Mbirdsley

I’ve been buying these shimano reel covers for $6.99 shipped off of eBay from shimano. They also sell them for spinning reels but, I believe those are about 10.99 +-. They had them here in 2 days. I obviously use them on my slx’s but, on my other reels too

I live in Michigan and do a lot of bass fishing around Frankfort and the west branch area which, is in northern Mi. Realistically when the underwater foliage is in full bloom I use 3/4 oz and 1 1/2 jigs for the most part. You could get by 80% of the time with 3/4 oz. I make my own jigs so that’s what I use. Been kicking around trying a punch rig though I’ve got a heavy fast 7’4 st. Croix bass-x paired with a 7:3 tatula sv tws ( shallow spool) with 65lbs power pro. It is a dedicated rod set up just for doing that. If you didn’t want a dedicated rod you could get by with probably 40-45 power pro. Our underwater foliage growing season isn’t as long as it is down south. Trailers don’t really matter just use your favorite craw imitation. Punching with jigs is one of my favorite ways to fish. Shame it’s really only a technique for 2-3 months out if the year.

Cooler temps I like things more finessey ( I made that word up ) and compact. Once it starts getting warmer I let the whole package get bigger. Untill finally it’s summer time and they don’t care how big it is.

Jerk baits and do nothing baits. like fishing the Ned rig and bucktails, and hair rigs how they are supposed to be fished. Meaning slow do nothing retrieve rather than hopping along the bottom. took me a while to get the right rhythm with a jerk bait.

3-4 inch twister tail matching the skirt has worked for me in 45-60 degree water. Finally getting the smaller paddle tails to work.

Fished duck lake in Montcalm county mi. Between my buddy and I we caught 10-12 bass. I caught more he caught the biggest. We were both using chatter baits. He was switching up between differnt ones I kept the zman stealth jack hammer rigged on with a Berkley ayu paddle tail swim bait as a trailer. Caught one bass on a jerk bait. However, we were on a chatter bait bite. We took 4-5 bass out of one spot. Duck lake is a large shallow and weedy lake. Average depth is only 4ft but, the water temp where we caught the fish was 51.8 degrees. this was probably one of the warmest lakes we were going to find for the year. Every where else the temp was 48-49 degrees in the lake and didn’t do squat. Beautiful spring day in Michigan and on the board for 2022

Another round of eBay winnings all from the same place. 2 pack of LC KJ flat 1.5’s 2 pack of fat mini DR I’m happy gill. 3pack of Norman middle N in root beer.

I buy them from a bunch of different places. Usually, just where I’m at that day IE Walmart, cabelas, bass pro, or TW. The tw rod covers seem to fit the best

The gander mountain guide series spinning reels were re-branded pfluegar’s. After trashing three pfluegars in the last year good riddance. I did enjoy the supreme until the frame ears broke

Yes it is the tower of power. I fired it up yesterday while on muffs at home. I’ve got a video and the video does not do the sound justice. The motor is extremely loud when out of water and on muffs. my 17 footer will do 32 mph. It is a 90 hp 1985 merc . Motor runs great for being 37 yrs old

Well, kicked off the 2022 bass season. Took the L but, felt good to get out. Water was only 38 degrees. Should have picked a smaller lake. Buddy and I Went on crystal lake in Montcalm county. Only action I had was 2 big large mouth at the same time follow my lucky craft 78 sp. couldn’t get them to commit though. Than proceeded to get the same lucky craft jerk bait caught in the trolling motor which, it suspends and couldn’t get it back. Luckily I bought it in a 2 pack

Yeah I’m not buying the because, they are using live bait it’s harder to fish for bass. Bass eat live bait around the clock. Any of the new age guides are going to make sure the bass survive. Maybe the old school guides let clients keep them but, most guides are very in tune with the body of water they are fishing. Up here guides start getting Antsy if clients keep steel head on the rivers. It is in the guides best interest to make sure the fish survives so that another client can catch it. take a guy that knows what he’s doing with live bait and a yokel with artificial. The yokel is going to gut hook more fish with artificial than the live bait guy. I’ve seen it done plenty

