Fishes in trees

Another case where Ned saves the day . . ..

Go to Harbor Freight, to the tool box/tool bag section. I got some black canvas bags, roughly the same size, for around $5 each, maybe less if you have a coupon. Brightly colored duct tape bakes decent labels. The only issue is that they might not catch as many fish because they don't say KVD on them.

I think it is a plug so that you can add water to the lure for weight. In the early 90's, there was a jerk bait on the market that had the same sort of deal, came with a syringe to inject water. As I recall, the lure was made by Norman Lures and endorsed by Rick Clunn. The lure in the picture doesn't look quite like the one I remember.

The only conclusion that can be drawn from that experiment is "that's what worked for you then."If I were going to try to replicate your experiment, first I'd have to go buy black, black grape & old purple trick worms. I've got over 50 different bags of trick worms (many more counting Netbait and other manufacturers versions of trick worms) but I'm pretty sure I don't have those three colors. I do have many different variations of watermelon & green pumpkin. Plus I fish all those baits on shakey heads, trick worm isn't really a tx rig bait to me, a little too skinny. Anyway, I remember back in the early to mid 80's, back when the Color-C-Lector was a thing. I had access to one. It would reliably tell you which color the bass could see, in any given situation. The issue would become, move 5 feet, drop the probe and it very likely would tell you some other color. Move again, same result, maybe the same color, maybe not, but definitely not predictable. Bottom texture, water clarity, clouds, sun and a plethora of other conditions made it difficult to get a predictable result, move and that result could change. When the Color-C-Lector evolved to become the Combo-C-Lector, measuring PH along with light it became even more confusing. PH in a given body of water isn't constant, even relatively close to different sampling points. The guy who conducted the experiments that led to the marketing of the Color-C-Lector was a professor at Oklahoma or Okie State (I forget ) named Loren Hill. Overall the best thing that I got out of the color chooser toy was it motivated me to buy a solid purple/ more lavender than purple, deep diving Bagley crank bait. It caught a few fish before the bottom of some nameless pond re-claimed it and I've never seen that color again. I think that the only reliable color theory is trial & error, combined with memory, i.e. "What color has worked in the past under similar circumstances". It's part of the charm of bass fishing. Then, I think we've all seen situations where a color worked for one guy and it wouldn't work for you. I have a bud whose favorite jig color is solid blue with a white trailer. I can't buy a fish using that color. Another instance, a different fishing buddy favors black & blue dingers as his favorite pitching bait (primarily because he goes through many of them and that is a color that is readily available at Walmart. I can tie on a black & blue dinger, same hook, same tungsten weight, same line test, and get out-fished 5 or 6 to one. There is no rational explanation for this ( I'm on the trolling motor and I get first pitch at most targets ). Tie on a different color bait and the catch ratio evens out some. Drawing conclusions from those fishing episodes, to me the most logical explanation is that he's just better at using that bait than I am.

When it comes to reels, I'm Shimano guy. When it comes to rods I roam the close out aisles, for the most part. My rods cover the spectrum, from inexpensive to pricey, only a couple were bought at full retail. The one rod, currently on the traveling team that I paid full price for is a Falcon Bucoo Trap Caster. 7'long, enough tip, enough backbone, it lets me throw lipless cranks a long way. I have 7 or 8 Fenwick rods, HMG or AETOS, Every so often I break one and Fenwick has a generous replacement policy on the upper end rods. I have a few Kistler rods, the dark blue and olive green ones (Argon & Helium I think), that I bought when the KCK Cabelas got out of the Kistler business several years ago. I still have a 7'3" Wild Black Carrot Stick, I'm the only guy I know who hasn't busted all their original carrot sticks. I'm not adverse to trying many of the other brand mentioned in this and other threads, but they aren't readily available in the KC Metro area as far as I know. ( I can't bring myself to order fishing rods on-line, I have to touch and feel it first prior to purchase) Oh, yeah, this winter I got a 7' Med Action Berkley Lightning Rod and it throws square bills great.

Be aware that nearly all jerk bait makers lie when writing down how deep their baits will dive. They almost always take suspend dots or suspend strips to get them as deep as packaging says they will dive.For fishing jerk baits deeper, the spoonbill type with the larger bill is an option.

I think that the wire on the VMC hook is just a little too stout. As an alternative, if you want to stay with the mouse trap wire design, go with the Falcon K-wacky weedless hooks. I use the 3/0 size.

