Building A Table Rock Tackle Bag From Scratch

[*T*]

Vernon, just got a huge laugh at part of your post -> "Just want to make sure that whatever I do buy for more immediate use is as close as I can get to waste free...". Just got through "classifying" my unused waste baits. Hope noone ever sees this collection. When I think of what I might have been able to buy of other never-to-be-used baits it's sickening.

[vernon]

Nah. It's just that MIZZOU moved on to bigger and better things (SEC) and left you pathetic Jayhawk's in the dust toiling around in that joke of a conference the Big 12. Thus KU is irrelevant now. LOL. But seriously I do REALLY miss the MU vs KU basketball games. Even though we were on the losing end the overwhelming majority of the time they still were graet games.

No problem offering some tidbits of what I've had success with on TR. Others have had success on other baits that I just never have or I haven't given a fair shake such as buzz baits, flukes, lipless cranks, blade/silver buddy baits and others I am leaving out. I am sure there are guys here that tear them up on stuff I didn't bother to mention. Sorry that you lost all your baits but at least you can now put together a bunch of baits that you know you will use instead of totting around 150lbs of fishing plastic like me. I better keep lifting weights in order to be able to carry all this crap to and from the dock/boat/house. I have the "just in case" syndrome where I have to have that bait in the boat "just in case".

Of course you know WE all think the SEC is vastly overrated and MU is crying in their cereal every morning that they left! The mind can be a terrible thing! I too greatly miss the basketball rivalry and even looked forward to the football games. Kind of like you guys in basketball, the few times we DID win was the biggest deal of the year. Who cares if we beat Iowa State or whoever. Although right now does sound pretty good! Unfortunately, the hiring of Kim Anderson makes it much more difficult for me to revel in MU's basketball misery. Great guy and I hope he does well.

Anyway, thanks much for taking the time to help me out. It's probably only been about fifty years since I tried to put a tackle box together from scratch and I'm hoping to not completely screw it up. Won't have another chance like this again and don't want to overspend on too many Helicopter Lures this time around! I feel your pain regarding the "just in case" lures. What "if" they're only biting chartreuse, blue and red Warts and not the chartreuse, blue and orange? Again, the mind is a terrible thing! Thanks again and go MU! I can't believe I just said that.

[Smalls21]

in addition to all of the great tips already, i like SK Elite buzzbaits early mornings, something with the "grass cone" makes it squeak more.

I have always done pretty good on just a senko, too

[abkeenan]

Of course you know WE all think the SEC is vastly overrated and MU is crying in their cereal every morning that they left! The mind can be a terrible thing! I too greatly miss the basketball rivalry and even looked forward to the football games. Kind of like you guys in basketball, the few times we DID win was the biggest deal of the year. Who cares if we beat Iowa State or whoever. Although right now does sound pretty good! Unfortunately, the hiring of Kim Anderson makes it much more difficult for me to revel in MU's basketball misery. Great guy and I hope he does well.

Anyway, thanks much for taking the time to help me out. It's probably only been about fifty years since I tried to put a tackle box together from scratch and I'm hoping to not completely screw it up. Won't have another chance like this again and don't want to overspend on too many Helicopter Lures this time around! I feel your pain regarding the "just in case" lures. What "if" they're only biting chartreuse, blue and red Warts and not the chartreuse, blue and orange? Again, the mind is a terrible thing! Thanks again and go MU! I can't believe I just said that.

I hope Kim Anderson works out. He is the first coach we've had since Stormin' Norman that has any moral fiber or ethics. Hopefully he can recruit some quality players within the next couple of years to get this program out of the dumps (where it is right now). Quin Snyder, Mike Anderson and Frank Haith were all morally corrupt in one way or another and it ended up hurting the program in the end with each hire. This year has been especially hard to watch and most nights it's a "moral" victory if we can scratch out 50 points or not get blown out by 20 or more.

With my original post on suggestions I may have not been simplified enough. If I broke it down again to having half of that year round I would have:

1. Grubs with various jig head weights 1/8-1/2oz

2. Jigs from 3/8 - 3/4oz

3. Wiggle Wart

4. Jerk Bait

5. Senko style bait (can transform into Ned)

6. Wobble Head with craw type trailers

I believe I could get by all year round with just those baits.

[Champ188]

Quin Snyder, Mike Anderson and Frank Haith were all morally corrupt in one way or another and it ended up hurting the program in the end with each hire.

Alright, now you've brought this little debate down south of the state line. Mike Anderson is about as morally corrupt as Billy Graham. Far as I can tell, the only thing he's guilty of is not being able to win on the road.

[vernon]

I hope Kim Anderson works out. He is the first coach we've had since Stormin' Norman that has any moral fiber or ethics. Hopefully he can recruit some quality players within the next couple of years to get this program out of the dumps (where it is right now). Quin Snyder, Mike Anderson and Frank Haith were all morally corrupt in one way or another and it ended up hurting the program in the end with each hire. This year has been especially hard to watch and most nights it's a "moral" victory if we can scratch out 50 points or not get blown out by 20 or more.

With my original post on suggestions I may have not been simplified enough. If I broke it down again to having half of that year round I would have:

1. Grubs with various jig head weights 1/8-1/2oz

2. Jigs from 3/8 - 3/4oz

3. Wiggle Wart

4. Jerk Bait

5. Senko style bait (can transform into Ned)

6. Wobble Head with craw type trailers

I believe I could get by all year round with just those baits.

