fishwizzard

Shallow, 6” to 6’ is the norm. I retrieve them very slowly so the lure rising is rarely an issue if I do run them deeper. If I want a fast retrieve I tend to want some flashy/thump as well and will swap lures.

$150 will get you a Tatula SV with a little looking around or if you can wait until BF. Imho there is little reason to pay for the Daiwa name without getting an SV or Magforce braking system.

I love that stubby little drag star, which one is it?

I use 1/4oz heads most of the time, going up to 1/2oz when I want to fish them deep or rip them through weeds. This is my standard, 1/4oz Siebert head and a 3.75” Rage Swimmer.

Most add-blockers will let you block specific elements on a page, so you can block logos and the like but let adds through.

I was always under the impression the danger with trebels is bending the thinner individual points as opposed to the generally thicker single hooks use with plastics.

Someone must sell a stripped sunshirt.

I have been using an Decoy Egg Snap on my frogs this year and really really like it for two reasons. First, A lot of the areas I fish have varied cover and I will often swap between a walking frog, a dragging frog, and a paddletail frog depending on where I am casting. Secondly, I have a rod that I really like using for frogs as it is perfect in every single way except for that the tip is not super conducive to walking them, but the snap makes it a breeze to walk pretty much anything clipped to the end of it.

They are commonly used to rig tubes and such for smallies but I had some made up on 6/0 hooks for rigging paddletails. They come through cover way better then a weighted swimbait hook and they protect the nose of the plastic really well.

I use either a fluke or a Big EZ paddletail rigged on a big sledhead fished on top like a toad.

I use leaders on spinning reels because I prefer small reels and braid is unfortunately the best option for them. On casting reels I only use braid when I want a strong and manageable line, so a leader would defeat the purpose.

I have only used Sniper up to 12lb and there and below I cannot tell much of a difference. I just scored a lot of 200y spools of various poundages of Sniper off of ebay so I can see if I have a preference with thicker lines. Honestly, Shooter has set the bar for “non-supple” so high that maybe I am not noticing the finer differences.

I’ve been bouncing back and forth between both of those lines and I would not wager much if any money on my ability to pick one from the other.

Last fall I worked myself into a frenzy because I was convinced that Strike King was going to discontinue the Shellcracker plastics. I freaked out and bought a few dozen packs. They still seem to be available, but I am still glad to have them.

They are so good. I got 6-7 bass on a single roboworm using those hooks. The 3/0 ones are great for general t-rigging most thinner worms too.

Thanks!

What underspin do you use? The 2.8s are so small that I have ruined more then a few just trying to get them rigged straight.

Go buy a spool of Sunline Shooter, that stuff will make the Sniper feel like silk. Sniper is generally regarded as a very manageable fluoro but it really depends what you are used to. I mainly fish 12lb and below so even 16lb Tastsu feels like fishing with wire rope to me at first.

Honestly, the Loomis MBR rods are so universal that you could cover a ton of presentations with three rods: 783c 844c 822s The only think missing is a dedicated crank/topwater rod, but that’s not where I would put money.

I figured out the most unappealing spot within an hours drive and when there this morning. The plan worked as I only saw two other people. I only caught one bass, but still.

I have the iRod “Freds” is it is a wonderful rod for both frogs and larger treble-hooked lures. I keep 40lb braid on mine and use it for all sorts of stuff. For a shorter, slower, and more powerful rod, you could try to find a Megabass Hyuga 72H. It’s also an amazingly versatile heavy powered rod and is what I use for ~2oz swimbaits. It’s recently out of production but are still out there on some of the JDM sites.

What size tubing? I have never messed with the stuff and don’t know how much it stretches.

For casting and working them, I want a ML/XF. For hooksets and landing them, I want a MH/F. I split the difference and use a M/XF most of the time. ? For hooks I have settled on light wire 4/0 Owner Twistlocks. They give very good hookups and amazing plastic life. I generally have to re-tie twice before I need to change out the fluke. For line I use a stiffer 13lb mono (Defier Armilo) as that is what is loaded on my M/XF, but I have used all three line types for them and so long as the line is matched to the rod I don't see a lot of difference.

One of the best patterns in some of the ponds around here is the "Geese Feed". A little kid throws bread to the geese and this attracts a huge school of sunfish as well. Once the kid leaves I start casting some kind of 'gill-imitator around the edges of the school. It works often enough that on tough days I sometimes wish I carried a pocket full of stale bread to get it started. I never thought about the gills following a frog, I will have to give a 'gill followup a try.

4” Easy Shiner on a sled/draggin head. So far this year it’s maybe my second most productive presentation overall and the most productive by far for smallies.