Fishes in trees

I think that I have plenty of rods & reels, but that isn't a good enough reason to get another one from time to time. I can't walk past a close out rack without looking and every so often I end up buying. From time to time it occurs to me that there is some particular niche in my collection that a certain rod will fill. Sometimes that niche is an extra rod to lend out if I want to. Same thing with pawn shops - I can't not stop at pawn shops from time to time - just to check out what might be available in their used fishing tackle. Often though, the tackle that I come across in pawn shops feels "stolen" to me, and I don't want any part of that karma, so I leave it on the shelf.

In my opinion, you got a couple of decent reels to start with. Again, in my opinion, the 151 HG will be better suited for bottom contact baits, jigs, soft plastics, stuff like that. The DC reel is better for reaction bite baits, like spinner baits & cranks. Have a Curado 150 DC and I find that I get better distance with the DC than I do with my other non-DC Curado reels. I've often thought that if I had to learn how to throw bait casters all over again, I would learn how to pitch first. This assumes that you're fishing out of a boat that is big enough to stand up in. When I'm throwing soft plastics in my boat, I pitch much more often than I actually rear back and cast. I got my first bait caster right around the time when I first got regular access to a boat, but it was a boat that I had to sit down in - so I learned over head casting first and then gradually learned how to do side arm & roll casts, back hand casts and so forth. Once I started fishing tournaments, fishing out of the back of the boat and realized that the guy in the front of the boat, pitching, was getting twice as many casts in as I was, that was when I realized that I needed to learn how to pitch. Took me about a year and maybe 10 or 12 line changes before I got anywhere near competent with it. All just a matter of practice of course, but I think the learning curve would have been shorter had I learned to pitch first - I think my thumb would have gotten smarter, quicker. Just a thought.

Didn't Rapala market some special hooks on some of their crank baits a while back? With two hooks of one size that are the two that go flush up against the body when the bait is moving and the third, down hook being a size or so bigger. Seems to me they called these hooks David Fritts hooks, but I ain't so certain about the name. While I own a fair number of Rapala Cranks, I don't fish them all that much so I can't speak to the efficiency/quality of these hooks.

I don't use circle hooks for bass fishing, throwing wacky senkos, because, well, I don't know why, I just don't. The only circle hooks that I have are 5/0 and 7/0 ones, that I use for throwing cut bait on those very rare times I get talked into cat fishing. The hooks that I use for wacky senkos are the Falcon K wacky ones, 3/0 size, with the wire weed guard and more often than not the ones with the sixteenth ounce weight molded on to the shaft of the hook. I could probably get by with a rod will less back bone, a more moderate bend, because these hooks don't require a monster hook set, but the back bone of the rod helps setting the hook. - IMO. If I used a more moderate action rod with less backbone, I think it would cost me fractions of seconds on the hook set, with the rod bending instead of the line moving as fast as possible, and I think it would cost me some fish, over the course of a season. I could modify my hooks to accommodate the greater flex in a rod, but why do that? Anyway, hope that explains why I like a significant backbone in the rod I choose for wacky senko fishing. I get it - if I was throwing circle hooks, the rod backbone is counter productive - but I ain't.

