Fishes in trees

Falcon makes that rod to fish for peacock bass in the Amazon river. As Jaderose suggests it is very applicable for any close quarters situation that might require a heavier action rod. He suggested frogging & swim baits. If I had that rod, I'd probably use it for big spinner baits, or in-line spinners. The way I see it you've got yourself a $65 muskie/pike rod. Don't know if you've priced decent muskie & pike rods lately, but you got a deal. Send it back if you must, but I wouldn't. Put a Calcutta on that rod and you'll have a rig that I don't think any fish in America could tear up - maybe an alligator gar or a sturgeon, if they were motivated. If you're really really really stuck for money and you really want than other rod, then send it back. Either way, I'd call Amazon and tell them what happened. They might suprise you.

Casting parallel to the bank from a boat makes sense, in that it is easier to keep your bait at a constant depth, more or less. The same reason implies that paralleling the shore from the bank might make that more difficult. Back in the day when I was a bank fisherman, I had a pair of hip boots, so I could get into the water a little bit. Given the things that could be near you in Florida waters (alligators, pythons, juvenile bull sharks, etc) I don't think you could pay me to wade in Florida. When I was a bank fisherman, I often carried a machete, so that I could widen the casting lanes a little bit. I would generally throw at a 45 degree angle off the bank. Don't get me wrong, I'd cast straight out also, but more hits would happen casting at a degree off the bank. You didn't mention what kind of spinning gear you threw. I remember the first season I got a decent graphite rod, my catch rate literally tripled - and I didn't really suck in years prior. I'd recommend a gear upgrade. Bank fishing, something between 6'6" and 7' something, on the medium side of medium heavy. All too often, I see younger anglers handicapped by gear that their folks think is "good enough" - and it really isn't. The title of this post was " casting techniques". If you're going to bank fish, it really helps to know them all. There is a time & place for overhead casting. There is also a time & place for side arm casts, roll casts, back handed casts, side arm skip casts, back hand skip casts and I'm sure I'm forgetting some. When I got my first decent graphite rod and I was still bank bound, I'd tell myself I was going out for a few hours of casting practice and any fish that I caught were secondary. I got pretty good with all the aforementioned casts pretty quick. Then I could get back to fishing, thinking about where the fish were or weren't, because my casting game was solid and most of the time I could put my bait where I wanted to.

It is a dilemma to bu sure. I have an 18' Lowe. I weigh 215 more or less (221 last doctor visit) Another passenger about my size or lighter has very little effect on driving the boat with the big motor or fishing with the trolling motor. I have one buddy who is 6' 350 lbs more or less. He can't fish with me. Standing on the back deck, the trolling motor steer all wonky. He can't stand for long. The last time he sat in the pedestal chair, I was worried for the chair. 2 big guys in a Jon boat? I'd be concerned in anything less than an 18 footer and even then I'd recommend a life vest that you KNOW will float you and that you KNOW won't slip off if you hit the water unexpectedly. Also you'll want some power to move you around. A 24 volt 80 lb thrust minimum. Any 12 volt trolling motor, even the largest one made, is going to be slow and not quickly responsive in turns. Just more stuff to think about. Several years ago I was fishing in a relatively local stump filled conservation lake, came into a cove under trolling motor power, came across 3 guys high centered on a stump. They were all bigger than me. They were in a 16 or 14 foot Jon boat and they were STUCK. Jon boat has a 10 horse Evinrude. (In this lake, anything over 10 horse must be operated at wake only speed). I guess these guys wanted to go fast, I don't know. Anyway they had swung into the cove, under power and got high centered. Trying to spin off using the 10 horse, they struck a different stump, sheared the pin and the prop was currently at the bottom of the lake. They had a 12 volt Shakespeare trolling motor. Didn't know what was wrong with the battery, in their own words - "We charged it last week and it worked fine." I had trouble keeping a straight face, but I knew if I was stuck like that I'd want someone to try to help me if they could, so I had to help. Their first idea was to throw me a rope and have me pull them off the stump. OK. "We'll just hold on to the rope". Ok, I thought - bad idea, but ok. Needless to say the guy wisely turned loose of the rope before getting pulled out of the boat and was before the boat got pulled off the stump. We should tie to the boat, I told them. Ok - they tied the rope to a mooring cleat. Another bad idea - the cleat broke. Tying to the front of the boat wasn't doable - couldn't reach it. Finally tying to the rings where you'd strap the back of the boat to the trailer worked - I got them off the stump. They were 3/4 mile from the launch ramp and couldn't make any headway against the wind with their tiny trolling motor, so I had to drag them - transom first, against the wind back to the launch cove. They got soaked. There just wasn't any place to tie to the front of the boat that anyone could reach. Oh, yeah, there WAS a boat cleat but it got broke pulling them off the stump. Got them to the bank of the launch cove, right next to the ramp and said - See you later - I'm going fishing, good luck. In the chit chat before I left the cove, they just couldn't understand why the trolling motor would 't pull them. They genuinely believed that trolling motor batteries recharged themselves over time - just like car batteries do. Anyway - rest of the story - never saw those guys again, never saw their truck in the parking lot, nothing. Maybe they learned something - maybe they didn't. Point of the story is that heavy guys in Jon boats need to be prepared for the unexpected. Don't count on me - I only fish that lake every other week or so - in decent weather, so I might not be around.

