Fishes in trees

The jury is still out on what brand of mono I like, I generally buy a different brand each time I need some, and Big Game and Trilene XL & XT are the only ones I don't consider. A few years ago I got a few 300 years spools of 17 & 20 lb Suffix (siege I think ) and that is what I'm currently using. Previous to that I tried Spider wire mono and it worked ok. Berkley used to make a line called Iron Silk that I thought was a great square bill & chatter bait line, it seemed indestructible to me. As an experiment once, I dedicated a crankbait (Timber Tiger DC4) and wondered how long would the knot last. Throwing in bushes and sunken thorn trees, over 5 trips I caught around 40 slot fish (between 12" & 15") before I discontinued the experiment. Knot never did break but, from the knot to 10 feet up the line there were many nicks and scuffs, it seemed like continuing the experiment was just asking for it. The line had some extreme memory issues, had to treat it with KVD line treatment, and start the day out soft, i.e the first dozen casts or so shouldn't be very far 20 to 40 feet or very hard. Once the line got wet and stretched a little casting range returned to normal. These days I only use mono for lipless cranks & square bills. Currently I'm using 15 lb Yozuri for spinnerbaits & chatter baits ( previously I used 17 lb mono. Currently for deeper diving crank, ( like a Timber Tiger DC16 or DC 13), I'm using 14 lb Fireline on spinning gear. I like the extra distance I get with the thinner line, so far the Fire Line has been abrasion resistant enough - jury is still out though. I try not to be a line bigot, but years ago I got burned several times buy Big Game & Trilene and never again. I wouldn't even use that line to hang pictures with. This originally started as a 10 lb line of spinning gear thread. To the original poster - don't do that. If you're gong to throw mono of spinning gear, buy a better grade of mono & don't go over 8.

Probably have to cut them to fit. Measure twice ( or three times ) cut once. Tennis racket grip tape works good, lots of colors available on line - not so much in the sporting goods stores I frequent. Baseball bat grip tape comes in various thickness and the thinnest works good. The ball bat tape is a little bit spongier than the tennis raquet tape. I've often thought that bicycle handle bar tape would work good but I never seem to get around a bike shop when I have that idea.

Big game line is poop. Trilene XL ain't much better. Skimping on line quality has always struck me as silly and short sighted. Buy good line.

When it comes to learning g stuff, kids learn stuff well that they are interested in. I knew how to tie all those knots when I was a Cub Scout, how old is that? 9 or 10? None of those knots are particularly difficult. If a child can't learn an improved clinch knot or a Palomar knot, that child might not be fishing material. If you want to teach your child a difficult knot teach them an Alberto or a King Sling. Once they learn it, have them come over and teach me - again. I mess those two knot up, first try, nearly every time. It generally takes me several tries to get the Alberty knot right, same for the King Sling.

I use mono - whatever mono goes on sale at Walmart every spring 17 or 20 . (Except Big Game, Big Game is banned from my tackle shed). I believe Suffix was the last brand I bought and it has worked fine. The catch is to use a heavy enough popper, around a half ounce or more. For topwater baits, I use the Lucky Craft popper or a Sammy if I need a walking bait, and they are heavy enough and work fine. If I know I'm going to be using the same bait for a while, I will take the time to double up the line and tie a loop knot with the doubled up line. Never had one of those knots break.

Over the life of a trolling motor, $110 isn't a huge expense. Given the option, I'd get the bigger one.

. . . "don't want to spend a fortune on getting multiple rods" . . . Blasphemy!!! You need to wash your mouth out with beer for thinking that way.

Digital postal scales are pretty cheap at Walmart. Get a plastic case to keep the dust off of it, be sure and remove the battery between uses (to prevent corrosion) and it will last a long time. Mine is around 10 years old.

I use a short 5'4" Fenwick HMG, don't remember where I got it or what I paid, but most of my spinning rigs were close outs/off the sale rack. I wish it had a Tennessee handle, but it don't. For a reel I have a 2000 size Spirex, the one with the rear drag, twin paddle. handles and the Quickfire feature. I like everything about that reel. Those few times a year, when you get a decent fish on, is when you really appreciate the rear drag AND the anti-reverse. I have some light braid on it, forget the brand and use a short 8 or 10 lb fluorocarbon leader. This rig throws a 1/16 oz jig head and a TRD great, and that's about the only ned bait that I throw. I can see the advantage of having a 6'6" or 7' rod, but I don't see any real disadvantage to going shorter and when I go on Missouri smallmouth streams like the Gasconade, the shorter rod is just easier to deal with in the float boat. I ain't so into the Ned rig that I need 3 or 4 different ones for different boats or different weights.

