Ogandrews

Was about to say throw some flex seal on it and let er buck. In all seriousness though if you want it done right I would look into the plastic welding that MN fisher was talking about. I will saw that I did mess up and put a 1” hole in my old kayak, filled the hole up with silicone from my work truck and I never had a drop of water come in.

Thanks man. Anywhere else and I would be really pumped to catch fish like this but in the couple of pike fisheries I regularly fish these are every day fish. I’m pretty blessed to be able to have such quality waters around where I live, and also have them be pretty unknown by locals. The big pike here act a lot like muskies, follow baits a lot, will regularly hit right next to the boat, and only feed during certain windows during the day. To be able to see 40” class fish almost every time I fish these places at the right time of year is really special in the US. My profile pic is a pike out of this same lake and it was a 44.5 incher that was super fat in October, had to be pushing that 20lbs mark.

If your going to get an avid I would just save the money and buy a mojo bass which has the exact same blank, or spend a little more and get a legend tournament which has a way better blank. My do all spinning rod is a g loomis e6x 7’1 medium extra fast which is an amazing rod for the money. Super light and sensitive, and very comfortable. I have mine paired up with a nasci which is pretty much just as good as a Stradic imo and half the price. I have not used the zodias or expride spinning rods but I know that they are both great rods. If I could only have one spinning rod I’d probably go with a medium but that’s just personal preference. For all of my finesse rods I use 8lbs suffix 832, I think it is a better handling line than regular powerpro and gets less wind knots. Don’t buy powerpro superslick it is a complete waste of money, worse line than regular powerpro and doesn’t hold a leader knot well. If your really using your spinning rod for finesse applications than 8lbs braid will be more than enough, especially with a great reel like a ci4+. Whatever rod you end up with I like an extra fast with finesse stuff, helps get a better hook set with light rods but that’s just my preference. My last piece of advice is going to be to use mono instead of floro for your leader material. Floro, especially really light floro, is quite brittle, doesn’t have as good of shock resistance as mono, doesn’t hold a knot as well, costs more, and doesn’t actually have any benefits when it comes to abrasion resistance. Unless you are fishing the clearest lakes in the country then the difference in visibility won’t matter, and the extra stretch you will get from mono will be a benefit when fighting fish on braid to a leader.

Got into a decent pike and largemouth bite today. Pike were biting either a trap burned around a deep weed edge or a 7-8” swimbait fished right through the weeds. The big pike have been evading me all year, had 2 fish in the 40” class follow my swimbait up to the boat and had another in that class miss the bait as I was pulling it out. Was still a lot of fun fishing for them, at this water temp pike fight so crazy it’s impossible not to have fun hooking into them. picture of me is longarming it hard, was a low 30’s” fish but i guess my buddy tried to make it look bigger

It’s not really about the smaller diameter. It is a benefit, but the way the line handles, holds knots, and cuts through grass makes it worth every penny. Never had a braid that is that easy to control and that backlash proof. Most of the time I really could care less about diameter as long as line handles well.

I know this isn’t what you asked but if you haven’t already give braid to a leader a fair shot on casting gear, it is all I will use. Unbeatable sensitivity and once your used to casting I you’ll get better distance. I use powerpro maxcuatro on all of my casting rods and it is the best braid I have ever tried. Generally I’ll use a mono leader, but floro has its specific uses.

Let me know what you think about it, I’m actually thinking about picking one of those up to have another frog rod

This guy knows what’s up. For leaders I Use mono 90% of the time but if I want to go to floro you can’t beat fc100. Holds knots better and gives you a little more stretch than regular floro which gives it way better shock resistance. For 90% of applications the difference in visibility of mono and floro won’t matter and the benefits of mono out weigh the benefits of floro, fc100 is different though it’s a mix of both kinds of lines good qualities. Maxcuatro is also the best braid there is, I don’t use it on my lighter spinning setups because I’ll usually go with 8lbs suffix 832, but if they made a 10lbs version that’s what I would use.

