mnbassman23

I made the comment to my wife as we started watching it that Brandon was most likely throwing a 110. And like others said it was either a STX or 110. If you pay attention to footage from the elite tournaments, MLF, etc. you'll find that many times the pros will not be throwing their sponsors baits.

17 & 74 on the 2013 list.

I use a lot of size 10 & 12 jigs with 12 being my go to. Anything with a line tie that allows the jig to lay horizontal in the water is what you want, that is the most important part IMO. Examples that i use are Marmooska jigs, Northland mud bug, Custom jigs and spins Diamond jig, and Lindy slick jig. There are a bunch of other good ones but those are a few of my favorites. Waxies and maggots for live bait. Plastics I use are trigger x wax tail, clam outdoors Maki and Polli.

Great looking bait and fish!

Not much fishing related stuff this year. Savage Gear Glide Swimmer, Black dog G2 Shellcracker, Mattlures u2 gill, Simms sun buff, and a few other odds and ends.

Saweet bait bro! Regardless if a Muskie or bass eats it either way it's a win win. Heck start the grill and i'd eat that thing.

To be fair, Mike has broken numerous rods in his day. He has gone through a couple different manufactures trying to find a rod to hold up to his abuse. Not saying thats due to fishing braid, but the style of fishing he does. I have broken rods with braid, mono, fluoro, it's not the lines fault its user error as others have mentioned. mjseverson24- Trying to pickup a 10lb weight with a rod and bouncing it around is not the same as setting the hook on a fish/rock/log. Doing that with any rod and line combo is going to cause rod breakage issues and really has no merit in the fishing world besides maybe boat flipping 10lb+ fish. Kind of the same argument as bowhunters shooting broad heads into 55 gallon drums. I'll start worry about that when we start hunting steel drums and fishing involves dead lifting weights into the boat.

Swimbaits and slowing down in general. Each year I've gradually fished slower and the amount of big fish caught has increased. Seems pretty simple. Also fishing more deep water structure and honing my skills on fishing those spots successfully.

The few things that I dislike have already been mentioned. It comes down to people who have no respect for other people or the lakes they utilize. So nothing about fishing in general, just dumb people.

We've been enjoying negative temps for the last 2 weeks. It'll be mid 30's on Monday, break out the shorts

I usually fish a 5" spook style bait to target bigger bites. I've caught fish from 12-21" on it. The majority of the fish are 3lbs or more, which is what I want.

Nice fish, it's all about confidence.

Well done, hard to beat a good jig bite!

That is an understatement Mark lol! Going to be a looong winter. Heck I've been trying to kill myself on a small sheet of ice I'm so deprived

Grabbed some clips of a nice bass jumping boat side from my GoPro footage. Got her in the boat If you have any jumping bass pictures feel free to add them.

Good to see you back Nitro!

I've had great luck pitching black neon creature baits in dirty water. Kinda forgot about the color the past 2 seasons, thanks for the reminder!

Welcome great to see fellow MN'er!

I was thinking the body was a 6th sense. I've seen the one you linked on TW but those custom painted ones are amazing.

Nice baits A-Jay! May I ask what model crank it is and who custom painted them? The one on the right looks like a lot of the big bull gills we get around here.

Chigger Craw, Craw Fatty, and Pure Craw for jigs on the bottom. 4-5" single tail grubs, 5" swimbaits, and Havoc Subwoofers for my swim jigs.

Thanks for the detailed response Matt I appreciate it.

No disrespect Matt as I fish your baits and think they are great but what do you believe bass think a bluegill patterned swim jig is or any jig for that matter? Just curious is all. Are you saying jigs imitate nothing be it a shad, bluegill, craw, etc. as they look nothing like them in terms of being realistic?

Slonezp makes a good point. The Mattlures is a great bait that's very realistic and for sure get a few you won't regret it. But I've caught hundreds of bass on bluegill pattern swim jigs. They may not look as real but they produce like crazy.

The 3 I fish consistently are craw fatty, pit boss, and subwoofers. The craw fatty has put numerous biggins in my boat both t-rigged and as a jig trailer. Subwoofer is a great swim jig trailer. I t-rig the pit bosses to pitch around cover and use it weightless as a topwater. Acts similar to a frog and kicks up a lot of water.