Fishes in trees

Doug Hannon was an innovator and a researcher into bass behavior - no doubt about that. I appreciated his early articles in In-Fisherman quite a bit. I think he had the first idea for a weedless trolling motor prop, which I greatly appreciate every time I drive my boat through vegetation. After he came out with that snake lure I lost quite a bite of repeat for him - kind of like he was just trying to somehow "cash in" on his reputation. Similar to Roland Martin and the Helicopter lure. JMO. Anyway, the only way to know is to read the book and see what resonates with your experiences. May give you some different approaches - I don't know, never read it, just a synopsis in In-fisherman.

I like the tapered tail. BPS makes a mag fin-eke worm that is a good worm but doesn't have the tapered tail. Zoom makes a similar bait, again without the tapered tail. Yum makes a forked tail dinger, similar thickness but with a forked tail. Zoom makes a similar bait with the Fluke stick. There are plenty of bubba sized finesse worms out there, but I haven't seen any with that tapered tail. I can foresee an instance where that might make a difference. Changing the subject slightly, my best worm this year has been the BPS Paddle Stick which is their Stick-O with a paddle tail. Even in clear water with a secchi disc reading of over 6 feet, the paddle tail out fished a ribbon tail or a straight tail (like a Zoom trick worm) for me this year.

That is a good deal. To echo Bluebasser 86 - it seems like too good a deal to me. Where did the gear come from is a totally fair question. Over a decade ago, I had a bunch of rods & reels stolen. I'm sure some guys, somewhere, either over the internet or at some flea market or at some bar somewhere got a "good deal". That is one of the reasons that I DON'T buy used gear, i.e. I don't know its history. I hope that this wasn't the case in your most recent acquisition.

A couple of things that have been mentioned in prior posts that bear repeating. One - you could upgrade your line. A mid-grade fluorocarbon would be a better choice fro tx rigged or wacky rigged senko style baits. Secondly, a set of hip waders will get you off the bank a little bit and make paralleling the bank MUCH simpler. You've been bank fishing for a while, so you probably know the line between carrying gear that you need and carrying too much gear. Long ago, when I was a bank fishing hippie meat fisherman, I had to constantly remind myself that everything that I carried down to the pond when I was fresh I would have to carry back to the car when I was tired - plus a stringer of fish.

Some stuck lures require a pole type lure retriever. I got one. Other stuck lures require a hound dog type lure retriever. I got one. Sometimes you need one, sometimes the other. Once I get a lure stuck, and I get all of them stuck from time to time, first I always ask myself the question, "How much do I want this lure back/" If it is a shaky head - I'm not that concerned, because I've got lots of shaky heads. Jigs - depends on the jig. Home made jika rig - kinda depends on if it is one I made with tungsten weights or lead weights. and so on. My thing about stuck lures is about wasting time. I won't spend more than 5 minutes attempting to get a lure back, more than that is wasting the and fishing time is too valuable. Nothing is etched in stone though, and I've spend considerably more time than than trying to get lures back - some for sentimental reasons. Another reason for spending more time is that lure retrieval requires practice, i.e. you aren't born knowing how to expertly use a lure retriever. If you aren't an accomplished lure retriever user, then time spent learning is time well spent. If you're fishing from a boat carrying both types of lure retrievers is a no brainer. If you're bank bound, I think that carrying an extendable pole is a good idea.

Maybe different tournaments. Boat tournaments and bank tournaments. If I had to fish from the bank while other guys were fishing from boats, I just wouldn't play. On bank fishing tournaments, guys with "mobility issues" are going to be at a competitive disadvantage compared to guys who don't have those issues. If a contestant has "mobility issues" can he/she bring a lackey to help? How many? Maybe European Match fishing style, where a fisherman gets assigned a certain patch of the bank to fish from and that's it. Those guys have raised chumming to a new level. In Europe, in that scenario, 2" fish get weighed. I think you've got a good idea for recreational outings. With competitive fishing and money involved, I think there are many kinks to be worked out for it to be equitable to everyone. If I were going to do this, I'd form the club first and then see from the available membership what kind of competitive situations can evolve. JMO

