punch

I fish a TON of topwater with walking baits and poppers, and my sweet spot for a perfect rod for these baits is a 6'8"-6'9" Medium with a fast tip. This is what i've dialed in on and what I'll use for the foreseeable future. I also use 15# copoly line.

Did a police report, and I have a 1k deductible and the value of what was stolen is around 1600.. so it's not worth making a claim. Sadly my agent says it's best to eat it.

Well, I'm in the market now for some rods & reels.. My boat was robbed Monday night. I live in Andover. They took 5 rods/reels and my entire 8 tray tackle bag with all my hard baits and terminal tackle. My boat sits next to my garage outside and I take my gear out 99% of the time, but I went on the lake for an hour Monday night with my dad and when we got home it was a bit chaotic with my kids and some other things.. and I didn't take out my gear. I went out Tuesday morning and it was like a kick in the stomach. They left 4 rods and my HDS7 thank god.. but they made off with some pretty good combos including my Avid X finesse rod and dobyns cranking rod. Luckly they left me SOME rods and I had a few good ones in the garage (like my flippin stick). I'm going to have some spendy trips to Cabelas and Gander to replace some must-have's for the rest of the season. Bunch of ****in savages out there. I'm also in the market for a new frog rod and some reels. If anyone has some stuff laying around or knows of some deals, let me know.

The evening frog bite has been really good for me this past weekend. Temps cooled a bit but the waters still around 80. I've been getting a ton of bites with frogs over shallow cover. Also, when it was rainy/windy I was tossing the spinnerbait and hooked into a chunky 31" pike in about 3 feet of water off a dock which was AWESEOME.

I got shot a neat clip while morning fishing on Lake Carlos last weekend (in Alexandria) so I made a quick little video. Turned it into a brief instructional on (IMHO) the best way to get a followup bite on topwater.

I went out last night and we caught about 8-9 bass on DT4's off mid-lake humps. Like 10 feet of water. Got a couple fish on shakey head and zoom finesse worm also, and some pike on a chatterbait. Not a bad evening. The topwater bite at dusk was non existent so we went back to cranking. I've been having all my frog luck this summer over mats, not so much pads. Running the frog over really thick mats or milfoil clumps has gotten me some good bites. Honestly I tend to toss poppers around pads and get more bites than frogs. I get WAY more topwater bites on poppers than frogs year after year. Tie one on when the frogs not working. Have you tried tossing the frog around and under docks? They might just not be in the pads. I've had a much better mid-summer dock bite than pad bite lately.

Sure doesn't take people long to mention the Mojo's are made in mexico in like.. nearly every thread about Mojos. Why does that matter exactly? I just find it funny how predictable this forum is sometimes. I have an avidx and a new mojo, and the avid x is WAY more sensitive and a smidge lighter.

Sorry it's been a while! I've been fishing a ton. I've been out at least twice a week all summer. The summer patterns are in full effect right now! I'm finding a strong topwater bite in the morning around docks and reeds, then mid-day i'm having luck going deeper with dropshot+roboworm, chatterbaits (been awesome all year), and jigs. Senkos are working as usual.. pretty much anywhere near vegetation. I've also been having a good frog bite lately over the top of REALLY thick and nasty milfoil clumps. Honestly the mid-summer bite has been pretty amazing this year in the metro. It's been pretty consistent (for me and some fellow anglers I talk with), I haven't seen much of a slow down from spring to summer.. makes me excited for some great Fall fishing coming soon. If you guys are having a hard time getting a bite right now, my tip is to slow down.. and either downsize OR drasticly upsize. Meaning go down to a finesse setup w/ a 4" worm and shakeyhead/dropshot OR go to a bigass worm like a Ole Monster on a t-rig. Jigs around deeper weeds/structure is killer this time of year to. If you haven't, get out at dusk or dawn and really take advantage of an aggressive topwater bite along the banks. Poppers, frogs, walking baits around docks in the morning are killer right now. Yesterday we were slamming bass on hula poppers and megabass popmax in shady spots around docks on Green Lake in Chisago. That bite will "click off" though as the morning goes.. the fish are still under the docks but they wont be so aggressive to come out and chase a popper. You can still fish the docks, but you're gonna have to get a jig/shakeyhead/trig into the dock. Right now my most used baits/setups are: white/chartreuse chatterbait with a white kaitch swimbait trailer, dropshot w/ roboworm, DT4 in bluegill, popmax & chug bug, booya pad crasher frog, shakeyhead with zoom finesse worm, trig senko or berkley power worm, wacky senko

The Savage Gear folks are crazy.. in the good way. They are always going a little outside the box.

Just the standard Berkley power worm on a size 3 offset hook is pretty money mid summer. Or go big and try the zoom Ole Monster. Both Texas rigged.

