Fishes in trees

Once upon a time, I believed everything I read about reeling cranks slow. Then one day I came across a bargain - Shimano Curado reels in the 3.8 - 1 gear ratio. $70 per hit. I got 3. After half a season, I came to the conclusion that these were just too slow for me. They sat unused for a year, maybe 2, then I realized that these were the same size as other Curados, just a different gear ratio. The reel maintenance guy on this site - Reel Mechanic, put some 5-1 gears in them for a reasonable amount of money (I forget exactly how much, but it seemed reasonable) They work great. I can remember back when 5-1 reels were considered high speed. Now they are slow. Lots of companies don't make 5-1 ratios any more or just have one model. That's all I use. I think I can reel fast enough with this ratio and when I pay attention I can go slow enough. All my baitcasting reels are 5-1 now. It's just easier. I think if you are talking speed retrieve & cranks the question becomes what kind and where. Throwing square bills & Timber Tigers, 2-8 feet of water, on 17 or 20 lb test into sunken brush, bushes, stumps and thorn trees seems to call for moving the bait at a pretty quick pace. On the other end of the spectrum, when I'm hanging off a fairly clean point in a stiff breeze, throwing Shad Raps on spinning gear with 8 lb test, slow down once you get down seems to be the rule. I fish flooded forests alot. There are lots of trees topping out 2 to 8 feet down in 14 to 25 feet of water. Retrieve speed in this situation gets variable and problematic. I might go slow and fast and slow and fast during the same retrieve, depending on what I think I'm feeling. To summarize, I don't think there are lots of rules about how fast you retrieve your crankbaits. Vary your speed until you catch some. One or two or three doesn't necessarily make a pattern. Stick with what works that day. That's your starting point for the next time you throw cranks. Thanks for reading my current thoughts on this subject.

I've got an 18' Lowe WF 180 (aluminum) It is pretty heavy. The Maxxum 70 is the trolling motor I have and it moves me around pretty good and I can hold on points in a pretty stiff breeze. I bought it in 2002. I think that they make a bigger one now - an 80 I think. At the time I bought the boat, I really wanted the 36 volt 101. My boat dealer thought I was nuts, but after he totally 100% proved that there wasn't room for the extra battery, I went with the 70. (or is it 74? I forget which) The basic rule of trolling motor purchases is to absolutely, positively buy the biggest, most powerful one that you can afford.

2002 Lowe WF 180 with a 100 Yamaha 4 stroke. It's not very fast, but you can putt around and spend lots of time looking with your depth finder and it will never carbon up and choke out. Previously I had a 10'Buster boat - upgraded with a 50 lb thrust Minn-Kota 12 volt and 3 deep cycle batteries. It took alot for me to run out of power. I don't catch many more fish with the bigger boat,but I can carry more junk and it is more comfortable.

I messed around with drop shot fishing quite a bit last season. Mixed results. I had better results going heavier - 20 lb fluorocarbon & half ounce weights, flippin stick compared to a lighter rig with 6 or 8 lb fluorocarbon and 3/16 or 1/4 ounce weights. I'm looking for 3/4 or 1 ounce drop shot weights. I want to get a bulky, floppy plastic bait 12 to 20 feet down RIGHT NOW, rather than waiting for a lighter weight to hit the bottom. I had better luck with the longer dropshot weights compared to the round or oval ones. This is America. Somebody, somewhere is making what I want. I'm pretty sure I'll find it by next season or else I'll rig something.

Back when, late 70's - early 80's, only had 1 rod, I was a bush hippie meat fisherman. I personally ruined several 1 to 8 acre ponds by taking too many fish from them. Not totally proud of that - part of my maturation process as a fisherman. Anyway, that period of time, pork frog was my favorite bait. Brown or green spots, a plain 1/8 oz jig head, 8 lb test, spinning rod. Just throw it and fish it. Try to polish the bottom without getting hung up. As time went on, got older, acquired more & better tackle the spinning rig & pork frog took a back seat. When you are rotating through several rods, trying different things, pork becomes a pain to deal with. It is useless once it dries out. You can put it back in the jar and try to rehydrate it for later use buy most of the time that don't work. When you are rotating different baits , I just think that plastic trailers are less of a hassle. The exception to that rule for me is during tournaments. I fish as a co-angler (BFL) and once it becomes apparent to me that I'm going to be standing on the back deck pitching jigs the rest of the day, I'll have a pork frog on my jig. If it dries out during a run, I don't care, I'll just cut it off and put on another. I think pork is a better jig trailer, but for my week to week fishing, I don't want to deal with the hassle of pork. Another thought, it occurs to me that years ago Bass Pro and other tackle stores used to sell pork keepers, a kind of vinyl covered sponge that you'd dunk in the lake to get wet and then it would velcro shut and keep the wet, tucked away next to your rod. It has been a long time since I've seen any of those. I'm going to go to the Uncle Josh web site and see if they still sell those. Good luck learning to use pork baits.

