SteveF

I fish all team tournaments as I got tired of the boater non boater issues. I fish the MSBC tournament trail, as well as the Fishers of Men National Tournament trail mostly. My partner (which is my dad) and I fish numerous open tournaments as well as take fishing trips all over. We are headed to northern Arkansas to fish Bull Shoals and Norfork in the beginning of May. Spend a lot of time in northern WI as well as numerous parts of the state as well. If you need help with a lake, PM me and I will give you some spots to try and let you know what worked for us there (if I've been there). Take care my friend, Steve

I think that the heavy action will be fine, for me personally it would be length and weight, but then again I am short and am a fan of high end reels like the Steez, Alpha's and such. So to me it wouldn't make much sense to by a 5.5 oz. reel and put it on a 9 oz. rod. Do you plan on using braid or mono? I would suggest 17-20 pound mono with a Heavy for Wisconsin, but that is me. I actually do most of my pitching with a St. Croix Elite 7'0" MH though. The "flipping" stick I have doubles as a pitching and flipping rod and sometimes I will throw a frog on it as well if the frog fishing is really good so I can have 2 rods with frogs. PM if you want to talk about any Wisconsin specific fishing. I'm about 3 hours north of you or so. Take care, Steve

IMO, if a fish is jumping in the air and breaks your line ... sounds like a line issue to me and maybe some new line or heavier line is in order, as the fish is more likely to throw a bait in the air, but is putting very little pressure on the line in the air which in turn is the reason behind them throwing the bait as there tends to be slack in the line on the jump ... however What lures are you typically using in this pond? What is the normal bass that you catch there for size? Personally I wouldn't buy tackle for a particular fish, and maybe the type of lure that you are using can give some of us a better understanding of what may help you, such as maybe it is dull hooks or maybe it is the pound test line that you are using or even the type of line you are using. Big fish get off, and on sometimes they will even break you off in thick cover ... that is what keeps us coming back for more. Is the water clarity clear or stained as maybe braid is a better option? Give us some more info and maybe we can help you out. Take care, Steve

LOL, that is what I am wanting to do as well. I would like to have some flames on it (maybe) as I am a fireman 24/7, however I am a Tech at Mathews Inc. (bows) and would like that on there as well as they are a sponsor of mine. Something like this: Base - Black Gold/Orange Flames coming up from bottom Inside the flames the Mathews logo But then again, I haven't had my wife play with it either as she is a graphic artist (computer). I appreciate all the replies and once I can have a picture of what I want made I will see who is willing to try it and for how much. Thanks all. Steve

I would like to know if any of our skilled painters would like to paint a Fish Hedz? I would like it painted pretty simple like and shouldn't be very difficult what so ever, however I do not have the tools to do it myself. PM me if interested so we can work out a price. Thanks. Steve

I would say that you are correct in that they both pretty much have a bad attitude, which is what makes them so great. I would probably recommend a suspending jerkbait such as a Lucky Craft Pointer. I have also done very well with a standard 4" Senko on both Spots and Smallies. However, if the water is clear I would say that a jerkbait is one of the best, as Spots and Smallie's do like to school and eat shad in most places and jerking a shad bait through the school is killer. Another bait that works very well especially in the spring is a lipless crankbait burned on points and flats at the mouths of creeks and spawning bays. Other than that finesse jigs work great with a double tail grub as a trailer dragged across the bottom is killer all year. Hope this helps some. Steve

You have a great rod for flipping, however I personally pitch more than flip in the upper midwest so I went with a MH with a mod. fast action tip to give me a little more lure control while pitching. It is a St. Croix Tournament Bass which is probably closer to a H action, but the soft tip is great for lure control when pitching (softer presentation) and is nice if you are using braid and like to set the hook harder as it gives a little cushion for your equipment as well. Take care, Steve

I believe you are thinking of people just referring to lipless cranks and the need to change the hooks, however I surely would not change the hooks out on any Lucky Craft out of the package, as I don't think that even a Gammie hook is any sharper. Steve

I pretty much come from the land of Muskie's (upper midwest) and the only way around them is to use a steel leader, and yes it will weigh heavy on reduced bass bites. Unfortunately, you really have no option other than just fish. I loose tons of money in baits every year, however it is just how it goes when you are fishing where "toothy" critters live. I went through 15 black and blue jigs in a Fishers of Men Regional Tournament last year on Lake Wissota, and that is a typical day on Wissota .. just ask Ike as he was complaining about the muskie's during the Elite 50 tournament there as well. ;D Steve

My guess is that if you have a hump, you are inserting the hook to far down with in the tube, OR the gap is not big enough causing it to bulge up. Try moving the insertion of the hook point up a little bit and see if it looks better. As for gap, I would say that you need at least 1/4" gap between your tube and the shank to give you enough bite to get the job done. Hope this helps. Steve

I fish it on all my spinning reels (10#) and all my Daiwa baitcasters as well. What amazed me the most is that there are 4 of us on the tournament trail that are all using it and we did not have one spinning reel give us the birds nest clump up through the first eye that so often happens even with Trilene XL. Not to mention, if I get hung up ... I pretty much have to cut it as I can hardly even break the 10# line without cutting my hands. Unquestionably the best line made. Steve

