.dsaavedra.

well howdy craig!!! glad you made it over here! anyway, i dont know the first thing about trophy bassin' but i know that most ppl use jigs...

dude you are an awesome writer!!! go make an inspirational desk calaendar or something!!!! ;D but seriously, everything you say is so true. and even tho i get burned out alot and fishing usually sucks i still wanna go immediately afterward because i wanna go back and see why things were working and try to fix them.

i like risto raps! im gonna check out his boxes of rapalas next time and see if he has any good ones. so anyway, after a good, off topic, rant, anyone have any pics of their lure collections?

well.... if i could see the hook and had any chance at all to remove it, i would try like hell. and usually i succeeed in this, by going in from behind in the gills (carefully of course!) then i will plop him in the water, move him back and forth, and if he swims off, great! if he stays there i'll give him a few minutes and see if he livens up...if he dies, i grab him and eat him if i have a way of bringing him home (cooler, bucket w/ water, etc..) i love the taste of bass and i love releasing fish so either way works for me!!!

dude, just read the post....great post. i can totally connect to that and i have empathy for every word of that post. sometimes it really sucks for me to be fishing in a dinky, tipsy, cramped, leaky 12' jon w/ my dad in the back complaining about not catching fish and the water getting in. i feel like a bad day was just a waste, considering all the time and effort i put into it and i feel like i have just gotten up early (a thing i hate to do) for nothing.

jeez i get burned out almost every time i go...unless something great happens. usually i dont catch much and its hard to catch any and what i do is usually not of any notable size. just seems like no matter wht i try nothing will work and i get p****d.

he's right!

hey buddy, guess what i caught on a floating rapala? yup caught that baby on the orig. floater thats on the top row in the middle w/ the red bill and hooks.

ok thanks for the input. i didnt think it would be worth much, specially cuz it doesnt have a box and since they are still very popular. i do have the box for the fat rap (i save all my rapala boxes)...next year i will pick one up and i wont open the box now...what about that risto rap? those are discontinued.... i love that thing...i caught a big ole south carolina bass on it. if it turns out they might be worth something, i'll have to get another one cuz i cant retire that thing..i like it too much.

good job guys. its good (re-assuring) to see others catching under 10 dinks in a trip and still calling it a good day....thats usually about all i can get. it irritates me when some fisherman dont even recognize dink bass and just think of em as a chore to haul in and then throw them back w/o even looking at em. good job looks like you had fun!

oops i almost forgot! heres one more rapala do you think thats worth anything? its my dad's from when he was a kid. very old but as you can see its in ok shape. i could still fish it if i wanted to...the hooks are all rusted out tho. it was one of the originals that were made in finland, and finland is printed on the bill.

just checked e-bay, these things are going for 10 bucks for what looks like a 5 pack

FER-REAL??? wow i got it for like 2 or 3 dollars at the local annual fishing fair. they dont carry up to date stuff, they always carry years old things. and this one guy is there every year and has 2 big cardboard boxes overflowing w/ rapalas. he has a deal where if you buy 3 you can get them for 3 each. its 5 each if you dont take the deal. i get alot of rapalas from him. only bad thing is thers no selection. its many duplicates of the same few baits in the same few colors. if he still there next spring i'll pick up a few of his fat raps.

lol i couldnt resist making that joke!!!!!!! ;D ;D ;D but seriously...for a long time i had been waiting, wanting a bait w/ lots of stringy attachments, cuz when bass are real finicky, ive always had some internal feeling that tells me to use something w/ lots of wiggly appendages. well i finally found something and i think its VERY innovative....anyone know where i can get a pack of these???

well for many of us our season has come to a close. this is the time when most bass anglers (except you lucky southerners) put their rods on the rack and take a break from fishing. we clean, organize, re-organize, and just plain look at alllll of our tackle. well last night i decided to look at my crankbaits. while some of yours may put mine to shame, here is my personal collection of rapalas. the inline spinners on the right are actually made by bluefox (ownded by rapala) and it might be clear in the pic, but rapala makes the bodies for them....these are the best inline spinner i have found. anyway, thought i'd post this just to keep us in the spirits....lets see some pics of your lure collections!

i'd keep the thing!!! you got one steal of a deal. like everyone said, that is a beautiful crankbait reel. either go buy a crankbait specific rod for it, or put it on the st. croix. if you are using jigs on it, then i'd put it on the fenwick, like RW said.

very good review indeed. but like others have said, w/ 200 bucks to pop you realy cant go wrong. any reel at this price is gonna be quality. at this level it all depends on the nitty gritty stuff. i will say that shimanos 1/4 turn brake panel thing is very good. it may seem like a pain and all, but i have a citica (same brake system) and the brakes are really no hassle by any means. you just flip up the switch, turn it a little bit, the thing flings open, click in your brakes, shut it, your done. and you'll find that you dont adjust your brakes very often. w/ my citica i keep brakes on 2 and i can cast anything as far as i need to. i personally like the internal brakes, because i have a daiwa w/ external mag brakes and i tend to switch them all around when i palm the reel. just me.

i have a bps e-z lure retriever (slide down the line) and it is worthless...waste of 7 bucks. the poles look like they might prove themself though.

no wonder bass crush it!!! that red one looks like its giving bass the finger!!! ;D

thanks for all the feedback guys. its what i expected : ;D berkley just advertises the hell out of it and make it seem like its the greatest and it will catch fish under all conditions, an "idiot" bait. well with claims like that it seems like some "as seen on tv" lure and we all know how those are. its sad that berkley would put out something like that. i love the powerbait! caught my first bass on it:)

rapala doesnt paint the lures (most of them) either. they hand lay foil on the bait (saw it in the vid) and then clear coat over the foil then they print the designs on and clear coat over that several times...its not paint. like for instance, the bluegill pattern, thats not painted, its printed. and some others are the parrot, baby bass, shad, frog, crawdad, etc. the ones that are painted are the smiplistic ones where its mainly just a coat of paint faded over foil, like in the silver, gold, blue, silver fourescent chartruse, gold fourescent red, etc.

HAH! dude your not alone : i think i have the idea, but what exactly is a spider jig? is it a soft plastic w/ many "tentacles"?

i agree with all the suggestions...just get new hooks. its cheap, more effective, less time consuming, and they are much sharper than re-sharpened hooks. also, since the factory hooks are treated to be corosion resistant, when you sharpen them that takes the treatment off and sometimes your hooks will rust all up. but if you MUST sharpen a hook (spinnerbait, jig, etc.) then might i suggest a dremel tool. thats what i use when i do sharpen hooks. take a small, fine pointed griding stone ( ie. aluminum oxide ) and just put the tool on med. high speed (8) and just sharpen the hook into a pyrimid shape...works fast and easy.

wow thats cool! way to go on this awsesome program. ya know...southern maryland is always open

just watched the scene, and it said they used 7 coats of paint and laquer