In-Fisherman magazine covered this subject about five years ago in depth. My jerkbait fishing has improved since I started trying to do what they said to do. They wrote that jerkbait fishing is basically a cover the water game. Cast as far as you can while still retaining feel. They went on with extensive recommendations about what to use. What I'm currently using is a 7' medium light spinning rod, the US Reel 230 Supercaster, 14 lb Fireline crystal and a fluorocarbon leader. I can throw a half ounce Lucky craft along ways with this rig, way over 100 ft. You can feel the bait at the end of the cast with this rig. The cool thing is that you don't have to, the white Fireline acts like a strike indicator. Long cast, several jerks to get it down. Pause, slack line, anything breathes on your bait that fireline is going to twitch. I've set the hook on keeper fish over 100 feet away from the boat with this rig. If you are fishing from the back of the boat in a co-angler situation pay attention. Most guys are not used to a co-angler throwing this far. If he starts to move the boat weird, it will take longer than you think to get your bait in. Fireline doesn't mix well with trolling motor props. At this point your boater will really love you. It doesn't help to point out that the white fireline is really easy to see. I'm pretty sure you can go back into the In-Fisherman archives and find those jerkbait articles. It seems to me that they were in a spring issue, 5 or 65 years ago.

I'm not real happy with any of the fishing magazines out there now. I take a current In-Fisherman magazine and compare it to the mid-90's versions when the Lindners were in charge and the older ones are much more informative. I stopped taking Fishing Facts because after a few years, it became boring in that the same information was just being recycled. Bassin magazine seems really superficial most of the time. It is like they could tell you more, be in depth, if they felt like it but they don't. In Bassmaster, I get the feeling that they are more concerned with the look of their mag as opposed to the content. The FLW magazine is just one big advertisement. I think that the notion that a magazine should have content is contrary too their mission statement. In the end, it don't matter. I'm a fishing addict. Spending money on fishing magazines is part of the addiction. If I was addicted to cocaine, all I'd have to show for it at the end of the day would be a runny nose. As it is, I have crates of old fishing mags that rotate in and out of the restroom reading station.

I've never fishes in that part of the country, but here in Missouri, football jigs are primarily a dragging technique. They go through rocks good, not so good on trees or bushes or brush. Some Arkie head jig or an Eakins jig is much better at dropping & hopping. Just my opinion.

I like Chatterbaits. I have several different brands, Strike King, Booyah, originals, Gamblers, generic ones I got at sport shows, & names I don't remember now. Specifically, I use them on flats when vegetation issues make using a Rattletrap a pain. I throw them on a spinnerbait rod.

Lunker City markets the Sluggo. Lunker City also markets the Texposer, a hook designed specially for the Sluggo. I've got some, they work good. The 5/0 Texposer hook is also a good Bubba dropshot hook.

It was interesting reading different folks opinions about crankbaits. All I know is that I'm not very good at it and I'd like to get better. For deeper, structure type cranking, I've tried fiberglass crank rods and stiffer rods and the jury is still out. I haven't tried any of the Loomis crankbait rods. I've had much more success cranking trees, when fish are more up in the water column and not relating to the bottom. The fish seem to be relating more to shade pockets created by horizontal limbs, etc. The plan seems to be get on the side of the tree facing the sun,cast across the tree and bring the bait down into the crown of the tree, then up and out. Easier said than done, some days I go hours without snagging, other days I snag every cast - very frustrating. I've experimented alot with gear. Currently I'm using a 6'8" All Star spinnerbait rod, 17 or 20 lb line and a Timber Tiger DC16. I doubt that I get deeper than 10 feet with this setup, but I do'nt think you need to. I think it is more important to bank the crank off and through the wood than it is to get extra deep. Over the past three years, this has been my best technique for big (20" or better) fish. 17 over the past three years. Years ago, Infisherman magazine ran an article or two by Tom Seward, the guy who invented the Timber Tiger concept. He recommended using a fairly stiff, 7' spinning rod, a big spinning reel (Diawa 2600) and 14 lb line. Said that the spinning reel gave better feel during the retrieve. I tried that and found it a little cumbersome, maybe a different feel during the retrieve, definitely a larger pain in the butt to throw around trees. For medium distances and closer, I find myself pitching the crank more often than a regular casting motion. My current thoughts on cranking. thanks for reading

this is a great question. I'm in way over a grand in the quest for a perfect spinnerbait rod. I bought lots of different rods and wasn't satisfied with any of them. I didn't really know what a perfect spinner- bait rod was supposed to do. Six or seven years ago I was at Rogers Lures in Liberty, MO and ran into an All Star rods rep. He showed me the 6'8" Zell Rowland Spinnerbait rod. Bought one, liked it, now I have 6 just alike. Lifetime warranty - life was good. I have to be careful with them now because Shakespeare bought out All Star a couple of years ago and they are really pissy about warranty stuff. On another note, I was at Cabelas KCK last week and the clerk told me that they were in the process of closing out alot of their higher end rods. I scored a Kistler 7' Magnesium TS Small Swimbait special for $90. I would have bought several, but they only had 1. It will see some spinnerbait duty next season. As far a line goes, use whatever heavy, abrasion resistant line you like. I got some 17 lb Stren superknot line on Wal-Mart close out last January that worked pretty well for me. 17 lb Spiderwire mono worked ok too. For reels, I don't like to be limited casting distance wise, so I've gone to using the 11 ball bearing Calcutta's. This is a summary of what I'm using now, of course it might change in the future. Hope this helps.

I've tried P line several times. I can't say anything good about it. at all. I've got several spools left over from various close outs I bought at various times. I won't even use it for catfish line.

I have some thoughts on this subject. I'd like to get better at my dropshot skills. Not so much finesse dropshot , but 20 lb flourocarbon, half ounce or better weights, floppy, bulky plastics that move quite a bit of water. I'd like to get better at using my electronics. kind of on the same subject, I'd like to find a coach, somebody who could help, move the learning curve beyond trial and error. Sometimes I feel I do ok, other times an unbiased opinion would be helpful. I want to get rid of that "dead time" on the water where you are not catching fish and you don't feel like you're learning anything.