Years ago, Rick Clunn advocated switching over to oval split rings to avoid tying into the split ring part. The Lucky Craft and BPS baits that had his name on them came with oval split rings. I converted many of my cranks & jerk baits to the oval rings one winter when I was stuck for something to do, so most of the baits I currently use have the oval rings. Other than assuring that you won't tie into the split, I don't think that the oval rings offer anything special. I don't tie direct to any crank. 95% of the time, I tie onto the split ring provided or the oval one I switched over to. On baits that don't come with a split ring, like an original Rapala Minnow, I will tie a loop knot because I think that it gives the bait a little looser action. Another example would be a bait like a Pop-R. That is a bait I will connect with a loop knot. If I'm around a lot of cover, I might double up the line and tie the loop knot with a doubled up line. That knot takes a few moments longer to tie, but I think it is more durable once you get it right.

Reels aren't the place to go "budget". Given how long quality reels last, save your pennies and buy the best reel you can afford.

Go Shimano and don't look back.

For traps & especially square bills, I like to use heavier line - 17 or 20 lb. Berkley Iron Silk is a great trap & square bill line. It can be a little springy, so I coat it with line treatment and take it easy the first few casts of the day, until it gets wet and stretched out and then it works great. For a few years, when Berkley benched Iron Silk, they made an "armored" Trilene that was essentially the same thing. Suffix Siege has worked ok for me too. I don't think that this is an area where it is necessary to go hyper expensive on line. One more thing - I stay away from Berkley "Big Game". I've had breaking issues with that Berkley brand and I won't touch it any more.

Early to mid 80's, there used to be a 40 acre lake, south of Columbia, that had that same issue. I was one of a few individuals who had access to the property. Anyway - keep all those little bass - fillet them all. Tempura party!! After half a decade of fishing this lake with numerous 30 to 50 fish days and 20 or so 100 fish days, the balance of the pond gradually got better. We went from never catching a fish over 12" to every so often catching one in the 14" range to where every 5th or 6th fish was a solid 15"+ keeper. I ate a lot of fish during those years. I got real good at catching small bass using 4 or 6 lb test and 3/16 oz Brewer Slider rigs. Me, I'd do that pond owner a favor and take several hundred small bass out of his pond and see what happens. Consider it your personal protein source.

Timber Tigers & Brush babies. If you want a slightly smaller profile go with a wiggle wart. Want to go lighter with a more "fishy" profile - go with a shad rap.

Att my rods started out as versatile rods. I was the one who assigned them their specific duties.

If there happened to be quite a bit of shallower water, with stumps, brush and cover I'd opt first for a colorado blade single spin over a chatter bait. If the area had obvious ditches and channels, I'd probably be dragging a black & blue jig in those areas and it would probably have rattles on it.

I'm approaching becoming an old fart. I remember when 5 to 1 reels were considered "high speed". 5 to 1 reels aren't so easy to find now. Anyway, I currently use Curado and Chronarch 50's to jig fish with. They are 6 something to one, 6.4 to one I think. Anyway, if I miss a fish, I'm thinking operator error and not blaming the reel for not being fast enough. That being said, I don't have any experience with the reels you are talking about.

I thought those were ok rods. The issue with them that I had was over time the reel seat stripped out and wouldn't hold the reel tight any more - even using shims and stuff. They are in my pile of retired rods now. Years ago, when Shakespeare acquired the company, they wouldn't honor the warranty any more. A couple of the rods that I bought through Cabelas, Cabelas made them honor their warranty, but I had to jump through hoops and find receipts and so forth. I honestly don't remember where I bought most of them. I do know that after they were acquired by Shakespeare, the store I buy quite a bit of stuff from wouldn't deal with them any more. I think that All Star is owned by the parent company of Berkley now, but I'm not sure.

Kayak to aluminum bass boat isn't a mid life crisis - that is more or less s sensible decision based on getting older and wanting to cover more water efficiently. I have a buddy, who just turned 47, who swapped a PAID FOR 17' boat for a totally tricked out 21' EXPRESS - 250 4 stroke - twin 10'Talons - 36 volt trolling motor - extreme electronics - the whole deal, including a YETI. Now that is a mid life crisis purchase. It could have been worse - he could have quit fishing, bought a Corvette and taken up golf, just to hang out at the country club.