I've been using it for 2 years now, and unquestionably the best line I have ever used. I use it for soft plastics, jigs, spinnerbaits ... wait I use it for everything except hollow frogs. Will have it on this year as well. Steve

At what water clarity do you feel that braid cuts back on the number of bites one gets due to line visibility? Is it 6", 1' or 6' or are you a believer that it does not matter? I typically fish the Mississippi River, however on occassion we fish water that you can see crawfish swimming in 15' of water, so when does it matter? Also, how about the properties of the line floating versus sinking like a copolymer or flourocarbon? Does it affect on average (I know times call for a slower fall versus a faster fall), but does it affect the way you fish or the weights you use when it comes to jigs or t rigs? Thanks all, Steve

Raul, I don't care who you are, that's funny right there! Do you know which size for the reels I've listed? Standard, Medium or Large? I'm going to guess the standard at $12.95? Thanks. Steve

I'm looking for some small profile reel covers for my Zillions, Alphas and SOL's because my new Steez came with a reel cover and I want more, actually the more I think of it I want one for every rod. Also, if anyone has a Steez and doesn't use the cover ... I'll buy it!! Daiwa does not sell the covers that come with the Steez as I already tried that route. Thanks all, Steve

I prefer a St. Croix Legend Tournament Bass 7'6" MH with a Mod. tip. In Florida the tip would allow you to use braid without over-doing the hookset and still allow you plenty of power to pull big bass from heavy cover. I would probably top it with a Daiwa Zillion, as that is what one of my has. Hope this helps. Steve

Mine is a Daiwa Steez 103HLA ($450) and a St. Croix Elite EC70MH ($340). That is $790, but my average is around $600 for a casting rod (Daiwa Alpha 103L Type F @ $280 and a St. Croix Elite EC68MXF @ $320). I am however a believer that you are only as good as the equipment you use, and I can say that the rods are probably the most important aspect of my fishing as my bite detection went up by a considerable margin since I purchased my 14 Elites (spinning and casting). Take care all, Steve

Daiwa, The trebles that I put on the Rat-L-Trap is a #4 and a #6, which is the size that comes stock, even though typically the Gammie trebles are little bit longer in the shank which I prefer. Steve

Custom rods are great, however I feel that custom rods are only good for extreme technique specific applications and when a person wants a rod to do one thing extremely well. Now custom rods can be built just like a high end rod with the same specs, however I feel that for $300 plus dollars I would prefer to buy a stock high end rod from St. Croix (Legend Elite) because of the lifetime warranty. In custom rods, I have typically only seen 1 year warranties, to me that doesn't cut it on a very expensive rod. I have 13 Legend Elites 1 Legend Tournament Bass and 2 Avids, and I don't feel I am missing out on the custom side of things, and they are all covered for as long as I own them. Take care, Steve Disclaimer: My opinion does not take away from the attention to detail and quality of any custom rod, or the rod maker ... I just like the warranty that comes with the same high grade rods from major companies.

I would say that one isn't better than the other. I would agree that the Senko's biggest advantage is the slow fall, however if you were to speed it up slightly with flourocarbon, you probably would get a more eratic wiggle out of it which could produce better when the water is warm or the fish are aggressive. Take care, Steve

Doesn't it say on the lip of the bill? I could swear that it does, but then again I'm not looking at mine either. Steve

A lot depends on what's "early". Here in the upper midwest we start fishing in the beginning of April with water temps around 40-50. I have found that small 1/8 oz. finesse jig's with pork work great, however a good hair jig with pork is probably the best as is a weightless senko either t rigged or wacky rigged. Also, lipless crank baits are also keep when the water temps increase throughout the day. Remember that this time of year that noon is typically better than the beginning of the day like other times of year as warmer water temps are helping not hurting you throughout the course of the day. I typically find that slow and less action works the best such as the senko and the tight wiggle of the lipless crank baits. I have however had some good luck on suspending jerk baits and particularly the LC Pointer's as well as small spinnerbaits with willows to produce less vibration even in the typical stained to dirty water that I fish on the upper Mississippi River. Hope this helps. Steve

I have always been a finesse fisherman, because I find that I can fish behind most fisherman in a tournament and pick up very good quality fish that they missed. I also believe that most jig fisherman fish the standard jig and that a finesse jig gives them the same bait with a smaller profile. I am however going to try to be more open this year and have a few rods set up with jigs, such as a standard jig, a finesse jig and as always a swim jig. I typically fish a black and blue (old faithful), but almost always have my best luck on a chart./white swim jig. I am going to experiment with more colors this year as well. Lets discuss, what makes your jig fishing successful? Take care and Happy Easter all, Steve

Anyone else have any experience with these, or even seen them in person?

Thanks Tin, are you saying that instead of trimming just behind the hook, that you trim them just behind the rattles if you want the rattles? Do you have any experience with the K-Finesse or at least seen them? Thanks again, Steve