Phelptwan

Palomar Knots should never be used for FC Line. You are completely right about the majority of Michigan cuisine...

Trying to do some deep cranking (10xd's) and umbrella rigs this year.

There are certain brands that don't seem to come with very sharp hooks (I'm looking at you Booyah, Strike King, and R2Sea) in my experience. Generally I'll sharpen those out of the box. On the other hand, I've been replacing hooks on R2Sea stuff as I use it because I keep breaking off the tips of them.

I remember the first time we visited the store as well. The mounts were a work of art, and it was as good as a zoo for 14 year old.

They need to figure out their inventory issues and actually keep things in stock. Even commonly available stuff and commodity items run out constantly at ours, let alone anything special.

I have the frog rod and it's fantastic. I picked up the big crankbait/swimbait rod for throwing 10xd's this year.

Doesn't seem to work on Shimano.

Super deep diver (10xd, DD22's, etc). or Glide Baits

1 1/4 oz Black and Blue Jackhammer w/ Gambler EZ Gold Rush

I've been liking the Gambler EZ and Little EZ myself.

They are a ton of fun in traditional frog spots. I bought some from Amazon.jp over the summer and had a lot of luck with the white, chart, and pink ones on some mats. The big downside to them though is the tail comes off super easy on short strikes. I probably didn't catch more than 3 fish on any one before a tail would inevitably get pulled off.

What I'm currently using: Backing to Braid - Alberto Knot Braid to Leader - FG Knot (Salt Strong method, burned ends) Fluoro to bait - Double Pitzen/Three Tag knot/etc Mono to bait - Palomar Knot Braid to bait - Double Palomar Knot Flipping - Snell Knot On a note, I used to use Palomar's on the Fluoro's but have had constant problems with them breaking. I read something related to fluoro breaking at the kink in the palomar knot and to try the pitzen, have had no problems since.

Pretty much all mine 90's needed new hooks after 2-3 bass. Beyond that I replaced the hooks on my 130's because they just didn't seem sharp at all.

You don't have enough jigs in the box then. Once it's packed full I generally have to pry them out with another lure.

They are pretty easy to make and maintain, and yeah, the trash does get annoying.

I used to have a couple of lakes that I managed a few of this at/around the ramps. People kept stealing them though (or D&R was taking them down and not calling me about it). I kept them clean and emptied, and a lot of people used them.

I'm liking the last pair of Costa's I purchased from Sierra. I probably won't buy another pair of Oakley's again though. It seems every polarized pair of Oakley's I've ever purchased the film/finish/whatever starts flaking off right at the 2 year point.

If you start to notice bass are following your lures but not committing, throw the jerk bait. I've found that generally it's enough that they start going after it. One of my favorite lures and it manages to get the more aggressive bass to come out.

Flappin Frog and Berkley Stunna are my two big items I need this year.

Depends on what I'm fishing in really. The deeper I go and less weeds, the more likely I find it to be picked up off the bottom. The more I'm moving through crap, the more likely it gets hit on the move.

I tried out some of the Trokar Weedless Wacky hooks last night and I missed piles of fish on them. I feel like the weed guard is slightly too stiff on them and preventing a deep hookset. I switched to the Gamakatsu Wicked Wacky and stopped having issues.

One of the places I regularly fish the frogs are pretty aggressive... ty

First bass I caught was while fishing for blue gill (with leaf worms) and the bass eating the bluegill I was retrieving. First artificial bait was on a Hot Pink and Silver Bass Assassin.

Friend caught this dorkfish the other day.

Fished most of my life from the shore, always stood. Getting in the boat it ended up being the same.