Fishes in trees

For me, peg board works for tools and stuff. For me, storing soft plastics, shelving and plastic shoe boxes work better. Even indoors, eventually you're going to have a dust issue. In my uninsulated fishing shed, dust is a major issue. For hard baits, 3700 boxes and shelving works best for me.

If I like a jig skirt or a spinner bait skirt and it has a rubber collar on it, ASAP I will use some 20 gauge florist wire and wrap the skirt down tight. If I'm changing out a spinner bait skirt, I like the one piece ones from Terminator or War Eagle.

If you can find an original All Star WR1 (an old USA made rod, long discontinued ) fish with that. I still think that is the best worm rod I've ever fished with. Mine sits on the shelf these days, I just don't want to break it. The All Star Rod line has been reborn and is exclusively distributed by Academy Sports these days. Their 6'8" worm & jig rod fishes just as well as the old WR! - IMO. I have a couple of Academy H2O rods, 7'MH, fast tip that I fish with quite a bit. I have a pair of Femwick 7'2" AETOS MH rods that I fish with quite a bit (This length seems to be discontinued as well last time I checked). I think that any decent worm rod fishes better using as light a reel as possible. I have a couple of older Chronarch 50 size reels and a couple of Curado 50 size reels that I like for worm fishing.

First - there isn't any such thing as an all around line and there is no need for one. Like your shop teacher told you in high school - use the right tool for the job. There are enough lines out there designed for different fishing techniques that an all around line is both silly and unnecessary. For me, Yo-zuri at 15 lb test, is decent spinner bait/square bill/ chatterbait line. That is what I currently have on my 2 Curado DC reels. Original Stren - maybe, if it was the only thing left on the shelves AND I was totally out of my line supply in my fishing shed and my in truck supply. The other 2 brands - Big Game & P Line - no way - I've had too many bad experiences with them to ever ever give them another chance. I wouldn't use them even to hang picture frames. Not even doubled up or tripled up or quintupled up, no matter was lb test that line was alleged to be. That stuff is junk. Having said that - everyone starts somewhere. If you only got one bait casting reel, just pick a line and use that. People have caught fish doing that. That is what I did when I only had one bait caster. These days, that isn't the case, so my circumstances shape my judgement. If Big Game or P line is all you can afford, well then, get it and hope for the best. If you can afford better line - get that instead and avoid the anger/frustration/shame of using those brands.

This has been a problem for me as well, in that I know how to count down baits & stuff but I don't have the attention span to do it consistently. So me catching my share of suspended fish has been problematic. WHAT I WISH SOMEONE WOULD DO is to build and easy to use, easy to adjust count down timer. Something that I could wear around my neck or on my wrist. Here is a for instance - I'm throwing to a tree row in 12 to 15 feet of water. I know the fish are most likely suspended underneath the major horizontal branches or in and around the root wad at the bottom of the tree. Pitch at the target than hit the count down timer. Set the timer at, say 17 or 20 seconds. This gives you time to let the bait drop and then hang out around the bottom of the root wad for a while, and you don't have to do the counting. I don't know about the rest of you but my mind wanders too much while I'm fishing to keep an accurate count for very long. At the end of the set time, timer would semi-quietly beep, reminding me to retrieve my bait and do another drop. I know some watches have count down timers built into them now, but every one I've seen so far has tiny, difficult to use buttons. The count down timer that I use for grilling steaks is just a little too clunky. Some tool that would help me keep track of seconds better would help me a lot in counting down baits.

MN Fisher - thank you

Does anyone here have a source where bulk containers of this stuff, quarts or gallons can be purchased? I know it works for me, but ten bucks or so for 4 ounces is just getting a little steep. One night, a month or so ago, I was web surfing and found a place that had gallons of the stuff for sale, but I didn't mark it or write it down and now I can't find it again. Someone please help.

In Missouri, it is a readily available color. It is one of the Strike King colors that Walmart carries. The Strike King version of the fluke in KVD Magic is a good bait. To get a better match to the lakes I commonly fish, I take the bait and dip the tail in chartreuse bait dye.

