ww2farmer

I have caught them with every rod in my boat. The majority though, on spinning gear. Truth be told, if I could dictate to them how I want to catch them, it would be flipping heavy grass, with the big sticks. Even though it's primarily a largemouth tech. on the lakes I fish, I catch a good number of smallies doing it, and they are usually good ones. It's way different than the LM in grass bite, they thump the bait so hard it just about rips the rod out of your hand, and on a short line...............it's like grabbing a cat by the tail. They don't head shake and try to bury themselves in the cover like largemouth, they don't make a drag stripping run to deep water like pike, they come straight up out of that grass...........TICKED!!! And they want you to know it. That's how I want to catch them...........but most of the time it's with spinning gear, light line, in deeper, lighter cover water. I'll take that too.

I came around a point a couple summers ago and found two very attractive young gals sunbathing nude on a floating swimming platform. They were not the least bit shy either, one of them even sat up an waved as I floated by...............I had to put the boat on the trailer after that, I was done for the day.

What he said. I like MH power, fast action personally. I like a little shorter rod, like a 6'8" ish or so for close in target work, a little longer like a 7'3" for pitching to holes in grass in clear water where I want to make long pitches and not be on top of them, and 7' for all around use. I can, and do use the 7' for everything, but I like to accumulate rods, so I made up specific uses for them LOL.

St Croix M/Fast casting rod.............pick your price range. Triumph = $80, Mojo =$100, Premier = $120, Rage = $150, Avid = $190, Legend Tournament = $250, Legend Elite = $350, and Legend Extreme = $390. I do everything you want to do, and more with my 7' M Legend Tournament/Curado 51E combo. I almost foolishly sold it, but I have yet to find a rod that can replace it's versatility.

I fish Silver roughly 150 times a season, for the last 8-10 years. Your not going to find any decent....IMHO.... shore access. There is access at the state park on the south end, you can run a frog over the massive mats down there , if you can reach them, or cast a weightless soft plastic to the edges. It's a massive 2-4 foot deep flat down there, good fish come out of those mats, BUT, not from where you can easily reach them from shore. I always catch a few every summer from the bank down there while waiting around for people I am taking out to show up, but not enough in either size, or numbers to get excited about it. The only other place I can think of is the docks, and bank at the Country Club on the west side. It's the only place your going to have shore access to deeper water. You can catch the whole range of fish the lake has to offer off that point/docks. If you just want your line tugged, drop shot the boat slips/point with a 3"-4" plastic of your choice, If you can't catch a fish there....doing that...your not going to catch one anywhere on that lake. I see people fishing off those docks often, but I have no idea if they have to ask first, so it's best to check for yourself. I have made this offer to any BR member (unless you plan on fishing against me in a tournament there LOL) before and it still stands..... just contact me, and set up a day/time that works for both, and I would be happy to give you a tour of the place via my boat, and we'll stumble onto something.

Silver Lake you say???? Never been there LMAO.

Just out of curiosity ...............were you in a spot where you could use the TM to "get behind" crank and pull it out from the opposite way it got snagged? If I am deep cranking, I find this to be effective most of the time, just let line out and go around wide so you don't run right over the spot.

MH in a St Croix too. Their H power rods, like Abu's, are broom sticks.

I took my youngest daughter out just this afternoon on the boat for some UL action. Of coarse we got into the bluegills, perch, rockbass, and crappies good, but we tangled with plenty of bass today too. A pair of 3lb LM, a half dozen small keeper LM, and two limits worth of smallies ranging from small keeper size to 3 lbs, not to mention a mid 20" range pike. They were biting that well enough I never picked up a "bass rod" today. My rod and reel combo (even with a 4 year old reeling them in) handled the bigger fish like a champ and it was a blast. I have a Shimano Convergence 6' UL/Mod. fast rod, with a Sedona 1000, spooled up with 5lb Power Pro, and 4lb Seaguar Red Label fluoro leaders. The fish all were caught out of 20+ feet of water, drop-shotting 2" GYCB Yamaminnows on a #8 VMC spinshot and 3/8's oz. DS sinker. We just dropped to marks we saw on the graph. If there is a more fun, productive, and hassle free way to fish with kids I don't know it, plus............I like it too. The rod/reel combo didn't set me back much more than $100, and the Shimano rod has a life-time, over the counter warranty. Pretty tough to beat that IMHO.

Nice work.

I am sick of gas grills. Any one have a Big Green Egg? Likes? Dis-likes? Or can you recommend something else?

I got the 7'1 MH/F when they ran the promotion last winter. It took some getting used to, but I like it. I took it out of the rotation for a while when the cottonwood "fuzz" was blowing around up here. Cottonwood and micro guides do not get along, it's also a rod I run straight braid on, the fluoro to braid leader knot drove me nuts with those guides. I don't find the reel seat/grip to be as comfortable as the Fuji ECS seats, but I like it a whole lot better than the Fuji SK2 seats. I have not found St Croixs claim of the handle getting "tacky" when wet to be true, It seemed to be no different than cork. Maybe just a freak thing, as it's never happened to me before, since, or with any other rod I have ever owned, but one day in the rain a fish jerked the rod right out of my hands on a hookset. I got it back, because I was only in 3 feet of water, but it made me question the whole "tacky when wet" thing.

