wisconsin heat

I bought these as well and they work great! 6 bucks and I never have to worry about running out, not having any with me if I go out in the yak or fish from shore and carry limited tackle with. Highly recommend buying these or something like these.

I agree with your above mentions, i like you, also recommend a smithwick rogue style jerkbait - my fav are discontinued Xcallibur Xs4/EE4's but you could also use a Rapala husky Jerk or any of the smithwick options - they have a different action, more roll and less slashing than other "twitchy" jerkbaits like a vision 110 or Pointer. Also like to tack on the live target lures are great quality! Their lipless crankbait is my fav and catches fish like crazy. I haven't tried their jerkbaits yet but I'll give one a try!

We're you fishing the Chippewa River or one of the small lakes over there? Funny that you had no luck with a jerkbait, I fished a few small lakes in the Eau Claire are and the only lure I caught em on was a jerkbait! Even a couple hungry Brook trout decided to smack the big Xcallibur Xs4.

Agreed. Wisconsin needs to simplify their regulations regarding game fish seasons. I understand that there are reasons to have an off season, such as protecting spawning fish, and that it makes "the opening day/weekend" a big event. But to me these reasons aren't really justifiable when you consider bass and other species spawn all throughout the spring and summer months, and that the open water season is as short as it is. I don't want to take the month of April (and the end of March if we are lucky with ice) OFF when there isn't a good reason I shouldn't be fishing. The Wisconsin fishing window for bass is pretty much may - October, and if you ask me the fishing shuts off and gets hard in September, which gives us around 4-5 months to enjoy open water fishing (still talking bass here, I understand some species continue to have a good bite into the colder months). To me the closed season is ridiculous, especially when Wisconsin is a state that hangs it's hat and takes pride in the outdoorsman offerings of hunting and fishing. I would really like to see "catch and release only" replace the closed season here.

Thought I'd throw my $.02 in here. I'd get the Tsurinoya XF-50 if I were you. It's cheap and it has a great reputation for ultralight presentations, look the reel up on youtube, other forums, etc. It's popular because it works. I was in the market for a cheap BFS reel also, I was scouring through Ali Express oogling at all the pretty looking, super cheap reels and I wanted to buy a Seaknight POTM because it looked sweet and has good specs. What was holding me back was the fact that there was no real informative english review on it. I said what the hell and bought one anyways and sent to a youtube guy with the channel reeltest. I figured if I was going to spend the money to find out if it was worth anything, I might as well get the word out on it since I figured a lot of people were likely looking at it too. That reel ended up being not so great at casting because the brakes weren't strong enough; the spool would overrun everytime. Luckily I had a broken Shimano reel that I salvaged the magnets from and now the reel actually casts pretty well. If you want a cheap bfs reel I'd go one of two ways - the Tsurinoya XF-50; or a Daiwa Fuego CT($74)/ Tatula CT ($95)/ Tatula 100 ($120) with an aftermarket spool ($30) = $104-150. The reason I'd recommend the daiwas over an Abu black max is because I've owned a handful of black max reels as well as a handful of Daiwas, and the Black Max is about as durable as the cheap reels. They work well until they don't, and there's no telling when that's going to happen.

I saw Cabela's online has Lucky Craft Square Bills for $4.97. https://www.cabelas.com/product/home/internet-sale/fishing/pc/105625080/c/734083380/sc/148664880/lucky-craft-square-bill/2909629.uts?slotId=13

Don't buy it, build it! I've gotten into rod building and seems to justify getting a new rod to me. Getting to build it any way you want it is great! and the process of building it is a fun activity in itself! I too struggle fighting the urge to buy fishing stuff just because. Digging through all of the stuff I do own and actually seeing how much I have usually helps me tell myself I have too much tackle and I don't need anymore. But like A-Jay said, life is short! Just buy it!!

Good info guys, can you elaborate more on what the axis is and how you build around it? I've got a couple rod builds coming up and the info would be much appreciated!

I think you'll be happy with whatever you choose for a spinning reel in the $40 range. IMO that's where diminishing returns really start ramping up, I don't plan on ever spending much more than that on a spinning reel for bass fishing. The best ones I've used and felt are the newer daiwas in the $40+ range. The daiwa revros (less than 40 on auction sites) is every bit as smooth as much much more expensive daiwas and Shimanos. Seriously blew me away when I found out how inexpensive they are. If I were you, I might even shell out an extra $10 to get the new Revros LT which is essentially the same reel except with around 20% less weight.

I've gone to using "tactical style" snaps for all of my hardbaits. They are the strongest available and have a great design. I found a pack of 30 or so for like 12 bucks at gander outdoors. They came in sizes smaller than the actual tactical angler brand which are more geared for saltwater/bigger lures. Here is what they look like.

