MarkH024

Either weight would work. I don't see how the eyes of the hook would be a negative impact on what you're trying to accomplish so get away from that fear. Also if you want those plastics to stay sub surface, try fishing with your rod tip down by the water, that will help as well. SK Caffeine shad can be fished sub surface with no weight. Awesome soft plastic jerk bait.

Those are called Superline hooks. They work well if you want to add a little weightto a Rage Frog/Shad, or Stanley Ribbit...things like that. If you pass the plastic through the keel weighted portion, of course it's going to tear it up a bit more. Eyes seem to be the same to me as a regular EWG. I can double check when i get home.

I think you'll be fine with the 36 on regular cranks/jerks. I've upgraded some of my larger swimbaits to the St-56. Never used the 41's though. I actually just ordered a lot of trebles for my cranks and jerks but decided to go with Mustad KVD's instead. Purely off price point and I've used them before so I have confidence in them as well.

GoPro user chiming in. Recording at 720p you will be able to record about 2 hours at a time with one full battery. They have battery pac extensions you can add as well. You also need a class 10 MicroSD card. That is important to know and with a 64GB card you can get roughly 6.5 hours worth of footage. Now, you can record at higher settings but it will take more memory so keep that in mind. Also, if you plan on recording in higher resolutions, be sure your PC can handle the footage efficiently or it's a PITA to edit footage. That's my dilemma, I need a better PC. It's an awesome little camera and I have no regrets getting one. Its got a lot of power for such a tiny little thing. You can record up to 4K cinema quality! For some it's overkill, for others it's like a whole other hobby. As soon as I get a beast of a machine I'll probably use mine 10x more. If you go with GoPro, get about 4 batteries or more depending on how much filming you actaully do. Don't leave your batteries in the camera while not using it, they slowly drain. I'm using the industrial suction cup mount on my boat and it works great. Tether it yourself with rope or the tethers from gopro. In the hot sun, the suction cup has slid/come undone before. Just a forwarning. Best of luck.

That's what happens when you catch Minnesota Monsters!

I got a chance to use the punch skirts this season when Mike first started to release them. They are awesome! The best part about the Siebert punch skirts are that they come in a huge array of colors and they're about 2/3 to half the price of the similar items at the store. They give your flippin/punchin bait a nice big profile. If you like to fish really heavy cover and punch weed mats, you need a couple of these in your arsenal. I just picked up a new Dobyns 766c and I can't wait until punching season comes along. It's only 6 months away....... The other Siebert jig I had good success with was the 3/8 oz Swim Jig (round bend) in Bluegill color. I would use either a Rage Craw trailer or late in the season I started to try out the Havoc grass pig. Both are excellent trailer choices. Even the little guys would slam that bait and make you think you had a slob on. The swim jig comes through cover very well too. Being that I fish a lot of weedy lakes, I tend to have a Swim Jig or a grass jig tied on most. The grass jig Mike offers is another awesome and versatile jig. I used that later in the season to double as a light cover flippin jig and swimming it around docks. I didn't catch any beasts on jigs this year, but I'm confident that I'll catch some hogs next season. Here is a picture and some video from using the punch skirts back this summer. (excuse my poor video editing, it was my first) The rest of the video is some froggin' I was doing the same weekend.

What is the budget?

I was just going to say that when I first looked at it.

<---He's got my order.

You can find a good used Stradic FJ on fleabay for in the 115-135 range. That is where I got mine and the reel is flat out awesome. I have a Symetre as well, and it's a great reel but would take a Stradic over it in a second.

I have a St. Croix mojo 7'9" Heavy/Fast for my swimbait rod. My swimbait lot consists of baits under the 8" length and under 6oz, so this rod handles them perfectly. The rod is rated for 1-4oz but you can go a bit heavier in my opinion. Rod can be had at $130 retail, and with all the sales you could get one for ~$100. Great starter rod in my opinion.

Unfortunately I didn't escape it being that I HAD to use the 20% discount.

Set up seems fine. I think that your expectations are off because of the muck bottom you fish. I rarely throw a bottom hopping jig in a soft weedy lake. Try it on a body of water with rock and gravel if that's possible for you. You will notice a huge difference in the feel alone. Don't force applications where they simply don't fit. As Gaerith said, line watching can be key too.

Muck and weeds call for grass jigs or swim jigs. My other guess would be you're probably fishing too fast. If you're fishing lake bottom with muck you're going to have a hard time feeling bottom contact. I know because my home lake is all muck and weeds except a few small spots. Just stick with it. You'll figure it out. What is your jig set up?

Sounds like you need to go 1-up that guy! Congrats on your guys awesome trip.

They're very sharp and I used them for a bit flipping this year. Hook penetration is great. What I don't like is they shred plastics far too fast for my liking. I switched to mustad flipping hooks and the life span of one plastic practically doubled. Some guys love em and some hate em. I've decided they're not for me.

Length of rod is preference. I can't answer you about the backbone of that rod but take in consideration that you're finesse fishing with ligher gear. You're not horsing fish around while finesse dropshotting. Your rod and reel do all the work and you want to make sure you have a smooth drag or you can back reel. If you plan to be in thicker cover with heavier line (bubba rigging) then you'll want a medium action rod. Use what you have. If it doesn't work for you look into upgrading equipment.

Beer? Ill grab some popcorn.

Lol. Hook a brother up!

They feed on vegetation as far as I know. However they will stay close to sand/gravel as best they can. So where the two meet, you should find crayfish. I'm not 100% sure on their feeding but pretty certain. Someone feel free to correct me.

How'd you break it?

This is exactly why I am moving away from this rod as a primary heavy pitching/punch/flip rod. You absolutely nailed it on the head. With that said, I still love the rod and everything about it...just not for that application.

Don't worry about visibility. I use straight braid in #40-#65 in low Vis. Next year I'm switching to HI Vis purely for easier line watching and I'll sharpie the first 2 feet of my line. Frog Turds and I recently discussed this and he catches more bass than KVD. Your bites are going to come usually with in the first 5-15 seconds of pitching so clearly line isn't going to be a factor. I see no reason to mess with a leader when pitching in heavy grass and cover unless you're in mess of stump and wood too. Besides it's one more factor of possible breakage when tangled up in the gnarly junk.

7'10 Heavy/Moderate Fast is biggest in the Avid Casting line. It has a telescopic handle though.. next one down is a 7'6" MH/ Mod Fast.

I'm saying the one you are holding is 7lb 2oz Really tough to tell just by pictures though. Awesome fish regardless of weight! EDIT: If FELIX wins I'm driving to intercept his Cavitron in the mail.