volzfan59

My first boat was a Coleman Crawdad. It was one of the first generations meaning it was a single hull with aluminum tubes for bracing. The later generations have two plastic hulls w/o the bracing. Also, the older Crawdads were rated for a 10 h/p outboard, I had a Johnson 9.9 on mine. From what I've been told, the newer generations were only rated for six h/p. Like @TnRiver 46, I'm from east TN and they are legendary for smallmouth fishing in rivers and creeks. Those boats will take a pounding and if you were to puncture the hull, you can watch a YouTube video on plastic welding and fix it easily.

Jigs have always been an Achilles heel for me, although my pb Smallie came on an old Denny Brauer black and blue jug! Over the years, I think I've caught a total of two l/m, one nice smallie and a drum on a jig! I enjoy finesse fishing, do late last year I bought some Missle micro jigs and some Zman finesse jigs to try.

I read both product reviews and opinions expressed here. However I do so "with a grain of salt". Especially on here as we all fish differently. Some folks would rather shop at Walmart, nothing wrong with that, some guys like to order straight from Japan. Some folks are easy to please, some not so much. Plus, some folks would complain if you hung them with a new rope! Here's what I'm saying, if I went off of some of the opinions here, I never would have purchased my BPS Platinum casting rods and reels, my Crankin' Stick rods or my Patriot spinning rods. I also own two St. Croix's and a Loomis Smallmouth Series rod. For my fishing, my BPS rods are every bit as good and, after 4 or 5 years, they are standing the test of time. Same for the reels, but I do preventive maintenance on my reels twice yearly.

I keep mine around 24".

Flav-O-Rich Dairy.

I agree, Sportsman's Warehouse website needs some work. I have never had a problem with BPS website. Their app, on the other hand leaves something to desire.

Don't worry, it's only transitory.?

I agree, never had an issue with ordering from BPS website and their basic shipping is great. Just a matter of days compared to TW basic shipping, two to three weeks last time I ordered from them. While some BPS stores do run out of product, online has never been out of stock on what I wanted. Academy and Scheels are great too. Thanks to @MN Fisher for turning me on to Scheels!

Same here. I hate to see it go away. When I was still living in east TN, I made a couple of really good friends from RS.

Hah, learn something new every day! Thanks Tom

Looks like you have a great employer! I'd stay until retirement time.

Thank you for all the replies! If memory serves me correctly, the majority were EWG 3/0, four or five to the pack. I think that there my have been some trebles too, but I'm not sure. Off to Walmart!

I'm a huge fan of Gamakatsu hooks. That said, I was in our local Walmart a couple of days ago for cat food. When there, I always check the Fishing Dept. although it rarely changes. The have Berkley Fusion hooks on clearance for two bucks and change. Are these hooks any good?

I concur.

RIP Meatloaf. Thank you for the music.

I read yesterday that he is now with 13 Fishing. I don't remember where I saw it to use as a source, BassBlaster I think. Edit, I guess I should have read the title of the article before posting. Oh well, apologies.

I pretty much always change the hooks on older Rat-L-Traps and Super Spots because I have lost fish on them. Newer Traps have better hooks than the older ones. I've never had a bass throw a Red Eye Shad, Rattling Vibe or whatever Megabass and Spro call their lipless. Here's what I learned working at BPS. If you but BPS branded crankbaits, automatically change the hooks on ALL XTS crankbaits! They are straight up junk. The XPS baits have better hooks and I've done ok on new XPS jerkbaits with stock hooks. I did change them because they dulled fairly quickly.

Hey buddy, Next time your down towards Chattanooga, they have Sportsman's Warehouse. It's a pretty nice store, prices are in line with BPS, heck they're prices a pretty much in line with the mom and pop store's where I live. I was there one morning before Christmas, shelves were well stocked.

I actually enjoyed watching those guys running bass boats on a closed course. It was pretty interesting how well the boats handled and what they got out of them.

I sure hope that they put a Sportsman's Warehouse in Monroe, LA when they start "...adding more stores..."

I tried floro when it first came out, hated it. I tried it again a few years ago, still hate it. I use mono for just about everything. Braid for pretty much anything that I drag on the bottom. Once I run out of braid, I'll probably go 100% mono.

50 to 60 mph is okay with me, 40 is better. I've had friends with Bullets, Norris Crafts and now Allison's that will run in the 80+ range. That's entirely too fast for me on the water. One time, me and my Bullet owning buddy were cooking down the TN River, fairly close to Neyland Stadium. For those that don't know, that's where the U.T. Volunteers play football. Any way, we were going so fast my nice sunglasses blew off (I know, should have used a tether), lost a hat and one of my contacts was pulled out. Don't ask me how or why, I don't know? I don't really remember turning my head or anything. I just know that one minute all was well, the next I couldn't focus.

Well done sir!

I've tried reeling with my left hand, just wasn't comfortable for me. I had two or three left handed reels. Sold all three.