Fishes in trees

You do need to be somewhat careful wearing frog togs, but they are my go to summer rain suit . I'm just the opposite from the original poster, in that I don't mind getting soaked from sweat on a hot day, but I'm not a fan of getting drenched from summer rain. I nearly always carry the appropriate rain suit in the boat. Another thing that I always do is have a change or two of clothes in the fishing truck. I don't like driving home in sweaty clothes. I much prefer changing in to a clean & dry set of shirt & shots prior to driving home.

Go to Harbor Freight, the tool bag section. There are lots of options here. 11" canvas tool bags are cheap, $8 more or less, significantly less sometimes if you've got a coupon. I've got one for paddle tail worms, another for 10" worms, another for crawdads, another for senkos and another for senko imitations. I'll be getting another couple of ones for creature baits and lizards and maybe another one for tubes. Edit 8/3/2016: Just got my August booklet of Harbor Freight coupons. 11" canvas tool bags are on sale for $6.99 with coupon. Every time I go to Harbor Freight there are lots of coupons laying around and/or guys with coupon books who will give you coupons they aren't using.

If you have a worm blower, you can make any soft plastic float. Just a few bucks at BPS.

I've used Rod Wraps on my gear for years and I suppose that the Winn wraps are similar. What I like best about them is that I can color code the handles. Crank rods are teal, soft plastic rods are grey, single purpose rods have other colors. Makes i a little easier to look down and find the rod I want a little quicker.

I can't say that I've gotten great service at either the BPS or Cabelas in the KC Metro area. In both places, I've walked into an aisle and had store workers to a 180 and walk away. Many years ago, I'd pass through the Springfield MO store a couple of times per year and some of the help were helpful.

My Walmart carries basic quarter, 3/16 and 1/8 oz shaky heads similar to what you have pictured. I consider the spring around the hook shaft style of jig a pain to rig and only slightly better at holding soft plastics than a standard barb. As you research shaky head jig heads, I think you'll find there are many better designed out there than the one pictured.

The Missouri Conservation department prints an atlas - a guide to all conservation department lands. I have the 2001 edition and I'm not sure if they have updated it since then, but it is a handy reference guide.

If you're fishing out of a boat, multiple rods are the answer. When you approach any given fishing area, there are always several baits that MIGHT work. Pick one and go with it. Now, lets say that don't work, you stop & change out to something different - and so on. One of my very based approaches to fishing is that fishing gear can be purchased but fishing time can not. Therefore, anything I can do, within reason, to save fishing time, I will do. To my mind, having 15 to 20 rods & reels, rigged up and ready to go with a variety of reaction baits and soft plastics, is totally reasonable. I don't begrudge the time spent re-tying when I lose a bait at all. I don't mind re-tying due to line & knot abrasion at all. Wasting time re-tying because I don't have the bait I want already tied on is irksome to me. If you're fishing from a boat I totally recommend having as many rigs as you can reasonably afford and can safely use without stepping on them. Funding wise, if you have to choose between paying the rent or child support and getting a new rig, pay the rent. (If there is a tournament coming up and you honestly need a new rig to be competitive, then that is different. Sooner or later your child, ex, and the government will get over the missed payment. Be mindful that sometimes is is MUCH later. So anyway, that's how I deal with the issue of swapping out baits. If you are a bank fisherman and only an occasional boater, disregard this approach and choose another one. The last couple of years I was a bank fisherman I had a portable rod rack I got out of the Cabelas catalog that would carry 6 rods (8 with bungees) and I'd carry that and plenty of gear in a back pack. That left me o ne hand free that I'd use to carry the fish on the way beck to the truck. The multiple rod approach is still doable from the bank but it is more of a pain.

To echo prior posters, there is no such thing as too much trolling motor power. HOWEVER prior to purchasing a new trolling motor I would check the wiring harness and be certain that it can carry the heavier load. Tracker is notorious for cutting corners when it comes to keeping costs down in the manufacturing process. I'd guess that your trolling motor harness is 10 or 12 gauge wire. 4 or 6 gauge wire is safer and will handle the load better. If you are planning on keeping the boat for a while, bite the bullet and install the heavier gauge wiring harness.

