FrogFreak

Yes, in all seriousness, please call before you do anything that may get you in trouble. It's not clear if you own the pond, where the pond is located, what the regulations are in that area etc

Makes sense to me, just C-riiging on the move.

Ah sarcasm. It's one of those things that can cause many different reactions. In order to lighten the mood, I'll tell a quick story about my own stupidity. I was fishing early this year with a homemade shallow crank I call the Waddler 3000. I tossed it up by the shore and started to pull it back and a big ole bass exploded on it. I got her all the way back to the Kayak and she broke off. Well, I went back home and grabbed another from the lot of 2 that I made and realized I'd left some sharp edges on the line tie (from epoxy). So now I make sure to clean up the line ties and make sure there aren't any sharp edges BEFORE I use them.

Well, I here some folks saying people don't like to fish slow because they aren't patient. That's me most of the time. I want to catch em 1) on a topwater lure 2) on a reaction lure 3) on a plastic moving faster than most would go. Just last weekend, I had fo make myself slow down to catch my limit. Fishing really slow just isn't as fun for me but I will do it when I need to. I just fish for fun but I know if I was a tourney guy, I'd slow down much sooner than I do now. When the bites tough, the ole t-rigged plastic thrown to ambush spots is a tried and true technique. It's not the only way I don't like to catch em. I don't much like deep cranking all day long either. Seems a bit too much like work to me.

Up here bass fishing is somewhat of a novelty. After a day of trolling for Walleyes, kids tend to gravitate towards all the action of casting over and over. So when they ask me about bass fishing, I'll help if they are respectful and truly interested. I did give a hollow body frog to a nice young kid last year and he told me this spring that he got several more for Christmas.

Yet another vote for Frogg Toggs. Cheap, packs easy and works.

I go to the Cabelas bargain cave and can usually find cheap plastics. Yes, the Cabelas brand works. But if I can afford Ragetail products, I buy them. Not only do they support this forum, they flat out work.

This is a great question. Yes, I'd throw the lure. I struggle with getting "locked" into fishing a certain way and when I see someone else catching them a different way, I have to force myself to change. My wife was killing them on her purple worm one day and I had to swallow the pride and switch up. Here's the thing. Most times I decide what my strategy is going to be the night before I go fishing. The key to my successful days are when the strategy works or when I quickly access that the strategy isn't working and I change it up. I struggle on those days when I fail to switch it up and fail to listen to what all the external signs are telling me. Water temp, time of year, surface activity, cover present etc. Anything that can give me insight is valuable. In this case, your buddy's success is just one of those variables. You should take it into consideration. You know that guy that always throws the same lure in the same color? Don't be that guy. Sure he has great days but he also gets skunked. Note: I can be that guy sometimes. I've wasted whole mornings throwing a frog when I shouldn't. This year I'm working on doing less of that sort of thing.

I can't imagine not hearing a bass break the surface, pan fish feeding on top, loons calling, beavers slapping the water and deer walking along the waters edge. That's the only music I need to here.

My two sons and I decided to go to a local lake and try our luck. It was early in the year up north but they still wanted to use a couple float tubes to get out a bit further. Just to explain, my sons are grown men and tend to make their own decisions without listening to their father. Well I was in my kayak and they were in the float tubes. Fishing was going fine and I took a break and leaned back in my kayak and lost my new Oakley sunglasses overboard. Then my one son informs me that he is very cold. I didn't realize the water was that cold. So we decided to head back in right into the wind. Well they were both cold and it was a bit of a hike to get back to the landing so I let them grab onto the kayak and I paddled us home. While I was paddling, my older boy moved up into the path of my paddling and I caught his/my brand new rod/reel combo and it went into the drink. So final tally for the day was about $400 overboard, some sore shoulders from hauling float tubes into the wind and 2 very cold young men.

It's a kids job as a child to do stupid things from time to time. It's an adult's job to correct the stupid things when they occur. Thanks P for educating them. It can be something that's difficult for non-sportsman to understand. We catch fish and sometimes keep and eat them but if that isn't our intention, we should quickly let them go. There is a similar lesson in hunting. Either harvest the animal and minimize the suffering or leave the animal alone. It's an interesting relationship between a sportsman and their prey. We respect the animals we pursue yet our goal (most of the time) is to harvest them for supper.

