. Remember to match the color of the trailer to the color of the jig. If your using a black/blue jig, use a black/blue trailer etc. At times I'll change a black jig to a black/blue by adding a black/blue trailer. Although I guess there is always time to experiment, anyway happy shopping 8-).

For panfish I use Trout Magnets on the jighead they come with, slowly hopped along the bottom (no bobber). Catches me crappie and sunnies. I also use the Powerbait Nymphs and put them on the tiny jighead that comes with the trout magnets and fish em the same way, I also do this with tiny tubes. All works. Never had much luck with that bobber technique, although Ive seen guys do good like that, especially with a fly beneath. Heres the trout magnet link if your interested, I just love the jigheads they come with, perfect size for panfish, anyways here you go http://lelandslures.com/TM_lures.html.

You just read my mind .

I have a few jigs, that came with rattles, im debating whether taking them off or not, as some are removable. So I just wanted to get everyones opinion on how they feel about rattles on their jigs. I was thinking in low light conditions, such as night time, and extremely muddy water, so I voted sometimes. Other than that I probably wouldn't use a rattle. But maybe my view will change after the results from this poll.

1. 7" Ribbontail Worm: 3/0 EWG 2. 5" Senko: 3/0 EWG 3. 6" Senko: (Never used them, but I'd guess a 5/0) 4. 6" Lizard: 3/0 EWG 5. 6" Bungee Worm: (Never used them, not going to give a opinion) 6. 4" Tubes: 3/0 Tube Hook or 3/0 EWG 7. 4" Frog (Alot of guys use 5/0 EWG with them, but I prefer a 4/0 EWG) 8. 4.5 Baby Brush Hog: 2/0 EWG 9. 5" Double Tail Grub: (never used, I'd guess a 3/0 EWG) 10. 4" Craw: 2/0-3/0 EWG depending on thickness On bulkier baits I prefer larger hooks, I'll often rig a GYCB Kreature with a size 4/0 when flipping. If I get a few missed strikes, and im pretty sure its not from setting the hook too early, I'll often upsize the hook by 1. But remember you can't always go by the length of the bait to determine the appropriate size of the hook to use, bulkyness is just as big a factor to take into consideration as length and the Fat Ika is a prime example of that.

For freshwater bass a jig is my choice for targeting more quality fish. As for "Bigger the bait, the bigger the fish" I couldn't tell you if that applies to freshwater bass, but it definetly applies to fluke.

He took me hostage, forced me to drive down the beach and check out all the tackleshops! Costed me 40 bucks by the end of the day! On these beautiful hand poured senko knock offs, a bit of jigs, and a pack of finesse worms! Beware, he may come for you next!

The weeds aren't the problem, I have no difficulties fishing weeds, as a matter of fact I prefer fishing them, as I love throwing hollow frogs. The problem is there are barely any fish to be caught, I just mentioned the weeds because I think thats a reason the fish are dying off.

Hey, im not sure if this is where I go about posting this subject, so if its in the wrong place im sorry. Anyways, I just wanted to know if anyone has fished these areas recently, mainly Belmar Inlet, Bradley Beach, and anything around there. All the freshwater ponds/rivers around here are pretty dead if not all frozen. So I've been dyin to wet a line and am thinking about taking a trip down the shore to see if theres anything to be caught. Anyone fish these areas recently? Or heard anything about whats going on down there, fishing from the land. I don't have a boat, so going out to sea is out of the question, plus I get sea sick, not that I don't still go out every now and again, but sick and cold is not a combination I'd like to have. Last I heard (about 2 months ago), there were some herring being caught around the inlet, particularly on sabiki rigs (http://www.stripersonline.com/fish_photos/data/500/Sabiki_rig.jpg). And I've read alot of reports on blackfish/ling being caught offshore on shiprecks etc, I don't know if there around the inlet, or areas I can get to from land, but thats basiclly all the action I've heard of so far. Just thought I'd make a post and hope someone fishes this area or has heard about this area within the past week or two, this way I know what to try for, and what to use. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated, im dying to hook up with something, its been like 2 weeks since I hooked up with a fish... and thats just too long for me ;D. Oh yeah, forgot to mention, I don't really want to do any striper fishing with livebait, as thats kind of boring and its too cold to just be sitting there waiting for a hit on a freezing beach. I don't mind throwing livebait for more aggressive fish, such as blackfish etc, where I can drag the bait along the bottom, basiclly cancelling out the boring part. But mainly I'd prefer throwing artificials.

If your talking about http://tackle.redshad.com/prodimages/EvolutionJig.jpg Then no, I don't like them. The one I bought the skirt was not even on all sides, one side had more strands than the other etc. And one of them in the package did not sit perfectly straight, it was kind of lopsided. For the money they costed me, this is just unbelievable. I will not be buying another one. This is just my honest opinion, im not going to sit here and tell you there great when I did not experience that. As for their megastrike scent... now thats some good stuff .