CDobber

Probably approaching 20 landed now....techniques, presentations and location have improved for me substantially over this time last year. Caught my first 4 fish on drop shot today from shore....though none of the fish were anything special today. 20" LMB, one of my first catches of the year, is still the best on the season for me. Still waiting for my first t-rig catch and still waiting for this year's first froggin' catch, getting many to snap at them over the muck but none hooked. My PB (in the avatar) was from froggin'. Fully expect to get my first smallie of the year (and then some) next weekend while on vacation.

That would be me from today at my local quarry.....on both accounts....the pre-rigged bass stopper (worm) was catching well today in its surface spiral. Outperformed anything else I tried.

Ditto.

I had a first (for me) on Sunday....had a 1/2 oz black buzzbait with black w/purple fleck trailer on and had a 40" muskie slam the water near it to investigate, then follow it in. Most of the bass I've brought in so far this year, including the biggest at 20", were on a similar setup though I was using a 1/4 oz buzzbait that has since disappeared.

Up to a whopping 6 now....only 3 of which were the targeted bass. They really don't seem interested in anything I throw even with seeing a great number of them in the shallows with the warm up. Did catch my first pike in 20+ yrs today though.

We went from 70's to 50's over the last few days, and I noticed much less bass (but not non-existent) activity in the shallows today as a result....was out at a local lake and a quarry, for roughly 5 hours total, and didn't net a thing. Had one big fish near the pier come off the hook (thinking it was a 30+" carp, maybe a small muskie, didn't get a great look at it)....and had a small bass quickly wiggle off another hookset. Full moon, cold front, pre-spawn.....little to no interest from even the sight fishing I was able to observe.

And I'm off the schneid. Thanks to these forums, I used a little trick I would not have known and it paid off. I was using a 1/8 oz black buzzbait in my quarry. I could see 8-14" fish in the shallows again, so it was simply figuring out what they wanted. I felt a short strike and remembered to put a trailer on...I used a Berkeley Havoc 5" Purple Haze "The Jerk", and landed the first one 2 casts later. I moved down a little deeper and tried again after no further success in the original spot, and cast parallel to the shore, caught the 2nd. 1st one was at least 20" but tape measure wasn't taut, could have been 21"....and the 2nd was 9".

I'm an hour or two at a time, a few times a week.....12 and 10 yr old needing rides to/from school, practices, games and my own work schedule prevent much more than that.

None yet but found them shallow today for the first time of this season. Just a matter of finding the presentation they want now. No luck on various cranks or small inline spinners, at least checked out the drop shot worms but didn't seem all that aggressive.

VERY old topic, but one I am attempting this year. No success yet, but I think the water temps and pre-pre spawn conditions are a bigger negative to success than presentation right now.

Go to a large store (Cabela's, Bass Pro, Dicks, etc) and look/play around with a lot of different choices for reels and rods to get a feel for what your eyes and hands like. It is daunting, and I'm not too dissimilar from you. I ended up settling on a Shimano Compre rod, 6'6" in a 2 piece model as I like the ability to break it down to fit it in a full SUV. I love it, though I still struggle to land bass like I'd hope. For reel, I decided to narrow the field down to Shimano to keep things simple and not mix/match brands, though did read very good things on the President line. I went with a used Stradic 2500FJ off the flea market here to get a great upgrade in reel, and ended up getting a brand new one from my family at Xmas. One is seated on the Compre (the used one), the other is on a Convergence 6'8" worm and jig rod that I have dedicated as a drop shot setup. I chose to go braid for line as I fish from shore frequently and deal with a lot of debris and such, and for me, the piece of mind on line tension/strength makes sense. Figure out some way to narrow down your field (needing a 2 pc model, liking the aesthetics on another, going on a recommendation from a buddy, etc...) and then read reviews on just that brand or two...it will help you from being overwhelmed.

My city banned the use of Phosphorus in all fertilizers used in the city limits, unless it was a newly established lawn. We have a beautiful chain of lakes in the metro area and is specifically designed to help combat algae issues in said lakes. http://host.madison.com/news/local/environment/ban-on-phosphorus-in-lawn-fertilizer-to-start-april/article_1baf81e0-3837-11df-9290-001cc4c03286.html Notice that it states in the article (from 2010) that it applies to all factors (golf courses, residential, etc). Its a step in the right direction, one that other communities could adopt.

1st review: Came today via UPS, though never did receive an accompanying email with tracking number. It took about 90 min (give or take) to charge to full from my computer USB. Did the initial setup things from home using the wet paper towel trick I found with an online instruction manual....attached the pod to my snap swivel with a leader/double lock swivel and took the kids down to the local quarry. I have read that the quarry has a max depth of 10', though I was getting readings closer to 13' from my initial cast points. I marked a decent sized school of smaller fish (gills, probably) on my 2nd cast, all about 12' deep in a 13' area. Bottom seemed very flat uniformly between all casting points, and felt accurate in the spots I could see bottom from shore. It did not do a great job of reading logs or other larger debris as I'd hoped (even shallow areas where I could clearly see a difference in depths) but likely have to adjust some settings. I also need to look into what the different colorings for bottom structure refer to, though I did not see a huge difference and suspect most of it is either sand/muck or gravel remnants with plant life and dead leaves thrown in. I was using my Shimano Compre rod tonight though I don't expect to use that one for this purpose often as the pod itself weighs 4 oz and my rod is only rated for 1-3 oz lures. I had a good strong braid on the Symetre reel (both of which came from flea market on here). it cast well without a lot of force, does make quite a splash down as expected, which one would think negatively affects fishing in the area shortly thereafter. I didn't notice fish being displayed unless I left it for some time (10-30 sec minimum) and never upon retrieval. More as I learn how to properly tweak/read the unit. I should likely get a couple more days of trial before the opener on Saturday.

