JCrzy4Bass

Dude man sick restoration, that thing is not far off at all from the real deal and your right you saved a boatload. I'll have to post a pic of my project when I get home. I bought a 50th Anniversary American Stratocaster and customized it to a tee. It was blue body with all chrome hardware and white pickguard and back plate. I ended up changing out the machine heads for Grover's in black, changed the pick up knob, tone knob, volume knob to circular black knobs, changed out the pickguard to black, replaced the pickups in the bridge and mid with Seymour Duncan Hot Rails which scream especially with pinch harmonics. I also changed the back plate to a black one as well and thre on some DR strings (My Fav). Changed out the bridge to a black (same model bridge as purchased) Anyway the guitar ran me 999.99 on sale presidents day four years back. Had to pick it up. After all the costs/upgrades to customize it I spent another 350.00 bucks so I've put 1350 into the guitar plus tax. I run it through a Marshall AVT50 Half Stack with an MG Straight 4 x 12 cab. For distortion I use a Digitech Metal Master and tie that into a noise suppressor and Mark Tremonti Power Wah. Big on Creed/Alter Bridge stuff only cause Tremonti is god. Also play a lot of Metallica, Avenged Sevenfold, As I lay Dying, Atreyu, Breaking Benjamin, etc. So fairly big into Metal. Don't play as much anymore but I would never give my guitar or setup away or change it. Love the sound. Only thing I wish I had money for (kinda hard with a kid on the way and occupying myself with fishing) is a AVT150 Half Stack with 1960 Cab or a JCM Half Stack. Someday... My old band: www.myspace.com/5daysfromdecember I played Rhythm. Riffs and guitars are great, drums are great, bass is great... pay no attention to the singer. Probably the main reason we didn't get signed. Played in an area where plenty of bands got deals... but unfortunately it's impossible to find a singer in Northern Virginia for this material we played.

Dude Micro that Python in that picture you just posted is one of the prettiest snakes I've seen (pythons). Do you ever hit up any of the reptile shows here in Northern Va? I was thinking about maybe mid-spring or summer hitting the one in richmond and getting another corn for future breeding purposes. I'm the one who posted those pics of my Amelanistic Cornsnake a while back. I'll have to take some more pics and get em' up soon, the most recent are over a year old. Gotten so much bigger. Since last time we talked he was on fuzzies, now I have him on small mice and he's doing well. Soon might upgrade to mediums. Still waiting for him to thicken up though. Very long but I haven't been "power feeding" him so he's maintaining a nice chunk, but nothing too thick. I need to get him bigger! Hehe. Anyway we should meet up and hit a herp show sometime dude. Later.

Four days fellas. You guys getting pumped or what? Shallow lake like this... All the ponds I've fished lately have been hot. One of them is only avg of 6 or 7 feet in the middle, the other probably closer to 12-13 feet. I know Royal isn't the deepst of lakes so I gotta wonder how much warmer it is than the others around it (Mercer, Huntsman, etc). These lakes were good in February but with all the winds and cold nights looks like they've taken a back burner to the the more shallow area around here. I know the bass may not be in totally shallow water but that's where I've been catching em' in my ponds 2-3 feet deep normally over new grass. Anyone know as far as bottom content at Roayl and if theres any grass growing here yet? Depending on the wind I will probably be throwing quite a few spinnerbaits parallel to shoreline and or structure away from shore, dropping a jig/senko and probably running some rattle traps (top producer so far this year). Can't wait to see you fellas out there. Current forecast for Saturday (Though we know it always changes) : High - 49 Low - 32 Winds out of the north at 7mph 30% change of precipitation Looks fine to me, lil' rain never hurt anyone and that wind is nothing compared to what it has been lately. Let's get some pigs!

Hey guys snagged this guy on March 14, finally go the pic off my camera with two days to spare. He fell to a Firetiger Rapala Rattle Trap over submerged spadderdock growing on the right side of the pond. Weighed in on the digi at 1lb 5oz. I know... I know... WOW! So the math: Using FourBizz's formula to turn my 5 ozs into decimals yields - 100/16*5=31.25 So... 1.3125/16.25 (Virginia State Record) = 0.0807 x 100 = 8.08 Thanks FourBizz, I failed Bussiness Calc at George Mason my Sophmore Year lol.

