ww2farmer

I only have one rod dedicated to crankbaits, my 7'10" H power, moderate action, St Croix Legend Tournament "Magnum Cranker", paired with a Shimano Curado 201DPV. I use that just for deep diving cranks I use (5xd, 6xd, Little John DD). I will use shallow, medium, and lipless cranks, on just about every other rod I have. In fact I prefer faster action rods for some of that stuff.

Never had an issue with Lightning rods. I used to fish them exclusivly up till about 2005. Between then and now, I have yet to find any better bang for the buck, and many rods that cost as much as $100 more have not been as good. I use a couple of the Shock series of Lightning Rods for reactions baits, and find them perfectly acceptable, in fact I would rather fish frogs, swimjigs, spinnerbaits, and big square bills on my 7' MH LR Shock, than any of the St Croix Legend Tournament's I own, rediculous as that sounds, it's true.

I use 20 on a few casting rods, but that is as low as I will go, tried 10 once, never again.

I like the swim jig in clear water, thicker grass, and/or colder water. 3/8 oz is pretty much my do all size, I can fish it in a foot of water, or 20 feet of water. I will go heavier or lighter if 3/8's for some reason is just not doing what I want that day. I keep the trailers simple, a Rage tail grub most of the time, and will occasional use a Paca Craw, or a paddle tail, like a GYCB swiming senko. Spinnerbaits get the nod in darker water, and at certain times of the year, like late pre spawn or in the fall, just before the water temps make the first big drop. Not a couple degrees, but like those times when it drops 10 degrees or more in 2-3 days. Any time toothy fish are biting hot and heavy along with the bass, a spinner bait is preferable, for the simple reason they get bit off less. Truth be told though, I prefer a squarebilled crank to the both of them, but sometimes the fish don't.

The 9th, 12th, and 16th are the only days I can not fish.

Looks alot like the kind of water I like. Nice. Keep the videos coming.

Both, sometimes they want it one way OR the other, sometimes it dosen't matter, and sometimes they don't want it at all.

Welcome...........where in NY?

If any one is catching fish on it in the tournaments I fish they are not talking about it. My various partners and I have not been using it, and we have had a win, three 2nd's, a 3rd, a 4th, a 6th, and one stinker,just doing what we usually do. I suspect the other guys are doing the same things they usually do too, I know most of them claim to not have even used it all. I have caught way more fish on single hard bodied or single soft swimbaits. Personaly I have caught one 4lb smallie on it back in may, and that was it...it wore me out throwing it for more than a few hours too,more so than a full day of deep cranking or walking frogs, but at least at the end of a long day of doing those things I usually have a good sack of fish to show for it. I will continue to play with it here and there, but as of now it's a non producer for me.

Glad your home and with your boys, even if it's just for a short stay, I am off (I think) tomorrow, and work is slower for the next couple weeks too, you could come down here and fish with me any time, just give 12 hours notice and I can make it happen...........bring that anti social ***** JFrancho too , we could have a little WNY Bass Resource fish off..........loser buys lunch (your lunch is on me reguardless). I'll even let it be 2 against one since I am a ringer here, but if I get Noel to come over you'll have to spot us 5lbs, he has been off lately LOL.

I have the elite 4 2d sonar/gps unit. Love it so far, zero issues. I went with the traditional 2D sonar after seeing my buddys Elite 5 DSI unit in action, was not sure about it, but I don't know if he had it set up right, but still, it didn't impress me. I run a small color Lowrance X-67 on the bow and the Elite 4 on the console.

If it's too heavy for cranking, you will curse life when trying to frog all day with it. Walking a frog all day and heavy rods don't mix. For the same price the Berkley Lightning rod shock is alot ligher and better.

For punching mats I START with a 1 oz. pegged tungsten sinker with a straight shank flipping hook and a plastic bait that slips in and out easy without any flappy appendages. Beavers, tubes, senkos, etc.... yes..........a senko with a pegged 1 oz. weight..........try it.

Well your really missing out then. I guess someone forgot to tell the multiple 5 and 6+ lb fish I have caught around here on some form of a weighted senko that it is not suposed to be effective. I fish them weightless plenty too, there is no wrong way to fish one.

Same colors I use the rest of the year. Watermelon /red flake, green pumpkin, junebug, and black/blue flake. Choice for the day depends on water clarity and/or light penetration.

1" Gulp minnow..........any color.......... nose hooked on a #8 VMC spinshot hook, 1/4 oz dropshot weight. Drop to any mark on your graph in 10+ fow..........reel up fish and repeat........ALL DAY LONG. Perch, bluegills, rockbass, crappies, and even some decent size LM/SM bass. If where your fishing has fish, you will catch them on that.

That 7'11" H/mod fast is a flipping stick, not a deep cranking rod. But as such it shoulr be a good rig rid.

Northstar flip and swim jig, pumpkinseed color, with a green pumpkin rage grub trailer.

Got my best one of the season so far the other night. 6-3.

Another way to drag is to do the Erie drag, as taught to me by a "Good" smallmouth fisherman. Cast your tube out with enough weight to keep it on the bottom and just let the wind drift the boat while you drag the tube .

Same here.

Your reel choice is fine, but IMHO skip the Ugly Stick, for around the same price (maybe a few bucks more) you can get a Berkley Lightning Rod shock. Those are pretty good entry level rods........heck I got a boat full of St Croix's and I use them. A 6'6" M would be fine, I would also put 20lb braid on it. Braid has just about zero managment issue on spinning gear, and it lasts forever. If your worried about line visability a 2' leader of 10lb mono, copoly, or fluoro, is the way to go.Google the "alberto knot" for attaching the braid to leader........it's stupid easy to tie, and I have never had it fail

Dropshot, wacky, and shakey head. If I am throwing a worm (allthough a t-rigged creature bait is a go-to tech. for me) on a traditional t-rig, or a c-rig, it's because just about everything else I do is not working.

Plano 3700 divided into 4 horizontal rows. Top row is Black and blue flipping jigs, half of them are SK Hack attacks (1/2, 3/4, and 1 oz), the other half are SK bitsy flips (1/4, 3/8 and 1/2), , middle row is green pumpkin flipping jigs in the same styles/ sizes, middle row is half SK tour grade green pumpkin football head jigs in 1/2 and 1 oz, the other half of that row is SK finesse green pumpkin tour grade football jigs in 1/4 and 3/8's oz. And the bottom row is half SK tour grade 1/4 and 3/8 oz black and blue swim jigs, and the other half is the same jig in the same sizes but in bluegill color. Thats all I need for jigs.

As a non-owner/user of Veritas rods I like them alot, and also the Skeet Reese Rods, and Carrot Stix, because when I see a ton of D.B.'s with there hats on backwards, talking like wannabe pros, and a bunch of these rods on there boat decks at a tournament, the chances of me cashing a check are high.