jeb2

I just use these cheap little stones from BassPro. Like $2 each. They don't have them in their online catalog for some reason. I always pick up several when I get them as they do wear down. I keep them attached to my retractable belt loop "keeper", along with my line clippers, and I'm always using it to dress up a hook. Very handy, very light/small and easy to use.

Wally World had Luck E Strike STX's on sale for $5 a pop, so I bought a few more of those. Work great in this area. Also ordered another Loomis NRX 873CRR. My blue one is not aging well so figured I'd give the greenie a try, hoping the glossier finish will resist the C-rig weight abuse better.

I let the fish decide that for me. We had that situation the other day with bass busting all around us. I was in the back of the boat, and we were having limited success. I was tying on everything that made sense, but finally stumbled on to the pattern with a wobble spoon (SK Sexy Spoon). Then it was on! Ended up with 43 for me on the day.

That's why I moved south. Love MN/WI in the summer, but the winters are just too long. I fished a local lake Thursday and Table Rock yesterday. There's a big FLW tourney going on Beaver Lake where I live, so I stayed away from that this week. I caught 43 bass Thursday and my buddy caught 33. I caught somewhere north of 30 (lost count after 25) and he caught 28 on TR yesterday. Life is good in the south, too. Very much looking forward to my 2 months in Northern Wisc this summer fishing, though. The best of both worlds.

100% agree. While there may be a few days where I'll miss a few setting the hook as soon as I feel them, I still have a great hookup percentage with setting the hook immediately. Also agree a very sensitive rod is a big key to this technique. Used a Loomis 803GLX for a long time and it's the gold standard in this area, IMO. Now I'm using the Loomis 873CRR NRX and it is also excellent for it. C-rigging is the first technique I forced myself to study and learn beyond just throwing spinnerbaits and dragging jigs. And I've had a tremendous amount of success with it. So it's really become my go-to technique whenever the conditions allow for it.

On our deep, clear water lakes, I use mostly green pumpkin and watermelon candy. I have other colors but those two are, by far, my most productive. Mostly used on c-rig, but shakey heads and t-rigs occasionally, too.

I only fish with one other guy, and while we fish often, we don't fish tourney's. We're like two peas in a pod personality wise and I could not care less if we're in his boat or mine. We always have fun together. We split the duties in half as far as towing/boat taken and that works out great. I do have to make choices about what tackle to bring, but usually guess pretty well. And I know if I needed something I didn't bring, I could ask him for it. Our fishing styles are very similar and we both allow plenty of room for the other to fish the good stuff we're covering whenever possible. It's not uncommon at all for us to have the person in the back out fish the person in front.

Well said, Fade. Not only are students not picking degrees well as far as future earning potential, the education they are getting is very dumbed down in many/most schools these days. That's why you continue to see the USA slide downward at all education levels on the world stage. As one college professor I know said, it's all about butts in seats today. I took a college course a couple of years ago at a local community college. It was a comp sci programming class. It had been many years since I had taken a college course and I was appalled by it. Teacher not showing up for approx 30% of the classes, usually with no warning. No tests, just complete the classwork. We didn't get through half the announced curriculum. I got an A but it felt like a C compared to when I got my degree. Which I didn't owe anyone a dime for, BTW. Worked my way through.

Forgot to mention I also upgraded the bearings on mine after a couple of months, hoping that would bring it around. Didn't seem to have much impact on it, though. I never had any problems with mine, it just always failed to impress at anything is all.

I lived in Roch, MN for 30 years before moving south. I used to fish the area below the Alma dam extensively. Some great back waters areas that were great bass producers. Just below the "smoke stack" area, on the Wisc side, there are some pretty easy to access backwaters just off the main channel. I used to find bass along the banks where there was something to break up the current a bit.Chartruese willow leaf spinnerbaits were my absolute go to bait in that area. But the water started to clean up, mostly from the zebra mussles I guess. So maybe more natural colors would work better these days.

Not a fan. I owned 4 of the Gen2 Premier's when the MGX came out. HUGE fan of the Premier's so I wanted the MGX also. But there were a lot of very mixed reviews on the reel when it first came out. The Premier's, rightfully so, had almost universal praise. But the MGX, not so much. So I held off for a while, but finally just had to see for myself. I'm just not a fan of the IVCB braking system compared to the dual brakes in the Premier. I also have Core 50's, Steez's, Calais DC's, Pixy Type-R, Gen 3 STX, Curado 50E, etc reels. I'd rank the MGX at the bottom of those reels. I tried hard to like it, I really did. Put different lines on it, put it on different rods for different techniques. But it just did nothing better, and mostly just not as good, than my other reels, and was hard to get set just right a lot of the time. It now lives below decks as an emergency spare for me. Glad you like your's, though. Some guys really seem to take to them.

