wisconsin heat

Small Northern Pike. They get quite big, you caught a baby. Just today I was fishing at a local lake and helped a young kid unhook one about that size. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_pike When they are small they have more vertical markings like that and then as they grow, the pattern becomes more like long streamlined spots.

Going into my freshman year of highschool, I really wanted to play football.during that summer football players were required to be in the weight room 5 days a week and that wasn't gonna fly because this was the moment in my life where the passion for bass fishing turned into obsession. I ran track 4 years until my senior year, I wasn't having as much fun with it anymore and I decided to quit. I was feeling a bit overwhelmed at the time and quitting freed up some time for me to relax. (bass weren't even in season yet, though it was close, and I was super stressed about me not having everything ready haha)

20# test braid is too thin for baitcasters, it will dig into itself often. would probably work for a newbie on a heavier spinning setup.

I had the 6'6" MediumLight Berkley Tactix rod, which were designed for trout I believe. i loved it until I broke it :s . I bought a Gander Mountain Vortex rod ( good reviews, I have friends that own multiple and really like them.) And they are on sale for $20. I bought the 6'6" Medium ( don't think it is offered in Light, but it felt like a medium-light to me, reminded me a lot of the tactix) which I intended to use for trout fishing. But I gave it to a close friend who had just broken his only spinning rod before I got to use it. It felt really nice in store, the Vortex's usually run $60, so if there is a gander mountain in your area I would stop by and hold it and get a feel for it. It might be what you are looking for, it might not be, but it is definitely worth checking out. I was in between jobs for a little bit so I still haven't gotten around to replacing my tactix. Probably going to grab another Vortex if they are still on sale when I get a little more wealth haha.

Sheepy sheepy sheepy

I've used split shots 18" or so above inline spinners when trout fishing. It makes casting a little unpredictable at times, and the sinker might turn off a few fish. But if the spinner isn't running at the correct depth you may not get any bites at all! I probably wouldn't add a split shot ahead of other baits, but with inline spinners, I want to keep the small profile so I can't just bump up the lure size. Split shot might not be perfect, but it is an easy adjustment to make that often helps when fish are deeper.

I have two, but use more. First is the Spro popper. It is so versatile, it walks better than the original, and can pop when I feel that I need to be more aggressive to draw fish in. The other is the Booyah pad crasher, soft, reliable, and it sits at a great angle in the water. Plus it is more affordable than other frogs. I have had 3 Spro originals and they all sank either out of the package, or after a short time fishing, not buying one again. KVD frog sank out of the package too. I have some Snag Proof Perfect and Ish Phat frogs too. No complaints on performance, I jut think that the Pad Crasher overall is a slightly better frog, and costs a little less. I'm going to be trying out Booyah's popper offering this season.

Its a hollow belly, many people would refer to it, myself included, as a "frog" .

Check your line often for any nicks and imperfections. (talking mostly about near your knot and about 4 feet above it, thats where most of the abrasion can be) Also, check your rod's line guides, if one is damaged, it could become sharp and cut your line on hooksets.

welcome!

Go with a cheap monofilament line. 10-14 lb test diameter. As far as a lure to practice, maybe a 1/2 ounce sinker so it doesn't catch on anythng.

If you fish from shore, and often have trees and stuff around you, you will appreciate the shorter length, much more lure control and freedom of movement than even you would expect by using a rod 6-12 inches less than your typical setup.

Wow, those are cheap sinkers. Is quality a concern here, or are they on par with the big guys ( Strike king, VMC, Picasso etc) ??

You don't need to make up stories to get our attention or approval dude. We are all nice guys here. I am a little glad you made this post though, I did get a few laughs out of it. You made a few of the Professional BassResource trophy bass photo inspectors look a little foolish! "Not even close to 18, 13ish. "

1. For a reel, I would go with a Lew's LFS Speed Spool as mentioned before, if that is a little high for your budget, I HIGHLY recommend the Shimano Caius. ( look for the reels on Ebay from a reputable source to get a better price.) I've owned 2 black maxes, and I loved them while they lasted, but from experience the Shimano Caius functions much better and will last you longer. 2. Rod- 6'6" MH is fine. 7' MH is probable even better, as you will get longer casts. (you can carry your rods in your car by leaning the passenger seat back, and leaning the rods against the seat, or inbetween seats, with the handle on the floor.) 3. I HIGHLY recommend against getting 17lb Monofilament Line. It is honestly overkill and will greatly diminish casting distance with most lures. I would go with 10-12 lb test Monofilament ( berkley trilene XL, Stren superknot, Sufix Elite, etc) OR Copolymer ( Yo-Zuri Hybrid, P-line CXX, Sufix Pro Mix, etc.)