I've ridden in a 19' Express - great boat. Better than my 19 year old 18' Lowe. Never ridden in a Ranger metal boat - the guys who I've met who had them liked them. For me it would come down to which dealer did I like better. Who is the closest? Who has the best reputation for maintenance, service after the sale, stuff like that?

Check out the Bac Rack - a product of Central Coast bass fishing.com. They ain't cheap but they work great.

I have several spinning rigs in that category. I have a 7' Fenwick HMG MH - ex fast tip spinning rod. I forget the weight rating on it right now, but it is the same as the same rod in bait casting form. I have a different Fenwick HMX that is very similar. I pretty much bought that as a back up when I ran across it in a close out bucket. Originally I bought the rod in self defense because fishing BFL as a co-angler I was tired of getting back boated and with the spinning rod/braid & leader combo, I had the casting distance I needed, even when the boater was swinging the rear of the boat away from the target. Bait of choice at that time was a 5/16 oz Eakins jig. I'd bring the spinning rig on lakes that were known for being windy because it was just easier. At the time, bait casting gear and windy lakes and my thumb weren't really compatible. I have a 6'11" Kistler spinning rod ( the blue one - old Argon series?). Anyway, it says MH on the rod, but it isn't MH at all. I'd call it a medium or maybe a medium light. From the handle up the rod shaft, 4 feet or so, it has quite a bit of backbone, then it gets pretty tippy. With my 7' Fenwick HMG, I can boat flip a 15 or 16 inch fish no problem, but I don't think I would try that with the 6'11 Kistler. Currently I have a small spinning reel, probably a Pflueger, spooled with 10 lb braid on the Kistler rod and I use it to throw smaller balsa cranks, like Shad Raps or similar size/weight baits

I wasn't real pleased when I got my Shimano Nasci home and found out that it didn't have an anti-reverse switch on it. I don't often back reel, but I like having that option. Not a fan of having to make a decision on how to set the drag on the reel without the option of back reeling when you feel you have to. Other than that it is perfectly fine reel, no performance issues. The only reason I bought the reel was my dealer was out of the Spirex and this reel was relatively close price wise, so he recommended it. I didn't take it out of the box - I opened the box, just to make sure it contained a reel. I played with the display model for a few moments. He didn't mention ( or forgot) that the reel didn't have anti-reverse and I didn't ask. I thought anti- reverse was a given on all reels. Silly me.

I think that this is a bait that you keep moving. I think it is possible to go too fast. I think that it is possible to go too slow. The videos that I've seen of Tommy Biffle using this bait showed him keeping it moving ON the bottom. That is the retrieve I've had success with. My personal best Truman Lake fish (22" - would have been 6 something had I weighed it) came using this "keep it moving" cadence. I was using a 5-1 reel and I wasn't cranking anywhere close to top speed.

Once upon a time I had a bottle of that stuff. I used it to marinate different soft plastics in. Didn't seem to do anything bad to the plastics. The baits that I tried were an off brand I got in Walmart, that had a very "plast-icky" smell/stench when you first opened the bag. The actual baits were a trick worm knock off and a lizard knock off. The lizards might have been Gene Larew factory seconds. It is a 4 oz bottle, I put in maybe a quarter to half ounce, split between 2 bags. The next time I went fishing with those baits I got bit and not too long after that the bags got used up. Might be interesting to see what that stuff would do with quality soft plastics, stuff that wasn't warped, factory second stuff. At this moment, no clue what happened to the rest of the bottle. I'm not real good about throwing stuff away, so it is probably in the fishing shed some where.

