Bluebasser86

Nice fish, how about sharing the story on how you caught her?

Me neither and I love lipless baits. I've even thrown them for white bass and have never caught a single fish on one that I can remember. I know others that catch all kinds of fish on them though. I just don't fish them anymore, problem solved.

Open water I've had a couple days in the teens at the powerplant lakes. It's really hard to fish those days because of the guides icing up. Ice fishing I've had a couple below zero days but since discovering the powerplant lakes I rarely ice fish anymore.

^^Good call, they have a 6' 10" M/F Crucial for $111. You could upgrade your rod for just $10 more and be really happy I think. They also have some of the Clarus and Convergence rods for about half what you were looking to spend so if you needed another rod for something else you could get 2 good rods for what you were looking to spend on one.

There are lots of good options in that range. Personally I like St.Croix and they have a few options in that range. I like the mojos but some people don't. The Premiers are also a good option. You might try to find any of the discontinued Shimano Compres. They were really nice rods and should work great for what you want.

Flathead catfish Blue catfish Silver Carp Warmouth White bass Shovelnose sturgeon Spotted or Kentucky bass Longnose gar Buffalo carp Spoonbill or paddlefish

I haven't fished either of these rods much. A friend of mine has a couple Veritas and I really like the feel of them and they are very light but I have heard from several people that have had them break on the hookset. BPS rods seem to generally be good rods and I used on of their cranking rods for several years with no problems.

In my experience a break off on a hookset with new line is caused by a poorly tied knot or using the wrong type of knot. I had a problem with P-line flouroclear breaking on the hookset and even though it may not be a true flouro, if not properly lubricated it will break on the hookset from the friction caused while tightening the knot. My solution was to make sure to tighten the knot under water or while holding it inside my mouth and tightening with steady pressure. No more problems with hookset break offs and P-line is one of the strongest lines I have ever used. I'm excited to try this new line as it sounds to have several qualities you expect in a good fishing line.

Rage craws are one of the best baits I've ever fished for flipping weeds. They get through the weeds well and then those claws start flapping and it just drives them crazy it seems like.

I would think you would be alright on the Spro, they don't seem to be a real delicately balanced bait. You'd probably be better off with the suspenstrips though because the dots don't weigh much at all and it would take a whole lot of them to make one of those things suspend or sink.

If you use a high quality rod there shouldn't be a big difference in the sensativity of a M/F vs a MH/F rod. The only time the heavier line would affect sensativity very much would be if it was windy or there was a strong current because the thicker line would be influenced by the current more so you would have a bigger bow in your line or you'd have to use a heavier jig. If you're fishing all open water your set up is probably fine but even in open water if you're dragging your jig through rocks I'd suggest stepping up to 15lb flouro to help with abrasion and possible break offs.

You can use a lighter rod like that and it will probably work in a lot of situations. The reason I'm using those rods for open water football jigs is that I'm making long casts and need to move alot of line on the hookset and have enough power in my rod to bury the hook in a big fishes mouth. Also, not all open water is completely obstruction free. If there is one log or tree on that point or drop I'm fishing and I hook a big fish, she is going to do everything she can to get to it. I use the heavier line because I fish some nasty rocks that eat line in a hurry. I could fish 12lb but I'd have to retie every couple of casts.

Congrats on the jig fish! It can be a tough puzzle to figure out but stick with it! Once you figure out how to fish a jig it might be hard to get yourself to put it down!

Sorry, I guess I should have been more specific. I meant hard jerkbaits, Excalibur Erratic shads and twitch baits, and an Xrap. Would a fluke work, probably but a hard jerkbait would be a much better option.

Ideally, no. I use either a 7' 1" MH/F or a 7' 3" MH/F for my football jigs and a 7' MH/M for my shallow and mid depth cranks. Could you use one for both, yes, but you're going to be compromising one way or the other. For my football jigs I use 14-20lb flouro and 10-15lb mono or flouro for my cranks. As for the mojo rods, seems most people have a love/hate relationship with them. Either you really like them, or you don't. Personally I really like the feel of them and they have been extremely durable. I have yet to break one or knock out an insert except for one that was completely my fault for swinging a fish that was way too heavy. Is there better rods in that price range? Maybe, but I'd at least hold one and put the reel you plan to use on it first before it's completely ruled out.

Yep, I can't ever remember a time we had no ice on any ponds by this far into the winter. I can remember some times they froze, then thawed again for a few weeks before freezing again, but never just stayed open like this year, I'm loving it!

I agree that everyone should try it, just wouldn't suggest doing it with a Calcutta for your first try.

I don't know about the KVD reel but I have both Pfluegars and the short answer is yes, the $50 is worth the extra you get in the XT vs the MGX. They are both great reels and you won't be disappointed with either but the XT is just lighter, smoother, and an all around nicer feeling reel to fish with. Both reels have the smoothest drags I've ever felt on a spinning reel though.

kanasbassfisher08 (Chris) and I went and hit a pond this morning despite a cold morning and a pretty heavy cold rain last night. I'd never fished the pond but he had done very well out there before but we both agreed we'd be surprised if we caught anything. First couple spots produced nothing but then I caught a fat 14 incher, first fish of the year! Next cast produced another, and another the next cast. In the next hour and a half we would land almost 60 bass and 1 crappie! All but 3 of them were on jerkbaits that we let sit for 5-10 seconds between twitches in the 37 degree water. I'm going to try to keep track of my fish count for the year this year, I've never done it before and I'm curious to know how many I actually catch a year. So as of right now my 2012 bass catch total is 31, not a bad start

Jerkbaits are always a good option in cold water. We landed almost 60 fish in less than 2 hours this new years day morning from a pond, all but 3 of them at some type of jerkbaits (1 on a worm, 1 on a tiny ika, 1 on a one knocker.) Almost all of them ate it on the pause and we were waiting 5-10 seconds between very soft twitches.Water was only 37 degrees after a very cold rain last night.

There is a story about it on bassmaster.com also. Sounds like they were just fishing down the bank and his partner spotted it fast laying near the waters edge and it appeared at least the feet were tied together but was completely decomposed so it had been there for awhile.

Shakeyhead, split shot rig, or a ball head jig are my favorite ways to fish them.

Dang Goose you are killing them with that RES! Happy New Years to you and hopefully you'll bring in 2012 with an even bigger one tomorrow!

Orcas are very capable of taking out even large adult sharks. Sharks must keep moving to breath or they will drown so a pack of orcas will attack the shark by ramming it and biting off it's fins and tail. The shark usually dies from drowning or blood loss. I can't imagine seeing that in person. I think the reason it has to be so amazing is you see the shark that everyone thinks as the top of food chain, and the killer whale that probably makes most people think of "Free Willy" or Sea World, attacking and killing sharks, has to be a crazy thing to see go down.

I like to add a feathered treble to the front of my flutter spoon or jigging spoon along with the regular back treble. I don't really like them on topwaters very much because they seem to kill the action a little bit.