Hawgin

My buddy Matt (Fatman1267) and I visited a local farm pond today, and had some success. The biggest one weighed almost 5 pounds, and was caught on a Strike King bleeding chartruese spinnerbait. The other was caught on a Berkley Beast in watermelon/red flake.

If I had a BPS 20 minutes from my house I would go there to see if they had what I wanted on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and twice on Sunday.

What type of retrieve do you use in warmer weather. I'm assuming some type of a faster retrieve with shorter pauses?

That color, along with the clown color are my two most productive jerkbait colors. I like the husky jerks, but I really, really like the deep down husky jerks.

Suspending baits are especially good for extremely cold water temperatures, when a 30 second(or more) pause is the only way they will bite.

I'm not completely familiar with the line you are refering to, but I fish my jigs on 50# power pro and I'm sure fish can probably see it. Doesn't seem to affect the jig bite for me. I guess it would also depend on how clear the water is that you will be fishing.

Fenwicks. I think these rods are very underrated, and very seldom talked about.

"Why no honey, those pants don't make your butt look fat, it does that all on it's own."

Hey LBH, you wouldn't have to set the hook so hard if you mixed in a cheeseburger or a steak once in a while. When you had your shirt off in that video you looked like the skeleton my wife had hanging on the door for halloween. If the camera was filming you from the front we wouldn't be able to see you hiding behind your Spidershaft. Seriously though, good video.

I have a St. Croix Premier spinning rod and I like it quite a bit. I know alot of people like the Shimano rods, but I've personally never used them.

I've only ever fished a medium heavy as my flipping stick simply because it's versatile enough I can (and do) use it for other applications. I don't fish many lakes/ponds/reservoirs that have a ton of heavy weed cover. I do fish around a lot of laydowns and stumps and have had no real issues with my rod not being strong enough.

7' Fenwick Techna AV MH, Pflueger Supreme, 50# power pro 6'6" Fenwick Techna AV MH, Pflueger Supreme, 12# Suffix Siege 1/2 oz strike king premier plus jig w/yum craw chunk trailer (black and blue) 3/8 oz strike king premier spinner bait, firetiger w/dual willow leaf blades 5 inch Berkley beast flipping bait, watermelon red flake 10 inch Zoom Big Ol Monster w/ 1/4 oz tru tungsten bullet weight (black and blue) Zoom horny toad, watermelon black flake

I'm an accountant for a company called State Street. If your company offers you a 401K or any other type of mutual fund, we probably service it.

Mike- That is a very good rod, and very versitile. You can fish most anything on it because it has good sensitivity for plastics, but it has enough backbone for any type of lure. About the only thing you would be limited with that rod is fishing jigs in heavy cover, c-rigs in deep water, or fishing topwater frogs with it. I think you will be fine to fish spinners, light cranks, plastics, etc. I don't currently own a citica, but I have been hearing enough good stuff about them that I am considering looking into them to upgrade my reels.

Vekol, bass fishing is a year round sport. When it's that cold, you just fish until you can't feel your hands and face, then you dock the boat run up to the truck and warm up enough to go back to the boat and head out again. I've had some mornings where we quit after a few hours, but those few hours were fun, especially being the only boaters dumb enough to be on the water so it's perfectly still and quiet. Basspro, congrats on your first tournament. They can become a very enjoyable and addictive experience.

I'm sure there are better frog experts on here that can help you, but the way that I fish them is to cast them out to an area of cover. Leave a little slack in your line, and then snap your rod tip a few times to make the frog chug, walk, or hop. Then I let it sit for a few seconds, and then repeat. You work it much in the same manner as you would a "walk the dog" topwater. When you approach haevy cover, or lily pads, hop the frog on top of the cover, and then let it fall into any openings or holes in the cover, and I usually let it set for a few seconds. Also, when a fish hits the lure wait until you feel the fish before setting the hook, much like you would with a horny toad. Unlike the horny toad, and other buzzing frogs, the biggest key to hollow bodied frogs is the pause.

My vote would be for Suffix Elite or Suffix Siege. They are both outstanding lines.

Out of those choices I think the Citica is the best of the group. It gives a good quality reel with a decent rod. If you ever decided to upgrade the rod you would already have a good reel.

For the everyday guys like us I think a lot of it is overkill. It's like the guys with the $5,000 set of golf clubs who shoots in the high 90's everytime he walks on the course. However, I can certainly understand all that stuff for the pros. If there were big $ on the line then I would be in favor of anything and everything that gives you a leg up. However it doesn't make any sense to spend thousands of dollars on the top equipment to win the local lake, $20 entry fee tournament. Thank goodness my fishing buddy is the one who spends the money on the cool toys, and then I can use them for free. Oh...don't tell him I said that. :-X

Gameover- The best thing I have found for this is the Falcon Tackle system. I have each bait style in it's own seperate box and only carry what I need for that day. Right now, I don't even mess with having jerkbaits in my bag because I know I won't use them for another month. This winter I will only carry jerkbaits, jigs, and a limited assortment of plastics. The only time I load up everything is if I'm going to be fishing a tournament and I want everything at my disposal "just in case."

For what those big boys cost, there isn't much I wouldn't do to get one of those back. The thing I would be most afraid of is one of those moster Cali Bass mistaking me for a swimbait.

I see that BPS has these on sale right now for $68, and I have been looking at picking up a new reel for crankbaits and spinnerbaits. I see that have one with a 5.2:1 gear ratio, and I'm guessing with his name attached it is a decent reel, but I don't know anyone I fish with who has actually used one. Does anyone have one, and is it a quality reel? Please no suggestion like "well if you only spend $25 more you can get this or that". I just want to know about this specific reel. Thanks.

Lightning- I've looked at those jigs a few times, and have considered them but.. 1. I can't find them anywhere to actually look at one up close. 2. It seems to me that it would be hard to tie the line on those in such a limited space, and my fingers don't always work the best. 3. $4 per jig is fairly pricey. I will defer to your expertice that they are probably worth it, but I have not yet convinced myself. Maybe I'm just afraid I would like them to much, and at $4 each I would make the bait monkey to happy.

I'm pretty comfortable walking the dog with hard plastic topwater baits, and I still have a lot of trouble getting a hollow bodied frog to walk. I have had most of my luck chugging a frog along. I do try to use a cadence with a frog and after a few chugs I will let it rest with the "tail down" for 10-15 seconds. Sorry, I know you asked about walking the dog, but I get excited when a frog discussion pops up.

Upgrading to better spinnerbaits can't hurt anything. With a better spinner you are going to get smoother blade action, stronger wires so you can bump more cover with them, and you are going to get a skirt that has better action under the water. I'm not familiar with Hawgcaller, but I have a lot of success fishing strike king spinnerbaits. I really like the bleeding series and add a red trailer hook.