CyBasser

Hi there, I noticed no-one is mentioning Yo-Zuri jerkbaits. People in the US don't try them, or they just don''t work over there??? Although really designed for saltwater use, all of them (whether floating or sinking) do catch bass regularly for us. Now, how do they compare to the other brands mentioned is hard to tell...

Thanks for the great tip Matt! And for those of us who depend on your tilapia, I guess the same will work with tilapia as the source! Time to get the fly rod out!

Hi everybody, Although there is a lot of talk about swimbaits, and a lot of talk about the size 8 - 10 Rapala X-Raps, I haven't noticed anybody talking about the larger size X-Raps which really seem to scream "bass!!". I am specifically talking about the 14 size X-Rap (almost 6", 1 1/2oz in the regular form, 1 5/8oz if jointed). Here in Cyprus the sizes 8-12 of the X-Rap have been working exceedingly well on largemouths, this prompted me to buy four of the 14 series X-Raps, both jointed and unjointed. Has anyone used these babies for largemouth bass??? I understand these larger X-Raps are designed for saltwater fish, but hey, a 6" rap should be fair game for any bass! Any feedback would be more than welcome!

Specifically for this reservoir , there is only one river flowing in but unfortunately the water there is very shallow(less than 3 ft) and the bottom is muddy with no rocks or any kind of structure hence it is highly unlikev to find bass spawing there. Cybasser might known better than me, of course. He is fishing this reservoir for many,many years!! Hi guys, Sorry for the belated repkies, but between April 4 and April 8 I was away being a judge in the Spring 2007 Russian Bass League Tournament which was held at three reservoirs here in Cyprus. A comprehensive report regarding this tournament (with more than 150 bass up to 2Kg+ caught) will follow sometime during the week. Anyway, in this particular reservoir the situation is a bit bizzare. The local Water Development Department reduced the water amount to only 2% of capacity in order to make some maintainance work at the dam's emergency door, and to allow for the construction of a bridge crossing a large bay. Afteer the rains of late February, the water reached 17% of the capacity in a few days, but all the bass were concentrated in the deep pool that remained near the dam wall. As a result, for spawning they only moved to nearby shallow areas and very few bass did migrate to the newly covered headwaters (which should had been excellent for fishing this time of the year). The water level at the reservoir is still rising about 3" per day. And yes, bass have spawn in most Cyprus reservoirs. The water temperature at Yermasogeia is already 71F, and inmost other reservoirs is between 64-69F. Keep in mind that this year the spawning was delayed for more than a month as January, February, and the beginning of March had temperatures below normal...

Hey, Troutfisher and all the other guys, 4 1/2lb IS a nice bass for everybody. But for the particular reservoir, we know of several 6-8lb bass that should had been around... That's the reason for the comment!

Warm, cloudy weather with sprinkles, water temp in the upper 60s, pressure dropping slowly and steadily, ie ideal bass fishing weather... But the bass for the most part didn't want to know! Anyway, at least a small, 4 1/2lb momma did attack my spinnerbait.... I wonder where are the real big mommas?????

BRAVO DANIEL!!!!!! 8-) Beautiful fish.... Hopefully you will nail an even bigger one this spring! I am looking for those big mommas down here at Cyprus as well but up to now this year I am stuck to 4 1/2lb only > But sooner or later they will come. Again, congratulations! And hope to see you sometime coming to Cyprus as well!

Nice beauty! Hmmm... Did it jump out of the water and grabbed your lure while it was hanging from the rod (about 1ft above the surface) before making the next cast? That's about the weirdest thing that happenned to me during bass fishing (3 1/2lb bass) - and I was even fishing from the shore! Glad to know you guys had a great time at Fork!

5lb 11oz Yo-Zuri Hardcore Drum lipless crankbait (light green shad color, don't remember the official name). August 2006.

I would like to congratulate Cabelas on their excellent service regarding replacing broken rods. Earlier this year I received two baitcasting rods from Cabelas in a single cardboard tube. One was for me, one for my buddy Vyron. Both rods broke unexpectedly without reason during our fishing outings and at the same exact point (about four inches above the mid-joint, they were two-piece rods). Mine broke first, Vyron's two trips afterwards. By the way, the rods were different models and the fact that they both broke at the same spot indicated that something happenned to them during shipping. The reurn policy of Cabelas requires that the broken rods are returned for inspection in order to verify the claim. No problem on that, except that since we are not living in the U.S. the cost per rod to return it via UPS to Cabelas was about $190! (a bit more than the value of both rods to buy them new!). When we explained the situation to the customer service at Cabelas we were treated very nicely, and both rods were replaced without sending the broken rods to the US. During the past, in previous posts I did mention that I generally prefer to shop from BPS due to their better international shipping policies and greater variety of stuff. Up to now I was lucky not to require the assistance of either BPS or Cabelas customer service, but I guess there is a first time for everything. I have no bussiness affiliation with neither, nor with TW from where I have also started shopping this year, but when I am very happy and satisfied about something special it is fair to give the deserved credits. So, it is the very least on my side that I can do to say via this forum a great THANKS to the people at Cabelas for their excellent service . Greatly appreciated and keep up the good work!

Braid works very well on baitcasters but the type of braid can have a major influence on the outcome. I had problems when I initially used braid on baitcasters but the BR forum came to resque! This is my recent experience in the matter (after taking up the advise). I have tried three different brands of braid on baitcasters. The new "Ultra Braid" from Mustad was given to me for testing out for a local publication. The 20lb dia worked fine on spinning reels. I tried it though on baitcasters and it was a near disaster - continuous backlashes and continuous line digging. The 50lb version was a nightmare. It would not coil evenly and a lot of capacity was lost. With Fireline Crystal the coiling was better and I had no line-digging problems. But Fireline is not as soft and is rather springy - resulting in (minor) backlashes more frequently than I would like - and if you retrieved a very light lure it would not go on the spool as well as it should. I solved all problems with Power Pro. The line is smoother than Mustad, softer than Fireline, and it works excellently on baitcasters both in 20lb and 50lb diameters that I use for my applications. These two characteristics (smoothness of braid and springiness) seem to be crucial. Although I'm now using PowerPro only on the baitcasters, I believe that there must be some other brands with similar characteristics that work as well....

