Spectrum

I don't think a 2 bait limit is unreasonable. First off, I like the fact that if I'm lucky enough to be around when a bait is released, I can buy a trout and bass. Or black and white. Say it's the first bait of his you're able to get your hands on, and you break it off on a snag, or cast it off, after only owning it a short time. You could have bought 2 and had a backup. Or potentially, you say to yourself something along the lines of, "This is Bullsshh. I'm not gonna buy any more of these $100 baits. Hurts too much to lose them and I never even caught a fish." While that would be your own damn fault, if you have another you'll fish it, and catch fish, which ultimately leads to happy customers for Mickey. If the rules are 1 bait, thems the rules and you won't hear me complain about it. What I think you should take from this whole "flipper" thing, that is most important... It clearly says to everyone that Mickey could charge a lot more money for these baits, but chooses not to. I'd like to think I'm a nice guy, but it'd be awfully damn hard for me to grind away making something, only to see it resold instantly for sometimes 50% markup, and NOT adjust my pricing... If a Baby Wake cost $150 all of a sudden, that'd make them a lot easier to buy off of the website too I bet. But no one is going to wish for that. Ultimately, I'm just thankful I have the opportunity to buy these baits and fish them. Any set of circumstances that makes that possible is cool with me.

If I'm being honest, I don't really have a problem with it. Buying his baits for the sole purpose of trying to make money isn't something I'm about to do. Now I've sold 2 Wake Jr's, for $5 and $20 above retail. But in most cases, the way to get a bait you don't have is to trade a bait that you have. Any time I'm around when baits are released, I'm going to be buying and hoping to get two. Maybe 2 colors 'cause I'm not exactly sure what one looks like, or different sink rates, whatever. Maybe I won't want to keep a floater, or won't think X color is something I'll fish. As for the "PM offers" thing, I know that's been discussed here before, and the consensus was there isn't a post your price rule for a reason. I'll say this, that while it can be frustrating, I've sold items here both ways. It's a hell of a lot easier to just say PM offers on a bait you can't pinpoint the market value for. Baits that have long been out of production, or only had 1 run, etc. should and will go for more than Mickey sold them for. Limited supply, steady, if not increasing demand. Anyone recall what a '67 GT-500 was going for a year or two after that Gone in 60 Seconds movie? In result, I think it works out better than having everyone take their baits to eBay, because it's a much smaller group of people here, who all want the bait to FISH it, and the argument could be made that you get baits considerably cheaper this way than through eBay. To pocket $90 for a Wake Jr before shipping costs, it has to sell for ~$102. Here, it's $90 and send payment as a gift. Lastly, any time I've been interested in something listed as, "PM offers" I've just sent a PM to the seller, asking for a ballpark # or straight up price. More often than not, I get a response that includes one or the other. I don't mean to sound like I'm on a soapbox here telling everyone how it is. That's not my point. I totally understand both sides of it. And at times, it pisses me off too. But I always end up coming back around to this.

Cleveland Browns Cleveland Indians Atlanta Braves Born in Cleveland, moved to Atlanta when I was 12. You couldn't live in Atlanta in the 90s and not be a Braves fan. Also a big soccer fan. That was my sport growing up.

The fact that Fat Tire wasn't available always made it a bigger deal. When I lived in Charleston, my roommates girlfriend was from Missouri. Thanksgiving, Christmas, any time she was driving home, we'd give her a lot of cash and just say "Bring back as much as you can!"

Bourbon & Ginger is still my drink, but I do love me some beer. Dogfish Head 90min IPA is about as perfect as a beer an get in my book. The First thing I did when I got to Austin was find a liquor store and buy some Fat Tire. Only to find out that they now apparently do distribute east of the Mississippi. Just no one near Huron, OH carried it. Clipper City Loose Cannon is another, and Terrapin Big Hoppy Monster. If I'm drinking to drink, it's probably PBR 'cause it's cheap and not terrible. Though it's a lot more expensive now that it's apparently cool again.

Baits cost a lot less...

The book was one of my all time favorites. I can't say how many times I've read it. I was surprised how much I liked the movie though. The basic ideas apply to a lot of things in life. If you're willing to look at things a little differently than everyone else, you might just have some success... And being a finance guy, it's in my opinion at least the best book there is on the subject, all the baseball stuff aside. I'm a big fan of Michael Lewis though, a big baseball fan too, and a nerd with numbers.