Thanks SCBass that's EXACTLY the answer I was looking for to my question. It seems the drag plays a critical rule when it comes to overlining your rod with higher test. I will definately check my drag each outing and adjust accordingly. Needless to say I think I'm gonna give this stuff a try. I think 20lb will work for me only because I don't fish HEAVY HEAVY cover. And normally if I do I'm more on the outside of it because I'm still not 100% comfortable with my flipping and pitching accuracy. Yes I know the best spots are right in the thick of the stuff but I still need practice before I get that brave. I'm gonna try and it and see what I think. I'll let you guys know. Thanks for all your input in this vauable thread fellas.

Thanks for all the replies to this guys. Well I'm not a big stren original fan and wasn't impressed with that particular line. So that's probably out for me. The XT Trilene seemed a little rough for me and I just didn't like the way it respooled and the castability of it. I may try XL if I can find it at the stores I'm checking out but if not maybe it's time to jump back to the good ole Spiderwire Mono or Trilene Maxx. I've fished spiderwire and I have to say that mono may be the second best next to the Suffix line I currently use. So maybe I would like it for the spooks. I'll probably compare the two. How many of you have used Trilene Maxx and how do you feel about it? As oppossed to Spiderwire Mono for topwaters on baitcasting tackle?

Ghoti, haha. Now don't explain to her what you and the boys have planned as far as when your on the boat What happens on the boat, stays on the boat lol. Plus we gotta give our hooks some kinda love. Rubbers seem to just.... do the job! Haha.

Dude I've asked the same question a few times. Don't feel bad, it's not incredibly basic and it's helpful to understand what the wind does. Fishizzle is right about the cloud cover/bluebird days. Another thing to consider is what type of grass/algae/weed cover your pond or body of water has. The wind will push plankton and other small forms of life to the bank in which direction it is blowing. In turn, the bait fish will follow. When the wind really whips up though the bait fish can be really spread out depending on what kind of body of water it is. If you can find out where the baitfish are holding then you should be able to locate the bass. I don't do well in the wind from shore but I have caught a few from the boat during a windy day. Try search baits like spinners (excellent under windy conditions). I'd go with a 3/8 to 1/2oz spinner to keep it down in the column a little more. The wind on the water breaks up the sunlight penetration and spinners blades shine during these times. With a quick retrieve the bass see the flash and you can get some good reaction strikes as they don't have time to analyze the lure. Also Rat L Traps would probably work pretty well under these conditions. Vary your colors according to the color or stained level of the body of water. Good luck. Just some things I've learned here and from magazines.

Lol, my one and a half year old cornsnake is like 100 x smaller than that thing. I was impressed when it jumped up to eating small mice instead of hoppers or fuzzies lol. Geez... that thing could probably eat a DD bass no problem lol. Freakin' crazy. Yea... I will never own a python. They can trun so quick it's not even funny. Doesn't matter how docile they are. The strangest and most unusual things can change their behavior in the blink of an eye. Any of you ever see those shows where they show the pyhtons squeezing around an owners neck when they take them out to show their buddies? Yea, can you say bone crushing? It is crazy how big they get and even more so, how much power they have. I know not nearly all of them get that big... but they can get ginormous lol.

Well, not so similar but it definately is something I think about regularly. My dad is my prime fishing partner. We share every experience we have with each other as far as a fishing perspective. Even if we aren't together we always give each other a call to let each other know what holes are producing, how we are catching them, etc. Most of the time we are together though. Anyway, he always tells me how proud my great grandfather (Grampy Reeves to me) would be if he saw me out there on the boat or shore hauling in these bass. He was somewhat of a big deal up in the New Hampshire/Massachussetts area and used to hold the lake record for the Rainbow Trout at Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire. I don't remember what he caught it on, but one of my dad's great aunts has it mounted in her house up there somewhere in New Hampshire. Last month he called his sister to see if she could get a hold of them and take a picture of the fish for us as I have always wanted to see it. Anyway, I remember last year after father's day (the first day I took my dad out fishing since he was a kid) he pulled out Grampy Reeves' tackle box and showed me all the hand tied flies, old minnow type crankbaits and hooks and stuff he used to use. The tackle box had an old smell and the bottom corner of one area had some stuff spilled, almost seemed to be like some kind of glue or residue from some kind of bait enhancer. But I remember looking through all that stuff and seeing how far fishing has come and thinking of what my great grandfather would do now if he were here fishing with me. Would he be showing me the old school way to haul in those fish, throwing old inline spinners or twicthing minnows right under the surface? It's kind of cool to think back on it. I only met him twice as he died very shortly after I was born. But the memories my dad has placed in my head will always have an impact on my fishing. He seemed like a great guy and my dad always talks about their adventures in carp fishing, trout fishing, salmon fishing up there in the colder waters of the north. I know he's looking down on us and is probably very proud that the sport of fishing has brought my dad and I back to being close friends like when I was younger (not my high school days... we had a fall out). It's cool cause I kind of feel like the bond my dad had with my great grandfather has sort of been put in place with him and myself. We have a ton of fun on the water whether it's from boat or shore. And I feel like it's things like this that really put the sport of fishing into perspective for me. Thanks for allowing me to share and thanks for getting that memory back out of my head and into the open. When I just looked back at what I wrote it made me realize how special it was to actually hear about and learn about my great grandfather and his fishing adventures. Your brother will always be with you. It's not wrong with the way you approach fishing now. Your brother would have wanted you to keep the love for the sport in your veins, and he'd be happy to know you are growing as an angler and becoming more caught up in the aspect of fishing. Good luck in the future.