To me a perfect spinning reel for throwing wacky senkos would have plenty of backbone for setting the hook on a semi-slack line AND enough flex in the tip to where you could skip underneath stuff and throw for distance without maximum effort. I am several spinning rods into this process. 6 1/2" Medium Action spinning rods seemed to have too much tip for me - at the expense of rod back bone. I found a 7' Fenwick HMG spinning rod that was the same blank as one of their MH Baitcasting rods. Great backbone, but not really enough tip. I found a different Fenwick 6'10", HMX I think - similar situation right amount of backbone for me, but not enough tip. I could skip and get modest distance, but in my opinion I was working too hard for the distance I was getting. Anyway - I lived with this situation for a couple of seasons because I liked the backbone for setting the hook. I went with a 1000 size Shimano, just to save a little bit of weight and it didn't look like I was going to need the extra line capacity. Started out throwing14 lb Fireline Crystal - currently I'm using some 20 lb braid that I don't remember the name of right now. I got a 7' Med. Action St Croix Mojo and it worked ok - but it had too much handle for me. The handle went more than half way down my fore arm. I liked the handle for 2 handed casting, but I felt like it got in the way during the retrieve. (The handles on the 2 Fenwick rods weren't quite as long. The Dick's sporting good store nearest me decided to get out of the fishing tackle business and closed out all their baits, rods, reels, everything. Their house brand was Field & Stream - I bought one of their 7' spinning rods because - hey you can always use another spinning rod, even if it is just for a loaner, also I liked the color ( bright metallic blue ). I kind of liked the reel seat but didn't like the handle length at all, and because I only had $15 in the rod, I hacked off the lower 6 to 8 inches of the handle. Decided to try it for throwing senkos, and for me, it checks all the boxes. Plenty of backbone - check. Enough tip to skip with little effort and throw long with modest effort - check. I sealed the hacked up end the rod by wrapping the bottom of the rod with a couple of layers of Gorilla Tape - then I repeatedly dipped the end in blue plastic dip. The rod measures 6'5", something like that now and it does what I want. I've landed fish up to 19" with this rod and never felt like the fish was out of control. I know that in Florida you're likely to come into contact with bigger fish, but I wouldn't be worried with this rod on bigger fish. So that's where I'm at right now in my quest for a perfect wacky senko spinning rig. Good luck in your search.

I'm in the "you're gonna need more than one rod camp." In my opinion, a spinner bait rod and a jig rod are two different animals. My experiences have been that when you try to make one rod perform several different techniques, you end up with a compromise that doesn't really work great for either technique. To me, working great is different than getting by.

Is Firewire and Fireline the same thing? I don't know. Tried Googling Firewire with no results - kept coming up Fireline. Anyway, I've found Fireline to be a great jerk bait line, believe me, if I had knot issues tying on to $15 Lucky Crafts or similar jerk baits I would know. I know it isn't the easiest stuff to tie knots with, the main thing being take your time, tie a good knot and carefully tighten it like you're supposed to. Palomar knots, various line to leader knots and clinch knots all work ok when you take the time to tie a good knot and tighten it down good prior to snipping the tag end close.

For pretty much every stick bait that I've encountered that I want to throw wacky style, the correct size o-ring is 3/8" OD - 1/4" ID. Some type of lubrication is required to get them placed on the stick bait correctly. You could use some oily scent spray like the Gambler BANG, but slobber works for me. To reply to your question about MaxScent - don't have a clue - haven't used them enough to have an opinion.

I really want that brownish lipless crank slightly right of center in your photo. Just for the record, I ain't young and I can for the most part afford to buy any crank I want/need. Is that an Arishi Shad? I ain't the guy for you to give that bait assortment to - pretty sure karma will work out and the right guy will get that assortment. At some point in the future ( near future, this year probably, by early next spring for certain ) I'm going add to my collection of lipless cranks. I think that looks like a great early spring color.

I carry lots of different soft plastics - but the only 10" worms I carry are Berkley Power worms. I probably have a dozen colors, but Blue Fleck ends up on the 5/0 hook 95% of the time. Maybe that is because I bought a 100 count bag of that color - and all the other colors of 10" worms are single bags with maybe 3 to 5 worms left in each bag. As a confirmed junk fisherman, I always have a 10" worm rigged up, but I generally only throw it around deeper trees, dropping it down through the branches and bouncing it around the tree roots. I generally throw a 5/16 or 3/8 oz tungsten because I think that a faster drop speed gets more reaction strikes on the drop and I haven't found that a slower drop speed helps with 10" worms all that much.

On further review, the Trashmaster jig seems like the Critter bait jig with the concept refined. The old critter bait jig has a fixed place to attach the soft plastic near the head, the hitch hiker clip on the trash master jig seems more flexible. I've got several boxes of old jigs that I can repurpose to test this concept.

Some guys like the bigger reels for bass fishing, the thought being that the larger spools offer less line twist and longer casts. Larger spool might have a better drag. A long time ago, I was exposed to this theory, when I was doing BFL's. Around the same time I came across a stash of 4000 size Diawa reels, complete with spare spools. I believe they were Regals - a decent reel, a step below mid-range in the Diawa line at the time. I fished them for a couple seasons. The slightly less line twist and the slightly longer casts happened, but after a couple of seasons I realized I could do pretty much the same thing with lighter 1000 size Shimano reels that weighed quite a bit less, so that's the road I went down. Still have those reels - they still fish good. What do you plan to use the reel for is a fair question. Put some heavier braid on that reel, like 50 or 60 pound test and buy the rod you mentioned and you'll have distance casting catfish rod supreme. It would be interesting to see how that reel would stand up to a 40 lb + flathead.

