luckyinkentucky

Whatever you do take along some 'Reel Magic'. It works wonders in the winter and prevents ice from forming on your equipment. I use it on line, reels, lures, rods, and rod guides. You can find it at Wal-mart. Here is a pic if you are interested. As for what lures to use. Feathered or haired jig would be best. Depending on what the water clarity is. Don't use a pork trailer in these temps, because it will freeze too easily. Stick to a soft pliable trailer like a Paca Chunk, or similar plastic trailer.

BBVVWWWHHHAATTT?? Never owned a zara huh? Well I guess you're not missing out if you have Sammys, but I didn't think there was anyone who never owned a Zara. I also prefer sammies, but sometimes when my target fish are smaller than usual, I'll tie on a Zara Puppy (after replacing the hooks with Gammys - this is important) and have a blast. And I do have a live Sammy - the thing is amazing, and definitely a big fish bait. Love it. Yep ... never owned a Zara Spook. I grew up being tutored by a well known Kentucky Lake / Lake Barkley guide fisherman, and he never touched them. So, naturally I didn't either. He has always sworn by the Smithwick Devils Horse baits though. We've pulled them out of the Kenlake marina area with Devil Horse baits almost every night I go down there. One thing to remember .... "If Biiig bass is what you're after .... think biiiiggg baits!" I'll never forget that.

Always run a fuel stabilizer in your engine before disconnecting the line. It doesn't matter if you run the engine out of fuel .... varnish can still form in the engine. You need to run fuel stabilizer, and then run an engine 'fogging oil' in it until the engine dies. I have a Schreader valve on my fuel vacuum pump that looks like an inner tube valve stem. I assume you have a Below 90hp engine since you run on a removable tank. In this case you can spray the engine through the carbs while running, in the sparkplug holes, and mix the fogging oil with your fuel/stabilizer mix, and run for 5 minutes. Then, turn it off, spray more in the spark plug holes, turn the flywheel 4 or 5 times, and replace the plugs. Store it in an 'operating' or non-tilted position. Just like it would be if you were on the water and running it. Never store an engine tilted. Another thing ... if you are storing your boat outside you need to tilt the front up about an extra foot for winter storage. You can do this by adding a concrete block under the jack and jacking it up all the way. This allows any water that collects in the bilge to flow out without collecting there all winter.

I use moth balls every year, but in the Spring I take them out. Then put around 10 fabric softener sheets in each compartment (the stronger the better), close the lid, and let them sit there in the sun for a day or two. Then, I let it air out for another day or so, and that always gets the smell out for me.

What is the Max. RPM range for your engine? I'm not familiar with Mercs since I am an Evinrude man. What is your 'Power Rated @' RPM? That is the RPM at which you have all of your horsepower available, and you won't get anymore. Mine is at 5500, but I run a 200hp motor on my Skeeter. Your's may be lower or higher. Also, what kind of bass boat is it? Glass or Aluminum? Deep V or Improved V? I spent a lot of time this past summer tuning my boat to get speed and holeshot out of her. I finally bolted on a Shooter 4 Blade SS Prop 13 1/4 X 25 on her, and completely trimmed out my max RPMs are 5600. On GPS I run between 74 - 78 mph on a calm day. That's pretty impressive for a 21 foot boat, but I just had to test prop after prop. I'm fortunate to have a dealer around that keeps a handful of test props on hand. There is a calculator you can use. Here is the link....... http://www.rbbi.com/folders/prop/propcalc.htm That'll get you in the ball park.

I never fish vegetation with anything less than a 3/4 or 1 ounce weight on a Carolina rig. It takes quite a bit of weight to get that worm through the cover, and you're wasting your time with anything less in my opinion. You can use a heavier weight if you decide to use floating worms. I like to use these on the Ohio River where I do 50% of my fishing. The heavier weight can be counterbalanced by a floating worm, or even a piece of floating foam inserted into the tube I use. You can get the foam at BPS or anywhere else that sells extensive terminal tackle. They also have floating things you can add to your plastics if you choose to get more action from a slower fall with a heavier weight. The weight stays on the bottom, but the plastic retains some buoyancy.

My personal opinion is that the BPS Pro Series Top Water baits have just about the same action as the LC Sammys. I own a handful of both, and honestly can't tell the difference if I pick them up blindly not knowing which one I have. I've never owned a Zara Spook, so I can't compare to it.

