Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Madfishexpo Update

Went to the show this past weekend. Unfortunately, it wasn't as cool as previous years, the Madison Lakes Forum which is usually my favorite seminar was pretty plain although the bass guy gave us a few tips, such as using swim jigs and Waubessa as the best Bass lake in the chain. The Musky talk was kinda cool, mostly because he talked extensivily about lake turnover which is good knowledge to have no matter what you are fishing for. The Fly Fishing seminar was probably the most helpfull, mostly because the speaker went over what types of flies to use and when to use them. Charlie was excited about this, he lives within walking distance of one of the states best creeks, Black Earth creek. The trouble with Black Earth is there are a ton of trees and casting a fly rod is brutal. I would like to try my ultra light, at a meer 5'6" I think it would suite the situation quite well. The vendors were pretty much the same, it's irratating that places like Gander Mt. and Cabelas do not come to this show, but maybe that is on purpose to give the little guys a chance. The DNR had some pretty cool Madison lake studies that they were handing out, you can actually find the information here.

I picked up a new SouthBend Phase2 6'6" rod for $30, it's somewhat unique in that it is a Medium Heavy spinning rod. Since that is the case I actually threw my Shimano reel with 10lb braid on the rod vs. my Okuma. The Okuma I put on my Guide Series 6'6" Medium rod and will probably spool it with 8lb Pline, I might pull the 8lb off the fenwick and spool the fenwick with 6lb for an even more finesse presentation. That would give me 3 rods with Pline in 4, 6, and 8lb test, and one spinning rod with 10lb braid (Fireline). The new rig should make a good crankbait/heavy cover rod, being that it's medium heavy, it has a lot of backbone. I'm actually quite excited to try it out I don't think any of my rods are IM8 graphite. Graphite is measured in modules, most graphite rods are between IM6-IM8. IM6 is lowest (however not he lowest quality), usually IM6 are not as sensitive, but are more durable. IM8 rods are lighter, more sensitive, however less durable. Most of my rods are IM6, which is probabaly a good thing seeing how I tend to pretty hard on stuff. There is a good article about choosing rods and rod qulaity here.

Aside from the fishing show, it was also the the BassMasters Classic Pro Tournament, which is sort of like Pro Fishings Super Bowl. So whats the point, other than to annoy Foxy who loves to watch fishing shows? Well turns out that there is a new hot bait on the market by rad lures, it called the chatterbait. It looks like the only bait they make and the company is now back ordered for 2 months. I think I might order one or two at $7 a pop, it won't be too many. The bait has unreal action, kind of a cross between a spinnerbait and a swimjig. Fishing guy at work wants to get a couple also, maybe we can order together. I have a bad habit of loosing lures and at $7 I don't know if I could forgive myself, which is also the reason I can't be a Musky fisherman, those lures range from $10-$30 a piece. The other hot bait were plastic frogs texas rigged. I happened to read about this rig in a magazine on the way to vegas last fall. While in vegas I had the opportunity to stop at bass pro shops, and I picked up a couple packages of these frogs. It's hard to beat for about $4 you get five frogs and I caught 3 or 4 fish and had a couple more hits. They will probably become a much larger part of my arsenal this year. I would actually like to try using them as a trailer on a swim jig, I think the vibration of the legs and the larger profile of the bait could be a leathal combination. Berkley is also making a Gulp version of the frog which I would mind trying. The great thing about this frogs is you can fish them a variety of ways, burn them across the top like a buzz bait, work them over lilly pads, start/stop retrieves let them sink slowly, or add them as trailers to spinner baits and jigs. So many options, so little time.

3 Comments:

At 11:44 AM, Blogger Roxy said...

who knew frogs where so versitile. they don't seem to work for me.

 
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