mjseverson24

Personally I use the lowrance HDS series electronics. Up here in MN they seem to be much more popular than HB's but when I was down south most people I saw were using the HB's. for me the ease of use is better on the lowrance, but the HB's 360 imaging does seem like a very interesting upgrade, especially for offshore structure fishing. either will work great if you take the time to learn the unit properly. Mitch

go with the biggest batteries you can fit in the boat or that your budget will allow. Mitch

If I have a fish blow up on the bait but not eat it i will let it sit for a second or two then work it normal for a few feet then reel it in quickly and fire another cast in the same area. this will usually result in at least another blow up and hopefully it will eat it this time. sometimes moving the bait faster in the same area will trigger a feeding response instead of a killing response. somedays they just are not interested in eating it, I typically work the bait much faster on these days and will also set the hook quicker. best advice is keep at it and figure out what works for you. Mitch

in your lake with shallow water and milfoil I would probably not even use a jig. the only jig I would use is the all terrain 3/8 oz grassmaster. there are many other options for you to use other than the jig. find a lake with a good amount of ledges, lay downs and docks with deep water near to really learn the jig. Mitch

I usually bring around 30 combos with, and throughout the day I will generally use every one of them. typically only 4-5 of the rods tend to produce decent numbers of fish though, but it is rarely the same five so that is why all 30 come along. Mitch

it sounds like the more you press the faster you fish and you will probabily loose your patience. This alone can cost you big in a tournament. My advice besides prefishing would be to slow down and give yourself a chance to succede. somedays fishing fast burning baits to get that reaction works, but almost everyday you can get a great limit together with a jig or t-rig worked very slow through an area that you know holds fish. Mitch

I would suggest not using the hollow body frog, but instead a soft plastic like a ribbit or horney toad. the reason is the hookup ratio with a hollow body is not great, but the soft plastic frogs do have a good ratio. Also the hollow body frog is best used over thick vegitation that comes up to the surface(i know a lot of people use them for open water and that is fine), but with your rig the buzz props would get fowled up and degrease the effectiveness of the rig. it is a good idea, with some tweaking I think it could work for you. Having something the fish have not seen before might make the difference on anygiven day on a heavily pressures fishery. Mitch

I use the BPS rod balancing system on all of my bottom contact rods. They do make the rod feel much lighter and definately has more sensitivity. The reason the rod feels more sensitive is because with the rod banalced correctly the muscles in your forearm will be more relaxed and your grip on the rod will be much looser. This allows you to maximize the sensitivity of the rod you are using, by not aqeezing the sensitivity out of the blank. Before you make permanent/simi-permanent modifications to your nice new rod I would buy the $10.00 add on from BPS to see if you even like the new feel. JMO... Mitch

On my frog rods I remove the grease on the drag of the reel and totally lock down the drag, this will give you the best hooksets and fish fighing power. Also a 7.1:1 gearing is probably the best for this technique it allows you to get there heads out of the slop and skiing across the water. Mitch

try the skeet reese 7'6" punch rod or the 8' flippin stick for $100. Mitch

Marty I have fished many different brands of frogs including snag proof, boo-ya, koppers, spro, scum frog, and the SK frogs. what sets these frogs appart for me is the size of the hooks, which are a little larger than most of the other brands, next is the softness of the body, it really allows for a better hookup ratio. the color patterns are good, and the installed rattles also give then a little edge. I do like other brands frogs as well my box has probabily 10 kvd frogs 5 spro popping frogs 5 pad crashers. the kvd frogs only come in one size so that is where the other brands help fill in the gaps, but for full size walking style frogs I go with the kvd. That being said they are a little less durable than I would like, but they usually last 20-25 fish before it is time for retirement. Mitch

hollow body frogs in the north country produce some really large fish. next in line would be jigs. Mitch

power pro, suffix 832, spiderwire, most braids are pretty good its all in what you want out of them... Mitch

anytime you have a perch forage base the fire tiger is a good option, I personally dont use it very much but I did just get outfished by my brother using it. hmm... Mitch

hmm... high pressure usually calls for either deeper water and or finesse presentations, but I agree dusk and dawn are probabily your best times. the sexy frog in my opinion is the most effective hollow body frog on the market, maybe not the most durable, but the best fish catcher. Mitch

where does the line break? at the knot, the leader, the main line? I use the double uni knot for joining braid to floro, definately one of the stongest and easiest knots to use. with light spinning gear and minimal stretch with floro/braid combo try to do more of a reel set, instead of a sweeping rod set. this will load the rod up before you actually set the hook into the fish and will more evenly distribute the strain of the hook set. Mitch

it has never happened to me, but my friends ex girlfriend casted his nice new loomis/curado combo into about 30 fow... you can guess why she is an ex! Mitch

