Bluebasser86

Welcome!

I like them both. Bad thing about the pop frogz is you have to use a little lighter or smaller hook than I'd like to keep the head floating high enough to actually pop. If you get the right combination they can be very effective though. Being able to pause the hard leg frogz after a missed strike is great too.

Fixed it for you

VMC's and Owner's red hooks are silver when the paint is gone, not gold. As long as they're sharp that's all that really matters. I have confidence in the red hooks on certain baits, so that's what I use. I have no proof that it gets me more bites but it give me confidence in those baits and that will put more fish in the boat without a doubt.

Never been on Pickwick but I've just stumbled onto solid patterns and schools of fish more than once on lakes like Table Rock and LOZ without anyone helping me out. Sounds to me like someone happened onto a good thing and it worked out for him

I run the default settings on mine that's on my johnboat and it does everything I want.

So maybe it would make a good unit for the bow while you're on the trolling motor but not so great on the dash while you're running and navigating then?

When I first started targeting wipers, I freelined live gizzard shad in hopes of catching one over 10 pounds. My first day doing it I caught one that was 9lbs 4ozs. Several years trying to beat 10 pounds later, that fish is still my PB wiper They are a great example of "Find the bait, find the fish". If there's no shad or other baitfish, you're wasting your time. I like covering flats with a 1/2oz lipless bait or a Strike King King Shad. They also love jerkbaits unfortunately.

I back mine down in neutral whenever possible. I've also heard it's easier on your vehicle on steep ramps to do it that way.

Unfortunately that line up of baits has been discontinued a few years ago. Most of Lucky Craft's squarebills are now the RTOs (Takahiro Omori's signature series). Now he's sponsored by Luck-E-Strike and has helped them develop a couple unique baits like The Freak and has his own line up of squarebills. I'm a big fan of the Green Copper Shad and Copper Perch just like I was back when they were Lucky Craft colors http://www.basspro.com/LuckEStrike-Rick-Clunn-RC%b2-Square-Bill-Crankbaits/product/10215514/

Brush hog Uncle Josh #10 Big Daddy Frog

One of my only saltwater trips we had a bull shark finning across the surface behind the boat that the crew guessed at 400-500 pounds. Would have loved to have gotten that fish to bite. I saw a bass a couple years ago on a spawning bed in a strip pit that was a state record class fish (12lb range). Too much wind to try to fish for her on her deep bed in the weeds so I left her just knowing she was in there.

What rod/reel/line combo do you fish that on? I've tried that rig and have had less than spectacular results. I feel I might be fishing it on the wrong (to heavy) gear though.

Hooksets are free, better to set the hook and be wrong than not set the hook and be wrong

They're big, really big. Been throwing mine on a light swimbait rod kind of big.

X2, 7' MH/F if you like to fish T rigs and jigs more or fish a lot of heavier cover, 7' M/F if you like moving baits or fish mainly open water.

I had an automatic Mustang I won in a BASS weekend series tournament. After it went off in the rain on 3 different occasions I sold it and bought a manual one. Once I was sitting on the dang thing trying to load the boat in a downpour when it went off and almost shot me over the side into the lake. That'd be a heck of a deal to end up in the lake like that.

Fish braid with a fluoro leader and be a line watcher, you should gut hook almost zero fish doing that. In the event you do, if you know the proper protocol for unhooking gut hooked fish, then you should be fine.

It's my understanding with snakeheads and other invasives, it's illegal to release them once caught.

See the little white streaks in front of the black parts of my Guidewear? Any guesses what that is? First day I fished last year it was 11 degrees at launch and warmed up to a blistering 27, and we wrecked them! Can't catch them from home so if I can stand the weather I'll be fishing! I caught this little gal on January 10th 2013. All made possible by power plant lakes

The spark points aren't super huge for a 4X hook. I use them on my Bull Shads and spooks and they work just fine without hampering any action.

It does have a small mouth though If I had a dollar for every time one of those ugly things fooled me into thinking I'd hooked a state record smallie....

7" YUM Dinger on a 1/4oz T rig is a big fish getter for me. 4" stick worm on a shakyhead catches tons of fish, but not many big ones.

Gulp baits are the worst I've fished. It's almost harder to put a hook in a Gulp worm than a real worm.

1 to 1.5 pounds and 12-14 inches.