Supermat

Not sure on the weight. Really, there are 3 options for the stinger hook. Tie your second treble hook to HEAVY mono, braid, or attach it with sevenstrand wire. Then you tie or cinch it to the swivel that the first hook is attached to. Its hard to explain in words but basically run it back on a second line so that itis inline with the first hook but 1-1.5" farther back.

That's the Osprey Slow Roller if I'm not mistaken. Nice bait... definetely capable of drawing strikes. The only thing is due to the shape you will have a tendency to miss fish if you don't add a second hook farther back on the bait.

Man oh man, you just need perspective! There are tackle ho's on here with 10, 20, or 30 times the stuff you've got... and they probably fish less too! I feel the same way as you sometimes but I was at a buddies house the other day and he said we'd need to take my boat as his was under a pile of junk right now. I walked into his garage and wouldn't you know it there were no less than 20 boxes, rods, terminal tackle, line spools, etc... on the decks plus another 50 boxes and dozen or two rods leaned up on the boat! He couldn't even fish out of his boat it was so buried in tackle. Needless to say, I felt better about my habit.

Earthworm, I too respectfully have to disagree with you. I was VERY doubtful of the bait when it came out, in fact I about swore I'd never throw one. One day I was in a friend's boat who was smoking the tourneys and he quietely showed me the key to his success... wouldn't you know it?!?! I almost couldn't stop laughing, the bait I'd sworn off was smoking them on my water! I picked some up and started putting them to work. At first all I could do with them is catch dinks. I'd catch more fish than than I would with a spinnerbait but they were smaller. I started experimenting with retrieves, colors, etc... and that is where the success began. Since then I can honestly say "yes" with the exception of icy winter water I do in fact load the boat with it AND catch top end fish with it (one double digit). To each is own but for me, this bite was better than the hype and has been a a little cash cow. I too don't use the "chatterbait" brand bait, I quickly found out that it couldn't withstand my abuse. I broke snaps, blades, and even hooks! I use one made locally that has steel blades and a 5/0 hook but other than that its the same bait. Matt

Fourbizzle said it right. The sidewinder was so far ahead of its time it wasn't even funny! Nobody had done anything like that that I know of. Problem is, it wasn't 100% flawless IMO. It is very tough to get it to do what you want. Its a sweet bait, when it was made is was an AMAZING bait. These days Mickey (316) and others are making baits that have pushed the sidewinder off to the sidelines.

I use a very large double-buzz almost all the time when I feel a buzzbait will work. For me its all about the size and noise level. A really large double buzz with double clacker will move a ton of water, makes tons of noise, and goes really slow. That is the key to big surface fish most of the time.

Thanks Lightninrod! I'm pretty happy about it. 8-)

Boy, sounds like fun fishin'! Let's all run out and learn how to do that one!

"Best" is such an objective term but I can honestly say that the "best" custom work I've seen is coming from Crazy fish rods. www.crazyfishrods.com Rick makes standard rods but will also do ANYTHING you want. What I'm looking for in a custom guy is someone who takes my ideas and runs with them or who stays a step ahead of me. On the rod we're doing right now I listed off what I wanted and he said he could do it. On more than one occasion I got an email that either said "I made an executive decision to do X because it makes more sense" or "I was thinking about your rod and this just doesn't make sense, I think you should do this instead, what do you think?" THAT is what I want in a rod maker. I want a guy who takes my ideas and improves them, who spots flaws in my theories and repairs them, even if I'm not able to be reached to ok the work. Anyone who has enough confidence to tweak a custom rod prior to getting permission is a guy you can trust. And last, I want a guy who is thinking about my rod long after he's working on it and emails me at midnight with some way to make it better. His stuff is not the most expensive but his high-end blanks are FAR from cheap. Check him out, I have nothing but good to say when it comes to his custom work.

Yeah, probably 85% of the fish on the first two pages were caught with that rod. It really is sweet. Matt

Owner Rig'n hook or offset. 4/0-11/0 depending on the situation.

Personally, I use the Redington RFXC 7911. Its an AWESOME swimbait rod! Very heavy backbone with a medium tip. I've caught a ton of swimbait fish with it and have never had a problem. It sounds like you've got a very unique opportunity... capitalize on it! Shoot me a PM if you've got the time, there are a few aspects of your approach I'd like to discuss. Matt www.calfishing.com/gallery/v/members/supermat

The bulk of my top-end fish have come from swimbaits hands down but I am also a fan of jigs, blades, and 10" worms. That said, the swimbait wins by about 7:1. Matt

Definetely sounds like a reel problem. I use a snagproof instead of a Spro but that doesn't matter. I also use 65 lb Spectrex and can cast a country mile. My first recommendation is to turn your brakes from 2 up to 4, then loosen up the spool tensioner significantly. I know that adding brakes sounds odd but you may be compensating for a lack in braking with spool tension and not knowing it. Do this, if your cast length diminishes or your backlashes get worse turn the spool tension back up a HAIR and try again then report back. Also, are you backlashing at the beginning of the cast or is it at the end of the cast? The backlash itself will tell you where the problem lies. Matt

Word is that the guys in Cuba whack 'em on live eels. I've also been told that any fish caught on an eel is not eligible for a record of any kind. I'm no expert on the subject but from what I understand they make your entry ineligible. That aside, the more I fish the more I find a bass will eat ANYTHING that swims, walks, flies, floats, etc... as long as it fits in their mouth. I wouldn't even get a newborn child too close to the water around here! ;D

Thanks a lot Long Mike! > You inspired me... that got expensive! ;D

I definitely like a solid pattern and there are times when pattern fishing will CRUSH the competition but that will only be consistant if combined with the right spots. I know that the tournaments I do alright in I'm pattern fishing the tournaments I win by a long shot are always SPOT days.

