Lures'n'Liberty

Anyone have any good recipes? I don't usually use it but GF is getting bored night fishing for flathead and good carp/cat bait would really make my home a lot happier. I've got some old chicken livers out baking on the roof of the chicken coop, Cherry Jello, maple syrup, cornmeal, and the remains of grandpa's old dough ball recipe in my head. I also have an old blender.

I soak my whole live catfish in the little decorative waterfall pond that my girlfriend wanted to put out by the garage for a couple days before I cook them. I see that it's somewhat off the subject, but this is a really good thing to do if your local waterways contain PCB's or other contaminants, as a few days of limited movement in clean water can help to clean the fish from the inside out. If you're talking about any kind of soaking, other than trout, everything I clean goes into a bowl or cooler full of ice water. I also brine catfish for a couple hours and/or depending on the recipe. I've also got an old recipe for Baccala (cod) Soup that my family brought back from Italy that requires soaking dried salted cod in milk, and no I won't give it to you.

Curiosity may kill the cat, but did you figure out which rod is my favorite?

Wasn't really my intention and this is not a compensated endorsement lol but if you can figure out the riddle, the eBay seller with the deal above is someone I'd definitely deal with again.

Looking at a few other specs, while a hell of a lot bigger and bulkier, the Daiwa GC170A is faster than the bullet at 29.4" LPT.

Spincasts are about all I use anymore for bass, outside of the telescopic spinning flipping stick that plays double duty as a backup flathead rig and the spinning finesse/topwater rig. and I've been looking at the bullet for it's speed and matching it with a rod purely for light topwater spinning gear. These reels have a 6:1 retrieve ratio where most of the other spincasts on the market are 4:1 and it's 29ish inch per turn ratio is roughly 150% faster than a Daiwa Goldcast GC100 that's around 20 inches per turn. The Daiwa Silvercast A is 4.3:1 and an SC100A is 25 IPT, halfway between the 2. I love my Daiwas, they are certainly worth a hooey, although I will suggest not taking them to a tournament when they're brand new, as the quality improves greatly after the first day of break in. The smaller the reel, the slower the reel is something else to remember with all other brands, larger spools produce a faster final drive. If you're looking for a quality one reel fits all, I would look to Daiwa or the Zebco Omega PRO. If I had to pick one of my spincast combos to fish anything forever, it would probably be my SC80A mounted to a 6'6 MH fast rod made by the numerical corporation that cannot be mentioned here. (it would be the lesser number brand, and the discontinued model is named after a popular hot rod paint technique where clear is added to a solid color, usually red, and sprayed over a metallic base coat, and available on eBay at a cost of 2 for $49.99).

In the water is usually a good spot. (Sorry, I had to). Really, though, there are so many variables to answer that question that I can see why it's such a good one. Bass fishing is a lot like chess, it involves practice and each piece has an effective move in certain places at certain times while others are useless, or at the least, better at certain times. Bass fishing involves thinking and studying, it's not just throwing a random lure in the water and hoping you get a bite. There's a whole lot to know, pre spawn, post spawn, during the spawn, water temp, all sorts of things. Most often, however, finding a spot where the sun heats the water, there's good cover, and the wind is to your back will be productive, but the answer to your question lies within the many threads throughout the forums. Bring your smartphone in the bathroom and read a couple threads or watch some videos on here every time you poop and you will soon gain a wealth of bass knowledge.

Neither can I, and to add to the update, I left early for work this morning and left the bad reel, all packed up and ready to drop off at the post office, right on my kitchen counter

That's one of the reasons I kept the price low, hoping to eliminate a lot of that. With little comment and repetition, it certainly looks like 4/0 worm hooks and a bag of darker green senkos belong in every box and I'm in full agreement. 194 Watermelon w/ Black Flake seems to be the #1 across the board although I tend to prefer the green pumpkins

Got another email today with a phone number. Spoke to a very nice lady (Rosalind) who was more than helpful in making sure that I got my return label and forms all figured out. Also requested my address so that she could send me a hat and some lures ASAP due to the inconvenience. So far, so good, it seems that this may be my best experience with a broken reel yet. After asking a few questions, she also confirmed that the Sharky Baitfeeder is, in fact, discontinued BUT the Sharky III and Sharky III Baitfeeder would be released to the market soon.

Bad things. Unfortunately someone (it's suspected that his someone was a person who was thrown off the property for being disrespectful) stocked the pond with monster flatheads and sauger. Most of the bass became food for the other fish and the old man who owned the property died with a broken heart over it's demise.

And then I find this. https://www.bassresource.com/beginner/get-started-bass-fishing.html

My buddy has me hooked on Screwy Lewy swim jigs. www.screwylewylures.com It is becoming a rare occasion when I don't catch bass on a green pumpkin.

I've been reading through the threads here and have an idea for a sticky thread in the tackle section. What does one "need" to start out with a full spectrum of tackle in their box and get the most bang for their buck? What plastics are the most versatile, what color spinners should you get first, which 3 or 4 jigs, crankbaits, jerkbaits, topwater, divers, frogs, etc. Which terminal tackle should be in every box? Yes, MTB and LTB are great ways to build up your tackle and try new things, but they don't ensure that you've got all the basics to start with. Since MTB and LTB both start at about $15 per month before discounts, let's give a budget of $60, or the equivalent of 4 months subscription to either. If you want to go for bonus points, make the budget $100 and add a rod, reel, and tackle storage system.

