rebelbasspro

For my money the old all stars (the ones made in TX) are far better made rods. After shakespeare bought them out the quality became very poor. Now i wouldnt fish with one if u gave it to me. Maybe catfish with it ;D

I would like to get some input on St. Croix's Avid series of rods and in specific the cranking models. Has anyone used these?

Izorline monofiliament. 15lb for topwaters. 12lb for cranks and spinners.

If you want to master the frog u must WALK THE FROG. With a 7 to 71/2 foot heavy action. Takes a heck of a lot of wrist action. But it is a must to learn.

Palomar should be fine. Color is absolutely critical. Match the dominate forage in your lake. Put the trailer hook on then slide your hook thru the hole in a piece of tubing. Let the trailer swing freely. It can be super aggravating (I dont use one) but I would not ever marginalize its importance.

Have u ever seen any bass blow up in the pads? From what I can see they are just too dense to fish anything on top of these pads. However you can always fish the edges. Do you hear frogs while your fishing? If there is a LOT of frogs present around the lake I would try a frog on the edges. If not I would go with an imitator of the most dominant forage.

When I'm in a bind and need to catch five I'll go with a texas rigged zoom centipede on 10lb flurocarbon.

Try www.wareaglelures.com they come with wire tied around the skirt.

I can only speak of this part of Louisiana but the time of year dictates which type I use. Early (May to Early June) I use the horny toad exclusively. The reason is it is absolutely dominates during the shad spawn that occurs during that time. The feet make a flipping sound identical to that of shad flipping during the spawning ritual. Now on the other hand during the dog days when its scorching I will only throw the ribbit. This bait was designed originally by reaction lures, a local bait company here in NE Louisiana. It was later sold to Stanley. It is very similar to a buzzbait but far more weedless. These are the only two brands you need. They will cover all your bases for this genre of baits.

Most pros will use a popper more often than a buzzbait because of the simple fact a popper is a finesse bait. You can literally coax inactive fish to smash a popper whereas a buzzbait just passes over and if they are reluctant or non-aggressive you wont get bit. You can chug a popper, it can be walked, it can be stopped and started or a constant popping retrieve. I prefer to have a constant popping and walking retrieve most days. It will outproduce and just flat out out fish a buzzbait day in and day out. A buzzbait is more for novice topwater fishermen that doesnt want to put much thought into their cadence. Just throw it out and reel it back. A lot of die-hard jig fisherman will throw this when conditions dictate a topwater bite.