Fishes in trees

If I had unlimited funds, I'd most likely still have an aluminum boat, due to my style of fishing. I frequently bump up against, slide into, run over enough stuff that fiberglass would be stupid for me. I'd be seriously looking at an Express. If I lived where you live, central Minnesota - I'd be looking at multi-species style of boats for sure. If I was looking at upper end fiberglass bass boats - I'd go with Bass Cat. Back in the day when I was a rookie tournament fisherman, fishing the currently extinct Plains division of the BFL - Ron Pierce of Bass Cat boats was nice to me, he was extremely considerate. I was such a rookie co-angler that I didn't know what I didn't know. I learned a lot from him that day.

I've never had great luck with Yo Zuri lures. I own a set of the crystal minnows, but they don't get fished anymore. I think that they have neat finishes, but they chip easily and the hooks aren't that great. The action of the lures is ok, but Pointers and Rogues and Redfins and Rapala lures have better action in my opinion. I think that 20 or 30 years from now, they will be pretty valuable as collectors items because the finishes are so pretty. That is the funny thing about collector lures, i.e. if they were really that great of a lure, someone would have used it and lost it back in the day. I think that there is a reason collector lures languish for decades in the bottom of different tackle boxes, , i.e. they weren't that great of a lure in the first place, but there is something unique about them. In the case of the Yo Zure lures, they have neat finishes, but the finishes are fragile and easily scraped and marred.

War Eagle Screaming Eagle spinnerbaits are what you need. 1/4 oz size - 1/2 oz weight. If you want to go heavier than that the easiest way is to contact one of the myriad custom spinner bait builders out there and have them make what you want.

I'm not a real big mail order guy. Bobby, could you please convince the folks at Rogers lures in Liberty, MO to carry a greater variety of your stuff? They carry the Cavitron buzz baits. They carry the Megastrike heads - up to a quarter ounce. Please convince they to carry your spinnerbaits and your Megastrike heads in the heavier weights. - As soon as you do, I will probably buy some. Thanks

Last year, my best lure for keeper fish, later in the summer into the fall was a half ounce or so jika rig, fished within 2 or 3 feet of clearer area adjacent to the deep weed line. A green pumpkin brush hog with orange glitter was the number one bait, but there were many other creature baits that worked and lizards worked good too.

I was at a tournament once, 2002 at the Lake of the Ozarks - Millstone resort - where over night, thieves hit a whole row of bass boats moored over night in their covered dock. I lost half a dozen or so rods & reels - value well over $1000. Insurance didn't cover it because they weren't "locked up" even though when the sold me the insurance it was common knowledge that my boat didn't have any lockable storage. Lesson learned - several guys lost a lot more than I did. Thieves never were found. Now I am very careful were I leave my boat in the water - for the most part I don't. All gear gets locked up in the fishing truck if I'm at a motel.

Demonic Forrest - son, according to your profile, you are 19 years old and yet you can see into the future so precisely to know that you will never own a boat. I wish I had such a clarity of vision when I was 19. Of course, saying you are never going to own a boat is an easy prophecy to fulfill - all you got to do is never buy one - it really doesn't have anything to do with how much money you might or might not make in the future. So much for the rant - buy it was only one paragraph, on to the topic. In my opinion, dock owners don't own the water, just that simple, in Missouri anyhow, in the Corps of Engineers lakes, the corps is doing them a favor issuing a permit to let them h ave a dock on the water. I'm not sure exactly how it works on LOZ, which is basically a power plant lake. Who knows how many docks there are on LOZ - dozens of thousands, certainly. For the most part, I deal with this issue by fishing on lakes that don't have docks.

I wish I could like wheat beers, but I have "leakage issues" when I drink a wheat beer. Don't have that issue with other kinds of beer. My current favorite summer beer is Shiner Ruby Redbird. O'Dell's Looseleaf American Session Ale is pretty good. So is their St. Lupulin. Boulevard's newer IPA - Pop-up IPA is a so called "session" IPA. It has a lower alcohol content and so you can drink several without getting totally blitzed. Boulevard's KC Pils generally has a spot in my fridge. This spring & early summer I've tried several other local & regional craft beers. Not a big fan of any of the Schaffly products out of St. Louis. There is a craft brewery out of St. Geneive, MO that produces a very average pale ale. Something in their hops/ malt ratio is just off, can't really put a finger on it other than that. There is a craft brewery in Weston, MO. Same thing, very average beer - their Drop Kick Ale has an "off" taste that I can't identify other than that. This spring, the Weston craft brewery came ou† with a "Chili beer" hops & japalenos. I don't have words to describe how rank this stuff is. However, if I ever wanted to steal land from Indians using firewater, I'd bring a few cases of this stuff to the party. I haven't tried any of the Kansas micro-brews that are readily available in the KC metro area. I just think that if you are a craft brewer in the KC Metro area, it is just hard t compete with Boulevard. In the past 10 years, they have went from a small, 6 or 7 person operation to where, currently, they sponsor the Royals post game show. That takes some disposable income and a large ad budget to accomplish that. If I want an import, I prefer Pilsner-Urquell to Heineken. Just to report some recent good fortune, a new liquor store has just opened up, 1/2 mile outside of the city limits of the small town I live near. They don't carry a great selection of beers yet, but they are very good about special orders - as long as you get at least a case. They beat everyone in KC's price by $5 on a case of Ruby Redbird. Your bring in you cooler and fill it up with beer and they will ice it down for free. If you need more ice - it is a buck a bag - around 8 lbs per bag. A good deal. I hope they stay in business. I hope the small town doesn't try to extend their city limits a half a mile north.