Did you buy all that stuff on-line from strangers? I'm thinking that if I bought that much electronics from a local or relatively local dealer, installation and instruction would be part of the deal.

Most of the time a 10" Berkley Power worm is rigged up & ready to go. I generally start with Blue Fleck. I wish Berkley would revive the old 6" Pulse worm, I think that is a better bait is stained to muddy water.

Isn't that Z man bait one of those elaz-tech baits? I know that using those baits, if you've got the point buried even a little bit, it can be a challenge to pop it out enough to get it to stick in a fishes mouth. I think those extremely stretchy baits work great on a Ned rig with an exposed hook, I've missed quite a few fish with the hook point skin hooked, even a little bit. If I felt like I had to fish that bait, I would nose hook it with a hook like a Gammy weedless finesse wide gap or a VMC Weedless wacky hook. (See pages 296 & 297 of 2019 BPS Master Fishing Catalog. If you need more weight, you can add nail weights. Heating up the nail weights with your lighter for a few seconds prior to insertion makes the process go much slicker. As far a setting the hook, a rod with an extra fast tip and some backbone would be preferable to one with extra flex. You are setting a hook here, not dragging a bait with multiple treble hooks and hoping one sticks as it flails around. I thrown soft jerk baits some, and I throw them on a Fenwick HMG 5'9" spinning rod - rated as a Medium with an extra fast tip - I'd rate the rod more on the heavier side of medium. It is a good rod, I like it enough that when it went on close out because the new Fenwick models were coming in, I bought the 3 that were left at $50 each. I like a 1000 size Shimano spinning reel.

If you're not sure what kind of spinning rig to get, take a look at the guys using spinning gear where you are fishing and get gear like theirs. If you want to ned rig like Ned does, go to Walmart and get one of the cheapest ML spinning combos, he prides himself on being "frugal". For drop shot gear, there is lots of advice out there, pick one and go with it. My advice on reels is to get the smaller 1000 size spinning reels, because they are lighter. 1000 size reels have all the line capacity you're going to need and they are stout enough. I use a size 10 Pflueger President with 20 lb braid and 15 or 20 fluorocarbon leader on my 7' Fenwick HMG MH spinning pitching stick. I keep the drag pretty tight and I haven't had any issues with a bass overpowering the reel. Really, I'd like to see it happen, just to know how large a fish is too large for this gear. If like a previous post you're using the reel to do double duty with salmon fishing, I'd probably go larger. FYI, Loomis makes a 6'10" drop shot rod, configured for bait casting reels. Slap a Calcutta 50 or a 50 size Chronarch and you've got a sweet, lightweight drop shot rig.

I keep a ruler in my boat, because I want to know if a fish is 15" or more in length (the Missouri definition of a keeper) I won't have a scale in my boat and anyone who rides with me, I encourage them to leave the scale in the truck. Scales lie. Dozens of times I've been victimized by the scale - it has taken perfectly obvious 5 1/2 lb fish and turned them into 3 3/4 lb fish. And then the scale silently laughs at me. I've had it - I understand low self esteem anyway, but to be silently mocked by a cheap electronic toy - too much for me. No scales in my boat. (Scales designed to weigh things that is, random scales that get scraped off fish when I drop them or lay them on the ruler to measure are ok. They will eventually dry out and the wind will blow them out of my boat)

I think that there is a good chance you can get an inexpensive rod that will work ok for throwing cranks - Last winter I got a $50 Berkley Lightning Rod - 7' Med action. Bait casting reels are another story, I feel the story on reels is that you get what you pay for, i.e. buy a cheap reel, you get a cheap reel, cheap reels break and don't perform well over time. Very occasionally you can get a decent reel on sale - do your research and I hope you get lucky. Perhaps if you're throwing light to medium sized cranks, spinning gear might be the way to go. I have no experience with the KastKing reels, so I can't say either way about that brand.

A fair question is what do you mean by "heavy" and what do you mean by "big baits?" Makes a difference . . .

Jewel Baits makes a shakey head that seems to be kinda on the lines of what you're looking for. Their Fin-Nesse jig heads work good also, but they have a different kind of bait holder, not a spring. If you get hitch hikers, they are kind of like the owner CPS springs, but they are easier to attach, I think. Another option might be to get any of a number of hooks with center pin springs or other bait attachment system and then just peg the worm weight.

Program is self imposed. Just don't get down on yourself when you "slip up". Admit that you're human and every so often you just got to have a new fishing rod, and it really doesn't matter if you need it or not. Myself, I'm just cutting back from a new one every few weeks.

