Smalls

If you weight it, use a very light weight. You have to softly swim it through the stems. Don’t set the hook when you see a fish blow up. Set the hook when you feel the fish. Repeat after me. “Thou shalt not use anything but heavy braid in thick lily pads”.

I had one send an Arashi cover pop like 4/ 4.5 feet in the air. Twice. Within 10 seconds. I was absolutely baffled at how he was able to hit it that hard and still miss both #2 trebles. Only thing I could think of was that it was sitting over a submerged lily pad when he hit it. I wasn’t even mad, just impressed.

That’s a good lookin hog, with a textbook hook set! I bet it felt real good, awesome job.

Definitely slow here on the SE side. I’ve noticed they’re holding tight to the thickest, nastiest cover possible. And man are they getting picky about their free meals.

It ended up being the width, mostly. I didn’t have the balls to even do it with a dremel. I took a small file and checked fitment until I was happy.

I prefer extra fast. I’ll often switch to a smaller frog if I’m getting short strikes, so I like a little extra tip to really rocket em out there. Plus I think it helps me keep em pinned, giving a little extra cushion to a 2x4 of a rod.

This is correct. It wasn’t much. Maybe 1/8 -1/4 inch, but just enough to feel awkward in my hand. I ended up filing the pocket just a little, and giving my reel a good smack with the palm of my hand to get it to sit in there a bit better.

Thanks, zeth. Was really hoping to hear from someone with experience. If your pricey one sucks, the ones in my budget have got to be a serious no.

I’ve been eyeing that one. Every time I cruise Craigslist, people think their kayak is worth its weight in gold. Idk why. I appreciate the input, and the advice for transporting it.

Storage isn’t an issue. But getting it on/off the top of my Malibu is. Im not really concerned about quality, as next year I’m moving across the country, and buying a boat. So it’ll pretty much be used for the rest of the season and the beginning of next. It’ll probably be given to my uncle or brother when I leave. Which is also why price is kind of an important deal. But I also don’t expect the best of the best for cheap. My only important feature is stability.

Because of stability? Or something else

I pretty much use my 7’7 mag m/h the same way you use your rod. I’ll use it for jigs, and other bottom contact baits as well as frogs and swimbaits. Mostly cause I’m too lazy to bring a 3rd rod with me bank fishing So it’s perfectly adequate for frogging/pitching, and probably a little overgunning for Texas rigs, but works. When I fished a lot of places with rock, I used to tie a 15lb fluoro leader on. And I didn’t really notice much of a difference in my frog hookups. But I kept my leader short, maybe 30 inches at most.

I think fishing frogs with mono is basically asking for heart break. You’ve gotta really give em the hammer when you set that hook. Heavy braid for your broomstick and bend the hooks out just a little.

There’s no way to get the reel to sit further down the seat? I can’t open that hole in the seat at all?

Well, that was top of my list for a while. But whatever I buy will be car-topped, so weight is an issue. I drive a small sedan with no hitch. And a kayak can be paddled. A bass tender or pond prowler type boat pretty much has to be powered by trolling motor. So on top of lugging the boat down to the water, I have to then lug a battery and the motor.

From what I remember from geography, we’re considered Midwest here in Michigan. We have the worlds best smallie factory. The FLW tour just came rolling through, and anything less than 21 lbs got nothing but an eye roll from the crowd. The BFL’s saw even better action, with an almost 30 lb bag. Our largemouth population is strong, and you can catch some really, really nice fish. But you’ll never catch anything near the size of what they grow in Cali or Florida. My biggest fish this year was 6.14. It’s the 3rd 6 lb fish I’ve ever caught. In my life. They catch those every day in Florida.

I can’t make a decision on what kind of small lake/pond vessel I want to buy. I’ve been bouncing back and forth between a job boat, kayak, or inflatable with a floor. My main issue is that standing stability is a must. Whatever I buy has to basically be a tiny bass boat. Sit to drive, stand to fish. Just to to make my decision even harder, I’ve found a few stand up paddle boards for sale pretty cheap. I feel like they have to be more stable because we’ll... they’re literally designed to be stood up on, and (most) literally don’t come factory with a sitting option. I plan on strapping a cooler or seat down to give my legs a rest. But how stable are they when I give a 5 pounder the hammer when frogging? Anyone fish one have any pros/cons over a kayak? Any thought on minimum size for fishing?

I tried the Simms gloves, and I think SPF 50 is an exaggeration. They seemed great for a couple weeks, but after a rather long day on a very sunny day my hands were noticeably darker. And I hated that the fingers were so long. I had to roll them back. I went back back to the Cabela’s guidewear ones.

I have a rod that has always been a little uncomfortable. Something felt just a hair off, and I couldn’t figure out why. Finally nailed down the culprit. My reel sits further up, and away from the trigger and grip than any of my other rods. I can’t palm my reel the same way I do any other rod. 3 different reels, same annoyance. Did a a little bit of research and it looks like people are grinding down their reel feet to fix the issue. But if I swap my reel to another rod, it won’t fit. It seems like the rod is the problem, and I’d rather alter it, than my reel. If I file the reel seat where the back of the reel foot goes in, is it gonna cause any structural issues?

Hmm. Maybe try giving your line just a little more slack? I know I give mine just a tad bit more than I would a popper.

Cut one of the tails shorter than the other. Helps a little

A good chunk, if not most of my frog bites are early afternoon, high sun and high temps. Early morning/ later evening I get almost no frog bites. I’ll switch to a walking bait or popper and comb just outside of cover areas. Seems to draw them out more.

Almost got heat stroke today dragging a 6 lber out of a mat so thick, made me think I was in Florida. I get more/bigger bites midday on a frog. Color/size/presentation matter much more here, though.

?. I bought a Max 3D just before they discontinued em, and now I can’t find any more. My local F&S does have 2 Megabass Levante’s sitting there staring at me for $125/each, though.

I’ve got the Christie rod from walmart. It’s one of my favorite rods. It’s an extremely sensitive rod for the price, and has really handled some abuse. I’ve had it for about a year and a half, now. If it breaks, I’ll definitely replace it with another