Fishes in trees

I can remember a time when a 5 something to 1 ratio on a fishing reel was considered "high speed". The reels that I use these days for throwing cranks (square bills, med divers, deeper divers, lipless cranks) are all 5 something to 1. Just feels natural to me. For "feel" baits, worm, jigs, etc. I use 50 size Shimano Curados or Chronarchs in a 6 something to 1 ratio. I have 1 Shimano 70 which I think has 8 something to 1 - IDK. It is an ok reel but I don't think the faster retrieve makes it all that special.

I quit using pistol grip rods 25 years ago or more, when I got hip to the notion that the pistol grip was killing my wrists AND a straight handled grip worked much better for 2 handed casting. The 5 or 6 pistol grips that I still own are covered in plastic and stored in a dark corner of my fishing shed, waiting for the pistol grip handle to become cool again. That being said I do own 1 old Mitchell Flucrum 5'9" MH with a straight split grip handle. On the light side of MH it is a great spook & popper rod. This rod got retired this year because I found a 6' All Star Med/Extra Fast Tip - straight, full cork handle that I like better. I wonder in the 70's & 80"s how many decent fishermen got carpal tunnel due to using the pistol grip rods too much.

According to Ned, being "frugal" is part of the whole ned rig/midwest finesse ethos. I have imagined that if you get a relatively inexpensive rig that will work for throwing Ned rigs, Ned himself will smile at you.

I seldom feel like I'm going to have to save plastic trailers, so I take them off and throw them in the used plastic bag. Every so often a guy I know collects the bags of used plastics strewn around my boat, fishing truck & fishing shed he seperatres them out and melts some down. I think power baits get throw away, as they don't play well with others. Mixing all the leftover colors together, he gets a good brownish/greenish/blackish color that when mixed with multicolor glitter gives a decent imitation of the Zoom color South Africa Special - which works as a decent clearer water color. I have had hooks get seriously rested by leaving trailers on hooks, so lesson learned. It is probably true that some plastics rust hooks less than others and other plastics don't rust hooks at all but I don't feel the need to find out.

Lunker City makes a hook called the Tex-sposer. It is designed for fishing Slugs, but I've found it works OK for tx rigged drop shot baits.

Heads up - the more you worry about spilling dye on your boat carpet the sooner it is going to happen. I understand your concern about leaks though, and I'm not big on wasting soft plastic dye by spilling it and dyeing my carpet. What I did was go to Walmart and find the smallest Rubbermaid container that will work - put the dye bottles in that and then put the Rubbermaid box in a gallon zip lock bag. Have a level place in your boat bin to put the plastic bag encased box.

I'm pretty certain that they will still be making Whopper Ploppers 20 years from now. I think some of the BPS cranks that were only offered for a season or two might become collector material. I just threw away my old BPS catalogs this winter, so names of individual baits are escaping me right now. Timber Tigers are rare enough right now that they will become collector material. It has been a long time since I've seen a "Lazy Ike", I remember in the late 60's - early 70's they were a popular sub-surface bait.

I recall, several years ago, In-fisherman magazine ran an article about how you could wacky rig any bait. They specifically mentioned wacky rigging tubes. I'm pretty sure if the bait has a middle, you can run a hook through it and there you go - wacky rig. Me, if it ain't a senko, I'm unlikely to wacky rig it. I own some of those flick/shake worms (Jackall maybe?) or the BPS equivalent. They've spoken to me and said "put me in coach", but I haven't done it yet. To the original question, the flick/shake is a design that is specifically made to be wacky rigged. It occurs to me that Reaction Innovations, the company that makes Beavers, came out with a worm pointed on both ends specifically designed to be wacky rigged. Also, I recall that the company that makes sluggos also makes a wacky bait called the "Spanky".

