jwo1124

I have never used these sepcific cranks from Rapala, although I have had them reccommended to me and have heard only great things about them. I do most fishing from the shore line, so I have no need to get the deeper diving ones. I am thinking about getting some DT4's for working the shallows around shore. Matched with some Rapala topwaters and jerkbaits, I'll be catching some fish.

when I was pulling against a sucken tire that I had my lure caught on, it bent a lot. I guess it does have sort of a slower action when stressed to the max. But it doesn;t fish like a slow action rod.

Replies from Northern anglers, as well as those who mainly Bass fish in natural ponds will be at the up most value since that is what relates to me. Thanks.

The notion that big baits get big fish has always been around. But, just recently has the craze of big swimbaits to target large bass reached popularity throughout bass fishing. Obviously you have a better chance of getting a big bass to expend the energy into pouncing on or chasing down a large lure than you do with a smaller offering. Most anglers know that fish are energy conservative and will not make the effort into an attack unless it intuitivly knows that it will gain more than it expends in the effort. This is why anglers use big lures/baits for big fish. It just makes sense. My question is, how many of you guys or gals, have actually put it a good amount of time fishing a "big" swimbait. Also, have you had good success with them. I was thinking about buying a few Storm Swimbaits that come in 6" and 10" size. Since I do my freshwater fishing in the local ponds up in Massachusetts, I am thinking about sticking with the 6" mainly because the bass don;t get as big up here as they do down south due to the shorter growing seasons. A lunker up here is around 5 lbs, where as down south a lunker is about 10 lbs. A big bass is around 3 lbs up here. Most of the bass I catch are around 1-2 lbs. 3.14lbs being my Personal Best. I'm sure there are a couple 5+ bass in these pounds, I have heard and seen pics of guys catching them, so I want to better the odds of catching them and use a big lure, but I want to know the success rate of these things before I go out and buy them. And spend valuable fishing time using them. Any comment and replies are appreciated.

I LOVE JERKBAITS! This is one lure that can truly turn the bite on when fish are inactive. Like Road said, you shouldn't fish a jerkbait like a crankbait, you can kind of tell the difference just in the name. Crankbait really have a certain wobble or action built in to it. Sure you can add a twitch here and there to a crank, but for the most part just reeling it back with a stop and go will get active and neutral fish to strike. A jerkbait on the other hand should not be moved with the reel. All the movement should come from the rod tip, jerking it at a cadence and then reeling up the slack line from moving the bait forward. The pause is usually when a fish will strike, so make sure you reel that slack up quick, always ready to a strike to occur on the pause. I love the X-rap. I was fishing with it the other day and a rainbow trout exploded on it. The rainbow came shooting up out of the water shaking its head violently and tossed the heavy lure. I was slashing once or twice then letting it sit for a few seconds. I would reccomend a composite rod with a moderate action. Composite rods are made from a mixture of fiberglass(heavy, durable, and more moderate to slow action) and graphite(faster lighter, more sensitive material) These composties usually make good crankbait rods because they have a moderate amount of sensitivity needed for the job of cranks and jerkbaits, good moderate flex that will allow for cushion room so you don;t rip out the small treble hooks from the fish. Tips: try different actions. There are two parts to the action, the jerk and the pause. Slow, medium and fast jerks, number of jerks in between pauses, amount of time between each jerk, and the length of the pause. I have heard that at times it will be good to pause 15-20 seconds(obviously only on suspending models) I guess that this suspending action of a bait in front of a fish just triggers a reaction strike. I heard it is hard wired into their brains. I guess the fish just can;t pass up an easy meal. Jerkbaits are great because you can use them spring summer and fall, and they truly are great at enticing the strike.

