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Hello Folks, I have never posted on a fishing forum before. Looking for advice from folks who have visited the nicer resorts from Mille Lacs and up. . . Not interested in the house boat concept. MOSTLY, looking for good chance of fish catching SUCCESS during period from mid-July through August. Looking for actual resort names and Lake names. If info on definite places on Lakes, better yet. Probably a one time trip with brothers from Colorado, Iowa, and Illinois. . . One with limited experience. Have at it! thanks in advance.

My first field test of the Sufix 131 G-Core Braided line in 6# spooled onto Shimano Twin Power 1000FD spinning reel paired onto Thorne Bros Perch Sweetheart 32" cutom. This would be one of the most expensive set up, both in reel and line. I was really trying to test it out on crappies, but it just happen to be walleyes that were hooked up today. While hooked up with fish, the combination was very high performance, it seem a bit too easy. The one piece handle has a solid transfer of power and feedback. The drag worked very well, smooth and sturdy, no start up pressure build or drop. The ability of the reel to line lay on the spool had more precision that I had expected, no bulge spots or dips. Perhaps it has something to do with the Sufix 131 G-Core braid being well rounded as well. The braid line at first showed very little line bubble on the sonar, but quickly vanish. I did had on moment that while setting the combo aside and using it again, I got the dreaded micro bubbles on the line and it showed it on the flasher. Again it vanished quickly after some use. In comparison Sufix 832 is more limp, but does have a subtle texture feel when feeling the Gore fiber. For the 131 the Gore Fiber is the core so it is an even smooth uniform feel. Not once did I feel like the braid hang up on itself on the underlying lines on the spool. It could've been attributed to the Twin Power spinning reel. Every lure drop was a very smooth line flow off the spool. As with any braid and hole hopping the ice up was terrible. Although the windy conditions also meant that regular monolines were also freezing within a moment. I will note that typically I am a bait casting reel in preference, I will say that the Shimano Twin Power has a performance merit in itself. It reminds me of both the Stella and the Stradic Ci4+ reel in a package. Eventually I would like to get this line on a bait casting reel and see how it's performance merits are.

