Fishes in trees

Don't know a thing about skipping with a bait caster. When I need to skip, I use spinning gear. I know with spinning gear, I can skip with a whippy tip or a more stout tip, just change your action a little bit. My guess is that a similar principle applies to bait casting gear, in that I think that the right reel is more important than the "best " rod. They tell me at Rogers in Liberty that they can't keep the higher ratio Curado DC reels in stock and that the guys that are buying them are using them for skipping baits, so that's where I'd start.

I've bought some All Terrain jigs in the past that had a dimpled bottom like that.

How long have you had the reel. I've used spinning gear since the 70's and I've had a couple of reels that couldn't be fixed. They we're just line eaters. Fill them up with new line, fish a couple of times, spool is so bumpy & tangled that the line is unusable. I have an old Mitchell that is that way, the first generation of skirted spool reels after they'd marketed the 300 basically forever - that first generation of skirted spool reels weren't a quality product. I have a few more thrown into the one eater box, but I can't recall the brand right now. The box is labeled LINE EATER REELS and I'm unlikely to ever open that box again. I don't want to release the spirit of the line eaters into my fishing shed. That 's the same reason I don't throw them away, the reel might escape and do more damage. Right now, and for the past 30 years, it had been contained in a box where it can't hurt anything. Ona serious note, it that reel didn't always do it, something is broke and it is probably fixable by someone who knows what they are doing. That ain't me. I'd just buy a new reel at that point.

I use line conditioners frequently. Spring through fall - I use the KVD line treatment. This. treatment is water based. Early spring & Late fall I've had that stuff freeze on my reel and so, in those conditions, I use Reel Magic. I get that it degrades the line, but it also works in chilly conditions. So, that 's the trade off.

25 yards with a 3/8oz practice plug isn't shabby. Believe it or don't but your first half dozen years of owning a bait caster you can't practice enough. Take the time to learn all the casts you're going to maybe need. Besides the standard overhead cast, you might want to learn a side arm cast, back handed cast, and definitely a Jimmy Houston style roll cast. You're going to need to learn how to pitch, which is a same principle, different action kind of cast. I don't run into guys who are just learning a bait caster very often, but when I do I tell them to learn how to pitch first. because you'll learn more about thumb control and feathering the spool quicker than you will learning casting per se. At least that is my opinion. I think that getting good as casting actually makes pitching harder to learn, and I find that, at least as far as throwing soft plastics go, I pitch MUCH more often than I cast. I wish I would have earned how to pitch first, but in the early 80's, nobody was even talking much about pitching baits.

I don't know about where you shop but I went to Rogers in Liberty (KC Metro area) and I didn't find it too hard to drop a C note on a few favorite colors & shapes that I was low on. The only thing that they didn't have that I specifically wanted was some 6 lb Seagaur Invizx and I didn't want to buy the bulk spool, so I bought a different brand. They did seem to be low on braid, but I didn't need any braid so it wasn't a big deal. In the 2 Walmarts that are near to me, they are pretty much picked over, but there is seldom anything there I need anyway. Haven't been to Academy lately.

Once upon a time they were the top of the line Fenwick rod. Then they got phased out by the AETOS line and who knows what the next Fenwick line is. The store where I used to by Fenwick is more or less getting out of the Fenwick business, going to other rod lines & I haven't needed (WANTED??) a new rod lately.

For me - heavier shakey heads I'll use a bai caster and for lighter shakey heads I'll use spinning.

Oh, great, now I'm reminded of another old bait that I'd forgotten about. For me the Cotton Cordell Redfin pre-dates the buzz bait. To make it wake easier/properly, you had to sacrifice it, take your lighter and head the bill and bend it down to nearly 90 degrees, being VERY careful to not twist it one was or another. At this point it was only good for waking and nothing else. I used the jointed one and basically, threw it like a buzz bait, throw it out, keep it moving and making a wake, rod tip up & wait for the bite. I first found this bait best for paralleling deeper pond banks. Later as I got boat access and later my own boat, it worked even better waked over shallow grass, grass that hadn't topped out on the surface yet.

Denny Brauer won a Bass Master Classic pitching tubes. As I recall Guido won his Bass Master Classic throwing his Guido Bug. I believe that Strike King still sells that Denny Brauer pitching tube. At various times, different companies marketed the Guido Bug. I know that Gambler and Lucky Strike did for a while. That was a good, well thought out crawfish bait & I wish it was still available. I've been out of them for a while now.