I bet I know the forum... I don't go there much at all since I moved, but I have a couple times to post something for sale. If I get bored I might see if I can find some threads from a while back. I remember one about a guy getting pissed after breaking off a 4" spro on spinning gear, I posted a link to the BAA I think, and all craziness ensued.

I'm in for sure. I have no idea where this joint is yet, but that doesn't matter. I'll probably still be boatless then though.

What I really want to know...How many hits did Mickey's site get tonight?

Signed up for that Bill Me Later ish cause this happened to me once before. Way quicker now.

yep.

Right now, I'm reminded of trying to get Phish new years run tickets back in the day after you missed out on mail order. 3 phones all dialing ticketmaster numbers for places out in the boonies. Redial...redial...

That's what I got out of it as well. I remember a part where Matt is making a long cast across the far, front corner of a dock, and says something about watch how many times the fish hits the bait before he actually sticks him. He talks about boat positioning vs. wind direction, minimizing the use of the trolling motor, turning sonar off, stealth, etc. It all makes sense, but to me the bottom line is you have to put your boat where it has to be to make the cast you want to make, right?

If you only have one setup and throw any topwater, I wouldn't bother with fluoro. As far as braid goes, I'd go even heavier than 50lb. I don't like braid in general, but use 65lb on a frog/heavy cover setup. That's it. At some point I'll be picking up a Dobyns 766 and pairing that with 80lb samurai for throwing mission fish and weedless hudds into heavy cover. Swimbaits in general, I stick to 20-25lb mono. Because I don't use braid, I can't say anything from my experience about casting baits off with it. But I've heard enough that makes me believe it happens more with braid than mono. That's why I'd suggest going with as heavy a line as possible, if you are going to use braid. My opinion on leaders is another part of why I don't like braid. I try to avoid them. Running the knot through the guide annoys me when casting. Solved by using a shorter leader, but when you change baits a few times, your leader needs to be replaced when it gets too short. Also makes me lazier about checking my line for damage. To me a knot is just another thing to fail, and I want to control everything I can.

Not as far as I could tell. I wasn't refreshing every 15 seconds or anything, but never saw a change. They'll probably go on sale tomorrow while I'm flying back to Austin...

Fortress makes the best anchor out there. Machined aluminum alloy so it's really light, and lifetime warranty. You'll pay for it though. I don't know what exactly you're anchoring on, what kind of bottom, but I'll never go back to another anchor. Hauling a big anchor in 40ft on Erie is not fun when it weighs 20+lbs. I'd think the FX-7 is all you'd ever need in a typical bass boat situation.

Where are those listed? Don't be a tease! You have to call the office. They were/are blowing out their remaining inventory of Gen 1 rods. I know they HAD the 795 and 807 swimbait rods, and 805 flipping stick, but I think someone here said last week that they were out of 'em. Maybe worth a call though to see if there's anything left you want. $100 plus shipping.

For an ROF 5, I use mostly a ST-36 1/0 or ST-56 sz 1 and a gammy 2x size 1. It just depends on how you want the eye to sit. I like that cutting point a lot, baddest jig hook out there, but I like a round bend with the points sticking as straight out as possible. I don't do anything to a 12 or 16 except tweak the jig hook a little. You'll have to fool around with rigging yourself and see what works for you. I've used wire/crimps, 80lb. FC/crimps, braid, split ring to the line tie, and split ring/swivel/split ring/treble. Wire can be a pain, 80lb fluoro uses big crimps, braid takes some practice getting the length right when tying, etc. I still have baits rigged all these different ways and use them all. CXX works great, strong as hell. Not quite as cheap as big game. I'd have no problem using either, it would just depend on what I can get when I need it. I'm thinking when I run out of CXX I'll give 25lb FC a shot. I just don't like braid and won't use it unless I feel like I really should. I've never felt the Hudd snagged easily. The nose of the bait will maybe get hung under a rock or log, but as long as you don't bury it in there just trying to pull it out, you can usually work it out. Now if you start hanging trebles all over the bait, you'll run into a totally different experience. Carry a big plug knocker.