WaskaCrank12

I had asked people on BR for recommendations for flat sided crank baits and got many replies and suggestions -- these are the ones I purchased (thru several companies/sales) -- I look forward to giving them a try this spring !

Thanks to so many of you -- these are the flat-sided crank baits I ordered -- I look forward to slinging them and hopefully catching some fish this spring !

@ol'crickety I grew up in the Boston area (now live in MN) and family friends had a cabin/property on the Damarisotta River - so we travelled up there several times every summer for many years - stops at LL Bean, Kittery Trading Post and if I remember correctly Dunham Boots store/outlet were part of those trips

@gimruis thank you for the info. on Omnia, I am about 125 miles north/west of Golden Valley yet I travel in to the Twin Cities at least a few times a month so I may check out Omnia when I venture in next time -- I do have a "local" tackle shop about 25 minutes north of me, they have a large "live bait" selection (I have never used that) , they make/pour many of their own plastics, they have a reasonable selection of hard/soft lures/terminal tackle (heavliy slanted towards walleye/muskie) and have been very patient with my many questions as a newbie fisherman -- so I do try and purchase some items from them (althought their prices tend to be a bit higher than online prices) @ol'crickety are you a Kittery Trading Post or LL Bean or online purchaser ?

@A-Jay - thank you for posting a pic of the Surflon Micro Supreme (and your impressive brown bass !!) -- I just ordered a smaller spool (16 or so feet) to give it a try. Do you always order the camo color ? (and if so why ?) Thank you

I have a naive question - I have learned that bass season here in MN does not start until May 1st (thank you @gimruis) -- so if the water opens up, atleast enough to fish from the shoreline, what are we allowed to fish for here in MN at this time of year ? What would you recommend for baits/lures at this time of year ? I would be doing catch/release only. Thank you !

@A-Jay @MN Fisher -thank you for the info you provided -- I just ordered several packs of the Owner Oval Split Rings #2/#3 and one pack of the Owner Teardrop #2 --last summer was my first summer fishing and I lost several crankbaits (launched them and they just went sailing off into the distance never to be seen again) and when I reeled the line back in it was frayed off where the line was tied in to the split ring -- my guess is it was a combination of the line fraying on the edges of the split rings and old/worn fishing line (I was using yard sale rods/reels with old line on them) -- my hope is upgrading my gear will help me avoid this in the future (I have purchased a few new rods/reels/line and now the Oval/Teardrop split rings) -- Thank you

@NorthernBasser when I have ordered from TW the gear has been sent UPS....other tackle/bait companies seem to vary their carrier from USPS to FEDEx to Speedie Delivery......FEDEx has been a negative for me as well with a number of packages left at the front door in rough shape (one was missing more than 50% of the contents due to the top and one side of the box having been torn open)......hoping that you get all of your gear on time and in one piece !!

@FishTax I had a similar experience -- signed up prior to the TW sale but just got the 20% off link/email on Wednesday -- since I didn't get the email I figured no problem, I don't really need anything -- then the email came and I thought "Well, I'll just take a look" -- and sure enough I ordered several things that were on my wishlist

@Bankbeater is offering a good suggestions with the auctioneer. In addition there are some online auction companies that will take the pictures and place them on an auction site (an example is the KBid site, they take a % of the sales) -- you can have open bidding or you can set a minimum bid/reserve that has to be met -- you could auction each lure individually in each lot or multiple lures in a lot -- you could have the bidding last two days or two weeks -- this allows you to have a far reach/many people bidding on them. Just a suggestion.

@NorthernBasser - thank you for sharing this story. So much negativity around now a days it's easy to get caught up in it -- awesome to hear a positive story. It seems both you and the company owner approached the problem/challenge with a positive/growth mindset -- which led to a positive outcome. My favorite part of the story is when you said -- "I already have about 35 of these"........ :))

Compared to you @ol'crickety and most anglers on here I probably do most things differently -- because this was my first year fishing and I had no idea at all what I was doing ! A friend came out with me one day and, after laughing a bit, politely informed me that I was holding the rod/reel (spinning) upside down, and showed me how to undo the reel handle and switch it to the other side so I could hold it/reel in correctly (I am a lefty so I want to hold the rod in my left hand, to control it, and reel in with my right hand). I have no doubt I dropped the wrong lures in all the wrong places at the wrong times -- but I was on the water and enjoying my blissful ignorance This winter I have watched/read quite a bit and purchased a couple of new rods/reels/lures. I look forward to the ice melting (April ? May ?) and getting back out on the water -- and holding the rod/reel correctly !

@addicyn There are many good people in the Bass Resource community - several have chimmed in and given you some good options (Facebook Marketplace, EBay, CraigsList, local Swap Shop, ect..) On the Bass Resource site there is a "Flea Market" section (if you scroll down the Forum choices you will see it) - in that section Glenn (site administrator) has listed out the "do's and dont's" and guidelines to posting pictures/prices/ect.... As mentioned above I beleive you have to post a certain number of times on the BR site before you are allowed to load pictures. Keep asking questions -- lots of good people on here to support you.

@Fishin Dad I live in MN as well and had not heard of Teal's Bass Gallaxy - I will give it a listen - thanks for the heads up @Mbirdsley I have mostly listened to BTL, Bass After Dark (I think it is on Thursday nights) as well as Garage Logic and Jocko Podcast (both non-fishing)

Hmmmmm....I signed up to be on the email list (Saturday) and have yet to receive an email link (I checked my spam folder as well)......I'll keep checking.....perhaps it's a sign that I don't need any more gear......