It's another ice fishing field test for a few items: The only fish I caught were a few crappies ranging from 6" to 10" and a perch at 9" in length. 13 Fishing Omen Ice Casting rod Medium power. The rod is paired with Shimano Curado 70HG and spooled with Stroft GTM 7.9# line. The lure I specifically chosen was Major Craft Jigpara Blade 3/16th oz. I would say the rod overall is pretty impressive at it's price point. While just holding it in hand empty it doesn't have any outstanding wow factor. However after putting a lure on and actually getting fish to strike at your lures and hooking up and fighting them in, I got a good feel for what it's performance merits are. The white painted tip section allows for a good contrast visual. The lure jigging allowed the vibration of the lure to come through. Even light fish strikes were felt, allowing me to put the hook set on. The rod performed within the range of what a medium powered rod should do. There is enough tip flex sensitivity and rod backbone. Shimano Curado BFS casting reel. I have two of them. One is spooled with 14# YGK G-Soul Upgrade and 10# YGK G-Soul SS112 Sinking Braid, both with a leader of Stroft GTM 7.9# line. The rods are Thorne Bros. Custom Panfish and Perch Sweetheart rods to 32" in length. I fished the YGK Upgrade line last season on a spinning reel set up so I basically had a good feel for that mono like line. It worked well in the BFS reel and on that one I was using Major Craft Jigpara tailspin 1/4 oz. lure. One thing I will note that even with the cross carbon drag on this reel, it felt like it was more so on the low end of drag force. I normally don't expect crappies to pull drag a lot, but the drag clicks very easily. Even at close to max setting the drag can still be pulled easily. YGK G-Soul SS112 Sinking Braid. The other Curado BFS with the SS112 Sinking Braid was attached a Flu Flu jig. I can't remember if it was 1/64th oz. or 1/80th oz. weight. It's basically the jig that I have to peel line off the spinning reel to get it sink. So doing the same with any other reel tells me how fast a sink rate this lure gets. Well to my surprise this is the fastest sink rate I've experienced. So the sinking braid line does aid in the sink rate, or rather it doesn't offer resistance to sinking on a vertical drop. Even when I peel enough line to lay on the water surface, it is pulled down with a good rate. While I was expecting the textured line to create some line buzz I wasn't feeling it. While hooked up to fish the Curado BFS drag was clicking so again I couldn't tell if there were any line buzz. Overall it's performed as an ice fishing line in the warmed up shack was phenomenal. It was a bit too windy and snow pellets was hailing down so I did not do any hole hopping, so no freeze check on the line was evaluated. The Eskimo 250XD was getting some high winds test today for sure. The worst thing imaginable happens as the wind changed direction 180 degrees. It was sudeenly full force blowing directly at the wide door side. I did not have the stakes on the skirt on the door nor on the one remaining hub tie down. I went out the door to secure it, and the shelter was about to blow away. Had to fight the wind and hold the door down. I merely only secure the hub strap tie down and went back inside before the wind really kicked up. I looked at the closed door and the blown in side effects of it. In a way it's good to have the two stabilizing poles there which helped a lot with the wind pressure. I stayed pretty much cooped up until the winds died down some. It was windy enough that ice pellets packed up the air vents and the window sides of the reflective overlap. On the pack up it was still windy, and I had struggled to put the shelter away as the wind whipped the shelter like an inverted umbrella. I was afraid the the shelter poles would snap or bust off one of the hubs but managed to secure it and finally flipped a twisted shelter back into order after some effort. This was probably the worst occurrence dealt with the shelter take down I had ever encounter. Simms Challenger insulated bibs and jacket: I wear a Large jacket and medium bibs. This is a serious upgrade for me, considering I've been wearing a Columbia jacket and snowpants that was purchased back in 1993. Of which last year after wearing it while treading through the ice storm and getting drenched, I was a very miserable. That day the ice fishing ordeal I experienced was wet and cold all day long. So this time with the Simms it is thinner and less bulky as in comparison as I dress under with just a normal sweat pants and a sweat shirt and a compression long sleeve shirt. Normally I would also add to another fleece jacket under and also another layer of usually compression pants. I was expecting to get cold but I never felt that way. Of course dragging the sled and sweating did not bother me at all. The suit must have done a very good job at preventing condensation build up. Temps was 14F and with quite a wind in my face easily at 15+mph. I am very impressed at the performance overall. Ryobi 18V Clamp Fan: I used it while I had the Big Buddy Heater on low. The fan was too powerful even on the low setting and I just got colder with it on. I will not use it in the future.