You might try "polishing the rocks" with a jig head/grub combo. What you really need is a TRIP TO THE TACKLE STORE!!! You will want some chatter baits, spinnerbaits and square bills and appropriate rigs to throw them on. You will need some Charlie Brewer Slider heads and several different colors of 4' worms. I like a 5'9" Fenwick HMG spinning rig to throw these/a smaller sized spinning reel/10 or 20 lb braid and fluorocarbon leader. You're going to want a Ned rig, so go ahead and get another 5'9" Fenwick HMG for that. (I prefer the HMG line of Fenwick products because the HMG line has a lifetime warranty and Fenwick has been good to me when I tear up one of their rods. Your experiences may vary) 1/16 oz mushroom head jigs and some TRD's and you're set for the ned. May some jerk baits, I like Lucky Craft Pointers, but Rogues, Husky Jerks or maybe Bomber Long A's will work. Get some in sunny day colors and cloudy day colors. If the tackle store can't tell you the difference between sunny day and cloudy day jerk bait colors, DON'T SPEND ANY MONEY THERE. Can't go wrong with Senko's - s spring bait AND a year round bait if ever there was one. (No disrespect to Ned rig fans) I can't emphasize this enough, but find a good place to buy gear, where you trust their advice. If you feel like they are just telling you stuff to get you to spend money - DON'T spend any money there - DON'T reward them. There are good tackle stores out there - more importantly good fisherman who work in tackle shops. Sometimes it takes a while to find them. If you can't buy all that stuff at once, I'd lead off with a Brewer Slider or a Ned rig gear.

Throwing jigs 100% depends on conditions. Throwing a football head is grass can be tedious. Throwing a grass jig in rocks gets stuck much more often than a football jig in rocks. I fish standing t amber quite a bit and when the 10" worm isn't working, I quickly switch to a 5/16 Eakins jig. Sometimes I use the small Eakins craw trailer but more often I use the Netbait paca trailers with the floppy legs.

The only way to get better at hitching up your boat to your tow vehicle is practice. Everyone goes through this learning curve. I find that the spray on garage door grease helps.

I got in on the Ocho close out at Academy Sports last winter also. I think I got 20 or so bags. I have a couple of friends who make jigs, and unopened bags of soft plastics are good to trade. I think that the echo's are good baits, but like other posters, I'm not sure that they are overwhelmingly superior to any number of different soft plastic stick baits, so some times I'll use one brand, sometimes another, mostly depending what color I want to try next. I mostly throw the ocho tx rigged with a 3/16 tungsten weight, or with a nail weight in the tail, so as to better dive down & away when I throw it a holes in vegetation. On the subject of unsung/under-appreciated stick baits, the ZOOM Magnum Finesse Worm comes to mind. I find this an excellent pitching bait, thrown to structure/cover with a 3/16 or 1/4 tungsten weight.

Any 7' or so MH spinning rod will work. I've got a Fenwick HMG that I like, but I think just about every rod brand carries something similar to that. The suggestions of inshore spinning rigs are good ideas also. 20 or 30 size spinning reel braid & fluorocarbon leader and you're set. Something that I'm going to try this year is the notion of "finesse frogging". I read about a guy trying this last year on this site, maybe 2 years ago, I'm not quite sure. Anyway the idea is rather than use a big hollow body frog, use a smaller soft plastic frog. I'm going to lead off with a Netbait frog - 4" half of which is curly tail legs. The idea is that you nose hook this bait using a smallish weedless hook and throw it so that it lands close to the edge of the pads, mat, whatever cover you're throwing at. After a few seconds, you pull it off and let it drop. The notion is that fish under the pads see the bait dropping and come out from under the cover and hit it. As I remember from the post that I read, the guy had good results doing this, in his opinion better than he would have using larger hollow body frogs. I mention this because heavy spinning gear with a fluorocarbon leader is what this guy was using. Either way, I wouldn't be afraid of using heavy spinning gear in any frogging situation.

The original question, "Is a swim bait rod worth it?" Short answer - YES. All fishing rods are "worth it". Some are more "worth it" than others. You get to decide. You can't own too many fishing rods.

Parasite clips, which hit the market several years ago, do the same thing and work about as well., I guess. You can also get the parasite clips attached to a weight, which serves to kinda peg the weight to the bait. I bought some of the clips when they first came out, tried them once, then asked myself , "What's the point?" I don't get upset if the bait slides down the line or if I lose the bait altogether, so the clips wound up in the large pile of unused fishing gear in the fishing shed.

