Fishes in trees

To echo Tim Kelly - be certain of the soundness of your transom prior to installing your jack plate. Installing a jack plate on a 35 year old hull might cause more problems than it solves.

Not enough info. I mean that I'm probably going to throw a jika rig, around half an ounce with a brush hog or other creature bait or lizard on deep weed line edges or points, but who knows? I can imagine situations where I'd want to be throwing a Lucky Craft Pointer. Other situations - a square bill. Other situations a wacky senko could be the ticket. If you believe all the informercials - a banjo minnow or Terminator spinnerbait is the ticket. So - more info please.

I use them both, over the past few years I've used the KVD stuff more. Be mindful in your winter storage, that the KVD stuff, being water based, will freeze. If it is a full bottle, it could crack the plastic bottle. The first time I got out last year, there was an ice cube floating around in the bottle of KVD line treatment. In my case, the bottle didn't crack, but had it been a full bottle, it might have.

The outside weed line can be a productive zone in nearly any lake and fishing any outside weed line from the bank is a challenge. This weed line is much easier fished from a boat, any kind of boat. This is where I'd start. Should there be a spot where current intersects an outside weed line, I'd check there. Wind blowing into an outside weed line beats wind blowing away from an outside weed line, but I'd check both, giving the wind blowing in a priority.. Where I fish, there are many sunken trees an bushes, mostly thorn bushes, that were left when the lake was constructed. I don't think that there would be a lot of that in canals. However, debris and woody vegetation does get thrown into canals from time to time, I'm sure of that. The outside edge of any debris and woody vegetation is always worth a few casts. If you are new to canoe fishing, in due time you are going to learn all about wind, and how to fish in it. That'll be fun - be mindful that there is a learning curve to fishing in the wind and it can get real frustrating at time, especially in a canoe. Carry an anchor of some sort. Learn how to park and let the wind swing you into casting distance of promising areas. A drag chain helps also. It lets the wind blow you along, but slower. Good luck and have fun.

Step A would be to get your tachometer fixed so you get a true read on what your max rpm is. 3800 rpm seems pretty low, but if the tach is hanky - who knows. The hydrofoil which is helping your hold shot is what is hurting your top end when you try to trim. I don't know where you are at, but at most of the lakes in Missouri, running one of those hydro foil fins is asking for it. Sooner or later you will catch something with it. I'm not familiar with that brand of boat. Is it one of the old "bomber" style hulls or a pad type hull. If it is a bomber style hull, 39 mph isn't bad. I don't know. I am not an engine/boat performance expert - I'm just a guy who listens carefully when I'm around those guys when they are talking and I'm writing to you what I've heard. Hope it helps.

You need to carry 2. A hound dog type, that you drop down on some kind of line and an extendable pole type. Different snags & different depths one will work batter than the other. The hound dog type sucks when it comes to getting baits out of dock carpeting or trees. I would recommend using a stout nylon cord rather than 80 or 100 lb braid for the hound dog type retriever. If the retriever gets stuck (and it will) you can cut your hands on stout braided line. It is harder to cut your hands with nylon cord. If the retriever/bait is really stuck, your last resort is to wrap the line around the boat cleat and back off with your trolling motor.

Lucky Strike used to make some mini-sized Guido Bugs. I've got some. I don't know where I acquired them. The craw trailer that Jewel Baits makes for the Eakins jig is pretty small.

I am really trying to get the point of this post, but other than the notion that you got more fishing gear at age 14 than I did, I ain't seeing it. The youth of today are periodically a mystery to me.

I don't have any direct experience with this, since I don't own a black light and don't fish at night much. However, I would guess that both Fireline Crystal and Nanofil would both show up pretty well under black lights. I like 14 lb Fireline Crystal (which has a diameter similar to 14 lb mono) to throw jerk baits with.

The most recent issue of In-fisherman magazine has an in-depth article about shallow cranks in general and square bills in particular. I just got the magazine yesterday, haven't read the article word for word, just kind of looked at the pictures and skimmed a paragraph here and there. Quite a bit of what you need to know about square bills is in that article.

