Fishes in trees

When I snag a bait and it takes me more than a couple of minutes to de-snag, I find that wrapping the line a few times around the boat cleat and backing off with the trolling motor works every time.

Try it, if you don't like it, try/buy a different one. Me, I fish square bills, traps and jerk baits enough, that means 3 different rods for me as I'm very likely to fish those 3 baits in the same trip. I fish square bills & traps on similar rods, I favor the square bill more around brush/woody cover and traps more to tick the top of any grass/vegetation around. Jerk baits require a different rig. Bluebasser 86 mentioned a shorter rod, I like that also. I prefer spinning gear for jerk baits as I have fewer " wind issues." I like a 6' or 6'3" spinning rod, my current favorite is a Med/Med light action with an extra fast tip. (It is a ten or twelve year old Shimano rod, not sure about what grade it was right now.) A wide spool spinning reel with thin braid or Fireline and a short, 18" or less fluorocarbon leader of around 15 lbs. Having mentioned all this, the primary reason that I carry different rods for those particular techniques is that when I'm fishing, I don't want to stop and tie knots if I don't have to and if I carry 3 different rods, I won't have to as often. Hey, I realize it is self indulgent and not really economical, but I'm not that concerned.

My standard for this question would be a 5/16 Eakins jig with a smallish cray trailer. I wouldn't be surprised if the whole package weighed a little more than 3/8 oz but I haven't weighed one lately. In the waters that I fish, I throw that bait on a 7' or so MH jig rod using 15 lb Abrazx for the most part. Distance is ok - if I need more distance I'll either back off on the brakes and trust my thumb not to back lash or throw a heavier bait, more often the latter. Now for what I consider a more finessful approach, i.e. a 3/16 or 1/4 oz Brewer head with some sort of plastic, usually a 5" paddle tail worm, sometimes I throw that on spinning gear but I've found a Falcon Eakins Special jig rod (6'10" on the Med side of Mh) and a Curado 50 and 10 lb abrazx works great. When I get bit I feel like I've got a little more control with the bait casting gear.

Really? Ranger doesn't have an owners manual to a boat that they made? That surprises me. Not even an on-line manual? You'd think that they would, as they brag about how well their boats are build and how long they last. Maybe try different Ranger dealers.

Don't you mean a Boron rod? Those were made in the late 70's to mid 80's., as I recall. No clue on how much to ask for replacement cost. During the 80's, I had a few friends who owned a BPS Boron rod (6' or so Med to MH spinning rod) I thought that it was roughly similar to the Berkley Lightning Rods of the time - which were close to the top of the line, readily available rods. Obviously, since it isn't available anymore, its official cost is "priceless". Good luck settling with your insurance company on the value of a "priceless" fishing rod. As far as official BPS replacement, my guess is that it as been replaced several dozen times since then. My advice would be to call BPS, explain your situation and get their opinion on what a suitable replacement would be. Since it was close to the top of their line at the time, something close to the top of their current line seems appropriate, but that would be more for BPS to say than me. Good luck

In olden times, when I was a bank fisherman, I had 1 bait - i.e. a Brewer Slider head with some sort of plastic on it. My strategy was to keep it moving, low and slow, polishing the bottom as it were. Later, after I began to use a bait caster, I had 2 baits, a spinner bait and a slider head. I think that the best strategy was to keep moving, i.e. throw the spinner bait once or twice (paralleling the bank worked much better than throwing it straight out and then follow up with the slider head, throwing it a few times in different directions. No bites - move on, sooner or later you'll find active fish or you will throw the slider head into the mouth of some fish. I've mentioned this before, but it bears repeating that as a bank fisherman, one of the most useful pieces of gear you can get is a set of hip waders, to get you off the bank a little bit and make it easier to parallel the bank with reaction type baits.

Something to consider, if you're fishing from shore, soft plastic jerk baits might be the way to go. Flukes (made by Zoom) are one option, there are many others. These days, it seems I go to Sebile Magic Swimmers first. Strike King Caffeine Shads are decent soft plastic jerk baits also. Also senko style baits can be fished as jerk baits as well. Hard jerk baits, Rapala & Rogues are a good place to start - they are relatively cheap ( compared to Lucky Craft or other more expensive imports). If you're getting into jerk baits, get some lead tape, suspend dots or something like that. That is what you use to fine tune how the baits suspend. Be mindful that different baits suspend differently in different wear temperatures. Prime jerk bait season is a relatively short window in the spring, at least here in Missouri where I live. Plus it is addictive, in a decade or so I went from a couple of Rapala & Redfins to way over a hundred. Many of them I've never gotten wet. If I lived n the north east, fishing from the bank, I think soft plastic jerk baits are the way to go.