Unless the older ci4's were outright malfunctioning, I would have kept & used them. I haven't drank the high dollar spinning reel Kool-aid yet, so I'm pretty ignorant about reels in the $150+ range. I have several mid range cost wise spinning reels - Pflueger, Diawa & Shimano, mostly I the 1000 or 2000 size and they have all worked properly with no issues. I really like my Spirex rear drag 1000 size reel to throw wacky senkos with. I like the lever operated "Fighting drag" feature, where you can instantly tighten your drag all the way down and then instantly back it off if you want to. Want until I turn away to snicker, but for throwing jerk baits, I have an older US Reel 230 Supercaster. It has the extra large spool. It wasn't manufactured to the tightest tolerances and is kind of herky/jerky on the retrieve. The anti-reverse backs up a quarter of an inch or so before it engages. All things you don't want on a reel - BUT it is very light weight and throws a pointer farther than any other spinning reel I've got so I just deal with it. It came with extra spools and I have issues with wind knots when I'm throwing 10 lb braid, so that is another plus - when the wind knots happen, just put on another spool.

Different reels for different purposes. I have a 7'5" Kistler Pitching Stick (the blue telescopic one) that is on the heavy side of MH. I use this rod for my bubba drop shot fishing. I've got an older ( purchased 2004-2005 ? maybe probably) 50 size Calcutta Round reel. It handles 20 lb Abrazx fine. You're never really casting, more often just an underhand pitch, 30 feet max. I had this reel cleaned & tuned last winter and it is sweet. Other reels in the suitable for heavy action rigs are a Curado 300 ( A-rigs & bit swim baits ) This reel really doesn't see alot of use, but at the time I thought I wanted one and they were hard to come by and when I saw it in Cabelas shortly after the BPS purchase, I just bought it, more or less on a whim. The reel I use all the time for throwing frogs in the slop, something I'll do several times each summer, is a Calcutta TEGT ( the 11 ball bearing model ). This used to be my worm/jig fishing reel but it is pretty heavy so for worms & jigs I went to a reel that weighed less. But for throwing frogs, this reel is great. It handles 65 lb braid great, throws as far as I need and I'm pretty sure any rod will break before the reel does. I'm pretty sure other companies make reels that would work for heavy action rods, but I wouldn't know because for the most part I'm a Shimano guy.

To pull a line out of context from Log Catcher's post . . .. "I have more than I need . . ." What kind of talk is that? There is a whole industry out there that is counting on fishermen in general and bass fishing fanatics in particular, to support them. The last time I went more than a week without walking into a fishing store, or walking down the aisle of fishing gear at Walmart, was when I quarantined. If I walk into a fishing store, more often than not I end up buying something. Some times it is something tangental to fishing ( last time it was merino wool long underwear ), more often than not it is artificial bait of some sort, often soft plastics. There is a simple question that I ask myself, "Is there a chance that this bait will help me catch more fish?" If the answer is maybe - probably, I'll generally buy it. Every season I start out with a more or less empty new bait box and buy the end of the year, that box is stuffed.

It is only genius if it works. I acquired this notion after a few IPA's, sorting through tackle in the fishing shed with the stereo blasting. I forget if I was listening to the old Who's Next CD, or The Flying Burrito Brothers or Jr Walker & the All Stars. The one fishing buddy I've mentioned this to thinks it is a dumb idea, because he thinks the pre- rigged swim baits aren't good baits. My fishing buddy doesn't think much of my CD choices either. He likes 2 kinds of music - Country and Western. He doesn't know what to think when I put on Bib Wills (or the Bob Wills cover band - Asleep at the Wheel) Time will tell. If you try it before I do, evaluate and post your results.

Like jbsoonerfan, I also carry a number of rigs, ready to go when I leave the dock. To say that my boat looks like a Bass Pro tackle aisle would be incorrect. Most of the tackle aisles in BPS that I've been in have been more or less organized. In my situation, the level of organization is extremely variable. Many of the handles of my rods are wrapped with different colors of different brands of rod wraps, to make it a little easier when I'm looking down to guess which rig I need to grab next. Also the BPS tackle aisle is full of new stuff - again not the case in my boat. Very occasionally a new rod will make the starting team, but the vast majority of rods are 3 to 20 years old. Same with the reels. Not a fan of snaps or swivels, I have some and will use them if they are absolutely necessary, never found snaps to be necessary. (With my stubby arthritic fingers, it is easier to tie a knot than it is to try to open & close that tiny little snap). Swivels sometimes help on rigs that tend to spin. My opinion on swivels is that if you're going to use swivels, get good ball bearing ones and leave the cheaper barrels swivels on the shelf for other guys to buy. *** Exception to the rule*** I have a couple of boxes on in-line spinners, lighter ones for times when I run into schooling white bass and a larger set of knock off Panther Martins 3/8 oz ( the ones where the blade isn't mounted on a clevis, instead its design lets is spin on the shaft) and some heavier Mepps. I put an appropriate size ball bearing swivel on each one of these baits, a good split ring tool helps here, and I just tie to the split ring on the other end. Tackle companies haven heard my earnest plea to include a ball bearing swivel in the in-line spinner packaging.

