punch

I was really hoping to dial in spybaits this year, but I didn't.. only caught dinks on them. Nothing quality. I did tend to finesse fish a LOT this year. Previous years I leaned more on a combo of cranks/jerkabits/topwater/texas rigs but this year I found myself picking up spinning tackle a quite a bit. That's partly because I got two spinning rods that i'm smitten with.. a 7' medium steez and a 7' medium light tatula elite dropshot rod. I used them a TON this year. I feel i'm super proficient with a dropshot now and I really got good at neds, neko rigs, and wacky worms. I think I caught most of my best fish this year on either a ned or dropshot. I'm such a fan of the swimjig now I got a whole rod/reel combo JUST for tossing it next year. Going to be my primary searchbait for the foreseable future. Next season I need to go back to the heavy stuff and start flipping again. I've gotten away from it the last few years and I need to gain my confidence back. Side note, did anyone else have a really bad frog bite this year on metro lakes? I did and the other anglers i've talked to didn't have any amazing "frog days" either. I'm wondering if fish are getting kinda used to them at this point.

I'm a huge fan St Croix but I find that the Premier's run a little softer than the avid/LTB's. The ML premier is VERY soft to me. I would use a 7' ML Premier for finesse/ned/dropshot but definitely not for jigs or topwater or crankbaits. If you're looking at the Premier line, i'd strongly consider the 7' Medium as a more "all around" rod.

There's a buncha random stuff on clearance on Walmart's website.. lotta strike king things. They have one color of 5" senkos for only $3.50! https://www.walmart.com/ip/Yamamoto-5-Senko-Green-Pumpkin-with-Large-Black-Flakes/17301137 Sexy Frog $3 https://www.walmart.com/ip/Strike-King-Lures-KVD-Sexy-Frog-Soft-Bait-Lure-2-1-2-Body-Length-5-8-oz-Pumpkin-Pearl-Belly-Per-1/31954923 Free shipping on orders over $40 or free ship-to-store. There's some clearance colors of KVD 1.5 & 2.5's also if you dig. I ordered like 7 bags of senkos haha. Already shipped.

I'm always going to be a diehard fan of Lews Tournament Pro reels. The tourny pro G's are amazing.

I WISH I just fell in love with one particular rod lineup or company.. but there's just too many great products out there these days. Just too fun to dabble in budget sticks, midrage sticks, expensive sticks.. I have a mix of stuff myself and I like playing around with different brands. I find myself selling rods in the off season that I didn't love or didn't use very much.. then taking the $$ and grabbing stuff from all the off season sales or splurging on something I've had my eye on. Rinse and repeat every year. I started bass fishing back when I was 15 (37 now) and the rods & reels really sucked. The gear nowadays is SO much better that I find myself getting giddy over how much of a joy it is to use the latest and greatest gear.

Bait monkey got me on one of these.. and already out for delivery!

I picked up 3 of the current (not new) Legend Tournament casting rods during a crazy sale at a local tackle shop. I've been using mojo's and avid X's for years and i'm excited to give the SC4 blanks a whirl. My only complaint after playing around with the new ones I got is.. BOY are they tip heavy. The balance on them seems pretty bad when compared to some other rods I have with the same length/action. I'm excited to use them, but my 7'3 MH zillion rod is way better balanced than this new 7'3 MH (swimjig version) legend tournament. Other than the heavy tips, these rods seem sweet. Too bad all the lakes around here are icing over now. Have to wait until spring.

Anyone got thoughts on the MB F8-79 XX Flipping stick? Looks interesting.

Am I missing something? These are like $230 at TW. Doesn't seem like THAT great of a sale.

TREAT YO SELF! I did some damage myself.. -Picked up 3 croix legend tournament casting rods from Thorne Brothers at 50% off. Couldn't help myself. -Swim senko kit off amazon for 14 bucks -Order from the big fish tackle shop with some heardheads, swimbaits, new strike king comeback jigs, and some DT6's -$40 president LE spinning reel from cabela's then a $100 13 Envy 7'1 medium to pair it up with (yet another Finesse rod). Might have to toss some SUPER light line on this and use it for walleye fishing & Hair jigs I gotta sell some shiz now.. anyone looking for some Tatula CT reels HIT ME UP!

Wow the St Croix online sale kinda sucks. Only 30% off legend tournament?! My local tackle shop knocked them down 50% off. Glad I snagged a few there instead of waiting for the Cyber Monday deal.

Well you can rip the tail off and use them as regular senkos. Typically you can rig these like any paddle tail swimbait on an EWG (weighted or weightless) or rig them on a jig head and work it like a jigworm. Lotta people use them on carolina rigs and as chatterbait trailers too.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002QFW3ZC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_CHTgAb3CHZGB8 Pretty good deal. $14 for a swim senkos kit on sale.

You can get them on eBay for less than that, with shipping FYI.

*edit* nevermind - got pulled from the store page

Pfluger came out with the LE last year, and it did really well so they came out with the XT this year. The only difference I can see is that the LE has an actual cork grip and the XT has a fake cork grip. Cabela's must have stashed a TON of of these LE's somewhere because I haven't seen them in the stores for months.

http://www.cabelas.com/product/bargain-cave/fishing/reels/pc/105591780/c/105740280/sc/105742980/pfluger-limited-edition-president-reel/2186421.uts?slotId=5 Cabela's posted their Black Friday reel this morning. President LE 30 for $40! No brainer.

These look cool, Gary Loomis's company eh? Never seen one in person though.

Yeah the bait monkey got me good when I saw a whole rack of the legend tournaments for 50% off..

Right? I'm jelly of people who are out today. Weather looks good. Side note - if any of you locals are looking, i'm selling a Dobyn's Fury 703C MH rod.

One of my local tackle shops dropped all their Legend Tournament's to 50% off in store.. i'm assuming that Croix is going to do the same. They updated the line w/ new reel seats for 2018.

If you like 20% off then yes. Also, Keitech usually does a black friday/cyber monday type deal directly from their site.

http://www.cabelas.com/product/bargain-cave/rock-bottom-deals/mens-clothing/pc/105591780/c/105642180/sc/105643080/huk-mens-kryptek-performance-raglan-ls/2378163.uts?slotId=7&irgwc=1&WT.mc_id=ir10451&utm_source=Slickdeals LLC&WT.tsrc=AFF&utm_medium=AFF&rid=10 Huk long sleeves for $10! These won't last long.

It was pretty dead, a couple waders and one other boat. We were above the bridge I believe. Gene isn't my partner at GH, I'm fishing with my buddy Josh.

@geneoh and I wacked some Smallies on the Mississippi yesterday up in Monticello. They were stacked up as we would catch several fish out of the same holes. I was getting a lot of bites on a DT6 and Gene did really well with a football swing jig and a craw. Water was like 47 degrees. We were out on his boat, but i'm guessing that'll be it for boat use this year. Still a lot of opportunity for wading.