WaskaCrank12

I mostly post pics/video to BR and text pics/video to fishing friends - on rare occasions (a PR or other rare occasion) I might also post on Insta or FB - I do occasionally visit other fishing/boat/motor related sites but have never posted pics/video on them

I have measured the bass I catch (quick measure, pic, back in the water, all done quickly/efficiently) for several years but last year I got a luggage scale (and am upgrading that to a KastKing scale for this coming season) yet I used that only to weight 16" inch or larger fish (I am only going in to year 4 of boat fishing so my PR's were coming from fish that size) - in 2026 I will only use a scale to weight fish that are 18" or longer - I am measuring/weighting only for personal reasons - to seek out those elusive PR's - so "close enough" is OK (ie, measuring to the closest half an inch, not bothered that the scale might not be super accurate to the .007 ounce) - I take fish care seriously and have spent up to 20 minutes "reviving" a fish (in the water, in the net) and taking care with hook removal (or if needed cutting the line and letting the fish go versus doing additional damage to the fish - some good videos on YouTube about making this judgement call) - I keep a log of the fish caught per outing, but I do that after the fact using the pictures (which are time stamped) for number of fish caught/length/weight if long enough or if it is a PR - seeking my first #5lb fish in 2026 !!

Lots of factors go into what I pre-rig before hitting the water (water temp/deep/shallow/tons of vegetation/low vegetation/wind/no wind/ect....) - I bring 5 or on rare occasions 6 rods with me (limited space on the boat) - Last year 90% of the time I pre-rigged and had the following tied on before getting on the water: -small bladed/chatter bait with a trailer -3.8 or smaller swimbait on a bladed jig head -a topwater lure -a drop shot set-up (my least used technique as I love to chuck moving lures, but when nothing else was working having this rigged and available was an option)

Yesterday (Friday) had a high of 28, low of 18 - last night was about 18 as well - but we are supposed to get a warm-up and strong winds today (a fire risk warning has been issued for today due to the big winds) - yet it still looks like below 32 at night for the next few weeks - mid-April ice out would be nice, but we shall see On another topic I saw @gim mention Omnia Fishing moved locations - What does that mean in the long run ? Will they just be fully absorbed into Thorne Brothers ? Will they just go 100% online and have no retail store front ?

Beaver style - OSP Do-Live Beaver - Zed-Man TDR BugZ - Missile D-Bomb Craw style - RAID Japan Egu Chunk - RAID Japan BataBata Craw - Net Baits Baby Paca Craw Creature style - Keitec Little Spyder/Hyper Spyder - Nories Escape Chibi Twin - Signal Mamba Slim

Still lots of ice on the lakes here (Alexandria area) - saw several dozen people out sitting on buckets ice fishing - this morning it was 18 degrees and it looks like night time temps will continue to be below 32 for the next two weeks - happy for the more metro area anglers, I hope you can get out soon - I had predicted an April 18th ice out here and at this point it seems we will be lucky if that is the case unless we get some rain/warm temps/wind and a few bright sun days in a row

Not that it helps but here are my thoughts -- I have a three year old version of both reels - they are both well built and have performed without any issues over the three seasons I have used them -- If I could only choose one to use it would be the Fuego as it is lighter and has been smoother for me (the vast majority of my reels are Shimano, but I would tip to Daiwa in this comparison of the reels I have) - it has been mentioned to try and get them in hand if you can - I do not have any experience with the newer NASCI

@Swamp Girl - as you know MN is a big state - I am 120 miles North West of the Twin Cities (just about half way between the Twin Cities and Fargo) - here there are some small pockets of open water where water runs into the lakes but aside from those small areas the ice is still plenty thick enough that there are dozens of people out on the lakes sitting on buckets and ice fishing - even a few crazies riding their 4-wheelers on the ice - we did have a very nice weather day Saturday (about 60) - yet it dropped into the low 20's at night and Sunday was a high of 30 - today was cloudy, windy, raw, mid-30's - so for this area I think my prediction of ice off on April 18th will probably be accurate unless we get some strong sun/warmth and winds in the next few weeks - any ice out before May will be a positive !

Thank you for sharing/expressing yourself. I have two cats - our pets become part of our families and our everyday lives. Cherish those memories ! (that is a fun pic of Bob)

I think it is going to be a while here as well -- many people still walking out on to the ice, drilling holes, sitting on a bucket/chair and catching fish -- I did see a few spots where water flows into one lake that had a small area of open water -- the vast majority of snow is gone, although shaded areas still have piles of snow in them -- @gim this will be my first time to target bass before mid-May as well - I too am curious what techniques people will look to use - I am thinking jerk-baits, flat-sided crank baits and perhaps some smaller sized bluegill type soft plastics (like a 3" DEPS Bull Flat or GeeCrack Bellows Gill) Enjoy the sun/warmth !