Woke up to an email that contained a prepaid shipping label and a return form to fill out. Will let you know more when my replacement arrives.

It's a sliding scale and a joke between a couple of us who have all caught the same fish before the lake was drained . I didn't weigh it when I caught it, but a friend caught this fish a few weeks prior and put it on a scale. I still maintain that it was bigger when I caught it as it had more time to eat and I knew that it's last meal was about a pound, as when I caught it I was actually trying to catch the flatheads that eventually led to the draining of the lake and I had a pretty big panfish on as bait, so I figured it was 17.2. He told everyone that he caught a 17.2 lb fish (which he did, although it wasn't that weight at the time) and every time we told the stories together or to the same person at different times, it tended to grow by a pound. Once we got past believable sizes, it grew even faster.

You did and if I tell the story 4 more times, it will be up to 28! Really, though, it was 16.2 and came out of a private pond that used to be a pay lake.

My story is a long one, started as a toddler with dad and or one of my grandfathers with a bobber and a worm catching whatever. After my grandfather passed, grandma and I took a week long trip to Erie when I was about 8 and she wanted to take me fishing. We chartered a boat and basically watched a guide fish all day and the coolest part was when he let me drive the boat. The next day, however, she wanted to really fish, so we rented a little Jon Boat. It was awesome, I was on the stick. We brought our Zebco 33's, the same poles my mom and cousins used when I was a little kid. Grandma also stopped at a bait shop and bought some Hula Poppers, which I later found out were the only lures she knew how to catch fish on. We slammed smallmouth all day. I still fished with Dad on his cabin cruiser with a bobber and a worm during the day and I really liked going out at night with some big bait in the water chasing flatheads but it was always kinda boring, not as much fun as throwing the lure with grandma and fighting those bass in. Dad took me to trout camp with the guys when I was 12 and things started changing, at 16 when I could drive, it was all trout or catfish. I tried bass in college but my baitcaster kept ticking me off and I never knew what lures to throw or when and never really got into it. Once or twice a year, between girls, I'd give it a go, I'd catch a few, birdsnest, and drink a lot of beer. I caught my PB (the monster 27 lb largemouth in the picture) when a buddy took me out after a bad breakup and I caught the bug but hated the reels. A few years ago, a friend with a youtube channel invited me out with my neighbor who owns the oldest established Daiwa Warranty Center in the USA. He sold me a goldcast when everything that I owned that was suitable for bass fishing failed and I mounted it to the custom rod I bought in college. I went back to basics and hit a few ponds with Grandma's old Hula Poppers and my spincast combo. The bug started biting back. Fished with buddy some more, watched more of his videos, started learning more and more within the past year, especially when another friend started inviting me out with him and I quit drinking. With the addition of bass to my fishing, I can stretch a day into a fishing marathon. I used to hit the pond at 4 or 5 PM and catch a dozen bluegill to take to the river before chasing flatheads all night. Now, I get up at the crack of dawn and hit the bass on the ponds and lakes until around 4 or 5PM...

5'0" L action Ugly Stik w/ rear drag shimano that I got for Christmas when I asked Santa for a noodle rod. I have a custom featherlight for Crappie/Panfish and a vintage Daiwa for Trout on creeks/streams, but that rig that I never wanted seems to wind up in the truck every single time I go fishing, be it a backup for the other 2 UL's, a backup for the lighter bass rigs, or the one I grab with the flathead gear to go catch bait.

Just responded to second response, this time from Eposeidon via Amazon offering to assist in return or replacement and offering a free gift as well. I like free stuff, this could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

LOL!!! Isn't that the truth! Trust me, they know me well at the local cigar shop and I buy quite a bit from Thompson's Auction site. This probably isn't the thread for it but my go tos are anything by Drew Estates or Thompson's Nitro brand. I like the Nitros for fishing as I'm not scared to drop one in the drink.

If the bugs are out and about, it's a great excuse for me to enjoy a couple cigars. The bugs don't care about the quality, be they your favorite $10 cigar, Black and Mild or Phillies Blunts.

Sent email to customer service Friday night, response came around noon thirty on Monday requesting order number, with which I promptly replied. Hoping next response will offer an immediate solution, Mitchell Advanta I'm using as a backup is a P.O.S., want to fish one evening this week. See Walmart has Shakespeare Tiger combos on sale for under $20, contemplating the purchase of 3 as backups/loaners, as my 3 current backups/loaners are on loan to Dad who took them to Florida and is using them in the Gulf of Mexico for the 3rd year in a row. Assumed reels were shot before he took them this year, as he stored them without rinsing the salt or telling me that he failed to do so last fall.

Took them out over the weekend. Went to line them up with 40 lb braid and discovered that the reel that snapped and clicked and began working smoothly actually broke and the spool no longer moves back and forth. Sent email to Eposideon, this thread will apparently also be a review of their customer service, as that reel is officially out of service. The one that worked, however, worked flawlessly for 3 casts before it started raining, mated to a South Bend Black Beauty 2 8' MH/Moderate rod ($6 score at Ollie's Bargain Outlet, worth every penny). No fish were harmed in the making of this review, as I didn't catch any

With enough duct tape, zip ties, and ingenuity, you can mount anything to anything.