flyfisher

I agree with the above. The st croix mojo 6'8" M XF is a pretty nice rod too for a little less cash.

In the 6lb range for me on a watermelon seed yum dinger rigged weightless texas style. I rarely wacky rig for largemouth because most of the lakes i fish are loaded with grass but i do wacky rig for smallies on the river.

You also could add the detail of all they buy is frozen pizza, beer and bread too I like the winter and i like fishing in the winter but i do switch to trout fishing and chasing brookies in the mountain streams or the spring creeks. Spring creeks are really nice because the water temperature doesn't fluctuate to much year round. There is something pretty cool about catching fish on topwater with snow on the ground

I use left retrieve reels for everything. I think the majority of people use the old cast right hand and reel right hand because originally there weren't options to reel with your left hand. My buddy is in the reel left handed on spinning gear and right with a baitcaster too and he always says i am reeling on the wrong side To me who really cares as long as you are comfortable but i do wish there were as many options for LH retrieve reels as there are for RH.

Same here 4/0 EWG for super flukes.I have tried various different screw locks, shapes etc... and i keep coming back to the EWG 4/0..I use the same hook in correspondingly smaller sizes for the other flukes on your list...i will also nose hook them with an octopus hook when on the river or when getting snagged isn't as big of a concern.

Closest thing to that that i can think of is the jackson coosa at 32" wide and under 12' long bu that boat is primarily a river boat and i wouldn't want one if i fished mostly lakes. I learned that from experience when i bought my coosa and tried fishing lakes for a season with it....great seat and stabilty but horrible tracking and it catches wind like a sail. Hence the reason i picked up a commander

Tough question really. I am not a big fan of catching dinks ( a relative term to each body of water) but they do break up an otherwise slow day. I just recently got back into bass fishing about 3 years ago and after the first year newness wore off where i was happy to catch anything i have definitely started tailoring my fishing to try and find the biggest bass in the lake. Haven't been real successful this year but i did get my PB earlier in the year that measured a shade under 26" so needless to say i was pretty pleased I think that is what keeps you going, the chance of catching the big one that didn't get away.

Yes they will be more active in colder water temps. I would be pretty surprised that you see trout jumping though in a lake. I have done a good bit of trout fishing all around the country and the only time i have seen trout jump like you describe is when big brown trout females are bascially jumping and breaking their egg sacs to make an easier spawn. Trout feed differently than bass and rarely do the whole slam and destry something on top. I am not saying that it never happens but pretty rarely in my experience. I also noticed your from MD and the area is basically a lake that is fed by a stream and not very deep. I would be shocked if trout could live in that shallow of a lake in the summer unless it was spring fed and stayed pretty cool all year round and by cool i am talking about not many days where water temps hit the 80's and the majority of the time it would have to stay in the 60's. My hunch is that you are seeing some sort of carp or even catfish busting the surface. As far as baits go, i have never fished for trout other than on the fly so i will let others chime in to help you out htere but i would guess that small inline spinners or other movement type baits would get bit. trout can be pretty selective at times but they are like any other fish....some days you get them and some days you dont Good lukc and let us know if you figure out what they are or manage to catch one

To me it all depends on where i am fishing. I usually pick a spot for any of a number of reasons and try to cover the entire water column in said area. It could be 10 or it could be 20 casts per technique but it really depends on where i am fishing that particular day. Once i catch one or get a hit i try and replicate that same technique on similar areas and usually i stick with that a little bit longer before switching up. Sometimes it even works too

I love my local shop. It is less than a mile from my house and they have a very good selection of stuff and their prices are comparable to the bass pro which is about 20-30 minutes away. I try and buy everything i can from them. I just wish they were a St. Croix dealer.

Most of the palces nearby are within 30-90 minutes with some approaching the 2 hour mark. I have driven 4 hours one way to fish the susky for a day trip and have no problem doing so Basically i will drive however long it takes for a day of good fishing.

yes it was a horrible call on many different levels.

It is funny you posted that because i was watching some show yesterday and i thought to myself why do they let people swing the bass in and then flop all around the boat because it can't be good for the fish.