Hi Croatia, Some really nice bass you got in those photos! As Vyron said, here in Cyprus we do know about Croatian bass because of RBL (Russian Bass League) and Novak. Some RBL members are coming to Croatia in June for the Rapala Cup. There is a small possibility I might come as well, if I manage to come then maybe we can meet there! Keep up the good work!

...and here is a photo of Cybassman with a 2 1/2lb male caught late in the afternoon (the use of flash made it look like nighttime...)...

Had a rather quick, two-hour trip last Tuesday to Yermasogeia... Water temp around 68, stained to muddy, windy (ahead of major cold front). We (Cybassman and myself) started off spinnerbaiting in two adjacent areas... Finally hit an active day: My first decent bass for 2007, a 4lb 3oz egg-laden female.... Cybassman hit some shallower areas, got five males between 2 and 3lb... Not bad for a reservoir that less than one month ago was at the verge of destruction (due to mismanagement)... By the way, this was the first trip me and cybassman undertook in a looong time, which certyainly added to the enjoyement factor... Here is a picture of my 4-3 (I had to take it myself as Cybassman was away at the time and did not want to delay the release of the fish....

Hi Jon, I have used the 4" and 6" models in various colors. The 4" has been quite succesful but I only caught bass up to 2lb with them. The 6" models I only got late last November and did not have much of a chance to use them. But another friend of mine who also got 6" models has scored a 5lber in a reservoir where larger bass are quite difficult to catch - and that was on his first attempt! So they seem to be promising.... :

Thanks! P.S. I guess I should had checked LBH's and Cabelas10 threads as well :-/ - nice "alternative" links...

Good job buddy! And the photos are decent!

Hi everybody, I have been trying to get to somewhere where I can find standings and other classic coverage, but the only things I get are some videos and chat transcripts etc through BASS Insider. Can someone give me a link where I can get reliable info? (I am probably doing something wrong, I remember last year I could get directly everything I needed from ESPN /BASS Insider but this year I can't find the right navigation in their website...).

Senkos are generally used texas-rigged, weightless, BUT: Bass are fish with weird characters: On more than one occasions (actually quite a few occasions), they would refuse a weightless t-rigged senko, a weighted t-rig worm, a weighted or weightless t-rigged creature, but they would slam a weighted t-rigged senko (generally 1/4oz on 5", 3/8oz on 6"). Don't ask me about the reasons - only the bass know why!

Thanks to all for the replies.... The problem seems to be line digging indeed. I will be experimenting with heavier line this weekend.... Regarding the answers about the handle engaging the spool, it was not an issue as the spool was revolving causing (very) minor backlashes upon the cast was interrupted. I guess I should have mentioned that..

Totally agree. Never failed on me...

Hi everybody, Earlier today I have had problems while using one of my b/c reels with 20lb braid. Before saying anything more, I need to add that I started using b/c gear about five months ago (with mono) and after the initial learning curve I did not have any problems in casting. Before switching to b/c gear I was using 20lb braid on almost all my spinning reels - I prefer braid for most of my fishing applications. After I started using b/c reels I started out with mono (Trilene XL) which I knew would be very helpful during learning - which indeed it was. Anyway, having become quite proficient at casting, I decided to put 20lb braid on one of my baitcasters (Daiva Adv Super Tuned). I had no problems during the first outing with that setup. Today was the second time I used it. After about one hour of casting, one of my casts stopped in mid-air (with no overrun or backlash). I checked and it seemed like just one uneven coling on the spool which I quickly removed. Next attempt, the cast again stopped in mid air and this time the line just flew off with my jig, having broken right at the spool. I pulled a few yards of line (below which the remaining line on the spool appeared smooth), and continued. No problems for a few casts, then again a mid-cast stop - this time the spooled line appeared smooth. Whatever I tried since that time, the cast would stop at about 10 yards. I even pulled out carefully on the shore more than 30 yards of line and re-spooled it smoothly but the problem persisted. I have gained a lot of experience using the breaking mechanisms, so I played with those, I changed lures (various weights), no change. The cast would stop at about 10 yards. I even had a minor backlash at some point while fooling with too loose brakes (which meant again lying out the line and re-spooling it), but the problem persisted all though the afternoon. I would like to know if other people using baitcasting reels with braided lines have had similar experiences. If yes, what is the best solution? I enjoy both using b/c gear and braid, so I was a bit saddened for today's experience...

Cold. We had a major storm over the weekend, associated cold front passed yesterday. Early morning low was 41F, high was 60, tomorrow it warms up a bit to 66 8-)... Brrrr.............. (For those fighting ice.... don't shoot me!)

Their floating worm got me some nice fish both fished on surface among weeds / grass, and on c-ring. But: Pay attention to what TexasBassPro said: Don't ever mix them with other plastics, or even their various colors. I know have some crazy looking multi-colored worms for mixing them in a rush and forgetting about them for a few days... Maybe the new "ultra-hot" color is just sitting besides me waiting to be used ...

Dark conditions / muddy or heavily stained water: Junebug, black/blue flake or tail, black/chart tail, black Sunny / clear or lightly stained water: Pumpkinseed, green pumpkin, watermelon Chartrause has also worked for me in both the above conditions...