Fishes in trees

That's a simple question. Really too simple to give a decent answer to. First - Crankbaits & jerk baits = two different bait styles. You'd use them for different situations. Second - How deep? Different styles and brands of cranks work best at varying depths, i.e. you wouldn't fish a deeper diver in square bill territory and visa versa. You need to define how deep you want to fish. Third - Water clarity - I like to have a couple of feet or so when I'm fishing jerk baits - crank baits it doesn't matter so much to me. Fourth - other conditions that may apply, i.e. weedy or not, rocky or not, timber or brush? I don't think it is just me, but with a better idea of your particular fishing parameters, you'll get a better, more refined answer.

Bottom Line was absorbed by Hummingbird several years ago. You might contact them and see if they can help. The easiest way to be certain that a unit is off is to disconnect the power source. Should you take the batteries out of the unit then you know for a fact it is off. I've got one of these old units (no clue what model # or where the manual is right now) and it seems to me that it was pretty self explanatory. What happens when you get it out on the water and play with it? As I recall the only thing that the buttons did was to switch from single mode (looking down) to dual mode (side scan & down looking). As I recall, the side scan was a pretty useless feature. Anyway, if Google isn't any help, I'd contact Hummingbird.

Every fisherman should have as many rods as he (or she) can afford. We've got a whole industry counting on us. Should every fisherman restrict their purchases to just what they needed an entire industry would collapse. Do you want that on your shoulders?

Knots are knots, you can use any knot you want with fluorocarbon. Should a knot fail, it probably has more to do with operator error in tying the knot than any inherent properties of the knot itself.

I have a Bud Erhardt crank bait rod I acquired in 89, 90,91? . . . I'm not quite sure now when I got it. 7', graphite/class composite, the old school round wrap guides. Bud Erhardt is the guy who, when Eagle Claw took all of their rod making business overseas, this guy bought all of the mandrels from Eagle Claw (for pennies on the dollar) and proceeded to teach himself how to make fishing rods, as a retirement hobby. Then he would go to different sport shows and sell what he made. This guy was ahead of his time because this rod compares favorably with any current cranking rod on the market. It has a fairly long handle on it so that 2 handed casting is relatively easy. I've used it for every kind of cranking you can imagine, mostly for throwing rattle baits. All the writing on this rod has long since worn off and the cork is looking ancient. At some point i'll have this rod refurbished, assuming I don't break it first. I got this rod at the KC Sport Show. I remember he had several of them. If I could go back in time I'd go back and buy all of them.

I've tried this light line route (8 lb or maybe 6 lb line) with several different Shimano reels. I've tried it on a Calcutta 50, a Calais, a Curado 50 E and a Calcutta 200 TEGT. It worked OK practicing outside my shop and it worked OK in pristine fishing conditions. Given average fishing conditions, i.e. a little bit of wind or more and it was a pain. Serious backlashes happened often when I tried to cast any direction other than with the wind. In the real world, you aren't always able to get decent boat position with the wind. So, I found it to be more trouble than it was worth. God made spinning tackle so that you could cast lighter lines and lures crossways and into the wind with less hassle than bait casting equipment, so you might as well use it.

I've used to for a few years now and I like it great. I don't know about under water visibility. I use 14 lb fireline and I always use a 15 or 20 lb fluorocarbon leader, anywhere from 3 feet to a food and a half. I use it on spinning gear and mostly use tx rigged weightless senko style baits or jerk baits, like a pointer or a rogue. I like how it is so easy to see above the water, when you're giving your senko slack and letting it sink on a slack line, the fire line works just like a strike indicator when you're fly fishing. You almost always have a visual indicator of a strike before you feel anything. I bought the crystal fire line weeks after it first came out on the market and just replaced that spool this summer, so what, that 3 years or so for a spool of line, maybe 4, I don't remember when it first came out.