No where near on par. While many people and companies are creating some VERY lifelike forms of lures, no one bait will ever be able to realistically mimic the real thing as far as baitfish go. The skill is in the angler himself who is able to manipulate the lure in some kind of way that creates a similar action to a fish that a bass may see swimming in the water. It takes experimentation, patience, and skil to learn how to work each bait correctly or learn how to mimic the certain prey you are attempting to present. The guys catching these fish on swimbaits (while realistic and lifelike) have to be using very specific gear as far as rods and reels that can handle the bait and present it correctly. They are EXTREMELY patient, know how to use their depthfinders to a tee (just ask fish chris, though the most humble guy... he has boned and studied up on electronics to find his girls), and know how to present them in a way that will get the biggun's to bite. As far as live bait goes, I just think that there is far more to bass fishing than throwing a minnow, blue gill, or other baitfish on a hook and tossing it out waiting for big betty. No matter how you catch em' it's a thrill, but I think live bait is tailored more to children or beginning fishermen to get the handle on the basics of fishing. Not knocking you guys who use it. You caught the fish fair and square and may be just as good with live bait. If so more power to you. Just my two cents on the subject.

Hey guys looking for line for my new quantum baitcasting combo that I am going to use for my topwater plugs like poppers, skitter walks, jitterbugs and spooks. I had the rod/reel combo given to me by my dad and plan on learning how to use baitcasters in the next month or so. I know learning walk the dog over again on a baitcaster is probably going to be a challenge but I may be participating in a club come next month and want to have three rod and reel combos for specific uses. My other two are already set (don't have the money to have 5-6 combos). I was just curious what type of line you guys would recommend for a beginner as far as baitcasting, trying to relearn the walk the dog (used to do it on spinning) technique. Any thoughts would be appreciated. I'm assuming some type of mono will be best? I'm a Suffix guy at heart but have tried stren original, spiderwire mono, and berkley trilene. Not a huge fan of any of them, but the spiderwire seemed to be easiest to handle on a spinning combo and had pretty good casting distance. Let me know what you guys think. Keep in mind key words: beginner and economical.

Dave, thanks so much for your time and advice on the reel I'm having problems with. I'm going to look around town. We have a small mom and pops shop up the rod where the main guy there has been doing reel maintenance for years. I'm gonna print out a copy of this thread and see if he would be able to help me out. If not I'll look around town. I would come to you as I know you do an excellent job, just I don't wanna send out all my stuff and play the wait game through postal mail. Thanks for all your help bud. Your a great asset to this forum!

In colder water temperatures or just as the fish start getting aggressive I would drop a spoon or silver buddy in a 1/8 - 1/4oz size in prime deep water areas where you may see some feeding going on. Is this clear water, slightly stained, etc? Depending on the water clarity the fish may be deeper, if it isn't that clear they may suspend in the column a bit more. It all depends on what kind of deep structure the pond offers. If a spoon doesn't work you might wanna try something like a 1/8 or 3/8oz bitsy jig with a good action trailer. Maybe swim it back to you, let it drop all the way down and do the sharp pop technique where you just go from 3 - 12 oclock violently. For a trailer I would look at maybe a double tail grub made by zoom. Pumpkin trailers and colored jigs or blue and green jigs work well to imitate bluegill. How aggressive are the bass you have caught? Last I would try some deep diving cranks with a wide wobble to attract plenty of attention, the bass in my local ponds love these. Rat-L-Traps jigged, slow rolled, or dropped then run along the bottom can produce some hefty bass. Try and find the grassline on the bottom let it sink into it and slowly pull it through, ripping it when it gets stuck. Use good line for this though. What do you see around the shoreline as far as structure? Sometimes you can figure out where some of the best drop offs or steep banks in the pond or lake are by recognizing what the shoreline characteristics do first and use your imagination to create the underwater world so to speak. You get better at it as you put yourself in these situations. This is really the best way to deal with not having electronics. Just my two cents.