1. Smaller popper thrown around cover early in the morning. Nothing better! 2. Frogs in the slop 3. T-rigged plastics 4. Spinnerbait

That makes sense since you are constantly taking line off aggresively when you cast.Now that I think about it, the line dig issue was more with lighter plastics that I was pitching.

Wow, great posts. I will add just a couple things. X2 on two different types of weeds. Not sure why but bass dig this but then do. Inner weed edges are often overlooked and are pretty productive up north. Not sure why but whenever I'm fishing an outer weed edge, I always throw a couple casts to the inner edge and I've had success. I also see that weed points and other areas of focus along weed edges typically have loner fish on them. But again, I see this a lot regarding any ambush points (outside of the spawn/post spawn times). I will add that any deeper pockets within a weedy area can be dynamite! I have found these deep within weedy areas most often when I'm in my Kayak. One last item, up north I avoid dead weeds right after spawn. If the weeds are bright green, they seem to hold more fish. I think it's the O2 levels. Dead weeds eat O2. Live weeds produce O2.

Up north it seems that they simply find cooler water in the heat of the day. This can be under docks, moving water, shaded areas on banks etc or in deeper water. I usually fish lilies starting on top with a frog and then get right in them with the appropriate lure if needed. Pay attention to any irregularities in the weed mats. two different weeds, weed points, a lay down in the weeds are all great places to focus on. I also like any weed patch that has quick access to deeper water. Fishing points is a great start to finding deeper fish without electronics. Although with all the different options in electronics these days, I would just go get a cheap fishfinder even if it's one of the all in one units (fishbuddy I think).

They only thing I will say is that I've used smaller diameter braid and I didn't like the tendency to dig into my spool. It seems the larger diameter braid doesn't do it as much. And yes, I put tension on the braid when I spool it up.

When a bass is trying it's best to wrap itself in weeds, I'm guessing a high speed reel would be beneficial but I'm just guessing since the highest gear ratio I own is a 6:3:1.

The president is by far the best in it's price range. Done! I just use electrical tape. It's easy and I always seem to have a roll around.

X2, I could never stop frogging.

Too many rods.......never heard of such a thing. I do have trouble when I have to chose the 4 rods I'll take on my kayak. Usually I go spinner for trigs, H for frogging, M BC for topwaters/cranks, and a MH BC for utility duties (spinner/chatter)

Unless you're really into walking with ease, I find you can pick up a mid-ranged MH or H rod (store brand) and save your money for other setups that require sensitivity.I bought a 7'6" H rod from a regional store (Scheels) for $50. Their rods are made by *** now. I can still walk the dog and it has ample power for up north slop (yes we get it pretty thick in July/Aug).

X2 I own 2 of these rods, one BC and one spinning and for the money, they are very nice. Sensitive and strong. You really can't go wrong with St. Croix. They many not be as "sexy" as other choices but they do the job and do it very well.

I've used PowerPro for 2 seasons now and it works just fine. It does "lighten" in color but you can just move it from one reel to the next burying the lighter end.

I know a couple of folks have touched on this but in my humble opinion I will use a BC when ever I can and spinning gear when BC doesn't work for me. I have 2 instances when I go to spinning gear. Skipping docks and drop shotting. I have considered switching to a BC for drop shotting but I just haven't invested the money in the right setup. Recently I switched from using a spin setup to a bc setup when throwing smaller trebled top water lures. I found this older Quantum rod that's pretty parabolic and I matched it with a Daiwa Lexa 100. It still suffers a bit in terms of accuracy but it casts forever. Bottom line for me, if BC setups work, I use them. If not, I go to spinning setups. Side note: I love using braid (with or without a fluoro leader) on spinning gear. No line memory makes me a happy angler.

Heck 5.39 for a whole rig is cheap! You can pay more than that for the tungsten weight alone. Another key to punching is to use a very slim profile plastic with few appendages. You want to minimize the things that can hang up. It's a really fun and effective way to catch em in the summer.