MassYak85

Metallica begs to differ Still doesn't touch their first four albums IMO but it's a step back in the right direction.

I'm a sophmore too actually, decided freshman year I wanted to do plastics engineering. I have 18 credits this semester so the workload is pretty heavy. My second engineering choice would have been mechanical though. Any engineering degree is going to be tough though, just keep at it. You aren't so far along you can't still change your mind (without adding years to your college career that is).

I use either the uni or improved clinch for mono/fluoro/copoly.

Quabbin sounds like a blast from all the reports you guys post from there. I'll probably fish somewhere local Saturday, I'm excited to try out two rats I got (Savage Gear and Moreau).

I like the brown, if I had to get another it would be black, but some people also swear by morning dawn.

A use a 7' 6" Vendetta HF...more like an XH IMO but I like it.

x2

On a straight retrieve I doubt it rattles at all unless you are fishing in some serious chop on the water. IMO the original sits kind of low in the water and a more bouyant one would be nice, but I don't think the weight of the one or two metal balls they use for the rattle has enough of a weight difference to make a good enough difference.

I ordered a 3D Rat but am holding out on the suicide duck for now. I'm not sure if it would really do any different than a whopper plopper in many scenarios, but it does have that wider profile, and has the top hook option so it can be fished in places the whopper plopper can't. The thing with the suicide duck is I don't feel it imitates a duck that well, sure it looks like one but does it really look like a baby duck swimming or trying to get away...IMO no. When baby ducks are scared they do this frantic side to side wobble as they kick their feet. I guess it would be hard to replicate though .

Even with their new QB I still think the Broncos could be a serious AFC contender again, he looked pretty solid again today. I think Pats, Steelers, and Broncos have the best shot currently, in that order.

I'm sure they have some non-lead-ban state customers come in, but most of the business to that store is going to be from 3 states... NH, MA, ME....all of which have lead bans. They are selling the lead stuff because they are legally allowed to and know people people ignore the lead laws a lot. As more people transition over I suspect their inventory will reflect that, but slowly. Also, Cabelas has very questionable product selection in my experience. The one in MA would have every color rooster tail known to man 20 deep on the pegs, but would have a pathetic variety of Braid #test/yd (power pro/832) in stock at any given time, and a laughable selection of bass jigs.

That's awesome! Has anyone spent a season trapping crawfish to watch them go through color changes throughout the year/conditions?

Probably a longer rod, 7' 6", maybe even longer, MH MF. Something to really launch it a mile on those days where I'm just covering water with it.

I use a 7'2" HF Tatula, now if I was getting a rod specifically for it I would get something else but with a limited rod arsenal it's what works best out of what I have.

Depends, I don't waste time weighing every fish, if I say "I got a couple 2 pounders" I am just guessing the weight. But any good size fish i weigh on a scale accurate to 100'ths of a lb. So like my two PB's I know both weighed exactly 5.40lbs. I also have switched over to weight and rarely if ever measure length. A 20" fish can vary widely in actual weight. If I ever wanted a mount made I would obviously get accurate measurements though.

Very good, also very manageable. I like it a lot.

Maybe some of the leftover pollutants that settled to the bottom of the Charles river over the years can mutate a 30lber for us to catch

Thanks, I do fish some of those places and have never caught one of either species. My dad did catch about a 30 inch pike out of Quinsig last year, but it was not in good shape. Poor thing barely pushed 2lbs and looked like a stick. I know some get taken out of flint in the winter though.

Hmm, good to know. Does the state list the stocking locations/date on their site? I am not familiar with how long pike live but I'd guess the big ones you would want to target would be from the 2000's era stockings.

I was under impression the state had halted the pike restocking programs in recent years? Most of the potential pike lakes around me seem to be places that were stocked in the 80's and may still have a few remaining from the ones that managed to establish a small spawning group.

Two I can think of that really hurt. Snagged a savage gear swimbait from shore, so I could not retrieve it from the snag (breaking off 20lb CXX was fun...) Spoiled a spool of 20lb Sniper with a backlash when I smacked the lure into the water at the beginning of a cast.

x3 I recently tried them when I ran out of kietechs because of the relatively low price(3.50 for 5pack). I must say I am pretty impressed. The tail has a very wide kick, even at extremely low speeds. They are pretty durable as well. To be honest I think I am going to be using these from now on instead of the kietechs.

When you are picking apart the pads or other cover with a frog, be very vigilant of your surroundings. A lot of times when frog fishing I catch them after seeing a disturbance and then casting to that disturbance. Could be as obvious as a blow up or splash, or as subtle as a lilypad or piece of grass getting flicked aside (something large swimming underneath). When I am in my kayak and I am not getting bit on a frog what i will do sometimes is actually paddle through the cover relatively fast (this is on large flats of lily pads not small isolated cover) and I will look for large swirls which are bass getting spooked by the large disturbance, this will at least tell me they are in the area. Make sure to vary your retrieve and speed as well, sometimes they want it walked, sometimes a straight retrieve will do better (almost like a little mouse swimming). Sometimes they are hanging next to the thickest,nastiest piece of cover, sometimes they are targeting open pockets. As far as the hookset, I don't actually "wait" like you would think. There is no "okay, it blew up on the frog, now count to two". I always have my rod tip high, and when I see one take my frog I immediately drop the rod tip, reel in until I feel that they actually have it and didn't miss/spit it out, and then hammer them. Now granted that process takes 1-2 seconds so there is time already built in, I don't feel the need to give any extra. I doubt the actual frogs you are using are the issue, buying more can't hurt but I'm not sure it will help. Some are easier to walk, so that may help, but the main advantages of certain brands have more to do with durability/ease of compression on the hookset (softer ones will expose the hooks better). Your issue seems to be with getting the bites themselves, which is probably more with how/where you are fishing them. Also like @hezeez@gmail.com said above me, some waters are not as well suited for frogs. Some lakes with different cover may produce better with different types of topwaters. I generally tend to use frogs in cover that no other topwater can really get into without snagging, I feel that is where they shine. But they are very versatile and can be fished open water with success as well. Good luck though, don't give up on it, frog fishing is definitely up near the top of my list of funnest techniques.

currently I've been using 40lb braid to a 12lb copoly leader.

Spinnerbaits easily, you can cover the entire water column with them whereas you obviously cannot with a buzzbait (I mean if you really want to let a buzzbait sink down 40 feet and give it a try I guess it could be done).