To expect any discipline action from "Free Shoes" University is expecting too much.

If you are going to spend the money to take a 10 day fishing trip, don't skimp on essentials. Me, I'd be going with new line. I would bring several replacement spools of line as well, just in case. If you are going with a bunch of guys, consider going in together and buying a bulk spool of braid, it is a lot cheaper that way, but a higher initial investment. The same advice goes for the rest of your gear. Make sure all your reels are in good shape. Leave all the used/dull hooks at home. Be certain about the sharpness of the hooks on your hard baits. If you are going 1000 KM NW, there will probably be toothy fish present. I'd spend some money on steel leader material. It is always better to buy the leader material and make your own custom leaders than it is to buy generic over the counter steel leaders. If it is ultra clear water, you might want to go with 80 or 100 lb Fluorocarbon leaders than steel - I don't know - your call. If there is a way to call ahead and get a very clear idea of what kind of gear is necessary, I'd do that. I'm not saying that you've got to go out and buy all new gear - although the bait monkey would love you for a while if you did, but I am saying that you should make every effort to have the right gear for the job. You are going to need Walleye gear - Pike gear and perch gear. This isn't necessarily all the same gear. Don't short change yourself. How does that old timey phrase go, ? "Don't be penny wise and pound foolish" Back to your line question, if there is ANY question about the quality of your line, you should replace it - OR - start working right now on your "one that got away" story.

I've got the 7' Kistler jig & frog rod. I think it is a good rod. I paid way less than $220 for it, but that was several years ago, Kistler was being closed out at the KCK Cabelas. $220 will get you a top of the line St Croix, won't it? Outside of a top of the line Loomis, you've got a bunch of brands to choose from. Go to the tackle store and start trying them out. I don't know about you, but I can't buy a rod from a catalog unless I'm buying a known commodity, i.e. a copy of one I've already got. I've got to touch it and feel it prior to buying it.

Currently, I'm throwing a jika rig instead of any other 3 rigs you mentioned. This time of year I am spending most of my time fishing main lake points where the bottom intersects with the thermocline. So far for me this year, that has been in 10 to 16 feet of water, where I fish. I spend a little bit of time every fishing trip looking shallow or suspended, but so far this summer, all of my better fish have happened on the bottom, close to but not in the deep weed line, within a couple of feet of the thermocline.

Flip tail worm, maybe? Maybe some discontinued Gambler product. I don't know. I've seen woms that were segmented like that one before, but I can't place the name of it right now.

Over the years, I've had modest success with buzz baits, at best. That being said, what success I've had with them involved working them at what I'd call a moderate pace, nether as slow as I could go or as fast. With that in mind, if cover/vegetation allows it, I think that Pop-R style bait is always a better choice over a buzz bait for surface action. JMO

I've found that storing hooks loose, even in boxes, is asking for it, eventually. Sooner or later, you will drop of spill the box and the hooks go everywhere. My current storage solution for hooks is to keep them in their respective packages and organized by category in separate clear plastic zipper bags that I found the the school supplies section at Walmart. Weedless wacky hooks go in one bag, Texas rig hooks go in another bag, drop shot hooks - another bag, Tx rig senko hooks - another bag and so on. The bags are all plainly labeled (from & back) They store relatively flat and take up a little less space than boxes do. I take the organization one step further and store all hooks, regular weights, specialty weights, drop shot weights, and sundry other items in their own soft side tackle bag. The bag is a different color than all my other soft side tackle bags so it is easy to identify when I am rummaging around in my boat or fishing truck. Hope this helps, of course if I was a bank fisherman I'd have a different system, starting with not carrying 50+ different styles of hooks. As has been mentioned previously in other tackle storage threads, there isn't any end to how nuts you can go with it. Find something that works for you and go with it until you find something better - and there is always something better out there.

"A period of tough fishing where nobody but you can seem to catch anything . . . " I've never been in that situation. I'll bet it feels cool. Should that ever happen, I will be sure to let you know how I behave.

