ww2farmer

You don't have to explain it to me, I have read, USED, and understand St croix's warranty............you do not. Arrogant?? That's actually a compliment compaired to what most people call me. Twice now you have had the oppertunity to explain what you meant by saying "St croix has no warranty" and twice now you dance around it. I know BS when I see it, and man............your full of it on that one. If calling you out is arrogant, so be it.

I was not impressed with the DSI on the Lowrance Elite 5 DSI, so when I upgraded I went with the traditional color 2d sonar/gps combo Elite4. I also didn't like the fact that the Lowrance DSI units are JUST DSI, no option for regular 2d sonar. IMHO unless your going to really spend some money and get a unit that can do down, side and sonar, 2d is still the way to go for, from what I saw of the DSI it's good for giving you a better picture of what it is your sitting on top of. But putting around looking for stuff like bait, schools of fish,bottom comp. changes, etc....it left a lot to be desired. And I deffinatly could not get used to fishing in the "cone" with it. Could be both the guys I know with it don't have it set up right, but still it's 0 for 2 in my book. Actually 0-3, I also know a guy with a Humminbird unit who is not all that impressed with it's down imaging as well, and still uses his bow graph on 2d most of the time, but he idles around looking for stuff on side imaging with his console graph.

I could do it with 3.........now there are a few guys on here whom I have been the non-boater with, and they will be laughing and saying "yeah right, then why do you bring 10?" LOL............because you let me that's why...........but I could do it with three. 7' MH/fast casting with 30lb braid for jigs/worms, frogs, spinnerbaits 7' M/fast casting with 20lb braid for topwater,shallow cranks, weightless plastics........and it's not ideal, but in a pinch would deep crank. 6'8" M/XF spinning with 10lb braid for shaky heads, dropshot, small stuff. Plus one tackle bag with a 3700 size box of terminal tackle, a 3700 size box of my "go to" hard baits, and a handfull of bags of soft plastics that I have 100% confidence in , and a couple spools of fluoro for changing leader sizes when needed.

I do like the Paca's in grass, just not for punching a mat thick enough you could walk across.

I have had good results with plain old do nothing craws like the slop craw too, much more than any craws with flapping pinchers like the paca's and rage stuff. They have there time/place, but for me, it's not punching grass. Personaly, right now, I like the GYCB fat baby craw, but I see no reason why those slop craws wouldn't work just fine, maybe even better. I use to have good results with the old Zoom grass craw, but I ran out and Zoom don't make them any more, at least according to there web site.

For flipping and punching I use a St Croix Mojo 7'11" H/Mod fast rod they lable as there "Flipping" rod in that line. It's paired with a Shimano Cruxis 201 reel, spooled with 50lb power pro braid. If the water is super clear, or the cover is really abrasive I will use a couple feet of 20lb Seaguar Red label fluoro for a leader. I pitch plastics and jigs with just about every one of my better casting set ups. St Croix Avid 7' MH/F with a Shimano Citica 201D, 30lb Power pro, and 15,17,or 20 lb fluoro leader, depending on cover,water clarity, etc... St Croix Legend Tournament Bass 7' MH/F with a Curado 51E, with the same line combos as the Avid/Citica St Croix Legend Tournament Bass 7' M/F, also with a Curado 51E, with 20lb Power Pro, and 12 or 15 lb fluoro leaders. I'll use this with a lot of smaller baits, and around light cover.

Years of trial and error have led me to only needing and using two colors on flipping and football jigs. Black/blue, and green/brown. For swimming jigs I use chart. sexy shad, and bluegill.

The zoom magnum finesse worm, and a senko with a straight shank hook with a tungsten weight pegged to it have caught me many many fish flipping docks, and milfoil. In fact they are one of the most effective baits l use for punching mats, glides right through with no flapping appendages to get caught up. When the bite is tuff and everyone else is using jigs and creature baits thats when I will go with the worm or senko. I like the magnum finesse worm a little better for the really heavy stuff, it will hold itself on the hook better and won't get torn up by just pulling it in and out of the cover like senkos some times do.

Kind of mandatory up here. This is what I do: Fuel system: I run treated/stabilized fuel all year long now due to the ethenol. I use the Star-tron, and add seafoam about every third tank. After the last trip I drain the float bowl on the carb,and make sure the gas tank is full, that's it. Lower unit: Drain and fill with new oil after the last trip Motor: I fog it on my last trip. I have a 4-stroke, so I also change the motor oil after the last trip out. I change my spark plugs in the spring after I have it running for a while to make sure the fogging oil is burned off so I don't foul the new plugs. Grease any pivot points that have zerks. And I also keep my motor trimmed all the way down so any water in will drain out. Boat: Wash the boat.Pull all plugs to drain the bilge and livewells, dump some RV anti-freeze in the live well plumbing. Then I jack the front of the trailer up so any water trapped in the bilge will run to the back , and out the drain. Vac the carpet, put moth balls in any closed comaprtments, unplugg the trolling motor. I take the graphs off and put them in the house. And I take both trolling motor batts. out, and the cranking battery out and but them on a rack we have in the farm shop, with an automatic trickle/maintainence charger on them. Mineis in a garage, but I put the cover on it just to keep it from getting all dusty. The one year I kept it outside I put tarps over the cover as well. Trailer: Wash it, grease the wheel bearings. I can be ready to go in short order in spring, uncover, put everything back in/on it, start the motor with a garden hose connected to the muffs on the water intake,check the air in the trailer tires and I am off to the lake.