I don't throw the A-rig all that much, however I've found that pretty much all jig head keepers will mess up a soft plastic bait if you let it. My answer to the issue is super glue. I try to rig the baits real straight and I put a dab of super blue at the nose and on the back where the hook exits the bait. Seems to help some. Next year I'm going to try some of those paddle tail or curly tail swim baits where the hook/weight comes molded into the baits. I think Storm makes some. That might help some, I'll find out the first fishing trip or two this spring.

I double dog dare you to try this and not mention it again until next June, when you've fished it enough to give an honest opinion.

In a non- tournament situation, I more or less know that I'm stopping for food on the way home. So, this means that I'm going to get some good Mexican or asian, or BBQ or steak & potatoes & vegetables on the way home. In this situation , I'm probably going to pack some barley pop. Just enough to generate a minor buzz. I bring more than I'm going to need because I might run into a buddy on the lake, or someone who might become my newest buddy. In that case, extra barley pops are helpful - just to generate more chit-chat, if nothing else. Should you run into me on your favorite lake, and choose to offer a lo-cal, lower alcohol barley pop, or should you run into me and we be chit chatting on the lake, some options might be : Founders All Day IPA, Bell's Light Hearted Ale, O'Dell's Drumroll ( a hazy pale ale ), Martin City Easy Way IPA, O'Dells Good Behavior ( a crushable IPA ) , Firestone/Walker Flyjack. These options are more or less readily available in my neighborhood. Your neighborhood might vary.

How important is food to you AND how much time do you want to take away from fishing to eat? The very first BFL tournament I fished I brought a cooler full of sandwiches, water, trail mix bars, candy bars, lots of stuff and I thought I'd be a nice guy and bring enough to share with my boater. He knew I was inexperienced ( because I told him ) and he told me that I must be a great fisherman because I was ok with taking fishing time to eat. Over the next 8 hours, he might have eaten a trail mix bar when we were running somewhere, but it was Lake of the Ozark in the early spring and it was windy and I was more comfortable when he had 2 hands on the wheel. Seriously though , it is your energy level and you need to figure out how much energy you need to get through the day. Fishing when you're hungry and don't have any food is a drag and I don't recommend that. After a couple seasons of experimenting and making the requisite number of missteps and outright mistakes, I settled on meat sticks, energy bars and water, mostly probably a thermos of coffee. Early spring I didn't all that much water, maybe 1 or 2 or 3 bottles. Late Spring and into summer though it is easy to get dehydrated, I make myself drink at least a bottle an hour and you'll feel better and have more energy if you do 2 or 3 bottles per hour. At least that was my experience. I never did think that soda pop was a good idea, so I never did bring any. Ice tea isn't a bad idea, but water hydrates you better. The whole food/ managing & maintaining your energy level is part of the learning curve in tournament fishing. A buddy of mine prefers neatly made pbj sandwiches, cut into quarters, so they don't take long to eat. I learned to cut up my beef sticks into bite size pieces so that I could chew and fish at the same time and didn't have to hold on to the uneaten jerky in my hand. If you're diabetic ( type 1 or 2 ) or pre-diabetic, then energy management becomes a little more involved. Ask a doctor or dietician at that point. As a type 2 myself, I know I can't go all protein and no carbs and I can't go the other way, all carbs & no protein. Like I said, meat sticks ( cut up into bite size pieces ) , trail mix bars & water worked for me.

Oh, I think I get it, you mean soft plastics with a molded in hook slot, right? "Split bodies" threw me for a second. I like tail weighted hooks for these baits. I like hooks with the hitch hiker spring to hold in the nose better than I like tx rigging the hook eye next to the bait. Most of the tail weighted ones I've seen are an extra large gap hook. The hook I choose most of the time is the VMC Drop Dead Weighted Hook. ( page 275, 2020 Bass Pro Master Catalog, Item #J.). I've tried nose hooking this style of bait, with mixed results. I think the drop dead weighted hook works better for me. As yo look around in this section of the master catalog, there are a few other similar style hooks and I've tried most of them and they all work ok. I like the VMC one best. Most likely that is because I have a bunch of them that I got on close out at Walmart, when in the tackle department they let an unmotivated GED type loose with a $1.00 price sticker gun. This happened several years ago and I believe I've got a few more years supply left.