I thnk that when the subject is lure retrievers, you need them both, i.e. a hound dog type that you can drop and an extendable pole type. I think that these tools are necessary equipment, that you make room for in your boat, like a fire extinguisher and throwable flotation. My retrieval tools have saved me probably hundreds of dollars of gear over the years.

Way before I bought my first boat I had access to waters ( rich people 's private estates) where boats were kept on the small lakes year round. This is where I learned how to row, act in a boat and fish from a boat. Early 30's I got a small pond boat and this let me fish many more smaller public waters where boats weren't available to borrow. In my early 40's I got a MUCH better small pond boat - a Water Buster Trophy. That company, as far a I know went out of business, but at the time, they were the top of the line pond boat. In my early 50's I upgraded to an 18' Lowe and that's what I have now. It is one of those things where I would like to have a better/bigger boat, but my current boat is paid for so I don't know when or if I'll get another one. I know that if I go any bigger, storage will become an issue. Right now I can pull my boat and truck into my fishing shed - plug it in and lock the door. If I go to a bigger boat I don't have the room in my current fishing shed to do that.

I think that finesse fishing is more about the attitude than about gear. It had to do with how you approach any particular fishing situation. Some bait and techniques lend themselves more to a finesse approach than others. For instance, throwing a half ounce jig/pork combo into a brush pile bouncing it once or twice, moving on is a classic power approach. Take that same combo, throw it into the same brush pile, let it sit more than a moment or two, gradually work it through the brush pile. Than becomes a more fines approach. Take the same brush pile, similar gear, except you're using something that will throw a 3/16 slider head and a 4" paddle tail worm, maybe 10 lb abrazx or some line like that. This is more of a finesse approach. To me, if you're moving the bait pretty quickly it becomes more of a power approach. A common approach down at Table Rock - throw a 3/4 oz football head jig and slowly and carefully drag it down a drop off. To me that is a finesse approach. You pretty much got to use 17 or 20 lb line, minimum or you will snap off your jig on the cast every other throw or so. Lots of guys use a braid/fluorocarbon leader for this technique - pound test mainly involves each individual fisherman's judgement. You can make the same analogy with heavier or lighter braid as you can with fluorocarbon lines. So the easy answer to you question is - maybe - to me it depends more on the presentation attitude rather than the gear.

Flyfisher - are you humor challenged? Lighten up already - my post was a joke. If you couldn't see the humor in it, well, I don't know - tough I guess. All jokes don't work for everyone.

Not to throw gas on any fire here, but if you can come by some VERY compromising photos or your mom or day, you will probably find their consent easier to come by. Historically, compromising information has been used to achieve consent in a wide variety of situations. Achieving parental consent can be a challenge - put your mind on it.

I like Timber Tigers. They come in several different sizes, I use them all depending on what depth I want to fish. Most of the the I use their Texas Shad color. It is a whitish/silver grey bait with a rose tint on the sides and a greenish dark stripe along the top. For their DC2 - which is similar to a Mann's Minus 1, I like their translucent brown color - no particular reason except that it works for me. If the Texas Shad color isn't working or if I want to fool around with color, in clearer water situations I will use different bait fish colored lures. In murkier waters, I will use a more opaque color. Sunny days, I will use a more shiny color. Cloudy days I'll use a more opaque color. My most successful muddy water color (secchi disc reading of a foot or less) has been a pearly chartreuse with a fairly wide purple stripe down the back. My preference for Timber Tigers has to do with how they maneuver through brush and timber better than any other crank I've found. When the situation calls for square bills, I still throw Timber Tigers. The most versatile one in the Timber Tiger line is the DC8 - which will still get down to 6 feet or so on the 17 or 20 lb line I generally throw it on. If you want a smaller profile - the DC5 works well. If you are going to stay shallower than 4 feet and want a wide wobble and thump, go with the DC4. I won a bunch of square bills - burt the Timber Tiger gets the start 95% of the time. Same for diving cranks - I have a bunch of different brands but95% of the the it is a DC13 or DC16 that gets thrown first. My primary exception to this rule is when I feel the need to fish a deeper lake point that I'm pretty sure hasn't any brush on it, then a DD22 thrown on 10 lb line gets the nod.

Me, If I were in that situation I'd throw a weightless Tx rigged senko or senko imitator. I might use a 3/32 lead nail weight stuck into the tail. If that didn't work, I'd try a different color. If that didn't work, I'd try another different color. If you're bank fish in in the summertime, I think the tx rigged senko is the way to go. I don't know that I'd mess with anything else, maybe something top water - maybe.

I've got a 7'9" Fenwick AETOS Heavy action rod that works great for baits in the 1 to 4 oz weight range. I use mine mostly for throwing A rigs. I used to use it for frogs also, but now I'm trying a 7' heavy action rod for frogs, just for storage reasons. Jury is still out on that rig change.

I like to have a beer or two when I'm fishing. I put empties in the live well. Sometimes during a slow day, I need to slow down and consider my fishing options. A barley pop helps.