Fishes in trees

I'm a fan of Minn Kota trolling motors, mainly because that's all I've ever owned and they. have been pretty reliable for me. You can tear them up, but you have to work at it. I like the composite shaft in a trolling motor because when you hit something it will flex and bounce back. Hit something with a metal shaft trolling motor and it gets bent and stays bent. As far as particular model, (I'm assuming you're going to stay 12 volt and not go to some kind of bow mount/foot control deal). The Endura Max model in the 2020 BPS master catalog, 55 lb thrust, lists for $289.99. Spend $25 bucks more and you have a choice of a 42" shaft instead of a "36. Doesn't seem like much of a difference, but if you stand up in your boat much, that 6" makes a considerable difference. Should you desire to go very heavy duty - get the salt water version of the Endura Max, which start at $459.99. Buy good batteries - the biggest deep cycle ones that will fit. Buy 2 and wire them parallel so that you're still at 12 volts but you will have double the running time compared to one battery. Believe me, running out of battery power in a Jon boat isn't any fun. Experiment with where to place the batteries in the boat - it will make a difference how the boat handles & feels. Doesn't necessarily have to be within reach of the cord that comes with the trolling motor. It is pretty simple to extend wiring and any auto parts store will have everything you need to do that. Invest in a 2 bank charger - it is important to keep both batteries charged the same. Put the batteries on the charger as soon as you get home. Set it and forget it. Alternative propulsion - it is pretty important to have an alternative method of propulsion. Get to the other end of the lake, smack a stump and shear a prop pin and you are stuck ( unless you brought extra shear pins and the tools to change it out ). Oars or paddles, if the boat has oar locks installed, go with oars, if it is pretty simple to install oar locks, go with oars, if not go with a paddle. FYI - paddling a Jon boat is challenging and a pain in the butt. If you frequently have 2 people in the boat - have 2 paddles. There you go - that's how I'd do it

The loose drag when spooling theory makes the most sense to me. When you're a novice at spooling line, mistakes like this are going to happen. Over the last 20 years, I've made every line spooling mistake possible ( and not just 20 years ago, either ). A few too many IPA's and it is pretty simple to spool your reel wrong. My two cents on this thread, if you're going to be putting on your own line ( and there isn't any reason why you can't ) invest in a line spooling station, because these help you keep constant tension on the line spool while you're spooling up your reel.

Ardent makes a flipping/pitching reel that has a unique concept. Very small narrow spool & no level wind. It has the flipping switch that you want. An interesting concept - check it out at their web site. There is a store at Truman Lake that deals in Ardent reels and I've looked at that reel several times, but haven't pulled the trigger. Tackle Warehouse carries quite a few reels in the Ardent line, including the one I mentioned.

Not a fan of Big Game mono. At all. Had issues with it in the distant past & moved on. I think that there are better monofilament lines out there.

To base your crank bait choices on the quality of the hooks & split rings seems a little weird, what with hooks & split rings being relatively easy to replace. My hard bait choices are all over the board. Best jerk baits - probably Lucky Craft, but I carry Rogues, Rapala, Bombers, & Excalibur as well Best Crank Bait - Timber Tigers get used the most by me, but I also carry Bandits & Wiggle Warts & Rapala & Bombers & Norman DD22's & some old Rebels Best Top Waters - I like my Lucky Craft version of the Pop-R and I like Sammies over spooks. Best other cranks - I'm going to throw Rapala Sub-walks more this year. I like the Academy version of the big ounce and a half square bills.

Just buy another one in the gear ratio that you like, there you go , problem solved. In a season or so you will have a notion of which gear ratio works for what, based on YOUR experiences, not what some guy on line or in a fishing magazine says.

There are a number of commercial internal tube weights available. Owner does make a tube hook/weight set up - Phantom Tube hook? something like that. Several issues exist. Many tubes have half an inch or so of solid plastic a the head of the tube. This can cause an issue if your hook isn't exactly the right size, in that you run out of room to tx rig your hook. I've experimented with different external weight systems for tubes for years, but I quit a few years ago, mainly because no matter what I tried I missed alot of fish. I was mainly using this internal weight tube set up to pitch to cover in 3 to 15 feet of water. A tx rigged stick bait has worked better for me lately. I was using it dropping it next to standing timber, looking for suspended fish and over the past few years, a 10" Berkley power worm has worked better for me. Literally, a few pitches with a tube at a likely tree - no results - pitch in with the 10" worm and I get bit. I'm at the point where I still carry some tubes in the boat, but I don't know why, really. Just to have I guess. Oops - I just realized this was posted in the small mouth section and there aren't any small mouth in the smallish conservation lakes where I ordinarily fish. These thoughts still apply to pitching tubes for largemouth though.

