ww2farmer

Skipping docks, drop shotting in the "cone", jerkbaits.

I like to toss similar baits (Havoc Grass pig, Zoom swimming fluke) on an unweighted 4/0 gamakastsu super line, with an 1/8oz tungsten weight pegged to the nose. Comes through grass better and cleaner for me that way.

I use a 7' MH/F St Croix Avid. It's stout enough to haul 5lbers out of mats you could walk across, and it's lighter and tosses frogs better than any 7' H St. Croix has to offer even though St Croix calls them "Frog and Slop" rods.

Nothing you said could be further than the truth. I use braid almost exclusivly as well. YES even on my crankbait rods, and for just about all other trebel hooked lures as well. The key to keeping fish pegged on treble hooked lures is the rod, not the line. The guy likes spider wire..........so what? It's a decent line..........the best , no, but decent, and if he likes it and is comfotable with it, then let it be.

I topped my old PB of 6lbs 2oz with a 6-10 just this fall. We were rained out at work by noon, so I hit the lake after lunch, I started off deep, smallmouth fishing, but after 2 hours with out a bite I bailed on that, water temp was 50-51 so I went shallow looking for LM, just hitting different depths till I found some. I ended up with what would have been a 20+ lb mixed green and brown fish sack that day with that big fish.

I am a big St Croix fan, and was excited to see these rods in person for the first time the other day. I really liked the way they looked, but once I got one in my hand, they seemed like nothing I needed to run out and buy.

I probably have 200+ SK cranks, not too many have been duds, but if/when they are no big deal, they are cheap, buy some more.

Trade material. I like St Croix rods, but there MH spinning rods are broomsticks, I don't fish with "big" spinning tackle.

Straight tail worms have always worked very well for me, so I have not bothered with anything else. If it ain't broke why fix it ? Hard to beat a 4"-5" worm when the bite is tough, any brand, any color, they all work.

For flipping and pitching jigs,30lb or 50lb braid, tied direct. No need for fluoro leaders there. Jigs go into dark nasty places where line visability is the least of your problems. Now if were talking clear water, finesse jigs, dragging football jigs, sparce cover and/or smallmouth fishing etc......., then I use a fluoro leader, 8,12,or 17 lb test, on 10,20,or 30 lb braid.

I have the Lowrance X67c....I use it for ice fishing, as well as putting it on my boat. Super easy to use. It's not cutting edge tech. wise, but it's a very good 2d, non-hd, color unit. I mounted mine on the console where the smallish 3.5 screen is closer to my eyes and have no trouble seeing things.

I tend to weigh every fish I catch that looks like it's 3+ lbs, so at the end of a day of catching decent fish I always seem to refer to what my "best five" were.

All I use are St Croix's, to me, Avids are the most overpowered rods compaired to there rating that is in there line up. I have 2 7' MH/Fast rods right now, a Leg. Tour. and an Avid, the LT is slightly more powerfull than most other brands MH's, but to me, still falls in a MH range. The Avid on the other hand, is way more powerfull than the LT, I use it as a frog/jig rod. A H power Avid is going to be a broom stick, you might want to just go with the MH, or find a used LT H "frog & slop" if your set on a H powered rod. I like Mojo's just fine too, but the 7' H Mojo is also a broom stick. I have never liked any of St Croix's 7' H powered rods except the Leg. Tournament.

Nice....My dad works at Crossman, and is always brining home neat stuff he gets cheap with his discount. I have yet to see that rifle yet, I'll have to ask him why!!!??? LOL.

It's been on my mind all day. Sadly, many of the survivours who were there 70 years ago,are no longer with us, almost all the WW2 vets I knew are gone. I hold the people of that generation in high esteem. We are what and who we are today, because of them.

Power Pro............is it the best/most advanced braid?? No, but it's inexpensive, does the job, and available just about every where I go. It's also never cost me a fish, or caused me any problem. So why fix what ain't broke?

I have always liked the Daiwa Excelers in that price range, which btw, is about as much as I will spend on a spinning reel. While I have never been a fan of Daiwa casting reels, I do like there spinning reels. I plan on adding one of the new Arids this winter.