At some point, shortly after the strike, you will want to get a firm pull in - in the opposite direction that the fish is swimming. I think that any more than that and you run the risk of yanking the bait out of the mouth. I throw a minimum of 17 lb mono or co-poly and I often use 20. IMO 12lb is a little light to throw lipless cranks with but if you haven't had any issues, don't change it. I like heavier line for yanking the bait free of weeds, brush, ect.

Ticks are bad. Several years ago, I think I had Lyme disease, at least I ran a fever off and on for a few weeks during the summer and when I went to the doctor he gave me a shot ( which worked, I felt much better the next day ) and he told me "Next time you get a tick bite, come in sooner, Lyme disease is serious." Since then I've been pretty serious about using bug & tick spray. For me, every clothing edge gets hit - shoes & socks, top of socks, waistband of shorts, area around legs of shorts, sleeves & collars. Since then I've found a few crawling on me but only a few attached and I know they weren't attached for long. Just another thing in the country that you need to pay attention to.

Understand that I carry LOTS of cranks in the boat, including the vast majority of stuff that's been mentioned so far, but when I decide I'm going to throw cranks, unless I've gotten information that I trust, I'm going to lead off with a Timber Tiger. Depth is a variable, so it will either be a DC16 or a DC13 or DC 8 or 5 or 4, but almost always I lead off with a Timber Tiger. I throw other brands but not that much.

If you want to fish 4' worms, read Charlie Brewer's book - On Slider Fishing.

I recently got one too. I'm looking forward to fishing with it - haven't got to go yet. My thought is that this reel is for reaction baits, like square bills, spinnerbaits, chatter baits, etc. I'm not seeing the point of using a reel that is designed to cast far for pitching soft plastics, which for me anyway, is a 60' or less deal. Sometime this month, I'll get to go.

I have a Hummingbird Fishing Buddy that I used to use when I fished out of borrowed boats a lot. I haven't used it for a number of years now, but I liked it when I got it. If you got to have portable, that's one I'd recommend. On a different note, Scott F's post that any depth finder can be made portable is correct. A matter of how much work do you want to do & how much do you want to think about it.

I have a couple of the Academy H2O rods. Outstanding value IMO. One that I bought a couple of years ago, 7' MH, is on the light side of MH and compares favorably to a Falcon Lowrider Finesse Jig Special (formerly Eakins Jig) rod. By the way, $70 is regular price and they frequently go on sale (like late December/ January every year)

I have to wear glasses anyway, so I have a pair of polarized prescription sunglasses. Wouldn't go fishing without them. Well, I probably would if I had to, but wouldn't be as comfortable.

To echo a couple of other posts, any soft plastic can be thrown weightless. You say you like the slow drop, for me it is a question of efficiency. If there is a fish hanging out, near cover, and something drops close to it, there is a good chance it is going to hit. I'm not certain that speed is a factor here. I know that I'll get more, maybe a few, maybe a lot more drops per hour using some weight on the bait. Depends on depth also, maybe it is just me, when I'm dropping something slow into 8 - 10 -12 feet of water, pretty soon impatience is going to set in and I'm going to boost the weight. I know that on occasion, the weightless soft plastic is the way to go, but I'm of the opinion that a weighted soft plastic (and I mess with different weights quite a bit) in the long run is more efficient and gets bit just as much or maybe more than an unweighted one. When you're throwing at cover, consider the drop. An unweighted bait is much more likely to drift away from the target than an unweighted one IMO. This becomes more important when you're throwing at vertical cover, like a tree trunk. I want my bait going down, as close as possible to the cover. For me this is easier to do with a weighted bait.

I like a wacky rig hood that has a wire "mouse trap style" weed guard. I've been using the Falcon K-wacky weedless hook for a number of years now, no complaints. I use an 0 ring, sometimes 2 0 rings crossed over, and I slip the hood underneath the o-ring, avoiding piercing the plastic as much as possible. Works for me most of the time. Most of the time I will use the 1/16 oz weighted hook over the unweighted one, my feeling being that the extra weight doesn't hurt, might help, I'm just used to the drop speed that I get from that combo.