mjseverson24

Of the two that you are looking at, the spro is more durable, the booya is softer and compresses better on the strike and hook-set, and they both walk very well... Koppers are right up there with the spro frogs, but personally i have the most confidence in the KVD frogs, great mix of durability and fishability... Mitch

I have three brands that I really have been impressed with lately... 1) Daiwa----> I believe they are the most original and innovative reel company one the market... but they are expensive for what you get 2) Lews ----> the Superduty is one of the best work horse reels i have ever used... and they are affordable... 3) Quantum ----> Best bang for your buck... I have been buying the new model Kinetic PT putting hawgtech bearings and the Lews handle on them, once they are dialed in for the lure being used they outcast every reel I have ever used... including upgraded Daiwa T3's... are they super refined??? no... Are they the smoothest reel on the market??? No... Are they a reliable workhorse reel at a super affordable price(<60)??? Absolutely... this goes for the accurist, energy and smoke lineups as well... My biggest issue with quantum is the short handle that comes stock on most of their reels... Mitch

whichever technique you need better accuracy and sensitivity is the one i would go with a casting set up... so jigs and c-rigs would get the nod from me, but you can do either with either... good luck with your choice... (do you think the ice will be off Mille Lacs for opener???) Mitch

I am still young (25) but I have plenty of regrets. I spent too much time when I was younger trying to be like everybody else, trying to be "cool", apparently that meant barely passing high school... Luckily I joined the US NAVY, which was one of the three best decisions I ever made... (The other two are Marry my wife, and love God...) The Navy gave me the opportunity to start new, to make something of myself... I owe much of my success today to the brave men who mentored, and trained me during my 4 years on active duty... They taught me that there is nothing that you cannot accomplish if you want it bad enough... I have taken these lessons from my friends and mentors, and applied it to my collegiate career, and have been very successful... so some of my biggest regrets are what lead me to be the person I am today... One regret i want back... I broke off what was close if not a state record (9 lbs) largemouth during a tournament last year on Leech Lake, because i didn't retie a jig after i caught a 4.75 lber the previous pitch... I would like this one back... Mitch

I fish frogs quite a bit, you said earlier in your post that you have the MH-H action rod and braid(30#)... so your set up is where it needs to be... I see in your avatar a picture of you in a kayak, is this where you were fishing from with your friend??? if so it is more difficult to catch fish with frogs from a kayak mainly because of leverage... the height of your rod tim is about 5 ft lower than it would be if you were fishing from a boat, and also as you pull hard on a fish in a "yak" you actually move towards the fish, which reduces the pressure on the fish... If you are doing everything they guys above have already posted by getting the proper hookset and fish fighting technique down and still have an issue, i would look to the issues i have pointed out to potentially be the problem... Good luck... Mitch

why do i live in MN... i have asked this to myself every day since November... I wont have an answer for it until May 10th (fishing opener)... Mitch

I wondered about the spinners and the skirt not getting along... have you tried trimming the skirt at all... I really like the concept... Mitch

1) have fun... 2) enjoy life... 3) catch a crap load of quality bass in the process of doing 1 & 2... oh I plan to work on flukes and punching this year... Mitch

I wish i could, too much ice... like 3+ Ft still around here, probably more where your at... Not to get of topic but looking at your avatar I picked up a few of them in the off season... do they fish as good as they look??? Mitch

Lake Fork craw tubes...SK coffee tubes as well Mitch

it took some practice and some lessons learned the hard way, but it works great now... No crankbaits go in the box any more... That was one of the lessons learned the hard way... i typically have <15 rods on deck at any given time... more than that and it starts to get pretty crowded... Mitch

It depends what your goal is... My goal is to catch as many and as big of fish as I can every time I go fishing... More options gives me the ability to be more efficient on the water... I think if I used 3-4 rods I would catch 40% roughly maybe 50% of what I catch now... there are plenty of rods that can effectively throw a range of 1/2 oz differences, but the difference that i am talking about is not having to cut and retie every time i want to change my weight wether the change is big or small... I can break 80 on most courses using a 6 iron a 56* wedge and a putter... I can get much closer to scratch with all 14 clubs allowed by the rules... if i was allowed to carry 17 clubs i would on average probably do even better... Rods and reels are tools to catch fish, you can get by with duck tape WD-40 and a vise-grip and do 70% of any repair job around the house, but most people have more than just those tools... is it because they want to show them off to their friends??? Maybe... is it because they have too much money that they don't know what else to do with it??? Maybe... Is it because when certain things are in need of repair a special too is needed, and they would like to have it on hand just incase??? Probabily... Holy crap I must be bored... Can i go fishing yet... Mitch

