MassYak85

I'd honestly love to have an EPO near me. Especially during ice fishing season where the local police seem to be pretty ignorant to the actual laws.

I don't think carding for fishing gear is really possible without severely limiting sales. I've bought fishing gear while visiting family in Iowa...I have never fished in Iowa and do not have an Iowa license, So I am not sure how you would do that. Plus I'm sure it would be a major burden on online retailers to get the license database synced up with all 50 states. IMO, at least here in MA the DFG is just not funded well and don't have enough people to patrol. I'd say if the guy is a frequent offender just keep reporting it.

Academy Laguna Madre pants. Very lightweight, and to my surprise were actually fairly waterproof even though that's not why I bought them. I will be wearing them this summer and they will also be my hiking pants going forward. Oh, and they're only 30 bucks.

All the ones I have ever used will fog my glasses if I wear them over my nose. From the research I've done, I didn't find a general consensus for any on the market that won't do that to some degree.

At first I read that as "I like to rig my spinnerbaits with 10lb braid and a 20-25lb leader" and I was so confused lol

I wouldn't say nobody else does it but a lot of times in my kayak I will paddle through large expanses of lily pads just looking for swirls from fish moving out of the way to get a better picture of where fish are. Then come back a little later after things calm back down and fish it with a frog.

What is your budget? I have never bought high end sunglasses but eye surrender's are my favorite at 50 bucks.

x2, I usually send them to myself using the facebook messenger app and then just copy and paste into the message.

Tackle warehouse has some of the 9" single joints in some pretty sweet colors available (perch, bluegill, and black). I've got a 9" X2 diving slammer on order direct from Mike Shaw right now. @Mr. Aquarium, how quick does he usually get custom orders shipped out? I ordered it back in March and he was pretty vague on timeline when I checked in with him last month. I'm fine with waiting but don't want to be left in limbo. I'm also curious what he will do for the paint. I've seen several variations of his perch color scheme floating around and he posted one pretty recent on instagram that had an awesome new variation of the perch patttern.

I try and imitate bluegill most of the time so green pumpkin with some accenting bluegill colors usually works well for me.

Thanks! He starts out the video throwing a jerkbait/minnow lol so I guess that answers my question haha.

Does anyone have experience with these? I know they are kind of new but I didn't see much mention of them doing a quick search. Basically I am looking for a jerkbait/topwater rod and was eyeing the 6'9" MH and 7'1" MH models. How is the action and power? I'm looking for something with a fast tip to work the baits but still loads up nicely into the blank to keep fish pinned. I have no experience with phenix rods so any insight is helpful.

Don't count out out the senkos just yet. Rig them on a 3/0 superline hook and some heavier braid. If the vegetation is so thick it's matted just slowly crawl it across, and then when it gets to a pocket let it drop in.

I have two pairs of eye surrender glasses. They come in a nice case and it's a night and day difference on and off as far as seeing in the water. I've got some grey ones for sunny days and amber for cloudy.

I have that one as my jig rod. In a pinch you could probably punch but IMO it is not really beefy enough for it. I wouldn't go over the suggested rating, I feel it's pretty accurate.

I use that exact model and use it for swim jigs, it does well. It is currently the "do all" rod in my lineup. I have it tasked with everything from jerkbaits to whopper plopper 130s, spinnerbaits, bladed jigs, paddle tail swimbaits etc. etc. Basically anything over 3/8 oz that doesn't require the beef of a jig or frog rod. Eventually I'll get more technique specific combos but currently I am maxed out for rod storage space in my kayak. Eventually it will get broken down into a topwater/jerkbait, swimjig/bladed jig/spinnerbait, and cranking setup. But currently what I do most is spinnerbaits and swim jigs and that is what I feel it does best with.

True, I actually haven't lost a lure since I got my lure knocker, they pay for themselves quick.

Generally though a crankbaits' bill and diving angle help keep it out of snags, bladed jig style baits run more or less horizontally.

I'm sure open water that thing will do well with a keitech or something on the back, but I can't see that thing not getting snagged on every single piece of cover in the lake.

Many will probably feel differently and I have nothing against others keeping fish, but for me the one's worth getting a mount done are the ones worth putting back. There are so many great replicas being made from pictures and measurements I just don't see the point of actually killing the fish, especially a trophy. Edit*: Fair point above though about cost.

I go with 40 personally, but I also throw a lot more stuff on that rod and also fish the 130 whopper plopper with it too. 30 will probably be fine.

Switch to a smaller lie size if you are running mono on a reel that small. Maybe like 8.

Generally the only fish I kill with trebles are dinks (I'm talking fish a bluegill could bully) where I could not get the pliers in their mouth to remove the hooks. I've killed far more fish with worms hooks getting caught in the stomach or gill rakers than on trebles. I do however use single hooks with crushed barbs when ice fishing but that's for slightly different reasons (ease of hook removal when it's 10 degrees is beneficial, both for me and the fish).

@Dunks N Dinks Welcome to the forum! Nice report as well!

Personally I despise slick 8. Many love it, and I hope you do too, but the batch I got (also yellow 15#) would have the strands separate, and cause wind knots almost every cast. I can't speak to floating more, and I can't remember if they coat slick 8 in anything but if they do I imagine that would keep water out a bit and increase bouyancy.