Festivus

Can someone please pm me the pure fishing code. I desperately need to upgrade some rods and reels and this is a perfect opportunity to land some serious savings and shop for family. Thanks.

I have to agree. The clearances at Academy have not been the same the past few years, very lackluster. Not many real deals and the selections have been underwhelming. Also, it seems that Academy is not restocking some of their best H2O Xpress lures and the ones they are restocking are not up to the same standard in terms of finish and overall quality. They haven't restocked many of my favorites and their entire saltwater lure line is practically gone. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come but just a result of this crazy pandemic and supply chain issues.

What happened to the reels? Did you ever use in saltwater? Thanks.

How did you rig them?

Makes me wonder if Maxscent is that good then. May have to try it out.

Thanks for the feedback. Can anyone comment their experiences with bone versus the other white underside colors on topwater. I know it is a staple color and I have some and will usually choose it first but has anyone been able to compare bone to the sexy blueback herring or the sexy shad or chartreuse shad or the sexy chartreuse shad or the.....you get the idea. Thanks.

I was going through my tackle and noticed I picked up some blueback herring colored topwaters and crankbaits, probably on sale. They don't look bad and shouldn't matter overall, actually look very similar to all the sexy shad derivatives that strike king puts out just without the shad dot. Thing is my time on the water time has been limited this year and my confidence color on any type of lure is chrome or shiny. Should I give them a good try or just sell them? Anybody throw this particular lure color in predominantly shad lakes? Also, what color would people say actual threadfin and gizzard shad are compared to blueback herring, what colors are in their scales? I'm looking at the sexy dawg topwater in sexy blueback herring and it has a pearly very slight blueish paintjob with the chartreuse stripe and no dot, their sexy shad has a white paintjob with sparkles, then their chartreuse shad has a blueish overall paintjob with the stripe and dot. Almost too many choices. Thanks for any insights.

Academy makes two different versions, three if you count the saltwater ones. One is called the Crank SS, for super shallow, and looks very similar to a Mann's Baby 1 Minus but much better quality, paint is better and will hold up and the hooks are good VMC hooks. They have another that is an acronym, something like SCSFW and that has been around for a while, looks alot like the Strike King. Mentioning SK, they have a 1.5 shallow, which is basically a wake bait, and a larger 2.5 actually labeled wake bait. I haven't had a chance to throw the SK 2.5 yet. The academy brand is very good.

I heard a lot of good things about the Silver Buddy blade bait in particular. Had to try one out. Found one and was surprised as it looked like an unfinished lure, very bare and the blade wasn't even that shiny. Was even more surprised at the price, very pricey for something so generic and bare. I was hoping the thin metal blade may produce more vibration or something as that has to be the reason why these lures are so popular and why they are so much more expensive than other blade baits. When I took it out on the water I looked at it wrong and the blade bent. Couldn't believe how easy it was to bend the blade. Didn't catch anything on it and blade was ruined. Was pretty annoyed, paid full price for it. And I thought the Reef Runner Cicadas were overpriced, not compared to these now. Bought a few Cotton Cordell Gay Blades, or I think they are calling them just the Blade now, and haven't looked back. Very effective and moderately priced. My first choice now. If I can't find those I will choose literally any other blade bait before the Silver Buddy, it seems that many other companies either use or import the same blade blank as the SB and jazz it up and are able to sell them cheaper. IDK but I'll use Johnson Thinfisher, Cordell Blades, BPS Lazer Blade, etc. etc. literally anything before I buy another one. Just my 2 cents.

Here are two videos that will show you how to make your own heavy braided line split rings. Seems like problem solved. I'm going to do this with some lures that have weak looking split rings.

I have several of these original Heddon Zara Spooks that are silent and want to give them a chance but everytime I'm on the water I grab something with either a single knocker or a rattling topwater. How do these silent Zara Spooks produce compared to their noisier counterparts? I hope this isn't hijacking the thread as this was going in that direction regardless. These old time hook hangers on the Zara Spooks seem to keep the hooks from scratching up the paint job but can give the fish leverage enough to throw the hook. I've seen people add two split rings to fix the problem but those new hooks with the heavy duty braid look like the best overall fix to me. The Sexy Dawg has a rattle sound but their Hard Knock version has a very pronounced one knocker and is probably even a little louder than the Heddon One Knocker. Only thing is that the Sexy Dawg hooks are sharp but not as stout as I would like, especially the Jr. version.

Went to my local Cabela's last night after not going for several months. I used to religiously go every two weeks because they would always have items on sale or clearance that wasn't advertised if you looked close enough. Always ended up buying something every time. Last night they didn't even have any bins which is always filled with their BPS brand lures. So disappointing.

Anyone else? How do they compare to Strike King Tour Grade or Premier Plus or War Eagles? Those are the other spinners in my line up. Thanks.

