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Yep. That flash that comes from the rogue roll is killer. And you can make it flash without moving it much, once you figure it out.

Keep us posted on how the area suits you, Mike. I've had similar thoughts about bailing out on TR recently. Big hang up for me is the seemingly inevitable flood, and inaccessibility, at Bull every year.

So, the beauty of the old big rogue is it doesn't get deeper. Makes it very effective for throwing it at "stuff", and on shallower rock banks up the rivers. Maybe not the best stick for soaking in the clear water. You definitely have to weight it if you want to get it deeper than 5-6'.

Correct.

More of a Nip-I-Didee fan. Fishes differently, throws a little better. Will give it a look. He's a genuine stick.

I'm usually the oddball, so might as well stick with it. I like large, wrap around lenses, with contacts underneath, and have since my first pair of Solar Bats 20+ years ago. The quality and design of the Bats dropped off, so I went to Wiley X. They take a beating, and do what they're supposed to do. Can run with them snugged tight up to about 65mph. Above that I have to go to goggles. If forced to look for fish, I'd dig out my old green Bats just for that situation. The Wiley's do fine for casual sight fishing. I keep a pair of XL Cocoons to throw over my Rx glasses, for driving and such.

Absolutely. Especially the 5 1/2" old Rogue (pre elite 10). Completely different flash and roll than other baits.

Right on!

I have an old Bassmaster show Shuffield did on fishing deep grass at Ouachita. Have used a lot of the same concepts successfully on many lakes with deep grass, north and south.

Big win for the Hogs. WPS.

Lead wire works, or you can use the crimp on weights made for swimbait hooks. Split shot, or a rubber core weight (with rubber strap removed) will work too. Sometimes you do get caught without the right size. Or you need a heavy head, but small blades and frame.

Late to the party (as usual), but if anyone is looking for something longer, say in my cherished 7'6" twirly rod range, it's hard to beat the Lew's TP-1 Black "open water" rod. Great Ned rod. Would work for anything like grubs, split shots, senkos, etc. Lists as MH but it isn't. More like a true M.

There goes the county...

Not sure if that will help or not.

Very cool. I've only seen one on Table Rock in 25 years.

Sea monster.

Sorry for your loss, Steve. Prayers for all.

Late to the party on this, but I'm curious how it worked out for you Dutch? Saw the molds, anticipated some issues with hook availability based on the other Victory hooks, plus had some experience fishing it on EWG's. I've (unsurprisingly) thrown that little dude about every way you can imagine. One of the troubles I've had with EWG hooks and TX rigging it, is with the gap. The elaztech has a bad tendency to ball up rigged that way, with the obvious ensuing problems. This is why my crappie slider heads didn't work all the way back in 2011. Bunch of hooks in the right size range are going to be light on gap. Other issue is with hook length. This comes into play if you try to upsize the hook in the regular heads too. As that hook gets bigger/longer, there's less bait free to do its thing underwater. You're essentially leashing the bait's potential. I have TX rigged it and flipped it, with some success, using the Owner Rig N Hooks, which are considerably shorter, while maintaining a wide gap. That's with a big line, big rod, tungsten weights because nothing else big enough mates well. Not really sure it was worth the effort, but it was one of those things I wanted to check off the list. It will get down through bushes, compared to some other baits. Have tried TX rigging it with lighter weights and a twirly reel, but rocks like eating bullet weights more than the little jigs, at least where and how I fish. Don Baldridge used to fish it rigged that way a bit, did some videos about it. Tried it on some little swing heads with EWG's. Made sense, didn't work out all that well. As far as keeping it from sliding down, I use little snips of shrink tubing on my shakey heads, and big EWG hooks for elaztech baits. Cut the tubing on an angle, slide them up with the angle at the front so it sticks past the jog in the hook, cook it, then superglue it in place. Bingo, you have a version of the keepers used on flip hooks. Then superglue the bait to the shrink tubing keeper once you've rigged it. Works great if you run the ZinkerZ on a shakey head, or are flipping the palmetto bugz. Had to special order the little bitty tubing from a shrink tubing place on eBay. Now, all of that is specific to elaztech. If you're running plastisol, EWG hooks may be fine. Don't know, I haven't thrown a regular plastic bait on it in years. Day in and out, it's hard to beat the regular little old heads.

Mercy. What a bunch of beautiful brown fish.

Fall is pretty, but it's a long way from cold enough to be good.

So, I have an awful lot of fairy wands and twirly reels, providing opportunities to play around some. I'd say it depends on the reel seat and grips/handle. On some I'm between middle and ring, on others ring and pinky. Now that's fishing mostly slow stuff, minimal winding other than a grub or swimmer.

I have thoughts on walleye. Not popular ones 😉.

Yep. My Excursion blue books 10k higher than it did 3 years ago, and might sell higher, from what I've seen. It's nuts.

Hazbin, that's a great idea anyway, for folks who would like to do something, especially from a distance. Appreciate getting the information.

Or a big swing head or tube, if they don't want the bulk. Days of winding something like mad are pretty limited for me.