fishwizzard

This is as far as I have gone cosmetically, but I do like the odd splash of color these days. I am all for performance upgrades, I have a few spare spools to swap around. Most of my reels take 34mm spools now so I have a ton of options.

It’s not super “high-end”, but if you want an unusual frog rod, take a look at the Megabass Hyuga 72H. I have one and have been using it for frogs with great success. It’s a super versatile rod and feels way more nimble then it should for how powerful it is.

I use fish grips for most every fish I catch on my yak. The real challenge for me is landing a bass that I catch while standinrg. I have yet to find a good way to sit down and 100% keep pressure on the bass.

Sadly the canal by Swains is dead this year, they have the water so low, it’s just a muddy ditch. There are bass still in there but you have to hike a few miles to find deep water and it’s real crappy to fish there now. Good news is that, atleast on the east side of the beltway, I think every pond and stream I have tried has produced bass, even if they are tiny. Use google earth to find water you can walk to and give it a try.

Cabela's hooded sun shirt with the hook stretched over the brim of a lightweight ballcap. I will add a buff if it's really bright out, but the deep hood and big beard work surprisingly well, my neck never even really gets tan. I will wear tights under the shorts when I am in my yak, but I just hose on sunblock if I am on foot. I kinda want to get gloves next, i burned the backs of my hands a little this spring.

Drop shoting from the bank has been one of my most productive presentations. A lot of the smaller places I fish have very soft muck bottoms and a DS is the best way I found to fish a small plastic close to the bottom without it constantly fouling. If i’m trying to cover water, I retrieve it with my reel, stopping and shaking/slacking the line whenever I hang up on something. If I’m trying to target specific piece of structure/cover, I use the rod tip to slowly drag the rig around.

Dude that is a monster! Saturday was my most productive day at the canal so far this year, the water was still down 5-6', but Widewater is big enough for it not to matter. I really really need to get my kayak out there, if anyone wants to do a weekday trip, please let me know. This is maybe the best of the ones I got that day; My dog got me up at 630am today and I decided to make the most of it. I hit the pond around 730am and got two right away on a BBZ Rat 40. I am really loving that little guy, I can throw it on most any MH and up rod and it still seems to draw bigger bass. As soon as the sun came up it started cooking so I did a quick lap with a swim jig, picking up one more bass, and got the heck out of the sun. They were all in the 2-3lb class with this being the best one.

I fish swimbaits in small ponds pretty often as well. I will second that rats get a lot of attention. I have done OK on small glides as well. Huddgills get hit all the time but I have a ton of trouble landing bass on them, so I am on the hunt for another soft weedless gill.

Cool thanks! The specific reel I had an issue with was the Steez ltd sv 105XH, I am not sure what frame "generation" they belong in.

I thought I had a picture of my issue, but I am not finding it. Basically I could not find a comfortable spot for my index finger when I was palming the reel. I like to keep my pinky behind the trigger, so rod/reel fit is really important. Honestly, only the Alphas/Pixy and the sv103 have been comfortable across a broad range of rods. I picked up an Aldebaran 50 this past winter and find it really comfortable, so I am starting to look at Shaminos more and more.

Hey, when you get it I would love to see it next to an Alphas and an sv103 if you have the chance to snap a pic. I am really interested in one as well but I am quite fussy about reel ergonomics and have no sense of how Shimano's reels compare size-wise.

I have walked the entire lake a few times and there are a few spots on the far side from the boathouse and a few more scattered around the lake, but yea, it is not super great for bank fishing. I don't make it out that way very often though, just when fishing with friends on that side of the beltway.

That helps a lot! I was trying to work them way too slow it seems like. I work my flukes pretty fast, so that compairson really helped. Thanks!

Man, I have a few ideas these I got in a lot off of eBay and I can't get much action out if them. What's the secret?

Hah, I am on a massive-size stickbait kick myself. I have a pack of 7” senkos and 7” BPS stickos on deck for testing next week!

Huh, I thought Hi's went out of business, their website has been down for a while now.

I love it as I use reel covers and it seems like when putting them on and taking it off I end up accidentally "adjusting" my tension knob all the time. I would love it if I could rig all my casting reels to have a far stiffer knob.

The Z-man hooks are not bad, but they do dull easily. I fish them de-barbed and still have a very resectable landing ratio. RiverRock now sells Ned heads with a true thin-wire #2, #4, and #6 hooks. I believe Siebert Outdoors now also offers a thin-wire #2 option. The smaller hooks tend to get very well wedged inside the bass's mouth rather then on the lip where they shake or rip out.

I get that a lot with my friend's who like the idea of fishing more than the actual fact of getting up early on a saturday to actually go. I know just assume whatever friend I am supposed to go with is going to flake and plan my day accordingly.

I read something about the “Tokyo Rig” a few years ago, but it had a different name. The article talked about how Japanese anglers are constantly having to innovate due to the extreme pressure that basically every body of water over there gets.

I fish alone maybe 95% of the time, does not of my friends have any interest in fishing and I have a weird work schedule so I’m often fishing weekdays. I really do enjoy fishing with other people, both for the company and because you can find a pattern twice as fast with two than with one.

I wanna say @Junger has one of those rods, or a least a similar Arid-X.

I hope that means short handles and and shorter then normal rod legnths. I have yet to find a frog rod that I really like using in my yak.

I use Mega Strike on jigs and pourous plastics. I don't find that it clings to most normal plastics well enough to be worth it. I also use it as swimbait-lube.

The first is a "G Loomis MH", the second would be a "most every other MH I have tried".