I will give just one example of why i carry as many as i do... i was fishing a local lake mid summer early in the morning I was catching quality fish (2.5-4 lbs)fish lights out on the outside weed edge on t-rigged brush hog's with a 1/4 oz weight... about an hour later all i was catching was 12-15 inch bass, stil pretty often but the quality was gone. I have 9 rods for bottom contact, typically 4 jigs and 5 t-rigs, each has different weight and line... i grabbed a different rod with a 1/8 oz weight and a baby brush hog, and started immediately catching the bigger fish again, and at great frequency... 20 min later the bite changed to the little ones again... switched to a 3/16 weight with rage craw started catching lights out again... this continued all day... more options gives your more room to fine tune your presentation... you can do it with one rod, but you will spend a lot of time cutting and retying instead of fishing, especially i the bite is tough... Mitch

For me I carry 25-30 combos with every day, typically 5 spinning and 25 casting... How many do i "Need"??? I would say that i could catch 80% of what i currently catch using 30 rods with only 15 rods... i could catch 60% with 10 rods, 50% with 5 and 40% with 3... three rods for me would be the minimum I could do it with, 1 jig/frog/t-rig rod, 1 reaction bait rod and 1 spinning rod for DS/shakey head... but why would I want to limit the number of fish I catch, because of the number of rods I want to bring... some days you can get on a pattern and use 1 or 2 rods all day, others all 30 of mine get used. I love to junk fish, its just a ton of fun... Mitch

I personally use either an EWG in 3/0 - 6/0 depending on the size of the bait, and for super heavy cover i use a 4/0 EWG or straight shank... I honestly try and use an ewg as often as i can, the baits lay on the hook better in my opinion, and I have never had any issues with hook up percentage with them... Mitch

5 min, i will rotate about 5-7 rods when searching for fish, sometimes i make only about 5-10 casts with each before rotating to ensure i am putting different baits in front of potential active fish... Mitch

it depends a lot what type of watershed it has... some lakes the kill has been bad, but only time will tell... Mitch

I totally agree with MCS the 130 price is almost double what i would pay for it, not because it is a bad reel, but because it is a few models old, and should be bought for less than 50% its retail price... for 130 you can get the current model energy PT which is a phenomenal reel... Mitch

I like the Skeet reese C-Rig rod, it is 7'6" MH/MF I like the slower action it helps keep pressure on the fish, I typically do a hard reel set when C-rig fishing, but if you like to do a sweep set i think the fast action is the better rout to go... Mitch

I also think for the set up you are using that 25 YDS is pretty standard distance, not long by any means but not short either. to help increase distance a longer rod with a more flexible tip will help a lot. For best distance a M/M works great, also decreasing the size of your line will help. typically gus that want distance use 10-12 lb floro/mono you can use braid, 30# seems to be a good size for long casts... Another option is use spinning gear for these lighter lures... Mitch

^^^ Yeah it didnt feel good pulling it out of my hand, but it wasn't terrible either... looks like this method worked pretty well though... Mitch

congrats... let us know what you think of the on the water performance when you get some time with it... Mitch

I actually prefer M/F or M/XF for jigs 3/8 and under. the blank is lighter and more balanced, also the M power wont over power the hook on some of the smaller jigs that I like to use (bitsy bug etc...). For jigs between 3/8 and 3/4 I like to use a MH/F which is a good mix of power and balance, I like its versatility to be able to pitch or cast these mid range jigs very well... it also has enough power to get fish up in in the boat from almost any type of cover. I like to use a H/MF or H/M for jigs above 3/4 oz and typically the rod is 8'... Mitch

I have only been hooked once like that, I just grabbed the pliers and pulled it out... this kind of looked like it wasted a lot of time, especially in a tournament... interesting technique though... Mitch

I tend to do better when i cannot see the bass that i am targeting, and i don't pursue bedding fish... Mitch