jdw174

47 steps..... someday I would like to me that close. I'm just a "little" longer than 47 steps, but 15 or 30 minutes ain't all that bad

Another one I'll add is the old Ozark Mountain Kingfisher. I still have three. They're at their best in the slop. Kind of a cross between a spoon and a ????. Even trying to describe them would be rather difficult. I'll try and dig one of mine out and get a photo posted here. Absolutely OUTSTANDING on matted weeds or coming through the thick stuff.

I agree. I used to use Zoom chunks until I located Squealers at the local US Bass store. IMO every bit as good as pork in cold water.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

Any articles on bass fishing in In-Fisherman written by Steve Quinn will be more than worth your read. He really gets in-depth on any technique. Their annual Bass Fishing Guide is a must buy for me. You might be interested in the FLW Outdoors Magazine (bass edition). I'm beginning to prefer it a bit over BassMaster.

Anything with either a square or coffin lip will deflect the best. I do a lot of shallow water cranking, and my favorite is the Norman Mad-N. Also the Mann's Baby-1 Minus and Baby-4 Minus.

IMHO, one of the greatest plastic worms of all time....the FLIPTAIL. Bill Dance used to fish with these almost exclusively (his pre-infomercial days), and I cut my worm fishing teeth on them. I still have a couple of bulk bags of the little Fliptail Flirts (6" with a small hooktail on them) in Motor Oil and Grape colors. The originals were a 7" long straight tail. I'd LOVE to see these come back.

I have a 6'6" Castaway and a 7' custom built rod that I use for SB's. One has a Curado on it, the other has a Quantum. Both are spooled with 17lb SilverThread.

When I'm pitching soft plastics, a big, straight-shanked Owner is the only one I'll use. No problem with hookups.

I've had decent luck with narrow-wobble crankbaits. And of course, the jig 'n pig......

I've not had any experience with Humminbird. I've always been an Eagle/Lowrance guy. However, it's my contention that the more pixels on your screen the more details you'll see in the water. After you pick your brand, I'd shoot for the one that gave me that detail.

Haven't touched a spool of mono in years (ever since Bagley began importing SilverThread co-polymer). Currently have two reels spooled with braid...all the rest have one version or the other of SilverThread, from 10-17lb.

I can't begin to remember all the LM and SM that I pulled out from under boat docks on Chautauqua lake in western NY using an AllStar SRML rod spooled with 8lb SST line. The lure was always a 3" tube jig rigged with an original Gitzit 1/16oz head. This lure was skipped up underneath the docks, and some of those fish went to 4+lb. That's about as light as it gets for this kid..........

Quite frankly, when it comes to cost......I had some help. I used to managed the fishing dept. in a Dick's store. Good prices to begin with, and I got the "employee's discount" off of that. Many times we'd get a list of things that were to be "liquidated" to make room for new items, and I'd grab whatever I could (PLUS the discount). Picked up a couple of Castaics, two Browning Midas 6's, and a Curado from another employee that just "didn't like it".

I fish a wide gap hook...weightless. My favorite use for them is on a MH action spinning rig that I use to skip up underneath overhanging trees/bushes.

Some of the best (and most used) lures in my boxes look like they got caught in a roll of barbed wire. I regularly fish a Cordell Spot that has the nose mashed up from banging into things, and the finish is a wreck from teeth marks , yet the fish still will climb all over that lure. Slight paint chips from hooks? I know it could get bothersome from an aesthetic standpoint, but it shouldn't hurt the fish catching ability one bit.

I'm almost ashamed to say this, but I can hardly remember the last time I actually tore apart and cleaned the gear :-/ . I've seen some posts that recommend soaking the bearings in Ronsonol, but is there anything else that isn't quite so fumy? I'd also like to clean out the pawl and worm drive. Any suggestions there, like a spray? I already bought the Hot Sauce Grease and Oil.

I stopped ordering from BPS a LONG time ago. They would take your order without bothering to tell you they were out of stock. Never had that trouble with Cabelas, cuz they ALWAYS said whether an item was in/out of stock when I ordered. Their return policy is super, too. Another store that carries a good stock is a Gander Mountain. As for Dick's, I managed the tackle dept. in their first Erie,Pa. store. It was LARGE and well stocked. They since closed that store and opened a newer (and smaller) one in the same mall. The tackle dept isn't even 1/4 the size it was in the original. Dick's seems to be concentrating on clothing/team sports/golf rather than the outdoors end of things these days. The only BPS store I've been in is the one at Opry Mills in Nashville. Aisles so narrow that two people can hardly pass, and more items stuffed into displays than there should be. Hard to locate anything.

I'm not so sure that the braid is going to stay on the two reels I have it on. Like you, I favor the copolymer lines.

Thanks Reelmech. It's a bit easier (and cheaper) to just back off on the reels a bit than to start dropping bucks on new rods...not that I wouldnt mind that

Back when braid was the "latest and greatest", I bought a spool to try on my jigging rod. Not knowing any better (no one had written much on it), I went out fishing on Kentucky Lake while on vacation. I pitched a jig to a stump and was rewarded with a solid THUMP as it fell. Unfortunately, I had my drag set the same as I would for my normal copolymer line and when I crossed his eyes, I also snapped my AllStar SJ2 in half...right in front of the telescopic section > How tight do you set your drags when fishing braid? I have it on my C-rig and have the drag set to slip a bit. I also loaded it back onto my pitching rig with a slight slippage set in. Any suggestions?

I never thought I'd see the day when rods/reels were up into the $200+ range. Being the cheap SOB that I am , I just wonder if there are any rods/reels out there that you consider real bargains? I'm not in the market at present, but am vaguely curious. Let's consider something a bargain if it's UNDER $100. My picks would be the Berkley Series One rods $59-$69 retail, and the old reliable Ambassadeur 4600C4 reels at $79. At just a few bucks more, I would add in the Team Daiwa LT or "S" rods.

Jeez Bud, don't sugarcoat it so much. Just tell it like it is....

Thanks for the tip. I bought me a handful of silver buddies today in 1/2 and 3/4oz. Unless you're going really deep/fishing in HIGH winds, I doubt that the 3/4oz will be needed a lot. I used the 1/2oz down to 40' in Lake Erie. I fish mine on spinning gear w/12lb line, although you can use baitcasting gear as well. There's a lot of ways to fish them. You can retrieve them straight back, hop them down ledges, etc., but my favorite is vertical jigging. I drop straight down until it rests on the bottom (or whatever depth the fish are holding at), then pop it up a couple of feet. Let it fall back on a "semi-tight" line. If you just rip it up and drop your rod tip, the SB's have a tendency to tangle hooks in the line. Most of the time you'll get hit as it drops back. Watch where your line enters the water. If you see it coiling up before it gets back down, SET THE HOOK! I've had strikes I've never felt. Just went to rip the lure back up and darn near got my arm broke from a big smallie

By all means, get you a handful of Silver Buddies if you like vertical jigging. One of the finest smallie blade baits ever invented. I used the half ounce consistently on Lake Erie with great results. For the standard jigging spoon, if you can find some slender enough, slip a tube jig over the spoon. Also works great at times.