Alan Reed

After this past weekend I started to wonder what I am missing? The past two weekends I have been catching fish so i know I am on them but there hasn't been a single one over 12 inches. Water temp is still in the mid 40's so I have been using jerk baits, Rat-L-Traps and Jigs on steep banks, and lay downs. With the jig I am getting many more bites that hook sets because they only get the trailer in their mouth. Those that are big enough engulf it deep. I know there are larger fish there because I have caught them before. The trend is the same across three different bodies of water. Help me the part of the puzzle I am missing.

Getting a Wilderness Systems Radar 135

How did you mount the transducer?

I looking into getting an upgraded depth finder for my kayak. I have read mixed thoughts on using side imaging on a Kayak. So is it worth it? Good images and results?

Never fished these before what do you find to be the presentation with the most success?

We have seen it on there as we having been searching. Just wasn't sure if it was going to be any good.

From trip to Weiss Lake last year

Southern Indiana Another lake in Southern Indiana that is almost always calm

Anyone else make it to the Indiana Fishing Expo yesterday? Personally I thought it was a great show this year. I enjoyed the speakers and found some good deals on a few products.

I like to take Perky Jerky. I like the flavor and how tender it is. I have also been know to take cubed cheese and Chicken in a Bisket crackers. I also take a large water and a flavored water drink.

I was thinking yesterday after being behind two cars that each had someone throw a large polar pop cup out the window while driving, when you are out fishing do you say anything to people that you see leaving their trash either in the water on the bank or in the water?

I plan on fishing jigs. This last year I used a Texas Rig a lot. I plan to do more tournaments this year so I the goal is to attach bigger with not just number by switching to using jigs.

Stay safe!

This is my youngest. He loves fishing. Just turned 6 and outfished the 10 year old and 12 year old every time we went out this last summer.

White skirted Zman Chatterbait with a White Ice Zoom paddle tail trailer.

A cranking rod and reel are next on the list. Just needing to match up the reel I got for Christmas.

Need help determining which power, action and length rod to add. Current Rods: Abu Garcia Vendetta 6'6" Medium Fast baitcaster, this rod is on the stiffer end of Medium plan to use for lighter soft plastics. *** Black 7'1" Medium Fast baitcaster This Rod the power feels like a true Medium, plan to use this for moving baits, rattle traps squarebills, top water. Carbonlite 6'9" Medium Light Fast spinning Plan to use for light finesse lures. I want to add a heaveier rod to use with my new Lews 8.1-1 baitcaster for frogging, flipping, pitching, jigs. Should I go with medium heavy or heavy? Which action and length?

They do need to make some changes. At least they seem to have figured out an offensive line that works.

A Lews Tournament MB Reel, Cabalas auto inflate PFD, 8 Seibert Jigs, 2 Whopper ploppers, 6 pack of JJ's Magic, BPS gift card, small RES Rat-L-Trap, Non Fishing, Omaha Steak Multi-Steak Family pack, Outback steak gift card, and a new Colts shirt.

I'd be down for meeting up with others. I'm located in Columbus and would also be willing to travel and hour or so.

Great, made it through customs before Christmas. Glad you like the squarebills I caught a lot of fish on them. As YeaJRay231 said the Red Shad Culprits are deadly especially with the small mouth. Merry Christmas

Well this list is pretty long. I started the year not having seriously fished in my life. So I started with the basics in the winter. Wife got me a nice pole and a baitcasting reel which was my preference. I got out on the water in the spring and it was a struggle. I was trying different things and different locations but just couldn't put it all together to catch fish. If I did catch one then I might get 4 fish in entire time we were out. When I started fishing it was with Texas rigged worm. Then I started to venture out to RAT-L-Traps and spinner baits but never really had much success. In the midspring I got medium light rod with spinning reel. That opened up the option of the Ned Rig and that really started to get things clicking. Went out my first time with the Ned and caught 7. Now that I was catching fish I could start developing patterns. Once I new where the fish where I started going back to the TX rigged worm and was catching bigger fish consistently Several of the lakes around me have a large amounts of Pads and Hydrilla so to cover water I started using a white fluke. First time out I was fishing the edges of the channels in the hydrilla and caught 17 LMB. Now I was dangerous I could catch fish on a moving bait and could finesse around cover and structure. As things progressed I starting catching fish on Spinner baits, buzz baits, and different types of soft plastic worms. I did my first fishing tournament and got 9th out of 63 which I was proud of but then I learned all the top performers caught the big ones on frogs. So I made a point. To go out and catch a fish on a frog. Let me tell you it was a struggle. I would have fish blowing up on it. Either they pulled it under slightly and I reacted and pulled it out before they really had it or many many times the fish just knocked the frog but didn't take it under. It took me a good 3-4 times going out focusing on the frog until I caught my first one and it was about a 3lber. Late summer I started fishing a chatterbait. That turned out to be a big fish bait for me and I was regularly catching fish 2.5 to 3.5 lbs with it. As fall started to set in I started working a square bill crankbait. I loved fishing it around wood and it was amazing how I could almost always tell when the bait was reacting in a way a fish wasn't going to be able to turn it down. It would bang into some wood and pop around or over and would stop for a second while I either paused or had to get get the line caught up. And as soon as it was start to move again a fish would wack it. I also got a fish finder on my Kayak and started to figure out how the fish relate to the underwater features. The combination of everything coming together and cementing the fact that I feel I moved from being someone that fishes to an angler occurred on the Friday before Thanksgiving. That's when I fished a new body of water and found an underwater creek channel with my depth finder. I then swam a chatterbait on the edge of the drop off into the channel and hookuped with my 4.75 PB. Which in Indiana is a really good fish. It's been a really good experience and learned so many things throughout the year.

The same rule applies, you get what you pay for.

Imagine the feeling when he saw it and realized how big it was.