I didn't even realize they were technique specific until someone showed me the label on the rod. I looked at the premier and the mojo and i preferred the split grip so that was the main reason i went with the Mojo. Of course i think next year i will be looking to sell them off and replace them with the legend tournament bass rods or depending on how good my annual bonus i might spring for the legend extremes

Not sure if they are designed for braid but i have used braid exclusively on mine for upwards of a year, getting out 2-3 times a week, with no problems.

If i am fishing lakes pretty much exclusively i wouldn't get either. Take a look at the commander. I picked up one this spring and it has been a great boat and is stable as they come, tons of room for gear, slidetrax for rigging and paddles and tracks very well. I have also used mine on slow moving rivers up to class II rapids with no issues.

I jsut got back into bass fishing after abotu a 12 year hiatus while i was chasing trout in the mountains so i went through the same thing as you. Nothing beats time on the water to learn but reading as much as you can will help you to identify certain things to look for and what baits to try. It gives you a little bit of confidence knowing that an "expert" did this or that technique and it worked. Then all it takes is to catch a fish and bam your confidence level shoots up and you are more willing to keep trying the same technique. Then you can move to another technique and another until you have a full arsenal of situations and techniques that you are confident in using. A perfect example is this year i started throwing square bill crankbaits more often and i had one great day with them where i caught 4 bass over 18" in a span of about 4 hours. This gave me the confidence i needed to continue throwing them and also expand to some deeper running versions with some success. It also helps to keep a fishing journal, there are plenty of apps out there for the iphone that will automatically generate weather information and you just need to input the water conditions, baits used etc... Bottom line though is to fish and fish more. Nothing beats experience on the water.

Definitely a good walk the dog type bait to learn on. I fish fro ma kayak and walking the dog can be difficult so close to the water but ti can be done with a little practice. Luckily i got a kayak this spring that i can stand in if i want so it makes the job much easier

I have quite a few of the mojo rods and have not been disappointed. I currently own the 7'mf and 6'8"MXF spinning and 7'MHF casting rod. They are a little tip heavy but sensitivity is good and i have no complaints about the quality. In the $100 price range they are right near if not at the top in my opinion. I also have a veritas which is a good rod but there is something that just feels off to me but i can't pinpont exactly what it is. I don't think you will be disappointed if you get a mojo.

I am not a fan of the bears but i sure hate the cowboys. And now that i think about it, it probably isn't the team as much as it is all the fake fans that say they are cowboys fans. As soon as the cowboys win you see jerseys everywhere as soo nas they lose they miraculously disappear. My test is to always ask them to name 5 players on the team not named Romo and see what they come up with...i know being an eagles fan i can easily name twice that many so if they can't do that i just lump them in with all the yankees fans out there Not to mention it also helped me take the lead in my weekly pick'em pool :)

Sounds like a small x-rap to me. I am also guessing that if it suspended perfectly that the hooks were replaced with a heavier/larger model. I like my x-raps but I have found that they do not suspend perfectly without adding a little weight to them. Rapalas sure are pretty baits though......and a classic Short digression here but i remember as a kid subscribing to bassmaster magazine and they had an article on how to fish the standard floating rapala and they said to basically cast out and let the bait sit, for up to a minute or more. Well as a 10 year old kid that was hard but i did it and i did it and i did it...my dad would tell me you gotta move it a little but i stood strong and let it sit upwards of 2-3 minutes between twitches. Well it finally worked and i ended up catching a 5lb bass which was by far the largest i had ever caught Every time i see one of the floaters in gold with a black back it makes me remember that story

I also like to balance rod and reel for about the same price. I do like nice reels though especially when it comes to fly reels

I had a veritas and it broke on a hookset right between the tip top and the first eye. I exchanged it for another one and the same thing happened. I went with the mojo series instead and couldn't be more pleased. These were both 7' MFspinning rods by the way. I did pick up another Veritas for cheap and have been using it for shakey heads and light texas rigged plastics and it seems to be doing the job well so far and no breakage just yet

i thin big bass eat little baits but like has been stated, only if it is right in front of them. Big bass don't seem to want to move as much as the little guys but if an easy meal is right in front of them they will bite.

I like the KVD square bills too. Another thing you can do to make them even less snag happy is to lay the front treble down like it would be as if the bait was moving. then snip off that front exposed hook. I have done this on the majority of mine and it makes them even less snag prone and i haven't noticed any difference in hook up rate.