I know many people absolutely despise when Ugly Stik and bass fishing are mentioned in the same sentence, so don;t string me up for this post. However, I will same I am very impressed with Ugly Stik Lites. I purchased three this past spring in hopes to use for bass rods and medium pond trolling for trout and broodstock salmon. I found myself favoring my two ML Glass rods for mostly fishing cranks, jerks, and spinners. I recently spent the majority of my fishing outing the other day using a M power US Lite. I was casting the 1/4 ounce X-Rap and I couldn;t have asked for any better performance from a rod. A little on the modifications: - More graphite in the rod=lighter weight and much more sensitivity. I can actually feel my lure moving through the water. I never can feel my lure when using the original Stik. Also, the Lite models have a faster action when casting, but do have quite a bit of flex when really pulling(I got my Rap caught up on an old tire and was trying to pull it out and the rod completely "U" bent. The sign of a good moderate action rod. I think that this helps espeically with lighter line spinning guys because mroe rod give takes the tension off the line which means getting away with lighter line. I was able to get the xrap out far with minimal effort(this may be due to the weight transfer in the lure itself) -No more "whippy" tip. The Lites do have a soft flexable tip, may be considered whippy to some, but not even close to the origianl's tips that were like wet sphagetti. - More line eyes= seems to makes for better casting, and probably accounts for more feel. - Cork handles= look better, and I think I read they are more sensitive than foam. There are certainly lighter and more sensitive rods out there that would do much better as jig/plastic rods and flipping and pitching rods(including topwater frogs), but for a reliable, light, sensitive rod for horizontal presentation, the ugly stik lite is a great choice for the guy who wants to get three rods for $120 and not just one. I personally think I will carry my 3 Lites for cranks, jerks, topwaters, and other horizontal presentations and invest in an expensive MH high end graphite for jig/worm/frogs/buzz and spinnerbaits. I have had ok luck fishing single hooked presentations with glass/compostie, but to really stick the hook hard when fishing a worm or even a buzz or spinnerbait, you need to be able to set FAST. Has anyone else tried these rods? If so, what did you think?

I don;t know about you guys, but they just stocked the local trout pond and I'm looking to get out tomorrow morning to try my luck to get some rainbows and maybe even a holdover broodstock salmon. They put a few broodstocks in last december. I caught 3 or 4 last dec/jan right before ice over. Anyone else spend the cooler northern months fishing for stocked or even wild trout. I just want to post a disclaimed that I know fishing for these farm raised, pellet fed, I'll bite anything that looks like or smells like food to survive, trout is not lke fishing for wild trout, but it is a fun way to spend the remainder of open water in the colder months of fall and winter. I killed them, literally and metaphorically last year on powerbait rigs, I am hesitant to use them since passively bait fishing gut hooks a lot of fish. I just bought some rapala minnows, mepps spinners, and some spoons. Hopefully they'll bite something in my tackle box. I know that the fish and game stock these trout for put and take purposes, but I have yet to fillet and eat one of these guys. How does rainbow trout taste? I mostly just fish for the fun of it, and have only once taken a fish home to fillet and I ended up giving it away.

Don;t get me wrong, I love fishing magazines. When I was just starting to get into fishing when I was about 12, I subscribed to any and every magzine I could. Besides watching all the fishing shows on TV, they were my main source of education and information. Now though, I don;t have a subscription to any of them. Because I have the best fishing magzines in front of me...the internet. I really don;t see the point to spend money of mags anymore, the only time I would read them now is when I'm in the bathroom. There are more articles on bass resource to last a hardcore angler a year of more. Them you can read them over to make sure you got every last bit of info out out of it. After that, you'll be some knowlegable abotu bass fishing you could write your own magazine. But to answer the question, I always liked In-Fisherman the best. Mainly because it was an all species mag and I just found it interesting learning the tricks, tactics, and how to's to catching a wide array of species than just bass, even though I haven;t fished for many other fish than bass, but that's due to my geographical postioning. To my suprise there are A LOT of ponds and lakes in Massachusetts, most are on the south shore or out west, but we have almost every kind of freshwater fish here except walleye and sturgeon.