It's been awhile since I purchased any new braided lines. The last batch of lines was a bunch of Diawa J-Braid x8 and J-Braid Grand x8, a couple of Fireline Ultra 8, and Nanofil lines. On my list would be YGK G-Soul Upgrade X8 line and YGK G-Soul SS112 Sinking Braid line. Well, shopping cart, submitted. Well I ordered a few lines but I stayed with the small diameters again and keeping them under .200 mm for the most part. This will put it in the same frame as most of the other lines I've used in the past for ice fishing. So my impulsive line order came through and I ordered a variety of line tests. YGK G-Soul Upgrade X-8 14# at .131 mm 16# at .153 mm 22# at .171 mm 25# at .185 mm YGK G-Soul SS112 Sinking Braid 10# at .165 mm 14# at .185 mm All I can say is wow this line is thin. It feels significantly much thinner than anything I've felt. Even more thin than the J-Braid x8 Grand. Will have to give it some line break test and some side to side comparison later. The clear package spool is a great visual product. One can really see how nice the line is and how little room it takes. The appearance is so uniform and even as a braid, it looks like a single monofilament. Some preliminary line break test on the G-Soul Upgrade X-8 with all knot break failures. 14# listed with four trials: 6#15, 6#12, 7#0, 6#15 16# listed with four trials: 9#0, 9#15, 8#15, 8#15 22# listed with three trials: 13#10, 12#15, 12#10 YGK G-Soul SS112 Sinking Braid: 10# listed with three trials: knot break 9# 10, 9#1, 9#8 14# listed with three trials: knot break 10# 10, 9#15, 10#8 It's been a while since I've tied and manipulated the knot on thin PE lines. I can't remember what I did to achieve a higher strength. However, I'm glad to see a rather consistent breakage. It means two contributing factor. First I may be tying a rather consistent knot with how I'm tying. Second, the line is consistent in uniformity strength with the extrusion process. As much as I expected that I was not going to get the manufacture listed line break strength, after all that's not what I'm after. I'm after my real world use of the line and how the knot will hold for me. I tried looking for my 6# Diawa J-Braid to make a line to line comparison but couldn't find it at the moment. I did find some 10# J-Braid X8 and the 4# Berkley Nanofil line. The 14# G-Soul Upgrade looked thinner than 10# J-Braid while the 16# looked very much alike in diameter. The 4# Nanofil was just about equal in turns of line diameter thickness. The line is very pliable. Compare to Nanofil, it feels very much like it. The line feels so smooth and has a good body feel almost as if it is one single thread. There is also a self support and while holding about 4 to 5 inches horizontal of line material. That's quite amazing and almost feels like a levitation trick. Getting to about 6 to 7 inches it will be pull down by gravity and is no longer able to self support horizontally. Compressing the line by pinching and pushing together did not yield any strand separations. The weave is just too uniform and well packed. I was only able to see a sign of thread separation after multiple line break of the same sample. Even then I was not able separate the thread weave. Further note is that this time I did a really crude line test method. I kept using the same line even after the first break. Typically I expect that the sequent test should have yield less results. After all there were obvious signs of line damage even after the first line break test. I could see that the thread fluffed up where the fibers broke in multiple spots throughout the sample test line. Another telltale sign was how the line had contracted into a somewhat bunched deformity of random compressed doodle. This means that the fibers were stretched and rebounded. However it's odd that later test of the same sample would yield a higher break strength. This could hint that the line is still very strong even after some light stressed breakage. Similar line diameter .13mm comparison: 14# G-Soul Upgrade X-8 is within same break threshold and is below average. Diawa J-Braid Grand x8 .13 mm 8# knot break 10# 12 oz. Berkley NanoFil 6# .13mm knot break 9# 14 oz. Berkley Fireline Original .13 mm 4# knot break 6# 12 oz. Similar line diameter .15mm comparison: 16# G-Soul Upgrade X-8 is within same break threshold and is just below average. Diawa J-Braid x8 .15 mm 10# knot break 13# Diawa J-Braid Grand x8 .15 mm 10# knot break 16# 14 oz. Berkley Fireline Crystal .15 mm 6# knot break 8# 8 oz. Similar line diameter .171mm comparison: 22# G-Soul Upgrade X-8 is average break and slightly above. ASSO Sinking Braid .16mm 10# knot break 12# 5 oz. ASSO Sinking Braid .18mm 12# knot break 13# 10 oz. Berkley Fireline Original .18 mm 8# knot break 11# 6 oz.

Shimano Poison Adrena Spinning Rod: PAD2610ULMA This is a 6'10" rod with an Ultralight tip section transition into a Medium backbone rod. It is listed with an Extra-Fast action tip. In a way that make sense. I bought the rod on an impulse just because I was sort of wanting an Ultralight power rod. After using the Zodias rods for sometime and I found them to be well performing rods I just really got curious about a higher dollar value rod in the same likeness. In a way I am repeating the same thing I found in St. Croix Rods years ago when I purchased my first Premiere spinning rod and then jumped on the chance of a Legend Elite spinning rod. The Poison Adrena being an impulse buy partially due to Thanksgiving Black Friday deal has a lot to do with it. I think the best feature of this rod is the full Carbon Monocoque handle design shaped to likeness of a split grip silhouette style. So that leaves the locking nut on the top side as the fore grip. The locking nut being machined aluminum is a contrast in feel and material for that function. There are some ported hole integrated into the forward reel set assembly. The rod has 8 line guides plus tip guide of SiC rings and the tip being a titanium frame with SiC ring insert. There is no traditional hook keeper on the rod. The entire handle is measured to about 12 1/4" and the rear handle length is about 8 1/4" long. I set onto the rod with a Shimano Twinpower 1000FD reel to check for balance and it seems to match very well. There is however some spacing between the reel seat on the lock position that detracts from the overall reel seat. In part it has something to do with the slightly larger reel foot of this reel. I went to double check the fit with a different reel I had lying around with a significantly smaller reel foot and it was fully lined up on the close position. Actually this reel has an extra small foot so it actually was still loose. So back to the Twinpower reel. I thread the line through the line guides and gave it my typical line pull flex load to see how the rod bends. It feels a bit more like an UL+ tip as in part to the Extra-Fast action and that Medium power backbone. In a way I think this rod should finesse a bit better than the Zodias rod in Light power. I gave the rod a few backyard practice casts with a 1/4 practice plug and the rod feels like a shorter rod feeling. It does not give off the 7' rod feeling at all. Wish I could feel the lure contact open water. So it will be a long wait till next spring to give it whirl field test.

