mjseverson24

if I am imitating a crawfish I like the Watermelon/red more as often they have some red/orange color on them. If I am imitating a baitfish/bluegill I like the GP and a lot of times with a little bit of blue or purple mixed in... Mitch

it would be hard to have too much tackle, but it is easy to have too much tackle with you... if the boat can no longer plane out I would say that is too much gear... Mitch

in the type of water you are fishing I would stick with braid, just learn to line watch to detect subtle bites. I use a lot of floro for many different reasons, visibility, slack line sensitivity, and abrasion resistance, but when I can get away with braid I usually prefer it... Mitch

to answer your question, they do work better for certain applications, as a result these companies sell more reels because they are specialized... Mitch

Its a 7'2" ML/F rod built on a nice blank made by a good company. Typically the walleye rods have slightly different balance and tapers as compared to bass rods. When walleye fishing a tip heavy rod is not a problem as typically the rod is in the downward position, also the tip of the rod is usually softer so when you are rigging and or jigging you don't rip the bait out of the fishes mouth before you set the hook. Is this the case on your new rod??? Not sure, but these are the observations I have made when comparing rods designed for bass vs walleye...(mostly st. croix rods) Mitch

Both work well and I believe have a time and a place where they excel. Magnetic) Due to ease of adjustment work great for pitching and flipping, as well as a rod that you change the lures on quite often. Centrifugal) Most consistent casting, gives best backlash protection, basically set it and forget it. great for reaction baits where casting is primary duty (not pitching or flipping). They also work great for pitching and flipping, but to make quick adjustments you have to use the cast control knob... (unlless it is an external adjustment like the ACS from quantum) Mitch

The center of gravity has a lot to do with how the rod and reel feel in your hand. By placing a heavier reel on the rod you can move the center of gravity farther back towards the reel seat. This will reduce the amount of torque required to be introduced by your wrist to lift the rod tip. How much less??? well the lighter the rod the more noticeable the change, and if you can get the balance point to be exactly at the joint in your wrist the tip would feel almost weightless. Almost... Mitch

last year for opener, I wen to a small reservoir chain. I typically carry about 30 rods with me, and since it was opener I had all hands on deck. Over the course of an 8 Hr fishing trip I was told 4 times by 4 different people that MN law says you can only use 1 rod and that I was breaking the law. Each time I tried to correct the person and let them know it was just using one rod at any given time, but most thought I was just crazy. The last guy was very insistent that I was wrong so he calls up the sheriff telling him about me "breaking the law", so within an hour here comes a sheriff boat coming to investigate the claim and obviously he sees that I am not committing a crime all the while the guy on the boat that called it in was yelling at me from about 100ft away " I told you, you were going to get in trouble, but you wouldn't listen would you." If that wasn't bad enough apparently this guy had been drinking, and when the sheriff went over to his boat to inform him of the actual law he ended up giving the guy a DUI... what kind of idiot calls a sherif when you are intoxicated operating a boat... Mitch

I like two different rod lines for drop shots. 1) Mojo bass either the DS specific rod which is I think 6'8" ML/XF or the tube rod which is 7'M/F (fishing in weeds this is my favorite) 2) Shimano Compre I like the longer 7'2" rod, but the shorter one is good too... these have the best reel seat, and has a great blank. Mitch

LOL... the funny thing is you assume that we (northerners and or people used to fishing natural lakes) do not adapt, the truth is we are forced to adapt because the difference between a lake and a river and a reservoir are so different that being able to find good quality fish in one does not mean you will be able to employ the same tactics and patterns on all three... Can you use some basic principals that will be successful on each body of water??? Sure. But look at how the bass tournaments are won on Pickwick vs Erie or Champlain, or the Potomac (tidal system) the same tactics and concepts can be used to catch fish, but the size and quantity may vary dramatically. So the real key is to understand that there are major differences from natural lakes to reservoirs, and use the understanding of each system to most effectively catch fish... Mitch

Bass fishing in natural lakes as compared to reservoirs is very different. Most of the information that pertains to the reservoirs is basically useless to the natural lake fisherman. One of the biggest differences is current. Also the natural lakes typically have a very small amount of wood. The typical forage base for bass up in my neck of the woods is bluegill, perch, crawfish, shiners, and small bass. In a natural lake I classify them in three different ways. 1) clear and deep. 2) Muddy and shallow. 3) some combination of 1&2. I prefer to fish as deep as I can on each lake as I believe the largest fish typically live there. so in a type 1 lake I usually fish humps and drop-offs near the outside weed edges. for type 2 lakes I find the areas with the thickest vegetation but also has "deep" water near by. type 3 lakes are my favorite as they typically have weed growth down to about 12 ft and tend to hold the largest fish in the state. These lakes I fish near the outside weed edges typically the weed is a coon-tail or milfoil. Type 1 lakes I use florocarbon lines the majority of the time, my main presentations are texas rigs, jigs, dropshot, swimjig, spinnerbait, and deep crankbaits. type 2 lakes I use braid the majority of the time, my most productive baits are frogs, spooks, buzzbaits, jigs, t-rigs, squarebill cranks, and bladed jigs. type 3 lakes I use a combination of braid floro and mono, and on these lakes every presentation in the book is effective on any given day, these lakes seem to be the most consistent producers of big bags day in and day out... Mitch

