Simp

I'm calling the DNR on you right now. ;D It's all good I'm sure he is fine. It's not like you had stuck a hook in his mouth and dragged him 20yds against his will just prior to that or anything. ;D

Paul dude you are THE MAN!!! I just saw your video in you sig and that was Legen.... wait for it....... DARY!!! I'm calling dibs on -Paul- for the meet up in 09 ;D. No serouisly I am -paul- I'll even by you lunch LOL.

http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/8486/1031295fe0.jpg. Well I'm fishing in the Crab Orchard Wildlife refuge and this is the 21inch pond A.K.A Vistors Pond. Most localy know it as the 21inch pond because you couldn't keep anything less then 21inches. Well then this year they changed that to 15inches because in March we had some record rainfall and VERY bad flooding. So why does that matter? Well this pond is used (I'm told by refuge staff) as flood control for several of the local lackes in the the Refuge. So when this record flooding happend the pond got so bad they had to close IL-148, and almost had to close RT13. It would have been very VERY bad if RT13 was closed. So now it turns out the dam is considered a "high risk" dam and they want to build a bigger knew one. So in 28 days the pond closes for the season and they begin working on draining the pond to build the knew dam. Refuge staff have stated they hope the fish will make it down a creek into Crab Orchard Lake but I'm sure many if not most won't make it. I know if I fish a tournament next year at Crab Orchard Lake I know where I'm going ;D. Honestly what blows my mind is seeing how little pressure this place gets in terms of traffic. Thousands of people come to our area to fish and hunt each year. So I can see them not knowing about this pond, but fellow locals should be out there like my pops and me. Instead they all take their boats and go to one of the other quality lakes but skip this awesome honey hole. I can't tell you how many times I've seen a $20,000 ranger pull up to get a day pass at the Vistors Center (where the pond is) and I have a nice ;D to myself, because I know I'm going to catch twice the size of fish he/she is. It's not even a situation where we don't have a boat to use. The fish here are huge and we are trying to pull out a 7lber befor Sept 30. What I think helps us with traffic is this place is tough to fish for most. The grass is insane here and you can't throw anything but frogs and weedless style baits (worms ect). Here is an example of the moss/weeds that cover the shorline from 7yds in front of you to completly covering a entire cove. This is right before the second bass looking to the NE or looking to the right of pic 4. My dad ran pretty fast for a old guy 5 min after this photo was taken ;D

So today I decided to find out how many licks it takes to get to the center of of a Spro "Dean Rojas" frog. Maybe 1? No that can't be right two maybe? (EDIT Just to be clear this is a diffrent BASS then the one in the fist two pics) The result. In reality I've proably caught almost 50 fish on that specific one in the pic. It's worked so well that I went swimming for it once when it broke off because of a bad spot in my line. Today was a awesome day (4 total). The fist one pictured was just under 5lbs and the other was about 4 1/2ln on the scale. Both we caught in almost the exact same spot about 1hr apart. In the 4th pic you can see the trail of the fish being hauled in and both hit in the open water of the backwards L or in a way the U. God I love this pond! I have 28 more days I can fish it before it's GONE for good! :'(

half of a hot dog. ;D I serouisly swear by hot dogs for cats. I've caught a crap load of them on them and they stay on a trebble hook so much better then the other stink baits. Although I did catch a 50+ pound cat while bluegill fishing with worms when I was 14.

I hate to see guys ragging on him for getting the picture of it on the floor. He waited almost 2 decades to beat that old PB and get a 7lber! Just let him get a few pics and not rag on him. He didn't take it home and put it on a wall mount or anything. I mean come on let the angler enjoy the fish a little with a few photos before releases it. I know we all want to make sure that trophy fish lives on, but that fish could very well live several more years and never be caught again. So whats the harm of a well meaning angler snapping some photos, weighing and measuring the best he can, and then releasing the fish? Most of us spend allot of time and money on this sport and when we do catch a trophy fish don't fault the person for enjoying that moment with some photos and measurements. Whats the point of having a lake full of 10lbers if no one ever got to catch them?? Congrats on that LUNKER and thank you for releasing it for the next angler to enjoy!

I was able to pick this real up very cheap after my Dicks coupons paid for most of it. My problem with it right now is the reel is the opposite of smooth. I'm shocked at how rough it seems. I didn't feel I needed a silky smooth reel but now I'm wondering if these reels need some lube out of the box or something.