Roadwarrior, Maybe you should define "tournament angler" for me. Does a guy have to fish BASS to be a "tournament angler", FLW? Stren Series? How far down the line is the cut off for you? Tell me that and then we can discuss this. Is the guy who fishes a Everstart a nobody even though he gets $100,000 for winning? Tell me where the cut off and I'll provide your list of examples. See, I consider myself to be a trophy hunter. I'm definetely not the best, but I'm not the worst. That said, I also fish tournaments and I've learned to combine the two though I don't fish the giant circuits. Let me know what you consider to be the cut-off because there are guys doing it and I'll point them out for you. Also, somewhere along the lines you guys seem to have got it into your head that trophy guys aren't happy unless they catch a 20 lb bass on every trip. You're flat MISTAKEN. I LOVE double-digits, that said I really enjoy catching 2 lbers too. No where near as much but it can be a real blast to just knock the dinks dead. Heck, I went crappie fishing this weekend instead of swimbaiting and had one of the most enjoyable days in recent memory. Just because to some degree we've learned to pattern bigger than average fish doesn't mean its not a good time to catch "average" fish too. When I say that I can go 2, 5, 10, 15 trips in a row without so much as a bite that doesn't mean I didn't catch a fish. That means I didn't catch a swimbait fish... somewhere along the way I picked up a jig, crank, worm, blade, etc... and fulfilled my desire for a bite, or 2, or 50.

There are definetely "trophy hunters" and "tournament fisherman" but you're forgetting the small catergory of guys who do BOTH. Those are the guys to be. There are guys who do great in the tournaments and consistantly weigh giant fish in their bags, quite often double-digits. Who can top a guy who produces giant fish within the set constraints of a tournament? There aren't a lot of them but there are guys who do it. To me, that is the "best".

You're in tough shape on that one! There is one shop in Socal, I think its Angler's Marine, but I could be wrong that deals directly with 22nd century. If you're not in that loop its really hard to get the baits. You need to call them up and get on the wait list. Last time I want a specific size, color, sink rate it took over 3 months to get the phone call back! Crazy! Get yourself on the waiting list, sometimes its really quick.

Wow, is that the SR Plastics Dagon in your siggy? Haven't seen that bait in a while! There are TONS of baits to throw, not everyone is throwing the same baits. You've got two main options: soft and hard. For soft baits you've got mattlures, castaic, huddleston, Rago, 3:16, Stockertrout, River2sea, and others. For hardbaits you've got again, Rago, 3:16, castaic, river2sea, 22nd century, ms slammer, AC plug, etc... There really isn't a bait that won't catch fish in the right conditions. Unfortunately most of us are suckers and have bought just about everything instead of sticking with a few classics. Matt

I think its all a pile of crock, still waiting for the volcano that will drop us a few degrees and spin us off into a not-so-warm tangent. ;D In the meantime, warmer weather never hurt any bass' growing season so its all good by me! I think that if this stuff pans out you're going to have fish that are active more of the year, feeding more heavily... sounds good to me!

The term "heavy cover" means different things to different people. I know that there are areas I fish a frog where its not about breaking off, its about control. If I hooked an 8 lb bass way back in the slop inside tree branches with 50 lb braid it might not be that I'd break her off persay, just that I wouldn't have the muscle to get her up, out of the branches, on top of the slop, and the 75 feet back to the boat. Its not always about breaking off, its about control. 65 lb or higher braid gives you the ability to get those fish coming in your direction. In open water you can just a fish through branches on light line but 75 feet across a moss mat you can't get to them, they're either coming over the branches the same way you went in there or they're not coming out at all. Its all about CONTROL. That said, I've broken 50 lb a few times, its a misleading label because though it is rated for 50 lb pull strength it can be cut by sharp objects just like 12 lb mono due to the thin diameter. Its a very different mindset from the way a lot of guys fish. You're going into places where 50-65 lb line IS giving the fish a chance... totally different ball game from the way most guys bass fish. As for mono I feel that there are times when I need 25-30 lb to accomplish what I'm after, especially when swimbait fishing but that is a whole different ball game. Matt

The most accurate scale I know of that is reasonably priced is the Berkeley 50 lb. Its not too expensive and its pretty darned accurate. Now, if accuracy is all you're after then you should really go with a Salter/Brecknell. The salter is 1 of 2 handheld scales that can consistantly be certified for accuracy. Problem is the Salter carries a pretty hefty price tag.

River Warrior, I like to crank with 15 lb. Reason being I typically fish shallow structure (don't have to worry about getting down deep) and also because you never really know how big of a fish is going to strike at a given moment. Depending on your preferences I'd lean more toward 12 lb for general cranking as the 10 is pretty slim stuff. Road Warrior, I agree with you about Ande, that is definetely a hard point to argue... they do have a record, or two, or... ;D If you've got to compare to something that's not a bad route to go! As for my preference, it depends on the cover you're fishing but the 12 lb or 15 lb are great choices. Basically, any application that I use to use 10 lb line for I now use the 12 lb Premium, anything I use to use 12 lb for is now 15 lb. I really do feel that I can upsize this line with little to no negative effect. So much so that much of my blade fishing is done with the 25-30 lb in heavy cover and I get pounded in gin clear water. Again, sorry about before. You're obviously very knowledgable and have thought through the choices you've made. Its hard to argue with anyone who has thought through there actions whether you agree with them or not.