Some of it depends on the type of cranking your doing. For example, ripping lipless cranks out of grass IMHO is best done with a fast action rod, so you can get a good clean snap out of the weeds with out to much of your energy being wasted by loading the rod up.

I currently have 3 Legend Tournaments, 2 Avids, and 2 Mojo's. I love them all. I have also in the past had Premiers, and Triumphs,no complaints with them either. Those 7 rods are all I have right now, and going forward, any I add will only be St Croix's.

I was deep cranking one day when the rod loaded up and pulled back. Fish on! Put up a modest fight all the way back to the boat, I had the net handy when I finally got a look at the critter. A very large size 12 flip flop hooked on the toe thong.

Often it depends on the body of water. In my lake they are in the same place they are all year round..............in the weeds, or holding on hard cover outside the weeds, docks are gone, and the lake is drawn down in late fall/winter or else they they would be on them untill the ice forces them out. I see alot of bass through my hole in the ice in shallow water. It all has to do with the food. Bluegills make up the majority of the forage base on this lake, mixed in with some yellow perch and craws, and since the main basin of the lake is rather featureless and soft bottomed, they tend to hold in the same places reguardless of the season. I change my presentations based on the season, not locations. Even during the spwan, they only move a couple hundred feet towards the bank.

Agree......never SM fished on Ontario, but I have been on Erie enough to know that your right, not many bluegills out there, in fact IDK if the would even be around too many when they spawn there either.

Oh boy............you might want to back off that stance. On my lake they most certainly do, and they sure as heck do on "C" and "H" lakes as well. Seen them, as you say, "coexisting" many many times out side the spawn for it to be a fluke. And I assure you that they eat them. I agree they might not be the perfered choice in food, as they tend to chase alwives on one lake, perch/crawdads on the others, but SM are incredibly agressive, some times to the point of stupidity. If there are bluegills in a lake with SM, SM have eaten bluegills (along with any thing else that swims in the lake).........period. I don't advocate as using them as live bait either. Just an intersting note........I have cleaned a fair number of perch that I have caught through the ice out of my home lake, not giant perch but small "keepers", usually 8-10 inches long. When I catch them out of deep water (30') the stomach contents are usually blood worms. When I catch them out of shallower water (4 to 12 fow) the majority of them are filled with...................small bluegills and crappies. How many people would say bluegills and crappies are a main forage of yellow perch?

I own an aluminum and have fished out of a few glass boats. This is how I see it: Aluminum plus's: Lightweight can be towed with a small SUV, truck, or minivan, they can be powerd with smaller outboards that use less gas, aluminum will take more abuse, and over abused, is easier to repair if you punch a hole in it. Almost any good local welding shop will have the ability to weld aluminum, and it'll cost less than $100 probably. Maint. on alum. is less intensive than a glass boat, wash it off at the car wash at the end of the season...........done. No waxing, no gel coat to worry about. A 70lb 24v TM can pull (mine at least) like there is nothing behind it. I barely use any battery even in a 8+ hour day of fishing in the wind. Set's higher out of the water so you might be able to access some spots that glass boats can not. Aluminum minus's: Lightweight, sets higher out of the water, you get blown around by the wind more. Generally not as stable as a glass boat. Rough ride in rough water. Not as much storage. Smaller out board = slower boat. In my boat everyting is a tight fit, tm batterys, cranking batterys, gas tank, bilge and live well pumps are all squeezed into a small spot, making repairs/maint on stuff challenging. Pretty much reverse every thing I said for glass +/-'s

I don't change my jig trailers up too much. I have always had good results with boaring old Zoom super chunks, and super chunk jr's when flipping, pitching, or dragging jigs. This year I used alot of the SK KVD chunks, they worked pretty good too. Both of them "flutter" on the way down, not wildly flap like a rage or paca craw, I have always caught fish on "subtle" trailers, so I see no need to change to an agressive one. About the only time I use an agressive trailer is on a swim jig, usually a big single tail grub, or a paca craw.