Chris W

As long as the water is still rising bass usually move shallow with it. When it starts falling I have always had good luck fishing where the bank usually starts under normal water level. And from there they slowly move back out to where they were before as the water starts to return to normal.

Depends totally on the lake you are fishing. I fish three lakes around here that have a good population of smallmouth in them. Center Hill, Dale Hollow and Percy Priest, while Center Hill and Dale Hollow fish similar Percy Preist is totally different. So is Pickwick which I do not get to fish very often but have fished some in years past.

I have a 803, but personally I think that it is too light an action rod for frogs. I have used braid on it though it works fine with the recoils.

You know I thought I had put topwaters in there but I totally forgot. The Horny Toads and Ribbits work great too in addition to a buzzbait. Also if you are going to fish for walleye any the Gulp Minnows are great on a jighead.

Do you know which lakes you are going to fish? I go every year for about 16 years now. I took way too much my first trip I am sure you will too. I usually take Senko's, tubes and Flukes in soft plastics, Some topwater, 10 or 15 Spinnerbaits and that is about it. I quit carrying crankbaits after taking them out of someones hand 3 years in a row. My best advice is to not take a bunch of colors keep it simple. Something bright like a White or Charturse, something dark like a Smoke or a Black, and Watermelon or Watermelon Red, make sure to take extra line. The fishing is fantastic 80 to 100 fish days are the norm, I have had several 250+ fish days over the years. Good Luck and let us know how you did. I will be up there June 12 - 18. Oh yea if you do not have a very good set of rainwear I would go purchase one now they come in very handy.

For that price range a Shimano Clarus rod with a Shimano Sedona reel would be hard to beat, also the Abu Vengeance would be worth looking at in a rod. I do not know enough about abu reels to recommend one in that price range though.

I have both telescoping and non telescoping flipping sticks, up to 7' 11" storage wise I like the telescoping models better. The non telescoping models are a little more sensitive and weigh a little less but, I prefer the telescoping models more because they seem to have slower actions than the non telescoping models and on flipping sticks I prefer the slower action. I mainly use the non telescoping models for Carolina rigs and stroking a jig not much for flipping.

A bcr802glx or a bcr852glx both for bottom contact baits. I have 2 Pixzilla's these are the 2 rods they are on love both of them. Thinking of getting another for a flipping stick.

It all depends on the lake you live on I like Watermelon/Blue, Green Pumpkin/Blue best. Blue seems to work better than red when you have a little clearer water.

Had a good friend that had just set his glasses down almost dark, that caught a hook in the eye. About 1 year and 11 surgeries later he has about 80% vision left in that eye. He was out of work for almost this whole time because anything you do puts a strain on your eye. He could not lift anything at all, was on stool softeners for a year so he would not strain going to the bathroom. Does not matter what kind of glasses that you wear but wear something. I even use clear ones at night now I never did before this.

The only ones I know of that are swept are for Daiwa, you can buy them from several places in Japan or Brooklyn Bill has them. They are about $120+. http://www.brooklynbillstackleshop.com/

They are the greatest things to come out for fishing since the tackle wallets, so simple an item but makes taking rods out of rod lockers so much easier, plus the color coding makes finding the right one easier. Every time I use one I think why didn't I think of that.

I have a Professional Mariner charger in both of the boats I own a 1999 ranger and a 2005 Stratos, both have been plugged in since the day I bought them both are still working great.

They are the best flashers made in my opinion, it is a shame the hummingbird had to go and buy them and screw them up. Wish I still had my old ones.

Hard to beat live minnows this time of year.

The Bucco's have better components than the vendetta. For that reason alone the Bucco is a better rod.

Make sure and take a few topwater plugs too, I have been going in early june for 15 years and some years topwater is fantastic. Take some torpedos and some zara spooks. Tubes are always good too you can fish them fast like a spinnerbait or slow them down to fish on beds, Flukes or senkos are a must too. I like the senkos better because they can be fished with a weight on the bottom or weightless on top. But for sure take extra line you always need it.

I have some at home, but best I remember they are about double the weight of a regular 5" senko. Will check when I get home from work.

The Ewg has a wider gap in it for bulkier baits too.

Thats more than 100 dollars for just some terminal tackle Im jealous. It's only 50 but even so that's still a lot for some hooks! They must really be good do all of you only use them for flipping? Flipping and Pitching they are fantastic hooks for this use, and $50 is cheap compared to when you could not get them your only option was message boards and ebay when they were going for $10 a pack.

You can only buy 5 packages at a time of each size. That stinks but I got my 10 packages of the 2 sizes I like.

I too have bought several reels from japan and not had to pay anything but shipping and price of the reel. I assume it is included with the price.

They are all great baits the sizes depend on what size bait the fish are eating, they all have a time of the year that they work well. I am a Zara Spook junkie and have all sizes the pooch, pup, jr, spook and super spook, and will use them all at some point during the year.

I agree with Road Warrior, I have almost every high end reel Shimano has ever made with the exception of a Calais, it was too heavy for me. The new Curado's are very hard to beat for the money.

Full size spook and Lucky Craft Gunfish 115 are my 2 favorites.