I've never found that a frog half full or nearly full or all the way full with water was a particular problem. The extra weight made them a little easier to throw - they still stayed on top of the matted grass/pads whatever and they seemed to walk jus as well full of water as they did dry. The process of casting made them sling a little water here and there and co-angler in the boat didn't particularly like that. Granted the first few casts when they are more or less dry inside they sit a little higher in the water. Not sure if that is a game changer or not. I have a couple of frogs that my buddy put extra BB's in, both for extra noise and extra weight. These take on water a little quicker than my non modified frogs

Try a jika rig - think of it as a drop shot rig with a very short ( inch and a half or less) dropper.

Here's a thought. Maybe this fits your budget and maybe it don't. Why not just bring your reels with you? Package them in bubble wrap in your carry on. When you get to California - go to a fishing tackle store and purchase however many rods you need. I'm pretty certain that they have tackle shops in California and that they stock fishing rods. You could probably make the initial inquiries over the phone, at some shop close to where you'll be fishing. Anywhere near the Bay Area - there is Hi's Tackle Box. They advertise as a " boutique" tackle shop and the guys of the Tackle Tour site frequently praise that store. If they're really a boutique store, they should be able to arrange shipping back to your house after you're done with your trip. Anyway, that's what I'd consider doing - it ain't the cheapest solution, but it might be the easiest - and you'd have an excuse to get a few new rods if you needed one. I know this solution works because I know guys who have done this on a couple of occasions. They've taken several "trips of a lifetime" to exotic places and there is always a weight limit and space limit to deal with. Months before they were due to go to Brazil, they shipped a bunch of stuff to Manaus, Brazil. When they finally got WAY up the Amazon, they had an unlimited supply of braided line & fluorocarbon leader, half ounce jigs, various soft plastics, anti-bug stuff and so forth. They got to travel light and have use of lots of gear once they got there. Just took some planning (and a MasterCard)

Don't mess around - if you're gonna upgrade - UPGRADE. Take a step up in quality from what you're currently looking at. Look at the Shimano 200 size TRANX. Look at the various grades of Calcutta reels. From 1998 to 2005 I purchased a number of Calcutta and with the exception of 2 that got lost under extraordinary circumstances, they all still work great now - 15 to 20 years later and counting.

For me - it just depends ( and I'm not really making an adult incontinence underwear joke here ). Most baits - I don't bother. However I do carry a supply of extra trebles for different circumstances. A list of these circumstances might include - putting extra strong hooks on a bait like a Rogue, where I'm hoping the extra weight of the hooks will help it suspend. Some my deep diving cranks, the hooks look a little funny because I've gotten them hook hung and in the process of getting them back, bent the hooks some. When these get too weak in my opinion, I'll put on new lighter hooks. Once upon a time I was at a seminar, don't really remember who said it or where it was but a pro mentioned that there was a time & place for lighter wire hooks. His example was his favorite lipless cranks. On his favorite lakes, which were clear cut prior to filling, the process left thousands of stumps in the lake - all foot & a half to 4 feet tall. This was prime lipless crank territory and also prime territory for losing said cranks. He liked the lighter hooks so that they would bend out when snagged. He thought it was no big deal to just replace them after they looked too weird after being bent back into shape too many times. Now it bugs me that I can't remember which pro told me that, but oh well, misremembering stuff happens from time to time. While we're on the subject, changing out hooks is a pain and a challenge if you don't have the right tool. Invest in a decent set of split ring pliers ( mine are from Texas Tackle) and the whole experience becomes easier. The so called split ring tip found on some sets of Rapala fishing pliers doesn't work real well.

My trow vehicle is a 98 Ford Explorer Sport ( the 2 door version of the Explorer ). I have one of those rod saver kits that suspend your rods kinda over our head, beneath the roof. In my case, the front strap was easy to install - just remove the handle, insert the holder and re- install the handle. The rear strap was a challenge. There is a channel along the edge of the roof, which holds the plastic push pins that keep the liner snug. You have to find that channel and install a ringed lag screw, screwing it into the channel. It will take a fairly thick lag screw. Once installed though, my rod saver straps have held up under a load of 28 rods & reels (stacked on top of each other ). A normal load is 15 to 20 rods and it holds that fine. Even then, my tow vehicle is basically a 2 seater because, even with the rear seats folded down, with the tools, tackle and other stuff, the cargo area is FULL. Call me paranoid, but I keep the truck spare tire and the trailer spare tire inside the vehicle.

