An Addition to my Blogroll: Tackle.org

So yesterday I got a request to add a Wisconsin based website Tackle.org to my blogroll.  It's been a number of years since I last had a request to do it.  I haven't messed with my blogrolls at all so far this year.  I added it to the "Friends of Bass Pundit" roll.  I don't know if I'll touch the blogrolls beyond doing that.

Tackle.org looks like it's a site dedicated to giving information about tackle with the hope of getting you to buy it from Amazon through them.  Not that there is anything wrong with that.  If he's able to make some money that way, more power to him.  I wish you luck.

Update: I got a note from Tackle.org's owner about the site.

Upgraded My Vexilar Carrying Case

From This:

To This:

I bought the Vexilar Pro Pack 2 Carrying Case as an early Christmas Present to myself.  Now I will easily be able to control the transducer cord and have a spot that my 9/19 transducer fits inside which are things I was always fighting with on the old case..  It also has a movable rod holder and a space to fit a small tackle box.  I think I'm going to check on Ebay for buying a battery meter which has a spot to be mounted on the upper left.

TBT# My 1st Baitcasting Reel

Throwback Thursday-I bought this Shimano Bantam Mag Plus 250SG XHS reel at Little Jim's in Annandale MN in probably  1982 or 1983 for $69.99 plus tax.  I can't remember anymore if I bought it in the old store or at the one they have now.  I think it was the old store, but memory isn't the greatest.

Dad only fished with spinning gear, so learning how to cast this thing was solely up to me.  I read the instructions from cover to cover and there was nothing telling me how to properly adjust the reel for casting.  I promptly went out and backlashed it so bad the reel was unusable.  When I got back home, I got new line to put on it and I learned to cast in my back yard.  Many more backlashes followed, but eventually I figured it out.

 The reel has a magnetic brake.  I have never been able to get comfortable throwing a reel with centrifugal brakes no matter how hard I tried with them.  Probably the biggest reason why I am such a Daiwa fan now, magnetic brakes.

 
5:1 was considered Extra High Speed.  My how things have changed.  As I recall the big selling point for me at the time was Quickfire Free Spool, aka the thumb bar.  I didn't want one that had a mettle push button and this one didn't.  The reel served me well for many years and still is in usable condition.  I have had it on an ice fishing rod since the early years of this century.  Seeing as how I have stopped ice fishing, I don't use it anymore.

#TBT: My First Bass Jig

#TBT stands for Throwback Thursday.

One of my earliest memories of catching a bass was from when I was probably 4 or 5 years old and my dad gave me a little yellow hair jig that he called a "Crappie Killer" to use.  I went down to the "back bay," our cabin on West Sylvia had water we could fish on the front and back of the property, hoping to catch a crappie.  Instead of a crappie I got a largemouth instead.  Puzzled I went up and showed dad the bass I had caught.  He explained to me that just because it was called a "Crappie Killer" didn't mean that it would only catch crappies.  Satisfied with that explanation I threw back the bass, which weren't in season yet, and went back to try and get me crappie.   All I could ever seem to catch on these "Crappie Killers" were bass. No matter how much I tried, I don't think I ever caught a crappie on these jigs. As you can see from the picture, I still have a few of them. Judging from the pound test still tied on to the one jig I can see why I didn't get any crappies with them.

Dead Trout Lure "This Just Ain't Right"

It's been a few years since I did a "this just ain't right post." Mattlures Upside Dead Stick - $59.99. Actually I think it's a pretty clever idea for places stocked with trout ,but $60 bucks. Ouch!

My New Phantom's

I spotted these Stanley Phantom's in an Ebay auction for 70 assorted lures.  I asked if he was willing to sell me all the Phantom's separate and he was, so we agreed upon a price.  The bone and white one are back ups for one's I already have.  The blue one is the same one I lost these summer when I got broken off.  The black, bullfrog, rainbow, and white with the spot and scales are ones I've never seen before.  With the way the weather is looking I probably won't be trying any of these until next year.

New Topwater Lures For Me

Another Stanley Phantom came up for bid on Ebay.  I snatched it up and I was the only bidder.  As you can see it's close to the same color I crushed them on earlier this year.  The new one has red gills and a black top and the black dot instead of black stripes, otherwise they are the same.  I'm going to just leave it in it's package for now.  It's always nice to have a back up lure.

I also picked up some Strike King KVD Sexy Dawg's.

The Jig Head's I've Been Using For the Grass Pig

The top jig is an old Berkley Swim Jig head with the reverse barb.  That is my last one and the hook is pretty much shot.  I don't know what the heads were officially called or I would be looking for them on Ebay. I believe I've been using them up to a 1/4 oz and less.

The one below it is the Kalin's I'm using right now.  It's a 1/4oz.

On the Grass Pig Jr. it's been an Outkast Money Jig

 I believe I've been using a 3/16th an 1/8th oz for these with a 3/0 hook.

In the Mail Today- Jonathan Paul Fitovers and Christopherson's Crawtubes (and a Little Forgotten Treasure)

I really like the fact that they come with a permanently attached tether strap.

 I got 50 White Crawtubes and 50 Huckleberry Crawtubes from Christopherson's in Alexandria.

I put them in Zoom bags.