With some baits ( like flukes) rigging them straight makes a significant difference - other baits not so much. Not a big fan of that style of Gammy hook. Owner and other brands of weighted hooks with the screw lock work better for me. Not really a big fan of flukes. Culprit, Strke King, Yum & Yamamoto all make bait fish imitators that work better for me than flukes do.

The rule of thumb concerning bait casting reels is that you get what you pay for. Trying to cast "light " lures on an inexpensive bait caster can be a challenge. The first question is "how light" Second question is "Why?" Inexpensive spinning gear can do a decent job of casting light lures, with much less coin outlay. Be mindful that the bait caster is just half the equation for casting light lures. You will need the right rod also to experience any success and even at the entry level for that style of rod, it ain't cheap, unless you stumble across something in a close out bin that works for you. I'd re-evaluate the question into something like, "Which bait caster can I get that will meet most of my needs that wil last a long time?" There are many choices in the $100 to $200 range. What brands do your buddies use? Go with that.

IMO - wacky rigging without the o-ring just tears up the senko quicker. It seems to me that some days they want it wacky rigged and other days tx rigged is the ticket. They never tell me why they change their preferences from day to day.

There is nothing wrong with the spring style weed guards. If you've tried them with no success - try harder. If the spring week guard staged put, you didn't set the hook well enough. Eagle Claw makes some decent ones So does Gamakatsu. The Falcon Weedless wacky hook ( a kahle style hook with a spring weed guard) works the best for me. I'll throw them on bait casting gear ( the hook/senko combo weighs nearly 3/8 oz) or on spinning gear. I prefer the weighted 1/16 oz weedless wacky hooks because I don't think that the slightly faster drop that I get with the weighted hook doesn't hurt anything and it lets me fish a little bit faster. Dealing with Falcon baits can be a challenge. Sometime they don't answer their phone and they've been known to take their time shipping stuff once they've got your order. They have a good hook though.

Over the past couple of years, for numbers, a "finesse pitching " rig had worked best for me. For me, finesse pitching = 6'10" Falcon Eakins Jig Special, Chronarch 50 spooled with 10 lb Abrazx, primary bait is a 1/4 ox Brewer Pro Slider head with a 5" paddle tail worm. For size over the past couple of years my home made jika rig had produced more fish over 15" than any other technique. Jika rig weighs half ounce more of less and I throw it on a 7'2" Aetos, Chronarch or Curado 50 and 15 lb Abrazx. Bail of choice will be a Zoom Brush Hog or a Netbait Mad Pace or a lizard, in some shade of green pumpkin. Jika rig is most effective a couple of feet either side of the deep weed line on a point, generally 9 to 16 feet down, but above the thermocline. Hope this helps

Back in the day when I fished BFL's and didn't own a reservoir ready boat myself, I had two tournaments spoiled because a Motor Guide trolling motor failed - steering cable broke. One of those times was at Grand Lake for a wild card regional. I'd been there a couple of days, my draw boater hadn't and I knew where some fish were. They were on a point 20 minutes or so from the put in area. Points are windy at Grand Lake. We got there - I caught a 15" fish on my first cast and then his steering cable broke. No way to steer in the wind and no way to drift. 8 pounds over two days got a couple of guys into the All American as co-anglers. I was on fish and a Motor Guide Trolling motor let my down and it wasn't even mine. I'll never say anything nice about Motor Guide Motors, even now - 13 or 14 years later, but you do what you want.

