BassFishingMachine

Great for catching numbers, I've hooked a few 2 - 2 1/2lbers on it. I recommended it to a friend of mine who is just beginning to use spinnerbaits, if your new to spinnerbait fishin its a great bait. I also assume it would be good when your trying to imitate a smaller forage. I typically like to use a larger spinnerbait, 1/4oz Booyah Spinnerbait, or 1/4 oz Terminator.

Im new to fishing crankbaits, other then lipless cranks. I am still learning how to bounce the lure off of cover with getting snagged. I just started using crankbaits in mid september, and I caught a good amount of fish on them, all of my fish were caught without the bait ever making contact with any peice of cover. I did however do well bringing the lure past cover. I tryed bumping the crankbait into cover, but I got snagged a couple times, and when I didn't get snagged I didn't get a hit after making contact. Although I smacked the peice of cover fairly hard, and after what Stringjam said I'll try to gently hit the cover next time. I am sure hitting cover with cranks will catch fish, I just need to work on it. Im just trying to give you some confidence in fishing the bait in open water, because like I said, I've caught a good amount of fish without making any contact with a peice of cover.

Wow, looks to be a great idea. Wonder if they'd have em at Dicks, I know they carry Owner hooks..

Well, I don't believe I have ever canal fished in freshwater. But, I can tell you this, the only thing that works for me in my local ponds in the winter are small suspending jerkbaits fished as slow as I can possibly make myself go. Were talking long 8-9sec pauses in between each 1-3 jerks. I recommend the rapala husky jerk in 2 1/2inches. For colors, in sunny weather and clear water use silver w/black back, Sunny or overcast in slightly stained/stained water use gold w/black back, and in muddy water use firetiger.

Why you!!!...

Okay, let me first say this. I once found a way, in which to take a tube jig, and enter it into a tube doing the least damage possible to the tube, enabling me to rig it weedless without having a big hole where I entered the head of the tube jig. Only problem is I have forgottten how to do this :-[. I cannot manage to figure out how to rig the tube weedless without creating a huge hole in the tube due to entering the head of tube jig into the body of the tube. Again, let me say I used to have a way of doing it that didn't do much damage to the tube at all, and im sure theres others out there who also know a way. Could you please refresh my memory? :-? :-/

Never used a backpack for fishing before, so I can't say anything about that. I use a vest, and I find it to work out nicely. I have a ton of pockets which I can fit everything I need. I'll explain to you the pockets available on mine. 1. Big zipper pocket on the back, which can fit 1 typical size plano (it can also fit one small 12inch by 5-6inch plano along with the average size plano) Understand that I have planos with various baits, one plano for topwater, one for frogs, one for jerkbaits/cranks etc. I take an empty misc plano, and I'll take a bunch of various baits out of each individual plano that I want to use for that day, I put them in the misc plano and shove it in the back of my vest, now I have all the hard lures I wanna use for that given day. 2. I also have 2 medium size pockets on the front of the vest, in one I fit a tube of megastrike and a bottle of yum spray scent, and in the other I usually keep empty, for a spare pocket incase I need the room. 3. Four fairly large zipper pockets on the right and left of the front bottom of vest. In these pockets I can fit bags of soft plastics with ease, I can get about 4 bags in the one pocket, and 4-5 in the upper pocket, so if you count all 4 pockets were talkin around 16-20 bags of softplastics. More then eough no? =P 4. Patched onto the front of these 4 large pockets are 2 small pockets, 2 on the right side of the vest, and 2 on the left side of the vest. In the first of these pockets I fit my bass hooks, Gamakatsu EWG - a pack of 1/0, 2/0, 3/0, 4/0 an 5/0, and a pack or two of straight shank hooks. The 2nd small pocket I fit packs of bullet weights that are free sliding, various sizes etc. In the 3rd small pocket I fit peggable bullet weights, usually ones that are made for pegging. And in the 4th small pocket I fit tiny trout hooks, a pack of bait size hooks (for live worms), my spinnerbait trailer hooks, and a couple of packs of splitshots. The vest also has 2 "phone cord like" tubings that stick out on the front of the vest. These are to connect a clip to, so you can put a tool onto. I put a pair of hemostat pliers on the one tube, and a pair of nail clippers on the 2nd tube. Now with all that being said, theres more then enough room to fit everything you need, no? Only disadvantage is it can get heavy at times, but I don't usually have a problem, you get used to it, of course im young, so maybe if I was older there'd be a prob. All goes well for me . This is the exact vest I use. Take a look at it to get an understanding of the pockets I am referring to. http://www.amazon.com/Columbia-Henrys-Fork-Mens-Vest/dp/images/B001BPX1Q8/ref=dp_image_x_0?ie=UTF8&s=apparel&img=0&color%5Fname=x