Most of my top waters are thrown on either a dobyns 733 or a st croix mojo bass 6’8” m xf jerkbait rod. The st croix is great because it has a very fast tip section to work baits but once you hook up the rod will load up almost down to the handle. Perfect rod for jerkbaits, don’t understand people throwing them on Crankbait rods I could never properly work a bait that way.

Was about to recommend a dobyns 734. I have a 733 as well and that is great for if you like a softer rod. Very versatile taper, even thrown squarebills and lipless cranks on it with success.

I don’t understand why superslick is so popular when powerpro maxcuatro is so good. I had superslick on 3 rods this spring to give it a fair shot and it made it in the trash can a week after it was spooled on. I would strongly recommend trying maxcuatro for your casting setups. It is thinner and handles better than regular powerpro. Regular PP is decent line but it is quite stiff and doesn’t handle great at the higher weights in my opinion. Maxcuatro is supple out of the box, holds knots super well, is one line size thinner so 65lbs is the size of 50. I’ve never been able to cast as far with any other line as I have with maxcuatro. Another great think about it is that it is a course line so it cuts through weeds better than any line I have ever fished. I really can’t understand why maxcuatro is more popular as it is by a long shot the best braid I have ever fished and I’ve tried a lot. I know it is more expensive and I’ve never seen it in a store, but it is so worth the extra cost.

Would definitely recommend getting a curado k over an slx dc. Better internals and smoother imo. I own dc and non dc models of the curado k and I will not be buying any more of the DC because I don’t think that it is worth the extra money. The curado K is the best sub $200 reel there is, I know that other people are going to recommend other reels but if you take my advice you will be happy with a reel that is great quality that is going to last.

Spent the weekend fishing lake vermilion. Had some great walleye fishing and caught a 47” musky while walleye fishing, but the bass were pretty sporadic. Got on a decent Crankbait bite for smallmouth but nothing big. Also got into a good top water and bigger swimbait bite one night for largemouth in 1-2 fow way in the back end of a huge bay. They were hammering a whopper plopper 130 and a megabass magdraft fished pretty quick. Lost a good one between 5-6lbs next to the boat, but everything else was between 1-3. If I had spent more time bass fishing and less time walleye fishing I probably would gave caught more but it was a great trip.

Great weekend on lake vermilion in northern mn. The musky was 47” and I caught it while walleye fishing with an 8lbs test leader. 20 min fight but the fish swam off strong. The Bigger walleye I didn’t measure correctly in that pic it was actually 26.5, got into a great shallow water bite snap jigging small swimbaits at dusk. Fish were absolutely hammering the baits, not like what most people think of as walleye fishing. Got at least 20 fish around the size of the first one but the only bigger fish was the 26.5, no real giants.

Mostly the angle, I was shaking so badly that it was really hard to get a good picture. This fish looked like it was post spawn though, not how they usually look up here. I saw a lot of fish paired up and others that were staging shallow so they will be spawning any minute now if they haven’t already. Hooked into another that was for sure over 50” on a little husky jerk while walleye fishing too but it wrapped me up in a dock piling.

It doesn’t make any sense to me either. I fish lake vermilion a lot in northern mn and although there are some big ones it is mostly hammer handle central. I’m fishing the lake right now and the biggest pike I’ve seen has been maybe 28” at best. Thankfully I’ve also landed a 47” musky this trip and there are ones in this lake over 10” bigger than that. I know if you go into Ontario north of Minnesota here there are monsters in small lakes. I have friends that regularly go into I think what they call north west Ontario and will catch truely monster pike. It all comes down to forage and population density I think, where there is easy food and not a whole lot of competition there will he big fish.

Well so far the trips been a success. Haven’t targeted bass nearly as much as I thought I would but have had caught them every time I’ve tried to. Water is around 60 so I have spent a lot of time walleye fishing. Been on a great shallow water pattern where I’ve been snap jigging small swimbaits and flukes on a jig head in 3-10 fow and the eyes have been hammering it. Nothing huge but did get a nice 25” this evening. Highlite of the trip so far for sure is the 47” musky I caught on a hair jig while smallmouth fishing. Medium light spinning rod and a 8lbs mono leader. 20 minute fight and I forgot my musky sized net so I had to hand land her, what a fish.