I live in a windy area so a typical day is close to 20 mph winds - 15 mph is a treat and 10 mph is a down-right amazing rarity ! My closest lake is pretty wide open so if the wind is 20 + it gets rough - so that will dictate what ramp I dunk in at (because it gets rough enough that the waves are coming up and over the dock and will pound you and your boat as you try and put it in the water if you are on the wrong/wind-blown side of the lake) and where I can go on the water - anything 25 + and it is not worth it as you will just get thrown all over the place as there really is no-where to hide/duck in to - if the wind is up I will look to go to a much smaller more sheltered lake and try and tuck in to the tree line/more sheltered area - I know several people have mentioned that the best fishing is to be on the "wind-blown side of the lake", but here it is difficult to do as the wind/waves have miles and miles to build up and you can get tossed all over the place (ie, keep the life jacket on at all times, don't dare get the boat sideways to the waves or you are in trouble) - Wind is a reality here, I just have to do my best to be safe and endure it

I second what @MN Fisher shared --- Miravel for finesse and Ultegra for power (at the $175 price point) - it looks like you would place the reel on a ML rod - Will you be fishing power ? finesse ? a mix ? with the rod - That decision (along with the weight of the reel and how it balances with your rod) could point you towards the reel that best fits for you - As was mentioned above Shimano has reels in their "Core Solid" (power - NASCI/ULTEGRA/STRADIC/Twin Power) and MGL (finesse - Miravel/Vanford/Vanquish) lines - As mentioned you can potentially stretch your $$$ by going JDM (Digitaka or other JDM tackle shops)

@A-Jay - that looks like a significant dump of snow - positive that you have that Honda Super Snow Thrower ! We only got about 8 inches - but with 55 mph winds there were some deep drifts and plenty of road closures - the temps dropped hard and we were at a brisk minus 22 wind chill - minus night-time temps will persist thru the week - so it might be a May ice out here as well

@FishTank - I was ready and prepared and inputted info. right away - and the Gill came up as sold out - not sure I could have acted any faster/typed faster/clicked the buttons faster - I had all my info. preloaded so I did not have to type in name/address/ect....-- my guess is BOTS were used to suck them up that fast and people buying high numbers (to re-sell, not to use) - as I mentioned above I have had this happen before so I had my TW account open and ready and just jumped over to that and ordered three -- in the end it's only a lure and Megabass will make more and sell many more -- even *** put out a post saying they were blown away by how fast they went and they were directing people to TW to try and get them

@Tackleholic - I went to The Hook Up Tackle as well - I felt I was very well prepared - quickly put three in the cart - inputted CC info - hit pay - I did this in 2 minutes or less - 2 of the three were removed from my cart because they were "Sold Out" - so I quickly went back in and put two more (different colors) in the cart - hit pay - same thing came up - aggravating because they are in the cart - I agree with @FloridaFishinFool , once it is in your cart you should have 2 to 5 minutes (or whatever timeline they deem appropriate) to check out, otherwise the items open up for others to buy (a number of companies do this, specifically with concert tickets) Because I have been burned by this in the past I already had my Tackle Warehouse account up and open - so I quickly clicked over to that - put three in the cart, put in CC info, checked out - and it worked... My guess is people are using BOTS and buying 20 or more at a time - and then re-selling them at a significant mark up - which is a shame - people who are going to be using them should have a shot at them... I would be in favor of some sort of limiter - not sure exactly how that would work with BOTS and other technological means to "beat the system" - perhaps in the first 30 minutes/1 hour you can only buy XX number of the lure (they did this before with some popular lures) - or as mentioned once it's in your cart you have X minutes to complete the purchase or you can purchase XX number but then you have to log out, log back in and you can try again or ?????... The Hook Up Tackle and other tackle shops are in business to sell gear and it's a volume driven business, so I understand they want to sell what they have and not sit on inventory - yet with a popular lure like this they may want to look at some ways to allow true anglers/people that will actually use the lures to have access to them

As @gim stated we here in the north are getting a blizzard/snow dump/temp drop - and it is supposed to carry on thru Tuesday/Wednesday - so we have gone back into the freezer with snow and minus temps..... So far there are about 6 inches of snow here - always hard to tell as there are 50 mph winds and it blows all over the place - one side of the house has 3 inches, the other side has 9 inches, it's all about the howling wind here as to where the snow piles up It looks like @A-Jay got more snow than us - I am going to wait and see if the wind will settle down a bit before breaking out the snow thrower