Vertical wood, like standing trees or lay down wood? To me that is 2 different situations, different approaches, using similar gear. Standing trees are generally in somewhat deeper water and fish are often suspended somewhere between the surface and the bottom. In my experience the place they are most likely stacked is the first or second major limb extending from the trunk of the tree, they will often be tucked in right beneath it, in kind of a shade pocket. Several approaches suggest themselves. Drifting a wacky senko vertically, as close as you can get it to the trunk of the tree works sometimes. Dropping a 10' worm down close to the trunk, through the branches, different weights work better on different days, got to experiment, 3/16 or 1/4 on 17 lb fluoro is a good place to start. Cranking a DC 16 or DC 13 Timber Tiger through the branches is another option. Lay down wood, connected to the bank or randomly distributed in more shallow water is kinda different. Nearly any jig/trailer or tx rigged soft plastic will work, just got to experiment with different weights & trailers to get the drop speed they want that day. I fish quite a bit of this type of cover and the jury is still out as to which bait style is working the best this year. Last year, a quarter ounce Brewer Slider Pro head, 5" paddle tail worm fished on 10 lb Abrazx was by far the ticket for numbers of fish. I caught more bigger fish pitching a bigger worm tx rigged, either a10" Power worm or an old Powerbait pulse worm. The incidence of bites was significantly less throwing the larger worms, so I didn't do that as much as I probably should have. 10 minutes of no bites and I'd pick up the smaller jig worm combo again. I know guys whose primary approach to shallow wood ( less than 7' deep) is a half ounce short arm spinnerbait, single spin with a blade a little bigger than a quarter, fished on 17 or 20 lb line. I just can't make that approach work for me. That could be more of a Truman thing, than the smaller clearer water 300 acre or so conservation lake that I generally fish. I have seen guys use the short arm spinner bait like a drop bait, pitch it and let it helicopter down the trunks of standing trees and have good success. I've tried that some and never caught a fish doing that.

To digress, when I read about how "cheap" Ned is regarding his rod choices, and his emphasis on inexpensive rods, he comes across as miserly geezer to me. I don't know him at all, but I've met him a couple of times as KC sport shows over the years, he is enough of an academic that he can make any choice he makes seem exceptionably reasonable, rational, and really the only choice, everything considered. I would submit that cheaper, inexpensive rods aren't the best choice for me at all. Cheaper, less sensitive rods are generally HEAVIER rods. I think that this is an area where ounces and fractions of ounces matter. I know that when I use my lighter, more sensitive (and admittedly more expensive) rods, my wrist and elbow doesn't hurt as much at the end of the day. I think that this is directly related to the amount of weight that I'm moving with my wrist and elbow, and I believe that the effects are cumulative. So it is a no-brainer for me, lighter, stronger, more sensitive rods don't cause me wrist & elbow pain like older, heavier rods of less or similar sensitivity do. Furthermore, I think that a balance between " finesse" and " power" fishing can be achieved. In striving for that balance, you become a more versatile fisherman, competent and able to find & catch fish in a variety of situations, lake types & water temps & clarity. Ned has refined a technique that works for him and his buds in the style of lakes that are common within an hour or so driving distance of Lawrence, Kansas. Many small fish ( sub 12") are included in the totals of fish that he claims he catches day in and day out. It kinda sometimes translates to success in other water styles and sometimes it don't - IMO To may way of thinking finesse fashioning for bass in general and Ned rigging in particular is just another tool in the box, another option. It isn't the religion others have made it out to be. Don't get me started in the efficacy of Ned rigging compared to Slider fishing, other than to say that Slider fishing is more versatile and Ned rigging loses in many of the comparisons. That's a discussion for another post.

The zip lock & generic freezer weight bags are much more durable than the regular weight bags.

The old Berkley Frenzy lipless crank is better than either of the two baits you mentioned, IMO. So is the Cordell Spot, IMO. I have a couple of Red Eye Shads that I purchased a couple of years ago and they don't compare to the Frenzy, IMO. I have a pretty substantial collection of Rattle Traps that hasn't seen water in close to a decade.

