Fishes in trees

I haven't drank enough of the Kool-aid to but a bunch of different brands of 10 worms. That being said, I always have a Berkley 10" power worm tied on ready to throw. Color depends on whims of the day, mostly blue fleck.

Main question is how much vegetation do you have to deal with day in & day out. A medium action rod, bait gets caught up in vegetation, you give it a rip and more often than not it tends to accumulate a bunch of vegetation. A heavier, faster action rod, similar situation, give your bait a rip and more often than not you can shed the vegetation and continue the retrieve. There is a learning curve here,, like many other things. With experience, with a medium action rod, you can gauge the power of the rip and the direction of the rip and often shed vegetation. It's just easier to to with a faster action rig. As far as the reel goes, not a big fan of the Black Max, or any Ambassador bait caster for that matter. Chalk it up to bad experiences in my youth. My opinion is that you could go to whatever price point the Black Max is at, get a Shimano at a similar price point and end up with a better reel. Happened to be in Walmart yesterday and I can't go there without wandering through the fishing aisles, looked the Berkley Lightning Rod, the new one, this years model, orange & black,(7' MH action, which IMO was more like a medium) and thought to myself that this would be a decent crank rod for the $40 they were asking. If there is an Academy Sports in your neighborhood, look at the All Star rods, they frequently have close outs on spinner bait rods & crank rods. The house brand of H2O rods are very good also.

What are you going to put it on is a key question. Mounted up front on the trolling motor or on the console? Shooting through the hull or mounting outside the hull. Fiberglass or aluminum? This is on e of those things where you got to do your own homework and decide what works best for you.

I use spinning gear to throw jerk baits, mostly because when it is jerk bait time it is generally kinda windy and for me spinning gear performs better in the wind, throwing into it or crossways than bait casting gear does. I use an older Shimano 6'3" Medium action/ extra fast tip rod with a U.S. Reels 270 , with the extra large, wide spool. I understand that the US Reel is a clunky p.o.s., with marginal tolerances and clunky grindy gears, but it throws half ounce lucky crafts into the wind farther than other reels I own, so that's what I use. I could use a longer rod to increase casting distance somewhat, butI find that using a longer rod I slap the tip on the side of the boat when I do a downward snap, and the downward snap gets the bait a little deeper than a side ways snap would, so I go with the shorter rod. I am mindful that should I get a decent fish on there is a chance that I could lose it due to reel malfunction, so I just pay attention & hope for the best. Haven't lost any fish due to reel malfunction yet.

I've tried it both ways and assuming you get past the line snarling problem ( by stopping it in the air and letting it jerk to a stop ), I don't think it makes much difference, mono or braid, with that bait. I believe I used mono last year. Braid or mono, some days you're going to miss fish, some days every fish and other days you're going to get every hit, stuff happens.

Just recently ( last few weeks, don't remember) I got my 2020 BPS Master catalog in the mail. On page 471, they have a Bow Step ladder for sale. I'm wondering if anyone reading this has any experience with this product. At boat dealers, on the very high end bass boats, I've seen something similar on some trailers, but I don't know anyone who has this product or anything similar. Does anyone have any notions about if this product works or not? What do yo need to look out for? I had knee surgery last year and when I was putting in and taking out, getting from the trailer to the boat was a challenge, in that it stretched my knee farther than I wanted to. Currently I have one step mounted on the trailer, it used to be good enough but now it isn't. Advice/suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

I have 2007 era electronics, and don't plan on replacing them any time soon. I've always unplugged the units and put them in their individual padded cases when I travel. My pre- launch and post launch procedure takes 40 minutes or so anyway so any time I'd save leaving them mounted is negligible .

No clue - however, there aren't an infinite number of bass bait subscription services. Might try some phone calls or e-mails pointed in their directions.

When I go by myself, I carry all 3, throw all 3, and over the course of the day conditions will tell me the way to go for the day. In addition to the spinnerbait, chatter bait and square bill, I will have a half ounce lipless crank tied on and a bubba square bill ( usually the Academy version of the Strike King 8XD). I might have a Mann's Minus 1 tied on, for throwing over shallower weed beds and sometimes it has worked for me throw over average depth or deeper weed beds. Some kind of swimming worm might be tied on another rig. A big part of pre spawn fishing is covering the water and I get more confident covering the water with a variety of baits.

