BiteFiend

This.

50-60% is about my hook-up ratio (for bass that is ). I feel like shortening the legs up, bending the hooks out from the body and up a little helps. Also as others have mentioned, make sure you feel the fish's weight before setting the hook. Also, a friend of mine walks his frogs with his rod at about the 10 o'clock position. When a fish busts on the frog, he lowers his rod before and reels up slack before setting the hook. It looks kind of goofy in my mind, but he also hooks up with a little over half of the strikes as well. Might be worth a try as well.

Nice one. Congrats on the new PB!

I voted straight fluoro. I tend to cast the drop shot more than fish it vertically. Fluoro gives better sensitivity on a slack line than braid. This is important because wind is almost always a factor where I live, which creates more slack in your line. Having that added sensitivity, especially when windy is important to me.

Check out the Cabelas Tournament ZX rods if you have a Cabelas close to you. Not sure who makes the blank for them but they are very light and very sensitive- especially compared to many other rods at their price point. Plus they have super comfy Winn grips. They are $100 regularly but often are on sale for $70- $80.

+1 There really is no substitute for time on the water. Youtube videos will help you to a certain extent and are beneficial. However, your area and how you fish will show what works and what doesn't work for you. You will learn far more by doing than by reading and watching. Im always amazed how two guys can fish with the same lure, line, depth,area, etc and one guy will catch more than the other. It is because one guy learned how to do something a little different than the other guy.

I would be curious to know the manner in which they broke as well. I have 4 of those rods (to include the model you just broke) and my wife has one. We have had zero issues with any of them so far and I have had 3 of them for over a year. They have caught big-ish bass, they have caught small bass, they have caught lots of vegetation on said bass. They have been snagged on rocks and timber and the snags have been shaken free. My gear gets minor inadvertent abuse, which is fine; most gear can handle that. That said, I have always believed that if one takes care of their gear, it will take care of them. Therefore I am careful how I store my rods, and am careful loading and unloading them on to my boat. When snagged, I am careful of how much stress I put on the rod. When boat-flipping a fish, I am careful of the "technique" I use to do so. I have been lucky enough to only break one rod in close to 30 years of fishing knock on wood ). That break was a direct result of my actions. I know that rods break once in a while and I get that, but I also know that most rod failures are due to user error or damage that occured during shipping or storage. Take care of your equipment and it will take care of you. Then again, maybe I am just lucky.

Spro frogs hold up well. I have a couple that I think are 4 years old. They have both caught well over 100 fish.

Another vote for sunline sniper in 7 lb. This plus some KVD line conditioner and you're golden.

Just like many things in fishing, it depends. Many of the lakes in my area are smaller, so I end up fishing some of the same locations that make sense based on seasonal patterns because there is no "new" water to fish. Sometimes these locations will "reset". This is especially true if I notice some fish suspended in an area that I am catching other more active fish from. I find in those instances that many times if I come back in a few hours, those suspended fish will now be active. Sometimes the same bait I was catching them on works best, other times a slightly different bait works best. Also, I have learned that when I find a school of fish in deeper water to not try to catch every fish in the school. By leaving a few fish uncaught, the school will reform a lot of times. It takes some discipline to do (especially if they are bigger fish), but I find that it pays off more often than not when I come back to that area in a few hours and re-fish it. When I re-fish the school, I will try to catch every fish in the school. I will use slower moving baits or more subtle baits once I have caught all that I am going to on say, a crankbait.

Like fishnkamp, I also prefer the Winn grips. Super comfortable and lightweight.

I can't speak for anything over 20 lb Big Game, but I use 12 lb and 20 lb and don't have any problems with excessive memory. I don't think the line memory of Big Game is any better or worse than other brands. I do use KVD line conditioner the night before I go though, which makes a difference IMO. Any more, I change out the line every 2-3 months because I only get to fish once a week for the most part. When I fished more, it was once every month or two.

