Fishes in trees

That's why there are some rods I can't have. I am phobic about buying a fishing rod without touching it and I won't do it.

For me, 14 lb Fireline Crystal with a shortish fluorocarbon leader (2 foot or so) works for me. I line to throw jerkbaits with spinning gear, mostly so that I don't have to worry about the wind as much. When you've got your jerked down to suspending depth (4 feet or so) and you stop it, the Crystal Fireline works like a strike indicator, i.e. you will see the line move long before you feel the hit. That gives me the confidence to not move it and let it suspend for longer periods of time.

Lucky Craft isn't the only jerkbait in the world? Really? Who told you that? Who else makes them? Oh yeah, now that I think about it, I have heard whispers that there are others. I have a few pals that speak highly of the Vision 110. Personally, I can't speak to that.

I think that you had to take his class to get that study material. I know that I haven't found it anywhere and I have looked.

The drop shot hook that works best for me so far is the Gamakatsu wicked wacky hook, with the little tube glued to the hook shank. Threading the line through that little tube always keeps the hook aligned right. I've got all the sizes that they offer, 1/0 through 5/0 but I seem to use the 2/0 the most.

I went to 0rings.com and long story short, several phone calls later I found a commercial o ring distributor who was willing to sell me a minimum order. Ten bucks got me 1000 of them. I now have a lifetime supply of o-rings. For Senkos, the correct size is 3/8 OD ( outside diameter) and 1/4 ID (inside diameter). That size fits snug but not so tight that it is a pain to put them on the bait.

Good luck. I've got a Calcutta 50 I bought specifically for drop shooting with light line on a casting rod and it will handle 8 lb fluorocarbon ok, but when you try it with 6 lb, there are more problems than it is worth. Backlashes, twist around the rods tip and so forth. In the future, should I find it necessary to drop shot with less than 8 lb, I will use spinning gear.

I think one of those 10'Pelican pond boats or something similar is a better boat than that 10'jon boat. Even before you add anything to it, it will be tippy. Check one of those boats out before you buy.

Didn't the Riverside company morph into YUM baits? I don't know where I heard that but somewhere I did. It has been a long time since I've seen any Riverside baits in Walmart and that was the only place I ever saw them. Might call Walmart home offices and talk to a tackle buyer, I don't know.

I've got a couple of these rods and I had to remove the hook holder. What a stupid place to put it. On the top of the rod, it wore a hole in my Frogg Toggs, right by my wrist. Underneath would have been ok, but where they put it was stupid. Other than that I think these rods are ok. I got them towards the end of last season and fished with them for a few months.

With my stubby little fingers, I find the snaps a pain to use. It is easier for me to tie a knot. I have went to oval split rings on some of my cranks. Folks say that the knot can get caught in the split of the split ring, well, yeah, that can happen, but if you pay attention while you are tying the knot it won't happen. JMO

Cabelas Guide Wear for cooler times - early spring & fall. Frog Toggs for late spring, summer, early fall. The Guide Wear has many pockets. I have to remember where I put stuff. Frog Toggs have no pockets.

Back when I was bank bound, swimming a grub was my last resort method. Count it down to where it is less than a foot from the bottom, but never touching and swim it back. It seems counter-intuitive, but I would move it at a pretty good clip. Every so often a reaction bite would happen.

Sure you can drop shot in shallower water. I do it frequently. You might want to "bubba up" your rig. I frequently use a flipping stick and 20 lb abrazax fluorocarbon. You might want to shorten your drop weight to less than a foot. You might want to use a heavily scented bait, I have decent luck using Gulp baits in dingy water. I use the Gamakatsu wicked wacky hooks in 2/0 or 3/0 or 4/0 and I seldom get hook hung.

I don't know about the rest of the country, but in Missouri, the tournament record of the Lucky Craft Pointer is unmatched. The spring jerkbait window isn't open that long. I'd go ahead and save my pennies for a few Lucky Craft Pointers. That being said, I hear about more and more guys each year throwing the Vision 110.

Most of the time, I'll be throwing Timber Tigers, depending on depth a DC 4 or DC5 or DC 8 of DC13 or DC16. I generally have a wiggle wart in the boat also. Yeah, I know I went over. oops.