That pond is out of balanced and needs to be fish out. Too many bluegill - got catch some bluegill. I ran into a similar situation years ago - many teeny tiny bluegills/ other panfish - all around 3 to 4 inches long - really too small to do anything with. Didn't go to that pond for a while - what was the point? Then a different friend - not a fishing friend, but an organic gardener, mentioned what good a 5 gallon bucket or 2 of teeny tiny fish would do for his compost pit. After a conversation with the pond owner about what needed to happen to the pond, I got several buds together and we went blue gill fishing. Everyone had a different idea about how to go about catching tiny blue gills, what I did was throw 1/16 oz rooster tails and I filled a 5 gallon bucket up. Between all of us we filled up several 5 gallon buckets. Organic gardener was grateful and it helped the pond out some. It has been a while now so I've lost track of how that pond is doing now. I know we didn't hurt it.

As far as fishing gear goes, I have more than I need but not nearly as many as I want. I like fishing reaction baits, like lipless cranks, square bills, spinnerbaits & so forth. These days though, and for the past few years I seems like I have a soft plastic or jig rod in my hands MUCH more often, probably 2 to 1. Twenty minutes of throwing a square bill or spinner bait and my wrists/elbow gets tired and I don't feel like throwing it any more - so I don't. I'm on some decent anti-inflammatory meds so I'm not afraid, pain wise, to throw reaction baits, but if they ain't working, they aren't a bait that I'm going to stick with for a long time. I'll go back to throwing some soft plastic at objects - mostly because I know that isn't going to bother my wrists as much.

From time to time I've had duplicate set ups. I have 4 BPS Extreme 7'4" MH Rods - I've liked them for various reaction baits from time to time. Currently they are on the bench but probably not forever. For fishing creeks in southern Missouri I have 3 5'9" Medium/Ex fast Fenwick HMG spinning rods. They can throw anything I want to throw when I'm floating creeks & streams. Currently on the first string traveling team I have 2 Fenwick AETOS 7'2" MH/ Exfast jig rods. I use these mostly for throwing my home made jika rigs. Also on the traveling team I have 3 6'8" Fenwick AETOS 6'8" AETOS MH/fast rods that I use interchangeably for throwing spinner baits/square bills & sometimes a Whopper Plopper. The only ones that I bought on purpose were the 7'2" Aetos rods. The 6'8" rods, I bought one, then another, then a year later bought another one.

I'd put a decent small spinning reel on that 10'6" rod, then fill it up with 10 or maybe 8 lb braid, maybe 6. Might try anaofil instead of braid. You've got yourself a decent float & fly rig. For more information, research float & fly. In my very limited experiences with this rig, a light rod works better than an ultra light, but it doesn't make that much difference. I had one February tournament at Lake of the Ozark, cold and nothing happening, my boater, for reasons known only to him, decided to parallel some limestone bluffs, I was totally back boated. Anyway, I'd brought along a float & fly rig and I'd bought a box of the appropriate 1/16 oz jigs, so I decided to throw it out the back of the boat. I fed it line as the boat moved away from the float and 5 casts in a row, when the bobber got 25 or 30 feet away from the boat ( jig was suspended 10 feet down) a 13 to 14 inch spot hit the bait. AT LOZ, for the BFL tournaments, at the time 12" spots were legal. From noon to 12:20 I went from my side of the live well being empty ( just like his ) to having a limit of spots. I came close to getting a check - didn't get one - but my attitude was improved for the drive home, just because I caught fish. Never fished another winter tournament when the conditions lined up for that rig to work, and it was never real common on LOZ, like it is in the deep clear water Tennessee & Kentucky impoundments. I still have the rig, but these days it takes an act of god to get me out fishing in the winter. The rod is also good for drifting salmon eggs at Taneycomo.

I have a few of the Green BPS Extreme rods. They ain't in the starting line up anymore, but they are in the "next rod up slot" for buzz baits, double buzzers & square bills. Sooner or later one of the starters will break and the BPS Extreme will get another chance to be an "oldie but goodie".

