WIGuide

For those applications, I'd take a look at the St. Croix Mojo Bass 6'8" M/XF or possibly the 7'1" M/F. Throwing jerkbaits on an XF rod is definitely doable, although you need to be conscious that with the XF action you'll probably have to take a bit off your jerk so you don't over-work the bait. Personally of the 2 mentioned I'd go with the 6'8", but either would be a good rod in your price range.

Either will work, but the XF blanks are perfect for those applications. If I had to pick, that's the one I would go with.

I haven't had the pleasure of using the Fuego, but I wouldn't hesitate on pulling the trigger on one. I've got a few Daiwa Regal's (RG) which is a cheaper reel, but I love them. They're great reels for the price and the little bit I've played with the Fuego's on the shelf they seem to be a bit of an upscale version.

The Evinrudes to stay away from were the Ficht motors under the OMC parent company. The Vindicator was still a carbed motor and wouldn't scare me away.

Curious as to where you've heard of moderate action rods being used for those applications. I'm in the same boat as the others who have commented that I disagree with using mod action rods for single hook applications. I'll throw a lot of lighter weight stuff on a medium power rod, but they're mediums with a fast or x-fast action.

You could try the epoxy from just the one side and see if it works, you don't really have anything to lose. Another more labor intensive option would be to separate the hulls so you can get to both sides. It usually involves pulling off the rub rail, drilling out the rivets, and prying it apart. One last option would be something I just saw advertised last night on my ig feed. It was a kayak repair kit but could work for what you have. Basically you heat the cracked area softening it and then push a strengthening mat material into it and then add more plastic over that with a filler rod. I don't for the life of me remember the name of it though.

Not a Shimano guy so I can't comment on that side of things, but I'm a big fan of the SV reels. You can use it for both light weight and heavy weight baits. The "SV" is supposed to stand for "Stress-free Versatile" and that's pretty dang accurate. You basically set the brake based on your casting motion and it doesn't matter what bait you tie on, you're good to go. I'm sure the Zillion is even better yet, but I don't know if it's enough to justify the cost either. Regardless, I think you'd be pleased with the Tat SV.

The Bass X is basically the first Gen Mojo. If you're beyond impressed with the Bass X you'd love the Mojo. There is a huge difference between the SCII and SCIII blank. I was bummed out when I accidentally snapped one of my 1st gen Mojos (SCII) under a tie down cleat, but in the end I was actually glad I did because the upgrade was night and day.

Heck of a boat, I'm jealous!! Congratulations!

My favorite bait for shallow laydowns depends on what the fish are biting, but if I had to pick 2 favorites it'd be a jig and a squarebill.

Not sure what your budget is, but my picks for jig rods would be either the St. Croix Mojo Bass 6'8" MH/F or the same rod in the Legend Tournament series. They make a 7'1" MH/F that feels like it has a little more backbone to it and is a great jig rod as well, and if you like the longer rod it would make a great choice. Personally, I like the shorter one for pitching and getting my jig in tighter areas, it just feels like an extension of my arm and helps me feel like I'm in total control of my bait. I like straight fluoro for my jigs too as it's more abrasion resistant and gives me better slack line sensitivity. It allows me to still feel bites while allowing me to let the jig fall vertically into the cover rather than letting it pendulum into it.

As long as you're using a decent swimbait I feel this can work. By decent swimbait, I mean one that the tail still kicks on the fall. I've had success doing similar, and also by killing it when I get over a hole in my retrieve. It can be a killer way to catch'em!

I've got to agree with blue, sometimes when the timing is right and you are throwing what they want where they want it you'll have those type of results. I've had that happen a few times in the last few weeks on shallow wood where you'll catch one here and there and then run across a laydown and catch 3. It just means there's something right about that one condition wise at that given time. I think my best off of shallow wood under some special conditions was 12 fish off the same laydown.

My absolute favorite squarebill was just reintroduced. They used to be the Xcalibur XCS100's and when Pradco condensed their companies they only transferred the lipless crankbait to the Booyah brand, but now it's alive again still named the XCS just under the Booyah name. A few others I like are the Lucky Craft LC series, Rapala DT series, and Spro Little John as my favorite flat sided.

Are you talking about the American perch or the UK perch? For the American perch, I think this rod would be a bit overpowered. You might be able to make it work with some techniques, but you'd be better suited with a light power or an ultra-light. For uk perch it would probably be a great rod for that.

I'd be guessing my threshold is higher than most. There aren't very many days I've decided not to go because of wind. I've fished in 30+ plenty of times. The lakes around here aren't huge though so that helps. I have fished on Sturgeon Bay during a small craft advisory with the waves big enough that standing on the deck I could barely see over the next wave (I wouldn't suggest that). To each their own though, and if you feel conditions are unsafe, or it makes you uncomfortable stay home. Ranger Sport R70

