Brad_Coovert

Check out Stamina Tackle. www.staminatackle.com I believe. They have more skirts and skirt stuff than anyone. Brad

If you're fish a lipless bait aboveshallow weeds, you need to get this bait: Lucky Craft LV-0 You will not find another lipless bait like it and it is a must have for all serious lipless bait fishermen. Brad

Slide swivel onto line. Tie on EWG hook. Thread bait onto EWG hook. Run other end of swivel over hook point and slide up to top. Run hook through bait and Texpose. Hope this helps. Brad

Check out page 53 of the newest BassMaster magazine and read about the backwards Fat Ika rig. Interesting use of a swivel. Sorry, but the reverse Fat Ika is now there for all to see. Brad

Lots of good creatures on the market. In fact, I have yet to meet a creature that would not catch bass. IMO though, your list should be broke into two lists. One for creatures like Brush Hogs and GYCB Kreatures - ones with swimming appendages, and another list with Sweet Beavers, Beasts, etc. Totally different styles of baits for me. Brad

The Booyah! Counterstrike is the replacement for the Riverside/Excalibur counter rotating baits of the past. These baits do not give off any more flash or vibration than a regular bait. The object of the counter rotating blades is to keep the bait from rolling over on a fast retreive. They are good baits, but not any more/less productive than other baits. Brad

Rad used to have a video clip on their site of a fluke rigged on a Chatterbait. It was pretty cool looking in the pool. I'm sure it will work. Brad

Lucky Craft Pointer 78 and 100 Lucky Craft Staysee 80 nd 90 Lucky Craft Slendor Pointer Brad

Lucky Craft Flat CB D-20 Norman DD22 Brad

Thw two baits you mentioned are great. Lucky Crafts RC series and Fat BDS series are great as well. Bagley B's as well. Brad

Ghost Minnow, Chartreuse Shad, MA American Shad or MS Herring Brad

I throw 1/8 oz. baits on baitcasters without a problem. I guess it depends on how practiced you are. Chatterbaits come in 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2 I believe. As far as reels, they make baitcasters in left and right. Brad

Yes, lipless crankbaits will work in clear water. For hardbaits and spinnerbaits, I like ghost colors such as Lucky Crafts ghost minnow. For soft baits and jigs, watermelons and green pumpkins. Brad

Sped will effect depth of crankbaits. Mike Mclelland (of walleye fame) put out a great crankbait book quite a while back that tested all the major brands at the time on different line sizes, cast and trolled. Lots of good info in that book. Most crankbaits have an optimum speed - too fast or slow and they will not reach maximum depth. Brad

I love the 100 and 120 Sammy. The others are too small IMO. Brad

Man, it's really hard to suggest a starter's kit without knowing the water you're fishing. Some bait types are far better than others in certain lakes. Still, there are some baits that work in all waters. In soft plastics, Watermelon, Green Pumpkin and Black will work everywhere. In plastics, I would have the following: ZOOM Trick Worm, ZOOM Finesse Worm, ZOOM Mag II Worm, ZOOM Baby Brush Hog, ZOOM Horny Toad and 5" Senkos. These baits will cover most waters and situations you would fish plastics in. There are other brands with similar baits. For hooks, Gamakatsu EWG 2/0, 3/0 and 4/0. Bullet weights in 1/8, 1/4 and 3/8 should do it as well. Some toothpicks to peg with as well. If you choose to try jigs, a green pumpkin and a black/blue jig will do. 1/4 or 3/8 oz is pretty versatile. Some green pumpkin and black chunks will do as trailers. A white 3/8 oz. tandem colorado/willow spinnerbait is pretty versatile and provids flash and vibration. I would pick up one in white and another in white chartreuse. There are a ton of good brands. You might want some trailer hooks as well. For topwaters, you will do well with a popper, walking bait, buzzbait and if you have lots of grass, pads, etc. a floating frog (the Horny toad is good for this too). Baitfish colors for the topwaters and white or black for the buzzbait. If you want to try cranks, I'd stick with a baitfish pattern first. Normans are great baits and I would get the Sun Lavender Shad color in baits that will run to the depth you fish. The Middle N and Deep Little N are two great models that should work well. I would also get one 1' crankbait and the easiest to find is usually a Mann's Baby 1-. With these baits, you can do quite well in a lot of situations. Of course, one day the bait monkey WILL get you. Brad

The only swimming jig I use is the one from Booyah. The triangle shaped head swims easily and they come through grass very well. As for tackle, I use a 7' MH rod and 15 lb. line. Brad

They are good baits and bass of all sizes will try to eat them. Lake Fork has a 3 1/2" and a 5 1/2" version on the way as well. Brad

Some "poppers" are not good poppers, but they are good spitters. I like to fish these baits fast. A G-Splash is a good spitter. A Rico is a grea popper. They have an excellent deep bloop when worked right. Better fished slow IMO. Brad

Another thing on cranks. Some cranks are not meant to run straight when tuned properly. They are meant to "search" along the bottom. They will run left, then right, then left, then right, changing direction when they hit an object. Brad

Most LC's run true out of the box, but tuning is not an issue that should get in the way of buying a bait. Crankbaits are easy to tune. Also, baits get out of tune easy. Rocks, wood, snags and big fish will get a bait out of tune. Choose your cranks on the depth, action, size and colors you want. You will ebd tuning them all at some point. Brad

You'll have good success with about any straight tail worm. Other good baits are craws like ZOOM Speed Craws and GYCB Baby Craws. Brad

Those are great baits. They are hollow like a tube and you can rig a jighead in them. They are also great on drop shots, Crigs, split shot rigs and about any way else you can rig them. Good bait in clear water. Brad

I was looking in the Bass Pro book and they don't show a DD22 in the lavender shad. Look in the Professional Edge DD22's and look at Color #89 - Sun Lavender Shad. Item #38-265-816-89. They throw the "Sun" in front of the color name on the "Sunshine Gelcoat" colors. Brad

Floating, sinking, suspending - you will get all three out of most "suspending" baits depending on water temp, ie water density. Also in play are line size and type as well as depth. I have had days that a bait worked perfectly then a few hours later, I had to add dots to it to keep the same suspending action. I've had days when Pointers stayed suspended perfectly and my Husky Jerks shot to the surface. You have to adjust your suspending baits ot the conditions. Brad