I've never seen a buzz bait that ran totally straight. Maybe one that had counter rotating blades. Maybe one of those buzz baits that have side by side blades. It could be me though, the only time I'll throw a buzz bait is when it is a little too weedy for a popper.

Ove the years I've had a couple of the little pond boats like you've got. The easiest way to power your depth finder is with a second battery. A little lawn mower or motorcycle battery will have plenty of power to run your depth finder all day and it will last for a couple of seasons as long as you pay attention to keeping it charged between fishing trips. You can find plans to make a battery box/ depth finder mount out of plywood. It is common to see boxes like this used for ice fishing, cause that makes the unit and battery easier to tote around.

A-rig rods (like all other technique specific rods for the most part) are a matter of personal preference, and personal preference is based on experience. Pick one, try it for a while and if you don't like it try something else. To me, unless you're going to throw A-rigs around 3/4 ounce more or less, I don't think a cranking rod will work real well. I'd recommend some sort of swim bait rod rated to handle weights of 2 to 5 ounces or so. A couple of years ago, I got a great deal on a couple of Fenwick Technica AV Swim Bait rods (7'9", rated as MH) so that is what I started fishing swim baits with. Going through my collection of old rods, I found an early 90's era Team Diawa Muskie rod. Similar action, only its 7' long, so it fits in by boat and truck better. I haven't noticed any vast difference in casting distance, but distance casting skill is only one of the many fishing skills that I suck at. I'd say look around and see what other guys in your neighborhood are using and that's a place to start. Now about reels. Currently I'm using a 7 ball bearing Calcutta. 200 GTB I think. As soon as I get a spare $250 I'm going to get a Curado 300 E or maybe the inshore version which is a little faster. About line . . . I'm happy using 65 lb braid, should I get a different reel I might upgrade to 80 or so braid. JMO

I have a few sets of the Cabelas Guidewear - long sleeve shirts & sorts. Liight green & tan are my favorites. I used to wear short sleeves, but I'm finding that sun burn is a pain, and with long sleeves you can go lighter on the sun screen. For spring & fall fishing, I'll wear different weights of long underwear under the shirt & sorts. In the links section, under tackle dealers there is a company called Aqua Design. As soon as I get my weight somewhat stabilized and get a few hundred spare dollars in my pocket, I'm going to get a couple of their fishing camp suits. Check it out, they have a really neat fishing camo pattern - kind of looks like old hippie tie dye, only not in bright colors.

I don't like fiberglass rods because them are heavy compared to graphite. I think that if I fished180 days or so a year and possessed finely tuned reflexes, then the slower action of a fiberglass rod might help. But I don't. It is a challenge for me to get out once a week in season ( March through November for me). I think that a graphite rod gives me better feel and it is lighter so I can fish with it longer.

For topwaters, i.e. pop-r & spooks it seems I like a much shorter rod than others have recommended here. Currently I'm using a 5'9" Walmart close out special. That makes it much easier for me to work baits with the rod tip down. I would use a 5 1/2' pistol grip rod, except after 20 minutes or so it makes my wrist ache.

It isn't unusual for me to use 15 or 20 different combos in a day of fishing.

I think I've got a couple of bags around somewhere. If its the bait I'm thinking of, it is made to be fished wacky style, it kind of looks like a flattened out sluggo. I think it pre-dated the senko by a few years. I think it was made by Riverside. These days, I think a wacky rigged senko or an unweighted tx rig is a better bait.

I'd say talk to some cat guys. They argue about bait casting gear versus spinning gear all the time. I don't thing there is a correct answer. Just use what you got and upgrade should you run into fish that start tearing up your gear. The only guy I personally know who fishes the Missouri river for big cats a lot uses heavy duty spinning gear. He has to get to some pretty gnarly spots and says the spinning gear makes casting a little bit easier once you get there. He has an impressive collection of cracked and busted 12'to 14' surf rods. I know you wouldn't use that stuff for Muskies, for the most part. Sturgeon?. . I don't know a thing about sturgeon fishing. Carp, I don't know, I don't think heavy duty spinning is the way to go for carp. Something that might help, a few years ago In-fisherman magazine ran a few articles about gearing up for carp, going into their archives would be a place to start. I know that serious carp fishermen can get just as nuts or even more nuts that bass fishermen about their equipment.

