Fishes in trees

You're fishing that lake from a kayak and you don't have any electronics? Step A would be to get some electronics. If you have to sell or trade off a child to get some decent electronics, that is a good trade in the long run. Step B - not knowing the lake, just guessing, the whole shore line screams "NED RIG". The back, shallow/weedy part, I'd start by bubba up a ned rig and throw a tx rigged senko or senior imitator on 30 lb braid with a 20 lb or so fluorocarbon leader.

A guy can't have too many Lucky Craft Pointers. My collection got jump started when I went to the casino one evening in 2003 and on a black jack table, practicing my card counting, $60 became $750 in a relatively short period of time. Being very aware that you shouldn't spend "found" money on anything responsible, I went to the tackle store and spend the entire $750 on various sizes and colors of Lucky Craft jerk baits. I use the 100 size most of the time. The DD size works ok and does get deeper, however if I want to go deeper I've found that the Staysee works better for me. Surprisingly, I still have the vast majority of those baits. I tie good knots, especially for my braid to leader connection and so I haven't lost any due to bad knots. I've left a couple in trees that were too tall to reach, even for my extendable pole.

You can pitch with any gear you want. Back in the day there was a time when I stunk at pitching, couldn't get it right. I now know that I didn't have the right tool for the job - however I could get by with spinning gear on a MH rod. Then I got the bright idea of getting a Zebco under spin. A spin cast reel that mounts underneath the rod, like a spinning reel. That is a great reel. It will handle 17 or 20 lb mono. I fished it for a couple of years until a regional pro at a BFL tournament (Eddie May, no clue where he is or where he is fishing right now) took pity on me and showed me how to pitch. Just for the record, there isn't any reason you can't put a Zebco 33 on a pitching stick and go to town. You can pitch with any rig you want to. If you aren't real good with a bait caster and you're trying to pitch in close quarters, a decent spin cast reel like a mid-range Zebco isn't a bad way to go. It will tack back lashes out of the equation.

I take pictures from time to time, but I don't use a scale. Scales lie. My scale will read a 6 lb dumb bell perfectly, but when I put a fish on it that is obviously 5 lbs +, the scale reads out a 3-14, or 4-8 or something in that range. I've just gotten totally tired of my scale lying to me and so I don't use it any more. It stays in the truck.

When I buy a new rod I don't throw away or sell the old one, it goes into the back up rack. Occasionally I will trade one.

For me, the Gamakatsu wicked wacky hooks work great for drop shot fishing. Tie your regular Palomar knot to the eye and then thread your line down through the tube on the hook shank and the hook stays aligned. I've threaded baits on to these hooks, nose hooked baits and wacky style hooked baits and they all worked. Mostly I use them for nose hooking baits. I very seldom get the hook hung - maybe 5 or 6 times per season, tops. It is a pretty light weed guard on that hook, but it seems to work ok.

The last time I stayed in Grove, I stayed at the Outrigger, primarily because it was pretty flat and easy to park my boat. That was a few years ago.

5 or 6 years ago I had issues with the bunk boards on my boat trailer. I bought some of the plastic ultimate bunk boards and I've had zero issues with them. They will not rot. They are a little more expensive in terms of up front cost, but over time their ability to stand up to the wear and tear and not break or rot makes them more affordable, in my opinion.

I'm 60+ years old now and every time I pick up at tool I hear my high school shop teacher yelling at me to. "USE THE RIGHT TOOL FOR THE JOB!!" When it comes to messing with split rings, there isn't any substitute for a GOOD set of split ring pliers. I have a pair of the Texas tackle ones, with the orange handles, mostly because a long time ago, Tackle Tour recommended them as the best pair of split ring pliers they had come across.

Stanley makes a 64 oz stainless steel insulated growler. I use mine for transporting beer, but there isn't any reason it wouldn't work for coffee. 64 oz is a lot of coffee.

