Bass Addict

that bait looks wicked sick RD. Make sure you take a picture of your first lunker with it.

expensive is what the title should have read. Dam, 250$ i would have cried, only after I failed to retrieve it after swimming. Ouch. Good call on retying, that is something I don't do often enough. My eyes are going from sitting behind a puter all day and lately, tying knots has been a pita. I need to start bringing my granny glasses while on the water. I can barley thread a hook sometimes.

And how did you loose it. Any tips for protecting expensive baits? Anyone ever loose a bait to a toothy critter?

RD did you catch that 7lber in CT? Those mounts are some of the best I have seen. If I ever get anything mount worthy, I am going to use your guy. That perch is huge, did you get it ice fishing? How much did the eye weigh? Awesome collection.

Thats so cool! Beyond Stoked is a great place to be . Did you go with the spiral? I have not used a LDC with conventional rap so I can't say If I would cast better of not But I know my buddy's even say I'm casting way futher with the LDC too. I have caught a few on them now and really like them. The casting power is AWESOME! I'm not sure if he is charging yet for "mojo" but ask for some of that too So tell...... 8'? 8'6"? H? XH? XXH? What? LOL! I am going with a 8' XH. I am pretty sure i am going to go with the spiral wrap. After speaking with Ben, other LDC owners as well as doing some research on my own, the concept makes a lot more sense to me now and from what I gathered, it is more functional than a conventional set up. My only reservation and I say this with hesitation is the aesthetics (i know, i know - hangs head in shame). The spiral wrap is so foreign to me that it looks wrong. I'm sure I will get over it. I'm like 90% certain that I will go with the spiral wrap. Ben's rep is solid and I know if it wasn't the best way to set up the rod, he wouldn't be doing it. I just have to get over it I guess. The rods I like the most on his site are the Tico, the Silver B and the Black. I want an Alps trigger real seat in stainless, black foam split grip, black micro guides, some sort of graphic (skulls or a Jolly Roger or a fish skeleton and maybe an american flag on the exposed part of the blank by the grip) with a black gloss finish. I really like the way black and stainless look together.Also I like the gloss finish with the carbon fiber showing through. I have never seen any poles like LDC's and I had to have one. I have zero artistic abilities of my own but I always had a vision of a rod that encompassed what I mentioned above so when I saw LDCs designs I freaked out. His style is exactly what I have been looking for in a custom built rod. As far as mojo is concerned, we all know it doesn't matter who made the rod you use or the quality of the rod, what matters is the amount of time you put on the water figuring out what the fish want which is what possess us to keep getting out there in search of slosh donkeys.

Thanks Bomber.

Just mailed out my money order to LDC, I am beyond stoked. This will be my first custom rod, hopefully, the first of many

How often do the 3:16 get re released?

Wow, what a day. I got the privilege of speaking with Ben today and I am going to send him funds tomorrow to reserve my spot on his build list. I am sofa king excited. This will be my first custom rod. It is pretty sick that I got to talk with the owner of the company, regarding design options, obviously, you don't get this type experience when buying a production rod. He was super helpful, informative and easy to talk to. A question for anyone that has a custom LDC, did you go with the conventional guide set up or the wrapped guide setup? I have only used the conventional setup but it seems the wrapped design is more popular. If anyone could share their experience/setup with me either through this thread or by email arnis7@hotmail.com or by PMing me, I would appreciate it. I would like to know the pros and cons of both the wrapped vs conventional guides setup. Does the wrapped setup effect your casting ability? Any details regarding the pros and cons of each would be greatly appreciated. I also order 2 3:16 baby wakes: the Ayu and I think the Blue shad (not a 100% sure if went through), along with some mission fish and rising sons. Today was just under 70 degrees which is unseasonably warm for this time of year, so I went out fishing. I got 2 on small Osprey line through swimbaits and 2 onn a jig. All and all it was a good day to be alive. Justin

