Chilidog

I do lose an accasional swim jig to pike but not with a spinnerbait. I feel I lose more fish with braid. I like having a little stretch to the line. I also fish clear water and I do not like dealing with tying on a leader and the knot as the line goes through the guide. Overall I am not a fan of braid for bass and I only have one of my many rods with braid. That would be for fishing a frog. I use a fair amount of mono line also.

I go with a size 150 reel spooled 15 lb flouro for those baits.

Whopper Plooper. It catches big fish also.

I use two rods for top water fishing. Both of them are a 7'3" medium heavy with mono line. The two lures I throw are a Booyah buzz bait and a size 90 or110 whopper plopper. This is for largemouth bass. When fishing smallmouth I am using a 7' medium fast rod with mono. The lures I use are the size 90 whopper plopper and a Rapala skitter walk.

I use a buzz bait the last 45 - 60 minutes of the day. It is a very productive lure for me during this time. The rest of the day it is not a productive lure for me except for the fall where is can good throughout the day.

I have mostly Dobyn's with a few St. Croix mixed in.

I'm in Minnesota. I store my boat in an unheated detached garage all winter. I just charge the batteries and then disconnect the negative connection on each battery. I have never had a problem. The batteries are all fully charged when I get my boat in the spring.

Bruiser Baits crazy craw.

Seldom. When fishing at night I will fish with a trailer.

The wacky worm is the bait I rarely fished this year. It used to be my number one bait. I especially used it for fishing around and under docks. I have since learned to skip a jig under docks and that has become my preferred bait. I do fish a fat ika a fair amount which to me is a similar bait to the wacky worm.

The last two years I have been working with skipping with a baitcaster. This includes a lot of practice on a concrete driveway. I use a 7' Dobyn's Champion 705c with a Tatula sc tw. I have slowly gotten better but it has taken time and I still get backlashes. I feel I am more acccurate with the baitcaster and I never pick up a spinning reel for skipping anymore. It has been worth the effort but it does take time and has included respooling several reels because of backlashes.

I have had some good days when fishing with the kids using a bobber and a wacky worm. Like others have said fishing in a little chop or twitch the bobber. I think it is more effective with a 4 inch senko. At least that has been the case for me.

I keep the occasional 12' - 14" bass. We beer batter fry them and they taste great. Around here we are encouraged to keep 10 pike under 22". They have become a problem. After you learn how to filet them its not that difficult and they are a great tasting fish.

It was on a border water. I have been fishing for weeks.

50 degrees is the lowest water temperature that I have caught bass on top water. That has always been in the late fall. I was struggling yesterday in Minnesota and decided to try a whopper plopper. The water temp was 51 degrees. It saved my day.

I would consider a 30 inch pike a big pike in Minnesota. There is the potential for pike up to 40 inches or bigger on some lakes in Minnesota that are managed for big pike. On the lake that I mainly fish the pike are getting bigger since the new statewide regulations went into effect. I fish lake Pepin also and I would regard that lake as one on the best pike lakes in Minnesota.

I always spend some time targeting pike especially on the Minnesota opener. The big ones are shallow on a normal opener. Where I fish you can keep 10 under 22 inches and they taste great. I release anything bigger than 22 inches. Big pike are my favorite to fish for.

Norman Rapala

Largemouth Swim Jigs Buzz Bait - Whopper Plopper Crankbait Jig Senko Smallmouth Jerk Bait Crankbait Tube Whopper Plopper Paddle Tail

The x rap has been a great bait for me when fishing smallmouth. For largemouth I have used the husky jerk but I would not consider it a great bait. It seems to be a better bait for walleye and pike.

I have a NOCO Genius GenPro 10x4.

I have several of the SLX XT's and I have very happy with them. I like the Curado's I have also but I have not been as impressed with the K series.

I have a last years curado K that I sent in because the thumb bar wouldn't pop back up when you engaged the reel. I sent it in and Shimano sent it back and said they couldn't find anything wrong with it. I used it a few times this year the thumb bar is not releasing again. I have tried to contact Shimano without a response yet. I have started to switch over to Diawa as I update my reels. So far I am impressed with the Tatula.

1/2 ounce buzz bait black or white 110 whopper plopper with darker colors Walking bait with a rattle - white

The sounds of a lure smacking the side of my boat, This time of year it's chains saws, mowers and leaf blowers all day long.