bass wrangler569

I've heard great things about crucials, and that warranty sounds nice!

Yes, mono is more forgiving than braid if you rush the hookset (it stretches) but overall, you are going to get much solider hooksets with braid than with mono. And once they're hooked, they usually stay pinned. Also like Wayne mentioned, the new frogs on the market are heavier so you can make really long casts. The no-stretch factor of the braid makes it alot easier to get a good hookset in bass that hit far away from the boat.

This thread just reminded me of a joke I heard... Two buddies, Rick and John, are fishing on a pristine lake in Maine. After fishing for about an hour, they hear a noise behind them, and shortly after a game warden pops out of the bushes and demands "Alright boys, let me see your liscenses!" John immediately takes off through the woods with the warden in hot pursuit. After a ten minte chase through almost a mile of woods, John stops, gasping for breath, and allowing the warden to catch him. The warden grabs John by the sholder and gasps "Let me... see... your liscense." Well, John reaches into his pocket, pulls out a liscense, and hands it to the warden. The warden looks at the liscense for a minute and then says, "Why did you run you idiot, this is a valid fishing liscense?" John looks up at the warden and says "The thing is, I do have a valid liscense, but my buddy Rick back there, well, he don't, ya see?" ;D

yeah that feature is really nice, I was running my fingers back and forth a long the sides and I didn't get pricked at all. I think the grass is going to stay off of them pretty well

or you could swallow really hard and just get two IMX ;D

Twice I have fished without having a liscense on me but I had bought a liscense. The first time I left it at home 2 hours away and I couldn't go back, the other time I was fishing half the day when my liscense blew out of my hat and I elected to continue fishing. I have personally never seen somebody checking but even if I knew I would never get caught I would buy a liscence anyway because the money goes to support our fisheries.

Not paying attention when I'm fishing topwater and having a fish blow up on it when I'm not ready, lost some big bass because of that. I'm sure I have others but thats the only one that comes to mind at the moment. As far as other peoples bad habbits, the one that "probably" ticks me off more than anything is fishing with people who clean the weeds/scum/grass off their lures by smacking them hard on the water. Sounds like a freaking bomb going off to the fish. >

Sorry to start yet another thread about the new tru tungsten mad maxx frogs but I just bought some about an hour ago and I was sitting on the couch checking 'em out when I noticed that they have a harder body than the spros and they seem a little bit tougher to compress. I would think that would have a negative impact on the hook up ratio? Anybody else notice this or have problems with hookups? On the positive side, I do like the mini-slots that the hooks sit in, it looks like it would be a little more weedless than the spros. I also am a fan of the rattle, I just wish it was a little louder.

I've been fishing frogs a ton this year and I have thought about this frequently: do you really need sensitivity in a frog rod? I saw on another thread that G Loomis is coming out with a GLX frog rod and I just wonder how necessary a GLX version really is. I mean, if I had the coin I would probably get a GLX frog rod but do you really nead that much sensitivity for frogs, or would the benefit of a GLX solely be the light weight? Whenever I get a bite on a frog, theres no questioning wether or not it was a bass! No sensitivity needed to feel the bite ;D

One of my rods has had the same power pro on it for about a year, the other about 5 months, neither of them have bled (the color has faded).

It is actually possible to (gasp) turn the handle slower, sure you might not get the power of a 5:0 but a 7:0 is a lot more versatile IMO.

Haven't tried it so I could be wrong but to me it looks like another gimmicky line from the company that brought you "Vanish" :

That is the fattest bass i have seen period................ X2, it looks like she just swallowed a watermelon!

Glorified house cat... ;D I've seen one up close, it was pretty cool 8-)

I throw the popper whenever the grass isn't to thick, much better than the original IMO and the original is awesome itself. The only problem with the popper is that the mouth collects grass a little easier than the original. I do disagree with dink color wise though, I prefer black on sunny days and white or green when its overcast. Oh, by the way, has anybody else noticed that the poppin' frogs drain much better than the originals and they don't require a squeeze every other cast

Dude, you need to make some kind of adjustments because something is definitely not right. I fish spinnerbaits a lot I've never had the problems you describe.

Epic failure. Your rant gets a 1 out of 10. Hint for improvement: in order to have a good rant, you must actually rant

I realize that in grass, jigs and plastics will usually produce bigger bass than other presentations, my only point was that there are times and placs where frogs will catch bigger fish than jigs, which is why I brought up the win at oneida.

I'm far from an expert but I would think the slower reteive would be better. Slower ratio means more power. I suppose there are arguments on both sides. I wouldn't think that a high gear raito reel is a durable as a slower. I guess it depends if you want to try to launch the fish from cover or force them. Personally, I would rather go with heavy line, low ratio, and nice sturdy rod and if need be bring the cover out with the fish. You aren 't going to crank in the fish, you are going to horse them out with the rod, puuLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL !, reel in the slack line as fat as you can as you lower your rod, puuuuuuuuLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL !, what do you want a slower reel for ? you want a pool cue.

more drama = better ratings Its a lot more exciting to see a pro struggle to get fiesty bass in the boat than... "oh look... it's a big bass... and now watch as the marshall gracefully nets it." Its all about creating tension, which in turn creates higher ratings, which equals more money for BASS.

I do all of my frogging 201E7, the gear ratio isn't too high at all. I like to be able to take up slack quickly with frogs and the higher retrieve speed helps a lot.

I'm perfectly comfortable using 8. or even 6lb line in clear, open water, but when I'm flipping or frogging in grass I want something that I can haul them in with. You need that extra strength when you're bringing in 5lbs of bass and 25lbs of grass.

What about Dean Rojas' win at Oneida fishing frogs? He caught more weight on frogs than the guys who were flipping jigs or targeting smallmouth, so clearly there are times when frogs can produce bigger bass than flipping/pitching does. Still, I realize that on most lakes (not all), the majority of the time flipping/pitching is going to produce the biggest bass, but I don't know how you can deny that there are times when frogs will produce larger bass than flipping and pitching will. Not trying to be arguementative, I realize that you are vastly more experienced than I am, but I have an issue subscribing to a blanket statement that is largerly influenced by your experiences in the lakes that you fish in your geographic area.

I was fishing frogs yesterday and all the rods I brought with me had braid on them. Well, towards evening the frog bite died (predictably) so I decided to tie on a buzzzbait and fish the grass edges. To make a long story short, I ended up catching several quality fish on the buzzbait and I hooked every bass that blew up on it (which doesn't happen often). Maybe they were just more agressive and were eating the buzzbait better that day but it seemed to me that it was a lot easier to get a good hookset in 'em with the braided line. I'm thinking about getting some 20lb powerpro and putting it on my spinnerbait/buzzbait rod. So here are my questions: Is there any disadvantage with using braid for spinnerbaits or buzzbaits? Is the lack of stretch going to be an issue? And finally, will the braid be a problem in clear water? Opinions???