king fisher

Only works if you plan on using it to catch fish.

I would be glad to trade you some Christmas tree ornaments for any Whopper Ploppers you have.

Large glide baits, and simmbaits. I have never tried one. I am sure they would work on the waters I fish, which would be a big problem. One DD bass, and I would be speeding down a road, that ends in bankruptcy, divorce, or both.

I am new to the A rig, and most of the time I fish around wood, and am too chicken to throw it around anything that may take that much money away from me in one cast. The time of year is coming when I fish some underwater humps, and ledges and I plan on throwing the A Rig often. I fish Skinny Dippers on underspins, and jig heads often when they quit hitting crankbaits. I usually pick up a few more fish with them and have been doing it for awhile. I purchased an A Rig last year, and had tried it some, with no luck. One day the crankbait died, and I put on an underspin with skinny-dipper, and caught two right away. It was one of those rare times, fishing, when I actually thought of the obvious. If they hit one swimbait, wouldn't they like 5 even more. I only had an hour of daylight left, and was a feeling to lazy to take the time to change to the rig, but I am sure glad I did. Other than needing shoulder surgery a few weeks later, the A Rig was a phenomenal success. I haven't tried any other types of swimbaits, but the Monkey is on my back about the lack of variety at this very moment. I simply nose hook the top two baits with hooks, and use ball head jigs on the bottom baits. The Bait Monkey has me looking at special swimbait heads, and I'm looking forward to reading about which ones people recommend on this post.

Come fish a couple of my lakes. Nothing sets the hook back like an abandoned gillnet. Feels exactly like a giant bass. But you can’t eat it. You can hook as many as you want in a day as big as you want them but the pictures never turn out well.

The first time I heard that sound I was about 12 years old. I thought it was the end of the world, but somehow I did survive. Since then I have heard the sound more times than I care to admit, and it's always the same. End of the world at first, but the Bait Monkey manages to save my life every time.

About 50 50 for me. I love to explore and am always looking for a new place to fish. I also like to go to my old favorites. The months of May and June I will be fishing one lake and only a few spots on that lake. Those two months the water is low, and the big bass are concentrated on a few great holes. The weather doesn't change, they have gained back weight from the spawn, and on every cast I have a good chance at a new PB. The rest of the year, I will be exploring.

I went to a new lake last weekend. There were no maps available, so I went to Google Earth Pro, and looked at the lake in June which is when the water is lowest. I marked dozens of points, islands, creek channel bends, big rocks trees other structure, and cover. I checked the daily average temperature for the past month, and determined the water temp. should be in the mid 70,s. The average temp. for the coldest month which is Jan. was 65 degrees, so I assumed the spawn would have been in Feb. March. I planned on fishing post spawn fish on offshore structure and secondary points to start. When I got to the lake the water temp was 76, and the water was down almost to June level, There was no wind and visibility was 4.5 feet a little clearer than I normally fish, but playing right in to my offshore fishing plan. I went straight to a point I was sure would produce. I marked bait consistently at 15 t 20 feet, and the thermocline was easy to find at 50 feet. I also marked bigger fish at the same depth as the bait but did not know for sure if they were bass. I was sure a good plan was coming together. I stuck with the plan and did catch a few 5 to 6 pound bass, but definitely had not found a decent pattern. Non stop casting for two 13 hour days will catch a few decent bass even if a person is fishing the wrong place with the worst lure. I then fished a few shallow bays, catching only baby bass, and talked to a couple other anglers, that beat the shore and came away with nothing, this information only added to my belief the bass were offshore, I just hadn't found the right spot. Everything I did made sense, but I forgot to do the most basic thing an angler can do, and that is take the time to really look at the water and surroundings. Once I walked high on the bank, where I could look down at the water, I realized my mistake. There was life all over the shoreline. Spawning Tilapia everywhere. Blue Herons, and other birds standing on the steep banks. Baitfish of all sizes right against the bank, and most of all a giant bass cruising the shoreline completely ignoring all the small bait and activity around it. I also found some crawfish claws that were bright blue giving me an insight into what color might work. The best thing I can do when I get to a new body of water is be observant of all my natural surrounding's. Technology is great, but catching bass does require me to take part in nature as a predator. Paying attention to the birds, local fisherman, water splashing, insects, any king of life on the bank, in the water close to shore, and most of all looking to see if there are visible bass are the most basic outdoor skills which I should have used before I even turned my electronics on. Most of the time I walk a few hundred yards of bank, looking for life when I get to the lake even if it is one I fish all of the time. If I had done that this past weekend, I probably would have a new PB right now. I did manage to salvage the trip and get a nice bass, but by paying attention to my surroundings, I might have made the trip epic. I will never go to a new fishery with my mind made up before I get there ever again. No matter how good the original plan is, I will never be so slow to give up on it. A good fisherman not only knows where the fish are and how to catch them, more importantly they quickly determine where they aren't and what doesn't work.