If I may add two cents to this pile of coins. I saw a clip that Rick CLunn did on the Bass Pros awhile ago. He talked about his whole career he spent dedicated to learning as much as he could about the bass. He went on to say that there is a saying in Native American culture, that was something along the lines of "In order to catch the owl, you must learn about the mouse." I'm almost positive that wasn;t it word for word, but you can get the general idea of the saying. Anyway, this realtes to fall bass fishing since in the fall bass school up with other bass similar in size and gorge of schools of minnows. So to put Ricks saying to good use, maybe it would pay off to do some homework on the local baitfish in your water, as we all do for the bass. Learn about their seasonal patterns, their holding places, their daily activities, etc. From all the reading I have done on bass fishing, I have read a lot of times, that in fall bass school to gorge on minnows. This means that the bass most likely aren;t going to be in the post spawn and summer spots in the lilies or weed mats or fallen trees. They are going to be god knows where chasing those schools. I remember late in the august I went bass fishing, shore fishing, and it was around 7:15am, an hour after sunrise, and all of a sudden I saw what looked like a shotgun blast pepper the surface of the pond. It was minnows being pushed up out of the water by schooling bass below. Every couple of minutes the same thing would happen about 150-175' off shore in about 10-12' of water. I'm just saying, putting the facts together, it looks like in order to find the bass this time of year, you're going to have to find those schools of minnows. This is rough for shore fisherman like me, seeing how bass season is most likely over for us, since most of this schooling and feeding happens in about 10-20' of water, too offshore for me to reach with my casts. But for you anglers with boats, get out an hour or two early on trips and just scan the water looking for blitzes(baitballs being attacked, marked by them jumping out of the water breaking surface) or schools of small fish on the fishfinder. This is what is happenening up here in on the Northshore of Massachusetts. I live on a penninsula, and the sripers frequent my area in the summer, and this time of year, almost everytime I drive down the causeway to get to my town from the mainland, you can see the bait blitzes. Its nuts. There will be hundreds of seagulls and comorants diving in trying to get a meal, and I'm sure there are schools of stripers and/or bluefish. This only proves that the fish are following the bait. FIND THE BAIT

I have a question regarding your situation. You said you stocked your pond with bass and bream. Did you stock it with anything else, or is th ebream the only meal item for the bass. If that is so, this would explain wwhy the bass are so aggressive towards them, for two reasons. 1. It is the bass' only food item it has ever known, and 2. Bream(sunfish, bluegill, pumpkin seed) are a harder meal to catch than say a minnow, since bass mostly burst through a school of minnows mouth open hoping to swallow a few, while a bream is a high mobile, agile meal. If the cae is that the bass have only the bream to eat, your bass may have in fact adapted to being more aggressive in order to chase down and kill the bream. Just a thought though. If the case is the pond only holds bream and bass, without members lower on the totum pole like minnows or crawfish, I would suggest adding some of them in the supplement your bass's diet in turn reviving your bream population.

All I have to say is, join the club. I have been bass fishing for the past 8 years since I've been 12. Most of my fishing has been done off the shore though. My biggest bass is 3.14. I only get the chance to bass fish in ponds though. My brother just caught a big bass out of a pond in a local cemetary while fishing with shiners. We tried to weight it, but the scale wasn;t working properly and I wanted to get the bass back in the water without injuring it. So we had to sacrifice a weight to save the fish...small price to pay if you ask me. A big bass is a gift from god. Sure there are prime holding places you can search for, but for the most part, it's just going to happen...One day you'll be fishing liek always, get a bite, and you'll see that big mama break the surface with that first jump and your heart will be in your throat until you land her. Just put in your hours, do your homework, and fish smart and you'll get a big girl eventually.