Jig, it caught me a ton of big bass, including my new pb.

I like how they say the fish should be dead before you do it. Hahahaha, imagine seeing in the ad the guy pullin trout outta his bucket, all lively, and shovin em mouth first on that thing.

I wouldn't worry about it with a spinnerbait, a soft plastic might be another story (though I couldn't say for sure). You see this is what I believe, although Im sure other feel differently, I believe the bass has to pick up something with its mouth, in order to identify scents, and any sort of negative scent etc. This being said, with a spinnerbait the bass doesn't get the opportunity to react to a scent, because once it bites the bait it pretty much gets hooked. Theres no time for the bass to spit the lure, like there would be with a soft plastic, or a jig. Know this, I have heard a pro frogger uses marker on his hollow frogs, to get them to seem more realistic to his standards. Now, the way I see it is with a hollow frog the fish will be holding onto the bait, because you have to let the fish hold onto the bait a few secs before you can get a good hookset. So in this case I suppose marker doesn't matter, atleast to this guy, and this pretty much throws my whole logic off. Hes a pro, so I'd say to just marker up the bait and not worry about it. Although if it were soft baits I wouldn't but thats just me..

I have fished both, and I think the pointer has better action then the xrap. Like others have stated, if you can afford the pointer go with it, if not get the xrap. They are both good baits all in all, but imo, the pointer is a little better. The xrap would definetly make a good substitute though..

My favorite is the original chatterbait. I will admit that it looks to be made cheaply, and the skirt does slide down. I just add a dab of super glue, and this fixes that problem with ease. I don't know, the original chatterbait just seems to give off incredible vibrations/action. The only other chatterbait I have tryed was the booyah chatterbait. I was not impressed. The action I didn't believe to be superior, nor the vibration to the original chatterbait. I am not a huge fan of chatterbaits all together, and there is only 1 case where I will throw one. And that is dusk/night (or sometimes overcast), with a black/blue chatterbait, and a black/blue hulagrub as trailer. Any other time I prefer to throw a spinnerbait. Although I am thinkin of buyin a firetiger pattern one to try during chocolate milk conditions. Ps. The hook on the original chatterbait I found to be garbage. I used a pair of pliers to bend it a bit downwards, as I felt the hook was too far bent up. I also used a hook sharpener on the hook. The hook is now ultrasharp, and after the adjustments I have a better hookup/land ratio.

Darn... Oh well, guess it'll be one of those baits I bring out when I fish deeper water, even though thats not too often. But atleast It'll serve a purpose. There are a few spots in the local ponds I fish that have 4feet water, just not many.

