Brad_Coovert

Muddy, those fall into the floating jig category. Booyah makes some good jigs that are not too expensive. The Boo Jigs are good for flipping/pitching/casting, the Baby Boo and Boo Bugs are good finesse jigs and the Swim'n Jigs are awesome swim jigs. All have sharp hooks, good heads and weedguards and many colors to choose from. Brad

The Booyah Boogie is a good bait. The Leverage hook rides farther back and helps on short strikes. The Gambler bait is a good bait. I prefer the split ring over the direct connection of the Rad Lures bait. I can quickly change jigs on the same blade without retying. The Rad Lures hooks are suspect and not trustable. I have had a few with cracked hook eyes that have easily broke. These baits can cost you a fish. Of the three, I like the Gambler best. Brad

This worm is a great copy of the original Gator Tail worm. Those were great worms. Brad

Lots of places will ship fast, but you're gonna pay for it though. Try here: Backwaters Online 115 Jordan's Way Somerset, KY 42503 800-316-1410 606-451-1296 FAX Bakc when I bought stuff retail, I dealt with these guys. Call them to get your order placed and I'm sure they will help you with the shipping. If I had the DW Beavers, I'd help you out, but I'm out until I get my next RI stock in. Brad

Actually while they make my favorite Flat CBs (LVRs) they're patterns are too flashy to be realistic. How is zero flash too flashy? Just look at all of their ghost patterns. They have realluy excelled in clear water for me. Brad

For natural patterns, you will be hard pressed to beat the Lucky Craft patterns. Thye have some great selections in the BDS, Flat Mini and Flat CB series with depths you are looking for. They also have several new baits coming out this fall that fall in your depth zone as well. I fish in Indiana and Kentucky as well and I use the LC baits, but also some Bandit 200, Bomber Square A, Norman Middle N and Thin N, Reaction Innovation Method Cranks and a few others. Most of those have baits in your depth zone. Good luck! Brad

Lipless crankbaits - Lucky Craft and Cordell mostly Shallow to mid depth flat sided cranks - Lucky Craft Flat CB Series, Norman Flat N, Rapala Shad Rap, Reaction Innovations Method Spinnerbaits - 1/2 oz. Single Colorado or Double Willow Topwaters - Lucky Craft Sammy 100, Reaction Innovations BL Vixen or Super Spook Junior Suspending Jerkbaits - Pointer 100 and 78 Jigs with plastic trailers Carolina Rig plastic Gambler Swim Blades Brad

Conditioning not memory. Call it "Pavlov's Bass". Brad

Another thing to try with scholling fish that are feeding is to let your bait fall through the school. A lot of bass are lazy and pick off the dying fish as they fall. Also, bring your bait back under the school for the same reason. I have had success fishing spinnerbaits under the school of shad before. Brad

Dee Thomas For those who do not know who he is, he invented flipping and he made one hell of a living doing it. One heck of a great guy as well. Brad

LBH, that is so, so true. My #1 goal is to have fun My #2 goal is to learn something, anything on that trip. Something about the lake, something about the fish, something about a new rig or a better way to fish something. Any knowledge gained makes any trip a success, even if it's fishless. Now, remembering what I learned, that is a whole different story. Brad

SFC, you told me you were a pro! : Man, I have every type of day you can have. I have had days I went home because I was too sore to fish anymore. Just make a trip to Waveland, Indiana on a good day and you will see what I mean. I have had 30+ fish days on several lakes, even good ol' Barkley. I have also had just as many, if not more days of ZERO fish, and those days flat sucked. :'( Most days, I get about 2-3 fish per hour average. I will say, my catch rate went up quite a bit when I got a boat and could start to learn about all the structure, cover, patterns, etc. in the lakes I fished. I've been fishing clubs for about 15 years now and I can say I am way better than when I started, but I still need to learn a ton. I just fish for fish. Size does not matter to me unless its a tourney and I'll be happy with a limit of legals any of those days. Heck, I'll take one keeper and get on the board and be happy. If I had the big bass like some of the guys here do in Florida or California, I might think different. For now though, I'll enjoy 12"-16" fish here in Indiana with the occasional 4 lb. - 7lb fish now and then. Just keep trying and remember, have fun and learn at least one thing each trip out. You will get better. I have seen a few guys in our club go from constant zeros to doing quite well in a few years. Just keep at it. Brad

Good choice. IMO, Loomis should end the GL2 line and make the GL3 the entry point. The few Gl2's I had were like dead wood compared to all the other rods I have fished. Brad

Congrats to everyone! Man, BassResource.com gets better every week. Brad

The best replica of a Senko is the Kinami Flash. Brad

I love the first casts of the day. On the lake before sun-up with a slight mist. Something gets me pumped about that first cast or two. To me, it's not catching the fish, it's getting that bite. There is something about that thump of a jig bite, the tick on a worm, the eruption on a topwater - the bite is what I love best. Brad

Man, that is tough. There are so many guys here that have me wanting to fish a lot of places. I would have to say it is a three way tie between the Cal Delta, Lake Toho in Florida and whereever RW catches those mutant huge smallies he has in that pic. Brad

Never weighed fish during a fun outing, but judging by size, the best would be around 18 - 20 lbs. I'll take that in Indiana any day. My best tournament catch was over 12 lbs. Not much, but it won our club classic and out of only 8 fish that were weighed in by the whole group, I hade five of them. 8-) I never seem to find the big fish when I am in a tourney though, only fun fishing or in practice. Brad

bloomingtownie - I gotta hook up with you sometime at Monroe. I love the lake, but it hates me. ;D RW - What's you basic pattern for those smallies in January? Live bait? I'd love to try that out sometime on those rivers. Never fished in winter before. Brad

muddy, you've either been in the sun too long or have sniffed too much powerbait. Brad

If you like to fish for smallies, drive up to Muncie. You can fish miles of the White River from the bank for both smallies and largemouth. I grew up in Muncie and have caught more fish out of that river than I can count. Forget Geist and Eagle Creek. There is little bank fishing there. You could also try Westwood Park just west of New Castle just off State Road 38. Lots of shallow weeds. It is a trolling motor only lake. There is a small wildlife area on US 36 west of New castle also called Province Pond. Dave Province donated his private lake and most of his property to the state and they formed a refuge out of it. Lots of people fish here and it was loaded with fish back when Dave still owned it. Summit Lake has some bank fishing with lots of shallow weeds. It is just east of Mt Summit off of US 36. If you can get a hold of a small boat, go to Waveland. It is FULL of bass and you can catch them all day long. Now, where in Indy are you? I'm up in Noblesville. Brad

I've used the Pennzoil TWC-3 outboard oil for years, both in my previous Johnson 115 Fastrike and my current Mercury 115 ELPTO. I have never had any problems. I do run the carbon guards every now and then, they do help clean the engines. Brad

I have a Minnkota Maxxum 74. It's a 24 volt, but it will plow through weeds with ease. I have yet to have any weed problems on this motor. If their 12 volts motors are as good as the 24s, then you sould be good to go with a MinnKota. Brad

Has anyone installed a keel guard on their boat using one of the self installed models? If so, how easy/difficult was it? I just fished a tourney today and caught a small rock just right when Iwas beaching the boat. Gouged off the gelcoat down to the glass (or whatever is underneath, the white gel was only about 3/32" thick) in spot about the size of a quarter. I was thinking about grinding down the rough edges, sealing with marine epoxy and then installing a keel guard. Yeah, I know, I shuld have already done that. Brad

I use the drag and pause method. Brad