Josh Crye

i have one of those mission cooling towels from lowes. it works pretty good when wet helps me stay cool and its like 50 spf or something. not sure how effective it is on wind.

I was looking into some wiley x glasses, they sponsor a couple pro fishermen come to find out. i got some clip-ons from walmart until i can save my money for a pair of nice glasses. a good friend works for maui jim, maybe she can get me a deal like she could get when she worked for Oakley...

love me some bomber model A in all sizes an shapes. i need another crankbait pole/rod because i have this one model A that stays tied on. its got tons of teeth marks on the sides. i have also have 2-3 more of the same size/color in case this one gets lost, fingers crossed i don't need them for a long time! i also like jitterbugs, tiny torpedo. these also seem to be low key baits.

get you a bag of zoom fluke and/or super fluke. they are kind of a top water bait you would fish like a trick worm. the strike king fluke style bait floats, but the zoom sinks slowly. I have both and use the zoom more since I can keep it on top or let it drop down in the water column if need be.

looking good! that grey color is going to be nice on those hot days, shouldn't be too hot. cant wait to see the finished product. you've really got my gears turning now, im getting my old aluminum boat out this weekend to spruce her up a bit, she hasn't seen lake water in 2 or 3 years (plenty of rain and kids playing in her though)! just what I need another project, im telling the wife its your fault!

I specifically like anything natural looking. so I go with shad and bluegill colored crank baits. I've never seen a fire tiger fish, but I have caught them on that color bait...

there are a lot of options out there, looking at the hook shelf at walmart can be mind numbing. hooks are made to do a specific job. plastic worms are some of the cheapest, easiest, and most rewarding lures to fish, id recommend you start there! -if youre texas rigging, which is one of the top way to fish plastic baits, you will want a hook that's point end is lined up with the eye end. these also make great hooks for wacky rigging. you can go weightless and or add a small bullet weight. these hooks also are great for fluke/super flukes also. -also if you go for a tube style plastic, you will want some jig heads with 90 degree line eyes. if you cant find long shank jig heads, you may have to cut a slit in the tube. slide the jig head up in the tube and push the line eye out the side of the tube. not as weed or snag free so id recommend texas rigging over this, but its still a nice option.

I feel like mornings and evenings are best for topwater, but that's not to say you cant get a bite in the middle of the day. of the lures you mentioned a spook is probably the hardest to fish, you really want to work it with a slack line so you get good side to side motion. you might want to look into a arbogast jitterbug, one of my all time favorite top water lures to fish. and for topwater that doesnt make noiss, check out a zoom or other brand fluke/super fluke, these are fun to fish and I can always watch the bass follow this thing... sometimes the bass want a slow fluke, other times I fish it fast. basically want to imitate a dying fish with this, you kind of work it like a spook (slack line) so you get too side to side action. I feel like top water works best when there is some type of structure or cover the bass can hide in then pop out and smash the bait. top water bites are great fun!

if I were building my box/tackle over again, and actually I might after not fishing heavily for a couple years, id start with a nice, big tackle bag. I started with a plastic box, filled it up and went with a bigger box, filled that up and went with a bag bigger than the box, and so on and so forth... now I got a nice big tackle bag that I can load down so much I cant hardly carry it! as another stated, need to keep in mind where and what your fishing for. start with hooks, sinkers, and plastic worms. im really like zoom super flukes and finesse worms at the moment. then id add jigs and trailers. then add crank baits, then add top water. the list goes on and on! the you can add for different species of fish!

id suggest you check craigslist for a 12-14-16 or so jon or v hull aluminum boat (not even a bass boat) throw on a small outboard and hit the water. around here you can get a decent, ready to fish, setup for about $1200-1500. if your going solo fishing, you'd be better off starting this way since you will be unloading by yourself. You wont feel so bad when the boat hits the docks/ramp walls when going solo. that's going to get you on the water and better able to access the fish.

i would still look for them in shallow water/bank first. probably start with a popper/prop bait/chatter/ in the morning. then transition over to a fluke. if nothing seems to like that and i cant see any fish along the bank. id back out into deeper water and fish a worm and/or jig. as for color, im always having luck with green, black/blue, and purple

man, this really makes me want to get my fishing boat back out. haven't used it in a couple years. mines a 14' v hull. plywood casting deck. I had plans to revamp the casting deck to put accessible storage under it. before I had to remove the whole casting deck to gain access. only thing under it was battery, and I had an onboard charger, so didn't really have to get under it much. but I want to add a hatch so I can put other stuff under it as well. I always wanted to remove the 3 bench seats, im no welder, so I would have to pay someone to make the modification. but now a close buddy is a fantastic welder/fabricator, so I might con him into helping me out! thanks for the push to get her back out! one thing I would suggest(if its not too late), I think you mentioned black carpet, that's going to get real hot in the sun. I put green carpet which still gets pretty warm but not as bad as my buddies with black carpet.

i don't have that model minn kota, mines the powerdrive v2. but i had a welder weld aluminum c channel on the front V of the boat, then i just bolt the trolling motor on the the c channel. very solid mouting this way.

any boat will do. I fish out of my 1972 14' aluminum boat, with 1974 evinrude 9.5 (my main fishing lake is 9.9hp limit). I built a casting deck made a cooler livewell. I call her a hillbilly bass boat. never been to socal, but im pretty sure its warm and sunny most of the year. in the summer, when its warm and sunny here for long stretches and the water temp is up. I feel the fish tend to go deep to get out of the heat, or hide under docks, in the weeds, something to shade them from the summer rays.

it looks like a great pond! I have a pond on my property that I bought 2 years ago. its supposed to hold water, but there is a leak that will get fixed in the next couple of years. not sure on total depth, but It drains down probably 8 feet by the end of summer. it freeze over a few times in winter, and was froze all of December and January. the fish all managed to survive, there is some decent bass and blue gill in it. if that pond doesn't have fish, stock it!