WIGuide

They seem just as durable to me. The color will eventually scuff with enough caught fish, but it does on the Spro as well. I can't say for sure in the extended long run unfortunately because of all the toothy critters swimming in my area. Teeth like razor blades and any sort of soft plastic don't mix well. I have fished them each for a full season+ though and they're still going strong.

Nice work finding those!

Nicely done!

I've used frogs by Strike King, Spro, Livetarget, and Booyah. Of those I like the Booyahs the best. They do everything the others do, but have a softer body that still holds up to bass. Not to mention, they're easier on the wallet too.

I've seen them like this too. I'm thinking it's just a scar but I could be wrong. Either way I don't kiss those ones lol

What's that?

My PB was 20.5 roughly 5 1/2 lbs. I caught it on a Terminator T-1 Spinnerbait.

My smallie goal for the year is to break my pb. I've got a pretty decent shot at it I think since I'll be out on Sturgeon Bay/Green Bay for close to a week.

Especially 4 strokes! My dad just sold a 40 hp Honda that sold within 8 hours of posting it on cl.

I'm headed up to the St. Croix Rod factory this afternoon after work and I just got paid. I have a feeling the bait monkey is going to be hard to defeat today!

Trade in value just like with anything is always going to be lower than what it's worth unless they're making you pay more on the other end. You could sell it outright and make out better.

To avoid losing fish, rig it tex-sposed as rdj described. Also, be sure to use a quality hook that is sharp. Your drag doesn't have to be super tight, but it shouldn't be slipping on a hookset. You shouldn't have to set the hook multiple times, once should be good. It won't completely eliminate lost fish, but that should take care of the majority of the misses.

You should still be able to use it. Once you're on plane it should be out of the water anyway if set up properly. The only effect I really see as possibly happening is it pulling a little at take off, but that should be minimal.

I wouldn't worry about it too much. The idea is you tie your knot with the darker section and that'll keep the few feet by your bait the low vis color. If that's not enough darker colored line for you, you can color a few sections with permanent marker. You could also use a leader as so many do with braid. I don't know that it's really going to effect anything either way, but do whatever gives you confidence.

Another Wisconsinite here. I'm not sure where I'll be on opener this year yet but I'll be somewhere that's for sure!

My first tourney was an interesting experience. It was held the weekend before the normal inland season started on the Mississippi River. Prefishing was minimal due to that fact but my partner had fished the river "quite a bit". I was super excited the night before and could hardly sleep. After waking up before my alarm went off (not a morning person so that's pretty impressive for me) I chugged a few Monsters and decided to chatter like a little school girl the 40 minute or so drive to the ramp. The temp had dipped the night before farther than they had said, leaving us with temps in the high 30's at take off. I came prepared though, I had brought hand warmers that I bought the night before....only problem is none of them worked. For about the first hour I was sitting in the back of the boat thawing out. My partner caught a decent smallie off a wing dam and we were on the board. We continued to fish the entire stretch of wing dams to not have as much as another bite. We take off towards our primary area and he decides to stop at a point that he's done well on in the past and continue to not get bit. We finally make it to our primary area, a fairly small creek where we had found them the weekend before, only to discover it's a city of boats that day. We managed to scrounge out 1 small keeper largemouth before the end of the day. We ended up in 10th out of 14. I definitely learned a lot that day!

I bait fondle pretty much throughout the entire off season!

It's always that way. Or if it's nice and overcast but I have something I have to get done before I hit the water, I can pretty much promise you it'll clear up as I'm pulling into the landing.

I use the Flambeau Zerust boxes with the rust inhibitors built into the dividers for most of my hard baits. You can also order just the dividers to fit too. For my boxes I have that aren't Zerust I buy the Zerust tabs and put a few of them in a tray.

They aren't worth a thing! I tell you what though, if you send them to me, I'll make sure they get disposed of safely haha. Pretty legit baits, but I don't see them bringing anything over retail though. You could try if you wanted to though.

That combo will work. Choose the rod power based on the blank's weight rating and the weight of baits you use most frequently. St. Croix's power ratings are usually a little under many other brands so a medium power from them will have a bit more power than the average medium power rod.

If you get a backlash be sure you're holding on tight. Braid digs into itself so in most instances it won't fluff way up like mono or fluoro, it digs and your spool stops. Other than that it's a pretty trouble free line.

Get your tach fixed. You can't reliably tell anything unless you have a working tach. Other than that, are you sure the motor is trimming up all the way? What type of prop do you have? Aluminum or Stainless?

For scent preservation, you'll probably have to get some of the waterproof Plano boxes. Otherwise you can use any tackle tray and just add scent before you use them.

Chunkin' N Windin' (Jimmy Houston's theme song) or Gone Fishin' (Hank Parker's)