When I was co-angling I would bring a bunch of rods & reels with me and not make the final decision on what to take until after the tournament meeting and I'd talked with my draw boater. I'm in Missouri and so different lakes would factor into that decision as well. Truman - generally dingy water I would take a more power fishing approach. Table Rock, Stockton, Bull Shoals, I'd probably go more finesse. Lake Ozarks, who knows, at any given time lots of different approaches might work. The only thing to be sure of at Lake of the Ozarks was that at some point in the day you would probably be fishing around docks. Same thing with Grand Lake in Oklahoma. Back to the point of your post, as a co-angler, carrying 2 or 3 cranking combos isn't necessarily a bad idea, just depends. I've done it. The particular situation was that one pattern that might work was deep cranks on points and another pattern that might work was shallow and semi-shallow docks toward the end of coves. One pattern calls for a deep diver and the other for a square bill of some sort. As a co-angler, make your own decisions based on the particular situation. I always felt that if I could manage 5 rods, I could manage 7. After that point, unnecessary clutter happened.

I don't fish this very often at all, but years ago, when this technique was first written about I bought a couple of float-n-fly kits, hand tied jigs, made out of "craft hair", whatever that is, from Charlie Nichols, I think. Those jigs were all 1/16. They were all slightly different colors of shad. 1 & 1/2"to 2". If you absolutely had to have a faster drop on the initial cast, you could probably go heavier, I guess. You could go as heavy as your bobber would support, I'd guess.

As long as we're on drop shot hook pointers, I used the Gamakatsu wicked wacky hooks quite a bit last season. Tie any knot you want to it and thread the tag end of the line through the tube glued to the hook shaft. It helps the hook stay aligned better and it is alot more snag free than you might think.

I like a medium or medium light rod for top water hard baits like a pop-r or sammy. If I use anything longer than a 6' rod I am slapping the rail of my boat more often than I would like. Currently, I'm using a rod that I got at Walmart over ten years ago. A Mitchell Fulcrum, 5'9" straight handle, Medium action. Prior to that rod I used a 5'6" pistol grip rod - a Lightning Rod I think - not sure. Anyway, the point of this post is that I like a shorter rod for this kind of top water lure.

That is just part of the learning curve with this technique, figuring out what is and isn't a bite. I fish a drop shot quite a bit, probably 20% of my total time on water I've got a drop shot in hand, and I have occasional days when I miss a bunch of fish. I've also had days (mostly post spawn through early fall) where drop shot has turned average days into great days. So who knows? I know that if I've decided to fish soft plastic, that is where I start. I do better on that than I do with a standard tx rigged worm, by a whole bunch. Next year, I'm going to try the braid to fluorocarbon leader thing.

I've found that what is and what ain't a decent spinner bait rod is subjective and varies a lot from person to person. I like my spinner bait rods pretty stiff, and yet a little more "tippy" than my jig rods. Years ago, I was hundreds of dollars into the search for a spinner bait rod that I "liked" rather than one where I felt I was "settling" At the time AllStar Rods (prior to their purchase by Shakespeare) made a spinner bait rod, endorsed by Zell Rowland. It is 6'8", MH with a more flexible tip than their jig/worm rods. They work good for me, I bought several of them, I still have 3 and that is what I use for spinnerbaits. If I had substantially more funding, I'd go with the Loomis spinnerbait rods. Thats just me. I have a buddy, who is probably a better spinner bait fisherman than me, at least he throws them more than I do and he prefers a more flexible, almost parabolic bend in his spinner bait rod. So, who knows? Get one and fish it, should you not like it buy a slightly different one. That is what I did.

I don't know because I've never tried this but to me, on first glance, it seems to be a great way to lose some crank baits. Part of the charm of cranks is that they move and the fish strike them out of instinct, without getting a good look at them. Slowing down to give fish a better look at them seems counter productive. But fish do hit dead sticked suspending jerk baits from time to time - allegedly - very seldom for me ( maybe once every other season), so who knows, there may be something to it.

I had the spare trailer tire mounted on trailer for a while. (A short while, a few weekly trips, actually) On further review, I decided that the absolutely safest place for the spare trailer tire was in the cargo area of my explorer. I get one or two flat tires per season and I find it easier to grab the spare out of the back rather than mess with a tire lock covered with road grime. On those rare occasions when I am driving my SUV without pulling my boat, I just leave the spare tire in the shed.

This is fishing. You can wear whatever you want when you are fishing. Ask yourself if you really want to pay to be a human billboard? Now, if it was your high school fishing team jersey, that would be a different story. There is an old saying "Don't buy the cow if the milk is free." Why would anyone - ever - compensate you in any way if you were already pimping their product for free? I don't know, but I would rethink the whole logo jersey idea.