punch

If you can spend like $110 shipped, the previous generation Diawa Taula rods can be found on ebay and they are AMAZING sticks. I actually like them better than my Micro Magics. The black and gold version (the white ones are the new ones, and were downgraded)

I toss only Terminator T1's now.. they hold up to lots of abuse.

If you want to drive up to the north suburbs, you're welcome to come out with me sometime on my boat. Shoot me a message.

No, lake in the north metro. I don't hit Medicine that often. I usually bounce around Anoka county area lakes.

I got out this morning from 6:30am to 9:30am. Waters about 65 degrees. I was able to catch 7 fish, two big ones, very shallow. I saw a ton of bass cruising the inside shallow side of weed lines. I was getting most of my bites slowly fishing a chug right along the weeds. Caught a couple on a white chatterbait but the big guys wanted the popper. Biggest was 4lbs. I fished the deep side of the weed lines and didn't get a bite. All my action was shallow. Like less than 4 feet of water.

That's a lot of boat for 23k! I'm rocking a 16' 2001 Northwood tiller, which is all the wife will allow at the moment. It's perfect for metro lakes though. I've never been given the green light to take out a loan for a boat, so I've always used inexpensive boats I can buy with cash. RT178 is on my wishlist though, maybe I can find one used in a few years. I really like those Lowe Stingers too.

I'll toss in another vote for the Chug Bug. I've caught so many big fish on those things. Upgrade the tail hook to a red VMC feather hook and you're golden. I've used a lot of poppers over the year's, for me the #1 producer is Chug Bug followed by #2 x-rap popper.

The bass have been getting big at Medicine also, seen a 6 pounder pulled out of there. I'm going to hit it a little more this year personally. How much did you guys pay for your RT178s out the door? if you don't mind me asking. I'm just curious.

The VMC Wacky Weedless hooks do look awesome and appear to be designed well BUT i've lost a lot of fish on them! I used the hook several times last fall in a weedy lake, and I had a hell of a time getting a proper hook set. The fish would grab it and when I went to drive the hook, it would blow out of their mouths. I was getting so ticked off that I just swapped it for regular octopus hook and boom, hooked more fish. That weed guard is way too stiff. I'd rather snag some vegetation once and a while but hookup with a higher percentage.

What's your definition of big? haha If you want to chase trophy +40" pike, you'll have to drive way north to Rainy, Lake of the Woods or maybe Leech BUT Lake Pepin down in southwest MN has been known to produce some monster pike. DNR found quite a few very large fish in their 2012 lake survey I believe. As far as 1-2 hours around the Metro... just toss a dart at a map. Pretty much every lake in the metro has plenty of fish under 30" and likely has some fish lurking around 30-35+" that show up once and a while. It's like playing a slot machine in the metro.. keep catching pike and you'll luck into a monster once and a while. If you want to specifically target monsters you're going to have to venture a ways. I've pulled some big pike out of some very small metro lakes by pure accident, which is a sign that the lakes are very healthy. I'd just keep fishing your favorite lakes, toss bigger moving baits around weed lines and you'll find a big guy once and a while.

Ooooh I really like those RT178. I'm jealous, really killer under 20k metal bass boats. Finding a +35" pike in the metro is pretty rare honestly. In my many years of fishing i've only seen like TWO fish that big in the twin cities area. I was out with my dad in the fall last year and we hooked a 36" tank in the north metro. The good news is if you venture to northern MN, monster pike can be found in abundance.

1. DT4 2. Trig rig worm (ribbon tail or trick worm) 3. Trig rage craw 4. popper 5. keitech swimbait on weighted hook

Dude, just walk into Cabelas with the rod.. go to Customer service and ask for an even exchange. They always do it for their in-house rods. Even if the rods technically out of warranty they are usually willing to let you do a swap if there is an exact rod on the shelf. They ask if you have a recipt (no I don't) and when you bought it (sometime last year). They recently made some changes on their computers that removed the ability to look up historical purchases past a certain date so they can't verify anything anyways. I've had two ZX rods tha have had issues and i've been able to easily exchagne them straight up. I had one that had a broken tip a few weeks ago, and they swapped it. Last year I had the same butt-cap falling off issue and they swapped it.

There are so many lakes to pick from in the metro I'm not sure why people willingly choose to hit Minnetonka to bass fish. I get it if you're chasing muskie or you want to cruise and have a recreational day.. but that lakes traffic is way to intense for me. Those boat ramps can be a cluster.

