Fishes in trees

I think that when you are pitching, the reel is just as important as the rod. For instance, a reel like the Calcutta 200 TEGT, with 11 ball bearings, will extend the range of whatever rod you're using to pitch with. It will handle finesse pitching, i.e. throwing 3/16 tubes on 10 pound fluorocarbon. It will handle 25 pound fluorocarbon or braid should you be throwing 3/4 ounce jigs into knarly stuff. Favorite rod has changed several times in the past few years and is still subject to upgrade. I have a pair of Kistler rods 7 and 7 1/2 MH that I like quite a bit. If you will be weaving in and out of alot of trees and overhead cover, don't be afraid to go shorter, 6 1/2 or even 6'. Don't stop at $700. The quest for the perfect pitching rod & reel combo offers you a unique chance to get really self indulgent. Go for it!

There are several ways to adjust balance, so that becomes less of an issue. A more pertinent question is which reel fits your hand best. JMO

All Star used to be a great rod company. Superior product with a customer service program that was probably the best in the industry. It was simple - lifetime warranty, should you break a rod, they would give you a new one. If the place where you bought it had another in stock, they would replace out of stock. If they had to send out for a newe one, you had to pay shipping. Then Shakespeare bought All Star. I don't know about their rods anymore because I haven't bought any. I know I had some wear and tear issues the Shakespeare customer service kept thinking up more hoops for me to jump through. I got nowhere until the Customer service manager at the KCK Cabelas store got involved. Then I got my rods replaced. Now I will go out of my way to avoid dealing with Shakespeare, and I for sure won't buy any of their products. But I'm not bitter or anything. JMO

You probably could make that storage area water proof. If you throw enough money at something you can generally get what you want. I'd do what Glenn said to do and get some waterproof bags or boxes. I've fished out of several jon boats and keeping stuff dry was frequently an issue. Not to be a smartass but, they make these things called zip lock bags. They come in various sizes and work real well for dry storage as long as you don't poke a hole in them. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

My first thought was wacky rigging senkos with 12 or 14 fluorocarbon line. What ever your current range for pitching a wacky rigged senko is, you've just extended it a good 20 feet. That's a cool new toy you got for relatively cheap. Have fun with it.

Several years ago, I got a close out on Silver Thread - 14, 17 & 20 lb. It came in a plastic package that I haven't seen since - it said one shot reel fill on the package. At the time I didn't think it was bad line. I've tried numerous lines since then. My current opinion is that I don't think that it sucks as bad a P line does. JMO

For the most part. spinnerbait fishing is a cover the water deal, so for the most part I use heavier spinnerbaits to get more distance. With some practice, the splashdown effect from 1/2 or 3/4 compared to 1/4 ounce baits is negligible. If I feel I need the small profile, I'll go to a War Eagle Screaming Eagle. Other companies also make the smaller profile - heavier weight design.

Lots of good baits have been mentioned, yet no one has mentioned my favorite yet, the Timber Tiger. They are made by Wordens.- Yakima Bait Co. They come in different sizes, all you really need are the DC$ and DC8. Bass Pro used to carry them - don't any more - don't know why. So did Cabelas - but not anymore. They are still available via the internet.