I have both, and honestly they both feel very nice... I like the solid feel of the Lexa, but i like the technology on the Tatula(T-wing, Mag-Z)... Since you are putting it on a cranking rod I would suggest the Lexa, but say it was for frogs or punching, I would go with the Lexa... There is no wrong answer here, they both will perform very well in the application you are looking for... Mitch

I have one of the 7' skeet cranking and two of the rick clunn 7' H, and I love all of them, they have great parabolic action. I loose very few fish with these rods... Mitch

I don't own a st. croix above the rage line up, but i do own at least one of each of the other lines, and I love all of them. Are they the best rods I have ever used??? No, but If you can't catch fish with a St. Croix you cant catch with any brand... Mitch

I use a 7' M/F Abu Verdict with a Daiwa T3-B 8:1 and 10 lb segar invisx. This has been a great combo for me using very light jig set ups. Mitch

how do you break a rod while pitching??? there should be little to no load on the rod, so how did it break??? Mitch

If i was in the market for a pitching stick, I would look at three different rods 1) Falcon Bucoo Micro 6'10" H ( one of my favorite rods super light plenty sensitive with a lot of backbone) 2) Skeet reese honeycomb 7'6" heavy cover rod. ( this rod is a beast and one of the best balanced 7'6" rods I own ) 3) Daiwa tatula 7'1" MH/XF ( great rod especially with floro or mono) Mitch

I was talking about regular mag breaks... Based on the physical principals, the force exerted opposite the direction of spool rotation is proportional to the time rate of change of the angular velocity of the spool(partial derivative with respect to time of the induced magnetic field)... so mag breaks work primarily during the first part of the cast when the spool is accelerating from rest to top speed. After the spool reaches probably its max speed the effects of the mag breaks are very small (mathematically) due to the relatively slow rate of deceleration. This is not necessarily what I observe when using a mag break system, but this i believe is the principals for which their operation is based. It would not make sense to apply breaking pressure towards the end of the cast with an installed system as this would reduce casting performance. Cent breaks in the other hand have a much longer time of operation in each cast as they are speed dependent and not acceleration dependent. One way to verify this is to think about set it an forget it reels... All of the ones that come to mind are Cent breaking. not that mag breaks are not good they just require a little bit more talent from the person using the reel to get the most out of them... It seems like when I use mag break systems the cast control knob plays a much bigger role for me than it does for cent systems thus adding a small constant breaking force throughout the cast while with cent systems i could probably loose the control cap and not notice too much difference except the spool wobble... Mitch

You guys go way more in detail with cleaning and lubricating of your reels than I do. spool bearings if not ceramic get cleaned and light oil and handle bearings if non ceramic get light oil, all internal bearings get grease as they are low speed bearings. I apply a pretty generous amount of grease to the level wind system, and the main gear. If it is cent breaking I clean and lightly oil the friction ring. having 30+ casting reels and 10+ spinning reels to maintain each year this is all the maintenance they get mainly because of time constraints. I have never had any issues from this routine and being in MN corrosion is not much of an issue unless the reel goes for a long swim, then it gets totally broken down and cleaned... MItch

lol... yeah i tried to stay simple, but i am afraid I failed miserably... This may be a better explanation. magnetic breaking is basically a black box containing magic that allows us to use a baitcaster without backlashing or at least reduces the chance. The method by which it controls the cast is purely magic so do not attempt to understand how it works just understand that it does... Mitch

I will try to explain this in the most simple way that I can. Basically the spool and magnets act like a mini generator. Since the magnetic field is constant throughout a cast the only way to increase or decrease the voltage or current induced in the spool is to increase or decrease speed. the induced voltage and current in the spool create a magnetic field of their own, however the magnetic fields are opposite in direction which will cause "magnetic friction" (not a real term but its close to what happens, it is actually induced EMF) as the spool accelerates it increases the amount of "magnetic friction" (similar to centrifugal breaking systems, except its more about spool speed for centrifugal). Mathematically it would appear that magnetic breaking systems are designed to add breaking power proportional to the acceleration of the spool, where centrifugal systems are primarily dependent on speed. By the math it would appear that during the end of a cast a magnetic system actually helps the spool to spin due to the fact that the spool is decelerating causing the EMF to be positive rather than negative, which might explain why it is easier to get an overrun at the end of a mag breaks cast as compared to a cent. This is in no way exactly what is happening, but without mathematical formulas and a decent background in calculous this type of explanation should provide a basic understanding of the principals at work... Mitch

There is a reason most people who fish for a living use a combination of mono, floro and braid in order to give them the best chance to succeed in competitions... there is no one line that is the best at everything, but I think for the average angler braid is the best all-around line... Mitch

I do quite a bit of frog fishing, and the grass in MN is some of the healthiest in the country, I use 50 LB PP. I have had no need to step up to 65 LB because if a pike/muskie cuts through 50 LB it will cut through 65 LB... This last year I started using a leader of 25 lb Big Game when having issues with pike and that reduced the number of pike break-offs tremendously. The thick mono will reduce the ability to walk the frog effectively, but I typically don't walk them anyway. if you don't have to worry about toothy critters I wouldn't ever feel the need to go above 50 LB. Mitch

I like the way they look, they appear to have a very minimalist design which i like, but I am skeptical of the blank material... it s hard to compete for sensetivity with the ***, Compre, Veritas, carbonlite and Bucoo that are in a similar price range... Mitch

C-rig... its really tough to do a true finesse in the wind, so I think a C-Rig is as god as it gets on those days... Mitch