Speaking as an old hippie, if you're going to do drugs and play with machinery, you've got to practice. Don't expect to do it correctly every time out.

I forget who makes that cone head jig. I have some made by Nichols that are very similar except that the plastic holding barb is a little bigger and has a hole in in, which allows you to peg the plastic to the bait with a toothpick. A long time ago I remember a "mango jig" which had a similar cone shaped head.

It wouldn't be too hard to make your own, either using thin wire or heavier fishing line, even small swivels if you wanted. I make my own jika rigs out of 40 or 60 lb fluorocarbon, so that I can control the distance between the split rings/ bait and the weight. I like a little more distance between the weight and the bait than is available commercially. Another option would be a Florida Rig. Gambler makes them and they are located somewhere in Florida. They make both screw in styles and "goop"weights. Really it is just another way to peg a sinker. The screw in weights are my preferred approach for dropping 10" worms down through the branches of trees. That isn't a situation where you want the sinker to separate any distance from the worm.

I use both casting gear and spinning gear for drop shot fishing. I can tell you that any rod you currently own will work, kinda ok, for drop shot fishing. You'll have to do it for a while to figure out whit you like. For instance, when I go out, and run into other guys, I look and see what they are using. Most guys use a rod with a lot more flex in the tip than I like. I like the extra fast tip, that instantly snaps back and doesn't wiggle so much. MY current favorite casting set up is a 7'5" heavy action pitching stick/20 lb fluorocarbon and a Chronarch 50 reel. Guys will say, "That's a little heavy for a drop shot, ain't it?" Using this set up, I get bit 8 or 9 feet down, off a little bit from a beaver dam, that fish is coming up. Standard spinning drop shot gear, in that situation, that fish is running you around one of the many limbs that exist in that situation. Another common bubba drop shot situation happens when fish are relating to stumps/root wads that are 5 to 15 or so feet down. Another thing I like about the bubba drop shot system is that to balance it out, you need a half to 3/4 oz weight. That weight, over the course of the day, saves a lot of time you'd otherwise waste while you were waiting for the bait to sink. So, my advice would be to commit to the drop shot, fish it for a while with what you've got and then decide how you want to fine tune it for your local conditions.

Consider this, you really don't need any help lessening the weight of your fishing bag. What you need is a caddy.

Success with the ned rig is very similar to fishing with the old school Charlie Brewer Sliders, i.e. you have to commit to it. It needs to be your first choice and it will be the bait that you throw the vast majority of the time. You'll learn to work it through all kinds of stuff, mostly you will learn how to wait while it sinks. My most consistently retrieve was what Charlie Brewer called "polishing the rocks," What this meant was as slow and steady as you could, fish your bait as close to the bottom as you could without touching. It took a while to learn and took even longer to get comfortable with it, but results were very similar to what the Ned rig guys say they are getting. I've got a decent ned rig outfit, but I still find it tiresome, waiting for that 1/10 or 1/16 oz jig to sink.

My first guess would be that the swivel connecting the blades to the wire arm is messed up.12. This just reinforces my belief that nationally distributed spinner baits are of moderate quality at best. I fish War Eagle or Terminator spinner baits myself, unless I'm fishing an old J&J Truman Lake Special or an old Rogers glass eye Colorado or any others of off brand regionally distributed baits, the names of them elude me right now. Here's something to try. Every place where you'd normally throw a spinner bait, throw a DC5 or DC8 Timber Tiger and see if you get bit more. Obviously there are some places where there is so much vegetation that you can get a spinner bait through it, but not a crank. Every place where you can get a crank through, even with picking off some grass every so often, try throwing the Timber Tiger. I believe you'll find that the spinner bait gets you fewer bites.

I don't understand this fixation on minimalism. Why try to "get by" when you have the ability to carry anything you want. I think that if you bring what you want a fish how you want to fish the weight issue will take of itself.

