wisconsin heat

Welcome fellow Eskimo!

0. Caught one in December though a couple feet of ice if that counts.

Mine got them in last year, I don't know if they are the same as the ones at yours, but they're trash.

OUCH and I thought I had it bad at May 3rd. Sucks living up north where the fishing season starts late and ends early.

I may be wrong, but I believe you are misinterpreting the title of the thread. It would be easier to understand if worded this way: "Giving up your rights just to fish." or something along those lines. his rights to fish weren't infringed, but the belief is that his rights are infringed because he fished.

I've had bad luck with the original bronzeye frogs sinking out of the package, so I stray away from them. Although my favorite frog is the Spro popper and it can do anything, it even walks well. I do like the pad crasher too though. I love the way that it sits kind of lower in the water, I feel that when I fish over lighter mats and pads that its butt sticks under and gets more attention. As far as walking, the original bronzeye walked well, just gotta get a floater. The Pad Crasher is easy to walk too, you might just be a little rusty on the walking skills. Also the rod you use could have an impact on how easy it is to walk the frog.

For shore fishing, when I take hardbaits with me in my pockets I carry them in the big TicTac containers. It will easily fit 2-3 crankbaits and shorter jerkbaits. I will usually have 1 with jigs/trailers and 1 with harbaits in my pockets when I decide to run down a shore. Also they're big enough to fit a spinnerbait in. I bet you could fit 4 redeyes in one of these. Edit: plus it gives you an excuse to buy TicTacs

I pretty much use Gold almost all of the time because the waters I fish don't have many silvery colored baitfish.

I have had some suspendots for a while and just used them last month while trout fishing. I put one underneath the lip of a little suspending jerkbait to get it to sink. It did sink and didn't seem to impede the action of the lure. It actually increased the side to side distance when being jerked so they get a thumbs up from me. I have never tried them on a floating lure though.

I myself hate the Owner Beast. I have had bad experiences with the spring-lock style swimbait hooks, mostly because of their design. I feel most of them are much too "deep" and too short. I think the Owner Beast is the most extreme in these categories. The hook bend is so deep, and the overall length is short. This leaves a very small distance between the hook point and the spring-lock, which is where the bass needs to bite for you to get a hookset. Also it leaves a ton of hook underneath the bait which looks unnatural to me. I don't know why you would need a hook shaped like this unless you're trying to rig a softball.When I first purchased hollow belly swimbaits,this was the hook the associate recommended, and I couldn't pay a fish to bite my swimmers. Once I switched to an EWG with lead molded I started to really catch them, go figure.

Assuming you will be fishing from shore, I would highly recommend a spinning outfit. Reasons why: 1. When fishing from shore, you could be standing and fishing anywhere, meaning in trees, bushes, etc. This can make for some close quarters for you to cast from and a spinning outfit will give you much more freedom to cast with. **Plus you won't have to worry about backlashes when you snag a limb on your back cast and swing forward just to have all the line on the spool tangle.** -For these reasons I would choose either a 6'6" or a 7' I wouldn't go any higher, and the 6'6" is probably best. 2. Spinning rods can cast lighter lures better, so if the bass aren't biting but the bluegill, crappies, etc, are the spinning rod will help you cast lighter lures and you will probably enjoy the fight more with smaller fish. -So I would choose a Medium power fast action rod. It is not too light for bass fishing and not too heavy for other species. 3. Unfortunately line twist is something you have to factor in while using spinning reels. But it can be reduced greatly by your line choice. I hear the Sufix Elite/Seige mono is spooled a certain way to eliminate/reduce line memory which would help. A light braided line would help as well too. Either way, spraying a line conditioner before you go on the trip would help greatly. - My suggestion would be a light braided line anywhere from 10lb to 20lb depending on your preference. ( because braid has no memory and is limp a lighter line may cause tangles/problems if you haven't tried it yet.) Also having no stretch will help drive hooks home if you decide to use a jig or other lure where a good hookset is needed. You can always keep a bit of flouro in the tackle box if you feel you need a leader. This would be my build, and probably will be my build since I am planning to get a two-piece rod for the car before summer starts. 6'6" Spinning Medium power Fast action 15lb PowerPro

I had a 4play swimbait and I think they are really quality made baits for the price. The action on the 4play was an incredible "S" motion. very easy to spin too. Haven't tried any of the cranks of soft baits though.

Throw the Strike King Sexy Swimmer in the mix as well. Not a bad bait by any means, I picked up a few on sale at about 8 bucks each. I fished them last fall as things were cooling down and you had to work for a bite. I worked em like a jerkbait too, sometimes letting them sink for 20+ seconds to get to the strike zone. Thanks for the post I will be sure to throw them a little bit as soon as May rolls around.

Almost all of my spinning reels are the Abu Cardinal SX's. They are pretty smooth and a solid reel in my opinion. I've used them a lot some are 4 years old now, and still work good without any issues. I would recommend Abu Cardinals to anyone looking to get into fishing. But my buddy has a pflueger, and he really loves it. They're probably some of the best options out there for cheaper spinning reels and you wouldn't go wrong with either one.

