Koop

For $80 you can't go wrong. They are great rods, but very technique specific. I found they are great at what they are intended to do, but mediocre at everything else. They are very sensitive, I would say between Kistler and Powell and have amazing power to boot. If you know exactly what you want to use it for, and can get the rod you want for $80 I'd go for it. Otherwise my personal opinion would be the next step up a Kistler Argon that can be purchased for $135 shipped new.

... spro bronzeeyes, a few rage toads an a few hundred horny toads! ;D Seriously though, as far as hardbody frogs go, I throw horny toads first because they are cheaper and I love the action. If they arn't hitting the horny toads I will throw the rage toads and the change in action usually will get them to bite. For me it seems if they dont like one they like the other. Horny toads are usually my go to though. If they don't like either I will throw a rage shad, this is probably my favorite rage bait.

I would find a BPS Tournament Special reel, they are $100 retail, can be found used around $50. This is a great reel for the price. This leaves you with $100 for rod selection, you should be able to find a very good rod used for $100 or get a nice mid range rod new.

Great fish and great post! I must say I love reading your reports, always very informative.

oof... what a bummer. Atleast you got a nice fish out of it in the end. May be a good idea to learn backreeling if your using primarily spinning gear.

Congrats!! Nice fish too!

Congrats! A first of many to come! haha mine is the same way! I catch a hawg or something and the first thing I do when I get home is run over to her with the camera and get a blank stare in return.

Trust me I wasn't to keen on the idea at first. But after some research I was amazed how many successful duck hunters breed poodles. They really are good water retrievers.

Nice fish man! Size will come with time and knowledge! Glad your enjoying the BC setup. To bad about the fish, but don't get beaten up over it, happens to everyone.

Always sad to hear something like this. God bless you and your wife for being kind enough people to get out there and help and continue to aid with supplies. Some people would have simply watched from the comfort of their home.

Hey nice to see you over here Larry! Lots of great guys from Florida around here!

Nice to "meet" you!

Let me start out with saying my wife runs a dog grooming business, one of her hobbies is showing dogs and competing in grooming competitions. Anyhow about 18 months ago she wanted a dog that she could take to competitions (she shows Collies) and wanted something complex and fun for her. So we got a poodle, (for a pretty penny I might add because it had to be show quality). At first I was taken back by a poodle, we already had collies I wanted a german shorthair or weimeriner really. But I decided to see how the poodle worked out as they are hunt dogs by nature as well and would give her a dog to do her grooming competitions with the rest of the year. Well I am very excited, I have been training "Lestat" for the past 18 months since he was a puppy when we got him at 12 weeks in California (when we lived there). Started out with goose toys to dead birds, taking him to the skeet range so he would get accustomed to guns. Swimming at the lake etc. I am just so excited the season is almost here for me to take him into the field for his first duck hunting season! Here is a picture of him after my wife groomed him about 2 months ago. Needless to say he wont be quite so pretty in comming months!

Hey welcome Rio! Glad to have you here with us!

That is absolutely beautiful! I know a lot of people like the stealth black on black looks which are nice also, but I personally like the white look better. I am very curious how much something like that would cost to have done (not how much you paid) but that is a lot of custom work. I'm guessing 1-1.5k?

Try going to www.lake-link.com and do a search for Ripley in the Wisconsin section. To many posts for me to weed through right now, I personally have never fished, have heard it was decent but not one of the top 10 WI fisheries.

Download the latest version of flash player and media player? Not sure if that is it, or it may be your internet connection timing out before it's finished downloading.

I really can't believe this is still going with people not noticing the sarcasm after it has been identified and beaten like a dead horse with a 3 wood. If it wasn't for seeing Muddy posted here last with a *new* message on the thread and my curiosity of what smart allic mook comment he made I would stop reading it

Give PLINE CX a try

good time burner.. I finally made it to little league haha... that no outs no strikes one was tough! ;D

Welcome!

nice toads! Clearlake is beautiful.

Depends... it's different depending on what brand you look at. I use a 7'1 Kistler Argon (H/F) as my frog rod. There are some brands that have MH rods that are heavier than this. Just comes down to preference and what you actually want.

They actually had this stuff in the clearence bin at gander mountain for 6 bucks a spool. I picked up a spool of 12# to try it out. I normally run PLINE CX (not CXX) as my copoly.

Happy b-day!