Are you driving the boat or fishing out of the back of the boat? If you want decent advice, you need to provide a set of circumstances. For instance, what neighborhood are you fishing in? Natural lake ? Man made reservoir? Some kind of flowage? Predominate cover, is it weeds or wood or rocks, natural cover or man made brush piles? Are there any weeds and how deep does the weed line go? Is there a thermocline and how deep? How deep is the lake in its deepest part? What is the average depth? Predominate species? What kind of gear you got? And there are lots more. The key to getting good advice is to define the fishing conditions you will most likely be facing. For instance, I could tell you to throw a senko all day, but if you're in the back of the boat and the boat driver is covering the bank with spinner baits, you will likely be moving fast enough that a senko is unlikely to be effective. Good luck. Maybe-probably this first tournament will teach you to define fishing conditions a little bit.

I like the Falcon K-wacky weedless hooks with the mouse trap style weed guard. I use the 1/16 oz weighted ones more often than the unweighted ones. Falcon calls the style I like 3/0 but I think that is a little small compared to other companies 3/0 size. These days I generally use criss crossed o rings, so the hook is positioned 90 degrees of the senko rather than in line as is common with just one o ring.

I'm getting psyched for this years Fishing for Freedom event at Long Shoal marina the weekend prior to Columbus Day. I've attended this event for the last few years, found it very worthwhile and even caught a fish or two. Just wondered if anyone else was going.

That para cord will dig into your hands when you go to pull up the anchor, because it is so skinny. It is stout enough to do the jog, just kinda too thin for me. I anchor very seldom, but when I do I use 3/8 or 1/2 inch nylon rope because I find it easier to grip when I go to pull up the anchor. Where I fish, it is often much easier to tie to a tree than it is to anchor. My boat has a sturdy cleat on each corner of the boat and I keep a 15' dock line attached to the cleats all the time. Saves time & energy with the tie up line all ready to go.

I have had a couple of the Black Wild Carrot sticks for a few years now, a 7' something MH that I use for soft plastics and a shorter 6'9" one that I use for spinnerbaits/chatter baits. I haven't broke them yet. I would point out that I am not hard on my rods and I carry enough rods in my day to day fishing that no one rods sees that much action. One of my fishing buds bought several of the carrot sticks and he broke them all. He is harder on his gear than I am.

Line color matters to me - kinda. Reaction baits, like spinner baits, cranks, chatter baits, I don't think that it matters so much. I often use greenish line. I like Iron Silk for cranks and it is a greenish color. For slower baits like jigs & soft plastics, I use fluorocarbon lines of whatever test I deem appropriate for the situation. I use braid for some situations. Frogs & heavier wake baits I don't use a fluorocarbon leader. Jerkbaits, I use braid on a spinning reel with a fluorocarbon leader because I frequently pause the bait for many seconds at a time.

I use a palomar knot for both traditional finesse style drop shot fishing and for "bubba shot" fishing as well.

Since I've got room in the boat, I'm going to take a large selection of soft plastics. Plastics, in original bag, sorted into similar groups, in gallon zip lock bags, the various gallon bags stored in 2 medium size soft sided tackle bags. In a separate soft side bag - all the ned rigs stuff, plastics & jig heads. In a different soft side bag - all the Biffle bug components, i.e. heads & appropriate plastics.

You're the one who has to decide that for yourself. I don't know what "more sensitive" means to you, nor do I know what "a lot of backbone" means to you. Now, if you're asking for opinions that is different. I'd find a Fenwick AETOS or HMG that I liked. Moderate price & lifetime warranty. JMO

Back in the 80's I was fortunate enough to gain access to a beautiful, secluded 40 or so acre lake. The down side was that it hadn't been fished regularly and it was stunted, totally overloaded with bass8 to 11 inches long, with very few larger ones. I had permission to keep all I could catch, so I did. The first few years I fished that lake I regularly had 100+ fish days and I learned to fillet 8" bass. They are tasty. That's what I'd do in your case, i.e. catch & keep all I could and eat them. The best lures day in and day out were a 1/8 or 3/16 Brewer Slider head with 4" worm, fished on 6 lb test or a 1/8 oz crappie jig with a small pork frog trailer. Later on, once I learned how to fish spinnerbaits, I had a few great spinner bait days.