And if that's not working for you, just make a ton of posts on the internet.............boom...........instant expert.

I hate tools................tools = work. Work = less time fishing. Tools bad.

Welcome to the world of the wannabe bass pros LOL. Where it's perfectly acceptable for guys to spend $50k on fancy boats so they can pretend to be KVD for a weekend while there kids go to school in thrift store clothes. People are just following the lead our wonderfull people in power have set, spend till your broke, then spend some more.............But hey you can't be the coolest dude on the lake if you catch your fish with anything less than a $600 rod/reel combo and $30 lures, worry about paying the electric bill later when all the cash and accolades start to roll in from your internet expertise on all things bass fishing.

Show me where I am wrong..............untill then your full of crap stating that St Croix has "no warranty".

. Well...........the crap started to get a little deep on that one. They do have a rod warranty, and IMHO the best in the business. 5 years on there imported rods, and Premiers, lifetime on the Avids and up. If the rod breaks because of faulty craftsmanship, they replace it, all you pay is the shipping to and from the factory. If the rod breaks because ............oh I don't know...........some one slams it in a car door, or in your case gets it hung on a tree limb, you pay the shipping to and from, and $50 for a new rod. But the rod has to be IN WARRANTY, which is less than 5 years old on an import/premier, and like I said the Avid and up is lifetime. I have used both services before and they are about as hassle free as it gets. But...........I can read and understand the written english language, something, which by your ignorant post, tells me you struggle with.

. Around here you either learn to skip like that or your just donating money. Time on the water and practice. Those guys are good, but I know a lot of local sticks around here that can do it as good if not better and make it look like they were born with that skill. In the first 15 mins of the show, when they showed Gary Klein just randomly casting to open spaces between docks with a squarebill and moving at a pretty good clip, even though he caught a few, I turned to my wife and said, " if he don't start putting that thing were he's afraid he won't get it back, or start picking those docks apart, he's done"...........LOL look who finished last.

I enjoyed it, but man it really bummed me out seeing them fish my kind of water while I wait for the lake to freeze. They were fishing almost exaclty the same way I would fish in the late summer in that nasty green water, but my lake, about and hour or so to the east has a lot more grass.

Lure retriever will do me no good, unless I can some how throw it in the water and knock the toothy bass turds in the head with it. 90% of the snags I get can be freed up by doing the bow and arrow thing with my line, or moving the boat around the back side and puling it out. I don't lose too much sleep over losing $6 Strike kings.

The KVD's are on my short list of new baits to buy this year.

I have one of the $100 signature series casting rods. A 7' medium power, fast action. It's light, in fact lighter than my 7' M/F St croix LTB. I only fished with it a handfull of times last fall, but comapaired to what I normally use (St Croix Mojo's, Avids, and LTB) it was about on par with the Mojo as far as feel, which is about what I expected seeing as they ae both $100 rods. Seems, well built, and well balanced. Overall it's a pretty nice $100 rod. I do plan on selling it tho, for no other reason that it's the oddball in my "collection" I have a dozen St Croix's and then this TFO rod (and some others), and I plan on getting rid of all the non St Croix's, for no real reason other than space in the boat, and keeping everything one brand.

What kind of cranking will you be doing?

Thats my philosophy too, with plastics you can't go wrong anytime, anywhere there are bass swimming in the water with a shade of green(watermelon, greenpumpkin, etc...) and a dark color like black/blue, black/red, or junebug. For cranks, all you really need is bluegill/sunfish looking bait, a shad imitation, and a craw type color.

I had good results last year with the Luck E Strike Rick Clunn STX baits. Resonabley priced, and produced way better for me than any Rapala product. Every one I have suspended right out of the box with no additional weighting in 45 degree water and they cast like a bullet with the weight transfer system in them. The hooks are so so, they are good for a while, but will need to be changed after a few big fish. I have yet to find a hook to replace the stock ones that I like. Mustad elite regular wire hooks were too light and caused the bait to rise on me, and the Mustad KVD 1x strong hooks were too heavy and caused it to sink. I ended using the light wire hooks and added a suspend dot or two to balance it back out.

Go drill a hole in the ice on the local pond and practice pitching into that............it won't look silly at all.............at least untill someone see's you.

Another vote for the St Croix Avid, those are the only rods I have in that price range at the moment. I have a new St Croix Rage on the way , but it will be a while before I get to use it. Other rods I have owned in that price range were Kistler Magnisums TS's, and Argons. The Mags were decent, I didn't care for the Argon, but they don't even make them anymore so that's probably a moot point. My Mags were the non micro guide versions, but I got rid of them and kept the Avids if that tells you anything. Other rods I have fished, but never owned in that range were some freinds Shimano Cumara's, and Carrot Stix Gold's. But I don't have enough time with either of them to give a well informed opinion.

Google the alberto knot, it's what I use. The only time this knot has ever failed me is when I did a poor job tying it. With this knot you wrap the braid around the fluoro. I don't often tie 20lb braid to 8lb fluoro, but I have, and it's been fine just make sure you have the drag set properly, and don't use it on a stiff powerfull rod. A rod with a little give in the tip will protect the knot and leader from any shock on the hook set, as will the reels drag when set right.