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That was my thought process for trying it. I can’t say how it works in relation to ice fishing. I don’t ice fish. I do start as soon as the water thaws though and it seems to work weather the water is 35 degrees or 70+ in the summer. I’ve also noticed an odd relationship between big reaction baits and pan fish. I don’t catch panfish on small or standard reaction baits but they absolutely attack large reaction baits. I’ve had multiple bluegill and perch smack the 6th sense dogma walking top water, big cranks and jerk baits. However in the same lakes and spots I don’t get them on the regular sizes. I know panfishing with moving baits is popular but you wouldn’t think they would go after these large baits.

You must be pretty close to me. I live in Elkhart Co Indiana.

I would highly suggest checking with local tackle shops not franchise but mom and pop shops. They may be able to get you inline with an appraiser. You can also check YouTube, there are channels dedicated to old gear. As others have said if you post on here we might be able to help. The more details of the gear the better we can help. Facebook also has groups dedicated to old/antique gear. You can go to local swap meets and talk to vendors they should be able to help you in the right direction. Whatever you do don’t let it go for nothing until you get it looked at by someone who knows. Older/antique gear absolutely has a market and can bring a pretty penny.

I started specifically upsizing when the standard size bait bite is slow or non existent and it had a very positive result on quality of fish I catch. Like if the zoom fluke is working but not well I wont hesitate to throw the 7.5 in its place. I was always thought big baits would weed out the smaller fish from biting but it has had the opposite effect in my area. It just increases bite rate overall. It seems that way across the board other than with crank baits. Certain times down sizing seems to have a better bite than upsize but not drastically. I also can’t say how it changes with a frog bite as I really only throw stand size frogs. I have a few smaller ones but I can’t get the action out of them like I should. I don’t know if it’s me or the frogs or both but I’m pretty successful with regular frogs so I lean towards it being the sizes.

Given the conditions are right I plan on using big glides more often. I tried them a little bit last year but didn’t give them enough effort. Got my eyes opened to the success they can bring late last fall. I’m also planning on throwing punching setups more. I got some of my biggest bass punching. Swim and chatter baits are leaving the boat. I’ve thrown them for the last 3 years withouta single fish on either one. I know they are raved about but for me they are absolutely the worst things I own.

I use Loxley gloves when it’s cold. I also use them when I bow fish. Nice light tight fitting with a textured palm and fingers.

I agree I think reels are probably just as important. Although I don’t think the quality vs brand vs price varies as much as the rod category.

I’m shocked at the amount of people claiming rods are a gimmick. Yeah you can use a senko with an ugly stick but you aren’t throwing a big glide on an ultra light. No you don’t need a 600+ rod but a Googan green series rod certainly isn’t the same quality as a St Croix. Ask me how I know 3 broken Googans 0 broken St Croix under the exact same use conditions. Could I use my 8ft fast action deep crank rod as a flipping/pitching/frog rod probably but it’s not going to like it. The only gimmick I can think of off hand is the banjo minnows. We caught some with them but they certainly weren’t all that was advertised.

The only 2 decent fishing games are Fishing Planet which is free to play with in game stuff you can get or The Angler the Call of The Wild. The bass master game sucks. As do the euro fishing games.Ive been playing video games since the SNES era lol. I highly recommend Fishing Planet. The graphics are decent, the mechanics are the closest to real life of any game I’ve played. Tons of different techniques, baits etc to use, even has boats and kayaks with 2d graphs for in game use. It’s definitely a little grindy if you don’t buy any of the packs but most free to play games are. Think world of tank or the ea online games with card packs.

Personally I don’t like BPS or Cabelas. If I’m going to shop brick and mortar it’s going to be at a local mom and pop. They usually have the more specialized stuff to my area or if I absolutely needed it same day. Down side they almost always cost more. Otherwise I’m using Tackle Warehouse or brand direct. It’s almost silly not to so long as you don’t need whatever you are buying that day. I totally understand people not feeling comfortable shopping online for a variety of reasons but it’s sure hard to beat the prices.

Top water - the 6th sense dogma in bone or pearl white. I have ton of different walkers but the dogma absolutely gets the most bites. I throw it all the time. If they will hit top water it’s gonna get it. Boohya frogs in various sizes. If I can’t throw the dogma the Boohya is my next pick. It’s easy to walk, stays clean, good hookup ratio. Crank baits either sqarebills,Ls or speedwakes. They do great over vegetation and around timber. Size and color varies on water that day. Glide baits I have a handful of different ones but the river2sea s waver has been getting the job done the most. I throw it just about anywhere if I’m not sure fish are around. It gets follows and bites of all species. Wacky rigs and Weight less T rigs. If it’s slow I pick one of these based on if I need to be weed less or not. If the bites tough or for cleanup work they are hard to beat. I mostly stick with black, purple, green. Don’t be afraid to throw the old jig or fluke this time of year either.

Op I fish in Indiana and Michigan. Both lakes and rivers with and without shad. Right now our bass are relating to shallow areas with green vegetation and wood. Bottom comp doesn’t seem to matter. Shad are not currently in those area but bluegill and sun fish are heavily. Since Sunday I have had the best luck on large shallow cranks and walking top waters. The biggest bass seem to prefer a 6th sense swank in a baby bass color(green top, white sides). I’ve been casting other square bills and jerk baits in similar size of various colors and non produce like the swank. It has a very very different action than a traditional square, round, or coffin style crank. I have found the L style cranks produce almost as well but not as often.The key has been staying just over the top of the vegetation or 3-6 inches into it. Above or below that and they won’t take it.For top waters any ghost type 4-6inch walker has been on fire. Has to be a ghost or bone/pearl color others get follows but not takers. While fishing for bass I’ll generally toss out a wacky or t rigged stick bait. Almost always bluegills, sunfish or whatever bass may be feeding on will show themselves following those baits. Otherwise I use sidescan on my Helix to see if bait schools are in the area. Our water clarity has been changing a lot with the rain over the last week and water has cooled to 60 degrees give or take. Sun/cloud cover, and wind have not affected my fish at all. I fish daily from a boat.