Buck Perry's writings apply to lakes that he was familiar with, i.e. older lakes where all the major wood was clear cut prior to flooding and the basin structure was the primary fish attractant. Lakes that were constructed after he quit publishing, like Truman Lake in Missouri, 40,000+ acres of flooded forest, not as much. I dare you to go try to map out structure in Truman with spoon plugs. You will bankrupt yourself, probably before you get one cove mapped. I wonder if Buck Perry spend any time on Ozark Highland lakes. Buck Perry doesn't address water color very much. Other than mentioning that deep water is the home of fish he doesn't really go into how deep, he doesn't mention thermoclines. He isn't that concerned about water temperatures. He doesn't even go into how deep in relation to the average depth of the lake. All of these are important points. From a historical perspective, I think that it is important to try to understand what Buck Perry was talking about, but I think that he left many fish location issues unaddressed. Mostly I think that it because of the kind of lakes he fished. The farther away from the kind of lakes he fished, the less his thinking applies, IMO.

I don't have that particular problem with my reels - but then my reels all say SHIMANO on the side of them. Coincidence or not? Beats me. All I know is that when I have a backlash, and I have my share of them, operator error is generally the cause.

If you don't want to go to BPS, I am pretty sure that there are other boat dealers somewhere in those states. Don't be afraid to expand your search regionally. A bud on mine was determined to get a large 20' or so aluminum boat, as he looked around, he found a dealer in Kentucky that saved him thousands of dollars and rigged the boat exactly the way he wanted it. The only draw back was that he had to drive to Kentucky to pick it up. Not a terrible deal - road trips are fun.

word of mouth - friend of a friend deal maybe.

I got bit a lot on lizards last summer into early fall, fishing them on a jika rig on deeper weed lines. I fished creature baits, like the Brush Hog, Netbait Mad Paca, the power bait version of the brush hog, whose name escapes me right now as well. Some days, the lizards out fished the creature baits - not every day, but some days. The most productive lizard was the YUM Zellemander, next productive was the power bait lizard. I think I caught a few fish on the YUM salamander with the boot tail. It is truly a pity that Berkley discontinued the 8" lizard. That was my favorite lizard, until I ran out and found out that I couldn't get any more. I found I got more hook ups using a regular 3/0 worm hook rather than a wide gap version.

You went to a lot of trouble and effort researching that post.

Your post reminded me that I haven't fished pork baits in a long time. I have several plastic shoe boxes full of old pork baits and I don't think that they have dried out. I don't think fish in my neighborhood have seen much pork over the past decade or so, might be time to bust some out this spring. As I recall, the downside of using pork baits was that you had to commit to them. When you junk fish a lot, trying one bait, then another, then maybe a third or fourth option, then the pork will dry out and is ruined AND it is a pain to remove from the hook at that point.

At first I thought you had recreated the "flying lure." Then, on further review I realized that you have created an Ika out of spare parts. Sooner or later I am going to run out of Ikas and then I will be using your creation. I will probably use it before I run out of Ikas when I want to present a different color than I have available with the Yamamoto product. Thank you. I'd buy you a beer to reward this idea, if you lived closer, but you don't, so instead I will drink a beer for you, probably this morning after work.

I've got one of those Case O-ring tools that allegedly position the o-ring properly on the senko. However, prior to buying that tool I found that I could much more often than not position the o-ring on the senko wherever I wanted it with a little bit of slobber. You might want to try that, as an inexpensive option

