dwtaylor

Check out Warbaits Weedless Slayer Swimbait Jig Heads on TW. Or the Slayer Swim Jig from the same company.

I like a 1/4 oz for shallow submerged weeds. Sometimes even that is heavy,as it can sink too deep. Lift is important to keep the bait from digging in the grass so a trailer and proper retrieval speed are important. Also, reaction strikes occur from ripping the bait free from grass...so a snag free jig and trailer is a must. I really like a single tail grub for swim jigs, but the strike king menace grub is quickly becoming my favorite trailer. However, the grass pig/ skinny dipper/ swimming caffeine shad all work great and provide lift without catching weeds. Green pumpkin is always a good color. Works for crawdad and bluegill imitations. White is good too for shad lakes.

I have a large melon and I wear the blackfin with the 580g green mirror lenses. It is absolutely amazing how much better those lenses are than Wiley x lenses as far as visibility goes. My only complaint is the weight of the glass. After wearing them for a while, behind my ears get sore. I will be buying blue mirror 580p black fins soon for sight fishing smallies in Lake Michigan.

I see doozies in the cheap plastics bins by yum at Walmart for like 1.96 a pack, but usually only in junebug. I like them on a c rig too as well as weightless with a superline hook for weight and fish it like a senko.

I would say citica e series. If you're looking for a left handed citica, I know a place that has several left and can't get rid of them. They are priced pretty good, and for the money they are asking, its probably the best buy. Pm me for details.

After working in retail, I noticed that Shimano reels had the least amount of markup among Pure Fishing and Quantum reels. We never carried Ardent, Lews, or Daiwa, so I cannot speak about those. Thus I am convinced that shimano cares more about performance per dollar than those other two brands. People would bring in older reels for me to spool up and there was a huge difference in durability between shimano and all else. The pflueger president is probably one of the most over hyped reels I have ever seen (in walleye country). I never saw one older than 5 years come in, yet I saw hundreds of old shimanos. 10 ball bearings? Who cares, bearing quality is much more important. That, amongst other things, is the reason I am switching to all shimano. Daiwa makes SOME good stuff too, but the $10 increase per year almost line wide irks me. The Zillion was an awesome value when it was about $260. Now, its just over priced for aging technology and weight. The best value? The curado or citica and the stradic. Those reels will last a lifetime. I would challenge the sx and the old soron stx to rival the shimanos' performance at price, performance, and durability any day.

Yeah, but the chronarchs are 200 bucks. Besides, I am still able to pick up e series curados and citicas.

HECK NO!!!!! I'm actually on internship right now at Mercury in Fond Du Lac, but I am a senior at Iowa State (Go Cyclones!!!). I don't think I can cheer for Iowa...even if there was a fire.

Unfortunately my first 100d was stolen and I replaced it with a 200e7. Now I am trying to make all of my reels 200e5s or 7s. I absolutely love the frame of the e series. I would gladly buy the new g series but the frame is awkward for me. I would like to buy a 50 size here soon, but I might treat myself to a core.

Don't throw mono for frogs...too much stretch and it doesn't cut through weeds well. Rod selection is generally pretty simple: heavy power (some manufacturers' mh is like others' heavy like Abu rods and vice versa). I prefer a heavy powered rod with an extra fast action for accuracy and bait manipulation. I have a dobyns champion 736c for frogs and it is a beef stick, but that's what I wanted. I love the tip on this rod and I will probably buy a 735 for lighter cover applications like docks and light weeds.

Does anyone here regularly fish Winnebago? I'm on internship in Fond Du Lac until August and its teasing me not being able to use a boat and get on the lake. I was wondering if I could tag along with someone on some Saturday or Sunday if possible. Also, is there another forum available for more local waters? Essentially, I would like to hear fishing and water reports. Thank you!

Like others have said, slack is key. If it is chugging forward then you don't have enough slack. I exponentially increased the amount of bites by learning to walk. With proper technique you can walk a frog without moving it forward more than an inch per rod pop. The padcrasher is a hard frog to learn on imo. The spro frog works best when you trim 3/4" to 1" off of each leg. The rod action can effect the walking too; however, you can walk a frog on any rod.

