Shadow93

Southwest Michigan has a ton of small lakes with minimal pressure. Drop your kayak in and you're bound to catch something. More often than not you'll get super-fast action, lots of smaller fish - rather than catching 1 or two big fish.

Purchased a Revo Rocket (9.0:1) sometime last year. Was expecting it to be fragile - that's hardly the case. The reel is an absolute horse. ^This.

A 6'9" MH is my preferred frog rod. As a shorter guy (5'8"), I can attest to rod-length preference in general.. Personally, I don't own a rod over 7' (I own 14 combos). It's not that I'm incapable of casting a 7'6" or longer rod, I just feel like I don't have as great of control with a rod of that length.

I'm an Abu-Garcia guy, so I'm partial to the Veracity at that price.

If you want to get on some quick, fast-paced bass action - try hitting up the St. Joseph River (especially the more eastern stretches). It can be a smallmouth haven at times. I've even managed to get some 4-5 pounders in the boat. Be careful of floating logs though.

I used to live in Southwest Michigan. About 10 years ago, my buddy caught a 9 pounder slow-rolling a spinnerbait on a small, non-commercialized lake. Biggest one I've seen in the state thus far. Do I think that there could be a 12 pound bass or two in Michigan somewhere? Sure. Do I think they will be caught in a tournament setting, or even a major lake? Absolutely not. These old bass are probably living happily in farm ponds that are inaccessible to the general public.

If whatever structure holding fish is stable and consistent, even when fish are pulled from the spot - you can expect to find a different fish there shortly after. Bass are opportunistic critters.

I like the Glacier Glove brand.. Does the job at a modest price. Looks decent too.

Yep, those ones! The Tour Edition's are chrome-blue and the Energy's are the rainbow ones. Great quality reels if you ask me!

I recommend anything quantum. I've found that if you spend a little bit on a decent quantum combo, you will have a high performing rod and reel that will last you a very long time.

I've found that 5.3:1 or 5.4:1 works the best for crankbaits. A slower retrieve allows you to "work" the crankbait more.

My Favorites: Pop tarts in the morning. Chips and Slim Jims during lunch time. Cold pizza around dusk. Oreos for night fishing.

I have a 6 year old Tour Edition PT and an Energy PT of the same year. They are my favorite reels, the best I have ever bought. You can't get those specific models at any big-name retailer due to the age of the model, unfortunately.

Haha. A few years back, my buddy and I went to Bass Pro Shops in search of gear and tackle for a fishing trip up north. In a matter of mere moments my buddy had spent $800 on gear, and planned on ordering more online that night. I've had my spending sprees on tackle as well, just not $800 in one day.

Don't worry about getting a new combo, the current crankbait combo you described will work quite nicely with lipless crankbaits.

I actually use XPS fluorocarbon exclusively now. With many other brands, I get problems with kinks in the spool, which result in line breakage at inopportune times. This doesn't seem to happen (at least for me) with XPS. I've only used it (and I mean fluorocarbon in general) with baitcasting, and it works very well. I recommend it.

I've never actually used blade baits, I've always thought of them as a white bass/striper lure.

I use them when the water is exceptionally murky. I've had luck on white, chartreuse, and neon orange blades.

I know its probably already been mentioned, but it is important to wait a couple seconds after the strike to set the hook when using a topwater frog. I also know, that this is much easier said than done. Its so hard not to react to seeing your frog getting absolutely destroyed by a bass.