Who has a video camera to head up and cover this magnificient sporting event? That would be a sweet little promotion for bassresource! Haha. Wish I could be there. Sounds like fun guys. In response to the last reply on this thread. Mike has made himself almost a celebrity and definately represents a group of up and coming anglers. A lot of young guys that fish, myself included are starting to get fired up about the sport because of the intensity Mike brings. Watching him on camera gets me in the mood to get out there and whack em'. He gives me hope, ambition, and drive that I may not have as much of if I hadn't seen or heard of him. Maybe the generation gap is a little different and Mike just tailors himself to a younger audience. No problem with that. Are all you sentimental, quiet, reserved type fishermen gonna get mad when you see young guys like us on tour getting pumped when we land that monster at last minute before weigh in? I may never be doing that but I'm sure there will be anglers like Mike to follow. Maybe not in the near future. But it's coming. The sport is definately changing guys. But I don't think it's a bad thing at all. Every sport has their characters. Mike makes the sport interesting. Everyone has to agree with that.

Anybody? Is there a better subforum for me to post these questions? Or do not many do this reel maintenance or have the know how?

Thanks Husker. I'll check the review and see what others had to say. Looks like more than likely I'm gonna check this suffix braid out. Just wanna hear more about the whole using higher rated line than your rod and reel are actually rated for.

Did this guy do something to you, it seems like all Ike's selling points and all his characteristics trigger some hateful response in you. No offense, don't get me wrong we are all entitled to our opinions, but why don't you believe he is sincere and real when it comes to all he does for the sport? Have you read his book? Take a look at the life the guy has gone through to get where he is. It's an amazing story. And you know what, if I worked that hard all my life to do something that I dreamed of as a kid... your dam right I'd be getting excited. I love what I'm doing just like Ike loves what he's doing. He is the best angler out there as far as showing enthusiasm and bringing bass fishing to youth. His statements about never giving up and his fun style on the boat bring something to bass fishing that it has been lacking, the curve ball, the quirk that seems to drive a lot of other anglers nuts... to me if you have problems or questions about Ike... your letting him get to you in a way that pushes your buttons... that my friend is indeed the meaning of intimidation. To say your not intimidated after the first thread you wrote on here is definately hypocritical. I'm not trying to start a pit fit either. But I just think that someone who has done as much as this guy is entitled to act the way he does on the boat. He loves the sport more than most and would do anything to help contribute. He writes some great articles in Bassin'magazine, he demonstrates and is not afraid to show you the insides and outs of all different kind of lures and he is indeed very well spoken. Also have you had kids? When Ike did, it allowed him to allow his inner child to still have a place in his life. His kids brought about the fun in the sport again (for him). His stories of taking the girls out with their fishing gear and allowing them to enjoy fishing the way he did as a kid says a lot for a guy who is so busy being on the water all year. I hope both his girls end up on the Woman Bass Tour later on in life. Mke is a great guy and I only hope someday I can contribute in some kind of way like he has. Go Ike! Ps - Successful athletes and sports figures gain intimidation factors by what they accomplish. You are very correct that KVD is intimaidating, but it is a different kind. No one would want to go up head to head against that guy with his track record. But Ike is building one of his own. Angler of the year, classic winner, climbed the ranks to get where he is at. He's made a name for himself. If you ask me any angler on the pro tour would be intimidating. You have to do a lot of work to get to that point. And to catch fish that consistently says a lot about your game.

Anyone? Thanks for the previous info Dave. Just trying to get this finished up so I can take both rods and reels back out on the water. Also Dave if you wouldn't mind checking out my thread on Suffix Braid and letting me know what you think as far as using heavier rated lines on reels and rods that are only meant to hold lighter sizes. For instance. My rod and reel is rated for 12lb test max. Am I sacrificing breaking guides, my rod, or messing up my reel by using say 20lb braid on it? Just your opinion if you could. Sorry to be a pain fellas. Just wanna get these questions answered. I did review your maintenance stickey Dave but I'm still a little lost as far as the reel. Hope I'm not bugging you too much. I know your a busy guy and have other stuff to tend to so I appreciate any advice you could give. Or if anyone else could help I wouldn't mind additional help at all.

