Brett Strohl

Well I'm glad someone got good reels for their money then If anyone wants to buy my escalade I'm more than willing to sell it since my technique is so bad

I got a 7:0:1 quantum escalade and it's unfortunately too slow to keep my buzz lures at the surface, but that reel has other issues and unfortunately apparently you can't just spend $60 on a baitcaster like you can a spinning real and not have any problems. I'm aware there isn't going to be a ton of difference between a 7:1:1 and an 8:0:1, but I just don't want to spend $150-$200 for something I'm not ecstatic with, that's why I want to make sure I get exactly what I need. Anyway, thanks for the input!

I've been seeing I should use a 7:5:1 gear ratio casting reel for buzz lures. The type of reel I wanted to get was a Lews bb1 Pro, and I thought they had 7:5:1 model but I can only find 7:1:1 and 8:0:1. Would 7:1:1 be too slow, or 8:0:1 be too fast? I'm new to casting reels so I don't know exactly what I'm looking for, and I can't find a chart that explains the difference between 7:5:1 and those two models. I'm reading 7:1:1 is 31" per turn and 8:0:1 is 35" per turn, but I can't find the " per turn with 7:5:1 so I don't know how different it is. Also BB1 pro's seem like pretty high quality reels to me, but I don't know the difference between brands etc. Is there a similar quality reel from another company in a 7:5:1 gear ratio?

Hey, not to single anyone out but this is a very difficult forum to use b/c people seem to focus on specificity more than utility. Plus if I know I'm doing something "incorrectly" people feel the need to point out that I'm doing something wrong, after I already pointed that out. This isn't helpful unless I'm being offered the advice of why one pole casts frogs better than the other. Which no one offered, b/c I doubt there is a reason. I get the vibe that the culture on the forum is not as helpful as other forums I've used, which can be frustrating. Also my problem was with the line, not the rod. Is a frog rod going to affect the way the reel and line works? Probably not. If I can cast frogs on heavy fast, or medium heavy then I can cast them on a cranking rod. Again, the focus on this forum tends to be on extreme specificity and not on utilitarian principles which would be more helpful for a person like myself. It looks like my problem is the line is poofing out, while I'm reeling it in, because I'm not using braid. If I can pull through weeds on a spinning rod, and more importantly set the hook, then I'm not going to be very worried about the stiffness of a casting rod because even my cranking rod is stiff enough. I stated this twice, but apparently it is still very very important to tell me my pole is all wrong. This absolutely isn't helpful information, which you might be able to tell, is frustrating when I just want to know how to make the reel spool tightly when I real the frog in. As far as fishing a buzz bait on braid, a lot of the instructional videos I'm watching people are either using braid or fluorocarbon. People are using cranking rods, med/fast rods/ or medium heavy rods. I'm sure there is more than one way to skin a cat, just like I can frog fish effectively on my flimsy spinning rod, or even my cranking rod, if I really want to. Can you make one rod work for multiple techniques? Probably, and that is why a lot of people in instructional videos are saying 7ft med/heavy is a good utilitarian rod. But again this forum seems to be all about specificity, which is why I'm having trouble finding the info I need, and people seem to be surprised when I'm getting frustrated. But again, my problem was with the reel and how it was spooling up. Nothing whatsoever to do with the rod. I feel like people are being rude and now you are saying people are "just trying to help." It's one of the reasons I don't ask a lot of questions on here to begin with.

If you can fish frogs and buzz baits on braid then I'm sure it will be fine. I don't have the space to bring 10 setups on the boat. For one, I knew the rod was not "correct" and if I get the chance in the future I'll switch to a medium heavy rod. But on that same token I was hooking frogs with a much much flimsier rod b/c the lure design. So that rod would be fine honestly,I don't have to do everything like a professional fisherman with unlimited funds, but I'll probably just keep it for a cranking setup. I shredded my braid b/c I have no idea what I'm doing, and I'm just going by trial and error. I put a deep diving crank bait on it a few casts, and it pulled the line into the center of the reel and shredded it. I guess I'm not super worried about my rod having the absolute perfect action. The water I fish is so pressured that catching a bass on a crank lure is like winning the lottery.

I was using a quantum escalade (brakes turned all the way up) and 15 lb pline flurocarbon, with a sebile pivot frog, on a 7ft cranking rod. Obviously the rod isn't "right" for frogs, but my problem was when reeling in the line would poof out b/c there was no tension. I tried braid once but shredded it in one outing. I wasn't super happy with my reel b/c the gear ratio wasn't fast enough, so if I get a different one I'll try braid again. I switched to a much flimsier spinning rod and didn't have any trouble hooking fish b/c the pivot frog hook setup seems to be a lot better. But I'm hoping to have a general "all purpose" setup in the future for frogs, buzz baits, and larger crank baits, since I don't have room for more than two setups in my canoe.

I can't keep my baitcaster from backlashing regardless, but I absolutely can't do it with a hollow-bodied topwater frog b/c the lure is so light and there is little to no resistance when I reel it it. Is there a trick to this kind of stuff, or should I just stick to my spinning rod for this?

