ww2farmer

Congrats!!! Give mom and baby my best.

I don't think there is a wrong way to fish a fluke. I mainly fish them weightless on a gamakatsu 3/0 EWG, but have also fished them on a c-rig, t-rig, shakey head, as a jig trailer, mojo rig, even whacky rigged...........caught fish every way I tried it. Great baits.

I don't mean to hi-jack this thread, but Matt what kind of feedback are you getting from guys in the northeast on your baits. I am seriously thinking about your perch, largemouth bass, bluegill, and pumpkinseed. I have tried and found the storm ones to be total junk, but I am worried that with the "toothies" we have here a $10+ dollar soft plastic swimbait might not last long.

I have also seen a few..............not many but a few..............stubborn fish I guess, that when a severe cold blast rolls in when they are on the beds stay on the beds. Most of the other fish, just as senko77 says will move slightly deeper, or pull way way back up into cover near there beds. Lsat spring here I we had a warm spell in late april that lasted for a 8-10 days, lots of bass started bedding, then the temps for most of may dropped like a rock, but still some of those April bedding fish stayed on the beds for a few days even after the temp dropped. It was late May before the rest of the bass moved back up, and even well into june on other parts of the lake.

I don't live in an area abundant with monster bass, but we have good numbers of 5+lbers which is condsiderd to be the start of "getting big" around here. In 2006 my biggest fish were caught on: 3" Mister Twister grub slow rolled over weeds in 3 FOW, water temp 48, 7.1 lbs 6" Zoom trick worm, bubble gum, twitched next to lay down, 4 FOW, temp 65, 6.2 lbs 6" Watermelon Red Flake Yum dinger, let fall in weedy pocket, 6 FOW, temp 76, 6 lbs even 5/16 oz green pumpkin Booyah jig w/2.5" green pumpkin yum craw bug trailer, pitched under dock, 4 fow, water temp 78, 5.5 lbs 4.5" Watermelon forked tail yum dinger, pitched under dock , 13 FOW, temp74, 5.1 lbs Bobbys Perfect frog, bullfrog color, worked over top of submegred milfoil, 3 FOW, temp 81, 5.1 lbs as well.

Never had a problem with using 10 and 20lb on spinning gear, quite a few of my spinning combos have spare spools of braid ready to go. I change from mono to braid when ever I "think" , or conditions dictate I should do so. I like the braid around heavy weeds, and in stained water. I like the mono (acctually copoly.) in clear open water. Funny thing is I have found my self using braid less and less on my spinning gear, and picking up a casting rig when I need braid. Really for no good reason, as the spinning gear handled it just fine.

My favorite is Bass Pro Shops, but it's 2 hours awau so I don't get to it but a 1/2 dozen times a year. That should change soon though as they are building a new one in Buffalo, which will be only about a 45 min drive for me. I also live closer (about 40 mins.) to a Gander Mtn. and Dicks. I like both of those store alot too. Very few.........and now that I think of it NO local mom and pop tackle shops left around here, except for the poorly run, horribly stocked shops on the local lakes. About all they have are 30 year old Rapala's collecting dust cause they want $15 a pop for them and live bait.

Rat-L-Traps have been good to me, the don't cost a fortune, even after changing out the hooks, so I stick with them. I have a few Rattlin Raps, but rarely use them......don't know why? Probably just have more confidence in the traps.

I second the vote for Trilene XL, 12-14lb should be a good match for that combo. If this is your first time with a baitcaster I would advise against spoolong it up with expensive braid or flurocarbon, you might just get one of those backlashes where you need to start cutting................better to learn with mono.

Don't be so quick too turn your nose up at the Procaster, I have been using one for 3 years now, zero problems. Good reel for the $$. I am talking about the 100HL (black reel). I am however gradually moving towards higher end stuff. For my next reel purchase I am going to crack the $100 barrier.....LOL a big milestone for me. But I have 8 spinning reels, and 10 Casting reels now, I just have to wait for something to break/wear out , I don't "need" any more.

I have a brand new Accurist II, have yet to fish it this year, will report back when I get some time on it. This is my first Quantum in about 15 years, I had nothing but trouble with them back in the early 90's and swore them off..........I am trying the accurist just to see how, if any, Quantums quality has improved. If I hate it, it will be replaced with a Daiwa ASAP.

I have those rubber "Woo's tube weights" They are OK, pricey, I won't buy them again. I just use cheap "bass casting" sinkers, slide one up the tube, texas rig normaly, running the hook through tht eye of the sinker. Simple, cheap, yet very effective.

I find that a 7' MH is just about perfect for frogs, I have several rods that length/power. 2 Fenwick's that are XF action, I like these for jig/worm's, and C-rigs as. The one I prefer for Frogs in moderate cover is my BPS Extreme, this rod has a bit softer tip, I fish frogs on braid exclusivly,and I feel the softer tip lets the bass inhale the frog a little better without me ripping it away from it. Now If I am in real heavy slop, I will bypass the the MH rods and go for my new 7' heavy,fast St Croix Premier. I just bought this rod this winter, after fishing the frogs last summer in some nasty milfoil mats, I needed a stout rod for that, the MH worked OK, but I feel better with the H rod in that situation. This application is where I ALMOST bought a Loomis rod, I was at Gander Mtn. and they had the Loomis frog rod, I was all set to buy it when I browsed the St Croix's, the preimier was lighter, cost less, so I went with that insted. I really didn't like how heavy the Loomis frog rod was, felt like a baseball bat.