I think this happend to me last week. I had a fish just destroy my Spro frog and I got a quick look at it's top fin and tale. The thing was huge and I couldn't pull him out of the weeds and lilly pads no matter how hard I pulled. I was going to wade out and get him when the frog finally came out. I figure it was either a state record bass (+13lbs) or a very nice cat. It's killing not knowing the awnser. ;D

Nice fish 7-8lb!!

I agree with that. I love fighting a good sized bluegill on light tackle. They fight crazy hard and taste great.

I think you have to change it up depending on the conditions and location. When I have some chop I have to fish the frog hard to get it noticed. While at the same time if I'm in some lilly padds I need to really slow it down. I've had times where the frog is half off a lilly pad and a bass explodes sending the frog sometimes several feet in the air. Personally I think walking the frog even in place causes a reaction strike compared to a simple chug and stop method. My dad has been fishing the same type of frog but I'm schooling my old man out there with his chug and pause method ;D. One thing is for sure I work them slow compared to any other bait I fish. I'd say I fish a jig and frog at about the same pace but it's possible I fish my frog even slower.

I spool up a good amount of mono on my reel first just because braid costs a fair amount where mono is cheap. I like to keep a very full spool of line and backing makes it more affordable to do that. I do have some sliping once in a great while but only when I'm hauling a very large bass out of some crazy stuff as fast as I can reel!

The Spro Fogs are awesome!!! I've went to 40# braid with a 7ftmh rod to haul them out of the thick stuff. Here is a nice 5lb fish I caught out of my park pond on one. YES MY PARK POND WITH A FREAKING FOUNTAIN ;D ;D! BTW I also suggest you mix up the retrieve. I always walk it but sometimes I can get a very fast pace when there is some chop.

For me it's got to be the Rojas Spro Frog. The temps should stay in range for the top water bite to stay active. Plus when it's really hot the fish just seem to hug the weed lines around here.

Glad you got them back!! I know personally I would have went swimming for them but that's second nature to me. I used to be a very good competetive swimmer back in the day and I have no problem just jummping into ponds or lakes. I saved about $50 in lures this year doing that ;D.

I know they aren't cheap but the Spro frogs have a great hook up ratio. The other thing you can do is give braid a dry or at least something low strech. I went to a frog set up and you will catch the biggest fish of your life on them. Braid sure has given me confidence I can get the hook set and the fish in the boat (or shore) no matter how big the fish or thick the weeds. BTW -paul- is also right on giving the fish some time. I count to three many times before I set the hook.

;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D :D :P ;D

I've landed several 4's and 5's this year and I was in a situation where only raw power landed these fish. I fish a pond often that by any measure Bill Dance could do a show on and come away impressed. The problem is it's a Federal Wildlife refuge pond and the rules state0 you can only land fish it. To make things tougher is about 10-30yds of thick grass and moss all along the bank. So I fish frogs most of the time and my lure at time can be VERY far away. So braided line and a 7ft mh rod with a fast real is used to set the hook so hard I've literally fallen on my *** and one time taken my real of the seat on my rod. I then reel the fish in fast to get him up and on top of the moss/grass. When I'm not able to get this done a 3lb bass becomes and 3lb bass with 8lb of grass with him. So if your ever in a similar situation this is what I'd recommend. What I don't suggest is trying to land a six pounder the way my dad did. This fathers day he caught a six pounder in thick Lilly pads on a buzz bait. What was impressive was the rod was a ML spinning rod no longer then 5"10" with 8lb test. In this situation we found it best to move the boat not the fish. ;D

The ESPN Bassmaster website has a article on Rojas and the frogs. Here is the direct link to the article. http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/bassmaster/fishingtips/news/story?page=b_FT_Rojas_frog It's a good read and he does state this "When we decided not to introduce the Big Daddy this year, we brought out the Popping Frog instead".

I guess we all have our lures. Personally the Wildeye series this last month has caught me a good number of quality fish. While the Berkley Hollow Belly has caught me crap and sits next to several riped up wildeye baits that fish have just destroyed.

When are we finally going to get tacklebox cameras?