FINALLY!!! I got something accomplished. Yesterday I politely called the corporate headquarters and asked to speak to the highest level of management that I was allowed. She transfered me to the Assistant of Johnny Morris himself. A VERY helpful lady named Mary. I went on to tell her my problem, and she was astonished that this had happened. She asked that I give her an hour or so to get things cleared up, and she asked for my number. In 30 minutes flat I had a phone call from her, and she asked that I give them another hour or so to get the paperwork straightened out. So, I waited, and within an hour I had 2 E-Gift Cards in my mailbox. One for the original return, and the other for the order that went wrong. She apologized again, and told me that if I ever had another issue with their service to give her a call, and it would get taken care of immediately. So, what's your opinion. Did they redeem themselves or not? I can't make up my mind. I'm still reluctant to order from them again with the past experiences, but she did assure me I wouldn't have any more problems. I did place an order today to redeem the E-gift cards, and within 2 hours I had a call from her telling me that they bumped me up to Next Day Air for free. I wonder if my account has something on it now where they're going to treat me with kid gloves? I have heard of that happening in the industry. How else did she know I placed an order when I never told her, and I thought yesterday was the last time I was going to talk to her?

Plano 3701 boxes are what I use. They are slimmer than the 3700 series boxes, so I can fit more in my BPS tackle bags. I can fit 5 - 3700 boxes in my BPS tackle bag OR I can fit 8 - 3701 boxes. Unless you have some really fat baits the 3701 is a true space saver. I do have a few Falcon boxes, but found that I can fit just as many jerkbaits in the 3701 as I can in the Falcon Jerkbait organizer, and I pay half the price. Unless I get them on a 50% off sale I won't buy anymore Falcon boxes.

I can get St. Croix Triumphs right now for $50 a piece. Are they good rods? If so, I'm going to buy them up. A local dealer has them for $50 in any size, and he is making way for new.

jeguy6 has a handful of the Abu Garcia Revo SX & STX reels in the Fleamarket section, and you can catch him on Ebay. You can get them for steal if you hurry.

I hope you used the catalog price of $10.88 for them!!!! ;D If not call them back. Depending on which ones you ordered will determine the catalog code for the baits themselves. The catalog I used was the 2007 Fall Angler and the code starts with '13' in front of the numbers. Here are the codes for the baits themselves. *Note ---- 'CC' stands for Color Code. RC 0.5 = 13-249-173 - CC RC 1.5 = 13-248-716- CC RC 2.5 = 13-248-892-CC RC 3.5 = 13-248-893-CC If you need the DD or Deep Diver codes .... let me know. Hope this helps you save a few bucks.

The latest is that I was promised an E-Gift Card in my email box by 8 pm last night. Of course it never showed up! > I'm going to take your advice, and get on the phone with them now. I always fall for the "We're doing everything we can!" bit, and get off the phone easy. Man ..... I'm so frustrated with this deal right now that I'm wanting all of the time back that I've wasted on this problem. This is definitely the very last time I'm doing business with them unless I walk into a BPS in person and get a killer deal. Their customer service is nothing short of a 3 ring circus act in my opinion. Miscommunication at it's finest. People who don't want to deal with you so they pass you on to someone else.

These were more like the boxes that Rat-L-Traps come in, but a little thinner.

An old friend of mine had a lot of his jigs in single lure hard plastic containers the other day. He didn't know where they came from since he got them as a gift several years ago. They are small hard plastic containers about 3" long X 1 to 1 1/2" wide. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? If so , where could I get my hands on them?

I know I'm going to open a can of worms with this question, but here goes anyway. ;D What is the most sensitive and durable rod I can get for $120 or less? Any brand you want. The reason I ask is that I am switching my loyalty from BPS Johnny Morris Elite rods, and they have 85 Million modulus. Give me a comparison from your opinion.

So ... basically what you all are saying is that Bass Pro Shop's Johnny Morris Elite rods w/ 85 Million Modulus for $130 aren't necessarily better than All Star's IM-10 rods for $110. Am I right?