I use a "bubba" drop shot approach much more often than I use a finesse approach. Half ounce weights are the largest size that are readily available anywhere close to where I live, so that is what size I use. Last year I made half a dozen or so of 3/4 oz drop shot weights, but didn't get around to using them. Maybe this year.

This is a very interesting question and deserves and thoughtful answer. So here is mine. . . .I googled paintable crank bait blanks and got a bunch of different options. As far as colors go, option #A might be to use Testers modeling paint and brushes. Maybe get a fly tying vise to make it easier to paint all sides. Option #B might be to go to Michaels or Hobby Lobby or somewhere like that and get a cheap air brush. Maybe do both. Maybe just buy a bunch of different colored Sharpies - I don't know - I suck at arts & crafts stuff, which doesn't stop me from trying different things from time to time, with mixed results, but I know that I suck at colors & design and stuff and I don't have an eye for it. I know people who don't suck at arts & crafts stuff and they tell me that decent gear makes a big difference, quality of brushes, quality of paints, how adjustable is the compressor on the air brush, whatever, JUST LIKE FISHING, DECENT TO GOOD TO GREAT GEAR MAKES A DIFFERENCE. I'd be mindful that you can probably paint over the crank bait bodies more than once - or dip them in a white or bone color and start over. I'd go to Michaels or Hobby Lobby and find out is there is anyone there that can tell you about modeling painting or painting on plastic in general. There are quite a few custom crank bait painters out there - call one or two of them, explain your issues and get their advice. My advice (and this is advice from a guy who doesn't have children, doesn't want children, has many? probably more like some, friends and acquaintances, who have children, and grand children, and adopted children and grand children. Personally I don't mind children in small doses when they are well behaved & I have very little use for children who are whiney and ill-behaved ) would be to purchase a dozen or so blanks and lead off with Testors modeling paint & brushes - see how that goes. Get a fly tying vise - you wouldn't try to paint cranks without a fly tying vise and you shouldn't expect a child to. Maybe you might, I don't know. Then a few weeks after your first couple of attempts, get the child a decent entry level air brush & paints. It's only money and your child ain't going to be young forever. It is a good way to find out and encourage if your child has any art skills. My younger sister was playing with my mom's air brush when she was around your daughters age. Of course, over time, she tore it up, misusing it and not understanding its limitations. Mom just bought another cheap air brush compressor and again went over the parameters of what to do and what not to do. Hope this early am musing helps.

I wouldn't be in the composite rod club. I like a graphite rod, mostly because it will be a little lighter and that's something that is important to me. I've tried numerous lengths/ weights/ actions over the years. Currently my favorite chatter bait rod is an older 7' Diawa LT. (light & tough). It is rated as a MH worming/jigging rod, but in my opinion it has way too much flex in the tip to be a great worm/jig rod. BUT the flex in the tip is just what I need when it comes to throwing chatter bait rods.

In my experiences labeling the boxes and then labeling the bins within each box doesn't help much. It is a good exercise for finding/figuring out how much stuff you've actually got, a way to pass some time while pounding a few IPA's. I find that when I'm out fishing and I have to swap out some bait, for any reason, I'll throw the terminal tackle into a catch all bin, mostly just to save time while I'm out. Tackle tends to accumulate in that bin and the chances that it will make it back into the carefully labeled slot that it came from is less than 50% - probably much less. Still no reason not to do it, - got to do something while you're waiting for better weather & spring to arrive.

You're still going to have to run a cord. 100 feet is a long way to run a cord. How do you power the lift? The times that I get to tie up at a marina I have a 25' cord and often that is too long, I could get by with a 15 foot cord. As far as charger brands go, I have a Dual Pro Sportsman on board charger, it is 8 or 9, maybe 10 years old and it still works. The charger I had before that was a 3 bank Guest on board charger and it lasted 8 years then it went wonky. By that I mean that it still kinda worked but wasn't always charging as fast as I wanted it to. The Dual Pro, so far, it doesn't matter how much I run the trolling motor batteries, I get home ( or to the motel or marina ) plug it in and early the next morning it is ready to go.

On my bubba drop shot rig, I have some 20 lb Abrazx that has been on for 3 years for sure, maybe more, don't know. At the start of the day, lat season, I gave it a shot of line KVD line treatment and it worked fine - no issues. I'll probably keep using it until it snaps on a hook set.