Every so often you break a rod. You can wonder about how it broke, but you'll never know, bottom line is rod broke. Chalk it up to experience and don't do that again - or do it again and bust another rod. If it is covered under warranty, check about how to get a new rod - nearly every company is different.

Bunch of neat old lures, none that I'd likely fish with, maybe the yellowish bomber. Guys in the Ozarks used to fish those alot, but the Wiggle Wart more or less took its place. Similar diving depth & action. I might fish the Jitterbugs, those are still pretty common. I don't know, if you had some provenance about how old those Jitterbugs I most likely wouldn't fish them. The Flatfish with the 4 treble hooks, I'm pretty certain that is discontinued, same for the Lazy Ikes. The lipless crank in the center of the photo, is that a Pico Perch? Those are kinda collectable. Not sure about the others, but they all look old mid 60's, early 70's? Not sure. I'd said that is a modest start to your old lure collection. Part of the weird dynamic of lure collecting is that the hard baits that worked the best, got fished the most and got lost the most. Truly productive old hard baits are very hard to come by. ( I'd put that Pico Perch and the Bomber in that category, some guys would probably put the flatfish in that category as well, but really that was more of a trolling bait) Most of the really old baits in my collection are cool to look at, but they really didn't catch fish all that well and that is why they survived the 60's in the possession of a kid with a Zebco 202. The vast majority of the old lures I have left, I didn't fish all that much.

Once upon a time, when BASS held winter fishing seminars in various parts of the country, I went to one at the Bass Pro Shop in Springfield, MO. Shaw Grigsby was one of the presenters and during one of the intermissions he was talking line & knots with a bunch of different guys. I asked him what he thought the best loop knot was and he said the King Sling. It is kind of complicated and hard to tie, but when you get it right it makes a great loop knot. When I know I'm going to have a popper or some other bait that works best with a loop knot, and I know I'm going to work it off and on all day long, you can double up a 2 foot section of line or so and tie a king sling with a doubled line. That works good and I've never had that knot break.

I've had the Norman speed clips open up on me a couple of times. Now clue how it happened but they did. One time lost the bait, other time the bait came back hanging weird and after looking at it is was half in/half off the clip. I recommend quality split rings, if you're going t replace the originals and just tie a good knot. I can tie a decent knot in under a minute most of the time and with my arthritic fingers, I can't work a snap any faster.

Every other year or so In-fisherman magazine mentions in an article how twin spins are an overlooked bass bait. I. almost never see any at the various tackle shops I go, so I don't know how great they are or not.

A few years ago I hit a close out of some YUM products. YUM made a salamander and a Zell emander ( I guess named after Zell Rowland ). The Yum salamander looks like any other lizard except the legs & tail have little boot tail on them, kind of like an old Sassy Shad. The Zellemander has thin floppy appendages and twin ribbon tails. I use both of these baits in conjunction with my home made jika rig, which I fish on deep outside edges of weedlines.

Don't know anything about the rod, can't comment on that. I can speak to the reel, as I have a number of different models of Curados. Should you be bass fishing and incidentally, you'd shrug your shoulders and hope for the best. If you're intentionally fishing for muskies I think that you're just asking for it. Those reels ain't made for that. Calcuttas, the newer Tranx, a 300 size Curado - those reel are made to handle larger fish - that's what I'd go with.

REPLY - the shoes on page #568, but not the Bill Dance ones on the bottom of the page, the other ones.

Back in the day (pre- Lucky Craft & Japanese jerk baits in general ). Rebel & Rogue spoonbills were "secret" baits. Several tournaments were won on the Ozark Lakes (LOZ, Table Rock, Bull Shoals in particular ) throwing these baits. If you threw them "stock" you wouldn't catch much. The trick was to wrap lead tape around the shank of the treble hooks til it suspended. With your bait rigged like this, you could throw a jerk bait 10 to 12 feet down off a point and at the time there wasn't any other way to do that. Guys were putting 8 lb mono on bait casters, throwing the spoonbills pretty far using med/ medium light rods, then just twitching it along once they got it down. Lucky Craft jerk baits and suspend dots applied to other jerk baits made this trend obsolete. I'm pretty sure that these baits would still work, but there was a pretty strong learning curve to getting the spoon bill weighted just right. More modern jerk baits and suspend dots have made the whole process easier. I guess the spoon bill minnows are still decent trolling baits, I don't troll so I don't know.