I don't know about where you live, but right now Academy Sports is running their end of season close out sale and there are some fishing rod bargains to be had. In their house brand, I very recently bought a 7'6" one piece flipping stick for $20. I talked myself out of a 7' MH for $30 and a 6'6" Med for $30. In the low to mid-range offerings of All Star rods in stock, they had a Med 6' top water rod and a 7' ML Popping rod. (These were all bait casting rods). They had some spinning rods on sale also. The sale goes on until the 21st and maybe/probably when I drop by there next week I'm more than likely to get another rod - probably the popping rod and I don't know exactly what I'd use it for but it would be good to have a popping rod. Walmart close outs generally happen the end of January and in the past I've come across some decent jig rods at very good prices. Might want to wait and see what they're going to discount this year.

My advice would be to do your research and then buy the ones you think might work for you. I know this sounds simplistic, but what do you want? Do you want someone else to tell you what to buy? At least in that situation you have someone to blame outside of yourself if the bait doesn't work for you. I would advise you to take reponsibility for your hard bait purchase decisions. Me - I don't use Rapala baits very often because while I do own numerous models, shapes & sizes I find the majority of them a challenge to cast, using bait casting gear. I think that they make decent lipless cranks, but I think that there are brands out there that work better for me. (Cordell Spot and Berkley Frenzy, to name a couple)

What kind of drop shot fishing are you doing? More finesse oriented or "Bubba" style? Me, for where I fish, bubba style is more effective. I like my telescopic 7'5" Kistler Flip & Pitch rod with a Curado 50 and 20 lb Abrazx line. For finesse drop shot fishing, I've tried several different spinning rod & reel combinations and nothing has clicked as being "the one" yet.

Consider going "ned". Throw the ned rig

To echo most of what has been written previously; skinny zip ties work good to keep skirts positioned. Braid is overkill - me I go with 17 or 20 lb mono. The point of throwing PAST your target and bringing the bait up to/near/ hitting the target can't be overemphasized. For me, that is the first principle of spinner bait fishing. Next, is vary your retrieve, every cast, vary your retrieve until you find one that is working, then do that. For me, most of the time the retrieve that works the best for me is "slow rolling". Throw at whatever, if, on the retrieve, you never hit anything you are retrieving too fast. If, on the retrieve, you're hitting stuff on the bottom all the time, you're pulling in too slow. Find the speed in there between the two extremes.

For me, putting a smallish assortment of soft plastics in Plano box is more trouble than it is worth. Keep the small assortment of soft plastics in a zip lock bag. I prefer original packages in a gallon zip lock bag. (Be sure and use the freezer weight as it is more durable ) For a more permanent solution, go to Harbor Freight and they sell 12" or 15" canvas tool bags that work great for soft plastic storage. Me - I have about 10 of those and they work for keeping different styles of plastics separate, yet organized. Fishing as a co-angler these bags have the advantage of you can throw them into the bottom of the boat, forget about them, step on them, whatever and they are still there when you need them and soft plastics are more or less protected.

I like to throw jerk baits on spinning gear because the jerk bait bit is often good when it is pretty windy and I can throw half ounce jerk baits, ( like Lucky Craft Pointers ) into the wind and cross wind easier with spinning gear than I can with a bait casting rig. My current jerk bait rig is an older Shimano Rod - 6'3" Med action with an extra fast tip and I use an older US Reel Supercaster spinning reel. Before you laugh at me about that reel, I know it is junk, it cost me $39.99 several years ago (maybe 6?) It is loose and has a kind of jerky/jerky retrieve. BUT - it handles Fireline very well and with the larger than normal spool it can throw a half ounce jerk bait a long ways, and I think that covering the water is part of jerk bait fishing. Every time I berate myself for owning and using that reel, and I get close to upgrading to a mid range Shimano or Pflueger, I remind myself that the reel is paid for and it is a Supercaster, i.e. it does throw a half ounce bait a long ways using Braid/Fireline and a fluorocarbon leader. So I just deal with it and squander my rod/reel disposable income in other areas. Something to consider if you throw jerk baits in the wind a lot.

Over the years I've spent a lot of money trying to find the perfect spinnerbait rod - that Excalibur of rods that reads your mind and puts the spinner bait where you want it every time and tells you to set the hook whenever a fish even breaths near your bait. A long time ago - late 80's I thought I had one - a 5'9" Fat, straight handled Berkley Lightning Rod - back when those rods were in the upper echelon of graphite rod technology. That one rod got stolen and I never found another one like it. My current choice for a spinner bait rod is a Fenwick AETOS 6'8" MH - Fast tip - with an older Shimano Curado D on it. I have 3 identical rigs and I use them interchangeably for spinnerbaits ( mostly half ounce) & chatter baits and DC8 Timber Tigers. The search for the perfect spinner bait rod is ongoing though, and should I come across one that is a candidate, I'll probably buy it. The Loomis spinner bait rods are nice, but they are just a little bit out of my price range currently, same goes for the upper end St. Croix.