If you're standing on the bank, your only option for walking the bait is going to be jerking to the side. Expansive flats suggest distance casting. Find some rod that you can throw the appropriate weights a long ways. Cabelas used to sell at distance casting "Predator" rod, in both spinning & casting versions. The one I bought was around 11 feet long/ Medium to Medium Heavy action. With the old Ambassador 2 speed reel ( speed was adjusted by clutch, reel worked at higher speed until a strike happened and the pressure from the strike triggered a clutch, and the reel shifted down automatically to a lower speed ). Anyway with this rod & reel filled with 17 lb mono, I could throw a ounce and a half slab spoon a hundred yards more or less. Distance is just a guess, spool held a little less than 300 yards and with a good cast I could cast out about half the spool. At this distance, I think a bait that made its own action, like a Whopper Popper might be a better choice than a spook style bait. This rod & reel combo right now is just gathering dust in my fishing shed. As I recall, a couple of hours throwing that slab spoon that far with that rig was a workout.

For spinnerbaits, I think gold or copper are better murky water blade colors than silver is. For lipless cranks, I have a shiny/silver/greyish/white Berkley Frenzy that is my first choice for lipless crank regardless of water color. As far as jerk baits go, if the water is murky, I'm probably not throwing one. HOWEVER, back in the day, when I was ignorant and didn't know any better, I had a shiny Cotton Cordell Redfin, that I threw into murky pond water and strip pit water and did ok with.

Back when they were available I looked at those Berkley Finesse Jigs in different stores. I think that there are better finesse jigs out there. The Jewel Eakins jig is my favorite.

You might be able to get by with a 200 size Calcutta. Those reels are built like tanks and if you tore it up, at least you'd have a good story to tell, with evidence.

Arkie makes round heads in the sizes you're looking for, but the hook that comes with it is a 2/0 or 3/0, one of those. MY advice, if you want to go that small - get some egg sinkers ( or some other shape you like ), some wire ( the heaviest you can bend), your Dremel & some cutting wheels, appropriate size hooks and some solder ( or maybe epoxy, or bondo, something like that) to fill in niches, and go work work and make your own. Don't forget goggles or other eye protection when messing around with Dremel & cutting wheels. Gene Larew Hard head go down to 5/16 oz. Something to consider - as a general rule Biffle Bug type heads & baits work best on harder sand/ rocky bottoms. Throwing a swing head jig, of any weight, on a mucky bottom might just be asking for it.

I'm not an expert on batteries & battery chargers, however I've hung around experts on this subject, from time to time and from what I remember it is pretty important to have both of your batteries be the same age-wise. Assuming your batteries are the same to start, wiring batteries in parallel will roughly double your run time. Running the two depth finders of batteries in parallel will extend your running time somewhat - the will tell how much - probably depends alot on how much your them. I wouldn't charge the batteries while they were wired in parallel - don't know enough about batteries to say exactly why it wouldn't be good, but I don't think it would. Why not just buy a 2 bank charger? Then you will know, with very little doubt, that the two batteries are being charged the same.

I don't fish them very often, but I got some bigger shakey heads, 3/8 & half ounce heads, appropriate size hooks, and I'll throw them on 15 lb Abrazx. On a few of my home made jika rigs, I used a regular bend 5/0 worm hook and fished the bigger Zoom trick worm on that. That bait is the one I'll try when fish don't want a Brush Hog or Mad Paca on my jika rig.

As far as "fishability" goes, I much prefer a single console boat to a dual console - even when I'm a do-angler. Riding on plane, I can wear goggles or something. When you're fishing, the absence of the second console makes fishing seem easier to me.

A number of years ago, I was growing up & down the aisles of a local BPS and found a tool, kind of like the grippers previously posted, but with a 30" handle. I use it on fish that are too big to flip into the boat. It is out of the way on the front deck, much more out of the way than a net would be. (I've had a variety of nets in the past). The only catch is that you need to play the fish until it is kinda quiet, then reach down with the grippers open, lock on to the fish mouth and that fish ain't going anywhere, except into the boat to remove the hook, take a picture and turn it loose. The only modifications I've made to this tool are pool noodle floats, that will float the tool should I drop it overboard and a pretty thick coating of plastic dip over the grippers, seem to protect the fish's mouth better than the bare metal grabbers did. Since I bought that tool I've never seen another one like it, in person or in any catalog. I'd be bummed if that tool came up MIA. Edit - Immediately after posting this, I googled "long handled fish gripper" and found the tool, on E-Bay and a couple of other places. It is still weird that I haven't seen anything like it anytime I've been out gear shopping.

Back in the day I was a bank fisherman and fought and argued with branches, weeds, thorn bushes, etc, ALOT. Then it occurred to me to make a decent sharp machete an everyday part of my fishing gear. Weeds, over head branches and so forth weren't as much of a problem after that decision.