Bluebasser86

Caught some fish on a Spro Popping frog last week. I bent the hooks up slightly with my needlenose and it made a huge difference in the hookup ratio.

I bought a pack of the original banjo minnows off TV and caught a ton of fish with them.

I sent my son to my parent's house so they could have a day with their only grand kid, all my dad wanted. My wife made lasagna with garlic toast and peanut butter cookies and let me take a nap before coming to work tonight.

I fish a MH/M St Croix Pro Glass (very similar to the Premier MH/M, just an older rod they no longer make), as my main cranking rod. I had one that got broke several years ago and tried several different brands of cranking rods before I landed back on the St. Croix, just never could find one that felt as good as that one.

I tend to be the same way but I'm trying mend it glue and have been pretty impressed with it so far. I'm only doing it with baits that are still in pretty good shape when I'm done with them though. Normally I just get mad at myself when I take a used bait out of a bag that I thought was new though.

Don't just cast them out and reel them back in. Stop and go retrieves in open water, crank them into the weeds and rip them out, deflect them off rocks and wood or docks. Speed them up and slow them down, anything can draw a strike on any given day.

The only upside I can see to a change is the possibility of all remaining baits being discontinued at a big discount, but I'd rather keep paying what I am and the baits stay the same.

That is a sweet camera, but I know I can't even afford to look at that thing. Oh I'm going to, no doubt about that! Love the looks of that new silver Line Through trout. I've got a sinking version, so I better get a floater too right?!

Actually the original ones I made were with a football and a finesse jig head, and I still use them occasionally when I need a bait I can retrieve faster. The swim jig head cuts through the water easily so it tends to rise pretty quickly. The football head takes a much smaller hook also and doesn't look as nice, but they catch lots of fish still. The swim jig head does come through the weeds a little better but like I said, I'm always tweaking my baits and trying new ideas. The end results in trying to find a design that came through weeds and heavy wood better was these guys. They're a swinging football head with a 5/0 Owner Twistlock XXX that can be rigged virtually weedless so they come through stuff much better and can be ripped through weeds very well. The hinged head and hook helps keep fish stuck by reducing the amount of leverage they can get on the jump too.

Battery when I was fishing out of a 2 man. Terminal tackle box. Toilet paper, sycamore leaves just aren't the same.

BPS Stick Os, everything else is overpriced, but I have a BPS 10 minutes from the house so I can afford to be picky.

Wow that is a thick fish! Congrats man!

Were the bigger bass that were caught out of there kept? A body of water that size may not support many big fish so if those big fish were taken out they may have been replaced by lots of small fish instead of another big fish. Clear water like that I'd be running a swimbait along those weedlines and edge of the drop offs. You might not catch a big fish, but I bet you at least see them if they're in there.

If you aren't fishing a bladed jig you are missing out, BIG TIME! They're one of my number 1 big fish baits, especially black and blue. My biggest problem was when they first came out they were decent built baits at best, so I started building my own to try and get the best bait I could get. Still constantly tweaking them but I'm really happy with the ones I've got now, to the point that I rarely ever fish a spinnerbait. They just catch way bigger average size fish for me than a spinnerbait does. I get to play with colors that you can't get in other bladed jigs too. Last Thursday they were really liking Funky Chicken (pink and chartreuse)

Just make sure you aren't buying rope and duct tape at the same time or you may get the cops called on you, or at the very least some weird looks.

Gar got nothing on pike in bait stealing category, and MB 110 wouldn't suspend very well with a steal leader Where are you seeing gar super thick? I've got an arrow with their names on it.

There are different restrictions everywhere about what you can use for bait and how to collect it. You'll want to make sure you know those before you start getting bait or go to bait store and buy it so you know you aren't breaking the law. Pantyhose work well for stuff like chicken livers and congealed blood baits. The sponge baits and punch worms work well for dipbait but you do have to re-dip them often as it washes off.

Post like this make the monkey super excited!

I've gone almost completely away from Zoom Trick Worms because the prices on the Tmacs are so much better and I like the flat nose for putting on a shakyhead a lot better. Hopefully their prices and baits don't change.

I agree with what others have said, go with the Citica. I also hated the stupid round handles on the Caenan. Obviously you can replace them but that's more money you have to spend and less you've saved.

I don't put plastics on the night before because they'll just get torn up on the way to the lake it seems like. Don't leave them rigged up for long periods of time either as they'll rust the hooks if there's salt in the bait. I do rig my rods up the night before with whatever hooks I'm going to be using my plastics on though.

Very few. Fish will eat and Alabama rig with all that wire and snaps sticking out all over, I doubt your little snap is scaring many. I'd be more willing to bet that it may cost you a few fish by hampering the action of the bait you're fishing, especially if you're using it with topwaters.

Cloudy-black sunny-black rainy-black windy-black dirty water-black clear water-black You get the idea I don't get to frog fish very often though so I might not know what I'm talking about.

When my son was born 6 months ago, that put a pretty serious damper on the fishing for awhile, but was very worth it

Never really fished heritage but it seems very shallow. It does have good shoreline access though. Gardner has very little shoreline access and the spots that it does are very thick with weeds.