I would say stay with your current setup. Casting distance has too many variables to just point out the rod. The reel and line make a big difference in casting. If you want more distance out of braid, take a look at power pro slick, it helps. Based on the extra length of your rod, you should be able to outcast that carrot stick, provided all other variables are the same.

Winnie has some pretty good largemouth, but no smallies. Finding bass isn't too hard there because the abundance of shallow weed cover, at least in the summer. My biggest there was about 20" on a live leech rigged weightless and weedless on a reed edge. The only problem is the pike, which seems to be a common issue up north. I also hear leech is pretty good and so is pokegama. No one fishes for largemouth up there so typically they aren't lure conditioned.

Recently I have looked into getting another rod, specifically for 3/8 oz to 3/4 oz football jigs. After several outings, I have found that my current 7' mh is too short and slightly too limber. Ideally, I would want something longer and without microguides. However, I am really undecided on which brand and model. I love to fish football jigs and I am essentially looking to buy the nicest rod in my current arsenal. Thus, I am willing to spend some money for performance, quality, and customer service. So if any of you guys are willing to suggest rods, that would be awesome. I am in no hurry to buy, as the water here has some pretty good ice on it. Thank you!

Again, I like to see good reviews, but I am very firm in trying out rods before I purchase them. For instance, St. Croix rods get excellent reviews and I cannot stand them due to improper balance with all of the reels I own, including the legend tournament rods.

I have heard and seen some very good things about Pinnacle tackle products and I was basically wondering where I would be able to find them. I never buy rods without previously handling them, and because I am interested in the rod series, I would like to handle some. I am in the central Iowa area and almost no one around here carries them. So does anyone in the area have a good place to look at them? Thanks ahead of time!

Based on the balance of the rod...you are probably right! lol

I bought a couple at the Onalaska, WI Gander Mountain store when the Elite Series was in town for their tournament. They were 30% off so I thought why not. Anyways, the next morning when I was marshaling, I noticed that my pro had one tied on. He said that it was an awesome color and had 10 spares just to keep from running out due to pike. He never actually fished shallow grass and wood like the rest of the field seemed to have done. I have tried mine out and had a couple hits, but nothing big yet. It looks like a good open water frog to me. I can't seem to put down the natural green color, I have too much confidence in it. I will be sure to try it out as soon as this heat wave passes. Its getting ridiculous.

Especially this time of year, fight the fish as quickly as possible. Mortality rates on fatigued fish in hot weather like this can be at or near 100%. If the fish are small, it doesn't make a difference because your equipment can handle it. However, if you hook a good 5-6lb fish on an ultralight, you will most likely wear it out and kill it now.

In my experience, no. However, it may happen. I leave spros on the dashboard in my car for a couple of hours in the summer to soften them up....it helps. As for the leak in the kvd frog, I would try a dab of caulking material. However, the scent idea sounds great and I might try that tomorrow.

It looks like its between pumpkin and green pumpkin. What I have found that is great to soak green pumpkin trailers in water until they turn lighter. That will probably make the trailer more realistic like.

I have the 7' mh and I love mine. I will probably get more too in the future when the funds are allowing.

I have some left handed baitcasters, but the majority of my baitcasters are right handed. I currently have left handed reels on my frog rod, flippin stick, and spook rod. All of those techniques require more rod movement than other rods and I can work the rod better with my right arm than my left. However, I feel that reeling in on the left side makes me feel like I have less leverage than reeling in with my right hand. BTW, I use the handle on the left side with my spinning rods. It feels more natural when the reel is under the rod to reel like that I guess.

From my experience working at a tackle shop, there is often vast amounts of back stock line that is stored in less than ideal conditions. I would talk to the people where you got the line from because it can be a storage issue. Also, by returning it to the store, the manager probably does a defective merchandise claim that also helps the company of the line trace issues with the line so they can adjust quality control as needed. For instance, when nanofil just came out, the line on the bulk spools was inconsistent to say the least. Anyways, that was due to a chemical reaction between the line and the spool that caused the line to degrade. It did not happen with the small spools, just the very large commercial bulk spools.