If that happened to me, I look at it as proof that I'd been kidnapped by aliens and my thoughts had been altered. What else is wrong with your life, other than not having a jig tied on? They aliens are wily, and they can mess with you in many unexpected ways. I find that I forget stuff from time to time - fishing related stuff and otherwise, and I'm finding it easy to believe that aliens are messing with my thoughts. I like that answer better than the notion that I'm getting older and historically, old folks forget stuff from time to time... . .

I'd buy it, just to have it, if not for anything else. I'd use it as a top water rod, because I like shorter rods for throwing walking baits & poppers. It would make a great borrower rod, for any co-anglers you bring along, who don't have alot of casting skills. Put a smaller Zebco or something similar on it and back lash problems are solved, for the most part.

This week while I was wasting time in my fishing shed - I had determined that it was too hot and too windy for me to go fishing, I was digging around in my cache of unused baits and I found a couple of Critter Bait jigs. They were a fairly unique design - designed to be weedless, but your weed guard was whatever soft plastic you decided to use as a trailer. I found some of the packaging they were shipped in. The baits were made in Olathe, Ks. The web site listed on the pack doesn't come up and there isn't any phone number. Just wondering if any of the guys in the KC Metro area remember or know about these baits - what happened to the guys who made them, etc. They were a very unique bait and I kind think it would be worth trying again to market them. I know they worked for me, and I used them until I got down to my last 2 - which is how they ended up in one of my plastic totes of old tackle. I'm particularly interested in their swim jig design - with at the time I think they called their swimming grub jig head. Anyway, just a thought and hopefully someone out there in the KC Metro area knows something about this old lure company.

I don't carry that many chatter baits - maybe half a dozen or so. Half ounce ones in various colors and brands. I don't lose them very often, because I generally throw them on 17 or 20 lb mono. One of those thin 3600 size Plano boxes works for me and they all have their separate compartments. I do dry them out before I put them back in the box.

I like the Falcon weedless wacky hooks in the 3/0 size. I've had better luck with the weighted ones ( 1/16 or 3/32). If you can find them, Strike King used to make some Lightning Strike Hooks. They were 3/0 with a mouse trap style weedguard, and a longer hook shank. They were marketed to be used with the pork-o - which gives you an idea of when they hit the market. When I first became aware of senkos - 2000 or so, definitely by 2002 when I bought my Lowe, these were the only hook I could find that I liked to fish wacky senkos with an o-ring.

Good for you. I have absolutely no experience with Revo reels. If it works for you,that's great. As a member of the " Shimano Posse" there is a better than good chance that I could go to hell for using a Revo reel. If it works good for you, that is great. Me - I think that bad things would happen should I fish a Revo reel - or even own one. When I stop by pawn shops, I keep wandering when I see a Revo red; on the shelf - though doesn't occur to me to buy it - ever.

If I'm throwing a Ned rig, I use the regular size TRD or a half of a Zinker Z - just like Ned tells us to. I've thrown the big TRD a few times on a Neko rig with decent results. I've never lost a weight out of a big TRD as long as I heat it up first.

I have several of the Cabelas Guide Wear shirts like you're talking about. It has been a few years since they've been purchased. They've stood up well, they clean up pretty easy when I've gotten them stained, overall a great fishing shirt. However, since I've discovered the SPF 50 fishing hoodies, (I have several, made by different companies). The old style guide wear shirts have been riding the bench for the past couple of years. I find the stretch hoodies, more comfortable overall, they pass sweat better, they are cooler in hot weather, and the hoodie keeps your cap on in the wind and protects your ears & neck from sunburn, so I don't have to wear wide brim hats. I like the wide brim hats, but they tend to act like a sail in the wind, and I don't like that all so much. My advice would be to try one of the newer knit fishing hoodies and then you won't look as hard for the old school button up fishing shirts. As it turns out, I like the fishing hoodies for disc golf also.