I was in a local bass club for a couple of years. Then I quit to fish Red Man tournaments which became the BFL tournaments. There were numerous reasons why I quit the local club. First, they weren't affilliated with any larger organization, so there was no chance of fishing any larger, end of year tournament. I got into tournament fishing partially to learn, to get better at fishing. I already knew how to follow a shoreline and throw at cover. That is all any of the boaters in that club knew how to do to. I didn't feel like I was learning anything. I really didn't like rules that had co-anglers fishing for the same money as the boaters. Some boaters didn't want to fish as a team and were really good at back boating their co-anglers. It came down to bang for the buck. I only get X many days off to go fish tournaments. Travel expenses are roughly the same for a club or BFL. Equipment & lodging expenses are roughly the same. I'm not going to eat any different. So, for a slightly higher entry fee, you got to fish for a much bigger payoff, in a blind draw tournament, with different pots for boaters and co-anglers. The fact that I never won much is beside the point, the potential for a large payout was non-existent in a club tournament. Setting the schedule for the year was a pain in the butt. I pointed out during several club meetings that there were numerous regional tournament organizations that already had tournaments scheduled. We could travel to those as a group, and fish as a club. That was voted down for a couple of reasons. Several guys who had 16' Trackers were reluctant to fish against guys with bigger boats and larger motors. Also they had no desire to enter a tournament as a co-angler. Other club members wanted to fish with people that they knew and had no interest in fishing a blind draw tournament. I understood their reasons, but they struck me as parochial, so I don't fish with that club anymore. If I was to join a club again, there would have to be more of a payoff than just club tournaments. Associated with a charity or some conservation project or be connected with a larger organization or something. Maybe really good meetings with really good programs. I really don't like the idea of a bunch of guys in small and medium sized boats having a tournament on a smaller lake, say less than 1000 acres. I think that puts an undue amount of pressure on a small lake that is unnecessary. I think that if clubs or a group of guys are going to have a tournament, they should choose waters that are big enough to handle the pressure. I just realized that I'm starting to rant, so that's a good cue to shut up. If you want to put on the best tournaments in your area, first you've got to define "best" Most parts of the country already have regional organizations that stage decent to pretty good tournaments. Find something that will make your club and its tournaments unique and special or else you're just re-inventing the wheel. Just my thoughts.

I nearly always use some sort of trailer on spinnerbaits. I like the idea that when a fish bites down on the bait it feels something soft. That potentially gives me a little more time to set the hook and I need all time time I can get. I mostly use the Bass Pro Cajun trailers, or the Zoom split tail trailer.

How heavy was the head you were using & how big a hook did it have? How heavy a line were you using & were you using spinning or bait casting gear? Enquiring minds want to know.

I guess I'm one of the few guys who is sorry that Iron Silk has been discontinued. I only used the 14 and 17 pound test. I thought the 17 pound test was the best spinnerbait line I've ever used. I found it to be very abrasion resistant. On further review there were some line memory issues but a couple of shots of line magic and then it worked retty good for the rest of the day.

I've fished BFL's as a co-angler for a number of years. I have some experience in this matter. 3 rods probably aren't enough. 9 rods are probably too many. Every time, the deciding factor in what to bring or not is how big is the boat that you're fishing out of. Are you fishing as a team? Are you fishing against your boater as well as everyone else? If it's the latter, I'd find a new club. If you are fishing against the guy you're sharing the boat with, sooner or later something bad will happen. That is a situation to avoid. Fishing as a team, ( or as in the BFL, there are two different pots.) it becomes a different story. Communicate with your boater, find out the plan for the day and pack accordingly. Some guys who fish as a team all the time share everything. That greatly reduces the number of tackle boxes in the boat. Other guys will say they will share but after you've dug through all their stuff looking for a weight or some other obscure thing, they are not so hot about it. With good reason. The point is to find a happy medium to where you're not feeling handicapped with a minimal amount of equipment and he's not tripping over all your stuff in his boat. Try to make good use of the space you've got. If there is a seat on the back deck, get some heavy duty velcro straps and strap your tackle bag to the seat. Then you'll be the only person tripping over it. For me, an inflatable life jacket was a good idea. I just wore it all the time and I didn't putz around and waste time when we were getting ready to run to a different spot. Some rods can serve double or even triple duty. For instance, a flippin stick is also a good carolina rig rod, and also works good as a bubba drop shot rod. Your spinnerbait rod also works good for throwing square bills into bushes and laydowns. There are lots more instances where your rods can do double or triple duty. Know what your primary approach and principle secondary approaches will be and build from there. Bring enough soft plastics, but don't go nuts about colors or quantities. Brink enough crankbaits and jerkbaits, but you probably don't need 30 of them. That being said, should there be something that you think will work on a particular lake, be sure and bring it. Fishing as a co-angler, you need to be more organized. Money spent on bags, and boxes and other organizational gear is money well spent. In alot of ways, fishing as a co-angler is harder, but in lots of other ways it is much less of a hassle. At the end of the tournament, you drive home and don't have to deal with all the boat issues.