I'll agree to disagree. The MO DOC has managed the deer herd to the point to where there are more deer here now than there were when Lewis and Clark passed through here. Granted, there are many reasons for this, but their superior management skills are a primary reason. All I'm saying is, take some responsibility boys, when one of your large managed resources happens to wander in front of a citizen driving, and crunches happen, help the citizen out some. Just cover my deductible. I know they have enough money in reserve to cover that, like I mentioned earlier, probably out of petty cash. The MO DOC has received the 1/8 cent sales tax for 30+ years now. They have enough money in reserve, right now, to buy any piece of property they want, should it come up for sale, and they have guys that watch for that sort of stuff. Mind you, I am totally opposed to politicians in general, and Republicans in particular, trying to tap the DOC funding source because is state is short of money in other areas. However, in the matter of the deer herd, I think that the DOC bears some responsibility, in that they have managed the deer herd so well that deer can walk out in traffic often, let cars smack into them and the total deer herd isn't appreciably compromised. I absolutely don't think that fronting a citizen 5 bills when they happen to smack into Bambi or Bambi's Dad, or Mother, or brother is going to unduly upset the budget of the MO DOC. When you strike a deer with your vehicle, it is a genuine pain in the butt and the wallet. I don't think that guys are going to go out of their way to smack into deer just to make $500. There are some things that the MO DOC could do better. For instance, when I arrived home at roughly 4 AM this morning, I could hear coyotes helping a lot. I know guys who have livestock operations, and coyotes are an issue in livestock depredation. Restoring the coyote bounty wouldn't be a bad thing. A post earlier, mentioned that the DOC didn't offer a 5 or 7 day out of state fishing license.( other than a daily license) A custom out of state license option would be nice, where you could get a license for as many days as you needed/wanted is a very good idea. For guys that have CRP land, ( like me) more funds for wildlife habitat management - native plant management - woodlot management , would be appreciated. Edit Just re-read my post - sorry for the rant - kinda . . . . turns out that I am very smart during my 3rd IPA after work. I feel better now.

For the most part, I don't mess with the hooks on new baits, if in the course of fishing a bait I tear up a hook or it gets bent or whatnot, then I will replace it. It seems to me that most crank bait trebles are either size 4 or size 6. Anyway, I generally bring the bait with me and go to Rogers and get the treble hook they tell me to get, or something similar if they want me to buy the real expensive trebles and I don't feel like it that day.

The last time I checked, and I could be incorrect, you can do both if you feel like it. If your anti- reverse is switched off and you hold the handle steady, drag will work.

The 100 MPH suit is a little more "heavy duty" than the pro qualifier is. No clue on the quality or comfort level of the Academy suit. My two cents - do not buy one over the internet. This is one thing that you need to make sure that it fits. Go to BPS and try them both on. Go to Academy and try on their suit. Make allowances that you will occasionally have layers underneath the gore tex. Again, if you are going to get a quality rain suit, make sure it fits. It isn't something that you are going to wear all the time, but when you need it you want it to be comfortable.

As someone who lives in a rural area and has had several vehicle/deer encounters I think it would be a great idea if them DOC fronted me $500 dollars every time one of their deer smacks into my vehicle. I don't think that is a bad idea at all and I'm pretty sure that the DOC could cover that expense out of their petty cash. As far as the rest of the stuff, I've heard some of this from other sources and I e-mail my representatives regularly suggesting that they not mess with the DOC. Missouri has one of the best, well-funded conservation departments in the USA and it would be a blessing to keep it that way.

Staying warm ( or cool for that matter) while you are fishing is just a matter of throwing money at the problem. Everyone has to figure it out what works for them. I generally use some kind of 3 layer system, i.e.base layer next to skin, insulating layer and a windproof/waterproof layer. Generally, be mindful that more often than not, it is easier to remove layers if you have dressed too warm than add another layer if you're not when you are out on the boat. Owning several different weights of base layers and insulating layers lets you fine tune your garmets for the appropriate weather that day. Now, on the subject of "don't be dumb" we all know ignorant stuff can happen out on the water from time to time. Plan ahead and have a spare set of clothes, appropriate to the weather, including socks and hat, in the truck. I keep a spare pair of shoes also. This can keep an accident a humorous story, rather than you getting really sick from driving home in wet, cold clothes. This is one situation where an ounce of prevention beats a pound of cure. Now, on the subject of looking good when you got your cool/cold weather gear on, a couple of times each year, the weather is right for my favorite fishing outfit, i.e. back in the day I got an authentic Irish Fishermans sweater. It is so warm that you really can't wear it in the house, or riding in the truck for that matter, but out on the water it is a nearly perfect combination of warmth, flexibility and breathability. Heavyweight boiled wool is as old school as you can get, a choice of fisherman all over the world going back hundreds of years, but once you get one, that will be your first choice for cool weather gear.