Please don't make all the lures/baits in my arsenal that actually make it into the boat feel bad. Just because any particular lure/bait in my boat doesn't get wet, doesn't mean that it doesn't get used. All the different baits in the boat, are used in a support role, i.e. they are considered, but for some reason they don't get wet.

Had to go to doctor today - regular quarterly checkup - stopped by my favorite tackle store - I was fully loaded, ie. I had cash and a checkbook and a MasterCard - but they were closed so it didn't matter. I don't know what I wanted but I would have bought something, pretty sure about that.

What he said - you need to thin out the herd some. A pond can only support so much biomass. Take a couple of hundred small fish out on the pond. That will help the pond over time. If you're going to do that, might as well eat them.

Nothing wrong with casting practice in the back yard. I'm generally working on accuracy with a particular type of cast when I do this, i.e. a roll cast, back. handed roll cast, pitching, overhead casting for distance, and so forth. Or I'm just wondering how different rod & reel combinations feel. It hasn't occurred to me to build a dry land brush pile to practice on.

Back in the day, a friend of mine found out about a seminar, the Bass Fishing Instutute presented by Indiana University. The seminar was in Manhattan, Ks I was living in Columbia, Mo at the time - Road Trip Time! They spoke about stuff that I'd read about in various magazines available at the time, but their much more visual approach clicked with me some how. Over the next 8 years, I attended the Institute 5 more times. One time in Warrensburg, MO, twice in Springfield, MO, once in St. Louis and once in Kansas City. Same information, some different presenters, each time I went I "got it" a little bit more. Seasonal patterns, types of waters, different opinions on which bait to use where & when, etc. It made my time on the water better because I had different things to consider & think about.

I have 2 early spring strategies. Strategy #A - fish the warmest possible water at the warmest part of the day with a reaction bait, like a lipless crank or maybe a chatter bait or spinnerbait. Strategy #B - anywhere else, any other time of day - go low & slow.

I'm old school enough that I remember when a 5-1 gear ratio was considered "high speed". I'm ignorant enough that I've never considered inches per turn when considering which reel to use for jerk baits. As echoed in prior posts, if it works for you do it, if it don't get a different reel. If you're considering another reel ( and you might as well ) consider one that says Shimano on it. Which begs another question, i.e. with most of the rest of the planet on the metric system, why don't we see millimeters per turn on, as a statistic, on reels made in Asia? or Sweden? or Korea? or Japan? Perhaps this is a case where the rest of the planet is simply pandering to a portion of American anglers who think this is an important measurement of reel capability, and (knowing their millimeter to inches conversions) they choose to just stick with inches. I think I'm mindful enough to be aware that ipt is going to be slightly different when the reel spool is half full or 3/4 full or nearly full. (Start of retrieve, middle of retrieve, towards the end of retrieve). I just can't get behind the notion that this matters very much. While we're still on this topic, say we're fishing a deeper diving jerk bait, like a bigger billed Lucky Craft - or a Staysee - or a Rebel Spoonbill. Wouldn't it make sense to get the bait as deep as possible, leaving as much distance as possible between where the cast started and when it reaches maximum depth? In that case, wouldn't it make sense to have as few ipt as possible? Just wondering. . ..

I prefer spinning gear for throwing jerk baits in the spring

Fishing from the bank or a boat? Back when I was bank bound, I had very little luck with crank baits or jerk baits. Jigs were problematic also. In my case, I think the lack of success with these baits were mostly due to a lack of skill, but I'm of the opinion that being stuck on the bank was a factor as well. One exception to the rule was a lipless crank, like a Cordell Spot. It didn't matter what the season was, 95% of the time I was a low & slow guy, throwing the Brewer Slider, BUT, early in the spring, if I could make myself stick with it, I could catch some decent fish making long casts over shallow flats that by early summer would be too vegetated to get any reaction bait through. Stick with it for a while, throwing with the wind or at an angle into the wind. Never had much luck throwing directly into the wind, mostly because I couldn't get the distance I needed to get. Sometimes in the early spring anxiety can be your enemy, you want so much to catch a fish that you're trying too hard. It is early in the spring and you're lucky enough to be outside - slow down, chill, anxiety ain't your friend in this situation. Back in the day, sobriety wasn't my friend. Walking the bank, I caught alot more early spring fish once I was somewhat buzzed.

The orange handled ones or the green handled ones. Reason I ask is that the green handled ones don't like small split rings at all. The green handled ones are make for larger split rings.

Between the two reels mentioned, I would guess which ever one had the largest line capacity. I still use a Calcutta 250 TEGT ( 5-1 gear ratio) for throwing deep cranks. Another option which I like quite a bit is an older Curado D, a low profile option with decent line capacity. My deep cranking rigs are based on the kind of cover I fish. I seldom throw deep diving cranks more than 20 feet deep. I'm throwing them around sunken stumps, submerged thorn trees, stuff like that. Everything is a compromise, but I currently use 14 lb Armor Coated Trilene ( currently discontinued ). I like the abrasion resistance of this line, and when my current supply runs out, not sure what I'll replace it with. I have lots of deep diving cranks, but the ones I throw 90% of the time are the Timber Tiger DC13 & DC16. These baits come through cover and get hung up less than any crank I've found. The old Brush Babies were similar, but I like the Timber Tigers better.