I couldn't buy the blue shad because the link doesn't work so I went with the Ayu Baby Wake. It resembles the pond shiners we use around here so hopefully it will work. I also bought the following soft baits: 5" mission fish in the baitfish color and 2 rising son baits in Lavender and blue shad. I am going to buy an 8' LDC. I have contacted their sales department (ben) through email. I asked him to call me to go over the design process as I need more details on what options for customization I have. The rods on their site look awesome. I will be using the LDC for stripers. pike and largies. Do their rods hold up well in salt? I do a lot of inshore saltwater fishing as well and want a rod that I can use in both salt and freshwater. From what I can tell, it shouldn't be a problem. I feel like a kid in a candy store. Winter is approaching so I figure now is the time to buy the LDC as our lakes will be frozen in a probably a month or so. Hopefully it will be ready for our spring striper run on the CT river.

WTF, when I click on the 3:16 b" baby wake blue shad it just brings up a paypal log in. However, if I click on the trout, it goes into to my cart. Seems the link it broken.

Dam, that is disappointing. Do you know how frequently they restock? Thanks for the reply btw.

Did 3:16 stop making hard baits? It seems that they are sold out of all their hard baits.

Thank you for the replies. I agree Nick. I have been fishing long enough to realize if your gear is not up to par, you will not enjoy your time on the water. I have a decent amount of gear now and I won't buy junk. I'd rather save my money and wait till I can afford the better reel/rod/bait than buy something cheap and have to replace it. If only I had a money tree. I'm hitting a pike and largie spot today, going to try to entice them with the MS Slammer and a Optimum bay line through swimmer. I'll post pictures if I land something decent.

Thank you RD. I have seen you on the CT fishing forum. I learned about this site through Dsouth's recent bass reports. You would be surprised what a bass will eat, I throw a 9" MS Slammer Perch and have caught fish ranging from 2-5lbs. Also, big baits work awesome in the CT river for the spring striper run as well as pike. Granted, the fish we are catching in CT are rats compared to some of the monsters posted on this site. Makes me want to move:). Don, As far a using big SB's in tourneys, most guys catch their limit then break out the big baits in hopes to cull out the smaller fish. It is definitely not a bait you throw right off the bat but if you have a limit, go for it. One thing that sucks about most tourneys is that you can't use a rod >=8' which seems to be ideal for big baits. BassAssassin49, thanks for the info on baits/rods/reels. I posted a response to you earlier but looks like my post never made it, not sure what happened. As far as pictures go, I try to get some picture worthy fish before the hard water comes. This is usually when you catch some lunkers who are trying to fatten up for the winter. Justin

Thanks for the info. Top of the food chain probably means I can't afford it right now but at least I have something to strive for eventually. We will be getting hard water soon but hopefully I get out there a few more times before the lakes lock up.

Whats up all, I am a bass fisherman from CT. I fish a lot of bass tournaments with my club and I also do a lot of open $$ tournaments, not that I am any good but I have fun doing it which is what counts to me. Anyways, I am a noob with throwing big baits. I have a 9" MS Slammer perch that I throw on a regular basis and have caught some nice size bass up to 5#s. I learned about this site from another fishing forum and glad I registered. You guys have lots of good info and Im excited to learn what I can. This past summer I fished an out of state Tourney at cobbosseecontee lake in ME with a guy that was throwing 12" soft swim baits. I was like, dude, that thing is for the ocean, then the kid pulls out a 5# smallie, then a 4#er, then another 5#er. I became a believer fast. Right now, I need to get a bigger setup so I can start experimenting with the bigger baits. I checked out LDC and their rods look awesome, but I have no idea on pricing or how they are sold(do you provide them with a blank and they rig it or do they have their own blanks and you pick the accessories). Gloomis also seems to be a popular choice. My heaviest rod right now is a zillion xh paired with the zillion 7.3.1 anaversary edition reel. I use it for pitching/flipping mostly but also throw the slammer with it too. Anyways, just wanted to introduce myself and say hi, this site seems to be a wealth of knowledge and I am eager to learn. Tight lines, Justin