ClackerBuzz

marketing 101. why would a company only want to sell product X to low end consumers when they can also make money selling Y to middle of the road, and Z to high end consumers. same reason companies offer rods for $75, $150 and $300. triple dipping

good stuff Brian

I gave up on Cabelas in 2015 b/c of this same issue. My guess is a BPS buy out was in the mix for a long time which lead to less purchasing/fulfillment issues. Don't get me wrong I still order...I'm just not holding my breath.

this 100% applies to frog fishing too. going from jerks to very light twitches produces some toads

The BS frequency

Dicks has free shipping, even on oversized orders. Field & Stream Sugar Stix Sugar Toads are $2.47. they only have black but I just stocked up on buzzbait trailers. http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/product/index.jsp?productId=32845376&prodFindSrc=cart

i've fished it 3-4 times. my buddy drags me there every year but this is the first season I refused to go b/c there are so many better places. spring/fall is better than summer b/c it gets to be a hot bowl of soup. the north side is much better and has the natural drop off/structure coming off the 'mountain'. the south side has flats and slow sloping farmland. I always pull bass off the rock jetty on the north side, just up from the dam. the timber along the north side holds bass too. the weeds are more of an algae. i'd much rather see milfoil or hydrilla. no doubt fish are skittish b/c it gets heavy pressure and it's fishing/hunting country so most end up on the dinner plate. take a crappie rod to keep the skunk off you. i think of Chambers as a baitfish lake.

hands down the best clip i've tried. strong, easy to use and come thru weeds like butter.

I'm packing my bags for Lake Forest, California~

here's the backstory:

PA. All the transition times suck algae while the fish get acclimated. Late winter to early spring. Late spring to early summer. Late summer to early fall. Late fall to early winter. Honorable mention goes to hottest temps of summer with lowest oxygen contentent. I'd probably say the same for peak cold temps but no way I'm out there drilling ice

"Fish aren't biting today. Should have been here yesterday."

I fish fall the same as the rest of the year: cover the top, middle and bottom of water column. i can usually cover everything with a topwater, spinnerbait, Ned rig, 4-5" senko, jig, and drop shot. it's not uncommon for smallies to charge 20+ yds to hit a topwater. I'd go with a spook b/c you can cover water. early in my fishing 'career' i made the mistake of trying to cast every inch of water; trying to catch every bass in the lake, including dinks; and blindly casting forward. i now pick the best 10% of the water. take sample sections of the lake to find clues ie fish. You don't need the fish finder to identify points on land. they will extend underwater and fish love them. investigate a cove and it's secondary points. find some underwater weed beds and fish them shallow to deep. also look for a shoreline that is steep and has rocks or tall trees (vs flat shorelines with low scrub bushes). the steep bank will also continue under water. deep water access is huge. follow that steep/rocky shoreline till it forms a 'corner' at a cove or flat=a very productive area. It's much better to troll around for 30-60 mins to look for clues and see if you spook bass as opposed to blindly casting forward. if you have a 100 yd stretch of shoreline, troll forward first and pick the best looking 10%. then come back the other direction and cast. you're greatest weapon is between ur ears.

no lure even comes close to constantly catching fish like the lure that is constantly thrown.

bam. this is step #1 step #2: get over this celestial belief in a rubber worm. go fish the bleep out of knock off worms till you're the man: when you are catching bass on senkos put them away and hook on a generic, marvel as you continue to catch bass. when bass aren't biting a senko take it off and hook on a generic, marvel when they won't bite that either. step #3: give away all ur leftover packs of senkos to ur buddies and tell them you don't need them anymore b/c you've switched to generics. watch as they gaze at you like a god

-picking out back lashes will catch you some amazing fish so wake up and take note. -if you're not catching fish on a new lure/ technique it's b/c ur adding too much 'angler action' -stop trying to feel every bite. keeping slack in ur line will get you better quantity, and better quality. -you can power fish in cold water. -stop watching Youtube vids and immediately ordering from TW. take the time to dig thru ur Rubbermaid containers full of tackle and make due with what you have to try this newly discovered magical technique. -expensive equipment won't help you catch bass. sooner or later ur going to bump into a guy with an Ugly stick that pulls out his cell phone pix and makes you drool with envy. -if you fish from shore, skip ur next 3-4 technique specific combos, and several hundred lures, and buy a kayak. -if you fish from kayak/canoe/boat, skip ur next 3-4 technique specific combos, and several hundred lures, and buy a sonar with side imaging. -you can't have 'confidence in a lure' without experience. -50% of what you read/watch online won't apply to your water. the other 50% still needs to be customized. learn to identify your body of water and it's biological personality -you only need 3 colors: white, green, black/blue. -it's better to try something new and completely ridiculous for 5 mins then get skunked for another 2 hours via the same 500-600 repetitive casts

broke off ur PB?

