Odd, I fish the KVD 2.5’s a lot and 1.5 a bit less and never broke any yet. Maybe a bad lot of 1.5’s? Don’t fish those berkleys much. Check out Omniafishing(local company), they have a variety to choose from on their site.
For T-rigs instead of leaving the hook buried in the plastic, you can just pull the hook all the way thru and just skin hook the point back into the plastic, that should help with hook ups. The missle Dbomb is a great plastic to Trig. EWG hooks are what I mostly use for Trigs these days.
Cold feet and trash of course. Everything else is good and part of the deal.
Look up North Star Custom Baits if you like smaller companies. He makes good stuff, similar to NMBA. It use to be a guy out of MN, but then was bought by a guy from WI(Brett). Pretty good hand tied Bass jigs and such.
Funny, no one mentioned the old spinnerbait yet, so I’m starting with one of those! Seems like other baits have replaced them the last few years. Got some gill-colored ones I figured might work better than the old standard white ones.
I have a Lowrance Hook5. The biggest plus in a shack with it is that it’s quiet! I never really use the flasher mode anymore, use the scope like said above. Not sure if the hook2’s have this, but would hope so. Having the history does help with seeing how fast they came up or if you turn away you can see that a fish was there. That happens more than one would think. Also I think it is easier to see fish hugging the bottom, you can see the bottom grow a bit since you have the history.
The big negative is that it does get some interference when next to others. I am able to fish thru it, but it can be annoying at times. Also, when really cold outside, I have had it slow down or delay a time or two. That hasn’t happened very often though. Overall I like it and have gotten over not looking at a dial anymore and having a nice and quiet shack. 
Squarebills bouncing off rocks worked last night, especially when the wind laid down the last 40mins or so. No giants, but several 3lbers. It sounds basic sometimes, but if they’re not shallow, just try a little deeper . Did catch one in about a foot of water, so that flier made me fish shallower longer than I should of. Though it was the biggest, just an ounce shy of 4.
In northern mn on Sat, nothing worked, got skunked. I think there were a few days in the 20’s last week, that didn’t help things.
Yeah WM has both rods/reels and tackle clearance specials. It’s not always in a bargain bin either, sometimes they just lower the price on the shelf. It’s not always cheapy stuff either, they carry some name brand items too.
Thanks for helping the kids out.
It all really depends on the lake as to whether fish are shallow, deep or both, each one is different.
Deep also doesn’t have to mean fishing 20-25ft on some offshore hump or point. Sometimes deep is only 5-10ft, maybe just off the bank 30-50yds. This is especially true on dingy water lakes. Seems like at times this is were the gills hang out and the bass follow.
In the summer try to find rock or hard bottom areas. I like throwing a bigger 1/6 oz Ned rig with the bigger 4inch zman worm. It doesn’t look like much, but it does catch big fish. Chatter baits and Swim Jigs work in Spring. Don’t be afraid to fish the chatterbait like a jig and let it drop to the bottom at times.
I was out in Wright County last night. Ice is plenty good yet, still some snow on top. Guess the main road and where ever one drives on looks a bit funny. Once the lows overnight consistently stay above freezing, then I start walking.
I got the HT one at Runnings in Monticello. It’s the one that is also a bit of an extension, not short like that one. That was back in early Dec though.
I’m going to try to quit buying more lures and plastics this year! Especially plastics, I need to burn up tons that I already have. Damm bargain bins.
I tried to do this last year, but it didn’t work out. Been staying away from the Bargain bins so far this year.
Funny, I just bought the new Eskimo Apex at the Blaine show on Friday. Didn’t know IDO will be running them now also, guess I was ahead of the curve! 
For the money it seems like a decent house. I like that it still has a normal door too. I looked at the Clams for over an hour or two and just don’t like how the door lays out. You still have to step over your hole and flasher. A lot of zipper too. With the Otter door, seems like more poles to mess with, but that door was in a better spot at least. Other than that, they all seem good, just comes down to preferences.
I am curious also as I have the Orange/Black Cabin and want to get into a thermal one. This would be cheaper.
…., don’t be afraid to throw a Buzzbait when there is a bit of a breeze on the water.
…., always check your fuel tank before leaving the house.
…., keep casting, you can’t catch them if you head in early because it is going slow.
Buzzbaits were catching a few yesterday.
Chatterbaits, especially when the weeds are scattered and clumped with no real good edge. Caught a few this weekend on them. Water was about 68.