It's all relative. When I'm sitting on the couch watching a football game, In my opinion I'm being active. My wife would only call it activity, if I was on the dumb end of a vacuum cleaner while catching glimpses of the game. When I hook a fish it is active. When I don't get bit I would say the fish is inactive. Maybe the bass thinks he is working all the time, even while watching the game. All I know is there are many days, I wish they were a little less lazy, and more in the mood to vacuum up my lure.

I fished many balsa lures including ones made by Rapala for years and never had a bill break off. I never abused them, but didn't baby them either. The first DT 10 I bought was an unbelievable fish catcher, but one time I made a cast and reeled in nothing but bill. That bait caught lots of fish, so I bought some more. The same thing eventually happened to all of them. It never happened with my old Rapala Fat Raps, other Rapala balsa baits, or any of my Bagelyes. One of the DT baits lost the bill on the first cast. I quite buying them. A couple years later I decided to give them a try again. They must have made a change in glue, or other improvement. I haven't lost a bill on one in a few years now. Might be because I haven't hooked the fish of a life time on one yet but until that happens they seem to work fine. They are not my favorite, but there are times when they out produce every other bait in my box. The other plus is they cast like rockets. I am pleasantly surprised every time I cast one farther than equal weight plastic cranks. I always assumed that a balsa bait would cast poorly, but not the case with the DT series.

I'm not buying my wife any kind of gun. The Bait Monkey would be dead in a week, design or caliber wouldn't make any difference. If I ever let the Bait Monkey talk me in to trying expensive swimbaits, and a rod, reel combo to fish them, I would have to eliminate all knives with blades longer than 2 inches along with any of my guns from the house in order to save the life of the Monkey.

The 1.5 size H2O square bill is better than any other square bill I have in that size. I prefer my 6th sense and old Bagleys in the larger sizes but would pay premium balsa price for the small H20 if I had to. Fortunately they are always less than $5 so even the price is right.

I spend thousands of dollars on equipment, countless hours watching videos', read hundreds of articles, reed hundreds of posts on this site, risk loosing my job, wife, and sanity. I even caught myself looking at a pretty girl, but only noticed she was wearing the perfect shade of chartreuse for her bikini bottom, and her top was that rare half way point between green pumpkin and watermelon. After all this time I find out all I really need to do is become an adult. The only way to describe that statement is childish.

Just buy it. After all it is a reel. taken care of it will last a lifetime. You will be able to use it for years spreading the cost out over a couple decades makes worrying about the purchase seem frivolous Technology in reals has peaked. Future improvements in design will only be cosmetic. The practical value of a quality fishing reel now will change very little negating any need to upgrade in the future. You probably wont loose it like you do tackle. One more reel will complete your arsenal, filling the only whole in your bass line up. Get it now, in order to get ahead of inflation. Just one more reel will help keep the skunk out of the boat for good. I may not have helped get the Monkey off your back, but I hoping to keep him at your house and away from mine for awhile.

I own them all, and continue to by more, but could easily get by with two. 6th Sense Cloud nine series. Aggressive action, loud and great hooks. Something with chartreuse, and some type of Shad. Rapala DT. series. For when they want a tighter less aggressive wiggle, and not as much noise. Sam colors as Cloud Nine.

7 inch Senko

I fished a lake this weekend, that the water temp. was 76 degrees. From what I can tell the bass spawn was at it's peak. I don't think this lake ever gets below 62 degrees, and probably doesn't ever get higher than 80. I don't know why they waited until this weekend to spawn, but it will be interesting to see if it is at the same time next year. Bluegill weren't spawning, but Tilapia were.

I just spent 4 fishing dawn to dusk, and sleeping out under the stars by myself. Yes I fish alone. My only regret is I didn't have 10 more days to fish.

Thanks AJ I forgot one other first, on this trip that I'm still having a hard time believing. I fished for four days, and didn't loose a single lure. The bass may have not been biting, but I can't say I didn't have incredible luck.