Cory generally I throw 1/8 or 3/8 oz jigs but occassionally I will throw a 1/2oz jig. So your saying if I go ahead and use a higher rated line like 20 or 30lb braid with a rod and reel not rated for anything above 12 I won't have problems if I just back the drag off a bit? I'm not so much worried about breaking line. I'm not one of those guys where every single fish counts. Ii'm just recreational and don't plan on getting into clubs or tourneys. So to me if I lose a fish here and there because of line snapping its ok. I just don't wanna screw up my reel or break a rod or guides on my rod because the line is rated too high. Any other thoughts on this?

Specific reasoning for this? This was actually one of my quirks about my current line is that it loops up occasionally a bit if I use too light a lure or jig or what not. I use 15lb for my 12lb rated reel. I read somewhere that it's not that big of a deal (here on bassresource.com). So 20lb Braid would be an issue on a Sonora 4000 (the bulkier of the three models), that's only rated for 12lb test? Maybe I just need to upgrade my reel then? Just trying to get some insight. Thanks guys. If your talking about rod I think the actual rod is rated for up to 17lb test. Not sure I'll have to check it out tonight though. I wouldn't go past what the rod says but from what I understand the reel is barely compromised so long as you don't go too far up above the range the reel is rated for. Am I wrong here? Also I use BPS rods for my jigging and plastics applications. Great backbone and I think it would be a perfect rod for braided line. These things are built tough.

I think the cast for kids event would be an excellent idea. Then there would be another avenue for people to see first hand what those events do for these kids and so forth. Very touching stuff and it means a whole lot to the kids. My dad and I were thinking about signing up for one in DC this year on the mall. Forget the date though. Just reminded me to look this up again, thanks. If not I'm sure you could prove some valuable insight on certain lures and bodies of water up there. Keep us posted and good luckw ith everything you have lined up this year bud. Anticipating seeing some nice fat bucketmouths from you this year.

For any of you guys here who watch Lunkerville at Lunkerville.com you may have seen the posting in the forum there about Mike D asking for special guests this year for Lunkerville. Russ did respond and I was just curious to hear from him whether Mike has sent him any details about when they would be shooting this video and when it may be up on lunkerville or even here available at bassresource as well. Any truth to this Russ? I think you'd be a great guest on the show. You could teach folk how to use that monster jitterbug in them cold waters of RI haha. Let us know what's going on with this and keep us posted if you can. Great show. I think I've seen all the episodes about 30 times each now. My fav's are with Pat Xiques of New York (GY Sponsored), The Curse of Lunkerville one fishing for smallmouth on Erie, and the Local Hookerz ones. Those pros really give you some valuable insight on fishing lakes in those episodes. There are other good ones, those are just my favs.

Hey fellas I've been thinking about switching my heavy 15lb mono line on my jig pole over to 20lb High Performance Suffix Braid. I use this mainly for jigs, plastics and spinnerbaits. I use Suffix Superior for my crankbait rod and have fallen in love with the knot strength, castability, and stretch it provides for my crankbaits and figure that I should try out their performance braid since I praise this one so much. I am pretty much a Shimano guy but I think so far Suffix has provided me with great line capabilites and I really like their products thus far. Just getting some thoughts from you guys who currently use this line and your likes and dislikes for it. Keep in mind with this pole I am usually fishing moderate to heavy cover so the braid probably is a better choice. My second choice was going to be trying out the new Stren Microfuse Braided line. Comparisons? I'd like to hear from both sides if we have any anglers here who use the products.

The noise isn't as bad when I do that. The noise is coming from inside the reel. The crank paddle is the handle right? I don't know the names of all the parts. So where od I put the oilf or the rotor pinion bearing? And will just oil do the trick? I'll look on the Shimano sight and see if I can locate that bearing. If its the one after you pull the spool off in the middle of the reel I believe I did oil that. But I'm not sure. After looking at the diagram and seeing all the bearings I am confused. For those of you guys that have been at this stage and figured stuff out I respect your follow through because I am having a hard time understanding the schematic and how to access this certain rotor bearing. I have a feeling I know where it is, looks like I'm gonna need a screwdriver to do so though? The link to the schematic is here: http://fish.shimano.com/media/fishing/SAC/techdocs/en/Spinning/04SON4000FA_v1_m56577569830571922.pdf Is the rotor bearing that 8738 number? Looks like it would make the most sense as 8942 is the pinion gear. If this is the case I will look for a screwdriver to take this apart and oil it. Is there a way you can get the oil in without disassembling?