mjseverson24

for a soft plastic frog I would suggest the berkley lightning shock rod 7' MH it is a beast especially for 50$. you can also use hollow body frogs with it as long as the grass is not too thick. generally when using hollow body frogs I use a 7'6" Heavy action telescoping BPS graphite series rod with a BPS rod balancer. It is a cheap set up but when frog fishing feel is not important power, durability, and length are the most important factors for me. Mitch

My favorite rod and reel combo Is a 7' MH berkley lighting shock rod with an abu promax. this set up cost about $120.00 and over the last few years has landed between 800-1200 bass and pike. it is an absolute workhorse rod and I use it for buzzbaits, soft plastic frogs(ribbit), and hollow body frogs in sparse vegetation. the promax is a good reel for the price with the high speed gearing. Mitch

If you are just getting into baitcasters the abu black max is a good reel, also the BPS pro qualifier is a good reel especially when it is on sale like right now. Mitch

I love the Skeet Reese rods, the s-glass cranking rods are great, the flippin stick is awesome, it is more parabolic than most which is nice when setting the hook hard. The entire line up is nice they have tons of different rods for almost any application. st. croix rods are very nice too the mojo series is a good value, the veritas line up is also pretty impressive. But I still like the W&M skeet rods the best. Mitch

The advantage with the ardent flippin reels is the skinnier spool which reduces line friction through the guide making for more consistent flippin performance. also the reel features a high internal set drag which makes sure the drag will not release when you set the hook. they are a great reel to flip with, others work too but this one is made especially for it. with the flippin switch I dont necessarily like them, it is just one more thing to mess up on a reel. That being said some guys like them... Mitch

I think superstitions are just fishermen blaming there own bad decision making on something other than themselves. I learned a while back it is better to understand that i did a poor job finding and catching fish and try not to repeat it the next time out. this will probably serve you better than chocking it up to catching a fish on the first cast. JMO Mitch

I prefer to fish out of my own boat. I like some of the others on here like the comfort zone of having all of my tackle and gear, along with the ability to be in control of the trolling motor and the boat in general. That being said I do like fishing with other guys in there boat, I always like to learn especially from other tournament anglers, it is just hard to bring all of the gear I feel necessary to maximize my time on the water. I usually have 20-25 combos ready for the day, but when I am in other guys boats I bring 10-15 combos. While this might not seem like a big deal, I find that the more options I have available the more fish I catch. Mitch

I am very supersticious, if I dont catch a fish in the first 8 hours of a tournament I have a feeling I wont do very well... Mitch

I used to play tennis year round, then I joined the Navy and golfed almost every day. Now that I am out of the Navy and back in MN I fish 1200-1500 hours from april till november. I would say everything else has taken the back burner. Mitch

one frog probabily wont do you a whole lot of good. I would get 4 frogs. get two of the largest frogs in a dark color, and in a lighter color or white. then get two of the popping frogs one in dark and one in light or white. frog fishing can be the most fun you will have fishing all year dont sell yourself short by only having one. I recamend the largest sizes because typicaly when you frog fish you are targeting big fish not the small to medium size ones. Mitch

my take on topwater baits is this. If I am searching for fish, I will use buzzbaits, walk the dog baits, and soft plastic frogs(ribbit). these are all relatively fast moving baits and can help locate fish. If I am fishing a specific cover and the fish are probabily holding tight to it, I will use a slow bait like a popper and or a hollow bodie frog( I also slow roll walk the dog baits). when you pop and hop these baits and just let them sit it drives the big ones crazy. I feel you spend more time in the strike zone with the frog and poppers, and use them much more often then the others. I dont use wake and prop baits very often, the conditions have to be just right. Mitch

Up here in the north, we generally dont eat bass. we have walleye, pike and panfish for eating. we have Muskie and Bass for sport, so we dont have a huge problem with people harvesting them. I wish they would make keeping bass illegal over 15" unless you are in an active tournament event. I also wish a similar regulation would be put on muskie except a catch and release policy only for them. Selective harvest is a good thing, taking out the larger fish is not. Bucket fishermen dont usually bother me because they generally suck at fishing. I was one once, and I sucked then if I caught a few fish It was a good day. eat other fish leave the sportfish. Mitch

for me the only thing I can think of that does much better for largies than smallies is a 5" hollow body swimbait. I have cought 1 smallmouth on a swimbait, about 5 lbs. but have caught many largemouth on a hollow body. for me that is probabily the bait with the largest success ratio. That being said I usually dont throw a 5" hollow body for smallies. Mitch