I use the World Wide Sportsman shoes (found of page #568 in the 2020 BPS master catalog.). Listed at $80 in the catalog, they go on sale a few times per year for $ 40 or $50. I've gotten these soaking wet many times and after an overnight on the shoe dryer they were just like new. Anyway, I got 2 pairs and I like them for fishing and yard work/ * later edit - these shoes have good arch support. I have a leaning post in the front of my boat, so my weight is on my feet all the time when I'm fishing.

Send your thumb to thumb school.When your thumb is educated enough you will get a graduation present in the form of lower line expenses. Then you can get in to better quality fishing lines, your next present will be increased line expenses. Your third present will be that your more expensive line will probably last a little longer. You can go for advanced degrees, you can get an educated crank bait thumb, an educated pitching thumb, and more

Son, it ain't being sarcastic to suggest that you release a big fish you catch and grab some other form of sustenance on the way home. If you're going to get in to serious bass fishing, it's called catch & release and sooner or later you need to learn it. Should you happen to catch a fish that is " big " for the waters you fish, that fish is worth more living in the ecosystem it came from than it is filling your belly. That fish could be caught several times. Big fish have a unique niche in whatever ecosystem they live in, and only seldom are they part of a "sustainable harvest" option. I would suggest that no matter what kind of fish toting paraphernalia you acquire, it is unlikely that fish will last an hour bike ride in the Arizona sun, or afternoon or evening for that matter. The quality of the fish would deteriorate some - I wouldn't eat it. I'd rethink the toting fish home thing.

I can't address the Red Eye Shad and paint issues, (I don't have any) however, my favorite lipless crank is the discontinued Berkley Frenzy. I've got 5 left. These seem to get better as I've knocked some of the paint off of them. I wouldn't change anything. I'd keep throwing that particular bait until I was totally convinced that the lack of paint was the reason it wasn't getting bit.

I always have mixed feelings when I see this kind of video. Sure, it is funny, BUT, I've been there, not sinking a truck but plenty of other stupid stuff at the ramp and I feel kinda weird watching movies of guys tearing up their stuff.

Side note to prior posts, I own a Curado 70. I'm a Shimano guy. Compared to other iterations of Curados, Chronarch, Calcutta, Calais I find it challenging to adjust in variable winds which happen alot. I think it is a great reel, once you get it dialed in for that day, but compared to the other Shimano models mentioned, it is challenging to get it adjusted right. IMO. I would point out that I'm using it to pitch soft plastics into cover, 15 or 17 lb fluorocarbon line. I generally start the day with a 3/16 oz tungsten weight and a tx rigged stick bait.

Whenever I have a day that is less then my expectations ( which is most of the time ) first I go back to the old In-fisherman formula that they published religiously the first few years they were a magazine ( not so much lately) Fish + Location + Presentation = Success. There is almost always, in all three dimensions of the formula, little tweaks that maybe/probably would have caught you more fish. The catch is fishing in the moment, being mindful and having the correct tweaks occur to you at the correct time. Easier said than done, but that is how I try to approach figuring out what happened when I have an underwhelming day fishing. Sometimes though, it is other stuff. Tuesday, conditions seemed nearly perfect for early April, got on the water by 11 AM ( long story about why I was late getting to the lake ), then I fished all day til dark thirty, caught 4 fish - 1 around 2:30 and the other 3 half an hour before it was time to go. Last fish was a solid keeper, so that improved my attitude a little. I don't know, I remember when I was in Pee Wee league baseball and the five coaches we had ( 1 official coach and 4 very involved Dads we were required to call coach) were very concerned that we would play the game "right". That meant, on every play, we were supposed to be at a specific place. Occasionally, as a 10 year old outfielder I would forget to come in some and watch for an overthrow at second, or as a corner outfielder, run to center if there was a hit toward center, backing up the center fielder should the grounder get past him. Anyway, you wouldn't always do it right, sometimes you'd get benched but most of the time the coach would ask (they were pretty good about not screaming at you when you did something wrong ) "What were you thinking?" I would reply, "I'm trying." Then you'd just get that look from the coach, sometimes smiling, sometimes not, and they'd say "Try harder." So, 50 some years later I try to apply that to fishing and what that means is that I just got to try harder, try something different, look at the situation a different way, something.