I'm with you tipptruck1 ! Back in 2003 me and a hunting buddy of mine, that I grew up with and have known all my life, went coon hunting on this land he just acquired. It was around 1 A.M., and his dogs, which were two ruthless Blue Ticks, had just crossed through a narrow corn field between two tree lines. We heard them yelping, and growling which was completely out of character for them. They seemed to be both scared and defensive. We caught up to them, and they were standing at the edge of the tree line and wouldn't enter the woods for any reason. Our first thoughts were that it was a cougar or a black bear that had wandered too far West. I walked up to the dogs, and went past them, and as soon as I entered the tree line I got a cold chill down my back! I then backed out, and walked back to my buddy, and told him "I wasn't goin' in there!" ;D He laughed it off, and went in, but the same thing happened to him. He got an eary feeling about 3 feet into the tree line. He described it as an 'impending doom' or 'uncontrollable fear'. Neither of us had ever felt that way, so we decided to go back the way we came, but the dogs wouldn't stop growling at the trees. We went back the next day to see what the deal was, and we ran across 5 grave stones that he never knew were there. They were grown up with thick locust trees, and vines were everywhere. We found the dates after careful examination, and found that all of the death dates were the same. One adult female of 28 yrs., and 4 young children. So, we decided to go to the graves registry in our town, and look them up. They weren't on the deed, or the land plat, and they weren't in the registry which is very uncommon. We were at our whits end when a lodge member suggested we contact the Daughters of the American Revolution. We did, and they found out the story on the graves. We found out that all 5 members of the family were killed by the hand of the husband / father. It was the most brutal murder in these parts at the time, and the local paper had a description of the event. He was later found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging. The wife's parents were responsible for his body since they were the only surviving members of either side of the family, so they burned his body in the area of the graves. We decided to go to the previous owners who were somewhat 'backwoods' by our standards, and see what they knew about the graves. They told my friend that the gravesite was one area of the property that they would never step foot on. He had owned the property since inheriting it from his father, and his cousin had shot himself amongst the graves when he was just a little boy. Since then the family considered it to be 'tainted' ground. The previous owner then said "Somethin' is in there!" with true conviction, so we've never been back to that area of the property.

I was wondering if IM-10 graphite rods were as sensitive and durable as 85 Million Modulus rods. Can someone please explain to me the differences of the two classifications ?

Does anyone here have a Daiwa Zillion? What are everyone's thoughts on them? How do they compare to a Shimano Curado D or similar reels?

Rake leaves, walk dogs, or do odd jobs for the elderly. That's how I did it when I was your age.

At this point I'm just about to hang up ever ordering from them again. Even though I love their signature rods and reels I have yet another problem that reared it's head today. First off, I still haven't gotten a credit on my account for the 2 Johnny Morris reels I returned over a month ago. Everytime I talk to them about it they send me to this person and that, and I always end up getting the same old "We'll check into it further..." at the end of the conversation, and nothing is getting done. I have had countless emails sent to "Upper Level Customer Service" by Customer Service reps I talk to. No one knows anything about why I haven't gotten my money back yet. I paid with a gift card, and they verify that they have inspected and received the items back. I just want my money back! Next, I placed another $200 order last Tuesday, and tried tracking it online through their website. Friday rolled around and I still hadn't seen my items as being shipped, so I gave them a call. The girl said they were "In the warehouse", and she even gave me a tracking number to follow the shipment. Today rolls around, and I still had not received it so I gave them a call. Again, the items would be shipped this afternoon, and they are "In the warehouse ready to be picked up by Fedex." Tonight rolls around, so I check the status on the Fedex site, and it still shows that the package hasn't been shipped. I look on the BPS website under my account, and everything is "Out of Stock". > What I want to know is how can my package be "In the warehouse ready to be picked up" one minute, and "Out of Stock" a few hours later? I'm sorry, but after I get this mess straightened out I'll never order from them again. Fool me once shame on you .... fool me twice shame on me! Looks like Cabelas and Gander Mountain it is! I'll also have to change my brand loyalty to either All Star, G Loomis, Team Daiwa, or Shimano. ;D What are your thoughts? The money for the reels has gone waaay past what my Attorney General deems a 'reasonable transaction time'. I have all the proof I need. I'm not usually hard to deal with, but this has gotten out of hand. Would you agree? It's not like this is a few measly dollars. We're talking around $380 to be exact.

Thanks for pointing that out roadwarrior. I'm going to buy one of those STX reels on there for a down right steal. Couldn't ask for a better price than what he's asking.

Would you guys / gals buy a refurbished reel from the manufacturer? Assuming it was completely like new, other than the fact that it was once used would you buy it for 50% off the price of a new one?

The "Twitchin' Bar" is used for flipping jigs and plastics, and also for bottom bouncing. It's actually very useful. I got my hands on one at Gander Mountain the other day, and I was really impressed. I'm thinking about picking one up for myself after Christmas. It was a really well built and solid reel. I loved the red spool on it! After examining it I was thinking to myself that it felt like a $200 reel. You can't go wrong at $59. I'll probably buy mine from BPS so I can get my rewards points on my customer account. You don't have to have a credit card with them to get rewards points. A lot of people don't know that. Just call them up and tell them you want to sign up for a rewards account, but you don't want the credit card. They'll sign you up, and send you a card that looks like a grocery discount card. I know it's not much, but I get 4 cents on the dollar back on BPS branded items. 2 cents on the dollar for non-BPS items. It adds up after you make a couple of trips. Right now my rewards account has quite a bit of money in it, and I've always paid cash when I shop there.