Timber Tigers DC8. DC5. DC4

IMO - 2 different strategies need 2 different rigs. Top waters I will generally use a bait casting rig with heavier mono. Jerkbaits I will use spinning gear with a fireline/fluorocarbon leader set up. To break it down further, I like a different rod for throwing top waters than I do for throwing buzz baits. For baits that need to walk, like poppers & spooks, I like a shorter rod. I use an old 5'9" Mitchell Fulcrum with a Shimano TEGT. I get plenty of distance with this rig and I'm not slapping the side of the boat when I go to walk the baits. Buzz Baits I currently use an older ALL STAR 6'6" Zell Rowland Top Water Special and a similar bait casting reel. Jerkbaits I use spinning gear because I think that it deals with the wind better. The fire line (14 lb) sinks good enough and the fluorocarbon leader gives the bait a slightly down hill nod at the head of the bait, which I think helps it dive better on the jerks. If you have to compromise because of space or budget issues, I'd go with the shorter rod which makes it a little easier to walk/jerk lures.

I have several different spinner bait storage boxes. I like the old Falcon FTO boxes the best, they aren't available anymore. The Plano ones are similar but they do bend the wires down slightly, I don't think that is an issue, but you can't fit large spinner baits into them easily. I was going to tell about the neat little spinner bait boxes made by Flambeau, that held 5 or 6 baits. I have 10 or 12 of them and I liked them when I was co-angling because they saved space. Just went over to the Flambeau web site and they don't offer them anymore. Maybe you can still find them in a fishing shop somewhere, good luck with that. 3600 size boxes are cheap and modifying them is probably your best bet. I'd be more inclined to use my Dremel Moto tool rather than a knife, though. Maybe not the right size or fit, but check out the Plano 3503 & 3504 size spinner bait boxes.

I use Fireline Crystal 14 lb for throwing jerk baits. I generally use a short (2 ' or less) fluorocarbon leader). I use 15 or 20 lb test leader because (a) I want it to sink and (b) I like the slightly head down presentation that the heavier leader gives the bait. I almost always throw jerk baits on spinning gear.

I've tried the search function with no success. Got a question. What rod/reel/ line combinations work best for fishing Preacher Jigs? I've got to go to work soon and I'll check back tomorrow or the next day.

There is no "best" way. There is a "best" way for you and it involves trial and error. Back when I was a bank fishing meat hog bush hippie, I had a back pack which has stuff I didn't expect to need very often. (Spare clothes, poncho, thermos, lunch, wallet & ID, etc.). Then I had a large, bulky women's canvas purse that I got a Salvation Army for around a buck. It carried all the tackle I needed ( Med sized box of cranks, jigs, jig heads, soft plastics, half dozen jars of pork frogs, box of hooks, stringer & back up stringer, small box with spinner baits/buzz bait and enough trailers, and enough catfish gear/weights & hooks). On the plus side, the bag was a neon green/tiger stripe print which guaranteed that no one would ever steal it. None of my self respecting fishing acquaintances would even get near that bag. It worked for me then. I'd probably do it different now, but I don't bank fish any more. I have an 18' floating tackle box now. It carries gear, beer and most everything I need. If I don't have it it is because I forgot to put it in.

I don' think that there is anything that could be described as a "perfect" wacky spinning rod. However, there are lots of "good" ones out there any many have been mentioned. Me, I have 2 that I use. Rod A is an old 6'3" Diawa Light & Tough finesse spinning rod. Back before micro guides were popular, there was a time when Macro guides were a fad, and this rod has them. The guides along the spine of the rod and the tip have a fairly large diameter. You will still hear the braid to leader knot smack against the guides, but not as much. Rod B is a fairly new Fenwick HMG spinning rod 7' MH with an extra fast tip. They both work for me.