Back when I was a bush hippie, I ate fish quite a bit. I also had access to very clean, very private lakes that were kind of stunted and I was strongly encouraged to keep any bass under 12". An average day at this lake was 20 to 30 around this size. So I can't speak to eating keeper sized bass cause I never caught any. That being said, I had a couple of recipes that worked really well. 1 - Zebbie's Tempura mix. Take 1 bag of Zebbie and 1 cold beer and mix. Fry the small filets 2 or 3 at a time in your wok. 2 - Boy scout style, similar to the different tin foil recipes described earlier on this thread. It was seldom the same twice but the general idea was to take vegetables, fish filets, butter and some spices, wrap them up in tin foil and put them on the grill for 30 to 45 minutes or so. Seal the foil tight so the vegetables & fish steam and it always works and it is always good.

3700 size boxes? Medium sizes boxes? Smaller boxes? Makes a difference which tackle bag you get. Me, I have a bunch of different sized table bags and I use them all. But then, I keep a bunch of gear locked up in my truck between fishing trips. Multiple tackle bags half full are easier for me to keep organized than one or two bags stuffed full. I'd say, just pull out your BPS/Cabelas/Gander Mountiain and your credit card and pick one.

The hooks on these heads are quite a bit stronger than the hooks on the regular Brewer spider head. I wouldn't go any lighter than 8 lb test. This head along with 14 lb Fireline and a 20 lb Fluorocarbon leader is my standard borrower gear, what a lend to a buddy who doesn't fish much. It was made to fish Slider worms (4"). If you have any of the old Powerbait bungee worms, it works good with those. My buds who don't fish much find they get a better feel with a 5" or 6" paddle tail worm. It works ok with Chompers or other hula grub type baits, you get a really slow drop. IMO other jig heads work better for Chompers because I'm looking for a much faster drop more often than not. Go to the Brewer web site and you'll find they make a wide variety of weights in that basic head design. Some of them are on wide gap hooks.

Over the past few years, I've tried a bunch of different square bills, but I keep coming back to the Timber Tiger DC8. It just deflects off brush better than other brands and that is when I get most of my strikes.

There are lots of options for cutting braids, for me the key is to keep the tag line tight so I can get a good cut on it. Locking on to the tag end with a set of hemostats (roach clips for any of the old hippies here) adds enough tension so that I can get a good cut.

That bait has been done - Mid 80's to early 90's - the Hales Craw worm. Later bought out by Stanley I think. Your version is longer on the worm body than the old Hales/Stanley Craw worm. Mid to late 90's Berkley came out with some Power bait craws that look similar to your version. Same thing about the worm body length, yours is longer than the Berkley version.

Good luck with this. You're trying to find a one rod for two very different techniques. For Spooks and Poppers, I like a fairly short rod, Medium action and kind of tippy, so I can get the distance I want and do the dog walking thing by jerking down instead of to the side. The old 5'6" pistol grip rods work good for this if your wrists can stand it. I'm using an older (10+years) 5'9" straight handled rod I got at Walmart. I think it is a Mitchell Fulcrum. Fishing frogs in slop is a different story. I use a Flipping stick, used to use 25 lb Mono and now I use 65 lb braid. Anyway, to not answer your question, good luck finding a rod to do both those things well. Sometimes you've got to compromise. Pick one that suits the kind of fishing you'll do most.

Yes, you'll probably have to drill a couple of holes to install the Rod Saver vehicle rod carrier. I had to on my Explorer.

Rod Savers - Vehicle Rod Carrier - available at BPS, Cabelas, many other outlets including the Rod Saver company. I've got one for my Ford Explorer and I've put as many as 26 rods on it.