13 Fishing Omen Ice casting 32" rod in Medium power I perused the 13 Fishing website looking at their products a month plus ago and saw that they listed some new ice rods for this year 2021-22. On it listed several spinning models featuring full reel seat and split grip reel seat models. So while just down at the local sports store, I happen by chance to spot an unusual looking rod and it turns out to be a bait casting model. Listed key feature on the product tag: J36T Blank Evolve Ported Reel Seat Portuguese 3A Full Grip Cork Handle Evolve Stainless Steel Guides with Titanium Inserts I did what I normally do when looking through the product. I line them up side by side and check for consistencies or inconsistencies among the exact same model. There are nuances and finding one that is of higher quality workmanship is sometimes the advantage of having a real physical product to examine. I choose that one rod that was just a tad bit longer than all the rest. The one that sticks out, in the literal sense. I eyeballed it to be roughly 1/4 inch longer and after bringing it home and measuring it's full length to 32 3/8th inches long. I did some quick measurements of the handle assembly and the length came to about 8 1/2 inches with the rear cork grip at 3 1/2 inches. I mounted onto it a Shimano Curado 70HG reel. The locking handle nut held it down securely with just a little gap between the reel seat and nut assembly. I threaded the line through the 4 line guides and then tip guide. Even thought the produce feature says Titanium inserts, they look a lot like ceramics. I gave it my typical fishermans' rod flex check. It feels to fall within the range of Medium power fast action. I gave it the loaded torsion twist check and did find quite a bit of roll over of line guides, especially the two ones from the tip guide. There is just barely line rub on the blank when all given a full load flex test. The rubberized reel seat feels good to the touch and there is a little bit of porting to give it some bling look. The cork is quite pitted and filled with filler. The handle shed quite a bit of dust after removing the plastic covering, probably from the finishing sanding. Still overall the rod is assembled with top notch quality. Definitely looking forward to using this rod this ice season.

Sufix 131 G-Core Braided Line This line is smooth, very smooth, as smooth as a baby's butt. Well not, but being a 12 strand weave around a GORE Performance Fiber core line, it's by far the smoothest line I've held in my possession. It is also one of the most expensive line I've purchased at just shy of $40 retail for 150 yards. I purchased two spools, the 6# and the 10# spools. According to Sufix listed diameters the 6# is at .14 mm and the 10# is at .20 mm. These match up with the same test # and diameters of both Sufix 832 Advance braid and the old Performance Braid. One of the things I like to do now is give it a line performance tensile test. I like to check it with a knot strength tied onto a Spro swivel #10 and after learning the FG line to line join knot I check the line strength on that as well too. I gave it three trials successively on the same line. Meaning if that I were to fish with such line on there and I break off, I want to know if the line will stay usable after I retie. The results for a knot strength test. Sufix 131 G-Core Braided Line 6# .14 mm: 9# 4 oz., 9# 9 oz., 9# 6 oz. Sufix 131 G-Core Braided Line 10# .20 mm: 12# 4 oz., 11# 9 oz., 11# 12 oz. For the FG knot line to line join I was looking for a good high yield result. Although I did have some weaker knot breaks results they were still higher than a knot to the swivel. Sufix 131 G-Core Braided Line 6# .14 mm: 11# 12 oz. Sufix 131 G-Core Braided Line 10# .20 mm: 17# 13 oz. Comparison to similar diameter of other lines and break strengths: Sufix 832 Ice Braid .10mm 4# knot break 9# 2 oz. (FG knot break 13# 7 oz.) Diawa J-Braid Grand x8 .13 mm 8# knot break 10# 12 oz. Diawa J-Braid Grand x8 .15 mm 10# knot break 16# 14 oz. Diawa J-Braid x8 .06 mm 6# knot break 8# 4 oz. (FG knot break 9# 3 oz.) Diawa J-Braid x8 .15 mm 10# knot break 13# (FG knot break 17# 12 oz.) YGK G-Soul Upgrade X-8 .131 mm 14# listed knot break 6# 15 oz. (FG knot break 9# 14 oz.) YGK G-Soul Upgrade X-8 .153 mm 16# listed knot break 9# 7 oz. (FG knot break 14# 1 oz.) Sufix 832 Braid .20 mm 10/4 knot break 17# 5 oz. (FG knot break 20#) Diawa J-Braid x8 .19 mm 15# knot break 18# YGK G-Soul Upgrade X-8 .185 mm 25# listed knot break 14# 13 oz. (FG knot break 18# 14 oz.) In comparison to various other 8 strand braids their line strength is much higher overall but still within parameters. I suspect that the 12 strands + GORE fiber just being much thinner are giving out under stress a bit sooner. However the knot breaks has a consistency more so than any of the other 8 strand braids I've tested. That part on the product description holds validity. As so far, I haven't decided which reel to spool the line onto yet. I do plan on both spinning and casting reels. Looking forward to using this line.