I'm a big tech nerd and when it comes to TV's my family is about to to tie me up and gag me. ;D I have three HDTVs and sold another I had last year. So far _B_u_r_l_e_y_ has given great advise. On terms of cables he is right on buy your cables and mounts from monoprice!! You will save a fortune and will not loose any picture quality. I also have one of their wall mounts and for $70 after shipping I got at a great swivel and tilting mount. I'd also like to point out that 90% of all HDTVs now have a QAM tuner. What does that mean? Well it means you can plug in your cable and get the non scrambled digital channels. What does that mean? Well it means you can get you local HD stations without a antenna!!!! The cable companies are required by the FCC to pass the local stations without any encrypting of the signal. So get a splitter and run a feed to the TV and Cable box. You will probably get a tons of other channels as well. Usually 1-72 of analog SD channels and many digital music channels in my case. With all that said I seriously recommend Directv for any new HD buyer. They often have special promos at best buy for new HDTV buyers who are interested in switching. The NFL Sunday Ticket deal is also hard to beat. Now as far as TV goes you have to determine a budget. There is no doubt Sony, Samsung and Pioneer (Kuro plasmas) are the best three brands for PQ out there. They also cost more then the others. I would first consider the size and display type you want before brand. LCDs are best for bright rooms and are great if you intend to use it for computer use as well (like I do). While Plasmas are considered by most to offer the best PQ of all the display types for dark rooms (not counting CRTtubes). They use to suffer from burn in issues and not be very bright. This led to LCD selling better because in a bright show room the LCD would look better. When in reality a Plasma is usually better in a living room setting. They also have great viewing angles compared to LCD and DLP. What I mean by this is you can walk all around the room and even from a extreme side view the Plasma will still look fantastic. Where DLP and LCD will either wash out or darken when you begin too look at it from a angle. Plasmas have made allot of strives this last year in size and price and as long as you watch burn in it's what I'd recommend. Now as far as DLP goes thet are probably you best bang for the buck when it comes to screen size. They also offer great color and blacks when viewed from straight on. The bads are bad viewing angles, screen door effect, and bulb replacement costs. I've went over viewing angles so I'll go over screen door effect. IMHO it's what makes DLP to be not as sharp as LCD and plasmas displays. It's very hard to describe until you see it but the display tech just looks different and I prefer my LCD over my DLP because of it. The real bad thing about DLP is the bulb replacement cost. Most DLPs have had about a 5,000 hour life at most before you have to replace the bulb and that runs about 200-250$. The good news is that they have came out with LED DLPs and they are suppose to last allot longer then 5,000 hours. They needed to do this because most Plasmas and LCDs are rated for 30,000-50,000 hours. Now on to brands IMHO if I could buy one TV today for under three grand I'd buy a Samsung 120hrz LCD period!! I love them and they are the clearest thing I've ever seen and they can ruin other TVs for you. I'm serious they are that f****** good. That said most peoples budget aren't $3,000 either. So what you should say to yourself ask how much money you have for this and how big you want your set. Then read reviews at Cnet and posts at AVS forums. So if you find you can afford to buy a 50 inch and have enough to buy a Sony or Samsung then do it. However if buying a Sony or Samsung forces you to downsize to a 42inch I would look into buying a Vizio. They have did a amazing job of balancing performance and cost for consumers. They also have a very good warranty in case anything happens unexpected. I have a very high opinion of Vizio and what they are doing. There is no doubt the high end Samsung, and Sony displays will look slightly better when they are the same size but when you factor price you can in some cases get a 50inch Vizio Plasma for the price of what a Sony 32inch would cost you. So what would you rather have?? My dad is about to get a 50inch Vizio plasma that come with wireless surround sound for $1200 and that a amazing value!! BTW don't over look Sams Club and Costco because they offer great prices and a great return policy. When it comes to resolution I've gotten to a point where I tell family and friends for anything under 47inch just make sure it's at least 1280x720(Some low end Plasmas are 1024x768). Most people can't see the difference, but some like myself with good vision can. The smaller the set gets the harder it is to see the difference between the resolutions. Your more likely to see compression issues from channels and service providers then you are to see the PQ differences between 720p and 1080i or p.

RW is there a GYCB you haven't had luck with? ;D

I've had some luck with the Storm Wildeye Sunfish. It's a very cheap swimbait that walmart and Dicks has. I buy them at Walmart where you get 3 for $4. Some don't "swim" straight but there cheap enough I just toss any that don't swim right but most do.

Nice to have another fellow Southern IL resident here. I'm in Carterville IL an usually fish Little Grassy plus many of the refuge ponds that have some HUGE bass. I look forward to reading your posts.