You've made a decent start to your bottom contact bait technique research. Don't stop now AND don't let your wallet stop you. You'll find that your life will be a little easier if you get a different rig for each method. (Plus a back up). According to your list, that will be 26 rigs. Sure, there is some overlap between different bait presentations, but you don't want to confuse the rig. Let your rod/reel/line combo know that you expect it to be a worm rod/ jig rod/ ned rig - whatever. Like I mentioned, don't confuse them. As to the question of "Which rig do you select?" - I have a surefire method for technique selection. Ask yourself the question, "How do I feel like catching fish today?" and start throwing that. n Do you want to throw spinning gear or bait casting gear? In my case, the wind makes somewhat of a difference which I choose. If that doesn't work, pick a different rig that you want to catch fish on. Repeat until something works. On the few Conservation department lakes that I regularly fish, I generally start fishing soft plastics by pitching at objects. I'll generally lead off with some brand of stick bait - 3/16 tungsten weight - 3/0 worm hook and a medium weight fluorocarbon like 15 lb Abrazx. If it is a little windier, I'll use basically the same rig with a quarter ounce or 5/16 tungsten, more likely a crawfish imitator than a stick bait. If I ain't getting bit I seldom stick with the same approach more than 15 minutes. Remember, that should you get the bottom contact baits kinda figured out, there is a whole different world of reaction baits ( and there is some overlap there )

I guess, since 1980, I am a couple of thousand dollars into the search for the perfect spinner bait rod. The difference between a rod that "works" for spinnerbaits and one that is perfect for spinner baits is hard to describe, but I'm pretty sure I'll know it when I find it. It needs to have plenty of backbone to set the hook and be tippy enough that it will throw baits as far as I want with little effort. And I like a handle long enough that I can cast 2 handed, but light enough that I don't have to if I don't feel like it. Back in the 80's, when Berkley Lightning Rods were premium rods, Berkley made a 5'9" MH rod with a thick straight handle. This rod threw spinnerbaits great for me and I was extremely sad when it got stolen. I know back in the 80's many guys used pistol grip rods for spinner baits, and I had a few at various points in my life but I never liked that option. Fast forward to the mid- 90's, I met an All Star rod salesman and I got to like the All Star Zell Rowland Special spinner bait rod. It was 6'8" I think, MH with a lot more tip than the All Star worm rod. I went through my rod breaking period then and I went through several of them because of operator error. Then All Star got sold to Shakespeare and the rod quality went bad. Mid 2000's I came across a Fenwick AETOS 6'8". Fenwick described the rod as a shorter jig rod, but it worked good for spinner baits for me and that is what I'm currently using most of the time. A couple of years ago I was in Academy sports and in their close out bucket there was an All Star rod that was VERY similar to the mid 90's Zell Rowland Special. There were 3 of them ay $35 per hit, so I bought them, and they work ok. The down side to these rods are that they are 6'10"where the older All Stars were a little shorter and, oh yeah, they are purple and I 'm not big on colored rods, but they do work. I'm always on the look out for the perfect spinner bait rod, maybe some day I'll find it.

My Calcutta round reels ( I have 8 of them ) are all around 20 years old now, more or less. I think that they work good for throwing reaction baits. I used to use them for everything, but as I got older I've decided that I like lighter weight reels for throwing worm and pitching soft plastics to objects. I don't think that you can go wrong using a Calcutta for throwing cranks.

You're in Texas. Academy Sports has their headquarters in Texas. I think it is a good bet that there are one or two, maybe more Academy Sports stores in Texas. I understand that Texas is a relatively big place and there might not be any close to you, but if there are, go there and look. I've got a couple of their H2O house brand rods that I like a lot. They say on their web site that they are the exclusive distributor for All Star Rods - I have a few All Star rods that I got on sale at Academy and I like them.

Once you get down there, go to a tackle store, get something area appropriate, and keep it at your sisters house. Buy a rod tube to store it in if you have to. My thoughts on cheap fishing gear is that you get what you pay for. For the record, cheap fishing gear is not decent fishing gear on close out. From time to time there are bargains to be had in that department.