Shimano Curado BFS I had ordered two of the reels upon the day after announced release. However due to availability I awaited delivery delays for months. It wasn't until almost the last day of August that I finally received the reels. By then it seemed like the whole open water season was basically over, and I was thinking ice fishing already. So I guess it will be all for ice fishing as was my main intention for these reels. The best thing about these reels is the shallow spool design and it fulfills the real purpose for ice fishing. After unboxing the reels and going through the free performance checks of just turning the handle and checking spool spin, I found that both reels do not feel as refined nor as smooth as it's Curado 70 reel that was just discontinued. The retail is comparing the BFS of $190 retail to the 70's retail of $200. The BFS has a gear ratio of 8.2 which is the equivalent of the 70XG model. The ones I have are the 70HG with the 7.2 gear ratio. The BFS is listed as a 6.2 ounce weight and does have a lightness feel to it. I really have to compare it's weight to the old Chronarch 50Mg that weighs in at 6.0 ounces. While the 70's were weighing in at 6.7 ounces on my scale. The current 70 Mgl weight is listed as 6.9 ounces. The next best unique feature is a clicking drag that is familiar to spinning reels. I've always wanted a to hear clicking drag sound on a low profile casting reel. This would be the reel just to do that for me. I finally decided on the type of lines to spool up the reels with. So the reels are to be spooled up with 14# YGK G-Soul Upgrade and 10# YGK G-Soul SS112 Sinking Braid. Being such a shallow spool I did not do my usual monoline backing. I tied directly onto the spool with the braids. Now the thing with braids is, that they tend to loosen the grip onto the spool when spooled directly. However I am trying a new technique that sort of involves a similar method of Chinese finger trap line wrapping onto the spool like that from the FG knot or Albright knot method. I always start with my loop end knot to loop the line onto the spool. Then I did some opposing half hitch knots on each side of the spool and gotten about 4 knot wraps per side when I felt the full grip effect. I am pretty sure this won't move if the Chinese finger trap method works. I will note that just trying to remember to flip my half hitch knots was a challenge in itself. Now it's just waiting to get some nice ice and then getting to deploy the Eskimo Outbreak 250XD.

I’ve ice fished Lake of the Woods for 30 years. I’ve recently purchased a cabin in Beaver Bay and I’m looking for a place to ice fish, somewhat nearby with 2 buddies. We need to rent a fish house and I’m looking for suggestions.

Bring some friends up to Vermilion around Oct 16th this year. They are dead set on crappie fishing. I know no one here will say where to go crappie fishing, but I have an idea and they don't mind a day on the water hunting for a school. Just wondering if the bite is there that time of year to make chasing worth the effort. I usually drag them trolling for trout and they want something that's a little more exciting.