So now we have three posts going? haha I went up north in the Hubbard county area and fished Duck Lake all weekend, which is a medium sized clear water natural lake (no invasive species) that has a very massive bass population. The average size is on the smaller side but boy is the fishing good. I had a lot of success on jerkbaits (megabass vision 110 and shadow raps), senkos around docks, crappie colored terminator spinner baits, and a white chatterbait with a 4" kaitech simbait trailer. From Friday to Sunday we boated easily over 60 bass. During the mid-day the fish went a little deeper when the sun was out and I was able to hammer them on a Ned rig in like 15ish feet of water. The real winner all weekend was chatterbaits. I tossed a blue combo and a white combo and they both got slammed. I tipped the tails of the 4" keitech with JJ's magic. Chatterbaits worked great shallow, deeper, on windy points, on flats... didn't matter where I tossed it. As a bonus we lucked into the crappie spawn and took in about 30 fish for eating. They were stacked up around docks all along one side of the lake. They were beautiful fish and pretty big. I was able to annoy them into biting by slow rolling a small x-rap along their beds. picture: https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/t31.0-8/s960x960/13268213_10107653534262920_8795211660277846512_o.jpg

+1 for tossing poppers at dusk. Seem to always catch a few larger fish on the Chug Bug at dusk.. basically all year.

I got out last night on a north meto lake with a buddy. Went out from about 4pm until 8. The water was 60 degrees. All the action we found was in and around the weeds in VERY shallow flats. All our bites came in 5 feet of water. Bass (and pike) were hammering kaitech 4" swimbaits, and we got a lot of action on simple #2 blue fox inline spinners (gold and silver both worked). There was a little bit of wind/chop and that blue fox spinner was smoking hot for a few hours. We caught about a dozen fish.. I lost a bunch of bass until I upsized my swimbait hook. Also caught a few on a wacky senko for fun. My trolling motor popped a fuse so I couldn't go around hunting for beds. We also tried fishing 10-13 feet just outside the flats with crankbaits and didn't get many bites. Fish were super active shallow though.

So anyone get out today?? Where did you go? Find any fish on beds?

Just FYI, if you're considering the Veritas (which are great rods) I'd suggest going one power lower. If you want a medium, get a medium light. They tend to run a little stiff. For a jerkbait rod I'd look at a 6'6 ML veritas. I've learned this lesson and always buy them one power lower than what I want nowadays.

Welcome to Minnesota's acquainted fishing regulations! We should have catch and release year round with the harvesting season not opening until May.. but nooooo. We get to stare at our unfrozen lakes for a good month and a half before were allowed to target predator fish. It's kind of ridiculous. This state is so slow to make changes to anything. It's 2016 and we still don't sell alcohol on Sundays for cripes sake. I just go out with ultralight tackle and target crappies.. and whatever bites bites! I'll be doing that this weekend thats for sure. http://www.outdoorhub.com/news/2015/04/14/michigan-introduces-year-round-catch-immediate-release-bass-season/ Michigan saw the light last year. Minnesota and Wisconsin needs to get on board.

There was a lot of talk about this last spring actually. Here's a full article: http://www.startribune.com/dnr-proposal-reduce-population-of-hammer-handle-sized-northerns/291478171/

Small pike overrunning our MN lakes is a problem. I think the only real way to help lakes heavy with pike (if the DNR doesn't do something helpful) is to start taking fish out for eating. One of my favorite lakes near my house has been overrun with pike the last few years, so I try to take a dozen pike out every year for dinner. Might help the lake AND they taste really good. Win win.

Well, my local lakes in the north metro have total ice out. Saw a trailer at the launch today and got a little jealous! I'm getting my boat out next week.

FYI about this deal that Cabela's dropped today on a great non-gps finder. I was able to use the $20 off $150 coupon they sent out this week (can be had on ebay for like 1.50). The coupon stack negates the free shipping code, but just do a ship-to-store to avoid getting charged for shipping. http://www.cabelas.com/product/LOWRANCE-ELITE-X-HDI-CHIRP-SONAR/1846022.uts?WT.mc_id=ir10451&utm_source=Slickdeals+LLC&WT.tsrc=AFF&utm_medium=AFF&rid=10&irgwc=1

I'm going to wait for the Shadow Rap Fat Shad HD.