I'm short and fat with short arms. I don't lean out over the boat to lip fish.. For me it is just a bad idea. I carry two tools to help me deal with fish that are too big to swing into the boat. Tool #1 is a hibernet. Several years ago, I was driving to a BFL wild card regional at Kentucky Lake, saw one at a fishing tackle store and bought it. It works great, stores the net out of the way and deploys in a few moments. Sometimes, fishing by yourself, you don't have a few moments to deploy the hibernet. Then you go to tool #2 - A Berkley lip grip. I just looked in Bass Pro catalog and I couldn't find the one I've got, maybe it is discontinued. Anyway, mind is 2' long, without a digital scale. Play out the fish,get it close to the boat and once that lip grip is locked on that fish isn't going anywhere. So that's how I avoid leaning out over the boat to lip a fish.

In the Ozark Lakes, lots of guys fish wiggle warts early spring. Crawded or shad colors. Mess around with suspend dots to adjust how fast you want them to rise on the pause.

There are lots of ways to fish jigs, hop, drag or swim, or a combination of all three during the same cast should you feel like it. The shape of the jig head determines how you probably should ought to fish it, but you make your own rules. For instance, football heads were first developed for dragging, and yet a Gambler Swim jig (a version of a chatterbait) has a football head on it. Different jig heads come through different types of cover differently. There is lots of literature on this subject, starting with this site. Keep going. Everyone who writes about fishing sooner or later will write a jig fishing article. The most head stretching one is one published several years ago in In-Fisherman magazine. Al Lindner is writing his thoughts and writes that if you think about it, a jig is nothing but a carolina rig on a really really short leader. Conversely a carolina rig is nothing but a jig with a really long, really flexible hook. OK Al, thanks for that insight. Jim Eakins has a whole system of jig fishing based around his jigs. (Primarily oriented toward Ozark area reservoirs, but applicable in many areas. Back in the 70's, Charlie Brewer, created a whole system and philosophy of fishing based around his little Slider jigs. He primarily fished clear Tennessee & Kentucky waters for small mouth, but Slider fishing is applicable to any clearer waters anywhere on the planet. The point of this rant is that there are lots of avenues to pursue to learn about jig fishing. Good luck.

Shakey head worms or cranks would be my first two choices. Probably a Wiggle Wart or a Shad Rap. Early in the year I'd consider a Pointer or a Rogue. Whatever, I wouldn't spend alot of time on it, my rip rap experiences are that either the fish are there or they aren't. 15 minutes and no success = maybe check it later on in the day. Early in the year, I think afternoons are much better than mornings. Water color is an issue. My thought is that murky water would have fish hold closer to the rocks than clearer water. What about algae on the rocks? I think some algae beats no algae. What is the draw, i.e. why are the bass there? If I knew there was a substantial crawdad population, I'd go low and slow. If I was seeing more shad and bait fish, I'd go with the Shad Rap or the Pointer. I don't know. While I've caught the occasional keeper (15" in Missouri) off of rip rap, I've never run into a bunch of keepers on rip rap. I'm aware that could just as easily be a function of my impatience as much as anything. Basically my thoughts on fishing rip rap are that I'll fish it if I come across it, but I won't drive across the lake to fish known rip rap unless my first several options are exhausted. Just my thoughts.

Flipping and pitching are different ways of presenting a bait. Personally, I don't flip very much. Pitching though, I'd have to say I pitch most of the time when I've got a bait caster in hand. It's not just for jigs & soft plastics. There are lots of situations where it is the best choice for spinnerbaits & cranks. You don't need as much room overhead, all you need is a lane. It takes some practice. The first year I got real good at getting back lashes out of my reels and I bought alot of line. Frequently it is easier and quicker to re-spool than it is to squander time picking out a back lash.