Havoc is my favorite lineup of baits. I use the smash tube, craw fatty, slop craw and pit boss. all of these have produced for my very well, the rest of the line up is good too but these are standouts to me. especially for 2.99. I also like that they do not have a sent I usually use yum F2 in crawfish anyway. Mitch

I would choose sunday. The weather is quite a bit warmer, and it might help the fish get active especially as the sun gets high in the sky. but not knowing your lake look at the wind directions if there are better points and structure when the wind is from the west then go saturday, and if the set up is better for a south wind go sunday. Mitch

Spinnerbait- strike king (usually double willows). Jigs- buckeye mopjigs, strike kind bitsy bugs, and custom jigs. soft plastics - berkley havoc usually craw fatty, pit boss, and slop craw. also yum dingers. Mitch

I almost always peg my t-rigs. when the bait is pegged any tic and bump you feel is either a fish or some sort of structure. also having the weight pegged allows it to slip through cover better. I usually don't fish t rigs in open water for me its either a jig c-rig or dropshot. Mitch

Havoc craw fatty, pit boss, and slop craw, good baits at an afordable price. Mitch

the 14-17 lb floor would probably be a good choice for you, depending on your familiarity with a bait-caster. if you are relatively new I would go to a mono, or a braid. Braid is by far the most manageable, and sensitive, the biggest drawback is abrasion resistance and also visibility to fish. If neither of these two things concern you go with the braid, 30 lb is pretty standard. if you do go with a fluorocarbon I would suggest either stren florocast, or segar red-label. these are two of the more affordable fluorocarbon lines on the market so if/when you do get a bad backlash you wont loose a 20 dollar spool. Use a line conditioner like the KVD line conditioner to help remove memory and increase life of the line. for your wife's set up 15 lb mono should work great. dont worry about what the rod and reel say for max line capacity and ratings. as long as you set your drag properly you should have no issues with rod breakages. Mitch

when you lift a fish out of the water all of the weight of the fish is on the rod and it bends at an unnatural angle causeing more stress and increased chance of breaking the rod. the rod makers tell you not to do this because it is expensive for both parties involved when a rod breaks. most of the time you have to pay for shiping and also wont have a rod for a few weeks. The pros do it becuase often times when you dont have a landing net to use the best way for a fish to get off is when you try and hand lift them out of the water while keeping some kind of tension on the line. pros dont care if they break rods they care about landing fish. Mitch

I use snap swivels quite often. When I am using crankbaits, walk the dog baits, chatterbaits etc... I use them especially while pre-fishing for tournaments, and unless I find one bait that is much more productive than the rest I will leave the swivel on even in the tournament. I only use them with moving baits and I know they are less visible than 30 lb braid direct tied, so in my opinion they do not negatively effect fishing productivity. (the convienience of changing in a few seconds outweighs the maybe one fish that gets spooked by the swivel) Mitch

I use both, typically I use the crazy legs when I am in weeds with a soft botom texas rigged peged with at most a 1/8 oz bullet. I use the regular on hard bottom t- rigged with a 1/4 oz bullet pegged. If i had to pick just one the regular chigger would be the one it is a great craw bait. the crazylegs is a good bait also but there are many creature baits out there that will do a better job ie. zoom brush hog and baby brush hog. Mitch

For me it depends on the situation. If I am pre-fishing for a tournament and someone asks what I am catching them on I usually give the generic answer of a spinnerbait/ crank bait/ soft plastics etc... I dont lie I just am not very specific. I rarely in any situation give away the location, but most often I will show whoever asks exactly what I have had success on and what depths I was fishing. I do this because I was once a bank fisherman who just wanted to catch nice fish with my dad and have a good time. It is a good feeling to pass on the knowledge that you have acquired to others especially if it can make a difference. Mitch

hmm... an error occurred and it posted too early... but obviously 1 rod is the minimum to get away with, but I think three rods would be a good number for a recreational fisherman. one 7' m/L finnesse spinning rod combo, one 7' medium casting and one 7'6" MH casting. with these three rods most common techniques can be covered. otherwise the six rod system is a good choice. Mitch

I personally like the technique specific rods very much, but mainly because fishing tournaments I usually have 20 combos rigged up, about 15 casting, and 5 spinning. Every one of the rods I use is set up to maximize a specific technique. that being said depending upon your skill level and interest in the sport, this will dictate the number of rods you should carry. obviously 1