Hey neighbor........I too am from the finger lakes region, welcome to the forum. How much are you willing to spend?? Bass Pro Shops out in Auburn has some great combos. I would personaly recomend the Daiwa Procaster 100H/BPS Binoic Blade combo for $119, or the BPS Extreme baitcasting reel/BPS Extreme rod combo also for $119, a 7' MH rod is a good rod for most bass fishing aplications. Not much of a Walleye/Trout fisherman, but would think that would be too heavy of a combo for trout, and might be OK for walleye.

I would try a different brand of reel

If this topic shows us anything, favorites vs. disliked brands = personal opinion.

You should tell us what techniques you plan on using the 6 foot rod for. A 6' would be a good choice for top waters, jerkbaits, shallow cranks, spinnerbaits, and tight spot jig and wormin' (under docks/trees etc...) The 6'6" is probably the most versatile rod length, it's a great choice for a GP jig/worm rod, and will work pretty good for topwaters, cranks, jerks, spinnerbaits. Th only thing a 6'6" rod would be a poor choice for would be c-rigs (just my opinion, others may like it) I like longer 7' rods for that. I cant speak on the 1 vs 2 piece thing........all my bass fishing rods are 1 piece

Hope you like the Eagle, I have a 7' MH casting, it's been a good rod, I like it alot and the price is right. I use a differnt brand 6'6" MH spinning, but I have handled the Eagle in that power, and it feels similiar to mine (BPS Bionic Blade) I like that rod for skipping jigs, weighted t-rigged worms under dock, and tubes under docks. Also it makes a nice "pond" fishing rod, some thing with enough power to fish jigs and worms , but short and light enough to be able walk the banks with out it beeing a hinderance.

Can't dissagree with what the others have said, but have a few more suggestions. If it's a casting rod, I like a 7'M for smaller spinner and buzz baits (< 3/8 oz) in clear water, the M handles the smaller baits better, and the 7' length can cast them further, both essential in clear water IMHO. If spinning, I would like it for weightless soft plastics (if it's fast enough). senkos, flukes, trick worms, etc......

Thanks guys.............just got her home Yup I did go over it well, beeing a farmer, I am used to giving every thing a good look over. Not any flaws that I could detect. It's too dark to take pics tonight but I have to pull her out of the garage soon and hose it off, a 100+ mile road trip got her pretty grimy.

As referanced before, today is the day I go out to BPS in Auburn to pick up my new Bass Tracker Pro Team 170............excited, this is my first boat (other than my pond hopper 2 man bass raider). We still have ice on all our water though, this long winter is just gonna get longer. LOL I actually wish they would have took longer to deliver it, would have been nice not to have to wait for ice out to get to use it. Pics to come

KU, I also have that charger, sorry didn't see your post till now. I use it for tons of stuff, my boat, farm equipment, cars, lawn mowers, tractor-trailers............basicly anything that I have that needs a charge, very light and portable. 99% of the time it's on the deep cycle setting charging my TM battery, I have had it for 2 years now, has worked like it should every time. I like it so much, and it's so light I am not even going to bother getting an onboard charger for my new boat, this charger will do just fine.

Yes.........I own a Trion, an Accurist AC501CX, and Abu 5501 C3, 2 BPS Extremes, and 4 Daiwa's ( one Procaster 100HL, one Capricorn 100HL, one Capricorn 100XTCL, and one of the cheap Procaster Tournament 100BiL), the Capricorns are built on the same frame as the procaster but have differant paint schemes, a few more bearings, and the XTCL has a ported spool, and are only sold at Dicks. I have yet to fish the Accurist or the Trion, as they are new this winter. But I find nothing special about them that makes them better or worse than the Procaster. Just last week you said the Trion was junk, now you claim they are better than the procaster, I think Muddys right.......... As far as owning only 1 procaster...........so what ? I like it, and would buy more, I buy other reels to try out to see what is best, and at this price range I can do that, who knows after the season starts maybe I will like the trion better, or the accurist and thats all I will buy from now on, but for now I still think the procaster is the best of the bunch I have.

And what's wrong with it beeing just a "red procaster" IMHO the procaster is better than the Pflueger Purist or the Shimano Cruixs, and about even with the Accurist, I have a 3 year old procaster 100HL and CAN NOT find one flaw with it. Yeah the $49 graphite frame procasters are not on par, but the 100HL sure is. AND FYI the RoJo is more than just a red procaster, it also has 2 more bearings, a ported spool, and a flipping switch, yes it's built on the same frame as the 100H.

All my Daiwa spinning reels are the 2500 size. IMHO that is about the perfect size for me and bass fishing. My Pflueger reels are xx35 size which is about the same size as the Daiwa 2500, maybe just touch bigger but not much, and xx30 size which seems to fall right between the Daiwa 2000 and 2500 size. I have been told for less line twist the bigger the spool on a spinning reel the better, but I have no problems with twist (other than what would be normal), and the bigger 3000 and up size reels just don't feel comfortable to me, no tto mention they get quite heavier they bigger they get.