Yeah, it's hard to believe how they treated Norm for so long and then to think that they picked Quin over Bill Self! Thanks for that by the way. For a Jayhawk and Missouri "hater" I can't tell you how bad I think the not so Big 12 misses them and I'm not sure the feeling isn't at least somewhat mutual. For all the success you guys have had in football, I just don't think it's the same as if it had been in the Big 12. It's almost like the SEC and most everybody else looks at the East division as the MAC unless Spurrier wins it. Too bad cause those have been some really good teams and Pinkel's a prettty dang good coach if you as me (although he's no Turner Gill or Charlie Weiss). All I know is it ain't the same without you guys.

Anyway, back to the important stuff. Would it be too much to ask if you could provide your favorite brands and models? I'm really trying to educate myself a bit on stuff that I might not be overly familiar with or have used in the past. Thanks again for your time help. This Jayhawk greatly appreciates you crossing enemy lines!

[vernon]

Alright, now you've brought this little debate down south of the state line. Mike Anderson is about as morally corrupt as Billy Graham. Far as I can tell, the only thing he's guilty of is not being able to win on the road.

Uh oh. Now we've REALLY crossed the line. While I was hoping that Champ might jump in with some personal recommendations regarding my request I sure as heck didn't want to get him involved in a multi border war argument. But now that he's here didn't Billy Graham coach Tulsa at one time? Or was that that Roberts guy?

[Champ188]

LOL, Vernon. That was the Roberts guy.

OK, for my tackle recommendations ...

1. You just can't go wrong 9 months out of the year (water temp 50 or above) with a good ol' 3/16-ounce shaky head and a Zoom Finesse Worm in watermelon candy or green pumpkin. Others may differ on the water temp, but I tend to notice a significant dropoff in finesse worm bites below 50.

2. A good-quality 5/16-oz finesse jig. I personally like the Bass-X or Jewel brands in PBJ/smoke or some variety of green/purple or green/orange. We use a Zoom Lil Critter Craw in green pumpkin on all of our finesse jigs. A half-ounce War Eagle or Jewel fb jig in the same colors is another favorite of ours. We typically use a Yamamoto green pumpkin twin tail (5-inch) on these.

3. War Eagle spinnerbaits in 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2 ounce. I use the heavier bait only in early spring when I'm slow rolling. The 3/8 is for shallow water on windy days and the 1/4 is for calmer conditions or when the fish are finicky.

4. I sent you a PM about topwaters. Can't let the guests feed free on everything.

[SplitG2]

Champ Champ Champ...... topwater teaser!

[abkeenan]

Maybe Mike Anderson wasn't morally corrupt like both Haith and Snyder but he is still a total scumbag for the way he departed MU and left them hanging. I am not sorry to say it give me extreme pleasure to see Mike Anderson lose. But one thing I will not envy is watching his style of basketball. He calls it 40 minutes of hell.....more like 40 minutes of hell for the fans to watch. He will never be able to have a true big man at center when his teams are in better condition and do more running than the Razorback cross country team.

Back to the subject at hand. As far at brands go it's really whatever you like or think you would have confidence in. My brother and I throw a lot of the same type of baits but he likes things that may be just a little different or a different brand.

Jigs - Only 3 brands in my box are NuTech, BassX and Jewel. When I lose all the BassX and Jewel I will probably go exclusively to Nutech.

Jig Trailer - small to medium profile I use 90% Netbait Paca Chunks. I like their profile, action, color selection and price. If I want to go big I throw a full size Zoom Brushhog on there.

Topwater - Heddon/Excalibur Spit'n Image, Heddon Super Spook, Jackal Mikey

Spinnerbait - War Eagle or Booyah. I like 1/2oz.

Cranks -

Shallow Crank - Strike King KVD Squarebills

Mid Cranks - Wiggle Warts, Poe's Cedars

Deep - Norman DD22s

Wobble Heads - Swing Oil Baits

Trailers - Missile Baits D-Bomb, Zoom Brush Hog

Grubs - Kalins

Senko Style Baits - Yum Dinger

Big Worms - Zoom Ol' Monster, Culprit, YUM MightEE Worm

Spoons - Mostly blanks I got from LurePartsOnline and completed the components myself and also War Eagle and Cotton Cordell

Drop Shot Worms - Robo Worm or Chompers

A-Rigs - KC School'em (from Ebay) - loaded with Storm Wild Eye shads that come pre-rigged with hooks

Jerk Bait - SPRO McStick about 95% of the time. Have Rogues, LC Pointers, Rapala X Raps and Luck E Strike RC STX but they ride the pine.

As far as colors I try to mimic whatever forage I am trying to impersonate with the bait. Jigs, soft plastics, bottom contact baits, etc I want to mimic crawdads so shades of browns and greens with hints of orange or purple at times. If trying to mimc shad or bluegill I will throw those types of color patterns (smokes, salt n pepper, sexy shad, chrome, pearl, etc) in grubs, swimbaits, cranks (except Wiggle Warts as they look like craws shooting along the bottom through the rocks), spoons, topwater, jerkbaits, etc.