FrogFreak

Thanks for the info, I've decided I just need to mount my one fish finder with a ram type mount so I can swivel it to view it when I'm at the bow. Now to figure out what's involved with that.

I would hope I'd have the courage to do the same as you did. Great job!

I like to wear a full face shield so when I yank the frog out of the bass's mouth, I don't get clobbered in the face. Seriously, it doesn't matter how many years you've been fishing, it still happens to us all. I just had to explain to my doc why I had bruising on my rib cage.....he looked at me funny when I told him it was from a frog.

Another thing that hasn't been mentioned specifically is patience and confidence. I think they go hand in hand but if you are confident a lure will work, then you'll have the patience to fish it correctly. I've been out with buddies who will tie something on, throw it out 3 times, say it doesn't work,and put it back in their tackle box. I think I read or saw something on this site about limiting your tackle one day to the type of bait you want to get better using. That way you aren't tempted to go back to your comfortable bait. So my advice is to commit before you get on the water (or the shore) to a couple top water lures and work them. Be patient. Bass can't stand it when a bait just sits there. I've left my frog alone for up to 3 minutes before twitching it. I assume every time I throw my frog that there's a bass looking at it from below. I hope this helps!

I know a buddy of mine who was fishing close to Roland up here in Minnesota one day and he was catching while Roland wasn't. Roland was trying to get some footage for his show and he kept looking over at my buddy netting fish after fish so he finally came over and asked him what he was throwing. I don't remember what magic lure my buddy was using but when Roland asked, my buddy, who's quite the smart ass, just looked at him and said, "You're Roland Martin, you tell me." Roland just looked at him for a second with a frown and then started laughing. No idea which hat you should get, my rule of thumb is if your decision won't effect your life 5 years down the road, don't worry about it too much. How about eeny meeny minnie mo?

OK, I have a question. Can I tap into the wires for my bow trim controls to wire my fish finder at the bow? I really don't want to run wires all the way back to the cranking battery if I can help it. I haven't bought a fish finder yet, I'm just doing some research. If I can use the trim control wires, I'm guessing I can pigtail the hot and the ground? Thanks for any help here.

I'm actually from Grand Forks, ND but I stay in the Park Rapids area all summer (Third Crow Wing Lake). Just joined a couple weeks ago. Just bought a Crestliner VT 17 with a 60 hp Merc. I've been using a 'yak for awhile and from the shore before that. Just had a great 4 days of fishing over the 4th. Throwing mostly frogs and missing more than I caught. My question is, how many of you guys throw frogs and if you do, what brand and color? I have been using Scum Frog Trophy frogs in black and green. Great frog but they get beat up pretty quickly.

OK, back to the original question. Here are some lakes up north that I love for bass. Cass Lake, no one fishes bass there and they have some big LMBs. Long Lake just outside of Park Rapids... Come down during the spawn and we can catch 60 plus 3+ pounders in a day easy. Ozawindib OK, this is one of my little secret lakes. It's in Itasca Park and the most boats I've ever seen on it is one.... The whole lake is undeveloped. Island Lake just south of Nevis. Another small lake that has many LMBs. The launch is off the beaten path so it's fairly quiet. There's a lake owners association there that is pretty good about managing the lake. The Crow Wing chain of lakes. Again, not pressured for LMBs. They grow em big there.

I carry a piece of PVC pipe about 3 feet long to use to relieve myself. I don't have to worry about peeing on my boat and I just rinse it out to flush. I call it my pee v c.

Thank you all. I have a motor guide 75 and I can cut through but I do worry about spooking fish. I think I'll go with the push pole. Any suggestions on the brand? I don't want it to break after 2 uses.

OK, I just bought a boat (Crestliner VT 17) and the places I used to get to with my 'yak aren't accessable anymore. My trolling motor gets fouled quick. There is a large weed flat area on the lake I fish that has very thick grass on the edges and I just can't get to it. I tried last weekend and I had to clean the trolling motor twice and back out before I burned her up. I love throwing frogs in the slop, what do you guys suggest? Push pole? Any help is appreciated.

I fish around Park Rapids and I still love Long Lake. I've had 40 plus fish days there with a top water frog during the spawn. Yep, I put them all back. Love me some Lilly Pads! The bass in my profile picture was pushing 6 lbs. I caught her in a little place called Mud Lake from shore with a frog while scouting out new spots so I didn't have anything to weigh her with. No worries, I'm not to caught up on the whole size thing.

bigger pic

I just picked her up! This is a 2013 Crestliner VT 17 with a 60 HP 4 stroke. Her name is the JUBO 3. My grandfather had 2 boats the JUBO 1 and JUBO 2. My grandmother's name was June and his name was Bob.....JUBO! This is my first boat and I'm pretty proud!

My Dad was a busy man but about 2-3 times/year he would load up an old camper of ours and we'd go to some high Cascade lake and fish for trout (in Oregon). It seemed like time would slow down and we could just hang out together. Also, my Grandfather had an ocean boat and we'd go after Salmon every summer from about age 12-16. Years later the Air Force stationed me up here in the frigid North and I ran into a guy from Alabama. He turned me onto Bass fishing. I'll never forget the first time a Bass hit my Hula Popper! The rest is history!

My pet peeve is when I'm just sitting there enjoying a show and then I realize this guy gets to do this for a living and I have to go to work and sit in an office all day.......

I have a seasonal RV on a lake about 180 miles away that I use as my home base (North Central MN). From there, I have about 20 lakes within 15 minutes that all hold great numbers of LMB. Not the size you all have in the south but they fight like they're twice as big. MY PB is about 5.5 lbs (profile picture). I didn't weigh this one because I was just driving around with my wife scouting and stopped at a roadside drainage threw out my Scumfrog and bam! Fat ole female. Regardless of weight though, it's the biggest bass I've caught.

Hello, new to the forum. Just joined! I bass fish up here in Minnesota and I use a Kayak (just ordered a boat, more on that when I get it). So I took my grown boys out with me a couple weeks ago to one of the smaller lakes in Central MN. They were both in float tubes and I was in my Kayak. We had caught about 10-12 fish when I decided to lean back in my 'yak and take a break. Well, it was an overcast day so I had set my Oakley sunglasses on the top of my hat and when I leaned back....you guessed it, they went into the drink. We searched for a bit but the wind was making it difficult to even find the spot where I dropped them. I gave up on the search and decided it was time to go. We started to head back to the ramp. Both boys decided to hitch a ride by holding onto the back of the 'yak. My boys weigh in at about 200 lb each. Needless to say, I was paddling like crazy and on one stroke, I caught the top eyelet of the extra rod one of my sons had in a rod holder on the side of his float tube. The next thing you know it was at the bottom of the lake. I really wanted to get on him about not using the rod holder correctly but it happened to be his birthday so I didn't. All in all, that was about a $450 dollar loss that day. Yep, he was using one of my better rod and reels....It was his birthday and all.