With a lighter braid and decent spinning reel, that rod is great for cranks that weigh a quarter ounce more or less. With the same set up, it would work ok for Brewer Sliders and other jig worms. I would imagine that you could throw a buzz bait a long ways with that rig. Hook ups with a buzz bait are more or less good fortune anyway, there isn't a whole lot you can do to improve your strike to catch ratio. Same thing with a lipless crank. How much gear do you have now? Looks like a valued addition to your collection. Back when I was a bank fishing bush hippie, a rig similar to that was my back up rig. I'd try to throw anything on it. And for the most part it worked ok for anything I tried. MY #1 rig at the time was a 5'9" Fenwick HMG Graphite that was on the heavy side of medium. I generally threw 6 or 8 lb mono using an old Garcia Mitchell 300 reel. Even when I got to the point to where I could afford other reels, I used the Mitchell 300 as my primary reel, up til the early 90's.

A long time ago, when I was just getting into BFL tournament fishing, a guy who was a much better fisherman than I was told me that he never bothered to carry top water baits. It was his opinion that if there was a top water bite going on, there was a better sub- surface bite happening at the same time. He recommended a Timber Tiger DC4 crank bait or a lipless crank or a Minus 1 ( burned pretty fast so it got a foot or so beneath the surface). I think that he was more or less correct. I carry a modest amount of top water baits and occasionally throw them, but just because I think that they are fun and strikes, when they happen are awesome. When I see surface activity like you've described, I have MUCH better success running a lipless crank through the area.

While the tackle selection in my area Walmart's isn't pristine, some restocking has occurred. Last Wednesday I got 5 packages of the new Berkley Flute worm - which looks like it has potential for kinda finesse pitching. Walmart gotten a BUNCH of Creme stick worms. I collect stick worms (senko imitators) just on general principles, so I got a half a dozen bags - one of each color they had. They also had some 4" Powerbait paddle tail minnows, which with a little trimming make great spinner bait trailers. Rogers Lures in Liberty, MO - my favorite tackle shop has gotten some stuff re-stocked - or maybe they found stuff in the back room - I don't know. I got a large bag of my favorite Big Bite Baits stick worm - Tilipia - for pretty reasonable, and those baits weren't on the shelf last week. So I think that things are getting a little better - choice wise - for fishing tackle around where I live, anyway.

I have to remind myself to vary my presentation from time to time. 5/16 oz is my primary weight choice when I'm throwing a 10" power worm around trees. I remember a few years ago though, when I was marking some fish in the trees but they didn't want the worm at all. Then I decided to put a 3/8 oz tungsten weight and make the same controlled drift down a 200 yard stretch of trees that had been productive in the past. They were all over that faster drop that day. If I had another rod & reel that I liked for fishing 10" worms I'd most likely keep the 2 different weights ready to go - but I don't. So most of the time I stay with a 5/16. One of my fishing buds is a MUCH better worm fisherman than I am and he throws 5/16 nearly all the time. When I'm pitching at objects in 8 feet or water or less I generally throw 3/16 tungsten. I'm thinking that I could probably get by with a faster rate of fall most of the time, but, like previous posters I can get lazy and just use 3/16 because that is what is tied on. So back to the original posted question, I don't think hat 5/16 oz weights are a happy medium, more to the point I think that they are an acceptable compromise.