Well I’m glad to say that after one day of using the Alberto knot I think I’ll be staying with it. Much faster to tie, just as thin as a blood knot if not thinner, not too sure about strength as of now but I’m sure it’s strong enough to work. Feel a bit stupid for always telling people I’ve talked to that the blood knot is the way to go without ever trying the Alberto, but I’m glad I’ve tried it now. First time I tried to tie it it came out perfect, definitely can’t say that for the blood knot.

For those of you that like the tail dancer they also make a shad dancer. Very similar action with a fatter body so I will generally use that one if I’m going for a crayfish color. If you have Shad fisheries or just want a fatter profile it’s a great bait.

My parents have a cabin on head of the lakes bay which is the farthest west basin. Spend a lot of time fishing head of the lakes, Norwegian, black bay, and wakemup bay. This trip I want to try to get farther east and fish some waters that I haven’t been on as much. I have been coming up to vermilion since I was 6 years old but started seriously fishing it about 4 years ago. I’ve spent a lot of time fishing the river as well, incredible pike and smallmouth fishing.

If musky season was open that is pretty much all I would be fishing for this trip but that doesn’t open until June. Vermilion is tied with Mille lacs in my opinion for the best trophy potential in Minnesota. Last year a new catch and release state record was set out of lake vermilion at 57 1/4”, and there have been many fish bigger than that caught before the catch and release record program was around. It gets a lot of pressure for how far north it is but still has much better numbers than Mille lacs. Lake of the woods, at least the northern part, has better numbers than vermilion but vermilion has better potential for true monster 55”+ fish in my opinion. Lake vermilion is almost like a miniature version of LOTW. It’s hard to say it’s mini when it’s a 40,000 acre lake but compared to LOTW it is a little farm pond. Vermilion has big deep basins similar to the southern part of LOTW and also has hundreds of island complexes like the northern part by Kenora has. There is something special about the lakes in the Canadian Shield, it’s an amazing place to be even if your not catching fish. Thanks for all of the reply’s, there has been steady weather in the 70’s up there for a week now and it will continue while I’m up there so I’m pretty confident I’ll be able to get on the fish. I’m always able to get into some great largemouth fishing this time of year so that is always a good backup plan, not to mention the walleye I’ll be targeting in the evenings and night.

Vermilion is set up super similar to rainy lake, just about 30 miles south and not nearly as big but it’s still a big lake. Thanks for the advice, I never really spent much time on offshore reefs until once the water warms up then they are on fire. Everywhere you look on vermilion there’s a handful of reefs in deep water so I’ll give those a try as well.

Shimano nasci is really hard to beat at $99. Such an amazing reel for the money, I have them on all my spinning rods. Great drag, super smooth in general and has stood up to my abuse.

You couldn’t pay me to fish with straight floro or mono on a baitcaster. I know everyone has their own way of doing things, I just know mine is the better way. In all seriousness though don’t give up on braid, once you get it down you will be glad you did. Longer casts, better sensitivity, backlashes less often, gives you the option to throw whatever leader material you want on the same rod which makes it super versatile especially for someone using only one rod. I would strongly recommend you look into powerpro maxcuatro, it is the easiest casting and best handling braid on the market. You would think super slick would be great because of how smooth it is, but it doesn’t hold a candle to the coarse maxcuatro. For less expensive more common line than suffix 832 is a great line, thicker than maxcuatro but handles great.

You definitely can put a chunk on a jig and swim it. When I pick a trailer for a swim jig, be it imitating crayfish or bait fish, I will try to get one that has enough action to get the jig rocking back and forth and get the skirt pulsing. On a lighter jig something like a paca chunk would do this well, although a paca slim, rage craw, rage menace, or chigger craw would do it just as well and give the jig a more full bodied profile. I generally don’t use chunks very often because I like how a creature or craws body will give the jig a solid uniform body. Could just be me being picky, but I think using a full body trailer gives the bait a more natural profile. Obviously chunks work, I’ve caught a lot of bass on chunks and there probably isn’t a better trailer around than an old school pork chunk. It’s mostly just what you have confidence in.