Jay Ell Gee

I'm having great luck on pearl white super flukes, dragging jigs, and my buddy in Prairieville is catching them on suspending jerkbaits fairly regularly. Reel them down parallel to drop offs.

I would slide my fat behind down a canal bank for pics of that any day! Great fish!

If you have straight sunlight, your fish can move shallower during the day as the shallows warm quickly. 2-5 pm should be prime time for shallow fishing, so you may want to try it out. Then again, I fished stained Louisiana water. Stained water heats faster than clear and fish generally are less afraid to go shallow in it. I could be way off about clear water.

Can't help much on the UL gear, as all of my "UL" style fishing is done with a fly rod. A 3/4 weight would be plenty of fun on a trout, and quite a ball on big bluegill. It's quite a blast, and you can get a beginner setup for a decent price if you hunt down deals. Just a thought. You wouldn't have the worst experience on a Lightning rod, they will serve you well. If you could put just a little more coin together, a Powell Diesel 7'2 MH/XF would make a great flipping rod for all but the heaviest of uses, and is only about twenty dollars more, but more than twice the rod. No warranty though, so you would have to use your head when freeing snags, etc. I flip mine and even throw frogs on it. It's an excellent rod for the money. Heck, it even has free shipping from tackle warehouse.

Define topwater... Are we talking frogs? Poppers? Spooks? Wakebaits? Shellcracker G2? MS (Mini?) Slammer? I used 12 lb mono for frogs for years, but after making the switch to braid... I will never go back. For treble type topwaters, I would recommend mono. I fish some seriously nasty stuff in La, but I have never needed more than 12 lb test. 14 may help a bit on bigger fish. For the smaller size wakebaits (Shellcracker G2, etc.) braid will also do you just fine. For larger wakebaits (MS Slammer, etc) most guys move to heavy mono to avoid snapping the braid if the cast backlashes or whatnot. Watching a 25+ dollar wakebait sail through the air can be an upsetting experience, so I hear. Not a big deal as long as you can get to it before a bass, I guess.

Agreed. Make it line-through and run a size 2 feathered treble under it. Go time.

Bass will certainly congregate into newly flooded cover, especially grass and timber. As for this movement in winter, I have no idea. Muddy water absorbs heat faster and the shallow vegetation may absorb heat as well. Timber definitely will. Shallow water will also warm up quickly, and rivers dont experience temperature changes as drastically as ponds and lakes. What does all this mean for you? I have no idea. But I certainly wouldn't spend a day off sitting inside if I could try it. For what it's worth, I am primarily a river fisherman, and we are still catching bass fairly regularly at the moment. Bring plenty of jigs with scented trailers!

For the first few years of my bass fishing experience, I strictly used shimano citica D series in medium fast rods with 12lb mono. I caught more than my fair share of frog bass, no doubt. However, I was fortunate enough to grab a new baitcaster at a steal and started upgrading my rods, and finally made a braid setup. What a difference. Do you have to buy a whole setup just to frog fish? Not at all! I have hooked plenty of bass on mono. Heck, my PB frog fish was on mono on a MH/XF Powell diesel. I didnt bring the braid rod bc the water visibility was almost ten feet. It handled him just fine. However, in south La with all of the weeds and pads that we are used to (slop in general) the braid goes a long way in helping boat fish out of the poopy stuff. If I had the choice, I would prefer the braid. If the frog bite dies off, you'll have a decent flipping setup to use as well.

Frog fishing can be productive through the entire day in a lot of situations. However, I hate to be rude but there are already about 521,297 threads, articles, and videos about frog fishing that could answer your (fairly basic) questions. You could read for an entire day on frog fishing with a little help from google. But so I don't come across as a complete prude: 1.) Use braid. Always. 2.) A medium heavy / heavy rod with a fast tip will suffice. If you can control yourself to stall your hooksets, an extra fast tip can be downright mean. String said rod with braid. 3.) Wait until you feel the weight of the fish before setting the hook. Setting on the strike will have you ducking frogs all day. 4.) As you set the hook after waiting to feel the weight of the fish, check and make sure that you are using braid. 5.) A watermelon red ribbit with a 4/0 Gamakatsu EWG or even a 5/0 is an great start. 6.) Post pics of your catches in the fishing reports!

Welcome to Bass Resource. Fellow Louisiana guy here. To answer your question, I have a 2500 FD on a St. Croix and I love it. However, any posts relating to reels, rods, line, etc have their own forum area about halfway down the forum. Don't be surprised if this gets moved there. What uses are you wanting out of it?

I see what you did there.