And while I was getting the Zoom bags I discovered some Crawtubes that I bought last year and forgot where in my big box of Zoom Horny Toads.  They are form Jerry's Baits and Tackle out of who knows where.  I got them on Ebay last year.  They are smoke/purple and bluegill.  They came in packs of 20 and I also transferred these to Zoom bags.

My Tackle Warehouse Opener 2013

I actually opened the door for the first time a couple of days ago.  Today I actually went in to sit.  A mouse made a home in a tackle bag that also had leakage from one of my bags holding this slimy gunk.  I probably won't start organizing anything until we get warm again in the middle of next week.

My New Cabela's Tackle Bag Vs My Old Bag

My old tackle bag that was really a soft sided cooler that I thought would make a good tackle bag is pretty beat up.  All the zippers no longer work.  I've had it for over 10 years and it was time to get something else.   I ended up buying a new "Super Magnum" sized Cabela's Advanced Anglers Tackle Bag.  I wasn't sure when I bought it if it was bigger, smaller, or the same size as my old bag.

As you can see from the pictures the Cabela's bag is both longer and taller.  The inside is 4 inches longer and 2 inches taller;  It has 13 extra pockets to 3 in the old bag.  Basically I can carry the same amount of stuff or even more if I want too.  I'll have room to put my rain gear inside, no problem.

The waterproof base is nice but it adds a fair amount of weight

A Year Ago Today

It's going to be 29 degrees today and the forecast for the next 10 days doesn't look promising for me to be in by March 22nd this year.  However, since my bad back last Summer and Fall I didn't get my big tackle bag put away in there.  I will be messing around with tackle here in the house next week.  Yeah, I'm getting antsy.

D&M Custom Baits Buzzsaw

I really like the look of this bait by D M. It's a new twist on the Herb's Dilly.

Rapala Is Releasing Something New At Midnight

Through Tackle Warehouse   It's supposed to "Change Fishing Forever"

Yeah, Whatever.

Update: Apparently, the clock just set itself back 2 Days.

It's about the new Rapala "Scatter" lip available on a crankbait frame as the Rapala Scatter Rap, a sinking minnow bait as the Rapala Scatter Rap Countdown, on a minnow frame as Rapala Scatter Rap Minnow, and on the Shad Rap frame as the Rapala Scatter Rap Shad.

At $8 a shot.  I'll pass for now.  I have too many cranks that hardly ever get used anymore already.



 

2013 Bass Pro Shops Catalog Day!!!

Photo From BassFan.com

I believe she arrived a little early this year, but that may be because of the way Christmas sat in other years.  Well I can't say I'm to impressed with the catalog this year.  I don't like how they got away from providing a quick look at reel spec's with the order numbers.  Also didn't care for referring us to the website for most fishing rods.  And is it just me or have fishing rods been getting uglier looking for the most part.  Didn't see any lures that peeked my interest.

Tackle Warehouse Opener 2012

I opened the man cave today as it got to 61°F.  What a mess!

Last year it opened on March 19th The year before the Tackle Warehouse Opener was March 17th 2010 and the year before that was March 22nd 2009

Think Tank Lures Triggerfish

I won these three Triggerfish from The Bassholes in a contest.

Another Frog, Booyah! (And Another)

I see that a new hollow body frog has hit the market that I wasn't aware was coming. It's the Booyah Pad Crasher and it sells for a very reasonable $5.79 a frog at Tackle Warehouse. It only comes in a 1/2oz size and is suppose to have really soft plastic body. The frog has a drain hole so it's not very likely to sink. Not sure what kind of hooks. I think they kind of look like the Knoppers frog only not as detailed. The 3 reviews at TW were all positive, but I can't find anything at Tackle Tour or Bass Pro for reviews.

And under the frogs that I will not be trying:
This is the new Jackall Lobee Frog which goes for $12.99 at Tackle Warehouse. At that price I can't believe they are gonna sell very many

In more frog news I have been racking up the deals on Ebay with Spro's, Snag Proofs, and Zoom Horny Toads. I don't think I will every need to buy a Horny Toad again and probably am set for life on hollow bodies at this point, but at $3-$4 a frog I'll pick up as many hollow bodies as I can. Next Spring I am going to need to buy a box for Spro's and a box for Snagproofs. I'm probably going to try to sell off a bunch of the Horny Toads for $2.25 a pack (retail on Horny Toads is $3.50 a pack).

Mid-Summer Bait Monkey Report

For Fathers Day Sales I went with Tackle Warehouse and the 20% discount they had on Berkley Havoc Baits and I picked up a bunch more Lane Grass Pigs.

For the 4th of the July I just couldn't resist the temptation of $4 Mad Maxx frogs. How is it that BTD has any left at that price? They must have bought everything Tru-Tungsten had when they went out of business. Maybe people just don't like those 4 colors.

With the money I saved I bought another Drag Stripper Repo Man, they didn't have either of my first two color choices. I guess I'll just keep the new one in it's package until #1 is gone or the paint totally gets stripped off.

Sweet Mother of Ebayt Monkey!

53 handtied swimjigs
- Top quality heads (the vast majority are Brovarney heads)
- Top quality hooks
- Hand tied skirts in various colors
- 27 3/8oz & 26 1/4oz jigs
I got this lot for $21 shipped.

Looks like I'm gonna need a 3rd swim jig box. Also at this price I can forego messing with wire leader on at least 1 swim jig rod.

SCORE!!!