IndianaFinesse

What are you planning on using the rod for? What's your budget?

Had a good lure finding day yesterday, although no where near as many as bluebasser found. Found a roughly four square foot section of heavy fabric on a heavily fished shoreline, it would normally be beneath the water before winter draw down. I found a kvd 1.5 square bill, a kvd 1.0, a 1/2 ounce red eye shad, a big o crankbait, a 1/2 ounce rattle trap, a 3/4 ounce rattletrap, a 1/4 ounce ripnrap, and a lucky craft pointer 65. Plus a bunch of hooks and sinkers, all on the same small piece of fabric.

Thanks!

Thanks for the video, that really helped. Which is your guys favorite all around color of the pop max or pop x?

Fishing frogs in the slop and around docks.

I figured you had at least some input on the design. Do you throw the finesse model or the standard model more often?

Has anyone used either the finesse game changer or standard game changer buzzbaits? They look interesting and a lot of Jacob's stuff has worked well for me.

Have you tried them both? Would you say the actions are different, and if so, how are they different?

Thanks for all of the reply's, I'm looking for a walking popper so I'm definitely leaning toward the pop max.

Tackle warehouse's description of the Daiwa aird says that it has a larger spool for coastal fishing, so i was wondering if it was enlarged enough to make it a big reel. Is it a low profile reel, and do you guys have any experience with it?

The pop max (although that's about to change), chatterbaits, and lc gunfish.

You don't need a wire keeper for elaz-tech, just super glue them on.

Try the kahara jigs, those little things are killer when pitched (obviously with spinning gear because of there weight) around docks and light weeds. I like to tip them with one inch or two inch curly tail grubs.

I think the only company they've bought recently is the multi billion dollar buy out of cabela's, but I could be wrong.

There should be an award for the longest post, kind of like the leaderboard that Glenn just made. And if there was, your novel would be at the top of that list. Oh, and considering I only read the first paragraph of your post, I guess I'm not very patient.

Used it exclusively for a long time for the reasons already mentioned, until I had the braid wrap around the tip mid-cast and the line broke. Have you ever watched a $25 lure sail off into the distance before? I'll tell you from experience, it hurts. I have since switched over to 8-10 pound mono, the casting distance and feel is only slightly diminished, and I don't have to worry about casting another expensive jerkbait off.

As others have said, there really isn't such thing as having to many rods, as long as you stay within your means. I will warn you that once you start down the slippery path of rod collecting, it can get very expensive very fast. Once you have owned your first high end rod, it's hard to go back.

Thanks for the reply's. How do the actions of the pop x and pop max compare? Yep, I'm already thinking about topwater fishing next year. Ice fishing is fun to tide me over until open water, but it just isn't the same. I received a couple tackle warehouse gift cards for Christmas, so I think I'm going to get either a pop max or a pop x with them. Not sure which one, I tend to lean more toward smaller baits more often than not, but I hear a lot more about the pop max.

What's the difference between the megabass pop x and the pop max, is it just the size?

Fixed it for you

A bright color like chartruse or firetiger, or black.

You guys are killing me. I keep saying that buying stuff on sale will actually save money, but I can't afford to save that much money.

The weather forecast definitely doesn't look so good for ice fishing, hopefully the ice will be thick enough to go fishing on it sometime in the next few weeks. Sounds like a plan, i'll let you know when the ice gets at least four inches thick so we can meet up for some ice fishing. I haven't been able to ice fish much either, only gone ice fishing six or seven times before, but it seems like they are in the same areas and biting down sized versions of what they were just prior to ice up.

Sorry it took so long to get back to you, I've been trying to get as much time as possible in ice fishing before Sunday's rain melts it off. I meant water temperature, air temperature doesn't directly effect them. Often the air temperature varies greatly during the early spring, so it's hard to guess much based on that. You can catch bass any time of the year though, I have just noticed a decrease in activity level below 45 degrees. Got out ice fishing on Wednesday, Thursday afternoon, and today. Spent the first couple hours drilling holes on Wednesday trying to find the catfish hole again, but I couldn't find them. My depth finder doesn't have a GPS, so I can't drop waypoints with it. I tried to do it the old fashioned way by triangulating it, but apparently my triangulating skills are pretty bad. Gave up around noon and switched to crappie and bluegill fishing. I found them in 16 feet of water with quick access to deep water (in that little pocket by the dam Brian), all of them hugging bottom. We caught a little of everything there, about sixty bluegill and warmouth, five nice crappie, a four nice largemouth (who says you can't catch bass through the ice), and some white bass. The majority hit a 1/100 ounce horizontal jig with an atomic wishbone and a wax worm fished with a steady pounding/vibrating motion near bottom, but some ate minnows, blood worm imitations, panfish asassins, etc. Ended with a total of 75 fish for the day, a great day on ice in my book. Managed to make some time to go fishing yesterday afternoon again, but only for a few hours. This time I fished the opposite end of the lake from where I was yesterday, toward the upper end at the opening of a cove with scattered brush on the edge of a flat. Caught 22 big bluegill, 3 white bass, 2 largemouth, and a 15 inch walleye in that spot, the bluegill and bass in a horizontal jig with a wishbone plastic and a wax worm kept still right above the bottom, and the white bass and walleye hit a minnow. The first two walleye I've ever caught at this lake in a year and a half of fishing it, and they were within three weeks of each other for whatever reason. Got out ice fishing today, again fishing the upper end of the lake. Started out at the same spot, and right off the bat got some big bluegill and a solid 17 inch largemouth. That bass put up a challenging fight on four pound line and a light powered rod, it felt bigger than a lot of the 3-4 pounders I've caught. Then it shut down, so I moved around the lake for an hour or two looking for some more, but had nothing to show for it. Walked back to the same spot I had fished earlier around 4 o-clock. The fish were hitting big time now, they usually bit as soon as I picked the jig off the bottom from the initial drop. Went from only a dozen fish to 55 big bluegill in only an hour and a half, the frozen rain mixed with pea sized hail that came down for the last 45 minutes didn't even seem to bother them at all. Wasn't a whole lot of fun to fish in the hail, but it was mostly freezing rain, and the eight to nine and a half inch bluegill made it all worth it.

Everyone has a different definition of pre-spawn, but if you mean when they start getting active it's around 45 degrees. The right lure choice depends entirely on the conditions, but there are a few standards that seem to work every year. Suspending jerkbaits when the fish are suspended and the water is fairly clear, ned rigs just about all the time when they're near or on the bottom, small bucktails in cold water, jigs around wood cover, rattle traps once the water warms up a bit, etc. The eagle creek dam and all of the bridges crossing it seem to work year round there, plus there's decent fishing in the river outlet for smallmouth. Anyone got any ice fishing reports yet? We've got five inches of clear ice here, so I'm going to head out tomorrow to see if I can't get some fish.