I did just buy a single double Indiana spinner blade kit from LPO to try out. It’s already painted in Tennessee shad But, that rabbit hole could commence. I’m going to wire tie the skirt instead of the supplied rubber one. For $5 bucks it’s worth a try

Weed eater

Alright, I probably drove the bid a little much on eBay. LC 78 sp’s . I’m not gonna say how much after shipping as it’s more than what I usually pay on these auctions. I really wanted them though As these will be great for brown bass in the titabawassee, Saginaw or other rivers after it rains. I can’t find this color on the lucky craft site. Probably the last jerk baits I’m buying for a while as I’m set. probably start concentrating on plastics. My wife really really dislikes me at the moment. Soon she will be back in the office and won’t be home as the endless stream of boxes keeps coming in. Haha

I really liked gander out doors. Everything up here is so oriented towards walleye and big lake salmon trolling it’s not funny. They had a huge selection of bass stuff. No other place around here would cary 1-11/2 oz punching jigs. It really broke my heart when they closed all the stores in Michigan. I guess northwoods or franks in pinconning. Northwoods is starting to carry more and more of the mid range bass reels and rods $150-250 stuff. I’ve never been to the KVD ware house in Kalamazoo. It’s on my bucket list though

I love my combo. I have the 6ft9 mh casting combo with a 8:1 reel. I use it as a lighter jig rod and reel. I should have bought another as a heavy pitching rod instead of the bass-x rod I ended up with. they go on sale occasionally for $174

There’s a lot of places that sell brand new stuff on eBay. The one place I buy from a lot sells 2 packs of lucky craft jerk baits, cranks, and war eagle spinner baits. Lucky craft jerk bait usually sell for around $17.99 a piece . I’ve won an auction for 2 of the same color for $10.99. Usually I pay avg of $25-$30 when I win. If for instance it’s an odd color like walleye I won for $10.99. However, I also got into a bidding war and jacked the price Up to $45 on a rarer color lucky craft 2pack. get on eBay and just do a search for lucky craft 78 or 100 sp just to see what I mean. There are other bait shops that do it too

I call this one Saginaw bay perch. I’ve been thinking about this one for a while in my head. Maybe I could add some orange at the bottom. This was the first go I’ll probably keep tweaking it

I’d agree with this. I’ve never been a fan of braid on moving baits except a frog. I was using flouro last fall on my dobyns colt. That I was using for jerk baits just because, that’s what line was on it. I use Mono, co-polymer flouro or straight flouro for all moving baits including cranks, jerkbaits, chatter baits, paddle tails, and spinners

Another mail call. Picked up my first dark sleeper ( should have gotten the 1/2) and 3 tiny OG’s from fish USA. On pay day I’ll buy some full sized OG’s. Also, picked up a war eagle river rat spinner, should be good for this spring

Seems like this would be a good application for tungsten. However, maybe the head would have to be too small due to it being heavier than lead.

This cheap Berkley portable line spooling station is pretty good. I think I paid like $13.99 for it 3 years ago. Keeps tension on the spool of line. I’ve never really been able to get the old pen through the middle trick to work well. I use it for bait casters, spinning reels, and trolling level winds.

What do you mean why? Why pigeon hole your self into one style of fishing. If I’m going to spend 6-8-12 hrs out on the lake and they don’t want to eat a crank, spinner or jig ( I really really really love fishing cranks). I’m pulling out the wacky rig, mojo rig, and Ned rig. I’m not waisting my time on fishing a technique they don’t want that day. My objective is to catch fish on the days that I can which, means warm front, cold front, post cold front, sunny days, cloudy days, warm days and cold days. Fishing Great Lakes ,big lakes, little lakes, big rivers, small rivers, and trout streams. In conclusion repeated dives into the insanity of throwing something the fish don’t want is waisting my time.

Need to be good at both