I like most Havoc baits. I think Zman plastics are a really good deal since they last so long. I bought a bunch of bags of chunks online,they look good and float, only downside was that they are a little big for my jigs, but that's okay. They also make a ton of shapes, Im going to try out a bunch more this season I think.

Ike Skeet A-mart Kvd Clunn Palanuik I like Ike the most probably for everything he does for the sport. Breaking the mold in every possible way, giving seminars, blogs and interviews to lots of people (Like BassResource) just to help out anglers like us. Awesome guy. So far bass fishing isn't like other sports where there are a few select jerks on the field or on a team or whatever. However Jonathon VanDam, and Alton Jones come to mind. Both of them "intruded" on the day 3 Leader's fishing spot only on the final day. I know it is not a written rule just seems like a disrespectful move to me.

I couldn't wait for these to come out! It's about time!! I bought some 3 inchers in assorted colors including a new one called "Purple Pumpkin Red," which kinda looks like PB&J to me. Anyways they look AWESOME on the back of a Bass Patrol Jig, I plan on using them a lot this season.

Thanks guys, I got lucky, could have very well ended much worse. Thanks! As fun as they are to catch, it seems trout are bad luck to bass fisherman! I live near Elk Mound right off of Highway 29

How about lures with pros names on them in general. Someone already mentioned KVD and the KVD frog, I think you can add every single KVD lure onto that list. Having a pros name on it does not mean it will catch better, it doesn't mean the pros use that bait, and it definitely does not always mean they designed the bait. KVD used a megabass 110 over his jerkbait in one of the tournaments, I forget which one. Xcalibur lures discontinued their XS4 jerkbait and re-introduced the exact same bait as Edwin Evers' EEratic shad, as soon as Edwin started to succeed on the tournament trail. And now Evers has signed with Megabass and that EEratic shad is goin off the market, hello XS4? (hopefully, I really like the jerkbait). And don't even get me started on Havoc's pro designed baits. Dear Pure Fishing and Skeet Reese, we ALL KNOW that is a Trash Fish.

Usually it depends on where I'm fishing. I have a couple spots that I can usually catch 4+ in couple hours very easily and if I spend a longer day and I find em, I can catch 20+. But those spots are usually smaller fish, sometimes none bigger than 12 inches. My other two go-to's have fewer, but bigger fish. Catching 1-2 fish here is usually an average start, but in these places I always feel that I can find em and catch em. I would say my average at these places is around 3 fish an outing, but there have been times where I would catch up to 6+ on these lakes -very good days. The fish in these places are usually around 15+ inches which is okay. I fish these areas because they have a lot of good shore access, not because the numbers or quality of the fish. I plan on fishing more new areas this year - Also got a kayak to help increase numbers.

Oh yeah that's a big fish! I haven't caught many larger sized bass, so I'm not gonna take a guess. Congrats!

Bass fishing is still quite a ways down the road for me in Wisconsin(May 3rd), thankfully the brown trout cooperated this weekend. I caught some really pretty fish, mostly on a 1/16th oz. Rooster Tail, which is an in-line spinner. I was really having trouble hooking the fish the first outing, so the next time i swapped out my flouro for braid with a flouro leader and bent out the trebles slightly (still having a lot of trouble LOL). The pictures of these trout are from my second outing. I caught maybe around 10 brown and brook trout in total but only quickly snapped pictures of a few to get them back in the water. The next picture, sorry that it is not a good one, is a picture of the back of my head. The spinner, well, took an unexpected flight path, and pierced through the hood of my sweatshirt into my scalp. I was lucky enough to only get 1 point of the treble in the skin. So after a brief moment of surprise and shock, I laughed it off, pulled it out with my pliers, and kept fishing!

I just picked up a 7'6" 4wt reddington crosswater combo for the small trout creek by my house. I picked it up at Gander Mtn for 120, and got a $25 gift card via rebate. I only have a little experience with it, but I do really like it, especially for the price. They come spooled up with backing, WF fly line, and leader, so it's ready to tie on a fly and get casting. Oh it comes with a hard rod tube carrier thing as well. I really like mine so far but I am new to fly fishing as well. Whatever you choose, I would ask someone more experienced before pulling the trigger on anything.

I only have used them a few times, but they worked out okay each time. I never slayed the fish with them, but I have used them in different situations with success. Texas rigged and just straight swimming it worked out okay, but had a few hits and misses. I got bit while working it over a spawning fish, but I again missed the hookset. And finally I had some success punching light matted vegetation - I got my most bites doing this which is wierd because I was using a sexy shad colored one. For some reason it really ticked em off. I think the bait is awesome, it's just a bit fragile. I personally have had problems setting the hook (but maybe its me). It is funny that you mention the grass pigs because I have used them as much as I have the Cane Thumpers, I just have never gotten a bite on a grass pig.

Happened to me at Cabela's. I asked the manager of the fishing department if they had the gear for flick-shaking (this was the time when it was emerging in the U.S. and was in all the fishing mags).