To me, where you're throwing these weightless senko's makes a difference. If you're throwing relatively shallow where vegetation is the primary cover and there might be an occasional bush or lowdown, I'd go spinning. If you're out in water where there are serious trees and you're drifting the senko's down the trunk of the tree, I think a MH bait casting rod with 15 or 17 lb abrazx is in order. Senkos weigh enough that they are pretty adaptable about what you can throw them on. This past year, the places where I'm most likely to throw a senko are steep to very steep bank to bottom drop offs and there is quite a bit of overhanging vegetation. Best presentation involves sitting the boat in 20' or so of water and throwing the bait to the 8 to 12 foot drop off (which is maybe 4 to 7 feet from the bank) A skip cast works best for this and that calls for spinning gear - at least for me. I have lost a few decent fish that hit and immediately too me into deeper bottom hardwood lay downs, but step A is getting bit and then step B is dealing with it. I'm just having a real hard time with a bait casting presentation in that situation. Somehting about the skip, the commotion on the surface that gets their attention. I can almost predict the bite now, depending on how good a skip I get and where it starts to drop. Waiting for the bait to get 8 to ten feet down can seem to take forever.

Tournament fishing - go with what you know - not really the time to be experimenting. Are you the boater or co-angler? If you're the boater - go with the previous suggestions. Co angler - I'd be going low & slow. Depending on how fast your boater is moving I'd be throwing either a Brewer Slider Pro head on 10 lb Abrazx. I'd use either a Green Pumpkin magic paddle tail worm for clear to lightly stained water and a red shad paddle tail worm for a heavier stain. If he's moving the boat faster I'd be throwing a jika rig half to three quarter ounce on 15 or 17 lb Abrazx, with some kind of creature bait on it. Lately a couple of creature baits have worked best for me. Brush hog in the green pumpkin with orange flakes and the Netbait Mad Paca in Alabama Craw or Green pumpkin magic. The main thing I'd be thinking is low & slow. Bring plenty of water & don't get dehydrated. Sunscreen up.

You want to throw weightless senkos on a light braid/fluorocarbon leader combo. I use a Shimano Spirex for that duty. I like the 1000 size and I use an older Team Diawa Finesse Rod. The particular virtues of the Spirex that I like are the rear drag ( which makes it simple to adjust the drag on the fly) and the bail trigger. I know that many guys think that the bait trigger is kinda hokey, but it works and it makes pitching with a spinning rod very similar to pitching with a bait casting rod. I still close the bail by hand - just a habit that I don't feel like I need to break. Even though it is a smaller reel, the drag works fine. My year old Spirex has caught fish up to 4 pounds so far and drag hasn't been an issue at all. LIke I said I really like the convenience of the bail trigger and once you get used to it you will also.

I think that Zoom trick worms are a place to start, but there are many different options, some more regionally available than others. I don't get too concerned about whether a worm "floats" or not. Believe it or don't but if you own a worm blower you can inflate the tail of any soft plastic worm and get it to rise off the bottom a little or somewhat.

Going back to our Buck Perry glossary - structure is something that is on the bottom. It your pond has a depth change - it has "structure" What you're talking about is "cover" According to Buck, cover is nearly everything else that wasn't originally on the bottom but now is, like brush piles, lay downs, stuff like that. In Missouri ponds, for the most part, the easy way to create cover is to drag a several Christmas trees out on to the ice during the winter and in the spring, when the ice thaws - instant cover. Don't really see that happening in Fresno. MY guess is that in that pond, the weeds don't cover the entire bottom edge to edge. Somewhere, there is a deep edge to that weed line and that is where I'd start looking in the summertime.

Many of my hard baits come with a split ring on them. I tie direct to the split ring. Many top waters don't. In these cases, I generally tie some kind of a loop knot. At a seminar at BPS (more than ten yard ago) I asked Shaw Grigsby questions about this topic. He said he tied loop knots and recommended the King Sling. It is relatively easy to tie, IMO. If I feel like I'm going to be throwing a Pop-R or a Spook a lot, I will double up the line and tie the king sling with the doubled up mono. This can be a chore, but if you take the time to tie it correctly it makes a very strong loop knot.