ww2farmer

I can tell you for a fact.....IMHO... That the Abu and Fenwick you mentioned are poor frog rods. I have had and used both. The Vendetta has ZERO tip and is like fishing with a pool cue, and the HMX is poorly balanced,and heavy..not desirable qualities in a frog rod. I have moved to custom built rods for bottom contact stuff but will keep my trusty 7' MH lightning rod shock for frogging. It's the best rod I have ever had for frogging, and that includes $250+ rods that I have had. It has enough tip to skip frogs under overhead cover, and enough back bone to winch fish from thick mats. It's light, balances well with the reels I own, and....the best part... Is $40 at Walmart. A frog rod is not something you need to spend big $$$ on, unless you want to.

My success on the water increased (both fun fishing and tournament fishing) when I stopped being a mobile/floating tackle store. Yet, I still think I carry too much....and I know for a fact I buy WAY to much stuff that rarely even makes it into the boat. While I believe in the K.I.S.S. method of fishing, I sure don't follow my own advice at times.

The chigger craw has always flown under my own personal radar, despite them being around for a good while now..................until this year. I was always a Paca Craw fan, but got tired of having to order them on-line because local availability sucked, this spring I decided to find a "replacement" for them that was cost effective, and available locally. At first I tired the Yum Christie Craw...........I like it, I like it a lot. It meets both of my sticking points ($2.99/pack, and the Walmart 5 mins away has them), and I also grabbed a few packs of Chigger Craws, and Crazy legs Chigger Craws from the same Walmart . I like the chigger craws a lot too. So...I basically replaced 1 craw ..............the Paca.............with 3.................that makes perfect sense LOL.

Havoc devil spear, Havoc pit boss, and chigger craws.

In open water, you can't beat a scaled down version of a drop shot rig. See perch on graph, drop to them, reel in perch repeat. The best bait I have found has been a 1" Gulp minnow nose hooked on a #8 VMC spinshot hook, about 15" above a 1/4 oz. drop shot weight. If your around bigger perch, up-size to a 2" minnow and #6 hook. Through the ice, once you have found them and are marking them on the graph/flasher. Use a small, but heavy (I like tungsten) ice jig. Tip it with the same 1" gulp minnow. Let it hit the bottom, and then "pound" it on the bottom to stir up silt/etc....you will get a few to bite just doing this, but more often than not, the pounding of the jig on the bottom just draws them in for a look. Once the screen is showing fish around the jig, rip it up FAST like it's trying to get away from them, More often than not they will chase it up and grab it. I have had them come from 30 feet down off the bottom to within 10' of the surface to grab it. When the action slows, or the fish vanish from the screen move 10 yards in any direction, drilling holes till you find them again, and repeat.

Pike will hit anything a bass will. If your around pike, some people say move the bass won't be there..................I say stay right where you are, sort through the more willing toothy beasts, because there WILL BE bass in the area...no not 12"er's , but more like 4- 5lb + fish. They ain't stupid, they let the pike run the area, lay low and then pick off the leftovers. If numbers of bass is what you seek.........get out of there, a 12"-2.5lb bass is toast when pike are chomping.

When it's on, dragging a tube for smallmouth is tuff to beat

I could care less what they use, or what products they hock....but it flat out bugs me when they lie through their teeth. One of the most blatant ones that sticks out in my mind was the when the Forrest Wood cup was on the three rivers in Pittsburgh and Ike was blabbing about all the fish he caught on gulp sinking minnows (a sponsor) but the on water footage clearly shows him getting a GYCB senko out of the bag, and several bags of senkos strewn about the front deck. He even catches a fish on a senko and with the bait hanging out of it's mouth claims it's a gulp product. Stuff like this, while probably trivial to most people, bugs me. It's like he thinks we're too stupid to see what's what with our own eyes. On the flip side, I have a lot of respect for a guy who will shoot straight and tell you what worked for him even if it wasn't a sponsors product.

Be warned, once you go custom, everything else is junk. LOL. I now have two custom rod sin my arsenal, and I don't want to use the rest of my stuff. I can't wait for my builder to finish up other peoples stuff so I can have more done...if I get too antsy, I might even try one myself.

Expensive is relative.............to some people a $12 lure is cheap, to some it is not. At the end of the day, fish with what you like, and can afford, be happy with it, and don't crap on someone who either can afford or has more expensive stuff or vice versa, cheaper stuff. I'll always bang the drum for bass fishing on a budget because I am saddled with a budget myself, but if I had unlimited funds, you can bet your rear end the stuff in my arsenal would be top shelf, but for now, I do the best I can with what I have to work with, and I am pretty happy with my stuff and the end results.

I only use 8 to begin with, but if I had to pair it down to 5, those five would be: 1- 7'6" H flipping stick with 50lb braid 2-7' MH/F casting rod with 30lb braid 1- 7' M/F casting rod with 20lb braid 1-6'8" M/XF spinning rod with 10lb braid

I have the Daiwa Lexa, and Abu Orra WInch, both quality reels that are not $$. The Lexa is a steal right now at TW for $60 on sale, it was around $130-$140

I like the Pac Bay Minima seats, both spinning and casting, and have had two rods built for me with those seats.

I fish a multitude of plastics, if I had to break down rigging methods by the % of time used it would probably be like this: Texas rigged-30% Wacky rigged-30% Drop shot-30% Shaky head-5% Biffle/swinging jig head-2% Belly weighted hook-1% Carolina rig-1% Weightless-1%

1/16th oz. is my go-to size for both. When fishing deeper water, heavier cover, or in some wind I bump up to 1/8th. Those are the only 2 sizes I use/carry with me.

Same................I like the VMC Wacky jigs for spinning gear, and the Revenge Flippin wackers for casting gear.

Some very popular baits that I HAVE USED, but I do not care for: Zoom Super Flukes............I like this "type" of bait (soft plastic jerkbait) but not the Super Fluke, Brush Hog baits of any size, style or brand Anything with the name Rapala on it. The Luck-e-Strike Rick Clunn jerkbaits and squarebills Z-man or SK plastics made of elaztech Any and all umbrella rigs Tubes Owner and Trokar hooks Just about everything Missile baits makes Spot remover jig heads And these jumbo crankbaits like the SK 10xd

They used to be my favorite rods..........until they went with the Fuji SK reel seats.

The best time, is when you have enough money to buy it, and no other pressing bills.

I just had my first custom rod built for me on an MHX blank, and for the $$ I have into it....$135 total, (that includes the blank, guides,reel seat, assorted materials, and what the guy who built it charged me) it is the best bang for the buck I have ever spent on a rod.

I can't think of anything better than a Lightning Rod Shock for the intended use you desire, or for the $$.

There's nothing wrong with the Abu black max, I have several...... But, they are my back up reels. Day in, day out every day use reels, I stick with reels that have an aluminum frame. For my money, my two favorites are the Lew's LFS speed spool, and the Daiwa Exceler. Both can be had NIB on eBay for as much as $20 or $30 lower than msrp.

Ahhh....a man after my own heart................but don't you know your not supposed to do that, or at the very least talk about it, you'll get the experts in a tizzy.

When I use spinnerbaits anymore (which is rare) it's either with gold or painted blades. It just works better here. I also find the willow/colorado tandem set up to be the best for general purpose use.

There is literally an entire generation of bass on my home lake that has seen nothing but creature baits, frogs and senkos, I have gone a little old school on them recently with ribbon tail worms, tubes, and swimming a grub.........they all still work, and work well.