More techniques = more gear, unless you want to spend time on the water tying knots. Me, I can buy more fishing gear, but I haven't found a way to buy more fishing time, therefore, I carry many rigs for different techniques and only retie when I need to/got to. Under this system, if you need to learn more techniques, for action baits you will need a rig for deeper cranks, a rig for square bills, a rig for jerk baits, a rig for spinner baits, a rig for chatter baits. This year I started carrying a rig for Biffle Bugs - a jig /crank hybrid technique that has shown some promise for me. Like previously mentioned, you might want to get some jig rods. I carry rigs for llghter jigs, in the quarter to 5/16 oz range and for quarter ounce jig worms. I don't tx rig very often, but I carry a couple of rigs for fishing my home made jika rigs. Do not ignore the bubba drop shot rig. That will do for starters - after you've spend the few thousand dollars for gear up for these techniques, there will be more, believe me.

To echo scaleface - there are better/less expensive options than that Browning worm binder. I use zip lock bags and a cheap canvas duffle bag to transport soft plastics, and a couple of the cheap canvas duffle bag lets me transport LOTS of soft plastic baits. I'd have a slightly different system if I was bank bound, but I'm not.

Make your own out of PVC pipe. It will be a little cheaper - not a lot cheaper.

Assuming you have decent towing capacity, there is a great selection of 16 to 18 foot aluminum boats out there. If you're wanting to do some tournaments - focus on the 18 footers at a minimum - this is coming from a co-angler who has drawn guys fishing out of 17 foot boats. I have an 18 foot Lowe. I'd fish club tournaments out of it, if I was in a club. Larger tournaments - like BFL or something comparable - it really isn't big enough or fast enough to be competitive. I'd totally recommend keeping your kayak and buying a bass boat that will suit the waters that you normally fish.

You are very lucky in that you have a problem that can be SOLVED by throwing money at it. As a bank fisherman, you'll find out pretty quickly that a net is just one more thing to carry, and will you need it often enough to justify carrying it around all the time? I don't know, my guess is probably not. For roughly the same amount of money as a good long handled net, you can get a pair of hip waders, which will get you out into the water enough to lip anything you need to.

Fix it AND buy a few more reels. You can't have too many rods or reels.

You're in Florida. I'd start out asking this question in mom & pop tackle stores in your neighborhood. Bring money & be prepared to buy what they suggest, the first time anyway. Option B - look around and see what kind of spinner baits the other guys in your neighborhood are using. You can try asking around in the various chains that might be in your neighborhood - BPS, Dicks, etc. My experience is that the advice you'll get from these outlets is questionable at best. The best you can hope for is that they've talked to some other customer who has given them good advice and they're repeating it. As far as brands go, I like Terminators because they consistently run straight. War Eagles are very well made and come in a wide variety of colors. The ones I use most are locally made ones that aren't available outside the KC metro area, and really, they aren't readily available in the KC Metro area. These days, I throw half ounce ones 99% of the time. The jig/spinner bait advertiser on this site has an excellent web site. You might try calling him up and getting his opinion. Back when I was learning spinnerbaits ( mid to late 80's) I had very little success with them untilI committed to throwing a 3/8 oz round head short arm spinnerbait with a smallish colorado blade and a pork frog trailer. That's a bait you can do it all with, i.e. bulge sub-surface, slow roll the bottom, fish on the drops next to stumps, what have you. Back when I was learning, my #1 technique was throwing over logs & brush, i.e. throw over the log/ brush, bring it up to the object, pull it through/over the object and immediately let it drop. Hits happen on the drop. Good luck. There are lots of videos out there about fishing spinner baits, you'll probably want to watch some.

Basically, that open tie set up is easier to manufacture than the closed loop. However you can make any open loop spinner bait/buzz bait a closed loop using any number of methods. A small piece of aquarium tubing, strategically wrapping a little bit of wire or even a few wraps of braid can seal off the open loop and make it closed. There are closed loop buzz baits out there - look harder. They're more popular in the northern states where wire leaders are used. Like I mentioned earlier, just close off the loop. A short piece of fine gauge wire should work. Ball bearing snap swivels on spinner baits & buzz baits? You're probably costing yourself some fish over the season with the unnecessary hardware. Darker stained/ muddy waters it probably isn't an issue. In clearer waters, I think it might be. Spinnerbaits and buzz baits don't really twist your line all that much, why is a swivel necessary?