54 and mostly cloudy on Saturday, 58 and partly sunny Sunday for opening weekend down in Madison...and still have not heard that the boat is done with service. Will be out regardless, just a matter of how and where.

I rechecked reviews from this spring yesterday and jumped in. Bought the T Pod 100 transducer last night, it has not shipped yet. I largely fish from shore, and while I know my technique still needs a lot of refining, I also want to better educate myself with underground structure, depths and even fish that come from the information, and I always have my android phone with me anyway. I will gladly leave further reviews on the site after receiving it for those that are considering a similar purchase.

Oh, its been a LONG winter and opening day is coming on Saturday! I've been scouting out the local quarry with bluegill and carp setups, and finally got to cast out the stradic I bought off the flea market here last fall. Can't wait to try this bassy looking side of the quarry with the new stuff! As for the recent bag question, this is similar to what I have: http://www.gandermountain.com/modperl/product/details.cgi?pdesc=Gander-Mtn-Soft-Tackle-Bag-400ST-Blue&i=709208 Mine fits 4 plano style boxes vertically and have had no issues with plastics or odd shifting. I only have 3 in use currently as I want more room for soft plastics, but I may purchase a small soft sided lunch box to clip onto the handle of the tackle box to increase the volume. And for portable rod carrying: http://www.lakeside.com/Toys-%2B-Sports/Sports%2B%252B%2BOutdoor/Fishing-Rod-Case/prod320425.jmp. Mine has only 4 compartments but everything else is the same. I didn't see any available right now but you get the concept of something that can be carried easily, tangle free and compact (if I roll the poles into each other, its quite small).

FYI I did pick up the Stradic FJ that was for sale in the flea market and presume I'll get either another of those or the symetre from the family....keeping my purchase a bit on the down low.

Biggest smallie I've landed myself around Madison was 14" (unweighed)....would guess in the 2 lb range. Biggest largie was 21" and estimated around 5 lb, in my avatar. My Dad has a 4 lb smallie mounted from the Green Lake area from roughly 30 yrs ago.

+1

The app itself (on Android) is $4.99 but can just as easily connect via phone browser for free....so I've done that a few times while out on the boat.

I've been doing a lot of reading of late into drop-shot as its the one presentation I have not done much with yet, but have read very positive reviews. A wise person on this forum (roadwarrior perhaps) made a comment a couple weeks ago that is sticking with me......for any of this gear, stick with a brand that you already know and trust and try not to mix and match. That way, one gets a better feel for the differences between the equipment/price points while using the confidence they've already gained in something. I am paraphrasing and don't recall for sure who it was. It is easy to be overwhelmed when looking into something new, even with a great resource like this to read first hand, unbiased reviews. After settling on a Shimano rod (Compre) this summer in part based on what the local mom and pop had in stock, and liking the feel and response of that rod....I'm tending to narrow my selections down to Shimano for reels (Symetre and Stradic) as well as for drop shot options. Probably best not to over-analyze the vast selection and narrow down to a length, action, known brand and go from there.

It was a cheap Scum Frog (white with tortoise shell top) that caught my PB in my avatar, skipped medium speed over lily pads at the end of July from shore. I have been back to that spot many times since, haven't caught a single bass there since. I bought the red/white version as well as a Bronze-Eye but have yet to get any others from that bait. I've been impressed with durability and lack of water they take on, but I am far from an expert.

Brings up a question....what is the 'shelf life' of plastics like your rage tails? I was in at Gander last Monday and about 1/3 of their soft plastics were marked way down, wondered if that would have something to do with it (Rage products were not part of this). Could easily be something like discontinuing those brand lines or whatever.....just wondering as this was the first year I got into soft plastics as trailers at all (or t-rigged), and mine are ziploc baggied away for the winter.

I recently bought a similar Shimano, though I bought the Syncopate in a 1000 size as a temporary reel until I get a better one at the holidays....with the intent of passing it down to my 11 yr old son if/when he's ready for an upgrade to his spincast Zebco. I really like it compared to the cheap Quantum I broke and replaced on my rod with this Syncopate...but as Tomustang posted, you would probably need to ascertain some target fish, line preference, rod specs and such to narrow down even the size for that Shimano you like.

Just bought my first one (black and blue skirt) a few weeks ago even though I had it on my 'wish list' all season. Have thrown it a few times but no success yet, though everything I've thrown since the end of July had the same result (until recently breaking my 3 month skunk). I haven't tried it with any trailers yet, will save that for the spring.