Jeff H

It's still available right in your neck of the woods from Producto. Mineral oil is what I use though and it works well. It's NOT an attractant (for those that didn't know) it's just a plastics conditioner or lube...like you said.

d**n....Thats a big frog. They don't anywhere near that big up north.

I could use some experienced opinions on the Grigsby HP hook. I always use a Gamakatsu EWG for my tube fishing and have never tried HP. Is it any better then a EWG? Not as good? Any other baits you prefer to use the HP with?

I suppose I should try flouro sometime but I'm really comfortable with my Berkley XT. I have a couple rods rigged with Power Pro, one of which I only use as a search rod when I want to feel out deep features on a structure with a football jig. Otherwise I've never felt the need to change my system and am for the most part happy with the XT for at least 70-80% of my fishing. I'll look into the Seguar Invisx and the BPS XPS Flouro and try it sometime this summer.

Must have as much deck up front as possible (the more the merrier), stout bow mount TM, and I prefer a flasher unit on the bow. In fact I prefer the old 1240A (haven't used a 1440A yet) above all others for both bow and console locations. I cannot fish without those 3 things on a boat. If I was a bank beater all the time I could live without the electronics but I fish deep more then I fish shallow so I cannot be happy without them on a boat. Once you learn to work/fish deep structure this way you cannot fish any other way. It's kind of sad really, but thats how it is for me. You have to cover water in this game and a anchor becomes a menace. There have been few times when I've felt the need to anchor on a deep structure. It just limits your potential and doesn't allow for different angles of presentation etc. Mobility is key, I need that TM, I need the room to operate it and fish from and I need to see what is under me if I am deep.

When flipping ( I pitch mostly) my confidence is highest with a jig/craw by a long shot.

I still have some 4" Creme Scroundrels from about 20 years ago. They are certainly a bitty worm, use them on Slider heads. Mostly I use Producto 4" Tournament worms but one of those 4" Creme's brought me a 3lb'er last year.

Here is what you can do....be happy it's your worm they are grabbing ;D Sometimes they just hit light like that and the best thing you can be doing is watching your line. Sounds to me like you are doing ok. Some of the bigges fish I've caught have hit really light like that. I won a club tournament once with 2-4's and 2-3's and I never felt any of them hit at all and they were coming from 18 ft of water. I just found them on there when I was checking the weight of my jig. Just a really light bite and who knows how many others I missed that day??? Thats just how it goes sometimes. Watch your line and keep a feel for your lure and it's about all you can do.

flechero, Jig Man...those Champions are are the best riding rough water boat I've ever been in.

I'm just curious how people are fishng I guess. I used to fish alone almost ALL the time because I was usually out in preparation for some tournament in a gas sucking 18' tournament boat. Now I never fish alone, (I have 2 boys) but if I did I'd have a 15 or 16' Mod V aluminum boat with a small motor on it since I rarely fish any lakes over 2500 acres. Just kind of curious how big of boats guys that run alone most of the time are using. I've been getting the impression that most guys here don't chase the money and was curious how often they fish alone if they do at all. Other than that, I don't know how to answer "why?". Just a thought that ran through my head is all.

Do you fish most often with a partner or alone? If 100% covers a seasons fishing time, what percentage of that do you fish alone and what percentage do you fish with a partner? What kind of boat are you fishing out of?

This is sitting right next to it, what do you think of this one? http://www.bethelmarine.net/used_boat_detail.php?id=438&new_boats=0

When your spinnerbait blades get a little dull, what do you guys use to bring back the shine? I've found a little Soft Scrub on a gun cleaning patch seems to work real well. Buff it, rinse it off and dry and it shines like new. What do you guys use?

Geez....what an absolutely beautiful smallie!! Definitely get a replica...or 2

Maybe I'll slide him the offer but I've heard that some of these dealers are asking 10% of sale as the consignment fee. $200-$300 wouldn't be a big deterent but $850 or more could be.

Atta boy dickescpa!! Follow your heart man I have a 5 yr old and I'm doing the same thing. I did the whole tournament thing back in the 90's and did well at it but it's all about the love now. Smaller partner, smaller boat and smaller lakes, no politics, stress or BS involved. Your little partner will have life memories of days on the water nothing can ever erase.

Thanks for the replies/opinions. Right after I typed that I thought "I could buy a older 20' bass boat for less then that in decent shape". I don't want this big of a boat anymore but as an example I found a really sweet 1994 Ragin Cajun 21' with a 200 Johnson Venom that was rebuilt last fall and this rig is in sweet, loaded condition for $9000/OBO. Thats a lot of boat for $9K and you could probably get it for $8k. So, no I wasn't going to pay $11k+ for a 04 Tracker Pro Team 185 with a 75 hp on it. I may have considered making a reasonable offer if it had a 90 on it but unless he drops that price a lot I'm going to let it slide and keep looking. It really is a nice boat though. I think part of the problem in the price is the guy has the boat at a local dealer on consignment so in order to get what he wants for it PLUS the consignment percentage it's got a high price on it. When I talked to the salesman I asked if the price was at all negotiable and he asked what I had in mind. I didn't say anything because I thought $8500 would be an insult. After paying his consigment percentage the owner wouldn't be real happy with that kind of price I presume.

2004 Tracker Pro Team 185 w/75 hp 2 stroke Merc. Looked at it today. It's in excellent shape and claimed to have low hours on it. There is a little sun fade to the upholstery (expected really) but far as I can tell it's pretty darn clean. Tires seem to advocate low use as they are in great shape. Couldn't find anything wrong with it really. They want $11,585 for it. My personal feeling is it would be really worth that if it had a 90 on it. I don't know that I want to pay that much for a boat 4 seasons old with a 75 on it. You giys think this is fair price, a steal or keep looking? I'm not going to buy a "new" boat so don't suggest that route.

Thanks for the welcome roadwarrior! And thanks to all who replied so far. There are some brands listed I haven't seen yet and will be looking into them.

Crap, didn't see this topic before I posted mine. Where can I get a look at enforcer G3 and G4 tubes? I've been digging and digging trying to find something as good as the old G4 and Luck E Strike hasn't had there website up for sometime now.

Whats your favorite brand and color(s) of tubes you use? I really used to like the Luck E Strike G4's but cannot find them anymore. Honestly, I haven't found anything I like as much as those and I've been buying samples of a lot of different brands trying to make a decision. I'm not asking about the larger, fat body flipping varieties here, mainly just the average sized 4" tubes with the smaller diameter body. So far the ones I like most have come from Canyon with their 3.75" Original model (tons of color options too) . Anyway, thats basically what I'm looking for in size. If you have any links to post with your info that would be appreciated too.