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Feeling Richer with Straight Talk

I cut my cell phone bill in half, got twice or three times the functionality from my phone, and I have to say, Wal-Mart’s Straight Talk is legit, and yes, I do feel richer.

 

When I first saw FLW Tour Team Straight Talk’s Scott Canterbury and JT Kenney’s boats and trucks, I was curious about what this ‘Straight Talk’ is and wanted details about what Wal-Mart was doing in the telecom game.   So after some months of research and procrastination, and just letting a ‘new’ technology get some time on the market, I recently made the switch from AT&T to Wal-Mart’s Straight Talk.   Let me just summarize this briefly and say, go ahead and make the switch.  Wal-Mart’s Straight Talk is a solid and legit cell phone and plan, and I get a kick out of their ‘feeling richer’ slogan, because I went from paying $90/month for a basic phone and text plan thru AT&T to now paying $45/month for an unlimited phone, data, text plan AND now I’m running an Android powered smart phone, so I have access to 1000s of apps and downloadable tools, and my phone quite simply provides me an excellent mobile web browsing experience.

 

The LG Optimus Zip Phone I bought as part of my switch has a full QWERTY keyboard slide-out, which means I can type super fast and be efficient. Notice how well southernswimbait.com displays onscreen. Among other things, I can run an app that allows me to manage my website/blog via the phone, which is just fabulous.   Facebook, Youtube, Gmail, Google, and GPS/Mapping, what else do you need?

 

Getting Started:

I paid $175 for my LG Optimus Zip Phone, and an additional $45 for the first month of the unlimited phone/data/text plan.  So, the cost of entry to the Straight Talk phone for me, was approx $220.   Understand, that depending on what phone you have, you can just purchase a Straight Talk SIM Card, and turn your existing phone into a Straight Talk phone, you are just switching your service providers.    Once you purchase the Straight Talk Phone and Unlimited Plan, the setup was very easy and straight forward.  You create an online account, provide account information from your previous service provider (my AT&T account info, PIN, etc was required to insure I had control of my phone number to make the switch).    Once I filled out the required information, which is very clearly and simply documented in the box that came with the phone, and also online at straighttalk.com, the phone was activated, and I haven’t looked back since.   I was able to create an auto-draft from my bank account for $45/month and now I just enjoy having a smart phone with unlimited everything, like it should be.

The Skinny:

Unless you really need an iPhone or require 4G bandwidth for your phone, you probably will like Straight Talk just fine.  Straight Talk is a 3G network (but of course, will progress like everything else, just understand it’s a slightly slower network that what is available at a premium from other providers).   Straight Talk phones are running older versions of the Android Operating System.  For example, my phone is running Android v2.3 out of the box, while the current version of Android is 4.X.    The system resource (ie, processor, memory, CPU, etc) are not as strong and robust as the premium phones out there in the world, but then again, I haven’t found anything my 3G Network based LG Optimus Zip cannot handle.   The websites I visit, like Facebook, YouTube, FLW Outdoors, Google, Gmail,  etc all come up quickly and there is no issue with performance in my web browsing experience.    With Straight Talk you are basically either using a phone that is using AT&T’s network or the Verizon Network, so you are piggy backing off the big carriers, you just aren’t paying the premiums for usage that you would be.   My phone has had one or two bars better coverage everywhere I’ve taken it the last month.  The reception, service, and performance are great.

 

 

Don’t let someone tell you the Straight Talk Service Plan is half baked and the phone doesn’t roam or otherwise have good reception.  Hogwash created by the other big telecoms to slow the impending exodus of customers from their over inflated service plans.  Notice how Verizon, AT&T and Sprint are all scrambling to come up with their answer to Straight Talk.  It’s hard for them to justify 2-3X monthly costs for service that is far from 2-3 X as good.   The one real drawback to Straight Talk is customer service.  What happens when your phone has a problem or issue?  With Straight Talk you don’t have a nice store with 10 sales reps ready help, sell you a new one or warranty your old one.  Now, you can purchase insurance on your Wal Mart Straight Talk phone, just being real here, you probably aren’t going to receive the same customer service from “Steve” in the electronics department of Wal-Mart as you will in a Verizon or AT&T store.   Not an issue to me.  If my phone gets dropped in the lake, off to Wal-Mart to buy a replacement and have my number switched to the new phone.  You pretty much have to have the mindset you just buy a new phone (however, you can purchase insurance thru Wal Mart, just like any other cell phone insurance plan provided by the major carriers) or use web or call in based customer service for help.    You can walk into any Wal-Mart for help, but of course, it’s not the same as walking into a Straight Talk store where every person there is expected to be a resident Straight Talk expert sort of thing.

NET NET

Go ahead, make the switch to Wal-Mart Straight Talk.  Choose a ‘smart phone’ from LG, Samsung, or the like.  The Smart Phones are going to cost >$100 generally, but without a smart phone, you aren’t going to do much with the unlimited data you get as part of the Wal Mart Straight Talk Service plan.   Dumb phones make web browsing a chore, so if you plan on getting online and making the most of your browsing experience and capabilities, buy the more expensive phone and maximize your ability to use the data plan.   Or if you are a person who just needs a phone and text device, you can do that too, and likely cut your cell phone bill in half too.  I went from $90/month to $45/month and now have 3X the functionality with my phone, and I’m just stoked about it.   I give the FLW Tour Straight Talk Team’s JT Kenney and Scott Canterbury credit for making me aware of the service and offering, and am so pleased to find the service and phones legit.  Anytime I can support the companies that support the FLW Tour I’m all for it.