Line Diameter is your problem, 20lb test mono is very large for a standard low-profile baitcast reel. I would try a line .010 - .014 rating in diameter (inches) My favorite line is Stren Super Knot. I like it in 8lb test for most applications, because like Sufix Siege, Super Knot is a line that runs bigger, about one size up. 8 lb Super Knot is comparable to say 10lb Trilene XL or Stren Original.

It isn't difficult to cut braid at all. I don't know why you would need a pricey tool for it. I use a pocket knife or a pair of scissors I bought at walmart for .50 . You wouldn't catch me with a pair of $170 scissors. Here's a pic of the Splizzors. Even with "all these features," I still think they are grossly overpriced.

Suspendots to a Koppers Crank? Or maybe just find a really slow sink hard bluegill swimbait, and work it like a jerkbait.

Hearing about that walleye hurts, but LOTS of nice bass nonetheless! Awesome!

Muddy-Stained water, otherwise I wouldn't throw one. Some lakes they work, others they don't. Even when my lakes are murkier than usual I still won't even reach for a spinnerbait. Lures are tool that all have their time and place. As far as retrieves for spinnerbaits and chatterbaits alike, my best retrieve has been a slow-medium paced steady retrieve. If I am fishing over some cover, I will try to slow it down a little bit. Also, northern pike and pickeral. Man, they can't get enough of spinnerbaits, and other flashy stuff.

After it seemed like forever, fishing season finally opened up here in Wisconsin last weekend. Both my father and I went out to a local park to do some fishing on foot. We started out fishing near the d**n, which is usually where we do the best. The water was warmer and murkier than I had expected it to be. I had one gentle bump from a fish on a squarebill. I saw some fish breaking on top, and I tried a topwater, but that didn't pan out. The fishing season opener is like a national holiday in Wisconsin, and us fishing at a public park, it started to get crowded and we decided to abandon the usually good spot. Instead we went to the south end of the pond where the creek runs into it. This spot is also where we caught most of our bass during last year's opener, as well as this: This trout was caught during last year's opener, and I also caught some smaller brook trout in the process. So all this winter I have been thinking of what I should throw to the bass to imitate these trout. A few months ago, I went to an outdoor expo and purchased some awesome looking swimbaits made by a local guy in Wisconsin. I had decided I was going to use this opening day the day that I bought the swimbaits haha. Anyways, I rigged up the swimbait Line-through style ( because I have NO confidence in those weighted swimbait hooks). Me and my dad tried fishing this area, but again zeroed out, not even a bite. We felt a little discouraged, I thought we might get skunked! We had one last spot try on this body of water, which is a long, nearly featureless bank. (that I usually do pretty poorly on). Me and my dad decided to walk the length of the bank (maybe 3/4 of a mile), he had a T-rigged soft stickworm and I had my swimbait. After fishing a hundred yards or so, I got a tap on my swimbait, then my dad hooked up with a 2 pounder! Then his very next cast, he caught this pond behemoth. Weighed 3-15 on our Rapala Scale (which I think is off ) And is the biggest Largemouth he has ever caught! A short ways down the bank, I caught a 2-10, and the first fish I have caught on a "bigger" soft swimbait. A few minutes later, I hooked up with this big girl! This one went 3-7 and was 2 ounces less than my PB largemouth. Me and my dad were certainly happy we didn't give up earlier! I ended up catching 7 bass and my dad 5, all but two were 15 inch plus fish. We had a great day on the water, it was challenging at first, not having a meaningful bite for almost 2 hours, but we stuck to it and we figured them out. I don't know what else you could ask for in a day of fishing!

I usually fish around grass, so I prefer the Pencil style, If you fish deep, maybe you would want the teardrop style. Because I fish grass and soft bottoms (mostly) , I don't have the need to feel every tick off of every pebble, so its lead for me. No point in buying and using tungsten if I am not going to get its benefits. When I do fish around snaggy cover I'd rather lose a lead weight than a tungsten weight. Plus, once you get familiar with the spot you are dropshotting, you will already know what is down there, and you shouldn't need the "advanced sensitivity" of a tungsten weight.

The Yum Houdini shad is the best fluke style lure hands down. The flat tail flaps back and forth when the lure sinks and it is absolutely DEADLY. As far as my favorite Berkley plastic - that would have to be the twitch tail minnow. All around awesome dropshot lure, the tail is always moving and the colors they offer in that shape are just my style.

You can get 20 packs of NetBait Finesse Worms for less than 3 bucks a pack. TW. edit: missed the hand pour style. These would be good if you don't mind the traditional "trick worm shape."

A tube is a tube. I have zoom, berkley powerbait, berkley havoc, Lake fork tackle, Cabela's, Northland, 2 models of Big Bite Baits, and like 3 Models of Strike King. I would just look for tubes that are on sale haha.