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I'd say cut off your jig or brush hog and throw it on one of your MH/F rods. Force yourself to use the swimbait a little more. If it doesn't work you can always take the 30 to a minute to re-rig. You want something that will drive the hook home on those swimbaits.

Nice work man! Congrats on the catch.

The northerns have already spawned. They can spawn under the ice but a lot of times it's shortly after up until the water hits about 50 degrees. Largemouth will start to move up into spawning areas when the water hits 58-ish degrees and will start spawning in the mid to upper 60's. Bluegills generally spawn shortly after the LM bass do. They can also spawn multiple times a year but the first spawn is usually the biggest. I don't know exactly how far north you are, but I'm about an hour north east of Eau Claire and last night the water on a stained lake was 57. If the lake is clearer it won't usually warm up as fast and also the farther north you go it won't be as warm either. As for depth they spawn at, usually anywhere from a foot down to about 7. It depends on the lake and the conditions. Usually bluegills will be the shallowest. You'll be able to see large groups of beds unless the water is pretty heavily stained.

You can still catch bass in any water condition. You shouldn't have any issues. Posting where you are geographically would help us give you better advice.

From what I've seen, most people use the pad of their thumb, but if you can make your way work, it isn't wrong.

It sucks that they have to kill a fish to verify that it's a record, because that would have been a new state record more than likely! Either way, it's an awesome fish!

I caught my biggest walleye yet a few days ago, and I managed to get it on video so I thought I'd share it with you guys. I know there's a lot bigger walleyes out there, but I really don't fish for them all that much so it was sweet to hook into a bigger one!

GoPro's are a good option! I love mine.

My dad's Ranger has them and have never had an issue with them. Actually the pull tabs ended up wearing out and we still don't have any issues with them.

You might want to try looking on their website for a manual to be sure.

If it's been sitting that long without any sort of additive already in the gas, then ditch it and get fresh gas because it's too late to add anything to it. Adding some Sea Foam to the new stuff wouldn't hurt.

The Mojo and Premier are the same blanks but the Premier is made in WI and the Mojo's are made in Mexico. I really like the few Mojo's I have and I've heard people think the Premier's have a little better balance. I'd probably go with the Premier if I were you. I doubt you'll be disappointed with it. Another great thing to remember with St. Croix is they have one of the best, if not the best customer service in the industry! I absolutely love my Croix's from my Mojo's all the way up to my Legend Xtreme's!

I use anything from 1/8 all the way up to about 1/2. It depends on the conditions. You need to use a heavy enough weight to be able to feel it given the weather and water conditions.

Look into how to disassemble the reel and then flush you bearings. Then re-oil them and reassemble it and I'm thinking you'll be good to go. It's really not a big issue to fix at all. If you're really having a hard time with it, look into sending DVT. He post on here all the time and from what I hear, he does really good work. He's also offering a 10% discount to bass resource members.

If he was unanimously voted out by the league, then one person can't be behind it. The kids need someone to coach the rest of the way so it might as well be someone who actually wants to do it so go for it!

I can see where it'd be easier to deploy, but unless they changed it, to stow it you have to wrestle it up into the boat by the head. To me it's much easier to lift the rope, pull it up, and it lays right down. How long did you have your cable steer and how long did you run it? Once you get over the very sleight learning curve you never have to look at the head. On Ft. Gibson down there the electric steers will work great with the limited amount of underwater obstructions that are there. In the end though it's just about finding what works for us as individuals. Personally I'd rather toss an electric steer in the scrap heap than have it on my boat, but I'm sure there are some who feel the exact opposite.

Casting accurately is much like shooting a freethrow. You need to keep your eyes on the target throughout the entire cast, don't look at the bait. Don't aim in a general area, but rather pick a very small precise target. A roll cast will be your best bet, and overhand for longer accuracy. Side arm is probably the toughest to master with accuracy because there is so much more side to side movement. As stated before, you want almost all the movement coming from your wrist. After you have that down, just keep practicing!!

I would go ahead and get a 10 speed card. It allows for fastest transfer rate. I don't know for sure that it needs it, but it won't hurt.

If you are looking for rock, set the dept range to at a little better than twice the depth of water you're searching. When you run across a rocky bottom, you will get a very solid double return. You may get a subtle second reading on a harder bottom, but rock will always produce a solid second return. I'm not familiar with the Garmin color pallets, but I'd look at the book and it should tell you in there. If there is a lake with clear water close, I suggest you pay it a visit with your locator. It allows you to actually see what you're looking at so you can see what it looks like on the graph. You can go over it from multiple angles too so it gives you a better idea. If you don't have a place like that close, hit up youtube and also look in the screen shots pinned thread on here

In the spring, you're going to be using it more to find spawning flats. You can use it to find out what type of bottom is on a flat (muck, sand/clay, gravel, or rock). If you have a GPS or a good contour map, you can find these areas too, but a locator will probably uncover a bit more info about it. Bass are going to spawn on a harder bottom if available so use your locator to find those hard bottom areas and fish out on the edges of those flats and follow the fish in. Use it for reading water temp and finding the warmest water. After the spawn it will come into play more as you start fishing deeper cover. Not sure what you've got, but you can definitely find fish with it. Actually just watched Tim Hortons show the other day and he was going over how to set up your graph to find fish the best and he did just that. Also check out this video from Paul Mueller did on it.

Definitely the tip. It's crazy that it's so grooved that a piece of braid is actually stuck in it. If that rod is newer, I'd for sure be calling the company and seeing if they'll do anything about it. Not that it's too hard to replace the tip or expensive, but depending on the brand you might get a new rod out of it.

Not sure how much you're looking to spend, but I've got a couple of Revo Premier spinning reels that I absolutely love! They are silky smooth and their drag is ridiculous! Super smooth and no extra start up inertia. Not to mention the reel looks like some sort of fine jewelry and comes with an extra spool too.

The colors are kind of muted, but looks like a smallie to me!

....not high enough lol. I'm 6'6" and I haven't found a pedestal tall enough to use a butt seat exactly the way it was intended. The 24" to 30" will fit most people though. Remember if you're standing straight up you aren't leaning, and if you're leaning you won't be as high off the ground (floor in this instance) as you would be if you're standing straight up.

Texas rigged with a slightly larger weight, and sometimes I dropshot the smaller creature baits.