I'll piggyback on grimruis's post, he had good suggestions. My favorite shallow crankbait in MN lakes is the DT4, in any kind of natural color. Bluegill, olive, shad. It's the single bait that's cost me the most volume of fish (bass, pike and even crappie) in the last several years.It's great around our shallow weedlines and gets bites all year. I almost always have one tied on. IMHO the also must-have's is a ribbon tail worm + texas rig, chatterbait with a paddle tail plastic trailer, swim jigs (great around docks), and a topwater popper (chug bug is my fav). Oh and obviously senko's.

The 130 is gonna be way to big for that rod. It's very large and heavy bait. The 90 should be fine though.

Oh man what a loaded question haha. For shore fishing or out on a boat?

Spotted this on sale at Cabelas + their 16Cave promo code.. it comes out to $764 shipped for a new unit with remote. http://www.cabelas.com/product/humminbird-reg-999ci-hd-si-combo-with-as-rc1-remote/2067201.uts?Ntk=AllProducts&searchPath=%2Fcatalog%2Fsearch.cmd%3Fform_state%3DsearchForm%26N%3D0%26fsch%3Dtrue%26Ntk%3DAllProducts%26Ntt%3D024298%2B023834%2B025376%2Band%2B025028&Ntt=024298+023834+025376+and+025028 Seems like a pretty good deal.

Looks like Fenwick has a 30% off sale going on for HMX' and Aetos. Stuff is going out of stock tho.. may want to hurry. http://www.fenwickfishing.com/fenwick-clearance/ 60 bucks for a HMX is a pretty good deal.

I use quite a few different jerkbaits, and usually have a jerkbait tied on all year.. and man I can't resist the Vision 110. I know they are expensive, I know i'll be sad if a pike breaks me off (only has happened once) but the bait is just so awesome. They cast farther than any other jerkbait I own and they have a very unique action. They always catch fish! The pumpkinseed paint job is a killer on my bluegill filled Minnesota lakes. I have a vision 110 tied onto my jerkbait rod 95% of the time all season. I get a kick out of the fact that most of us don't blink at buying $200 rods and $300 reels but draw the line at a +$20 bait. I think you get what you pay for with the Vision.

Nike needs to sign KVD.

Which topwater baits? You need to get more specific. I'd never use snaps or swivels personally, but some baits (like a spook) work best if you tie a loop knot.

You're close to Lake Elmo! That's a pretty interesting lake because there's bass, pike, tiger muskie.. and trout. Pretty unique lake. It's VERY deep too, like 130 feet. I've heard the fishing is tough though because of sparse vegetation, but it might be worth taking a look. You're also pretty close to St Croix which has some of the best fishing (smallies!) in the state.

Topwater! Ring them up out of the muck. Buzzbaits, poppers, frogs, walking baits.. i'd try them all.

So, I had the day off of work and I actually remembered to bring my gopro with me this morning! I've been wanting to make an instructional video for a long time, and finally went through with it. I tried my best to make a video about using the pop max (and poppers in general). I'm not sure if I did a good job, but any feedback (and subscribers) would be great. Are there any other MN anglers with active youtube channels?

So, I took a crack at making a "useful" fishing video today. It's my first attempt! I made the type of video that I personally like to see, which is a mix of instructional and action. I focused on just one specific lure, the pop max.. and tried to make a video that maybe could help someone fish it more effectively? I'm not sure that I acomplished my goal but it was fun trying. I shot it this morning and edited it tonight.

I really really want that boat. Nice!

Man, the bite has been pretty consistent lately. I got out Sunday evening and a little bit today between storm fronts. Water temps are up to the mid 70's in the metro and I've found fish holding REALLY tight to cover shallow. Sunday evening I was able to catch quite a few fish in 3 feet or less water right in & around reeds & docks. Megabass pop max was the ticket (my 2nd favorite popper behind the chug bug). The wind got them going I think. I snuck out today around dinner time and caught a quick 3 fish in 10-14 feet of water on the ole Vision 110 (seriously, if you don't toss this you're crazy) and the white chatterbait. Topwater, chatterbait and the jerkbait has been really my main 3 baits for the last few weeks. Been able to catch fish on one or more of those presentations each time i've been out. I'm waiting for that to change once the water warms up to 80ish and I'll have to slow down and start tossing plastics. I keep bringing my flippin stick and senko rod out but I never need to use them.. yet.

I went out last night from 5-8pm. It was a little windy so I worked the deeper part of the weed lines on the wind swept side of the lake. I caught like 6 fish pretty rapidly on a vision 110 jerkbait in 10 feet of water right along the weeds. It was a little tricky to keep the boat in position but it paid off. I got one 4.5lb which was fun.