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I grew up and live in St Cloud, Minnesota, right alongside the untapped, rootbeer-colored Mississippi River, which flows out of the ground just three hours north of town at Itasca State Park. This local area is generally shallow, rocky, and peppered with islands that the river winds through. Right in St Cloud is a series of two-dozen-plus islands known as the Beaver Islands, just downstream of a hydroelectric dam near St Cloud State University. I grew up about a mile away from these islands. As a teen, I had a lousy, tumultuous situation at home that I tried to get away from as much has possible. To escape, I used to bike to the river, chain my bike to an oak tree, and go wading for smallmouth bass, 5-6 days a week, 3-6 hours per trip, anytime I had a chance. I became addicted to it. It was my home away from home. There were a handful of us kids that would fish the river like that. Rarely would we see a footprint that didn't belong to one of us. I waded in camouflage-colored cargo pants and felt-bottomed wading boots, carrying a custom-built 7'6" ML/F spinning rod on a Loomis GL3 blank and a $50 reel filled with straight 15lb PowerPro braid, which was a new and much-hyped edition to the market at the time. I washed dishes at a Perkin's to buy that rod. Sometimes I used a 7-wt St. Croix fly rod. My tackle was kept in a fanny pack, which I'd carry over my shoulder if the water got past my waist. I generally fished tubes, grubs, flukes, smaller buzzbaits and spinnerbaits, lipless crankbaits, finesse jigs, poppers, etc. By the time I was graduated from high school and moved out of home, I had countless 5-6lb smallies, a 52" Muskie, and 2 walleyes over 30" under my belt, all caught in the same area on the same tackle. Fishing was a way to get away from the drama and anxiety at home. I'm 33 now. Good life; good job; no anxiety or issues to speak of, whatsoever. But I still fish 3-4 times a week, out of a bass boat. It's still my therapy.

Heavy spinnerbaits in the 1/2 to 1oz range, which are my go-to search lure. If you've never tried a 3/4oz, double-willow spinnerbait, you're missing out!

I wish we had a tutorial on the site on how to properly package rods and gear that are bought/sold in the Flea Market. For instance, even packing both ends of the rod tube with plastic shopping bags make a huge difference. I've made numerous purchases and sales on here, and only one hit a snag. That was when I picked up a used rod that retailed for nearly $300, maybe 6 years back. It came in an appropriate retail-style cardboard tube but included no packing material whatsoever. The ends were taped shut, and the rod was left to roll around and slide back and forth inside the tube, which was a good foot longer than the rod. Needless to say, the rod arrived broken with the tape torn on both ends and about 8" of smashed and bent rod-tip poking out. It was shipped UPS and the seller declined to insure it to save a few bucks. The seller obviously wasn't the most sensible individual, but he was thankfully willing to refund part of my money to pay for about 2/3 of the warranty replacement cost to replace the rod. I had to cover the rest of the cost.

I thread those onto smaller jigs, personally. Their compact size helps them slither through weeds well.

The Curado E would work very well for frogging. It's just about the ideal reel, in my opinion. That millimeter of play in the anti-reverse won't cost you any fish. That's just how Shimano baitcasters are built.

TRC Covers are probably the 6th brand of covers I've purchased. I'd get two here and two there from random companies, thinking they're all the same. However, TRC are the best, even in the "simple" style covers, which are inexpensive. I like how slender the "simple" baitcast sleeves are.

Champ 735 is what you want. The 734 is an elite spinnerbait rod, but it's a little too soft in the tip for heavy jigs in the 1/2oz-and-up range.

10lb braid will float very little. I wouldn't change a thing.

They were the first gen. I don't think I even got $65.

Avid, for sure! St. Croix is a fine bunch of rods, but the Mojo was the only line that I was thoroughly dissapointed with. I thought they were on par with $75 rods. I sold them in the Flea Market on here.

My dad is using a Dobyns Fury 702SF. It works perfectly for finesse plastics, including dropshot. He normally tosses a 1/15oz Ned Rig on it. The reel won't make much of a difference. Anything in the 2000 to 3000 size range. Whatever your preference.

I tried them both on Mille Lacs last week on the drop shot rig. The bite was a little slow after about 8 inches of rain had fallen in the last few days and dirtied up the lake, but both baits caught some nice smallies. As expected from Keitech, the action was absolutely outstanding on both, especially the Leech, but the durability was relatively poor with the Leech (3 fish per bait) and worse with the Shaker (1-2 fish per bait). The Leech looks like it's going to a staple bait in my drop-shot bag. The Shaker, on the other hand, is solid but unspectular, and no better than a Roboworm.

Smallies are by nature a very fickle fish; in a spot one day and gone the next. However, the Upper Mississippi is a great fishing resource for anyone within driving distance. I weighed two 6-pounders from it while wading before I was old enough to drive, and another one before I was old enough to drink. The best part is all of the 2's and 3's that seem to be in every stretch of water.

I'll play along. OP, what makes you think that confronting an "unpleasant" game warden at his home is going to end well?

The best packing material is plastic shopping bags from the grocery store. Pack them in there tightly and the reel won't move an inch in transit.

Yamamoto Fat Ika is the only bait I know of that fits the bill.

Snag Proof Ish's Phat Frogs are probably my favorite, but the Booyah Pad Crashers and Popping Pad Crashers are up there, too, and they're cheaper. The Snag Proof Bobby's Perfect Frogs are also quality, and so are Live Target. I guess I don't understand the love for Spro Bronzeeye Frogs. 10 years ago, they opened up the world of frogging to a lot of us, me included, but the design has been improved upon, again and again over the past decade. I have a box full of at least 20 Spros, but I never use them. I hate having to squeeze the water out of them every few casts.

I use three different tools for the three tasks: hook removal, braid cutting, and split rings. I never could find one tool that does it all as well as the individual tools, and I tried quite a few.

Dobyns Champion 736 and a high-speed Shimano Citica. That's what I use, and I paid less than $350 for them.

I wouldn't be surprised if they're nice rods. I know the Mach spinning reels are an absolute steal at the lowest prices they're going for online.

I've been tossing the 130 on my swimjig setup: a Dobyns Champion 735 with 30lb braid. Works great. I think most people's frogging setups would be fine for Whopper Ploppers, too.

It will work just fine for anything but the largest of crankbaits, and it certainly won't break the rod. Quality-wise, it's way overkill for cranks. You'll be able to really feel any cover your crank bumps up against! I prefer spinning over baitcasting for jerkbaits, light crankbaits, and poppers. That rig would be ideal for those.

I've been hooked in the back of the hand by a crankbait twice while bass fishing, but never actually by a bass, only by walleye and northern pike. Bass are easy to get off the hook because you can essentially immobilize them by grabbing the lower jaw with a grip grip right near the tongue, something you cannot do with bass or walleye.

In-Fisherman. They're often filmed on Minnesota lakes and rivers, so the advice is more applicable to me than some of the shows filmed elsewhere, focusing on resevoir techniques, for example.

I visited my favorite big-bass lake today and witnessed about 50 cormorants and 10 Pelicans floating around. I had never seen any cormorants on the lake before, and I've been fishing it for 7 years. I really hope they move on and find a nice wind turbine to nest near.