I think dave said it best. Once money is on the line, people's attitudes change drastically. Espicially if we are talking thousands of dollars. My local bait and tackle holds derbys on the local lakes where the grand prize is around a hundred dollars. This is a nice prize to catch the biggest fish on a relaxing day out. I highly doubt people will take this serious enough to get all primal and jacked up about. But once there is big money on the line, some people will do what ever it takes to win. look at Tony Romanowski, the former NFL linebacker. He admitted to steroid use just to stretch a couple more years in the NFl, translating into millions of dollars. Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire all took roids to help them in their sports. Rodney Harrison got caught taking Growth Hormone. All this translates into getting every advantage you can to win, even if it means going to extremes that are frowned upon. I wouldn't say sportsmanship is dead pursay, but certainly good sportsmanship is going by the way side more and more. For those who like to fish, stick to "sportfishing", trying to catch more fish and bigger fish to break state and/or world records. For those that love competition(the good and bad that comes with it) and are good at fishing, by all means try your hand at tournament fishing. some people crave competition, they like proving themselves better than others and superior, it seems sick, but it's only natural, alittle primal, but still natural. Other don't feel the need to prove themselve better than others, they just want to be the best that they can be. You can typically tell which type of person someone is by bringing up a good accomplishment or attribute it yourself. If one responds with praise than most likely they are a good guy. But if someone automatically tries to one up you, than chances are they are a pr!ck.

tell me about it. I live in NE Mass, and we are still getting 80 degree days. The lows are in the 50's, so I'm guessing the ponds cool alot over night, but by mid afternoon, they must be warmed right back up. I have a feeling all of a sudden, one cold front will move in, drop temps intot he 60's and 50's and thats the way they will stay. So for us Northeast guys, get all the bass fishing in you can, cuz soon enough you'll be grabbing those UL's and the power eggs and going trout fishing.

Great stories guys. I can't truly remember "the" moment I knew I was addicted to fishing, I would say obsessed since it sounds less pathetic , I do remember, what seems like centuries ago and I'm only 21, when I was about 10 or 11, I used to go up to my friends summer house in Laconia NH. His house was right on the lake with a dock in his backyard. We used to fishing nightcrawlers to catch sunfish. I vaguely remeber bringing up my own rod excited I'd be able to do some fishing. I think this is where the bug was implanted. Ever since then I was in love with fishing. I think I love it so much because my mom's father was a big fisherman, and after he passed when I was young I would go through all his tackle and found it interesting. Maybe it's in my genes though, and I got it from my grandfather. it's good to know that even though he;s not still around, I can remember him with my love of fishing, and pass it down to future generations.

I saw a similar post...but you may want to try this http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/pod/standard-pod-wrapped.jsp?id=0031286&navCount=1&parentId=cat20344&masterpathid=&navAction=push&cmCat=MainCatcat20166-cat20344&parentType=index&indexId=cat20344&rid= it's not your typical bass lure, but it could work wonders especially given the circumstances of all the baby ducks getting eaten.

I think it is safe to say everybody has heard the saying "you get what you pay for." I think this can be related to fishing. I just recently though of this. Well one could translate "you get what you pay for for" as "You get back what you put in." The more time, the more effort, the more focus, the more commitment you make to fishing, the more you'll get back. Whether this is putting in more mentally, by looking at fishing as more than a recreational activity, and more or a task to be accomplish, whether it be catch a new PB limit, or personal best bass, or beat the state record, etc. Or put more in physical, meaning spend more of your free time fishing. Whether it be planning an extra fishing trip a week, or stopping at your local spot on the drive by for an hour. You could fish for an hour longer than usual, or if you planed on fishing from sunrise until noon, stay out anf fish until mid afternoon. On top of these mental and physical parameters, you can make more of a financial investment. This could be buy a wider array of lures(more sizes and colors for each lure) or purchasing better or more equipment(this doesn't mean if you are fishing with a $50 graphite rod purchasing a $250 rod will make you better or atuomatically you'll catch more fish) But if you are fishing with your old ugly stik or your original spincast rod.) Upgrade your tools or the trade. Maybe if you are a bank fisherman, save up and buy a small jon boat and trailer with a small motor, this will hugely boost your experience and skill since you will beable to fish more places and not just, your usual shoreline. If you already have a jon boat, save up for a depthfinde to even further imporve experience and skill. You can always put your skill up against others and fish tournaments for a change of pace. Bottom Line: We all put in our share towards fishing. We all get back something unique to what we have gave. If you are content, great, but if you ant more, there are many ways to get more out of fishing. I know for a fact I am sick of just beating the shoreline bank fishing. Once in a while I'll have a good day if the fish are there, but more times than not they aren't. I need to invest in a boat/trailer so I can get out there onto the water and cover more water, find more fish, find that hot spot, etc. That way if the fish aren;t on the shoreline, I can motor to where they are. I could also invest more time, this means look at my weekly schedule and plan a couple or at least one SET TIME I will fish for at least a set amount of time, instead of just impulsively heading to the local ponds when I have free time. I also have to work on my focus and mind set when fishing. I reccommend that if you fish with someone who doesn;t share the same mind set towards fishign as you, stop fishing with them, at least don't fish with them often. They will only bring you down, and them wanting to leave after two hours without a bite could mean you not catching that trophy later on that day when you found that hot spot. So, in order to achieve your fishing goals, to become better, whatever that means to you, whether it is catching at least one fish every time you go out, catching your limit every time out, or beating your personal best, or the state record, invest more mentally(focus, determination, information), physically(hours fishing), and financially(make sure you have what is needed to realistically acheive your goals) I hope this didn't bore everyone who read it. It was a sincere article I thought would help almost everyone, especially young guys like me who at 21 still has (god willing) a solid 40-50 years to fish. I've came along way in 10 years fishing for sunnies with nightcrawlers, god only knows where I'll be in terms of fishing in 20-30 years down the road after building on a solid fishing foundation. So ask yourself what more you can give fishing to get back what you deserve.