I use flippin jigs only when I want to hit specific shallow water cover, so if the fish are up shallow holding tight to cover the jig is a great tool. I also like to use football jigs, but more as a search bait in deep water transition areas, or on shallow to medium rock bars. swim jigs are great when you are in clear water or highly pressured systems that see a million spinnerbaits each week. These are the only times I use jigs, there are so many techniques out there that will produce fish on any given day, that using a jig most of the time to me is just goofy. that being said If I need a kicker fish in a tournament I will flip either a jig or throw a frog. I always have at least 4 rods rigged with some kind of jig though. Mitch

ehhh... I am going to have to disagree, you put a lowrance HDS 10 with structure scan on a guys boat who does not know how to use it and he will probabily catch less fish than he would have without it. in the earlier years of fishing, the lakes did not see anywhere neer the pressure that they do now, the fish have adapted over time to lures sights and smells. also the efficiency of the pro fisherman today is unmatched throughout history, the weights are better throughout the entire field of pros. technology is a tool but a tool in the hands of an untrianed worker is just a paperweight or a hammer, you put that tool in the hands of a craftsman and they can do some very impressive things. dont discredit the hard work professionals put into their trade. Mitch

how to fish a frog depends on the seasonal patterns the bass are in. you have to determin weather the bass is trying to eat the bait or just trying to kill it. each situations demands a different mindset on how to move the bait and also set the hook. typically durring the spawn period bass will more or les just try and kill your bait not eat it as there natural response for protecting their beds. in this case you should set the hook much faster. the rest of the year the bass should be feeding not protecting so i also use a 7.1:1 gear ratio reel to pick up slack fast, lock down the drag and reel untill you feel a little presure and give a large over the shoulder hookset. try and get there head out of the slop and ski them in to the boat as quickly as you can. it is not as important over sparse cover, but in thick cover get em up and out quickly for your best chance to land the fish. Oh and the kvd frogs are my favorite frogs I think they are the best on the market while they last, but after a few dozen fish they usually get pretty messed up. Good luck Mitch

as water temps warm up the fish become more active, but when the water reaches the mid 80's to 100 degrees they become more oportunistic, and probabily wont chase down baits for very long or far. early in the morning and late in the evening might produce some chasers, but durring the day flippin and pitchin to shallow water cover is great and also football jigs on the ledges can also be very productive. Mitch

if there is no structure then the fish have nothing to hold to and ambush prey. In a lake like this you are probabily best off throwing moving baits and covering a lot of water, spinnerbaits cranks, swimbaits, a-rigs, something like this. the bass will follow the food so they may even suspend over some of the deeper parts of the lake durring the sumer following the forage. Honestly a lake like this can be very frusterating many times durring the year, if you have other lakes in the area that are more diverse on cover, i would sugest fishing one of those instead, if not good luck... Mitch

the action should depend on the type of cover you fish, a 7' MH for open water or sparse weeds/ wood, and heavy action and 7'6" -8' if it is heavy weeds and thick pads. Mitch

I would go with a pro qualifier from BPS. for $100 then spend the other 150 on tackle. the dual breaking systems make throwing light lures very easy. By the way do you cast your t-rigs? I almost always pitch t-rigs to a target, so any reel that is decent for flip and pitch should work for those, and 1/4 oz is not that light either, i use 1/8 at most and usually 1/16. Mitch

No I was on an amphibious assault that was over 800 ft long and 80 ft high from weatherdeck to waterline. My second ship was a friggate, but because of being an engineer did not have much time while under way to fish, others did fish though. and thank you for your service as well sir. Mitch