I use spinnerbait rods. I think a crank rod would be a little too tippy. When you get bit on a chatterbait, you don't have much time to set the hook. I like the All Star 6'8" Zell Rowland spinner bait rod. TAS 806C

I'd have issues trying to get by with just one fishing tool. Sometimes you need long needle nose pliers. On some hook removal applications, needle nose vice grips work better, on others, hemostats. Having the leatherman tool in the boat is a good idea, sometimes for cutting stuff my lack back pocket knife works better. My issue with fishing tools is finding them when I need them without having to look very hard. I've lost several pairs of needle nose pliers, they didn't go overboard they just found a crevice and were hiding for a while. I solved that issue. When I'm getting ready to launch my boat for the day, I have half a dozen pairs of pliers and two needle nose vice grips and I sprinkle them around my boat. Then, no matter where I am in my boat, when I need a pair of pliers, there will be one close by. Scissors, I didn't mention scissors. Sprinkled around with the pliers are two pairs of scissors, plus two folding scissors in my pockets. That's how I solved the tool issue, just carry lots of them

Brush Babies are good crank baits. You'll be suprised at the stuff you can throw it in to and get it back. I like the half ounce ones better than the quarter ounce. I have issues getting the quarter ounce ones to run straight whereas I don't with the half ounce baits.

What brand or brands is your local tackle store selling? That's where I'd start. My experience is that some of the spinnerbaits I get in local tackle stores aren't cheaply made at all.

Quit complaining. You can shear a sheep many times, you can only skin it once. The bait monkey knows this. The bait monkey will never gouge you to the point of absolute poverty and ruin. Get some semblance of control over yourself and accept that you are addicted to fishing and fishing tackle. It is an addiction, just like any other addiction. Accent the positive. If we was addicted to cocaine, all we'd have to show for it at the end of the day is a runny nose. As it is, we have modest piles of fishing tackle to play with on those days when we can't go fishing. Hope this helps

I think Bull Shoals Lake is maybe the prettiest lake in the Ozark region. The vast majority of the lake has no shoreline development. Most of the time the water is very clear (20'+ visibility) With spring rains, it can get a little murky. Mid-March, it is pretty likely that different things will be happening on different parts of the lake. Get some maps. Bull Shoals lake is huge. Lots of times it is foggy and the wind can make it interesting. With spring rains, it can get 15 to 20 feet above normal pool. Most of your navigation landmarks, distinctive rocks, mile markers and islands, vanish at that point. What part of the lake do you plan to fish? Where do you plan to stay? I've only stayed at a few places. I've stayed at Bel Arco - which I found to be very average. I stayed at Mar Mar once, much closer to the Bull Shoals Boat dock and has a very neat little tackle store. On the other end of the town there is Pine Lodge, a remodeled old school motel. Every room is different. The woman who ran the place would take cash or a check but wouldn't take a credit card. There were only 12 or so rooms, so you got to know the other fishermen staying there. I liked that place alot. Pine lodge is very close to a nice boat ramp close to Bull Shoals Dam. I fished it in the spring and the fall, when it was a regular stop on the Red-man and then the BFL Ozark division. Then it wasn't. BFL Ozark Division hasn't fished Bull Shoals for a number of years. I never did really good there, I caught some fish, but not enough size to place. All the fish came on Brewer slider worms, 1/4 ounce slider heads and 4 lb test. This was before I learned how to dropshot. If I went back there now, I'd dropshot on main lake points. To start, I'd recommend get some maps and figure out where on the lake you want to put in at.

Do you mean overall dimensions or weight? You can find heavier spinnerbaits built on smaller frames, from *** or other companies make them also. That being said I like 1/2 or 3/4 ounce baits because they are easier to throw and they make wind not as much an of an issue. I'm not a fan or big splashes, so I use a Jimmy Houston style roll cast or I'm pitching. I seldom use overhand casts with spinner baits. JOM