How are the lakes across southern Minnesota? Do they "green" up with the summer heat? Are there any lakes you would recommend for sunfish, crappie or perch? Looking to do a day trip or 2 this fall to somewhere from Fairmont to Mankato. Any recommendations? Thanks!

Hey all, I am new here obviously, but I recently learned how many fish the DNR kill off every year with those surveys. I've never started a petition for anything before, but here's my attempt to get that to stop. https://www.change.org/KillingFishMN This is not about the big lakes. To me it is the same as trying to manage deer by digging a pit in the woods to see what falls in and dies- Wisconsin pretty much gave it up and we should as well. I know some DNR guy is going to get on here and say it is for consistent data, and that it only happens every few years on the smaller lakes. It should not happen at all. Every 10 years and the best fish in the lake might still be dead in that net, just to have a fancy survey. Heres what a survey should look like. https://dnr.wi.gov/lakes/lakepages/LakeDetail.aspx?wbic=967200 If there are already petitions and groups out there trying to change this I would like to get involved, A

Took the grandson up to Elephant yesterday. We fished about 4 hours, we caught bluegill after bluegill the whole time we were on the water, where ever we went. I don't think we had one over 8"s. What doesn't make sense to me is why they put a limit of 10, on the sunfish. I'm no biologist, but I think they should let you take more than the state limit, but put a slot in place. They might get some quality fish with a slot, but the way it is now, the lake is over populated with 6" bluegills, which are great for grandkids, me not so much. We don't keep those bigger bluegills, we love catching them, but there are so few now a days, that you have to release them too. Went to another lake last night, there we caught some nice gills, about 15 the size that Austin is holding, all were returned to the lake. Most of the bonus walleyes went back too, there's a couple in the fridge. lol

Heading out for 5 days of Crappie fishing on Bad Axe Lake this coming Friday. We did really well last year catching more than we could possibly want and more than enough to eat. What I was wondering was with Memorial Day falling a week later and the unusual spring weather we’ve had, if anyone is noticing a big difference in the location of Crappies this year compared to last year? Should they still be super shallow on the small lakes like last year or are they already sliding deeper with how warm it got earlier than past years? Thanks in advance! Also looking forward to boating around and seeing the Muskies basking in the sun and a much needed break from work by spending time with the family doing what we love.

Heading up this weekend to camp at onegume with the family- wife and two kids under 10, and the dog. Just looking for tips on where fish might be found/best tactics this time of year. I’ve never been to the area and would love to try for some walleye, but with kids, panfish might be the better option as patience tends to run a bit short at times. I have a 16’ flat bottomed alumacraft, so won’t be venturing out on the big lake, just looking for a few ideas to keep the kids engaged and maybe have one small fish fry. Thanks in advance for any help!

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I went out to Medicine lake yesterday and there were dead panfish discarded all over the place. I don't know who or why but it was such a waste, plus one little sunny was obviously cut up as bait... And then I found a huge PILE of about 20 fish behind a building. There are signs posted and reminders everywhere, only 5 panfish/crappies per person. This looked deliberate, like a middle finger to authority. I was furious and now I'm just sad. I took pictures and I want to do something about it but I have no idea what. ?

So I really got my first field test of my new Zodias Rod I purchased this spring. I did bring out both the ZDS70LA and ZDS70MLA. Since I only managed to hook up with fish on the Light power rod, it's really the only one that got the real test. Anyway for both rods casting is wonderful smooth and slick. I didn't put any additional effort other than the bare minimum. Lure retrieve also was wonderful for both rods and both rods don't even feel like 7 feet rods that's I've used in the past. I almost felt like they were shorter rods with feel in likeness to a typical 6'6" rod in use. Working lure retrieval on these rods feels like they're robust medium rods. At first I was wondering what's the ding ding sound while I was using the rod and it turns out that it was just the butt handle clanging onto some D rings on my clothing. I almost though that something in the rod was broken or either it was my reels. What a relief. I'm still not quite accustomed to this effortless casting motion and having a lure project itself so smoothly. Still not accustomed to a rod that in the casting motion is so well tuned. I did not even need any counterforce at the end of the casting stroke nor any need to grip the rod more firm to dampen the typical harmonic vibration that some rods exhibits. That monocoque butt handle design really upgrade the feel of these rods. While hooking up with some little white bass, the Light power rod loads up very well progressively. These are just fish in the 15-19 inch range so not to big nor are small either. Overall I could've confused my sense that it was a Moderate action Medium powered rod with the crispness of feel of a Light powered rod. Only a few times did I look down on the whole rod with the fish on did I notice that it was still a Light powered rod. I didn't have a need to put a hook set nor did I feel the pronounced tap on the inhale to drive a reactionary hook set. There is the feel of the bite, then the solid weight feel and the fish is securely hooked. Looking forward for more field testing of the Zodias rods.