I picked up a few of these and they look pretty good. Good ball bearing swivels, good hooks and has the underspin that they are known for. It's basically a good quality spinnerbait with an underspin. Anyone try these or have any luck on them. Don't really hear about them. Just curious if they run true and are worth putting in the rotation. Hate wasting time on the water with something that won't run true or isn't effective for some reason. I also have a few of their buzzbaits, Primal Buzz, I have high hopes for those even though I don't fish buzz baits all that much as I'm usually throwing a spook type lure. Thanks.

I have noticed that ever since they took over Cabela's they are worse than ever. I never really liked or shopped at BPS but now I avoid Cabela's as well. With Cabela's they always had the Bargain Cave and would put things on sale/clearance to get them out of inventory. Occasionally some real deals to be had. BPS took out the Bargain Cave saying it "was losing them money". Funny, how Cabela's kept it for so long if that is the case. They carry a decent amount of inventory but everything is already 30% over priced and their "sales" only bring them back down to normal prices. And all they do is remove brands people want and replace it with BPS brands or take the good Cabela's brand items and just put their name on it. Just bad. I also, never walk into a BPS unless someone has a gun to my back. I just find it practically belittling to walk through their turnstile. And I don't think it's just me but for such a large retailer with huge brick and mortar operation the stores are always "dark" and very hard to find and browse items, I know it's not just me. They also have the items awkwardly placed so it's hard to find stuff and you always have to go back and look 2 or 3 times before you locate it. And their forced and corporate folksiness is just weird. Whew that felt good to get that off my chest. LOL. I was one of those people that used to love going into Cabela's and just walking around and browsing with no intention of buying and then walking out with something everytime.

Thanks. Anyone know how to get the shine back on the blades? These aren't rusted but have been handled and seems like the oil in the soft plastics and from my hand have tarnished the blades slightly. Thanks again.

I was organizing some tackle and noticed some of my spinnerbaits with Colorado blades were noticeably different. Some were noticeably more flat than others and some had a much deeper cup as well. Just curious what the differences were and how the blades would behave on the retrieve. I think I may have read on another forum that the flat blades gave off more thump. Oh yeah forgot to add that these were mostly saltwater spinners but I still wanted to use them for freshwater bass and may replace a few of the double willow freshwater spinnerbaits with some larger Colorado blades. Thanks for any insight.

Mister Twister Sassy Shad

I know the first thing is to always find a place that's holding fish, but which one do you throw and in which situation? Seems like most of them are floating.

Awesome. Keep us informed. Figuring out structure on new stretches of water especially for bank anglers is incredibly useful.

I'm looking to replace some of the treble hooks on my topwater lures. Some are a little soft and weak, others not very sharp (although I'm pretty handy with a hook sharpener and have sharpened the dull ones), and others are offset and tear up my lures. I'm not tournament fishing so I'm not going to replace these with Gamakatsu or Owner, etc but I've looked at the cheaper Eagle Claw Lazer Sharp 3X round bends and the Fletcher Shryock 2X Kahle treble hooks, these look like the Mustad KVD triple grip treble hooks. I've used the 3X roundbends in size 10 for live shrimp under a popping cork and they are a very strong hook and can take the pressure from a larger saltwater fighting fish. The deciding factor is which one will beat up my lures the least. I know it's impossible to keep the trebles from scratching them up eventually but I have some Spooks that have the rotated off center hooks like the Xcalibur TX3 hooks and they can do a number on a lure, especially the silver/chrome ones that I prefer. The caveat is the rotated hooks do a good job of hooking a fish that isn't committed or just slaps the lure, just hate how they prematurely wear out a relatively new topwater. Thinking of keeping those on the rear end for short strikers. So which one will beat my topwaters up the least, round bend or wide gap? Thanks.

I was looking at that one too. I should have bought the Deeper when it was on sale at Costco for like $130. The other ones seem to have mixed reviews and Lowrance is huge for the boat electronics world do it only makes sense their castable ones be at lease decent. Let us know when you are getting it and how it works for you. I'm thinking being able to read the depths and structure is going to be more important than actually spotting fish on it.

I would most likely keep it in a tackle bag and tie it off with some light rope or heavy mono and throw it by hand and pull it back slowly. I would probably get it out just as far and not have to switch it out with actually casting it.

What are your thoughts and experiences with a castable electronic fish finder like the Deeper or Lowrance or other brands for bank, pier, and jetty fishing. I sometimes feel like I'm casting into empty water and wasting time or could be that I change spots too quickly and just don't know if the fish are there or not. I'm thinking it could be a good investment. If you have used them which ones have you used and what do you like or don't like about them and which ones would you recommend? Thanks.

Why all the hate for the spook?! LOL. It walks easy and has always caught fish when they are hitting topwater. Never fished the Zara Spook because I like a rattle. I did buy a few when I go to the gulf coast as several old salts swear by silent topwater at night under the lights on a pier. Only thing is the Chug'N Spook doesn't chug as much as I expected and wasn't as easy to walk because of its cupped face but it is louder than the super spook and I do have good success on it.