ww2farmer

That's my style.

That's horse crap. Most of my reels are Citica's and Curados. I have a couple Abu Max series reels too that I picked up to get me by when I had more rods than I had reels for, they perform just fine, surpassing my expectations. I don't think they will last as long as the better reels, but out of the box they work fine.

St croix does have them. There is a 7' one piece light spinning rod in the Eyecon series

I like the Strike King KVD slash bait, and the Storm Twitch bait. The KVD suspends perfectly for me out of the box with the stock hooks on fluorocarbon, but it lays a little flat. With a change of the hooks from the stock ones to #4 Mustad KVD 2x short shank, heavy wire triple grips, it still suspends perfect but in a nose down position like I like. The Storm is a slow riser with the stock hooks, and suspends or rises ever so slowly with a change to the same hooks I put on the SK. A suspend dot just forward of the front hook hanger keeps it suspended, and a little nose down. I used to really like the eeratic shad, It seemed to be a slow riser for me, no problem, just add a suspend dot or two, BUT once the stock hooks got trashed I had a heck of time, and never did quite find a combination I liked, almost every single hook I tried, light wire, heavy wire, VMC, Gamakatsu , Excailiber, Mustad etc....made them sink..........not desirable IMHO. The Clunn's were just OK for me, I got way too many bad ones that either sank, took on water, the weight transfer would stick, or they would just fall apart after a fish or two. I can't say anything nice about Rapala x-raps, so I just won't say anything at all.

It's as simple as this.... If you can see them, they can see you.... Game over. You are over thinking it.

The one thing I try to stress to people when drop shotting who struggle with it is...........STOP MOVING THE BAIT SO MUCH. I fished with one dude who I swore was having seizures when he was drop shotting, all the while cursing how he never got a bite on the thing.

I am out of the loop as for what's out there for boys, as I have two daughters. We have a house full of barbies, cabbage patch dolls, and other assorted stuff and it don't seem all that different than the ones my sister had 30 years ago. We do have hungry hungry hippos, and that is exactly as I remember it from my childhood, and I am still undefeated in 37 years of playing it. Nothing says family fun like the tears of a 4 and 8 year old when the old man has just whooped them in a rousing bout of connect four, or operation.......which is a little different BTW, as it now features sponge bob, instead of the fat man with the red light bulb nose.

I don't know/care what every one else does, but you asked, so here is what I do: Spinning gear: I have 2 ML power rods with 10lb braid, they get either 6-8 lb leaders, and two M powered rods with 15lb braid that get 8,10,or 12lb leaders. Casting gear: I have 2 M powered fast action rods, both with 20lb braid, they get 12 or 15 lb leaders I have 3 MH powered fast (or x-fast rods) with 30lb braid, they get 15,17, or 20lb leaders One MH/F rod with 50lb braid that gets a 17 or 20lb leader One H/F rod with 50lb braid that gets a 17 or 20lb leader And my cranking rods all have 20lb braid, and they will get 10,12,or 15lb leaders. I base my leader size on what type of cover I am fishing, and what the power of the rod is. It would be foolish to tie a 10lb leader to 50lb braid and use a H power rod, you'll just be breaking leaders all the time. Don't lock your drag down tight when fishing with a leader, and if the cover allows it, back down one rod power, that will help protect the leader, and with no stretch braid as the main line, you'll still have plenty of power for setting the hook.

I would just like to take this opportunity to plug ww2farmers yard service for die-hard bass fisherman...........I have some stuff here on the farm that you can use, and you won't have to worry about grass, weeds, flowers, tress, bushes, or anything that is green. For, I don't know, at least 6-8 months.............or forever, depending on how much you use. I got stuff for bugs too..........oh and fungicides for cereal grains...........but that would just be ridiculous to put on a yard.

For me this time of year is all about JUNK FISHING. I have caught good fish the past few trips out of 6" of water to 20+ FOW, and everywhere in-between. Patterning them is tough right now. Just today for example, 2 decent ones up shallow, do that FOREVER with out a bite, slide out to some 12' stuff get a good one quick.......then haul water for over an hour. Go to some deep junk, get 3 off that before it dies, back shallow, pick up one good one, and a couple 2lbers, hit some 5'-7' deep stuff I like and nab a few...etc.. In a little while they will stack up again in predictable spots and be on fire for a little while, then the fall to winter transition will come , and it'll be much of the same as it is now, except slower. My bait selection now is the same as it is the rest of the year.

I usually dedicate 98% of my time in our open water season is for bass with about 75%-25%split on LMB v. SMB, the other 2% is panfish.. When I am not bass fishing for some reason (bored with it , slow going, etc...) I just go "looking" for fish on the graph, and usually find plenty of willing panfish, mostly bluegills, rockbass, and perch, with the enough crappies mixed in to keep it a guessing game. I catch plenty of pike, I don't want to start looking for them on purpose. During our hard water season it's bluegills most of the time, with the occasional venture to deep water for perch.

I have tried quite a few. Ones that didn't make the cut: Rocket Craw.....never caught a thing on it Bottom Hopper.... decent but I like Zoom finesse/trick worms better Juice worm... decent but I like regular power worms better Beat shad............Garbage IMHO, these things are so frail, if you pull one out of the bag with a little too much vigor it ruins it. Smash tube......not a fan Ones I would use if I was out of my "regular" stuff Pit Boss....caught fish on it, it's decent, I just have more confidence in other stuff Craw Fatty....same deal as the pit boss Sick fish....pike love it........bass.........meh only caught a handful, I can't get over the obnoxious paint smell on them when you open the bag. Ones that are still in my rotation Grass Pig.....good quality, good action, let them sit in the sun on the dashboard of your truck and they soften up nice The Jerk.....denser than a fluke, so it stays down, and has the nice "shimmy" on the fall like a GYCB D-shad, or SK Caffine shad and is much more durable then both of those. Devil Spear....I like the smaller size better than the bigger, but it's a nice flipping bait that holds a big straight shank hook well, and they are a deadly as a jig trailer Slop Craw....This ugly hunk of do nothing plastic just gets bit.