If you don't want to read the long report, the bass are 9.2 and 5.8 pounds, caught on a Magnum Rage Bug and a crankbait. I went to Presa Trigomil for the first time this weekend. I heard about this lake from a guy I hired as a deckhand this winter. He told me he had bass fished once in his life and caught a good bass. When he showed me a picture of the 12.5 pound bass he caught (a good bass) I decided I needed to give this lake a try. I new the lake would be down, so I studied low water pictures on Google Earth. I assumed it would be post spawn, and planned on fishing secondary points to start. I arrived at the lake about noon Thursday. The water was 76 degrees, with 4-5 foot of visibility, and no wind. I fished a dozen secondary and main lake points with no luck. I tried the back end of a couple of bays and caught a few less than a pound bass. Tilapia were spawning everywhere, and there was an abundance of bait. I could see bait in the shallows, and by marking with my fish finder offshore. At the end of the day I found a point with some bass and landed a 5.5 pounder along with a couple three pounders. The next morning I went back to that point and landed a 5 and a 6 pound bass. I left to try another part of the lake with no luck. I ended the day at my only good point. I decided to try a Carolina rig for the first time in my life. I caught a 5.5 pound bass on the first cast and thought I had found the magic bait. That was the only bass on the rig, and I finished the day with a couple small bass on cranks. The next morning I started at my only semi good spot with no luck. I finally decided it was time to quit beating a dead horse, and come up with a new plan. I pulled over to the bank and climbed up a small bluff to take a break and look at the water. There was no wind so I could see down about 5 feet. I observed all kinds of life mostly spawning Tilapia, along with some bluegill, carp and lots of bait. Then I saw a 5 pound bass cruise the shoreline. The bass would go up and down the shore for about one hundred yards, but would alway return to the same spot. I had pounded this bank earlier in the day and couldn't believe there was a 5 pound bass hanging out that close to the shore. I grabbed a rod from the kayak climbed back on the bluff, and cast a Waky Senko in front of the bass. No interest. Then I saw a smaller bass join the larger one, and finally the light went on. I can be a stubborn fisherman, if I think the bass are post spawn and on points than I practically have to get hit on the head to convince me otherwise, but I was seeing a spawning pair with my own eyes, and I was to tired of not catching fish to ignore the obvious spawning behavior.. It didn't take me long to find the sweet spot and catch both of the bass on a waky rigged Senko. I started walking further along the steep bank and spotted another 5 pounder, and caught her. I went a little further and spotted a pair, and caught both of them. The bank began to get to steep to side hill with my bad knee while wearing flimsy sandals, so I climbed back to the flat spot on the bluff. It was there I spotted a DD. bass. I tried for over an hour to get her to bite, even though I had no idea how I was going to land her, 30 feet up a bluff. I had to come up with a new plan. I started going down the bank in the kayak looking for bass. If I ran over and spooked them, I would mark the spot to return later and try to catch them. Even standing up in the kayak I couldn't see the bass far enough away without spooking them. It looked like more side hilling the steep banks was going to be the only way. I pulled in to shore near one on of my marked bass, climbed 20 feet up the bank and spotted two big bass. They would chase each other up and down the bank but would always come back to the same spot. I couldn't see a nest but their was definitely a spot they liked. Then a third smaller bass started hanging around the same spot, and I new I had a spawning pair plus one. The biggest bass kept trying to chase the other larger bass away, but she kept coming back. Sometimes they both would go as far as 100 yards up the bank but both would eventually always come back. I didn't have any white soft plastics so I picked out a Magnum Rage Bug with bright blue on the top hoping it would help me to see the bait. I now see why the pros use white. Visibility of the bait is key. I drug it in front of all three bass with no response. Their favorite spot was almost out of sight and I couldn't see my bait that deep, but I new I could get close. I waited until both big bass were chasing again, and drug the bait to the spot and waited. The smallest of the big bass came back and I saw my line start to move off. I set the hook and the fight was on. I landed her right when the only other fisherman on the lake paddled by. He pulled over and took my picture and told me he hadn't caught a bass in two days. I told him my new strategy, he looked at me like I was crazy and paddled off. I went back caught the male, but even though I did see the big one I couldn't get her to bite. I found two more large bass including a DD. but by the time I went back to fish for them the wind had picked up making it impossible to see well enough to catch them. The next morning I tried for two of the fish I had spotted. I did find both of them again, but the light was not good when the sun was low, and the wind picked up early making it difficult so I had to give up and go back to casting blind. I did find another point that had bass and caught 2 three pounders before having to make the 5 hour drive home. I didn't catch many bass but was able to catch my first C rig bass, my first bass sight fishing, and once again learned that having an open mind is way better for successful fishing than being stubborn is. I also learned side hilling steep banks wearing sandals will make you feet very sore, but catching a 9 pound bass is worth it. The picture of the bank is where one DD lived I tried for hours to get to bite with no luck.

Plastic worms. Yes, I said plastic worms. Please don't send the bass police to have me arrested or locked away in a mental institution. I bought my first pack in 1976. All I was able to do was snag the bullet weight in the rocks. I didn't start catching fish with them until 2020. Weightless Senkos were the first to score, then finally last year I started catching fish on a traditional T rig with a Zoom Trick Worm.

Please tell me that for $15.00 a pop, Jackhammers are bent at the perfect angle to catch the most and biggest bass under all conditions at the factory.

My Hobie Outback can go 3 MPH. with no more effort than walking. 5MPH = fast jog, 5.5 MPH = full sprint. The Hull is the limiting factor for speed on most kayaks. Most fishing Kayaks are built for stability, with speed being one of the trade offs with hull design. A long narrow sleek hull will go much faster with the same drive system, but you wont be able to stand up and set the hook. There is always trade offs in any boat design.

I'm sure Grandma would love to go to a fishing store, and buy you something for your birthday.

Thanks. I will try and send the Bait Monkey your way sometime.