Agreed. You need to fish the water temperature, not the air temperature. In the last few days of warm weather here is south La, I have been catching 4 or more bass a day on my 35 minutes of lunch left from eating and socializing in the pond outside my work. The back end is incredibly shallow (less than two feet) and is covered in sunken vegetation from the summer (think mats of moss). With water that shallow and some direct sunlight in 75 degree weather, those shallows warmed up quickly. Even thought it was only a few degrees, it was enough to send bass flocking to it. Here I am mid January picking up bass left and right on a white super fluke with a twitch twitch pause retrieve. Not typical winter patterns. It's difficult to describe the way I locate fish when it is cold this time of year... Tossing a flick shake setup, let it rest on the bottom, and slowly twitch it. I then pop it up a good two feet or more, and then let it fall as I take up slack. Let it sit, pop it up a few feet, and allow the pop to be your retrieve. If that doesn't work, try dragging a jig n' pig. Scent is a huge plus. It may make the difference. Use trailers that can imitate both bluegill and crawfish. I was given one rage claw a while back and still have it on my jig. It's action doesn't seem to be too fast for what I do, which is dragging bottom. I really enjoy the mini and normal size mop jig this time of year. Awesome jig to drag bottom with. Parallel your drop offs from shallow water with a suspending jerkbait while throwing as faaaaaar as you can. I'm looking to really get some of these soon, as it seems to be a good way to try and hook some winter bass. I know guys that are tossing them in Louisiana (notoriously known for stained water) and hooking a respectable amount of bass on them. Large swimbaits can be a good choice to hungry bass. Not talking skinny 6" paddle tails, more like bulky swimbaits or long ones. Big meals can tempt some husky bass into striking. Keep us updated and if you have any questions, shoot me a PM! I'll keep you updated on what's working for me!

If you missed it, the goal was to provide the OP with some ideas on jerkbaits that are cheaper to buy and learn on (lose) than pointers. The MB Vision 110 simply doesn't fit that criteria.

I really like the D Bomb so far. My girlfriends brother gave me a pack of Sweet Beavers in a purple color to try... It will be getting flipped this summer. I have a pack of Ugly Otters to try this summer as well. When I first wanted to try the beaver baits, I saw an end cap of Havok baits for the first time and grabbed some Pit Bosses and Grass Pigs. My girlfriend actually caught her first bass on a pit boss that was rigged on my rod (all but one appendage was pecked off by bluegill, I was about to change it) while I was re-tying for her (she now knows how to tie a palomar). We traded rods and she tossed it out into the center of a canal run out, drug it along the dropoff and WHAM, three pounder. She then proceeded to buy herself an array of soft plastics and frogs the next time we went shopping, including a few colors of pit bosses. She still has the torn up pit boss in her little pink tackle box.

I landed four and missed three. Had one more throw the hook about 5 feet out. All on a white super fluke in less than two feet of water over grass. Pretty fun to watch a solid white fluke disappear in muddy water.

I'm hoping to get out there in an hour or so for a bit before dark. Not too confident that the bass will cooperate. It is rainy here in South La, most of usual ponds and rivers are flooded out! The pond on my work property is good to go though. Just waiting for a break in the drizzle!

I would simply like to add that tossing a flick shake or wacky rigged senko against dock legs can also be productive. If you can control your line, you get a good, slow vertical fall. I would also have to agree about the jigs (maybe even a bulky trailer to slow the fall) and finesse jigs. You can also skip a flick shake a loooooong way under docks.

The lake fork magic shad, mattlures baby bass, havoc grass pigs, and even the swimming super fluke/swimming caffeine shad could produce well. You can even make all but the baby bass weedless!

Black Dog G2 Shellcracker. Awesome wakebait. The 6 inch Hudd's should get you by as well.

What are those two in the top left corner? I like those a lot!

It's a vertical presentation for a lot of people. Cast it near a bridge pylon, dock leg, etc and let it fall straight down the structure being fished.This winter I am also jerking it off of the bottom and letting it fall in fishy looking areas. Also seems to draw strikes that way.

http://www.basspro.com/Sworming-Hornet-The-Swarm-Castable-Umbrella-Rig/product/1111040247/ As I am mostly bank bound, I'm not sure that I can justify throwing one of these myself, but I know that some of you guys catch some serious bass on them, so here you go!

Right behind you! If I had a facebook, I would so post about this accomplishment. But really, I like to fish them weightless on a 3/0, or even use them as a jerkbait. I prefer flick shakes for wacky.

I was thinking the SAME thing... please stop talking about the carpet Ike. The bigger than the shoe thing did crack me up, though. But hey, he was probably just excited. Nerves can get you silly like that. The Hackney shot with him fishing while Ike screamed was absolutely classic. I kind of feel like he does the screaming act as a gimmick, perhaps to make him unique. Who knows. My absolute favorite quote from Ike for the day: "Tune into the Outdoor Channel. You can see that fish on TV!" What a way to pshych the competition Ike.

Thank you for the advice! Typically, we fish the Bayou Pigeon spillway area. I have really been wanting to make it a point to fish lake cataouatche some this year as well. I appreciate the heads up. Banging squarebills off of trees and stumps accounts for some good fish out there, so it seems like the concept is the same, but with a slower lure? I appreciate the tips from locals. However, I am mainly bank bound this winter, unfortunately. Highway 51 and Ramah usually, as well as some ponds around here. If you know of any decent bank fishing opportunities, any chance the local guys could shoot me a pm? I am always up for new fishing partners!