 

At $45/month, I’ll save enough money between now and the end of 2013 to pay the entry fee on one Everstart Tournament, or put a deposit down on one FLW Tour Open event. That is significant, not to mention, I have things like Google Maps and Earth at my fingertips while on the water, which makes me a better fisherman too.

 

Owner Hyper Crosslock Snaps

Owner continues to lead in terminal tackle that matches the physics of bigbait fishing. With the Owner Hyper Snaps, we now have high quality snaps that can be added to bigbaits, without worry about snap failure. These things are gorgeous stainless steel, and are a wonderful contrast to the junk snaps out there.

 

Most swimbaits and bigbaits are best fished when you tie your line directly to the bait.  No need for a ring or snap, but not always.   It can be difficult to find good solid terminal tackle that matches the physics of bigbait fishing.    Owner Hyper Wire Split Rings are super high quality split rings that miraculously filled a void in that department, and have been a staple in my swimbait fishing for years.   Now, with the addition of the Hyper Snaps, Owner has stepped up to the plate in providing super high quality stainless steel, superior strength crosslock snaps.   The Owner Hyper Snaps are rounded and reasonably balanced/symmetrical, which is important because who wants unbalanced stuff, when given the choice?

$4.50 for 9 of them. Go ahead, splurge and get size #1, #2, and #3, and you’ll be covered for you small-medium-large swimbaits and bigbaits. However, if you happen to be fishing the super magnum baits or fishing for super magnum striper or some other massive 40-70+ pound gamefish and need the convenience and action snaps provide, the #4 is rated to 165 pounds.

 

When are snaps are good idea?  It comes down to some personal preferences in how you fish, the retrieves you choose, the baits you throw, and your style of fishing.  For me, snaps come into play when:

  • Night Fishing.  I like to use snaps on my Slammers and Nezumaa Rats at night, because I have less vision on my bait, and like the sloppier swim a snap provides me at night.  I feel like there is more clack and play in my slower moving wake and topwater bigbaits with a snap.
  • Finding Mrs. Right.  Snaps give you the chance to go fishing and not have to waste time re-tying in order to change size, color, or bait.   So for example,  when I head out to Okeechobee and have a hardbait on my mind, and I’ve spent months preparing (ie, acquiring the baits, changing hooks and split rings, making modifications to them, etc)  to take that bait and put it work, I’ll use snaps to fish the baits and see which ones perform best, which color looks the best in unfamiliar water (the black water of Okeechobee does bizarre things to how the color of your baits appears in the water), which ones are most buoyant, and just have the chance to make efficient decisions because snaps allow you make quick changes of your baits.  I’ll have an open box and keep throwing 3-6 different sizes and colors of the same bait until I find one that matches what I want it to look like and do.
  • Fixing Lemons.  Some of your swimbaits and bigbaits just don’t swim well. It happens.  Snaps provide you a fall back to try and see if you can make your bait swim or perform better.  For example, you can turn a MS Slammer that perhaps doesn’t slow wake or swim super well on the surface into a good topwater twitch/pause bait, or adding a snap to an MS Slammer can turn a wake bait into a super shallow cranking bait.  So, use snaps when you have a bait you aren’t 100% happy with how it performs, and need another something to try and see how it fishes.  Snaps typically loosen up the swim, make your bait a bit more sloppy.
70-165# ratings, which is going to cover your smallest to biggest swimbaits, and do it right, with the highest quality stainless steel.

 

I use snaps when testing and tuning baits, but find snaps can make certain baits, like the MS Slammer, perform differently….going from wakebait on the surface to shallow cranker.

Triple Trout Replacement Tails

Click the above image to get re-directed to Tackle Warehouse, where you can now buy your replacement tails for your Triple Trouts.

Now available at Tackle Warehouse, replacement tails for your Triple Trout swimbaits.  I’ve been asked many times where to buy, and this makes the purchase of replacement tails a whole lot easier and simpler.   I carry a good quantity of replacement tails onboard with me every day on the water, because you never know when a bass or toothy critter is going to rip your tail off, and you need to make an on the water replacement.  Not to mention, it’s cool to try different colors of tails with your baits.

 

Swim Signature: 10″ Triple Trout

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXajdUpTP4M]

Thank you for your patience, I have been lagging on updating the blog and just providing some fresh content.  Doing a lot of behind the scenes work for short, medium and long term plans I have with southernswimbait.com and related projects, and I like to fish a lot so there you go!    Here is the first hardbait featured in our swim signature series.  Hardbaits are much harder to film and get the true swim of the bait, especially fast moving hardbaits that require a lot of stalls and pauses and speed to really show them off.  You need to be throwing the Triple Trout like you need to be throwing the Huddleston Deluxe 8″ Trout.   You need a full bodied sinking softbait and a full bodied fast moving hardbait in your life.   The 10″ Triple Trout was featured in Southern Trout Eaters.  I’m still learning all the nuances of fishing the bait, especially as I’m tackling current and moving water situations.   The 10″ Triple Trout is the workhorse trophy swimbait from Scott Whitmer.  Scott makes all kinds of shapes, sizes and colors of Triple Trouts, but the 10″ is the standard bait trophy hunters grab to tangle with giant largemouth, spotted, smallmouth and striped bass.  Trout or no trout, the Triple Trout is an excellent swimbait and bigbait.  We have done a poor job documenting the swim of the Triple Trout, until now.

The 10″ Triple Trout is a standard. It’s like the Huddleston Deluxe 8″ Trout. When you talk baits and bites and rods and gear, it’s one of the benchmarks. Get into it. Don’t accept imitations and kook knock offs.