TheRodFather

No doubt, but I imagine they are bound by sponsorships that would prevent them from recommending anything not currently on their jersey.

That's what I was going to say. Not too much you could ask that pros don't already answer on a daily basis on the web.

I have been looking for something just like that, that I can fish those areas but not break the bank. How is the hull holding up to the rocks? What specific hull is it?

The poor guy probably didn't even notice, cut him a break.....:)

Sometimes I will sit in my chair or couch and tie on a 1/2 oz jig and pitch across the room while watching TV to get the feel for the reel and my thumb and the timing of when it's going to hit the "water". What can I say, it's cold here.

I tried JJs early in the spring and I can't say with any confidence that it got me any more bites. Now, the caveat here is that there are only a very limited number of places I can fish for largemouth, by limited, I mean 2, and these are a heavily pressured farm pond and a small creek in a park, so getting a bite at these places is tough on a good day. I think my best day at the farm pond was 4 fish, and one was a crappie, on live bait. As the season wore on, I started fishing more for smallmouth and in mid summer I tried Smelly Jelly in crawfish anise on my ned rigs/tubes, and Smelly Jelly baitfish scent on paddle tail swimbaits. I do believe that they helped me catch more fish, not only that they held on longer, but that it also worked as an attractant. Now is that because it attracted the fish or deterred my scent, well I guess that's neither here nor there since more fish is more fish and clearly the scent is the variable. The scents seems to work the best when casting up stream and hopping/dragging a tube or ned rig downstream, or swimming the paddle tails downstream, as if the current was bringing the scent downstream and alerting the fish that something was on the way. I tested this nearly every day I fished because I would start out fishing without scent, and after an hour or so would apply the scent and was getting more consistent action with the scent. This was over several months, many different times of the day, etc, etc. The smelly jelly is easy to apply and if you get the right system down, can be applied without touching the stuff, although I do rub a bit on my fingers in case I might be putting scent on the bait. Also, I was killing the smallies this summer and early fall with Berkely gulp hellgrammites, but couldn't find more of them locally and wanted to try some other soft plastic hellgrammites so I ordered some Case plastics hellgrammites, which look amazing by the way, very lifelike. But didn't have near the success with the case, as the Berkely gulp baits. Maybe I'll mix the case plastics with the smelly jelly, as I had moved away from hellgrammites and on to ned rigs before trying the smelly jelly. So, I'm a believer. TRF

No, but it gives me an idea for the 1/2in PVC pipe and fittings I have laying around........!! Also, the thread title is disappointingly misleading......

I wonder what type of metal the eyes on the red eye shad are made of, that the treble hooks would rot off but the eyes are still ok. Or did yo already have them off for the picture....?

No, just that there is a dizzying array of lures made by Rapala.

My apologies if I'm being argumentative, not intending to stir up trouble. I haven't had a fish on in over a month, so I think I'm getting irritable

Oh boy, there are some Rapala fan boys out there.........somehow the discussion went to taking personal responsibility for hard bait purchases, lol. All I'm sayin guys, is that for the novices out there trying to start a collection of baits that cover the different techniques and parts of the water column, Rapala has a vast (some might say dizzying) array of choices. So it is hard(er) for the novice to narrow down the field and just get a few "jerkbaits", or a couple "squarebills". I love buying tackle, but I have learned (from BR) that less baits a lot of times equals more, so I try to K.I.S.S. Heck, the OCD in me is ticked that I can't get the same exact colors in lipless cranks as I have in squarebills from SK. If ever there was a reason for the phrase: "Some lures are for catching fish, others for catching fishermen", Rapalas lineup comes to mind. Of course that's not to say some of their lures wont catch fish, but one starts to wonder just how many different types of black shoes a woman really needs to own.......

Ok, must just be me then From Rapalas website: BX Series (5) Clackin' Series (4) CountDown Lures (4) DT Series (10) Giant Lures (2) Husky Jerk Series (5) Ike's Custom Ink Colors (13) Jigging Series (4) Magnum Lures (4) Original Floating (1) Rippin' Rap Series (2) Scatter Rap Series (10) Shad Rap Series (8) Shadow Rap Series (4) Skitter Series (6) Tail Dancer Series (4) Ultra Light Series (5) X-Rap Series (9) X-Rap Saltwater Series (7) All Other Lures (10) All the numbers beside the lure name are categories within the categories. 10 different types of scatter raps: Scatter rap: Shad Crank Husky jerk tail dancer crank deep countdown shallow minnow shad deep jointed And thats just the "scatter rap series....................dizzying is the perfect description

I know, I'm picking nits

As far as what type of lures you put on what rod, well, research and personal preference. The other thing I wanted to say is something that another fisherman told me that makes a lot of sense after I tried it for myself. People get hung up on the fact that this reel or that reel has a few pounds more drag than another, but the reality is that you are never going to need 15 pounds of drag, or even 10 pounds in my opinion. Tie a 15 lb weight to the end of your line and I dare you to try pick it up with the rod. If you value your rod, you will stop before you even come close to 15 pounds.