I would like to know what most people use when they are just working the shoreline or an unfamiliar area, or an area with no visible structure. In other words, when there is a situation that doesn't neccassarily call for a certain type of lure, what do you throw and why? How do you use it to get the result you want? I like hardbaits the best. Whether it is a jerkbait, a topwater, or a crankbait, I like them. I think becasue I like to work the bait more than a spinnerbait but I'm not skilled enough or patient enough to work jigs and soft plastic rigs. i think it is because I don't neccassarily see myself as a bass fisherman who's tools are mostly jigs and soft plastics thrown in or around cover.

I have never heard of this, except when it comes to the fall bassin'. I have heard over and over again that in fall, once the water temps get cooler, that bass will school(size dependent meaning little bass will school with other little bass and so on and so on) and they will chase the schools of minnows. In spring I have heard that bass relate to shallow warming water, the post spawn they relate to deeper water adjacent to the shallow warming spawning flats. Early summer they will come back in warm water shallows, mid summer they will move out to deeper water either relating to bottom structure/vegetation or suspend over deep water at the thermocline depth. Then in fall they will move shallow to feed but during the day they will move out deeper and chase bait. But today I was catching bass right off the bank in less than 5' of water today.

I fish a local lake during the cooler seasons for stocked trout and broodstock salmon. I, as well as many other anglers, have great luck with floating PowerDough and PowerEggs for the stocked rainbows. I have caught a couple of browns on rapala minnows, and some salmon with spoons and a rapala plug. Does anyone know any other bait rigs for trout and salmon(not including the powerbait rig). I know I can nab the freshly stocked and maybe some holdovers with the floating powerbait, but I would like to target the browns and salmon with bait. Any advice would be appreciated. Would a simple bobber/slip float rig work with a small minnow, worm, grub(for the trout)? I have heard of a modified Carolina rig with live bait on the end left to swim, but I'm afraid the baitfish will just find a place to hide, and the worm/grub would just get lost in bottom rocks/weeds.