Karashi 80 or 110 Plus 1 as I don't have either one of those and since you won a Waffle Raffle, it's a free lure, so I would go with something I don't have, so if it works then I might get more, if it does not work then no problem because you didn't pay for it -- seems like a Win/Win, a free Megabass lure !! -- yet you have to decide what works best on your waters

I started with yard sale/inexpensive/old rods/reels -- my wrists, shoulders, elbows would scream at me after a few days on the water -- once I bumped up to a nicer rod/reel (used rod/reel purchased from @NorthernBasser , Evergreen Combat Stick/Abu Garcia reel) I found out that I didn't have to have all those aches and pains to catch fish if I moved up the rod/reel food chain (a new Combat Stick would be about $229, a new Abu Garcia reel about $180, so about a $400 combo if purchased new) -- I have continued to seek out used rods/reels so I can stay within my means yet also purchase gear that is high quality (subjective/opinion) -- I purchased a used Megabass P5 Windbuster -- and I just purchased a used Shimano Twin Power reel (the reel shown in the Brian Latimer video, I have not gotten to use it yet) that I will pair with the Windbuster once the ice melts off the lakes - once I use them I will report back - yet generally speaking my rod/reel combos have been in the $300/$400 range - time will tell if jumping up to the next tier is worth it or not (new Windbuster is $475/new Twin power is $494 - $949 combo -- I purchased them used for about 55% of what they would have cost new, a bit outside my normal range, time will tell if it was worth it ) -- there are nice rods/reels at most price points - it seems weight (with both rods/reels), components, technology (mostly in reels) are the positive changes as you move up in tiers - you ask a good question, at what point are you paying for impactful/meaningful performance upgrades vs. cosmetics/meaningless bells/whistles/"name brand" (or as you phrased it, diminishing returns) ?

As I have made my way into my 60's I have found I need more/extended recovery time -- frustrating for a life-long athlete that wants to get after it -- but, if I try and go, Go, GO without extended recovery time I find myself nursing an injury -- So I would caution doing the plyo's without significant warm-up and extended recovery times -- I agree with @A-Jay -- train hard but stay smart and safe when doing so

@johnnybassjr - yes -- you can swim it or you can drag it - my best success with this lure came early in the year (ie, not much grass/vegetation) and late in the year (ie, grass vegetation had died back) -- it is a lure that wants to hunt deeper rather than more shallow -- I have found the lure to be very durable -- I caught several dozen fish on the lure and have not changed to the 2nd plastic that is included -- I will try and dig up a picture of the lure that I have used

The RAID Japan Libero Swimhead in the 5g and 7g sizes (picture below) has been an excellent lure for me I look forward to trying the Jackall Drift Crab Mini this year

My local lake DNR boat ramp is less than 10 minutes/4 miles (one way) from the house. Within 30 minutes/15 miles (one way) there are at least 6 more lakes. In a 1 hour/40 mile radius (one way) I can get to dozens of lakes. These are all lakes that I can drop the boat in to -- there are many other smaller lakes as well. In reading the replies I am feeling blessed that I have access to so many lakes in close proximity to where I live. I just wish they were not frozen over for 6 months a year

similar to @A-Jay - the Perch colored MB 110 (and 110 Jr +1) pulled me in to the $20 plus lures - I believe I have about a dozen of each (in Perch but also other colors) - Because 2 is 1 and 1 is none - at least that is what the Bait Monkey says

@A-Jay - that is a nice catch !! It looks like here (west central MN) Winter is raising up it's middle finger at Spring -- snow tonight/tomorrow/and Saturday -- with single digits and high winds across the next 6 days -- bare grass had been seen, driveway had been snow/ice free, lakes were having thin (maybe a foot or two wide) open water near water inlets -- but winter will be screaming back in for about a week. Blah !

Similar to others I really enjoy music (LIVE /concert is best to me) -- but while on the water I cherish the sounds of nature -- unfortunately in the summer the Wakeboats/Pontoons like to share their music with everyone within 50 miles of their boat, worse yet is when they try to out volume each other -- When that is the case I will either vacate the area/choose another lake or put earbuds in with white noise playing in them to try and drown out/lessen the racket or just smile and play my own music in my head -- the waters are public and so far there are no laws/rules to limit their volume -- I will not get dragged in to being the "Get off my lawn" guy or let them steal my joy of being on the water -- I will simply use my options of leaving/moving/drowning them out