Not alot of difference between the 5 and 6 inch sizes, really. If I was deciding between the two sizes, my choice would be determined by what color I had in which sizes. Current personal favorite is green pumpkin with black & purple & gold glitter.

Minn Kota makes a bow mount hand controlled trolling motor. I used to have one but I decided I liked the foot control better.

I use 3700 size boxes. I use lots of dividers, when I don't use the crank bait specific boxes that are available. I use the hook bonnets. I store 1 bait per compartment. I'd rather buy more boxes than skuff up the crank bait finishes by them rubbing against each other in the box. Skuffing up a crank bait finish by smacking it against underwater stuff - I'm ok with that. Messing up the finishes by stuffing too many in a box seems pretty stupid to me. Plano makes crank bait specific storage boxes in 3600 & 3700 sizes. Just buy enough of them. I think that spending cash to protect your gear is money well spent. I have numerous ones, which allow me to sort cranks by brand & purpose. For instance, I have a wiggle wart box. I have separate boxes for my Timber Tiger DC16's & DC 13's & DC 8's & DC 5's & DC4's. Maybe 25 different boxes altogether. Of course not all the boxes make the traveling team all the time. Some set on the shelf in the fishing shed. Point of this post is that I'm not a fan of crowding a bunch of baits into a box, therefore skuffing up the finishes unnecessarily.

Perceived value is a tricky thing. In your own list you like senkos - so do I. I think that they are unmatched as a wacky rig bait. The same quality that makes them a high quality wacky rig bait makes them a bad option for tx rigging, IMO. The plastic is so soft, it often doesn't last for one fish. I've slung off enough tx rigged senkos that I won't use them for that purpose. You mention that you don't like Dingers. In my opinion, the slightly firmer plastic that Dingers are made of makes them a great candidate for tx rigging. They come in lots of different colors, each bait lasts for several fish (for me), what 's not to like. That being written, IMO BPS Stick-os are better tx rig baits, if you can find Northland Slurpees, they're better I think. Zoom magnum finesse worms might as well be a stick worm - hard to beat these for variety of colors available. Culprit makes a decent stick worm, so does V & M, Berkley makes a stick worm in several different iterations, that all work good for tx rigging, AND don't even compare to the senko when used as a wacky rig. The old Berkley Gulp sinking minnow sucks as a tx rig bait IMO and it sucks as a wacky rig bait IMO, BUT I get bit nose hooking the bait on my bubba drop shot rig - go figure. Good luck in your pursuit of opinions of relative value. It does make good reading. Rant over . .

First thing - go to the store and get some suspend-dots and/or suspend strips. Using these sticky pieces of lead tape you can adjust nearly any jerk bait so that it will suspend, drop faster than "normal", rise slower than "normal" and so forth. If you're just looking for different brands of jerk baits to try - Rogues are good and there are multiple sizes/ styles of Rogues available. Same for Lucky Craft. The Bomber Long A is an under rated jerk bait IMO. At this point, there are so many jerk baits out there, just go to Tackle Warehouse and bust out your Master Card. Or go to any number of JDM websites, bust out your Master Card (and be prepared to lose some weight because the JDM baits generally cost more, you might have to skip a few meals to pay for them) How many do you want? A few weeks ago, A-Jay posted a picture of his jerk bait collection. I'm pretty sure that his collection isn't complete - he's likely to buy more. My collection isn't that extensive, less then 200 I'd guess. At this point I buy them just to have them, especially if I see one in a color I don't have or a brand I don't have on sale/close out. No clue how old you are, but you might want until later in life before you pursue obsessive jerk bait collecting. Start with the suspend dots and you've got plenty of adjustments for the ones you've already got.

Not to be a buzz kill - but you live in South Dakota. You guys deal with winds every day that would make me consider not going. If I lived in South Dakota, I'd be thinking some kind of multi-species Deep V or at least a modified V hull. A bass boat hull, even the kinda modified V ones like some of the Rangers, is that going to be safe enough in the day to day winds that you guys consider "normal"?

Either one would work for me. If you had access to a swimming pool, there would be the visual element as well, where you could see how much a certain level of twitch from your wrists would make the bait jump. Really, there is a deep rabbit hole you can go down trying to decide which sensitivity test is best. The one that I use, when I'm in a store trying to decide if I like a rod prior to purchase, is to LIGHTLY hold the rod and LIGHTLY drag the tip across the floor and see if I can feel the seams in the tile. Should your tackle shop be carpeted this kinda works on carpet also.