He said he wanted to give the smaller fish a chance. I don't know anything about pond maintenance, but it's a fairly small pond.

I guess I should be more specific. What should I soak them in, and for how long? (vinegar, salt water, lemon, hot sauce?) Should I cut them into small pieces before I fry them? Any info is helpful, thanks!

I don't have any idea how to cook them. Is there a way to soak the meat or something to get the fish taste out, and maybe get rid of the toughness? I read somewhere else to soak them in saltwater over night.

My friend has a pond and wants me to take the larger catfish out of it, which should be fun, but I have no idea how to prepare them. My dad is worried about the meat being too tough to eat them, and them having a fishy taste. I had one on today that I would guess was about 7 lbs, and I saw channels come up to the surface that were about 2.5 ft or more. Can anyone give me some advice on cooking/preparing them? I have no idea what to do lol.

I just got a Wake bait and I was wondering your guys' thoughts on them? Are they mostly a morning/evening lure like with buzz baits ?

Yeah I'm sure they're just as good or bad as any other crank bait, but I'm still really interested to hear from someone who has used them extensively

Over the winter I got some Livingston lures that make some kind of noise that is supposed to sound like a bait fish. Do you guys have any experience using anything like that? Is it any more or less effective than something that doesn't make the noises? Just curious. (I don't even know how you'd figure out what kind of noise a fish makes)

Maybe! But is it's bend parabolic enough!?!?!

I would say $120 or less

What would be a really good casting rod for larger buzz baits that is reasonably priced?

I've had most of my luck on small poppers like the live target frog popper and the rebel tiny pop-r in the river here. But that being said, there aren't a lot of spots here to fish the river, and I haven't exactly done well enough to brag regardless

Is there a reason most larger buzz baits and spinners don't have circles to tie knots to, and only have half circles? They're driving me nuts b/c my braid slides all over them and gets tangled every third cast. Is there a good knot that will prevent that? even if I tie knots on top of knots I can't keep braid from sliding all the way up and down them. >_<

I saw LT has a larger popper and I may get one at some point. I got a River2Sea bubble popper since it was $9, and Megabass is selling one that looks exactly like it for $20. It seems nice so far, I took it out once and got some nice smallmouth with it. I'll be interested to see how it does with largemouth, since I think it's a little too big of a lure for smallies. I actually decided, since we finally found a nice spot at the river, to put some 10lb braid on a lighter pole and next time I go out I'll try a couple of very small hula poppers, and rebel poppers I grabbed from discount bins at wal-mart and thought I'd never be able to use. I imagine the smallies and rock bass will have an easier time grabbing those. I had a couple of big strikes from smallies on my bubble popper, but I think it was just too large for them to grab every time.

I decided to try something called a River2Sea Bubble Popper. It was $9 and looks so similar to the $20 a Dicks, that I'd guess it is a knock-off design. I took it too the river yesterday and caught some nice small mouth on it already. Supposedly you can walk-the-dog with this lure but I have no idea how. The tail twitches occasionally when I pop it in, but I can't really get that side to side motion with it.

TBH I'm guessing a lot of the problem is fishing pressure b/c we live in Indiana, and absolutely everything public is over-fished (on top of a lot of other problems).

Yeah we have a boat and can fish deeper water, but we can't ever do anything to catch fish in anything but right around the edges of anywhere I fish. I've tried cranks, plastics, spinners, etc.

I've been bass fishing a lot this year, which I'm reasonably new to, and I was wondering if there are any good ways to find and catch bass in deeper water (without a fish locator)? I know to fish points, but I haven't had any luck with it. As of yet I've really only been able to catch fish in extremely shallow water with poppers and wacky worms, so I'd like to learn to fish deeper water (when and how etc) All the places I go to fish have a lot of pressure, so I feel like the bass there have seen spinners and diving cranks a million times and I don't really have any faith in them. There is plenty of deep water but I don't even know how to start. Any advice is welcome! Thanks!

Well TBH, even if I only got to go after flat heads two or three times a year I'd still use that 8ft rod more than I'd ever want to use a baitcaster I can get an 8 ft' ugly stick for $30, an Okuma 45 spinning reel for $35, and then high quality braid for $15-$20. That is all pretty high quality gear for about $85. I probably couldn't even get a really nice bait casting reel for that price. Plus if I catfish at the reservoir next year I'll want more rods for catfish anyway, and I can get another two catfish combos for $170, which again is probably significantly less than one baitcaster. And if those rods/reels don't last me for the next 20 years, I'd be absolutely shocked. I'm sure you don't have any problem catching big fish on a bass rod, but I think the important thing for me is if take a trip somewhere and hook a big flathead, which is a fish I've wanted to catch for years, then I want to make sure I'm not messing around. If by some miracle someday I hook a cat over 60 lbs, I don't want to complain that my gear wasn't inadequate as it was when I had a very big fish hooked this summer.