Hey all! Tomorrow (Apr 3rd) I'm taking some friends out to do some fishing. We usually target rivers, and live around the metro, but I'm willing to drive a ways to find good spots. No boat, so this would be shore fishing. We aren't after anything specific but would be nice to get something to fry up later! Which of course means targeting legal fish like carp, suckers, cats, panfish, etc.

I have very little experience using wax worms and one of the problems I have with them is keeping them alive between fishing trips. When I buy them, I usually find them in a little plastic container and the bait shop has them refrigerated. With that in mind, I tried refrigerating them at home but in a very short time I find my container full of black dead worms. I've tried just keeping them in my basement where it is cooler but not as cold as a refrigerator and maybe got another day or two out of them. Keeping them in a warm place didn't work any better either. Is there a better way to keep them at home? Is the containers that they are in too small for any longer term storage perhaps? What bedding options are available that may help? Thanks.

It was just about two years ago when I decided to venture into a different braid line. Sufix Advance 832 braid was a preference of mine. So after receiving the Diawa braids, I gave it the good old line break test rundown on the knot to swivel. There were good results. Diawa J-Braid x8 .06 mm 6# knot break 8# 4 oz Diawa J-Braid x8 .13 mm 8# knot break 11# 9 oz Diawa J-Braid x8 .15 mm 10# knot break 13# Diawa J-Braid Grand x8 .06mm 6# knot break 6# 4 oz Diawa J-Braid Grand x8 .13 mm 8# knot break 10# 12 oz Diawa J-Braid Grand x8 .15 mm 10# knot break 16# 14 oz ***** I had always been line joining with a nail knot to nail knot for the longest time. I had also tried the albright and modified albright knot on few times. All this until I discovered the FG knot. Now I had never questioned the strength of the FG knot. All I knew before was that occassionally it slipped and unraveled after use. Since we are experiencing something of a polar vortex, I reckon I do some knot testing. Diawa J-Braid x8 6# FG to FG knot on 30# mono Three trials in # and oz.: 8#14, 9#3, 9#1 While the my direct knot to swivel yield a break at 8#4 oz., it does indicate that the FG knot with a mono is breaking at a higher threshold. While it wasn't much more for this braid line, it is giving me an indication that perhaps J-Braid x8 in itself has a higher resilience for direct knot tying. I will confirm this with a few other tests of J-Braid x8. Side note: I was physically comparing line feel between YGK G-Soul Upgrade X-8 14# with Diawa J-Braid x8 6# and both seem very close in appearance of line thickness and feel. Only G-Soul seem to have a slight more line body. Diawa J-Braid x8 10# FG to FG knot on 30# mono One trial knot break 17# 12 oz. I didn't feel like I needed to test the line any further. That one trial test was enough, especially with the results. So all the results thus far is confirming that the FG knot will be a better connection point to a lure and I should go with the extra care to do so. Bonus for Sufix 832 Advance braid FG knot testing as well. Sufix 832 Advance Braid 10# FG knot to FG knot on 30# mono Three trials all knot breaks in # and oz.: 15#, 20#, 19# 1 Sufix 832 Advance Ice Braid 4# FG knot to FG knot on 30# mono Three trials all knot breaks in # and oz.: 13#7, 12# 1, 12#12 In addition to note that in comparison to previous 832 tested on terminal tackle of a knot to swivel: Sufix 832 Ice Braid .10mm 4# knot break 9# 2 oz. Sufix 832 Braid .20 mm 10/4 knot break 17# 5 oz.