I have the Curado DC and I've played with it a few times and fished with it once. Using 15 lb co-poly, a half ounce practice plug, standing outside my fishing shed, I can throw a long ways, throwing out almost half the spool. On the water, it is a little different story. I bought this reel to be my dedicated spinnerbait reel and it seems that given the anti-aerodynamic nature of spinner baits, I can only get a little more distance than I can using my previous spinner bait reel choices. It does seem like it takes less effort to achieve the distances that I'm getting and the reel itself is lighter than my previous reel choices, so I like that. I think that if I were to throw square bills with it - or minus 1s or something in that category I'd get more distance on the water. Anyway don't have a MGL - recently acquired the Curado DC - like what it does throwing spinnerbaits so far. Not very far along in experimenting using different rods yet. Currently in an unplanned money crunch (torn meniscus & resulting surgery, long story totally off topic) however when a spare $250 comes my way I'm thinking I am probably going to want another one, that is assuming that Shimano doesn't come out with some newer reel that I've got to have.

What kind of jigs? Football heads ? Shakey heads? Skirted jigs? Slider heads? Float & Fly? ( just kidding about the float & fly ). What kind of jigs makes a difference to me. I don't throw skirted jigs all that often but when I do I use my Fenwick AETOS 7'2" MH - exhaust tip. Slider heads work best for me using the old Falcon Eakins Jig Special - a 6'10" rod that is on the light side of MH. Shakey head jigs I will often use a spinning rod - current favorite is an older 6'3" Diawa Light & Tough. It is rated Medium, but has much more backbone than your average medium rated rod. I agree with a previous poster, if I needed a new jig rod and money wasn't an issue, the high end Loomis would be the way I'd go. Take my recommendations with a grain of salt. I've been restraining myself from purchasing any new rods lately, kinda a self-imposed AA for a fishing gear head. I'm at 6 months and counting since my last bait casting rod purchase. 2 months and counting on spinning gear. (That really doesn't count because the rod was a throw in when I bought the small Pflueger President that I wanted, the snagging rod I bought doesn't count because I'm really using it for bubba kite flying gear, the 2 mid-range catfish rods I came across at after Christmas sales don't count because, well, they're catfish rods). I really am trying to cut down on the number of rods I buy from month to month and year to year.

You're just starting on a very convoluted topic. Lots of things impact on how deep a crank bait can get on any given cast, and all the different variables can affect each other. For starters - line test (be aware that different lines rated the same test will/might have different diameters which effects diving depth). Next - casting distance, i.e. how far can you throw any given bait, given the gear that you've got. The angle of the bill is important, the weight of the bait is important, the length of the bill is important. Any weights embedded in the bill? That is a consideration also. Gear that you're throwing with? In general, longer rods give you better leverage that lets you throw any given crank farther, but not always. How deep do you need to get? A common situation that I face is that I want to get a fairly large crank 8 to 12 feet down, banking off horizontal limbs, fairly close to the main trunk of trees. Any number of crank baits on the market will get you 8 to 12 feet down - on lightish line ( 10 to 12 or so). A decent fish hits that bait on that line and it is a foot and a half or so away from a solid vertical object. You're going to lose cranks doing this. I solve this problem by throwing a DC16 Timber Tiger ( which are designed to go through brush & trees) on 17 or 20 lb line, which is much more resistant to breaking when Ms Bass starts to go around a tree. Good luck to figuring out & understanding cranks. There are many articles out there which help some - so do your research. As far as the cranks you've already got - trial and error. There is quite a bit about cranks that is gear related - so get ready to SPEND SOME MONEY. Crankbait specific rods help - somewhat. Crank specific reels help - somewhat. There are cranking situations where spinning gear is more appropriate than bait casting gear. For instance, try throwing size 7 Shad Raps in a moderate wind any direction except down wind, with bait casting gear. Have we mentioned trolling yet? I have buddies who are allergic to the idea of casting cranks - to them crank baits (especially the lighter, shad shaped longer billed ones) are strictly trolling baits and who would want to cast one? The more you learn and understand about cranks, the better chance you've got of catching fish regularly on them. Hope this helped.

I like a shorter rod for throwing top waters because it seems like with a longer rod, I have to pay attention so that I'm not slapping the side of the boat as I do the downward jerk move. Current favorite is an All Star Top Water Special 6' that I got on sale at Academy last year for around $50.