Besides being able to hold heavier lines and being able to cast more accurately, there is another aspect that often gets overlooked in the baitcast vs spinning reel debate. One can make more casts per hour with a baitcaster than a spinning reel. An increased number of casts per hour = more fish. The increased efficiency alone IMHO would be worth learning how to use a baitcast reel. At the end of the day though, use what works for you.

If you have a Cabelas close to you, you may also want to check out their Tournament ZX rods. They are crazy sensitive, really light, and are really comfortable to fish with since they have golf grips similar to the lews speed stick lites. IMHO they are a bargain at $100, however they are often on sale for $70- $75, which is a steal. I'm slowly converting my arsenal to these from *** *** and St. Croix's. The Tournament ZX's are almost twice as sensitive as my *** *** were. I'm amazed these don't get more love on here.

That's pretty cool. I think it'd be interesting to compare techniques and baits from then to now. I would imagine though that as much as things have changed, many things have stayed the same.

Tough to beat Big Game. Next would be Trilene XT.

Pre-spawn: Football jig, deep cranks (worked slowly), t-rig, swimbaits, jerk baits, slow-rolling spinnerbait, square bill crankbaits. Spawn/Post Spawn: Flipping and FB jigs, T-rig, wacky rigged senkos, C-rig, drop shot, shaky head. Summer: Flipping and FB jigs, DD cranks, frogs, punch rigs, T-rigged 7-12" worms and craw baits, drop shot, shaky head, spinnerbait, buzz bait, small swimbaits. Fall: See pre-spawn. Plus frogs, flipping jigs, and buzzbaits in early fall. Winter (if not iced): See pre-spawn. Minus square bills. Plus drop shot and shaky head. Once iced, I sit around dreaming of pre-spawn.

I also was having issues with fish coming unbuttoned on crankbaits earlier this year. During the pre-spawn, I thought it would be a good idea to switch from a composite crankbait rod to a graphite Med Fast rod. I was banging square bill crankbaits around on rip-rap banks and thought graphite would improve my feel so I can better crawl them through the rocks. I compensated for the stiffness of the graphite with mono, yet I was only hooking up with about 50% of the bass. I then speculated that perhaps I need to change out my hooks since they may be dull from banging the crank baits off the rip-rap. Even after changing the hooks though, I was still only boating about 50% of the fish. It was especially infuriating since I was doing everything right on paper (having my drag set correctly, preventing the fish from jumping, playing them carefully, etc). After a couple days of this, I went back to the crankin' stick and didn't look back. My hook-up ratio was back to 75-80% on them. For me anyway, I need the give that composite/glass offers. Especially when the fish is barely hooked.

Another vote for a largemouth. I have seen many dink largemouth with a smaller head like that. It's almost like the head doesn't keep up with the growth rate of the body.

Our local Scheels has Creme brand stuff in the clearance bin from time to time for $1.99/ pack. I have bought some straight tail worms that says they are hand poured. I think they are called the scoundrel. I like to use those on a shaky head since they are bouyant. They produce ok. They are definately not the softest of plastics but they hold up well. I have also bought and fished some of their craws, which are just meh. Again not the softest or best action. I won't ever spend more than $1.99 on them. Also, someone correct me if I am wrong, But I believe Creme made some of the earliest plastic worms.

In addition to the army corps of engineering maps, some game and park comissions provide them or links to them on their website. You might check there as well.

For square bills and the like, you should be fine. I would definitely be using some mono or fluorocarbon though, which will help in not ripping the hooks out of the fish's mouth.

This time of year, I tend to fish deeper water the most and try to find areas with cover on structure. That said, fish can also be caught shallow this time year, especially if deep water is nearby. This is especially true if it is cloudy, or there has been a heavy rain and the lake level rises, it is very windy,or if there is vegetation present. Even still though, I tend to prefer to look offshore, looking for schools of bass.

I too mainly fish stained water. Some days whites produce best. Other days chartreuse colors work best. Then there are still other days that firetiger produces best (usually best for me when cloudy). When I do fish more clear water, whites and other natural baitfish colors produce best. What I am getting at is that one color may be best for that day and a different color best for a different day on the same body of water. Let the fish tell you what they want on that day.