I go with an underhand roll cast also. or you can up ur weight from 3/8 to 1/2oz etc. also consider backing off to 50-70ft and using a senko, drop shot or weedless Ned rig etc. I'm shameless when it comes to getting bites. i might get broken off or be able to work them out, either way i'll learn something and make adjustments. if the ned rig gets bit but broken off i'll see if i can duplicate it from 40ft or less until i find out their comfort zone. clear water is definitely a bear to work with.

your hookups should easily double if you focus on ur mechanics. 1-manage ur line. keep as little slack line as possible on the water surface. also quickly reel 2-3 rotations to remove slack from the equation before hook set. 2-keep ur rod tip down or as low as possible while working the frog. working it high in the air invites problems. the more advanced you get the higher you can keep ur rod. keep it low until you get better. 3-if you see the frog is gone set the hook immediately. do not count 3 seconds . do not wait until you feel the weight of the fish on the line. i had the standard frog hook up issues when i worked my rod at 10-11 o'clock, and counted 3 seconds while reeling up slack. i read a lot of recommendations on here, studied the pros, watched rod/reel technique in videos and made the adjustments above. it made me love frog fishing again

I think we all start out as power fisherman b/c it's how we learn to feel the bite. sooner or later you gotta recognize picking out backlashes produces such undeniable pigs

I have my 6'8" light action trout rod spooled w/ 5lb braid. the rod was out of commission for awhile b/c of a guide repair so I used the reel on my ML bass drop shot rod. a few observations: 5lb braid casts far but it gets wind knots if you don't have a heavy enough lure on the end. Or if ur leader is too long or heavy compared to the braid. i use 6lb copoly or mono for a leader. these work great for ML+ rods. i went down to 4lb fluro leader but it breaks easily and knots are unforgiving. i broke off far too many big fish on braid to 6lb fluoro b/c my drag was too tight (ultimately my hooks were too stout for the application. smaller/light wire hooks immediately fixed the issue. this was on a ML bass rod, not a L trout rod). if you have a L or UL rod using braid in the system provides great hook sets. 5lb braid is not exactly abrasion resistant so it wears thin and gets weak spots. this did not end well on my ML bass drop shot rod. drop shot gets hung up often and the 5lb braid would break while trying to pull free. i'd lose my rig plus 20ft of 6lb copoly. I'd thought for sure the copoly or my connection knot would break first but that was rarely the case. I'd keep it simple and use 5 and 10lb braid. and 4 or 6lb mono/copoly. the species you listed don't necessitate light fluoro leaders or the trouble that comes with them.

this is the technique i use: shake the slack not the worm. the bites usually come on the pause after the shake. if i'm not getting bit i will add some violent shakes in which occasionally works. it's important to dead stick the rig on the initial fall. just gently reeling up the slack after a 20-30 second deadstick will get you lots of bites. an initial fall deadstick followed by a twitch is my bread and butter (just like initial frog splash down with long deadstick/light twitch is deadly on big girls). i like targets too but if there aren't any to be had i focus on 3-4 'zones'. the initial deadstick is my main focus, even if it's in wide open water. then i'll either stroke or power swim 20-25ft to zone 2. i'm feeling for rock/timber along the way and if i find any i'll soak it there. zone 2 gets another deadstick/slack shake b/c i've likely caught the attention of fish in a new area. repeat to zone 3. i've found this method extremely effective yet not near as painful as slow dragging it 75ft, which is how a lot of guys view the rig.

when all else fails, head to the weeds.

yup, it's easy to replicate every year in June/July/August. work ur frog close to the shoreline where they sit and get out the hot sauce.