Forgot about the weight - I use the half ounce finesse weights from BPS. I like them better than the rounded or bell shaped ones. If I could find 3/4 ounce weights, I'd use those - the idea being that why not get your bait to the bottom asap

I've always thought of belly boats as a summer thing. Back in the day I knew guys who would wear waders and fish out of the belly boat early spring and also later in the fall. Not for me, I was scared of getting too cold. There are several different styles of kicker fins, just pick the ones that work for you. I remember even in late May, water temps in the 70's was a little chilly. Basically I think you can wade, I think you can belly boat - don't think you can do both. If you are concerned about safety while you're wading, an inflatable life jacket might be an answer. They are light enough to wear all the time and they only deploy if you need it.

I think that if you're going to drop shot shallow cover, might as well "Bubba Shot". My current heavy drop shot rig is a 7'5" Kistler All Day Pitchin Stick - a 50 size Shimano reel filled with 20 lb Abrazx. Favorite hook is a Gammy Wicked wacky between 1/0 and 3/0. I generally lead off with a medium size soft plastic, like a Berkley Crazy Legs Chigger Craw or the old Gulp sinking minnow. I think this set up has helped me get some shallower fish that would have broken lighter line.

I gotta disagree on some of these premises. In the summer it is hot, sticky & humid to YOU. I'm not certain that sticky & humid apply to how Ms. Bass feels. I will totally concede that there are times when slowing down and carefully covering certain areas is successful. However, I've parked my boat in 22 or so feet of water and thrown wiggle warts and/or Timber Tiger DC 16s into 12 to 14 feet of water, bumping into the point and caught 8 or 9 fish in 10 or 12 casts too many times. That isn't a slow down technique. That is finding a spot where the thermocline intersects with bottom cover. Sooner or later action slows down - pack up and leave - come back 40 or 50 minutes later - adjust for the different angle of the sun & wind and do it again. This is one example where slowing down in the summer is counter productive. Another might be .. . consider that in the summer Ms Bass's metabolism is amped - because the water is warm a fish is the same temperature as the water, right. Lots of time, they're just hanging out - they suspend, waiting for a school of minnows or some other meal opportunity to wander by. Just because they aren't moving doesn't mean that they aren't alert and won't instantly bite, given the right stimulus. I fish standing timber a lot. Nothing is 100% but standing timber has the potential to produce and time during the day. Consider the notion of shade pockets, during the day, whatever angle the sun is shining, shade pockets are being created somewhere. It doesn't have to be a major branch, if the fishes eye is shielded from the sun, for all it knows it is in the shade, and shade is an ambush situation. Drop a 10" worm slightly out of the shade, in front of the fish, and strikes happen. I use 5/16 or 3/8 tungsten because I want that worm dropping pretty fast in front of the fish - force the fish to make a decision so to speak. Again, not a real slow down situation. Identify potential shade pocket - pitch to it - let it drop and maybe bounce it once should it hit bottom, repeat. Again, not saying that I never slow down in the summertime, but I think spring & fall are a better time for the low & slow approach. Summertime, most fish are active, I'm looking for active fish, seems like the percentage play to me.

While my dad was a nice guy, his idea of a vacation was scotch, TV and AC. I think he took me fishing twice, when I was 8 or 9 and neither one of us had a particularly good time. I don't know when the fishing bug bit me, but it did and I can't remember a time when I didn't want to fish. I remember thinking most of the Outdoor magazines at the time were geared toward hunting with an occasional fishing article thrown in, and that article that was thrown in focused mostly on the aesthetics of fishing rather than the nuts bolts of catching. Fishing Facts came along and that helped a lot. In-fisherman came along and that helped more, once ou got used to how technical & wordy some of the early articles were. Some of them were literally like reading journal research papers. Late 70's - early 80's I fell in with several professors in college - don't really know how that happened as they were in Ag & Business and I was a grad student in Education, but we hung out together and a common interest was getting better at fishing in general and bass fishing in particular. They had disposable income and were into gear - I was a grad student with limited disposable income. I acquired pretty good hand me downs and they experimented with different brands of rods & reels. So I guess my "mentors" were the group of guys I fell in with when I was a grad student. I think we all taught each other. Starting the second year we hung out together, 3 or the professors bought boats and that's the first time I got to fish out of a boat and realized that the mechanics of boat fishing and bank fishing were significantly different. 2 of those guys are dead now, the other 2 are retired and we each live more than a days drive from each other. We talk on the phone from time to time to compare notes.