MarkH024

My father in law has a 38' Sea Ray in Burnham Harbor-Chicago. Even on a boat that size in 3-5 footers gets dicey really fast. I was on an inland lake 7,500 acres in size on my 17.5' Ranger and got caught up in 2-3' waves. Scared the hell out of me. And that is a small lake in the grand scheme of things. The Great Lakes are amazing but unforgiving. I agree with John, some of the best fishing in the upper US for multi species. I think Dwights catches on Erie speaks for itself in the bass category.

Nice job CP!

pics or didn't happen. j/k congrats on a nice fish! Good stuff!

Musky and Pike

You should always match the forage if you can. That's going to increase your odd's I believe, however shad colors work too when there are no shad present. I use shad colored hollowbody swimbaits year round in bluegill/sunfish dominant lakes and they still produce. If your lake is very clear water, probably best to stay with natural colors. I don't use a lot of really bright colors in clear water unless it's a bait that I'm burning. Fall is feeding time for winter. Don't get super hung up on your colors, just get out and fish. The more you sit and think about it, the more you'll aggravate yourself and waste time switching out. Bass are aggressive and hungry with the water temps dropping so stick with your Bluegill/perch colors and you'll be fine. Topwater in fall is always a great producer too so don't over look that. Post some results!

Post in the Flea Market, I'm sure someone will bite. Maybe they're scared of the beard.

x2

That's a great point made. Take it from the expert jig man!

Whatever gets the job done. Seriously...dragging it is maintaining contact so just get it done. I like to keep my tip up and just slow reel. An occasional hop here and there doesn't hurt.

I'm an 832 guy as well, but I do use PowerPro. I tie palomar with both and have never had issues with breaking on hooksets.

I got my package from Strike King today. My glasses were replaced with a brand new pair. I also was given a Strike King hat and a 2014 catalog. Free stuff is good, wait time was a bit longer than I expected but lapsed over a holiday weekend so I understand. All is good now.

Looks like i'm not heading up until the last weekend of September. There is always something going on with the families, hard to make time for just me. I will do my best to land some slobs and have a video worthy of posting. Until then, your youtube and BR reports will haunt me....

Way to go! Congrats!

Nice job man. Great day out there!

Got out to a local lake today for about 2 hours to try out some swimbaits I've been gathering. Lake was super pressured with a lot of bucket fisherman. I started with a Got Em Coach gill in red ear. Had a follow on that pretty early but no takers. After about 30 min I switched to a Bettencourt dying gill (thanks to speedbead). I love the action of this bait and it will be killer up north. Did not convince any IL bass today though. I was fishing boulder areas with scattered weeds.I had to take a 15 min timeout for mother nature to drain her blatter. From there I switched to a 4.5" hudd weedles shad. I found some thicker weed mats to toss into. I saw a pike or a ski roll on it but no commitment. It was probably upper 20's. Nothing huge. Right before I was going to leave I stopped at a really matted area and hooked up finally. 15" bass but it was great to finally get out and wet a line. Headed up north in a couple weeks. Hope to have a better report then.

I use 832, Suffix Performance, and Power Pro. I'm using PP more often where I had used regular Suffix only because the cost difference. Saving a few bucks here and there and virtually equal lines in my opinion. They're all great braids for both spinning and baitcasting. I used to use fireline back in the day, frayed to no end and broke a lot. You did the right thing by switching. 832 will serve you well.

I've seen them sold on fleabay for $130....but at $160 you're in the upper end of the maximum.

Thanks both of you for the suggestions. Definitely a necessity to have.

What are you using for a plug knocker? Especially on your 6"+ stuff?

X2. And not even myself going enough. I will say, I don't mind fishing alone.

I do the same, and on the plastic tabs I use a black sharpie to right the weight of the jig on the side of the box.

Nice fish Mike. Glad to see you're out wetting a line between all those orders!

You should be looking at rod components that it is constructed of and not names. The rod you got that was 2/3rd cost might have a lower quality blank, guides, reel seat...etc. Just because it is the same power/action rating doesn't simply mean it is just as good or bad as the higher price one.

Every skeet rod I've ever even looked at in a store has the worst guides. The epoxy is either cracked or the guides are so off center I'd never even consider one. Maybe I just have seen the worst of the bunch..idk. The citica/loomis trade isn't worth it. You can auction the rod and probably find a used citica better than what that trade is worth in my opinion. I guess it would depend on the exact Loomis rod too.

Froggin' and Punchin'... I enjoy some squarebill cranking too.