FrogFreak

If you're going to name your boat, may I suggest your wife's name? It'll help her and the boat bond.

Nothing better than a good woman! Congrats on the new (to you) yak!

Poppers and walking baits for me. If I throw out a walking bait and it get's bit before I start working it, I'll change to a popper. If the popper get's bit when I'm working it aggressively, I'll change to a walking bait. If neither works, I'll just go home.

Josh, I fish small lakes as well. While I don't have trouble catching them on a variety of lure in my lakes, I do seem to find more "loner" fish than schooling fish. So I usually catch one and more on. It's actually becoming a bad habit. Now even if I catch a schooling fish, my first instinct is to move on. Not good. I do fish a bunch of different lakes and it's crazy sometimes how much the bass activity can change from lake to lake. My buddy tells me on the small lake he fishes, he can only catch them on deep weed edges with t-rigged worms or beavers. Not sure what to tell you, if we could always figure them out we'd be as rich as KVD.

Nice smallies! Up here anything in bluegill seems to get bit too. It'd be a hard life being a little gill.

Wow, I learn a ton on this site. Here's my humble take on it. People say Northern bass are more aggressive. I submit that the bass up North are more aggressive because our waters don't get as warm and sure don't stay as warm as southern waters. There may be other factors but this may be an overlooked one. I read all types of articles about the summer pattern and how the fishing is harder in the heat of the summer. I find this to be untrue up North. Just last weekend I was very successful all weekend long and the air temps are pretty warm. I fished out of my yak all weekend so I really don't know what the water temp is but it's not that warm yet.. We are blessed with a pretty consistent yet short season up here. And yes, bass will eat just about anything when hungry cuz they don't have hands.

I've heard of people catching a ton of bass up on Leech Lake in MN deep in the Wild Rice using frogs. I think I watched a show where they did it as well.

I only bass fish for medicinal reasons.... This thread is the new gold standard.

How about a Kayak or a float tube? You can get into a pretty good float tube for around $100-$200 and a Kayak can be had for $200 and on up.

Congrats! I'm inspired! Dreaming is the best part of life!

Since I use the VMC spinshot with Fluoro, I use the San Diego Jam Knot.that Martens recommends. http://www.another site/tips_article.asp?ID=67#.U-VDE_ldWHM

I am also late to the party but if I had my choice, I'd own nothing but St. Croix rods.

Here's an update. After reading this thread yesterday I called my insurance agent (State Farm) and they did say stolen property was included but I needed to give them a dollar figure. I gave them $3000 to cover rods, reels, tackle, fishfinder and TM. I think my policy went up by $40 a year. Well worth it in my opinion.

I'd like to chime in on the dealer issue. I fish in Central MN and I'd probably buy a Lund, Crestliner (what I own) or an Alumacraft since all three are supported throughout the state. They also seem to have pretty good resale value up here. I have a friend who bought his new boat from a dealer that is about 90 miles away (the only dealer in a 2 plus hour raduis) and he has needed to bring the boat back in on two occasions. What a pain!

Here's my two cents: Go with the Pflueger President combo ($80) Rebel Pop Rs, They're cheap. Zara Spook (also cheap) T-Rig Hooks and bullet weights Zoom trick worms/ribbon tail worms (good price point) in watermelon or green pumpkin. Strike King spinnerbaits in while or white and chartreuse A small soft sided tackle box Go to a hardware store and buy some needle nose pliers Nail clippers 10-12 lb Berkley Trilene Mono (good all around line) This should cover you for a bit. You can add a couple cranks if you would like. I just don't fish them enough to advise you on which ones to buy. Oh and beware of the bait monkey!

I popper/chug fish a ton and it really depends on the lure. As someone else noted, the deeper the cup the more it will chug. I wouldn't get too caught up in that one way to work any popper/chugger though. Try many different cadences and actions. Just let the bass tell you what they want. Tthe vast majority of my bites this summer have happened when I let the lure sit on the surface for 6-10 seconds and then twitch it once.Often they don't even let it twitch before they hit it. Yes, a chug works but so do many other subtle ways of working the lure. Just last week they wanted it to be popped very aggressively. Nothing else worked that morning.

I've ordered Ragetail Menaces from Sieberts several times. At the risk of him selling out, this is the place I'd recommend.

I find this one hard to answer because it depends on so many things. I like the VMC spinshot hooks in 1 or 2 size for my lakes. I find that a #1 hook from one company is a diferent size than a #1 hook from another company so I like to see them in the store before I buy them the first time. VMC, Gammy Trokar, Owner and Mustad are all good hook companies in my humble opinion.

I enjoy throwing a popper on a med rod with a moderate action. I feel it allows the fish to get hooked up without my help. And I don't pull the lure out of the fish's mouth when I get excited. I use a Daiwa Lexa 100 matched up with an old Quantum rod (med Mod) that is just perfect for poppers and smaller cranks. But I used to use a spinner set up that worked great as well. One thing to mention here, I wouldn't limit my top water fishing to the morning only. I have found that when the conditions are right, the top water bite can be an all day thing.

All these stories are going to make me change my ways. Up where I stay, it's pretty secure. I bet I haven't locked my rod locker on my boat all summer but I'm going to start. And I'm going to call my insurance company. When I was a kid someone stole one of those big cassette tape holders out of the back of my truck. I had a bunch of custom recordings of the band I used to play with in there. Man was I ticked.

That must be the technique my wife uses. I was under her thumb before I knew I was caught.

When the top water bite is done, I dropshot. I love the technique because it just works. It's simple, don't over think it. Put a hook on (I use the VMC one with the swivel but I've also used good ole wacky worms in a pinch). Plop a weight on the bottom (you can even use worm weights if you want) and have fun. As others have said, keep trying plastics until the fish tell you what they want. I have had a ton of luck with the good ole 4 inch Zoom trick worm in natural colors. 20 in a package for under 4 bucks. I think the best line to use is fluorocarbon but Mono works just fine too. I completely agree with your strategy to only take dropshot stuff out with you. It's the only way to really learn a new technique. I think Glenn mentions that in one of his videos about fishing a jerkbait. Just remember to have realistic expectations. If it were me, I'd start on the weed breaks and points.If there's structure adjacent to either of these, Id concentrate there.

I have used Mono forever but after loosing three Duo Realis poppers in the last two weeks to Pike and larger bass burying down in the weeds, I'm going to try 40 lb PowerPro that I just picked up on clearance for $9.99. I love those Duo Realis poppers. They are by far the best poppers I've used. The problem is they are $13.99 each. I'll have to be patient with the hook set or I know I'll end up pulling the popper away from the bass.

When my wife started bass fishing this year, I gave her some purple trick worms from Cabelas. She kills em on any shade of purple. Note: Every time I put on a Purple worm I sing the song "Purple Rain." but substitute the word Rain with worm. Try it, you'll like it. You can also sing it when you catch a fish on it.

I once saw a boat go into the rocks on the Oregon coast. I was in another boat quite close but there was absolutely nothing we could do. In this case there was a severe storm making life difficult for us all that day (I was twelve at the time). The folks ripping around in a no wake zone didn't respect the water and they sure didn't respect the rules of the water. The rules are there for everyone's safety. This is truly sad. As much as I hate hearing these stories I think they remind us all to be safe out there.