Dobyn's replaced one of my Extreme rods under warranty, zero cost to me. They even paid the shipping. And Loomis only does the $100 deal on rods still covered by the Expeditor service, which is precious few of them these days.

All Loomis rods have a lifetime warranty, with a $20 processing fee plus your cost of shipping. New generation rods, basically all the split grip rods, have the Wild Card program. The older rods that have been replaced by the new generation rods have no Expeditor or Wild Card, only the warranty. Wild Card and Expeditor are for the same thing, if you step on the rod, shut in a car door, etc. Loomis is gradually replacing all of the older rods with the new generation rods. NRX, GL2 and most of the GLX line have the Wild Card. IMX is next. Once they complete the generation changes, the expeditor program will cease to exist.

Scheduled to be on the lake in Wisc again for 2 months this summer. Very much looking forward to it! Fishing has been up and down around here this winter, but at least I don't have to chop a hole in the ice to do it.

Good description of when to use a small jig. I have to force myself to do it, too. I prefer the 1/2-3/4oz ones and throw them a lot. But I fished the 5/16oz jig today with a tiny trailer on Table Rock and did well with it. 7 or 8 of my 12 fish came on it, up to 3.5lbs. I'd been getting nothing on the bigger jigs of late, so it's hard to argue with the results. Fishing it 3-20', very rocky conditions, no weeds. Cold, clear water. 40f degrees.

I do think you feel a bit more with tungsten weights. But in the rocky lakes around here like Beaver and Table Rock, you just loose too many of them. I made the switch to Mojo weights late last year and have been very impressed with them. Don't get snagged as often, pull loose more often when they do, still give excellent feel and don't damage the line above the swivel as quickly.

I NEVER do not have a C-rig tied on one rod. I fish it almost everytime I go fishing. It's been a huge producer for me over the years. Pointers are well listed in many online articles, but I'd say there is no "one way" to fish them. You need to fish them enough to get a feel for what works when, from slow dragging to steady retrieve, small baits or huge baits, heavy sinker (even shallow at times) or light sinker, etc, etc.

I use 1 or 2 centrifgual brakes usually, depending on the weight and how aerodynamic the bait is. Then I vary the mag brakes from 1/4-2/3, depending on wind, etc. I find the best performance from it when I mix the brake systems, but everyone is different.

One of the well respected guides in this area recommended Daiichi Death Traps at a seminar he gave a couple of years ago. I've been a fan ever since getting my first order of those. They can be bought in 10 packs for very reasonable money at Lure Parts Online.

They were interesting to fish. I fished both a 5 and a 7 model today, both on the same setup. Spinning combo, 6lb FC coated line. It seemed like I needed to keep a pretty decent retrieve speed to get that erratic action, but they definatey danced around pretty good. The 5 could be over powered pretty easy, so it was a bit of a balance to fish it fast enough, but not too fast. The 7 went deeper and seemed to be a little more flexible/easy to fish. Bite was very slow today, and I did not catch anything on the Scatter's. But they did look good, so I have hopes of them paying off when the fish start biting a bit better.

They were $8 a pop at the Dick's display at the Classic. I picked up 5 or 6. Hope to fish them tomorrow. Something different.

Yep, that makes a brand new one only a few dollars more ($393) with free shipping.

I've had one for about 6 months now. I've tried all the different sounds in a lot of different situations and it just does not seem effective for me on the waters I fish on. I can point to one "maybe it helped" situation, and zero "for sure made a difference" events. At times, I'd swear it stopped a good bite. I obviously had higher hopes for it, and maybe it works for some guys in some situations. The company has been great to deal with on a water intrusion issue. They sent me a new unit when that happened. But it just has not turned me into a believer.

I understand. But from my point of view, if the pros get hammered with the penalties, that'll be another voice for a change to this kind of long haul to the venue format. If they are actually suspending the penalty, it also tells me they are expecting a lot of loss, despite whatever they may be saying publically.

I don't have to borrow one. As I said above, I own a Kistler custom 7'6" z-bone with micro guides already. I compared it closely to my NRX 893 and there is maybe 1/32" difference in how close the line sits to the blank. Both are very sensitive rods, but I give credit to the blanks there, not the size of the guides. To each their own and all. Not putting down micros. I've just never seen anything definitive to say they give a rod better sensitivity than other high end rod guides.