I have no experience on the medical side of your question. I would offer this suggestion. If the doc ok’s you fishing see if someone will go with you. Ask if they would mind helping take your fish off, or bait hooks ect. Remove as much of the risk for cuts as possible. Good luck I hope you can go fishing and treatment goes well.

Lewis Kvd reel I don’t remember if it’s 6.3-1 or 6.5-1 they have multiple ratios, 6th Sense mfer series rod I went with a shorter length personal preference they have different lenghts.. The crank bait rod works great for cranks, chatter baits, jerbaits, and top water you can obviously use it for other stuff but they have other options for other techniques. I have mine paired with reaction tackle 60lb braid, 1-3ft suffix yellow fluro 10-15lb as a leader if I feel I need it. I use it a ton. Haven’t had a single issue. I fish it for hours at a time the pairing is very comfortable, casts well, good sensitivity and I don’t recall loosing a fish on it yet. Cranks and walking top water are 2 of my absolute favorite ways to fish.

The boat you listed runs between 7-13k per J.D. power blue book. This is all very dependent on boat conditions, hours on motor, and how it was stored. I would look up boat reviews on YouTube of the model and see what owners actually say. I would also figure out what your budget is for a boat. If you are maxed at 10k or less the market is going to be more difficult to find a gem but you can find more boat than that tracker for sure. If you can do 20-30k you can get into boats with a lot of bells and whistles like updated graphs, power poles, etc but it’s gonna be older like 90s-2000s. I also wouldn’t be afraid of those. You can find loaded to the max 20 ft Tritons in that range that will run as fast or faster than most boats now. The fishability is as good as any. It’ll handle way bigger water ect.50-65 you can buy almost brand new full size medium hour bass boats. 60k and up are 1-2 year old to brand new best of the best loaded boats. I’m personally looking at Bass Cat Eyra’s and Bullet boats. New Eyra with 4 graphs, poles, 250-300 merc, ect are 60-90k depending where they are in the US. Do yourself a favor and talk to anglers at the boat ramps. Most people will be happy to tell you the experience they have with the brand they own. I currently own a 98 triton tr-17. It’s been great, runs 48-50 with me and a co angler, doesn’t leak at all, very stable. Down side it’s to small for big water, it’s not as fast a boat as I want, I can’t put shallow water anchors on it. It just doesn’t fit my needs as I want to get more serious about tournament fishing.

I use 60lb braid on all my rods. I use various leader sizes to control depth and fall rate of the lures on the rods. Idk if it’s the right way or not but I don’t struggle to catch bass. This week I have absolutely smacked large mouth on isolated logs in 5ft or less of water with varying amounts of weeds. 10-15 bass per 3 hour trip on an extremely heavily pressured river 2 or more tournaments a week on a 19 mile stretch dam to dam.Super clear water. 3o wide gap hook black and blue or black and purple 6th sense worm, 2ft of 10lb sufix red label fluro fg knot to braid 6th Sense 7ft medium heavy rod, lews kvd reel. If that doesn’t get the bite I switch to a Yamamoto senko same colors as the 6th sense worms, wacky rigged,2ft of 12lb sufix yellow label fg knot to braid, 6ft 7 Fenwick ultralight rod with a Diawa reel.

Good job guys. Good on you for being good humans.

The only time I can understand some getting upset would be in tournaments. Like if I’m smacking them in an area and another boater moves in and starts doing what I’m doing that’s not sportsmanship in my opinion. Now if I’m fishing for fun and someone asks I’m more than happy to show or tell them exactly what I’m doing. If it’s someone in my boat I absolutely want them trying it if they want to. I don't care who catches them in my boat as long as were catching thats whats up.

That’s just bad fish care in general. I almost never use a net. I also grab the line or bass and have it under control before I bring it in the boat. They generally don’t touch anything but me unless I drop them which does happen on occasion. I see people net fish and set them on the deck just to have them flop all over the boat. Unfortunately I think a lot of anglers have lost respect for the fish regardless of what species it is. I really don’t know how you change that either as it’s a bigger morality problem then fishing itself.

Boooooooooooo get off the stage.

Man I’ve thrown chatterbaits with and without trailer, all different sizes, all different colors, deep shallow, in grass, mud, rock, under docks, you name it I’ve tried it on a lot of different bodies of water. No dice at all. Switch to a crank or lipless or spinner bait game on. I’m convinced when I tie on a chatterbaits fish literally send out a mass message then pack up and leave.

I think chatterbaits are the only thing I absolutely have never caught a bass with. Swim jigs and plastic swim baits would be my second most unreliable technique.

Humps or large flats near deeper areas especially if they have healthy vegetation. Points are also a great spot especially if they are wind blown. Figure out what the thermocline is, it will help eliminate how deep is too deep for fish. Ie if thermocline starts at 15 ft fish will be no deeper than 15ft.

As long as no lightning is in the area I’ll fish any rain. The key really isn’t the rain though so much as what else is going on while it’s rainy. Baro psi, wind speed and direction, amount of light.

I called DNR at the time of the catch and got instructions on who to contact. Did what they said and submitted the information. The fish was caught in Cass county MI. The only thing they said was I missed the record by a couple oz. They had no issues with me submitting it via pictures. This was Father’s Day weekend 4 years ago though so like I said it may have changed as well.