Max-in-Mn

Wow, that's a big fish

That was deep! Thanks for sharing.

Good to hear, Aaron. I will probably be buying one of Exceler spinning reels, too. I have the Exceler casting reel and it's unbelievably smooth. Very underrated reels.

Happy birthday fella ;D

Oh I didn't know that about wal-mart rods. I may have to pick up a few lightning rods now ;D

If I could just take one it would be either a 6'10'' or 7' med/hvy/fast baitcasting rod. You really don't need to spend a ton to get great rods these days, though. As other have said the lightning rods are good, but I would personally recommend Shimano Clarus or Convergence rods. They can be had for around $40-50 and come with fuji components and over the counter lifetime warranties. Really can't beat them on a budget.

Give it to somebody that will eat it.

Hehe, well actually later that day it got scorching hot. It got so hot that I drove the boat up to shore and literally sat in the water underneath a overhanging tree! I don't do very good in heat like that :-/ Thanks for all the comments fellas!

Heh, I have the exact same problem! If I use braid I am all good, but I wanted to try mono on my spinnerbait/crankbait rod so I put on some 14lb XL. Bad idea. Lost 2 lures to those little snakes right away and that was enough. I'm not sure I want to resort to a steel leader, so for now I'm going to try some tougher mono like Big Game or XT. What lake is the cabin on?

Well said ;D

Nice report Bred! Sometimes if the steady under the surface retrieve doesn't work you can try letting the spinnerbait sink to the bottom and basically "slow roll" or "drag" it on the bottom. Good luck and keep up with this log, it's a great idea.

Well I hate to admit it, but I had never giving jigs much attention. I guess I just never knew when or where to throw them. So, this past Wednesday I made it my mission to catch my first "jig bass". I took me and a buddy out to a deep water hump where we usually catch walleyes. The shallow part of the hump was insanely thick with milfoil, so I put us right on the edge of the hump and had my buddy cast in to the thick stuff and I hit the deeper edge. No more than 5 casts in I hooked up on my first bass. I thought "wow, that was quick!". And from then on we basically had the best trip we've had in years. At one point we had dual 3 pounders on {as seen in the picture} and from Wed to Friday we probably caught 50 bass. We did a little dock and frog fishing, too, but the biggest fish were all caught on jigs. I just got back from BPS with a bag full of jigs. I am hooked on them Here is some pic's of the trip. I am in the gray sweater.

For shallower water like around bullrushes, I just cast and retrieve them a little below the surface at a moderate pace. In deeper water I have been having good luck letting them sink to the bottom and then slowly dragging them on the bottom.

I think most guys would say 80lb braid is ideal, but 50 should be ok as long as it's good stuff. Your rod and reel sounds good. Just make sure to get a really heavy duty wire leader of 100lb+ test, those are a must! Other than that I'd recommend you make sure you have proper landing gear such a huge net, long pliers, heavy duty hook cutters, and maybe a steel mesh glove for grabbing the fish around the gills {they can cut up your hand real bad}. If you catch one, I'd recommend trying to get the hook out while he is in the water {in the net or have a buddy grab its tail}. You really don't want one of those things thrashing around in you boat with a big lure in it Good luck and let us know if you have more questions! P.S. Do some research online about the "figure 8". You will almost always get a following fish during an outing, so make sure you're ready and know what to do when that happens!

Hey MD, welcome to the site! I'm no expert at Muskies but I usually fish for them on weedbeds, rocky points or reefs, sunken islands, and humps. Sometimes they will suspend out in deep water as well, but those are hard to fish! Generally you don't need many lures for Muskie, just get some inline spinners {bucktails}, few jerkbaits and maybe a topwater bait or 2. Do you have a Muskie setup? If not you will need one!

Hmm never tried corn myself, but I've caught a few off small marshmellows. One other thing you can try for those real deep ones are small jigs. I know Rainbows like to eat freshwater shrimp so maybe try like a white or pink colored jig with some powerbait on it.

Nice looking fish, lots of color on him! Up in northern Minnesota we fish for Rainbows almost like we fish for Bass. In the morning or evenings you could try casting to shoreline structure in moderate depths. I have caught a lot of Rainbows near downed logs and trees or on the edge of a weedline. I throw a small spoon or minnow bait like a Rapala and work it right under the surface. You will almost always see the Trout strike the lure which is awesome! Small inline spinners work great, too. For lure colors I usually go with a rainbow trout color, brown trout color, black/silver, or blue/silver. During the day I always had pretty good luck drifting or trolling a dropoff using a rig similar to a Carolina rig but with live night crawlers. Basically rig it up just like a C-rig but use either a small floating jig head or a "worm blower" and make your night crawler float. This way, the worm suspends rather than sinking to the bottom. So for example if your leader is 5ft, the worm will suspend 5ft off the bottom. Make sure you use a slip through sinker so once the trout picks up the worm he can swim freely rather than feeling tension from the weight. Never hurts to add a few pieces of Berkley power bait eggs to the worm for scent, either. Obviously your lake will be different, but I have never caught a Rainbow in really deep water. I've caught all of them in 5-20ft of water. Hope that helps at least get you started. Good luck!

If I am not on BR I am looking on Bass Pro, Cabelas, etc. I just love looking at gear and deciding what to get next {or drooling over what I can't get}. I also look at sites for other fish species such as Muskie, Trout, etc.

Well I've only used 2 from that list, the Falcon Lowrider and the St. Croix Premier. I like them both a lot, but I really don't think you could go wrong with any from that list

I admit, I would buy it. I figure, it's going to last you the rest of your life, so you'll definitely get your moneys worth in the long run. For most gear I am a cheapskate, but not when it comes to rods. I like to buy the absolute best I can afford. Bait monkey says go for it ;D

I don't even like to spend $15+ on Muskie lures. I'll stick with my $4 Bombers

Awesome! What kind of lures did you use? Looks like a spoon in the first pic.

Haha nice one ;D

Never fly fished for Bass, but I've done some fly fishing for panfish and it's a blast

A .44 Mag for mice!?!? Wonder if she was on LSD... ;D