It's a Crapala...........toss it in the garbage and go buy a SK, Norman, Storm, Bandit, or any other lure that costs less and works better.

Culprit 6" red shad...............back in the mid 80's. I don't think it was much more than a 12-14" fish but to a 12 year old it was huge.

You cab get rods in two days for $5 BUT it's $5 for EACH rod, at least that's how it was on my last order. I had to pay $5 for the box of tackle AND $5 for the rod as it shipped in a separate tube. IDK if they put more than one rod in a tube, as I have only ordered one at a time.

You and me both, which is why I am having my rods built custom from now on. The St Croix blanks are great, but I sure do miss the simple, reliable, comfortable, old school Fuji ECS casting reel seats. The SK2 seats on the new legend tournaments are a deal breaker for me, I do not like those seats at all.

Your reading comprehension skills need work..................I don't disagree with your point that thieves target the driving billboards that advertise all the crap they own.

I have tried to like other brands of rods and reels, but I keep coming back to St Croix for rods and Shimano's for reels. I was on a little Abu Garcia Kick for the last few months, but I got that out of my system. Thank god I came to my senses and didn't sell the Croixs I was thinking about, they are back in the boat and life is good LOL. I am now in the process of having a custom made St Croix SCIV 7'11" Flipping stick made by the local rod building wiz kid, and will dump the Abu stuff and get more St Croixs and Shimano's. I also tried some Shimano rods this year too..............,meh.....they will get replaced with St Croixs at my earliest convenience.

One at a time. But I carry these in the boat: Spinning UL.....for panfishing Drop shot Flick shake Dock skipping Shaky head/tube Casting: Frog/Swimjig/spinnerbait Senko/soft jerkbait Dropshot Flipping/Punching Jerkbait/Topwater 2 Jig/T-rig pitching rods Deep cranking Shallow/mid/lipless cranking Light cover jig/t-rig Some do double duty, I 'll use one of my jig/t-rig rods for things like spinner baits, or C-rigging, and I 'll switch to faster action rods when I want to rip cranks out of grass.

I lit my tracker warranty on fire, and glad I did. Welding aluminum is not brain surgery, and most area's have a skilled and reputable shop around that can handle it. I had a crack develop on the underside of my hull 3-4 years ago............I don't know what caused it...Stress?? Hitting something?? Etc IDK??? I am betting I hit something as the aluminum looked "creased" along the crack....I called Tracker, they told me strip everything off it, drive it the 100 miles to the dealer, drop it off, wait for 6-8 + weeks while they sent it back to the factory for repair, and they would call me when it was ready. I said "you do know it's fishing season right? Will I have a boat to use in this time??" . They said NO. I said to hell with your warranty, I took it to a local repair shop 10 miles away. They did the job while I waited, dropped it in the water on the way home, and it's been fine ever since. If it ever cracks again, I will take it to the local shop again, they told me there is nothing they couldn't fix on the boat, I might have to pull a floor up or something on my end to make it easier for them to get to, but still, I can get that done a heck of a lot quicker, and be back on the water ASAP by going with the locals, as they do a great job, and only charge $70, than by using Trackers worthless warranty.

Really ?!?!?! I personally think that makes you just as much a low life as the thieves.

Seemingly every day is different. Some days they want it deadsticked, some times they hit it on the fall, or after it hits the bottom, or they grab it as your reeling in for another pitch. Mix it up till you get a bite, then do what you were doing when you got bit for a while to see if that's what they want. Big fish in mifoil turn on and off at the flip of a switch. It would make you sick if you ever knew how many big ones your bait was in front of that didn't bite it. I'll switch presentations to see what they want, there is more than one way to fish grass than with jigs and t-rigged plastics.

I have no problem keeping them on with pegged weights. And I fish the same kind of water as J.Francho. Do what you want, but the pegged weight is not why they are coming unbuttoned on you. If your fishing docks right........you want to put that bait in tight spots, and that often requires skipping. I know I can not effectively skip a weighted bait on casting gear if the sinker is not pegged to the nose, and I get hung up on posts/cables/cross members far far less with a pegged weight, and the bigger the sinker used, the more problems I encounter when not pegging. I prefer to fish docks with casting gear, so for me...........pegging is a must. Each fish is an adventure around docks, you have to know how to play them out of harms way. Letting it rip with the big sticks is often BAD NEWS. I have guided many a big fish out from under a jet ski hoist, through a pontoon boat, and around some posts by "leading" them away from trouble, maybe even more often than by setting the hook hard and trying to rip them right out of there.

If your willing to drive 45 mins, I can put you on fish. Somedays they are not as big as I want them to be, but we'll catch.

Either your lakes suck, or the guys fishing them do. My "home" lake of about 800 acres see's that much pressure, and it still takes 18-20 lbs to win, and 15-18 to cash in a 5 fish tournament. In the three fish evening tournaments it takes 11-13 lbs to win, and 9-11 to cash, and more time than not you need at least a mid 5 for lunker. The next lake over is twice the size, and see's twice the pressure, yet you need 20+ to win or even cash almost every time, and a 6+ for lunker.