mjseverson24

I would get a 7'6" st croix mojo musky rod with a old style baitcasting reel use 65lb braid and use a 50#-80# floro leader. this set up would be less than $200 now for baits you should get three double bladed bucktails, one in a very shiny color in silver or blue, then one black/orange then one natural forage color. now you are going to want two bulldog type lures one black/orange and one natural forage color. then two topwater baits like the joe buchar top raider, one in black and the other in some natural forage color. then you will want two jerkbaits like the joe buchar shallow raider in like a shiny finish silver or blue, then one in either a natural forage or black. with all of this you should be right about that $400 good luck... Mitch

I like custom baits much better than mass produced baits. that being said they are usually much more expensive. but if it is a hobby for the wintertime then i guess it is worth it. I take a lot of pride when one of my custom crankbaits produces a nice fish. That being said rage tail products are among the best soft plastics on the market, but they like all lures have specific situations where they really shine, so using them exclusively may not be the best way to go. maybe if they made a rage senko lol... Mitch

I use both the drag system and back-reeling for different situations. I use the drag on almost all of the fish I hook, but if I am hooked into a bass greater than about 5 lbs then I may back-reel especially near the boat to make sure the fish doesn't put too much pressure on the line or hook. Most decent spinning reels have good drag systems and back-reeling is probably unnecessary for most people. Mitch

I usually bring about 20-25 rod and reel combos every time I go fishing, I also bring just about all of my tackle as well. I depending upon the lake and time of year prioritize which baits are most readily available, to me in the front of the boat. I do like to have many different options just incase... better to have too many than not enough... Mitch

7' MH st. croix triumph $80.00 mitch

pro qualifier is a great reel for $100. Mitch

I love to problem solve, I am a third year electrical engineering/ Nuclear engineering student, also I am an US Navy veteran and was a Naval Electrician, so problem solving is like an addiction to me. bass fishing is no different the problem is I dont have a limit, the solution is what I do to get it. it is addicting. Mitch

I really like the BPS rod balancers I use them on almost all of my rods that are for tip up presentations, like flipplin and pitchin jigs t-rigs, casting hollow body frogs, stuff like that. they really do make a rod much more comfortable to use and also because of the ability to relax your forearm muscles it allows the rod to feel much more sensative than before. Mitch

7' MH berkley lightning rod shock. it is a beast for about $50. Mitch

here is the best way to prevent breaking any rod. dont use braid, use floro or mono. if you use braid watch the crazy hook sets. Mitch

spinnerbait. white/chart or bluegill pattern. usually I like either a combo double willow or small colorado with a larger willow. stained water double colorado and a dark pattern. lipless cranks work well too, so do poppers and small walk the dog lures. I dunno man they all work, too many to mention. Good Luck. Mitch

It asked for a fishing trip, not a tournament, so I will take a whole bunch of fish of every shape and size. now if I am pre fishing for a tourney or in one I would rather have the larger fish, but only 5 fish in a day is definitely a grind. Mitch

Braid not a problem. mono depending on the size and brand it should be fine, but it is cheap enough to replace that I would suggest after a monster backlash just cut and redo. floro, hmm... dont backlash floro that is the best advice I can give. Mitch

I missed this part, this is what I was saying without the spool tension adjustment backlashing would happen untill you learn how to use the thumb well. they way you do it makes it very easy to use a baitcaster. my point before was that without the proper setting of the spool tension adjustment it is more dificult to have a successfull cast. Mitch

do you use your thumb to help control the cast?

7'6" to 8' heavy action for hollow body frogs in slop. I like a moderate fast action on these. 7'- 7'6" MH for soft body frogs, I like fast to X-Fast tips on these. the 7'6" MH would be the best compromise if you only want one rod. Mitch

I would agree 100 % that you should use the magnetic breaking or the centrifigal breaks primarily and then andjust the spool tensioner appropriatly to have your set up working optimally. that being said you will not be able to use only your mag/centrif breaking systems alone and properly control your casts. you might be able to cast with the wind and do fine, but cast into the wind and look out! magnetic breaking and centrifigal breaking has no where neer the force required to have a signifigant breaking effect durring the initial cast, this is why you set the tensioner so that the falls relatively slowly when the spool is disengagued, or some people like to just reduce side to side play in the spool. that is fine but realy what you are doing is increasing the friction on the spool so that throughout the entire cast the spool will spin it a decreased rate compared to no tension. the older style reels only had spool tensioner anjustments and you could set those to never backlash. now remove that feature on the new baitcasters, and use only the other breaking systems. you would be in for a rough da untill you learn how to use your thumb. Mitch

Ok well not knowing your desired price range I can give you some options. under $100 Bass Pro Shops® Pro Qualifier® Tournament Rod and Reel Baitcast Combos under $150 st croix triumph 7" MH with abu silver max Under $200 an abu veritas with a pro qualifier reel under $300 st croix rage with pro qualifier Mitch

lol... What I said early is definately not incorrect Fishwhittler. you are using Physics in an oversimplified situation. the only thing adding centrifigal breaks does is increase the moment of inertia, making the spool take more force to rotate. but at very high force and speed like occurs in the begining of a cast the small force exerted by the cetrifigal breaking system or the mag breaking system is just not enough. this is why you set the spool tensioner correctly to eliminate the early cast backlashes. one other way that you can help reduce the early cast backlashes is use proper thumb control. Personally I use the two breaking systems on the reel together so that thumb is usually not needed very much, while still having good casting distance. Try this out see if I am right or wrong. Mitch

In this case to the origional post about pro's coming to your local lake that only has a 9.9 hp restriction, I would definately give the advantage to the local guys. the pro's are really good at what they do, but on assumingly a small lake and little to no major tournament information the pro's would be fishing more or less blind. They may stumble on to some area of the lake that has been overlooked by the locals but that is a big "if" given the size of the lake. The defigning quality of a pro is to be versitile and be able to compete in any situation they are put in. that being said I think they would be competitive, and out of 100 trials they would probabily win about 40. Mitch

the breaks are on the real for a specific reason and the spool tensioner is also on there for a specific reason. The breaks help with backlashes that will occur later in the cast when the lure is slowing down, or when the spool is starting to spin faster than the line is coming out, but for birdsnests early in the cast the spool tensioner is best used. Mitch

how about this one, blood is red. blood meens injured fish, which means easy meal. also gills are red, which means the fish is not looking which again means easy meal. one last point red and orange are colors that tend to trigger agression in many animals and some fish included. although they may not be able to see the color red as we do, they still see a shade of gray that is the equivelent of red to us. Mitch

Follow your dreams, pursue your passions, take care of your responsibilities, have no regrets, be true to your self, and above all else be faithful to God. If one of the ways you can acomplish all of these things is through a career in competitive fishing, why would you not do it, or atleast give it a chance. "No regrets" dont look back on your life and think if only I would have given that pro fishing thing a chance. dont be that guy. Mitch

I love hollow body frogs I think they are one of the best big fish lures out there. The best time to use them is whenever you are targeting big fish. another good time is when you are on a lake that gets a lot of pressure find the thickest nastiest stuff with some good deep water neer by and go froggin. Mitch

owner beast hooks. Mitch