I've tried those Owner down shot hooks - looked like a decent idea, but they just didn't work for me. I looked at the spin shot hooks - like how they keep the hook pointed up, but don't like the extra hardware, so I never bought them. The hooks that work the best for me are the Gamakatsu Wicked Wacky hooks - in the various sizes offered. I fish the bubba drop shot much more often than I do a lighter more finesse presentation. The hook is a fairly stout hook, but it is discreet and the tube wrapped on the shank of the hook keeps the hook upright and in line. It very seldom gets stuck and I frequently throw that rig into some pretty gnarly spots.

A small lake that I frequently fish doesn't have any shad. It has that classic Conservation department stocking of Bass/ sunfish / catfish. Later on, they added some grass carp to the mix. Someone, in their wisdom, added crappie to the mix. Compared to other lakes that I fish, in this lake the bass just seem a little light for whatever length they're at. Their heads seem normal size, but their bodies just seem a little skinnier than they should be. I've seen 15" fish at this lake weigh in at just over 2 lbs, and in one case 1 lb 14 oz. I've seen 15 " fish at Truman weight in at 2 lbs 10 oz, 13 oz & 15 oz. One barely 15" fish that I caught at Truman a dozen or so years ago weighed in at 3 lbs 3 oz. I think that part of the problem in my lake is that there aren't any shad. They aren't part of the mix so the bass don't get any of that slightly easier to catch, better food source. IMO - be thankful that your lake has shad. Now, on the question of what color bait to use - a whitish/greyish/ silver colored Timber Tiger DC 87 has accounted for MANY fish in this lake, and you can't find a more shad shaded crank than this one. Maybe they're biting the baitfish on their dreams, I don't know. The best advice I've got on crank colors is to throw the one you think will work. To add to the dilemma - I 've got a very realistic shaded Sunfish colored DC8 and it is a great stained water color at Truman - it generally outfishes the lighter colored one, not all the time but often. Go figure.

I have a couple of rods with micro guides. One is my primary pitching rod. It works great with 15 lb Abrazx. Works better once the line is wetted and stretched a little bit - maybe 15 to 20 casts. I don't like it at all for early spring or late fall fishing because the tiny openings freeze over too often. Keeping them unclogged, either by dipping the rod in the water ( which works for a cast or two ) or hosing the guide eyes with Real Magic seems to be more trouble than it is worth when you can just use a rod with regular sized guides in that circumstance. Even in the cooler weather of mid-spring and mid-fall, fluorocarbon line seems to get a little bit stiffer and the micro guides seem to restrict casting distance somewhat. At least that is my current take on micro guides. Maybe if I used a different fluorocarbon my take would be different I don't know.

It would take several seasons to make an educated guess as to what is better when. My best advice would be to go fishing before sunrise often and keep notes and sooner or later a pattern will emerge.

If that Quantum is an old IR 4CW, that is a good feel , IMO - it is well worth sending it to DVT and getting it reconditioned. That way you'll be able to throw cranks a long way for a long time with that reel. Never was very impressed with the old Diawa reels that had the twitching bar, but I've never owned one either, just looked at them at the tackle shop and just like almost always, decided to go with another Shimano. It is hard to go wrong with any model of Curado. Granted that some models of Curado were better than others, but they all were pretty good. Personally, I don't have any of the K models. If you can find any of the older Curado D reels, they had a wider spool and were made for throwing crank baits. You're in Memphis Tennessee, I believe they have more than a few pawn shops there and that would be a great way to screw off a rainy day, going to different pawn shops looking for fishing gear. Me - I can't drive by a pawn shop and not stop by from time to time, looking for fishing bargains. Just because you primarily bank fish now - doesn't mean that you shouldn't construct your lifetime bass fishing rod reel arsenal like you're going to be a bank fisherman all your life. If you think you need a decent cranking rig - then get one. Hijacking the post for a moment - to MN Fisher - how did you manage to end up with an even # or rods & reels. My guess is blind dumb luck - but maybe you handle your addiction better than I handle mine. In my case - a modest amount of disposable income and low self esteem = buying fishing gear when ever I feel bad about myself. Over the past few decades, I've accumulated some stuff.