Wandering Peacefully I want to catch bass, atleast one, each time the boat hits the water -- but outside of that I try to be in the moment (that does not come naturally to me, it's a challenge for me) , taking it all in, wandering peacefully out on the water

@NorthernBasser is speaking the truth --- he sold me a very nice/like new EverGreen Combat Stick (7'1" MH) complete with an EverGreen rod sock --- and a gently used Abu Garcia reel as well. Those might only be .0000000000001% of the gear he owns --- but he did make the effort (to my benefit) of purging some gear.

New to me lures/baits - the first 4 pics are lures/baits that came to from the Take a Vet Fishing give-away ------- the last 2 pics are additional lures l purchased from @Siebert Outdoors

Hello - I want to thank @slonezp and @Siebert Outdoors for their work with the Take a Vet Fishing organization. I was lucky/honored to have won the draw for the gear give-away. I am going to try and link in with and Take a Vet Fishing with me this coming year and will use these baits/lures to do so. (Due to size of pics I might have to post multiple times) First picture are baits/lures from @slonezp and a former BR member Second pic are lures/baits from @slonezp Third pic are lures/baits from @slonezp Pic 4 are lures/baits from @Siebert Outdoors Pic 5 are some additional lures/baits I purchased from @Siebert Outdoors @Siebert Outdoors

What an awesome opportunity ! Pre-trip perhaps you hydrate a bit extra (long trip, long flights) - exercise/walk (my guess is you will do a fair amount of walking while there based on the places you mentioned you will visit) - learn some elementary Japanese (https://www.memrise.com/blog/learn-basic-japanese-to-survive) - learn a bit about Japanese culture (should you bow at the same depth as the CEO of Megabass ? or should you bow more deeply ? should you bow at all ? - giving too nice/extravagant a gift to them can embarrass them - ect...) - enjoy their advanced toilet technology (heated, auto open/close, bidet, ect...) - hang on tight, that bullet train goes like a (180 mph plus)..... Hmmmmm, questions to ask ? -I would be curious about each of them as people, why they do things the way they do, what inspires them, what are their goals, ect.... Enjoy every minute of it !

@Functional Thank you for mentioning Chasten Whitfield (Chastenation Fishing on YouTube) and her "Their Life My Lens" program (taking people with cognitive/physical/other challenges for fishing trips). She is a certified Charter Captain and --- well read this as it describes what she is about better than I can: About Empowering the Next Generation of Anglers. As well as having my own Non-Profit I take Disadvantaged kids fishing. These kids help me more than I help them, they help me remember it is the little things in life that matter.They forget about all their troubles and focus on reeling in the fish. I was born on salt water, I am a licensed Charter Captain but now I fish fresh water tournaments(BLF & FLW). I want to share my love for fishing and new techniques, tips, tricks and some amazing experiences. ------Impressive and a refreshing outlook on life. "They forget about all their troubles and focus on reeling in the fish" --- "they help me remember it is the little things in life that matter" --- that is some awesome stuff right there !

General info Affected area View map Official updates WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM CST THIS EVENING... ...WIND CHILL ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM CST THIS EVENING... ...WIND CHILL WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 9 PM THIS EVENING TO NOON CST SUNDAY... ...WIND CHILL ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM NOON SUNDAY TO NOON CST TUESDAY * WHAT...For the Winter Weather Advisory, snow and blowing snow. Additional snow accumulations of up to one inch. Winds gusting as high as 35 mph are resulting in areas of blowing snow. For the Wind Chill Warning, dangerously cold wind chills expected. Wind chills as low as 40 below zero. For the Wind Chill Advisories, very cold wind chills expected. Wind chills as low as 35 below zero. * WHERE...Douglas and Pope Counties. * WHEN...For the Winter Weather Advisory, until 9 PM CST this evening. For the Wind Chill Warning, from 9 PM this evening to noon CST Sunday. For the Wind Chill Advisory, from noon Sunday to noon CST Tuesday. * IMPACTS...Plan on slippery road conditions. Patchy blowing snow could significantly reduce visibility. The hazardous conditions will impact travel. The dangerously cold wind chills could cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 10 minutes.

Hello @A-Jay @Glenn @NorthernBasser @Jmurphy87 @TOXIC @AlabamaSpothunter @heavyduty and all others who replied and provided info/experiences/pics/expertise -- Thank you ! I have ordered the following from TW (several were on sale) - -6th Sense Crush Flat 75 X ----(1 in Baby Bluegill, 1 in Bluegill Fire) -SPRO Little John MD 50 ------(1 in Clear Chartreuse, 1 in Real Perch) -Berkley Frittsside -------------(1 in Bluegill) I will give these a try in the spring and see how it goes. Thank you again BR community !

RIP to Mr. Gadbois. Unfortunately, things like this happen before the ice is thick enough to handle the weight of 4 wheelers/trucks/ice fishing houses. At the local lake here it has happened at the start of the season (ice is not thick/stable enough) and the end of the season (ice has gotten thin/weak). This year I witnessed a 4 wheeler go right under, thankfully the guy was only in about 5 feet of water and there were people nearby who had a rope and got a rope to him and pulled him out (the 4 wheeler was not so lucky). I agree with @gimruis .... this might happen more frequently now as the temps have dropped yet it has snowed as well (the snow insulates the ice and does not allow it to freeze as deep as it would if there was no snow on top of it)......and there are people who do not take that into account and assume that the ice is thicker/stronger than it is. With the low water temps/wind/air temp your survival time window, if you fall thru the ice, is short. Be safe out there people !

@MNfisher The closest lake to me (Lake Minnewaska, MN) has stocked the lake with 40,000 to 50,000 walleye fingerlings every fall since 1998. No mention of stocking any other fish.