Personally I believe in scents. I know there are days it doesn't seem to matter in the least. You could rub you bait in everything that bass hate...gas, oil, sunscreen, whatever and they'll still knock the crap out of it regardless. Lets face it though, there are WAAAY more days that are the exact opposite. Not only do I fish for the enjoyment of it, but I guide and fish tournaments and in those situations, something that could get even one more bite on a bad day is worth the investment. I always have a few bottles of Kick'n Bass in my boat and I use it on all baits. As long as you let it dry for a minute or two on a hard bait it'll stay on there and it's strong stuff. Here's a few instances I've seen first hand that have confirmed my beliefs. First on happened during a tournament. Fishing had been tough going into the two day event, but I had figured out a little bit of a pattern that had been working with smaller boot tails. I had all mine doused in scent and although it was a grind, I managed to slowly put together a limit and cull a few times. I had been telling the non-boater I drew that day what I was doing and he was throwing the exact same size and color bait, yet was still struggling to catch fish. I even went as far as letting him use the exact weighted hook I was just in case that had something to do with it and still no result. A little later on I told him to try some of the scent on his bait and coincidence or not, within a few minutes he had caught a keeper. He had a few minute dry spell and decided to put more on his bait...within another minute or two he had another one. Unfortunately he ran out of time before filling his limit, but would he have caught the fish he did without the scent? The second example comes from having fish in a tank as a kid. They were't bass, but were bullheads which I know rely more on their sense of smell, but I still feel it applies. Anyway, I had these fish in a small aquarium and I had a small panfish grub that I had put on a hook and cut the barb off and bent the hook down just to hold the bait on. If you put the bait in the tank without scent, they would immediately come up and hit the bait and after a short length of time would spit it right back out. You could repeat the same process multiple times with the exact same result, but after the 3rd or 4th drop they would completely lose interest to the point they wouldn't even look at it. If you pulled it out and put a little bit of scent on it and dropped it back in though, not only would they rush it and smash it, they didn't want to let go! You could literally hoist them out of the tank and would have to shake them to get them to let go. You could continue to drop it in and get the same results and they wouldn't leave it alone. Like I said before, it's not that those results are going to happen every time, but even if it occasionally has that effect, it's worth it to me.

Not sure what you consider close, but Wapo is under an hour from there and that's a pretty decent bass lake and might be a good option for you.

Haha thank you! We will have too get out. Too bad I didn't know a month or so ago, I had been living in Oshkosh for almost a year so pretty much in your backyard.

Glad the emotion came through and you enjoyed it! Thanks for the kind words! No doubt! My aunt was freaking out while I was fighting it more than I was! I was hoping she'd hook into a few nice ones too especially since it was her birthday, but she ended up having a blast and got to see a good show! Thanks! They definitely aren't common up here! Where in WI are you from?

Thank you! It was a day I won't soon forget that's for sure. I wish I would have had just a little more time to fish though, I had one fish in my limit that I think could have been culled up at least half a pound without too much trouble...and with the size of fish I was catching, who knows maybe even more! Regardless, it was an incredible day with an incredible kicker by northern WI standards! Thank you much! She definitely was!

Broke my PB 5 fish bag weight and my PB big bass on the same day. Heck of a day on the water, didn't catch lots, but obviously what I did catch made it worth the grind!

A few pics of the total bag in case you missed the video link.

It was a blast of a weekend, and for sure a blast of a day! Thanks for the positive vibes! Haha Derek, it might be a little harder writing yours for you without having the first hand experience but I could try

Usually I tend to stay off the water on the busy holidays, but fortunately for me, the weather was projected as iffy all weekend which kept a lot of crazy people away from the lake. Had a pretty decent weekend of fishing, the passing fronts had them tuned up a bit and had a blast with dad catching our share of northerns and bass, including a few nice ones. Given that the lake our cabin is on is still in rebound from a die off roughly 6 years ago it was good to see the numbers coming back along with some size as well. That was great, but Labor Day itself turned out to be one for my record books. The day also coincided with my aunt's birthday. She enjoys fishing, so I decided to take her out on a lake that's been on fire to have some fun hoping for her to hook into some good fish. She did get a few, but in the meantime, I managed to put together quite a bag of fish. I wasn't catching the numbers I'm normally used to there, but every other spot I'd pull up on, we'd work for a while and I'd smoke a good one cranking. It was later in the day after we had went up shallow in hopes of her getting a little more action, when I decided to hit a small hump not too far away. I caught my smallest keeper right away, and then had a giant engulfed my crankbait a few casts later. When I first hooked into her, I actually thought it was a little one. Not much of a pull, not much of a hit like the others I'd caught that day and just some small head shakes. However, about a quarter of the way back to the boat she decided to come up. Despite jamming my rod tip down into the water almost the whole body came out of the water and after that the fight was on. She started pulling like a freight train coming up and jumping at least one more time. My heart had just about stopped as bass very very rarely reach that size in northern Wisconsin. Between the battle and my aunt freaking out in the back of the boat I was beside myself at what was going on. I was just praying that she'd stay on. With my aunt having somewhat limited mobility, I was left to battle and land it myself. Luckily, I was able to get the net under her and get her up in the boat. Fighting this fish I knew it was big...but being up close with it, it started to set in just how big this bass was. I had the shakes pretty bad and my whole body just about felt like jello, but I had put keeper #5 in the boat...my kicker and it tipped the scales at 7.34 lbs bringing my days total to 21.73 lbs. I could have fished slightly longer, but we decided to head in a little early to get some good pictures not only of the fish, but my limit as well. I almost wish I would have stayed out a bit longer as I feel like I could have made another cull to put me into a minimum of the 22 lb range and the way the day was going...maybe even higher. Days don't get much better than that around here, but it was a blast and some great memories were made! Not a day I'll soon forget. All fish were released to be caught again another day, but I've got the measurements to eventually get a reproduction made. Link to the whole bag --> https://www.facebook.com/michael.mudgett.9/videos/10214557160715206/