Im with you ;D Im not a fan of jigs, although like I said above a soft plastic craw has been great for me. I fish many farm ponds too and this post is helping me anwser the quesions for those ponds. Thanks The Rage Tail craw is my favorite soft plastic. It's killer in ponds and on the river. I fish the Chigger Craw! Trick worms and shallow bluegill colored crankbaits were great at farmponds this past year. Have you tryed the ragetail craw, or the paca craw yet? If you haven't given them a try, just do me a favor and try them, the action from the claws is simply incredible. If your big on fishing craws, you should love these two baits. Heres another trick with the ragetail craw I use. It works when you can get away with using a small bullet weight, which is often for me, unless I am trying to break through some real thick weeds. I'll keep my rod tip high, and retreive the bait at a fairly fast speed, so it burns over the top, the feet will paddle and it looks like a frog. I'll also lift it up off the bottom sometimes when I approach weed mats, then bring it ontop of the weed mat and slowly twitch it like you would a hollow frog. Both techniques work great for me, definetly a bait I keep in my arsenal. And as with any other craw, you can always shorten the bait and use it as a trailer. (Works great for a swim jig/chatterbait). Extremely versatile bait, theres no doubt about that. I like the chigger craw too though, I find the scent to be a big plus. Theres just something about that berkley scent. I cut em in half alot and use em as jig trailers. Only thing though is the claws from the chigger craw just don't swim like the paca or ragetail. I like it as a finesse bait, but when the fish are aggressive I prefer a ragetail or paca. I'll say it again, if you haven't tryed the ragetail or paca give them a shot, or see if you can find yourself a video of them, im sure theres a few on youtube. You'll be amazed when you see the action the claws produce.

Do they hang up on every piece of wood on you too? Wood, grass, rock, stray molecules of hydrogen and oxygen.... :-X Same here, one was enough for me. Comes with half a skirt and a wimpy weedguard. All in all I think the jig could be alot better for the price..

My favorite jig is a Booyah Baby Boo, but you cannot get them from TW. Other jigs I have done pretty well with are Eakins Jewel Jig, Keitech (they're expensive, but I kid you not when I say they work well) unfortunately I can't afford em at the time :'(. Terminator Jigs work pretty well too.

99% of my bass fishing is done in small local ponds/lakes. That being said, my big fish producing baits are jigs, frogs (mostly hollow frogs, soft plastic frogs too, but smaller fish tend to annoy you on occasion with these). I'll also say this, out of my top 3 best bass 2 of them were caught on a jig, including the biggest of the 3. One of the 3 was caught on a hollow frog. But all in all jigs, and frogs tend to catch me more quality fish then anything else. Another tactic that I find catches more quality fish is flipping/pitching t-rigged (mostly pegged) soft plastics. My favorite baits for this tactic are creaturebaits, but I know tubes work well also, and im sure worms will work too. Anyhow, I'll focus lillypads, wood piles, weed patches, pipes, and any other sort of cover I come across. And one more thing! First off im from NJ, so I don't know if this applies to you, but I have noticed I catch more quality bass in April/May more then any other time of the year. I guess its because this is the period of time when the bass are in pre-spawn - spawn period. ps. I am pretty sure 75% of the people you hear from will tell you a jig is the best bet for targeting big bass. So if you don't already have a jig in your arsenal, learn to fish this bait and it'll really do you some good.

Hey, I just bought one of these beauties because I've heard nothing but positive things about them. Although theres something I am concerned about, and I would greatly appreciate it if you guys could help me out with some info about the subject. Heres the concern...Can I fish this lure shallow without collecting crap on every cast? You see I fish local ponds, so alot of the water is 2-3 feet deep. That being said, I know alot of rattle traps tend to run deep, and after feeling how heavy the Rattl'n Vibe is, im afraid itll run pretty deep. I do know I can sometimes bring the lure up, by keeping the rod tip high. All in all, would I be able to get away with fishing this lure in 2-3 feet of water? Or would you only bring it out when im fishing 4-5feet of water? (which I'snt too common :-/) Know this, I can fish the Rat-L-Trap and lucky craft Lv-0 without collecting crap. I can usually adjust the level the rat-l-trap swims fairly well, by holding the rod tip higher. I can also get away with the rattlen rapala on occasion. The berkley frenzy lipless crank on the other hand, always collects me weeds, unless Im fishing in pretty deep water obviously.

The only thing I can get to work for me in winter is small suspending jerkbaits, fished as slow as I can force myself to go. Many say jigs, but I have yet to do well with a jig in winter, maybe they work well on the bigger lakes in the winter, but here in the local ponds, a jerkbait is the only thing I can get them to take in the cold cold water. Ps. I continue to try jigs in cold cold water, but jerkbait is all that ever works.

