WIGuide

You were weren't you? You could have pointed out to @juicebass that my location is located just under my username as well lol We'll cut him some slack though since he's new here.

Flex Seal and truck bed liner would be alternatives, but @Fishing Rhino's suggestion is probably the best option.

I'm not sure if the Largemouth is the same fish. It looks similar, but it's hard to tell without being able to see the markings. The deformed upper jaw is actually fairly common so it's possible it's not the same fish. The smallmouth is definitely the same though.

I really like a Chigger on the back of my jigs.

Either will work, but I prefer the XF action for finesse techniques.

You could go with a tungsten bead instead as well.

Congrats on the new PB! It's always super exciting to break your own record!

Dang dude those are some insane limits for up north. Where the heck in MN is that? haha

I've had good success with the Terminator Swim Jigs. I like that they have the quick skirts on them as well so I can swap colors easily. My 2 most commonly used trailers are a Big Bite Baits Cane Thumper, and a Kalins grub

Just buy yourself a few packs of skirts like the Terminator quick skirts, northland has their version as well and so does z-man. Then you can carry fewer spinnerbaits and just swap the skirts to change colors. My favorite bluegill color skirt comes from z-man

Personally I'd ad in another rod for a jig or texas rig. Looking at what you have, you're splitting that single rod between frogs/t-rigs/and plastics. If you're throwing a frog it's always a good idea to have a texas rig tied up to throw back if they miss the frog. As far as a decent combo goes in your price range, I'd recommend a St. Croix Mojo or Avid X rod and pair it up with a BPS Pro qualifier. I've got the 6'8" MH/F Mojo and love it. It's become one of my favorites since I got it earlier this summer.

No doubt, they may have had a better chance at catching a bigger one had I just done that lol.

Yeah, I didn't even realize I had entered. They had a deal going on earlier in the year that if you bought a rod you could send in for a free UV Buff or whatever the neck sun blockers are called. I replaced to rods earlier this year, so I sent in the rebate. I vaguely remember something about a rod giveaway but it had been a while. I went back and looked at my copy after they called and sure enough, they were giving away 150 rods. You could pick between the Premier, Tidemaster, and one of their fly rods. I was pumped since I hardly ever win anything and if I do it's usually only worth a few dollars. It made me one happy camper when I got the call. I was just about ready to put my boat in the water when they called, and ended up catching a 5 pounder shortly after I started fishing. Needless to say it was a pretty good day haha.

I don't think so. My dropshot rod is a ML/XF and I've put plenty of smallies over 4 in the boat with it.

I've caught a largemout with a small jig head coming out but the hook was caught up and the poor little guy was constipated. It had to be the fattest 13 incher I've ever caught.

You'll lose one every now and again and although it's a bummer, it's just part of the game. Congrats on having some success and getting some confidence back!

I wear the cheap ones from walmart. I believe they're the light weight hunting gloves. They aren't waterproof but do a decent job of blocking the wind and they allow me to feel the spool of a baitcaster with them on. I'll replace them when they wear out, or I lose them...usually that happens first haha.

Indeed those are mostly pre-turnover, but I caught some decent ones last year post turnover on a jig, and another guy who fishes all the way up to ice out alternates between a crankbait and a jig right up until he can't get on the lakes anymore. He's one heck of a fisherman and my one uncle was his tourney partner before he passed away. This last summer he had taken me out and showed me a few things and has never given me a reason not to believe what he says.

I'm not saying it's not possible to find deals without. My dad is basically addicted to craigslist, the majority of scams he finds do not have a number to begin with and when you email them to get one they won't give you a phone #. In your case you did eventually get one. I think it has to do with the fact that the scammers aren't local so if they give you their phone number and you do an area code check and find it's from halfway across the country, you'll know it's not legit. Hopefully @boostr will find a good deal soon and can avoid any more scams he may run across!

Nope....jig suck in the fall....I WOULD NOT throw them at all if I were you...you won't catch a darn thing...EVER! Just in case the sarcasm wasn't evident enough, here's some pics of the better ones I've been catching on a jig throughout the fall

I really think it depends on what it is. Certain baits that are NOS could be worth more than what they were new. I think what you're thinking of pricing is fair. If nothing else you can always set your price slightly high and advertise it as or best offer (OBO).

Unfortunately for the second weekend in a row, my time on the water was limited. I did manage to get out all 3 days, but not nearly as long as I wanted to. From here on out, my Friday fishing will be even more limited as the Jr. High basketball season has started up so I'll only have a few hours after work to fish. This past Friday, I got out with a friend though that I haven't fished with in a long while. We ended up boating a few small northerns in our limited time, but it was good to get together and catch up again. Water temps on that particular lake were in the 50-52* range. We had plenty of bites, but couldn't capitalize on them. Saturday my dad and I were planning on having another bass battle. Unfortunately the TM repair shop hadn't sent out his replacement cables yet, so he left early Saturday morning to pick them up in hopes of a quick repair and to have enough time to get to our next scheduled lake and fish. Unfortunately it took longer than anticipated and I headed out to at least get a few hours of fishing in. The lake I chose to fish Saturday had considerably warmer water, with temps being between 58-60*. It was similar to the previous weekend where the fish are still confused as to where they should be. In my few hours on the water I caught 3 and lost 3 with the biggest being just over 18 1/2". I did manage to break in my new St. Croix Premier Crankbait rod that I won the previous week from sending in for one of their giveaways. I was happy with it's performance as the little 15 incher it pulled in was a hard fighter for being a small guy. The rod handled him as good as I expected. Sunday, I was out on the water to provide a guided trip I had donated for a cancer benefit the previous winter. The father and daughter I took out had put off the trip all summer and waited until now to take it as it's set to expire at the end of open water season. Both of them are new to fishing and with this time of year being challenging to catch fish, I elected to case after some northerns. With a cold front coming in and water temps again dropping to 50-52* I knew it was going to be a challenge. On top of that the wind was very gusty blowing 15-20 mph switching from west to north. They gave it their best shot but only managed to bring in 3 between the two of them and the father got snapped off by a pretty good one. I ended up fishing along with them to make sure they had enough to take home for a meal and I missed far more than I caught, but got them enough for a meal.When the wind switched around it was as if someone flipped a switch and the bit shut down for a good hour. Not only did the bit itself slow, we went from seeing fish actively chasing down bait and splashing all over to absolutely nothing. Baits that we had success with were shallow jerkbaits, oklahoma bladed spinnerbaits, and hollow belly swimbaits. Pictured below was Katie with her little northern that she was pretty proud of but not entirely sure about having to hold something as slimy as a northern haha.

I've only had that happen a few times, but it's awesome when it does happen. Nice job on getting them both in the boat!

Atta boy blue! Nicely done. I can honestly say I'm not sure what i'm more envious of, the fish or the tee shirt weather haha!

Definitely nothing super fancy, but I was in need of a new cranking rod and I happened to win a free rod in a send in offer from St. Croix so I picked one of the crankbait models in their Premier line. Within a few days a 7' MH/M Premier arrived at my door. I threw my Abu Revo Inshore on it and it makes for a nice combo.