Jerryj33

I do like cranking braid when I'm ripping lipless or square bills out of grass, but most of the time I'm cranking supernatural mono or yo-zuri hybrid because I really like the extra "bounce" you get when you deflect off of hard cover with a stretchier line.

Tight wobble, cold water cranks. Think of them basically like a shad rap. There's a lot of other flat sided cold water cranks that I reach for first. But I know they're popular with trout and walleye guys

I'm in love with my Yo-Zuri 3DB popper. Walks likes a dream and pops with a nice deep "bloop" On a slick calm morning with our clear mountain water, I favor the Rapala X-Rap Pop, it has a much more subtle noise and a gentler splash, especially when walking. If you do go with a Rebel Pop-R just change the hooks immediately. They will rust after one trip, and bend out on a stiff rod. Don't worry about feathering the rear, I've never noticed a difference when I've swapped.

Thanks guys, appreciate the detailed feedback. Also, I had no idea about the spelling of his last name, whoops! I'll pick up a few packs next time I'm out and review em once I've had a chance to stick a few on them. I plan on swapping out hooks on my DT6s first as I really just don't have a ton of confidence i those VMCs.

I use Trokar hooks almost exclusively, but their trebles are just too pricey, so I've been looking for a good treble at a fair price. Came across these at wal-mart today. Didn't buy them, but they looked pretty decent. Does anyone have any experience with these? I know generic eagle claw isn't really on par with gammy, owner or mustad, but for the price they are mighty enticing.

I'm looking at picking up a new frog rod and a finesse jig rod. I've got about 250 to spend between the two of them and my search has come down to the Maxim and the new Bucoo. I'm interested in a 6'10 MH for finesse jigs and craws, and a 7'3 H for frogs, which both of these lines offer. Does anyone have any experience with both/either of these sticks? I've heard great stuff about both!

The wife and I are relocating to Asheville from the Seattle area where smallmouth dominate. Based on my initial research, I'm seeing that bronzes and trout are also the dominant species in western NC, but there doesn't seem to be much info on largemouth. I highly doubt the largie populations could be any worse than they are in WA State, but I can't seem to find much info. I have to sell my boat before we move, but I'll pick up an aluminum ASAP. Any suggestions for small water fisheries or those accessible from shore would be greatly appreciated. Truthfully, any info on the area at all would be great. Thanks! -jerry

I'll be visiting family in El Paso in late January and I was thinking about bringing some tackle. I've got an 8 year old nephew who really wants me to take him fishing while I'm there. Are there any urban fisheries or anything not too far from town that would yield any possibilities of getting us on some fish? I live in Washington state where winter fishing is basically nonexistent, so I'm not sure how winter fishing is in west Texas. If it's possible to get on some bass, or even just panfish for the little guy, that would be good enough for us! Thanks!

A larger boat sounds great, but I'm not sure if it's really feasible for me. Installing a hitch, buying and registering a trailer and buying a larger boat sounds like it would quickly add up. From what I've been able to find, the Lowe 1236 is also riveted and the Alumacraft website didn't specify. They are between 100-200$ more than the tracker, which is definitely reasonable. The cabelas 20 miles from me carries both of those, so I can go take a look at them soon for a visual comparison

I fish the lakes south of the Tacoma area in Eatonville. Lakes Tanwax, Ohop, Kapowsin, Rapjohn and Silver. They're all around 300 acres and pretty low traffic. Some even have a speed limit. I also fish a 30 acre pond near me. None of the rivers around me hold bass and I'm not into salmon or steelhead so I'm not too worried about a bout that can't handle them. The biggest lake I fish is a reservoir about 1k acres and I don't go there often

I'm going to be buying and setting up my first boat this offseason. Something that I can load in the back of my pickup. I was leaning towards a tracker 1236 from the local bass pro, but there's an abundance of 12 foot used aluminums in the classifieds for about half the price. I've heard riveted boats tend to leak eventually so I'm concerned about buying used. I'm on a pretty tight budget, but I just don't know if it's worth the risk. I've fished from plenty of aluminum v-hulls and my uncles little bass raider and I was curious how the stability compared to a Jon. I plan on powering it with a trolling motor this year, but upgrading to an outboard eventually. I'm not sure what size TM would be ideal for the small lakes that I fish (300-500 acres) and I'm undecided between the Minn Kota and the bps store brand. And do the larger motors take up significantly more battery? Any advice would be much appreciated, thanks!

I started bass fishing again for the first time since I moved to Tacoma from San Diego a few years back and I have had a much harder time finding the bite. I've checked out quite a few lakes south of Tacoma and haven't had much success or found a lot of good access to banks. I've fished kapowsin, spanaway, tanwax, and Ohop all with minimal success and was wondering if there are any other suggestions for a bank angler. I don't mind driving an hour or so (I live 5 minutes from lake spanaway) to find lakes with more accessible banks and active bites. Thanks!