I hae two the Curado DC reels and I think that they work great, for what I'm using them for. First Have no clue how they handle heavier line - haven't tried any yet. I'm using 15 lb Yozuri. Not a fan and never have been a fan of the line the original poster is using. (15 lb Big Game - I've had unfortunate experiences with different weights of Big Game over the years and these days I wouldn't even use the stuff to hang pictures ). The baits I'm throwing are half ounce baits - spinnerbaits - chatterbaits & square bills and other shallow diving cranks. (Yeah, I know that the spinner baits probably overall weigh more than a half ounce & I'm ok with that and I haven't taken the time to weigh them yet. The digital scale is all the way over on the other side of the fishing shed AND I'd have to put the battery in it) I'm using the close out All Star 6'10" spinner bait rod that I got at Academy, ( the purple series ). I've messed with the settings quite a bit, but right now I forget what they are and I've got them set so that they work for the more or less half ounce baits I'm throwing. For comparison purposes, previously I was using Calcutta TEGT reels or an older Calais or a Curado D. After probably 8 or 9 trips this year and another half a dozen or so sessions of practice outside the fishing shed, I like these DC reels alot and they help me get more distance than I previously got with similar effort. Like I said, I don't remember right now what the settings are at, but now that I've got mine dialed in to half ounce baits I'm really happy with these reels alot. When I first got the Curado DC reel, practicing outside the fishing shed, I back lashed it the 3rd or 4th cast - to the point where I cut out all the line and started over. Guess what - I started over by READING THE DIRECTIONS. Anyway - I'm probably going to get a couple more of these reels because I really like them for reaction baits.

There are some things I am stupid about and NOS is one of them. What does NOS mean? All I can recall about Mojo weights is that I they were an innovative product. I thought they were somewhat overpriced. I remember reading something about them in Bassmaster magazine about the mojo weights, i.e. that they were a somewhat easier to use - snag less version of a split shot rig. I haven't seen that company's product on shelves in tackle shops that I frequent for a while.

I see it now - wasn't looking that close previously - obviously a better design than the old BPS design.

Most of the time I'm fishing wood I'm throwing a 10" power worm, (more often than not blue fleck) 5/0 hook with either a 5/16 or 3/8 ounce tungsten - 17 or 20 lb Seagaur Abrazx. I start out with it pegged but after multiple casts the peg tends to move up the line some, not an issue until it gets too far up the line then you reset. Vast majority of the strikes come on the initial fall, but I fish clear-ish water most of the time, so I might hop it or dead stick it for a few moments when the bait reaches the bottom. I'm more likely to dead stick it if I think that the bait landed pretty close to the exposed root wad at the base of the tree. I also carry an assortment of 6" stick worms and 7 or 8 inch paddle tail worms for when I think that the fish are in the trees but for some reason they don't want the power worm. This year, I haven't gotten into that bag very often. In the distant past, my favorite wood soft plastic was a Berkley powerbait Pulse worm in the 6" size. They have been discontinued for a while now and over the years I'm close to out of my favorite colors, so they ain't really an option any more.

Once upon a time, Bass Pro marketed a very similar looking. jig head, and being a good consumer, I thought they looked good and looked like they would work so, I bit and I found out that particular jig head worked better in theory than it did in practice. Primary issue was the lack of space between the end of the spring and the tip of the hook, particularly in the larger (heavier) sizes. Maybe an extra wide gap hook would solve that design issue, I don't know. My thinking is that the smaller 2/0 or 3/0 regular bend hook would exacerbate that issue. That style of jig head didn't work for me - at all - hope you have better fortune with it. In addition, I thought the head shape was a compromise and I couldn't divine its intended purpose. There are better all purpose & come through vegetation heads - (Brewer Slider heads comes to mind) better bottom contact heads (Mega Strike comes to mind) and there are any number of ball head with springs designs that better solve the end of spring to tip of hook issue. For a slide on the hook shank design, Bagley & Bite Me baits have a decent design, IMO.

If you live out in the sticks and it is properly engineered, a turd pond is the way to go, ie., there are fewer things that can go wrong with it. Where I live in the country, septic systems are a lot more common, with holding tanks & laterals, but there are a lot more things that can go wrong with them. I know this from experience. Back to the topic, if I came across a square pond, I would presume it was stocked with brown trout, and I'd fish elsewhere.

Strictly my opinion, but I think that the trap casters are designed to throw stuff with, so. they have a mod/fast tip compared to the ex fast one on the finesse jig rod. The finesse jig rod is designed as more of a "feel" rod. The designation on the finesse jig rod is correct, IMO. It handles jig worms, regular Eakins Jigs and similar size baits great. I have a bunch of the 7/16 oz Eakins jigs and I think that they kind of overpower the rod. I've got other jig rods for heavier weights, mostly I'd use my 7'2" MH/ ex fast tip Fenwick AETO. I think that the AETOS line is still manufactured by Fenwick, but this particular model is long discontinued.