Sure, but Rapalas website doesn't help me much when I'm browsing the tackle shop as a noob. They are all pretty confusing for the novice truth be told.

That's kind of the point though isn't it......it takes a third party to organize Rapalas product into a format that makes sense. Lets say you aren't familiar with there product line but are open to buying their products (like me). You go into the tackle store and see racks and racks of little boxes of rapala baits, but there are so many names for things that you don't know if your looking at a slashbait, jerkbait, or do I go for a DT or DT thug, or shad dancer or scatter rap or glass shad rap. I guess I shouldn't complain, as variety is the spice of life, and kudos to Rapala for offering such diverse product, but darn, they sure could have made it easier to make heads or tails of it.

I was wondering this myself, how are the Rapalas broken down, by size, technique, running depth? Is the shad rap a crankbait, is the shadow rap a jerkbait, what the heck is the countdown? It seems very unorganized how the product line is organized. The SK baits follow a much easier naming and sizing convention In my opinion. TRF

I'm happy to take another fisherman along. Her parents live in a cul de sac in Port Charlotte with three canals that meet in the back yard. My FIL built a 12x10ft deck with pontoons and a trolling motor with solar battery charger for drifting up and down the canals. It's awesome. We went in July of this year, it was so darn hot, but was still a ton of fun. So much water to throw a line in. They run a nursery on their property and the two on each side, with every kind of citrus fruit you can imagine, palms of every type everywhere, it really is like a tropical paradise. Another family member took us out in Charlotte Harbor when we were there and we caught some Sea Trout, Snapper, and my wife caught a Bonnet-head shark. You can take a shift driving so I can nap. God knows my nerves are on high alert when she is behind the wheel and couldn't think of relaxing......... Uh oh, I gotta go, I think she's watching me.......he he

I'm trying to convince my wife that we need to get down to Florida sometime in January/February to visit her parents.

Holy Crap! You 'found' more cranks than I even own!

I carry one almost all the time. I use one at work because at any given time I could be very far from my toolbox and walking back to it for a pliars/flathead/phillips head/cutters is simply a huge time/energy waster. A lot of my fishing is done on the way into, or on the way home from work, so it's on me. I own quite a few leathermen including the Wave, and while it has a lot of nice features, I find that it can be a pain to carry because it requires a sheath, so there is more "prep" involved with taking it on and off and deploying. You can pocket carry it but it is pretty big and bulky to be sitting in the pocket. At this point I have settled on the "rev", it has the features I want and a pocket clip that makes it convenient to carry and deploy with one hand. I have a wingman also, but don't have it in front of me right now, I believe the sidekick is a model that has a built in pocket clip. The fact that the knife of the tool is able to be deployed without opening up the tool is a nice feature as well. As for hook sharpening, this pen sharpener came in a sharpening kit I had laying around and sits in my tackle back if I need to sharpen a hook. http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=34967246&KPID=18465522&cid=CAPLA:G:Shopping_-_Catch_All_-_New&pla=pla_18465522&k_clickid=bf5d819a-8314-413b-bc74-15ff08b931dc One thing to note, Leatherman company or it's owner/s are rumored to be anti-gun, I haven't found much of any evidence that proves this one way or another, just something I have heard. If that is an issue for you, People seem to like the Gerber multi tools, I personally do not. TRF

To be fair, there is a thread for "what rod to buy" for everything. If there were rods made for rainy days VS sunny days, they would be asked about and purchased on here.

It produced well for me this year. I noticed that it drove the fish crazy the first couple of outings, but they caught on quick and wouldn't touch it after the initial offering. Now granted I don't have more than 3 places I can fish where I know I can get the fish to produce, so I'm sure the fishing pressure plays into that. If I had access to more acreage, I imagine the plopper would continue to produce. In fact, on the guided trip I took in late summer on the Susquehanna, they were all over the plopper. Most fun I've had in years. The first one I bought, and the one that has produced best for is the "yoda" color. Also have the T1000 and Loon. Haven't had any luck on the Loon color, reviews say that one is great, but hasn't been for me yet. I haven't been able to find one in Bone yet since they fly off the shelf. Bone is what I was using on that trip and slaying them.

My guess would be that you are hopping a little too forcefully. This happens to me sometimes and it's always when I allow too much slack in the line and loose "contact" with the bait. I plan to fish jigs a lot more this coming season and from what I can tell, keeping tight or at worst only very slightly drooping line is the trick to feeling what is sometimes a very soft take from the fish. Sometimes it happens to me when I swing on a fish and miss. Not much I can do about that I suppose.

I will pass it along, thanks!