Been using the micro ice flo green 3lb about 4 years now. Really like it. With the addition of the orange highlight rod from my favorite rod builder I thought I would try the suffix ice magic. Seamed to work just as well and these eyes could see it nice when tying up a jig. What’s your go to line?

So onto a little experiment with the FG knot testing of the YGK G-Soul Upgrade X-8 and I crudely tied it onto some Fluorocarbon leader of either 30 or 40 lb test. I only did that one section and went to tie off the other end to a swivel like I normally would do so. For the results the FG knot would not break and held throughout my test. I tried a variation of knots this time and use a different choice of line to act as a buffer for the knot. Line upon itself yield a result of 5# 9 oz. Line with 80# braid yield a result of 5# 8 oz. Palomar knot: 4# 9 oz. Double Palomar knot: 5# 3 oz. Line with 4# gamma polyflex: 5# 9 oz. Mock FG onto a line clip: 7# 14 oz. Well if anything, it seems this line has a very strong FG knot compatibility. Typically it's my FG knot slipping and falling apart before the line breaks. Next up is FG to FG to double check how well an actual FG knot holds on me. Using the 14# YGK G-Soul Upgrade X-8 and connecting to 30# mono. It's kind of a test of whether a sloppy tied FG knot will hold. In the past I've had FG knots slipped on my connection during use. It would be obvious if the tag ends starts to unravel but sometimes it's the FG knot loops that gets loosen up. So I understand the importance of a well snugged down FG knot tying process needs to be in order to be effective. Well with such a tiny and light braid, that kind of tying pressure is not possible. At most it will just be snug and must be moderately done in the process otherwise the whole loops are pulled out even before they set down. For the test purpose the loops will only be done to 10 count only, that's about 10 per side and is kept rather short. Two slip knots with the mono and then two onto the main line. This is just bare minimum. The results with three trials. 8#4, 8#15, 9#14. I was very sloppy on my first FG knot trial. There was obvious a knot break but the whole FG knot did not unravel. The other end with the other FG knot held. There was also line pinch burn damage on the mono on the broken end after I removed the remaining broken FG knot.. The second trial was used on the same line, but I was more attentive to my knot tying. Again this knot also showed the same characteristic of a knot break due to line pinch again. It's a very typical braid break just right at the knot. The third trial on the same line, now I was much more attentive to my FG knot tying this time. Wow, best results so far and was on the same line. 16# YGK G-Soul Upgrade X-8 on FG to FG knot on 30# mono Three trials: 13#10, 14#1, 13#13 This is a huge difference comparing to my direct conventional tackle knot. Again the line breaks were right at the knot with the exception of one trial where I felt the knot slipping during my pull and it actually broke at the far bottom of the knot at the opposite end. Perhaps my initial loop must've crossed and that may have caused a pinch spot. I never figure that the FG knot would lend to better knot strength and this is giving results that tells me it's something I should put into practical use Final note that while using mono on the FG knot, I did not see the recoil effect on the braid line when I did a straight knot to knot trial of just the braid. The mono stretch must've absorbed the the recoil. As I was expecting lower knot results from a sequential trial, I am see this now that having a shock absorbing effect changes the results. The braid line is protected while the knot pinch where it is at the weakest point will break.

What’s your rod box. I grabbed a Flambeau today to upgrade since a good buddy made me a 36 inch ice rod. I added foam to the bottom and took out the dividers and it looks like it will work dandy. Got them all in and some boxes for different plastics. Won’t know till it warms up! All snug when I close it up.

Here are a few pics of some of what I have been using this winter. Everyone is well aware of how effective plastics can be for panfish... But have you tried the new hard baits? Most of the time, they don't need added bait, you can fish them plain. I have found great success this winter with the Clam pinhead minnow, both the jointed and non jointed version. For some reason , the crappies and big bluegills love this bait..often preferring it unbaited, this is especially true for the jointed version.. I have been using small spoons with great success for years on panfish... just never found one that needed no bait. The Kenders K-rip and T-rip are some of the new style of minnow baits, they also fish better unbaited. The T-rip is so tiny, even smaller bluegills can take it, so the big ones definitely have no problem inhaling this bait.. The wonderbread and natural perch have been my go-to colors this winter. Next time on the water, give either the T-rip of pinhead a try, you might be surprised how well you do? I sure was!