J Francho

No warranty is going to cover running over a log. That's what insurance is for. Contact your agent immediately.

I like a bright, contrasting color for line watching. If you tie direct, then simply use a permanent black or dark green marker to camo the lest couple feet to the lure. One cool trick is to color 1/2 your spool. This gives your line an alternating breakup pattern that is really easy on your eyes and makes line watching much easier.

Heck, even a yankee five pounder will own you in the milfoil and coontail up here. For weed fishing, I always tie direct, no leader.

44 lbs? Looks less than 30. Awesome fish, nonetheless.

I love certain fish. Sushi is a favorite of mine. I eat some type of fish two or three times a week. It is very good for you. For non fish eaters, I recommend tilapia, haddock, or cod. All are light and lack a fishy flavor. Once you've grown accustom to the texture and flavor, you can branch out, and try salmon, tuna, swordfish, grouper, and redfish. As far as eating what I catch, that is limited to spring and fall walleye, perch, northern pike, and panfish. I prefer fish that come from deep, cool water. Spring time bullhead are another favorite. Bullhead cookouts are a tradition up here.

That's a pretty good description of what my buddy does.

I'll pitch any bait on any rod. It's just a casting style. If the trees are 20-30 feet from the boat, then pitch it. If farther, then cast it. There is no "ideal day" for pitching. It's just a way to get the bait to the fish, quietly. If you are casting to timber in 20 feet of water, you'll have to strip line off the reel to feed the bait on a slack line fall. Otherwise, the bait will pendulum back to the boat. This is actually where a spinning rod can be an advantage. You can simply make your cast, and leave the bail open, and the bait will fall straight down with little resistance.

For actual flipping, you don't need much, just a strong drag and a strong frame. Some sort of flipping switch is a real convenience. I have no idea why you'd need a fast reel, since you only have about 10' of line out.

Keep fishing them. Like any other bait, they take time to learn them well. Use a MH to H power rod, and 40-65# braid, and have at it. It isn't necessary to learn to walk them, though that is one cadence that works. I always hear people say to wait to set the hook on a frog fish - this is terrible advice. Don't wait to set the hook on a hollow body frog. Bass engulf their prey, so froggy gone, swing away. otherwise you are just giving the fish more time to reject the bait. Always have a follow up plastic worm or senko ready for times when the fish miss the bait, or just slap at it. often times those misses are either smaller fish, of a very big fish actually eating blue gills that are following your frog.

I buddy of mine swears by these. He even has a specific rod, just for this bait, a big, heavy spinning rod. He walks the little guy, like a spook - but really fast. It works:

Pretty much anything you'd throw for bass in the rods stated lure weight range...senkos, spinnerbaits, topwaters, buzzbaits, texas rigs, jigs, spoons, etc. I wouldn't use it in the heaviest slop weed cover, but I wouldn't be afraid of most weed lines.

Nice, lol. If you think sensitivity is not important, you're fishing your Hudds wrong, or at least not to their potential. For rods, you eventually will want a light stick. The Okuma and a Cardiff spooled with 20-25# CXX is a good basic rig that will serve you a lifetime of swimbaiting. But there are better options.

Hopefuly this fall will be decent weather wise, and I'll be able to get out more than just a few times for trout. If you're up this way...open seat, always Mike!

Simply easier to swing on them, rather than sweep pressure. Often they not only run straight at you, but sometimes in the air. No way to sweep set in that case. With a single hook, as soon as you feel the strike, swing and swing hard. Once hooked, they are not getting off with that big hook in their face. It also hangs up on shallow rocks much less than a treble.

I use a single hook because it gets a better hook up with big trout and salmonoids.

So, wouldn't common sense and firsthand experience tell you that this is the knot to use? So use a duo lock stye snap. #3 size will work for most bass and pike applications. I'll even include a pic of my spoon mod, showing the single hook, and swivel. Just tie on a duo lock, and clip on these spoon rigs from there.

I have a few spinning reels, here's what's spooled up: 2x Stradic CI4 2500 w/ Invisx 6# 1x Stradic CI4 3000 w/ Tatsu 6# 1x Stradic 1000 (old white, wood knob) w/ 20# Power Pro 1x Daiwa Capricorn 1500 w/ 15# Power Pro 1x Pinnacle Performa 20 w/ 20# Sufix 832 Fluoro is for deep, vertical, open water presentations. Braid for weeds, shallow horizontal baits. Add a leader of P-line CXX, from 6 to 12# size to braid for abrasion issues.

There really aren't any dual purpose fly rods out there. The reel seat, and snake guides are somewhat specialized to fly reels and line. You're really looking for two setups.

That is a conventional heavy tackle rod, not a fly rod. If you wanted a fly rod for snakeheads, I'd be looking for an 8/9 or 9/10 wt. fly rod.

Cool!

Nice to hear about the service! Just curious, what parts were missing, and why?

In general.... Spinning is more accommodating with lighter, small diameter line and light lures and baits (under 1/4 oz.). Casting gear works better with heavier lines, and baits heavier than 1/4 oz. There are exceptions, though options get pretty expensive outside these parameters.

What was found to be "unique" about it? Looks like a run of the mill, larger than average smallie to me.

Heddon Moss Boss: http://www.lurenet.com/brands/heddon-lures/heddon-moss-boss

I'd be chasing green fish on Conesus. Actually, was on it a couple weeks ago. I suppose you could try drop shotting the deeper ledges for smallies, but with this lake having the potential to put out 25# limits of green fish any day of the week, I'm going for big slobs there. The place is a bass factory. Watch out for the tigers!