1. Become better fishing Shallow Crankbaits (I just started using them in the fall, and did well, but I know theres more to learn on them) 2. Catch a 20lb+ Striper from the surf 3. Catch a 6lb+ largemouth. I have caught a few 4 1/2 - 5lb fish, but have never caught a 6lber. Theyre rumored to be in the waters I fish, but I have never seen one in person. The local ponds of NJ don't hold too many big fish. 4. Learn how to skip cast 5. Further improve my skills with all the baits in my arsenal, from spinnerbaits to softplastics to topwaters etc. 6. Further my knowledge and understanding on how the bass act and where they move to during different seasons/conditions on my lakes. (I have found it to be true that how bass act on big bodies of water, can be very different to how bass act in small local ponds, and this is very frustrating because everyone talks about how to find bass during different seasons on big lakes, but no one talks about the effects of seasons on bass in small local ponds. I want to discover this for myself, and spread the word to others.)

I rarely, if ever use live bait for bass. Nightcrawlers just attract too many sunnies. In the waters I fish if you were to cast out a nightcrawler 99% of the time a sunny would come over and tear it up. Theres just that many sunnies.. If you manage to catch a bass on one, your lucky. Although, I can imagine sight fishing would work great with nightcrawlers. You know, on the days when you walk around with your polarized sun glasses, and see the bass hangin in the shallows. Im sure gently casting weightless nightcrawlers to em would work. Or spawn fishing. When I see a fish hangin in the shallows, sometimes what I'll do to play around is this. I'll flip over a few logs and pull out 2-3 worms. I'll then throw one to the bass I saw, and watch him devour it. I'll wait a few secs and throw him another, and this time they start becoming even more aggressive. (Let it be known that the worms I have thrown the fish are not hooked, I am merely feeding the fish) Then after I have fed the fish 2-3 worms, I'll rig up a GYCB Kut-Tail in cinnamon brown (it looks just like a worm). And I'll gently cast that to him, and the fish won't even question it, it just immediately devours the kut-tail. And thats when I set the hook .

This is my least favorite time of the year! I can't stand waiting for Spring! I usually start fishin again in January for panfish, I use a 5"5' ultralite and hop around a small trout magnet with no weight other then the little trout magnet jigheads. Some days I catch 20 crappie, other days I get 1-2, and a sunny. I had a few atypical days last year, one of which I caught a sucker, and another I caught a 20inch carp. Man you should have seen that fight on an UL 5"5'. So I'll be out playin around sooner or later, but all in all theres nothing like Spring. Im tempted to go out to my favorite bass lake, and play around pitchin jigs to a few stickpiles. Im pretty sure I'll get nada. But anythings better then sittin indoors all day...

Hey, wasn't quite sure where to post this, but what can ya do. Anyway, I need help skipping. My pitching/flipping skills aren't what I'd call the best of the best, but all in all I can pitch/flip, so becoming better and better is just a matter of time. As for skipping, I just can't do it correctly. The bait won't skip!! Are there specific baits that aren't skippable? If so what are they? And what are some easy baits to skip? I hope jigs and t-rigged soft plastics are on the list of easy skipping baits, because those are what I believe I'll have tied on in most situations where I'd want to skip. So, if you could give me any info on how to skip, any videos, or articles or advice, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks for any help, I know im limiting myself by not being able to skip, so I really want to try and learn it.

Hey, can anyone help me out. Im looking for a jig in a sunfish pattern. I did pretty well last spawn flipping jigs onto beds. I figure a sunfish pattern jig would really do some good in this situation. Anyone know of any sunfish pattern jigs? I remember there was a website which advertises on this site, although the name of the site slips my mind. Well what can ya do, anyways, whats some sunfish colored jigs?

My favorite are rapala huskyjerks, but luckycraft slender pointers have worked well for me also.