Brad_Coovert

I hate shiny sinkers, brass or lead. I fish painted ones, usually with hard, heat applied paint that seldom chips. I've heard you can fizz lead weights in hydrogen peroxide and that will dull them. Never tried it though. Brad

First, the action you get from a soft plastic behind a Crig is much different than a tube being dragged or hopped on the bottom. That plastic on the Crig is lazily drifting around behind that sinker and is very enticing to a fish. Second, the bigger sinker will let you cast farther, fish faster or slower and feel the bottom better in deeper water than the tube rig on a 1/4 oz. sinker. IMO, nothing will define a bottom better than a Crig. I will actually follow up a Crig with other baits once I know what is on the bottom. Third, the Crig will make a great compliment to your tube. Fish it in the same water and give the fish a different look. Fish the tube, then the crig, then the tube, etc. I will almost always give the fish a few different looks on each spot. It will usually result in a few extra fish when they stop hitting a certain bait. Brad

Weightless plastic bait or a scumforg type bait dragged through and over the weeds. Brad

We have two lakes in my area, Geist and Morse. Both are water supply reservoirs for Indianapolis. The ground around the lakes is privately owned and loaded with houses. There are only one marina on each lake. Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, each lake costs $25 to launch on the weekend. If you get on before 7AM and get off before 11AM, you get $15 back. During the weekdays and offseason, the cost is $10. I'm sure some say that is terrible, but I live 5 minutes and 20 minutes from these lakes. What I dsave in gas and park entry fees going somewhere else more than offsets that ramp fee on these lakes and compared to some lakes, is actually cheaper. Brad

I'd have to go with KVD. He has got to be the most versatile angler on the tour. I can fish any bait, but with a few days on the water with KVD, I know I would be better at them all. Brad

Who do you ask and why? Money? Free product? Prestige at another patch on your arm? My comments may be off base as I'm new to the sponsorship game, but I do not think I could go after a sponsor if they were not already a product I believed in or had a product I needed and was looking for. If I start using brand X instead of brand Y, just because of a few free bags of baits, is that really a value to the company or myself? Just curious as to the motives behind someone seeking sponsorships. Brad

The Paca Craw is a great bait and they have a very good Senko copy as well. Brad

1) Dragging a slop bait over the grass 2) Dragging a weightless plastic over the grass 3) Punching through the grass with a small plastic baits heavuly weighted on heavy tackle Brad

I fish the 5" Senkos on a straight shank, round bend Gammie 4/0 with screw in Florida weights. I do wuite well with them rigged this way around wood or grass beds when I want a faster fall or a to get the bait down in the cover. Brad

LBH. For starters, I would contact your state's BASS Federation and get in touch with their youth director. He should be able to point you to some groups that you could get involved with. Brad

ZOOM chunks, about any craw available and grubs. I never use pork. Brad

Tie on new feathers or get some feathered hooks. I seldom fish a topwater without them anymore. They seem to get more strikes, especially from those fish that like to follow right under your bait, but will not commit to the strike. Brad

AMEN! ;D

My club puts on several youth events each year. Gary sent my club a huge box of Hula Grubs for our fishing outing with the Brooke's Place Kids and our Casting Kids event at the boat show last year. Almost $1000.00 worth of baits to just one club. We had a lot of jealous dad's at the boat show when we gave their kids several bags of Yammies to take home! ;D Brad

Watermelon Bass Ale or Becks after a long day on the water?

Big lipped crankbaits on heavy tackle in shallow dirty water with wood. You can get some good fish that way. ;D Brad

Nothing like showing off that beat up thumb to your buddies after a good day on the water. ;D Brad

Does this lake have matyted grass? If so, there is shade there, much, much cooler water and ther should also be some open water under the matted vegies. I would be trying slop baits on the grass as well as flipping some heavy weighted plastics 6through the mat. A Yammie Fat Baby craw with a 1 oz. weight would do it. Do not let the heavy weight fool you as being too big. Thick grass needs a heavy weight. When that bait comes through the grass mat, you should get some reaction strikes. A lot of really noce bass are caught that way. Night fishing with a big worm may also be a good bet. Brad

Man, if we knew that exact answer, the bass would be toast. Hunger, anger, just for the heck of it, who knows. Bass solely react IMO. Whan that fast moving bait moves by, they have little time to think about it. Eat it or miss out. Brad

Cats are cooler. ;D Crig or Trig? Brad

Man, there is some stinky stuff out there. I cannot imagine wheat some of it must smell like when heated up. Still, that's got to be a huge laugh. I threaten my wife all the time that I will but some TS Power Bait in her pillowcase. Brad

I'm not a beleiver that bass are attracted or put off by scents. Taste, now that is a whole other matter IMO. Once that fish actually has the bait in his mouth, the taste aspect will hopefully make them hold the bait longer. I really like the Mega Strike and Carolina Lunker Sauce. They have both worked well, but what I really like is the mess free application. ;D Brad

I will disagree with your statistics above. I have had many times that bait X outproduced bait Y in a given situation even though they were both similar baits and both perfectly suited for the fishing at hand. Why is that? No one will ever know. I try to go beyond just finding a pattern. I want to find the patterns within a pattern that turn a good day into a great day and a good tournament into a great tournament. Sometimes those smaller patterns are all about the fish, other times they are the bait or tackle. Being able to make the change was well worth any money spent on the baits. Like I said before, I fish with several brands of soft sticks and they all have their place in my boat. The same goes for crankbaits, topwaters, spinnerbaits, etc. I won't let a few $ get in between me and a good bait. It's not about the money, it's about the fish. I have 100% confidence in everything I use. Confidence is one of your best allies. Lack of it is one of your worst enemies. LBH, I do not need to justify my use of GYCB Senkos just because you have a personal gripe with Gary and there are cheaper brands out there. Inventory all your reels, line, rods, baits, boat and engine. There are cheaper brands out there for all of them. The question is, will they work and perform equally as well for you? In reality, price is seldom the real reason we select the stuff we fish with. Brad

Some bass move shallow and some stay deep at night. At my local lake, we catch fish at night right off the shoreline and on deep structure in 20'+ of water. The better fish come off the deep structure 90% of the time, but for better numbers of fish, the shallow water is better. My best areas at night are flats or points with 3'-6' of water on them next to a channel or drop off. Fish - as well as us fisherman - can easily move from deep to shallow or shallow to deep. Brad

Nick_Culver, you're on the right track. Lures are just tools to do a job and nothing more. I buy baits to do certain things. If there is only one bait that will do it and it's $15, so be it. I fish the Senkos, Tiki Sticks, Salt Stix, NetBait Sticks and Schuberts, either for certain colors on certain waters or for different fall rates. As for patents on baits, having a patent does little to protect your design from being copied. All another company has to do is change the shape, size, weight or length and they can get around the patent. The only patent I have seen stick was Larew's patent on the salt impregnation process and it took a lot of court time to force companies to pay a license fee. I used to see that license listed on bait bags, but I have not looked in a while. Brad