MNGeorge

I have several of the RC reels and gave my sons each one for Christmas a year or so ago. I've got two that predate the blue color that are still going strong. Buy it when it's on sale and it's a bargain.

Every bag of ribbits I've ever bought came with a bead. They definitely make the rig more weedless and are worth putting in front of the toad.

Hate to disagree with RW because he has been so right on about everything else I've asked hom about, but we've had some of our absolute best days when the upper Mississippi has been high and dirty. As justfishin said, the small eddies are the ones to concentrate on. We just keep moving and hitting everything that looks like it could hold a Smallie or two. Jigs, single colorado blade spinnerbaits and tubes have been the most productive. Dark colors on the jigs (black and blue) and the tubes (black neon) and chartreuse with a silver blade on the spinnerbait.

I guess it depends on the local people at every store because we have the exact opposite situation here in St. Cloud, MN. At Gander, they have always been very helpful and willing to go the extra mile for me, while at Sportsman's, I've gotten the brush off kind of answer to my questions more often than not. Sportsman's does have a wider selection of tackle than Gander, but Sportsman's is a bigger store. That said, Gander does have some stuff that Sportsman's does not have, so I shop at both.

Same tool I have. It works very well.

X2 on the 844. I own both and RW is right on with his assessment on the 843.

My father-in-law had a rule to use in this situation. If you can't clearly make out the nose on their face, they're far enough away to go ahead and do what is necessary.

I think it is easy to walk the dog with it and the river Smallies really seem to like it.

Smallies, by far, and river Smallies in particular just don't know how to say "quit".

I used to use mono only for soft jerk shads, but now that I have finally found a flourocarbon that I cast without backlashes, I no longer use mono for anything. I used mono for the jerk shads because I liked the softer action of the bait using mono. I tried fishing them with braid, but the action of the bait was too crisp, didn't look natural to me.

I got my Matt Lure Bluegill and Crappie today. What size/brand/style treble hook has been found best for the belly hook?

How are you rigging it?

I have one in the Mossyback Series that I bought on the flea market here. Actually got a brand new one when the one I bought came broken, but that is beside the point. When I first got it, I thought it was too light for what I wanted, but after fishing a time or two, I am quickly coming to love this rod. Light enough to handle the lightest finesse stuff, but the butt comes into play nicely and with plenty of power.

I'm sure you will get many opinions on this question, but generally speaking, the so called "superlines" transmit anything going on with your bait better than monofilaments, flourocarbons or hybrids. They are better because they have no stretch. The stretch of the other lines tends to soften the feel of what's happening with your bait.

We catch Largemouth in the pads as soon as the pads become fully developed and keep catching them there until the pads start to die off. Our pad fields are all in water less than 5' deep and the water does get into the upper 70's in the heat of summer. Morning and evening are usually the best times, but certainly not the only times. We have had many a good day "froggin" during the middle of the day, especially on those hot, humid and hazy days with little to no wind. Just go ahead and try it. You might be pleasantly surprised. You should be warned however, that catching Bass on frogs in the slop can be very addicting.

We tried Siege on spinning tackle and hated it. It was very wiry and constantly jumping off the spool. 4 of us tried it and we all hated it. The Elite seems to be much more manageable and still is durable.

When will they be available? We have a lake that red is "THE" color. Should be killer up there.

We only use snaps for hard baits and the only times we use a swivel are when throwing Mepps type baits or occasionally when throwing a fluke, but when using it with the fluke, it is 12-18 inches in front of the fluke, not directly attached to it. Like Skillet says though, it's pretty much a matter of personal preference.

For whatever reason, most baits go through cycles it seems to me. I've gone through years when a fluke was "the" bait for most of one year, then it won't catch anything the next year and then it's hot again the following year. Can't explain it, but all of the baits you mentioned are proven performers and I certainly wouldn't give up on them.

Thanks, folks. I figured it would be something simple, just never noticed the button at the bottom.

Hey Mods, How do I store posts/threads I want to keep for future reference? Thanks, MNGeorge

I also like the Stanley Ribbits and the Zoom Horny Toad. Toads are one of my favorite ways to catch Bass.

Have not used the weights but I like their clips, same thing but with no weight. They are easy to rig once you do it a time or two and the clips at least have definitely helped minimize slippage of the bait. I think you will like them.

Bass season has been open for just over a week here so haven't fished that much yet. Thanks to RW's suggestions, I've had some very good success on the Fat IKA, black/blue and baby bass colors. I also caught quite a few fish on the Kreature from Yamamoto rigged per RW's suggestion, color watermelon, black and red flakes.

Trilene 100% Flourocarbon treated with KVD line conditioner is the first flourocarbon I've ever been able to fish with without constantly backlashing. So far anyway, I have no complaints with it at all.