I agree with you Raider. I have told my daughters the same thing. Don't be a bully, don't pick on any one, walk away if it's just words...........but if they lay a hand on you, strike back twice as hard, and it won't happen again.

I like to fish alone. For several reasons, #1 I am anti-social. #2 I have grown quite weary of showing people "too much", #3 I don't like to have to feel responsible for the other guy catching fish, which I almost always feel like, so my fishing suffers. And #4...........much like #1 I am just a general a-hole, who is not friendly, short tempered, and if the fishing is slow.........I get worse.

They weren't biting your cranks because they are not good baits..........those are all decent baits. It just wasn't a square bill kind of day. I can fish down the bank tossing a square bill into every bassy looking area on some days and haul water. Turn around and pitch a jig into those same spots and load the boat and some times vice versa. Time and place man. It's up to you to figure out what they want, when they want it. 6.somethng:1 is my preferred speed for shallow cranking. There's no such thing as too fast, when they want it you can't reel it fast enough. If they want it slower.........reel slower. Most square bills don't pull hard like deep cranks, many people use lower geared reels for power, not speed. Cranking a hard pulling bait all day with a high speed reel will wear you out.

I keep tungsten bullet sinkers in my box in these sizes: 1/8, 1/4, 3/8, 1/2, 3/4, and 1 oz. My most used size for texas rigging is 3/8's. I don't clutter up my selection process with a lot of "in-between" sizes like 3/16, 5/16, 5/8, 7/8 etc.... Drop shot sinkers I use 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2 oz. with 3/8's, again, being my most used size. Flipping jigs I go with 1/4, 3/8, 1/2, 3/4, and 1 oz. with 3/8's my most used size............see a pattern here? Finesse jigs, 1/16, 1/8 and 1/4, football jigs 3/8, 1/2, 3/4, and 1 oz. Swim jigs, 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2. Shakey heads I go with 1/8 and 1/4. And c-rigs I will run 1/2 oz in less than 10 FOW, 3/4 in more than 10 FOW. As far as the selection process for me: Wind, water clarity, water temp, time of the year, thickness and type of cover, and water depth all play a roll in this, and there are too many different situations or variables to explain why I do what I do, when I do it. What works for me, is just that....what works for me. Might not work for anyone else.

I have fished a lot of brands frogs..........all of them catch fish, user error is the #1 reason why people miss fish, or have poor hooking %. Of coarse there are always days where no matter what brand frog your using they will just slap or boil at it. Pick a frog you like and fish it.

Always have, always will crank with braid. 20lb Power pro for me. I fish a lot of grass, on some of the same water as wnybassman, and I have no trouble snapping cranks free from weeds with cranking rods. BUT I use a longer, and more powerful deep cranking rod than he does, and if they are too much for my smaller cranking rod that I use for traps/square bills, I put those style baits on my swim jig/spinnerbait rod , it has a limber tip, and plenty of back bone. The only time I use a leader is if the pike are on fire. Fluorocarbon holds up to teeth way better than straight braid.

I actually liked Abu's mag breaks better than their centrifugal for some things. Namely ......skipping... I could skip a hollow body frog half way across the lake with a Revo SX with the spool tension very loose, and the mag breaks almost set to max, with no backlash. With the Revo S's centrifugal breaks, without all 6 breaks on, and fairly tight spool tension, skipping was and adventure, but with all 6 pins on....distance was a problem. The currant shimano I am using is the same way. I have never liked Daiwa's breaks for anything. Now for flat out regular casting, I like centrifugal better. My next "frog" reel is going to be a dual break system.

Strike king and vmc have worked fine for me.

Berkley 7' MH Lightning rod shock bought at Wal-Mart for $40, with a used Citica 201D from the flea market here for $60. This is my frogging set up. I just can't see paying much for a frog rod when the $40 LR will do it as well as any $200 rod I have used for frogs. The D's may be heavy, but they are solid and strong, and cast as well as anything.

In clear water I rarely use a spinnerbait anymore, I have switched to swim jigs or soft swimbaits. BUT when I did use them in clear water, for shallow work, I liked a 3/8 oz white/chart with double #3 willow blades, gold on one side and 'dull" on the other......I usually used a black sharpie to dull the one side. Reel it fast and keep it high up against the surface so the chop "hides" it a little.

I fish the same places, although not as much as I would like to on Erie. My line choice is the same on the finger lakes as the big lake. For drop shotting it's 10lb braid with an 8lb fluorocarbon leader. For tubes it's the same. Even though both the finger lakes and Erie have zebra mussles, for some reason on the finger lakes I fish (Conesus, Honeyoe) things don't get chewed up as bad as they do on Erie. I have had a tube hit the bottom on Erie and been broke off instantly.....it's the nature of the beast. All the good Erie smallmouth fisherman I know use 8lb fluoro. that's why I use it.

I use Red Label, you can't beat it for the price. I have hauled 5 and 6lb fish out of heavy cover with zero issues. In fact, seriously, I break more rods than I do line.

I fish pretty much year round. From the time the lake thaws till if freezes in the boat. Then I walk on it. My only down time is the couple weeks waiting for safe ice, and a couple of weeks waiting for the last of the ice to melt. I have often contemplated spending the down time while I am waiting for the ice to form and/or melt by taking up salmon/steelhead fishing in the tribs. of the big lake...........but I think if I took up one more kind of fishing I would be divorced.