abkeenan

Nice report Bo and Quill. Will be looking forward to the video Bo. Thanks for sharing!

Sounds like this winter/spring could be shaping up to be a decent jerkbait bite. Like what I'm hearin'/seein'.

My hands split EVERY winter. My knuckles and especially might right thumb. Uber annoying and drives me crazy. Have tried everything to no avail to stop it. I do the neosporin with band aid deal but it inevitably comes back at some point and splits. I want to cut my thumb off and be done with it. Nice report by the way. LOL. I feel your pain Donna. Typing this is a split thumb as we speak/type. Ugh.

^THIS. The original Arthur Bryant's on Brooklyn is top 3 best BBQ I've ever had and yes....the place is a DUMP. Probably contracted 7 diseases walking into the joint but the brisket, ribs, sausage and burnt ends are worth it! Steak cut fries also? Deeeelish. Only other BBQ on par that I've ever had were both in Texas (Rudy's in Austin, TX and Salt Lick just outside Austin). Still wanting to go to Franklin's in Austin but from what I've heard you have to get in line at like 5am and are not even guaranteed to get any. When they're out...they're out. As far as the bowling that is a darn shame. Lots of bowling places folding because lack of interest in bowling as a sport. Kids these days would rather stick their face in the TV, electronics or some type of other technologies. Would rather play a bowling game app on a iPhone than actually physically bowl at an alley. No youth interest = no adult interest later in life that fills bowling leagues which is where the money is really made. You don't fill houses by walk in's, you fill it with Mon-Fri night competitive leagues. Bowling is a dying sport.

Oh for sure. Was watching a rerun of the BASS Elites at Cayuga the other night before bed and there were quite a few guys guilty of this. Set the hook and immediately say "It's a biggun' " or a "giant" and then they boat flip it up on the deck. Like a 2 3/4lb fish. Only guy that day that could have really said that every time he landed a fish was Hackney as every fish he stuck on camera was a 5 or 6lb'er. He still flipped them in the boat like a mad man. If I didn't have to pay for my rods I might try that one day.

Sad thing is that it is pretty true the way some of the pro's act on camera. Every 3lb fish now caught on FLW or BASS Elite trails is a "giant".

What MOD you speak of on the S-Waver Bluebasser?

Dang you Quill. Dang you. Looks like I will have to have one of these now too. You are a nightmare and a menace to my bank account. You a free lance sales rep for Tackle Warehouse by any chance? I hope you have your 1099 filled out. I have a hard enough time getting out of my own way without you laying more tackle booby traps for me to fall in. D'oh!

Speaking of....where has Techo been lately? He doing okay? Haven't heard much from him on the boards the last year or so. Making Aunts Creek references just isn't the same without him around.

The thing is I doubt it. There will always be a mystique that surrounds the pre rapala warts whether that is warranted or not. Which is why the prices will most like stay high or continue to grow.

Beardsley Creek second secondary point on the right coming in?

I've heard rumblings that Rapala is truly making an attempt to make their wiggle warts as close to the Pre Raps as humanly possible to be released at next years (2015) Bassmaster Classic. We will see if that ever comes to fruition or if that is just hearsay. Even if they are indeed exact replica's to the T....they won't be. Know what I mean Vern?

Hard to even do that anymore. I am seeing BEATERS on Ebay going for $10. Put a nice paint job on it costing paint, time, materials and sell the custom warts for like $20-25 bucks....I don't see it being a very lucrative business unless you find blanks for dirt cheap.

I know what you mean. Keep looking at my wart box saying to myself that I will never throw that now knowing what I could get for it. Then the other part of me says prices are going up on them every year but there has to be a limit right? When will the market crash? Sell now. Don't sell and hold out. Then the crazy hoarder in me says you can't sell those they would be like selling your child.

The wiggle warts are the only models that go for nice chunks of change. If they are suspenders it doesn't matter and are the same price as regular. Some of the suspenders go for a lot because they have some of the more rare color patterns in the craw colors like the SPV 90 Missouri Craw and other SPV craw patterns that go for $50-100+ each. Short warts, flat warts, etc aren't really in demand but you can get almost 4 or 5 bucks each or so for them. Wee warts go for a little more than though.

Heck I'd do that. You'd be wasting $ though. Put your old ones up for sale on the swap and sell boards here and you should get 20-30 bucks each or maybe more depending on color and condition. You could buy 10 new warts in the color you like for 1 pre-rapala wart in a craw pattern you are never going to use.

Ya that is going to make it every difficult especially if you are wanting to sell them. If I had them in hand I could probably tell you. Like I said look for the uneven seam or halves going down the middle of the bait. New ones will not be off like the old ones. Send them to me and I will confirm or deny them as pre rap warts....for a price. lol.

Pre-Rapala STORM wiggle warts will have "wiggle wart" printed on the underside of the bill. These are the sought after models. The newer Rapala made warts will have the STORM logo printed on the underside of the bill. That is the easiest way to determine what warts you have. Colors are a little different then than they are now and on some/most of the old ones you can see the two halves glued together unevenly whereas the new ones have a lot better quality control and you won't have that "seam" like the old ones. Also sometimes you can tell its older just by components. If it still has an O-Ring line tie and small chromed treble hooks good chance it is an older model Pre-Rapala wart. In the mid 90's they starting using the speed clip/fast lock swivel deals which they still use now as well. Also "wiggle wart" was printed on the side rear section of the bait and those are also very early model wiggle warts from the 70's and early 80's. The Rapala take over of STORM was somewhere around 1999-2001 or so.Ned Rig Dave might know if he could get his nose out of Coach K's playbook planning for the upcoming hardcourt season.

Great report Bo. I hope you are right forecasting for a potentially good winter/spring jerk bait bite. Last 2 years have been pretty lackluster on the sticker. The 2-3 years before that were good.

In the dam area you can if you are working a close to the surface bait (0-5 feet or so) with little to no wind/chop. Last late winter/early spring in Jacques Creek I could have seen a fish following a bait from 100 yards. It was CRAZY CLEAR. I made mention of it in my post at the time, if I recall, that was the clearest I've ever seen any water on Table Rock in my 20 years of fishing it.

Keep at it Danger. Once you get a few to smack it you will be hooked. It's my favorite technique. Just be sure to always hold onto your rod firmly even when your mind strays after a lot of casts with no bites. Almost had a 4+lb'er jerk the pole out of my hand on a jerk bait about right at the boat. Short stringed me with about 8 feet of line out. Actually shocked I held on to the pole as I wasn't looking, paying attention or expecting a strike when she destroyed my McStick.

That's a real shame Danger Close. You took it a lot better than I would have. I would have set up a 50 mile perimeter stopping cars to get those back. Karma will come around to this individual that took them.

Pretty cool. Put it on Ebay and you might be surprised with a ridiculous price too.

True that.

Nice report. Healthy Smalljaw you got there. Not a blemish on that beauty. In a couple a years he/she will be a real bruiser.