I know many of us pride ourselves, and many of your sigifigant others hate us, for our extensive tackle collection. From our hardbaits, to our softbaits, our spinners and our jigs. We have lures for every depth, water clarity, and season. After hundreds of dollars spent, hours upon hours of time looking through catalogs, internet retailer sites, and gazing at walls of lures at our local outdoor retailer, we have what it takes to catch bass anywhere anytime.....so we thought. I don;t know about you, but many times I have fished for hours and not got a bite with a number of different lures. Even though true bass anglers find it hard to even think about using shiners or crawlers, sometimes it's what is best. Today I went fishing from the bank at a small pond inside a cemetary where I have heard holds big bass.(up north in Mass. so a big guy is 4 or 5lbs.) Me and my brother went through a dozen large shiners(about 4 inches) in a couple hours producing four 1-2 lbers and 1 nice 4lber. I know for a fact we wouldn't have caught these fish if we were fishing lures. Maybe we would have gotten lucky and caught a couple, but I never have days like this with lures. Maybe this jsut means I'm not as experienced and skilled, but that's ok. I had a heck of a time watching my little bro land his PB Largemouth whether he caught it on bait or not. I like to emulate the pros by fishing lures too, but sometimes you just need to get back in touch with your inner child, and take it back to the basics of livebait fishing for some real fun. I would never compare my fishing day with someone fishing artificials next to me, but I still chalk it up as a good outing. I think every now and then we should all leave the planos at home, go out with a couple rods rigged with some float rigs, and see what a REAL good bass fishing day is. There is a difference between a good day of bass fishing, and a good tournament limit. I think we all started fishing because it was fun, we found it exciting, and we liked being one with the outdoors. Once in awhile we need to take it back to the simpler times. For get about buring spinnerbaits, pitching jigs, and walkin' topwaters. Just toss out a minnow under a bobber and wait for that big bass to chase down dinner. I personally love feeling that un expected strike when working a lure. But there is nothing like watching a bobber dance on the top of the water as a bass chases down your bait. Just my advice, use circle hooks when fishing live bait, this should lead to less gut hooking since fish tend to hook themselves. And the circle hook is made to easily come back out the fishes throat and stick the jaw if swallowed. Plus since the hook point is turned in a slight bit, I would venture to say snaggs of logs and vegetation would be less frequent.

are lucky craft lures worth as much as twice or three times other lures? Plus, how much swearin' do you do when you lose one of those babies?

The other day i was casting a crankbait, and I hooked into a fresh water clam. The hook was stuck in between the two shell halves. I think the clam snapped down on the hooks thinking it could have been food.

The only bass fishing I can do for now is Pond fishing. Although these are not stocked farm ponds. All the bass the resdie in the ponds are from mother nature. All the trout fishing I do is in a "put and take" pond stocked with 'bows, brownies and some brood stock salmon. I would not compare my trout fishing success to another guys' who fishes for wild trout in stream and rivers, since there is no comparison. Like the saying goes, catching fish is easy, finding them is hard, as someone already stated. But don't knock pond fishing, sure it's not like fishing a big lake, but the water size/population ratio is probably close and hence finding the bass could be just as difficult.(Not talking stocked bass ponds) Not to mention most guys that bass fish in ponds don't use bass boat with electronics. More like shore fisherman or jon boat guys with electric motors.

Great quote Catt. I feel the baitmonkey's heart break a little each time I lose a lure though. I would try throwing some topwater frogs around these laydowns, since they run on top. Maybe even some buzzbaits.

Got a few hits on a trap today casting from shore at a local pond. I hooked into one but he shook it. I think I got another hit, but it could have been the bait bumping something, although I am pretty keen on the difference between a strike and bump now. I recently watched a video on Concast On-Demand where KVD was instructing how to use a lipless bait properly. He said that if you just use a straight retrieve you are cheating yourself. He said he likes to let it drop to bottom and rip it and pop it back to the boat, hopefully bumping things on the way. He said this is the way you ghet big strikes. I tried this method and I only got one strike when I was toying the bait in, and none on a straight retrieve. They showed some nice underwater action of the lure when he was retrieving it(I not only find this interesting, but very helpful as well as you can see what the bait is actually doing) and no wonder why it gets strikes. He said he likes the 1/2 ounce and 3/4 ounce best because they allow for a long cast. I figure they cause mor eosund and vibration and offer a hungry bass a worth while meal to expend energy on trying to chase down. KVD also said his favorite lipless rod is a 7' glass rod that is sensitive to feel the bait. Just thought I;d share this. I have always heard fall is a great time to throw lipless baits since bass are out schooling on bait fish. Just make sure you "work" this bait, and don;t just reel it in.