Yeah! Those knots do look similar if not identical! Thanks for the reply. As far as the rubber bead goes, could you use a rubber bobber stop? Thanks for the share! Perfect demonstration video! That's exactly what I was looking for! I'm going to try this knot out when dropshotting and if I have no problems, probably send the palomar packing out of my knot arsenal.

Can someone help me Identify this knot? Knot Starts at 9:18. The way this guy tied it makes it look like a great alternative to a palomar when it comes to dropshotting. I can only get the palomar right about 50% of the time, the first time. This knot had the hook sitting PERFECTLY. If you are familiar with this knot, please chime in!!!

I don't know guys, Looks an awful lot like a Green Sunfish

Hi guys, I've moved to the metro almost a month ago now and have spent a lot of my free time checking out what I can around here as far as shore fishing. I own a 'yak, but my current living situation doesn't provide me with the means to keep it here, so in Wisconsin it stays. The past few weeks have been absolutely brutal, and I'm struggling to even catch a fish. I've tried a lot of metro lakes and some sections of the river, but it seems very high right now and difficult to fish. If anyone has any tips to catch some from the bank, that would be greatly appreciated! Tight Lines, Chris

My recommendation would be to keep practicing the alberto knot, that is the one I am using to attach line to line, most always braid mainline to mono/flouro leader. In the meantime, throwing a light braid such as 10lb power pro will not impede the action of your lure. In fact, you should get a pretty darn good wiggle out of your senkos and other lures with a diameter that small. IMO there are times on some bodies of water where bass do get line-wary and do not like high visibility lines. I have experienced situations myself when sight fishing or close quarters fishing where it had turned lookers into biters. That being said, there are enough situations where throwing straight braid, even on a finesse setup, should not make much of a difference. There are quite a few anglers on this board, many of which are probably a better angler than I, that will tell you that a fish aren't line shy at all and will tell you a leader is a waste of time and a weak link in your line. I do believe there is some truth to this, but I can't unsee those situations I've been in myself where using a mono/flouro leader made the difference in catching and not catching bass.

These look nice. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Ozark-Trail-12-Can-Premium-Cooler/55626731

good to hear you like it, its the rod I've got my eyes on. And yeah, I'm probably with you on that ebay over amazon thing, ebay has multiple levels that protect the buyer.

You can find the BBB on Amazon for about 160. Should be legit off there.

I can't attest to any of those two rods, but I can say that I was in a similar position last year and purchased a light action 4 piece St Croix for a backpacking (and future) trips. It is a nice rod, plenty sensitive, but since then, I have learned that Daiwa and other companies make high quality telescopic rods. That is what I will be purchasing in the future (hopefully near future). They seem to be more convenient and practical, as they would be much faster to set up and go fish with. I am actually looking to purchase a couple of telescopic rods to fit as role players for trout and finesse fishing. I can see myself using them much more often than a 4 piece pack rod because it would be much faster and easier to get to casting at whatever body of water I happen to be at. No need to piece together all the pieces and string the line through all the guides - just extend, allign, and cast. Here is a youtube video of a guy talking about some of the telescopic rod options out there.

When in doubt, punch it.

Looks like a nice sled to tow behind your Snowmobile. Looks like it should fit your Ice Auger fine, but where do you fit your Ice Shack?

What a tank, now is the time to catch the giants I hear. With the spawn approaching, the Walleyes are coming into the rivers from the big lakes. I know guys catch similar sized walleyes on the Fox River which connects Lake Michigan (Sturgeon Bay) to Lake Winnebago. A co-worker of mine showed me a picture that her boyfriend caught a #10 walleye and another member of his party caught a 12. Absolutely crazy, I am envious and would like to get out there myself sometime.

Sounds Ideal

For the record. I wasn't Joking. @riverbasser knows what I'm talking about.

Gotta throw them 1" Gulp Minnows. Trout devour them, attack them with reckless abandon. We have an early catch and release trout season in Wisconsin from January until May, which is when the regular season opens up. I do a lot of trout fishing in this time and these right here are by far the best producers. I also fish a lot of inline spinners (rooster tails, mepps, etc.) and they are great at getting strikes but hooking them is another story. Some days it is no problem, other days you will miss them all. Not with the minnows though; they absolutely chomp the minnows. Also, as others have stated small line and small hooks. The line I'm using here is 6lb mono, and that is because I was lazy. I use the same setups as I do for bass, just downsize line and lure. 4lb is ideal, but 6 will work too - I would expect bite numbers to go down drastically with anything rated higher. Notice the size jighead I'm using with the 1" minnows, the hook is probably a size 14, which is very small. This is knowledge I have gained when it comes to catching what I normally catch, small brook and brown trout in small, clear, cold, fast moving streams. You may need to modify tackle based on the size of trout and water conditions you are looking at.