I've found that the best thing to do is to carry several pairs. I like a set of neoprene gloves ( that fit good) for when the boat is running. When I'm fishing, I carry several pairs of fingerless wool gloves or, in a pinch, the brown jersey gloves and with the brown jersey gloves I trim the fingers to fit as necessary. When they get wet, just put on and trim up another pair. I got one pair of fingerless polar fleece gloves that seem to take longer to get wet than the brown jersey gloves do, but once they get wet, you need another pair. Fishing with kinda damp fingerless gloves is ok, but once they get to wet it is unpleasant.

So you made it back in time and didn't get disqualified for being late? Strong . . . . What some guys will do fo $50. I probably would have pulled in at State Park Marina or Long Shoal and waited out the storm, but I'm a wuss and not a great boat driver. In the 80's there was alot more debris in the water than there is now - and there is quite a bit now.

A number of years ago I got a Fenwick HMG spinning rod that sounds like what you're looking for. Then I lost it in my fishing shed, so I bought a different one - a Fenwick 6'10" MH spinning rod, in whatever grade was one step down from the HMG at the time. Then I found the 7 footer leaning in the corner. Now I got 2. Currently I use the 7 footer to throw weedless wacky senkos with 20 lb braid and a 15 lb or so fluorocarbon leader. I'm pretty sure it would do ok throwing deeper shakey heads, but I'm much more likely to use a MH bait caster rig for that.

The past few years, I've found several decent close outs at Academy Sports, if there is one close to you that is where I'd look first. The next few weeks is a good time as they clear out old stock to make room for new.

Spend the money and get a good set of split ring pliers. I have a pair of the Texas Tackle pliers and they save quite a bit of time. Just like your high school shop teacher chided you, "Use the correct tool for the job." I have the one with the orange handles, if I had to do it over again, I'd get both the orange & green handles, a full set to handle all sizes. For me the other thing that is totally necessary for working with split rings is good light. For me, trying to mess with split rings in poor light is a waste of time and a good way to drop split rings. Then you have to bust out the floor magnet and even then you don't always find them.. Always something.

In my fishing shed, pegboard is used to store tools and stuff around my fishing shed work table. I have roughly 8 feet of peg board, waist height & up. Storing soft plastics would get too dusty too quick. I like using the plastic flip top shoe boxes, mostly because they keep dust away from the packaging. I use light colored duct tape to make labels for the boxes because paper stick on labels tend to peel after a few months and duct tape doesn't so much. To make the purchase less painful, I used to buy one or two of the boxes every time I went to Walmart, at 4 bucks plus change each time I really didn't feel it cost wise. These days that doesn't work, mostly because I don't get that much time to sort plastics and it bugs me to run out of plastic boxes, so, I order them through Home Depot or Walmart or Amazon by the case, a dozen to the case, last time cost was around $2.12 each with free shipping. Shelving is an additional cost, I'm going to have to get some more shelves for the north side of my fishing shed, just to spread out the collection a little more and make it easier to access. I'm planning some sort of semi-retirement in 3 or 4 years, hopefully I can put a 20 or 30 foot extension on my fishing shed before that happens. Just a word of advice to anyone who is considering building a fishing shed - build as big as you can afford and try to make as few compromises as possible. My current available space would be much more usable if I had remembered to put a couple of additional wide doors on the side of the building. It would have been extra expense at the time, but in hind site that would make the building much more usable and accessible.

Roland Martin marketed the helicopter lure. nuff said . .

Just couldn't do it. Couldn't go fishing with just one bait -that would drive me nuts. But what about if you HAD to? I don't know - can't see the situation where I HAD to. If I woke up one day, ready to go fishing and only had one bait I'd either, (a) call the cops and report that all my fishing gear had been stolen or (b) go to Walmart and get some more. Knowing all the options I cold potentially have and having only one option would bug me ALOT. I wouldn't do a decent job of fishing that day.

Denny Brauer won a Bass Masters Classic flipping/pitching a tube. I don't flip very much at all. I pitch quite a bit. For me tubes are a pitching bait - but not my primary choice. I'll pitch a stick bait, a different color stick bait, a magnum trick worm, a craw bait or a ribbon tail worm before I'll pitch a tube. Back in the day I had a few days where throwing a tube worm was the ticket, but not so much lately the past few years.

IMO - Rattletraps are bad. Spots are ok. Rapala rattle baits are ok. Red Eye Shad are ok, ( I've got some but never thrown them). . . ... Personal favorite is the long discontinued Berkley Frenzy Threadfin Shad. I have 4 left. I throw these style baits on 20 lb test. Sooner or later I'm going to have to get a new favorite.