I just googled them, and it shows for hours in Red, ‘Permanently Closed’. I thought they had decent tackle and some different stuff than Cabela’s, but could of had more Rods.
I went there quite a bit, but could tell it was never very busy and always wondered if it would make it. Usually me and two other Customers and 3 staff workers. Not a good ratio. Glad I never suckered for the discount count membership they were always trying to sell me!
For down to about 6ft or so I like the Strike King KVD 1.5 and 2.5s Squarebills. The arashi’s are decent to for this depth. I like both for fishing over weeds and such. For fishing deeper, then the Rapala DT 6 thru 16’s work good.
A lot of other brands and stuff out there to use, but this is just a good starting point.
Glad you got into some!
Yeah it can be crazy how many fish you can get in a certain spot. I caught some also this weekend on the Ned. Another trick I am slow to learn is to retie more often than you would with using heavier lines on t-rigs and stuff. The lighter line gets weaker quickly at the knot.
The spinning set up above would work well for Bass. Could go with MH/Fast if fishing plastics around weeds and cover more I guess.
The key to using a Baitcaster is to practice with it when your not fishing. If you only use it when you fish, then frustration sets in in about 5 minutes and down it goes and out comes the spinning rod. I see this with my buddies that don’t use them much, but then get one to try out cause I’m using them always. It gets put away pretty quickly!
To practice, put on a 3/8 to 1/2 oz bass jig and practice with that in the yard or open area. Set casting knob on handle side so line slowly falls. Set dial on other side to 10 or High and start from there. Shouldn’t backlash at all, but won’t go the farthest. Slowly reduce dial as you get better. I think for beginners, the magnetic control style is best, so that is why I said dial.
Go to store, buy 1/5 Ned jigs with the larger hook and black/blue 4″ TRD. Go to lake and fish a little deeper along weedlines or rocky areas. If you mark some panfish, all the better. Proceed to catch fish that you didn’t know would bite!
I’ve been doing pretty good lately just fishing a little deeper past the shore lines with the Ned rig. If it has some rock then all the better. If you are on clear lakes then you may have to go a little deeper. If not, then not as deep.
I’ve used jig worms in the past, but just started using the official z-man Ned rig last year. It sure works at times. Mostly fishing 10ft or less with it so far. I use a BaitCast setup with the 1/5 Jig and the 4″ TRD. Catch a lot of fish with that. I will also use a spinning rod sometimes and then I use the 1/10 jig and same 4″ worm. Just falls slower. I bought some of the 1/6 jigs in case I want to fish deeper.
I’ve caught a lot of fish with these the past 2-3 weeks or so. If your not on the fish though, it can be a bit tedious and is getting pretty close to walleye fishing then! Good luck.
It’s not the exact same rod, but this year I’ve been using a Fate Chrome 7-6 MH rod for Frogs and it has worked fine. That should be an even better Frog rod for the Money. They kind of give away your location on the lake though!!
Starting last year I’ve added several 13 rods to the boat. A few Fate Chromes, 2 Fate Black 2’s, a few Omens and one Defy. Mostly Casting, but 3 Spinning ones that haven’t seen as much use yet. For the money I really like the Fate Chromes and have used them most with no issues. The only one I had issues with was the Defy. It was a spinning rod and broke at about the 2nd or 3rd eye down. I was just reaching down(not boat flipping) for a bass with rod in the other hand and it snapped. Maybe caught 20 or so Bass on it prior. Runnings did replace it, but I haven’t used that one much since.
If you can, I guess I would start with the Fates and up, rather than the Defy. Usually there are some sales going on. A buddy does have a casting Defy and hasn’t had any issues with that one, so maybe the casting ones are better. The Omen 2’s have been on sale lately also, Looking at T.W., it looks like they are coming out with an Omen 3.
Good luck.
I have a Gen 4 Revo S and Gen 3 Revo S. Just got the Gen 4 this year, but so far, so good. I think Revos still are decent reals. They do have a larger gearbox, so I would put it on the rod you are using just to make sure it feels good. I really like the larger handles that the Gen 4’s come with.
It should work. Maybe a hair stiff, but I know what you mean, the Mediums in those are two soft. The mediums work great if you want to use BC gear with jig worms and heavier Ned rigs.
I have the Fate Chrome in MH and use it for Chatterbaits and it works fine. Never tried Spinnerbaits with it though.
Of course topwater Bass are fun. Mostly use spooks or popper stuff. Never tried a Whopper Plopper.
