king fisher

First lure I ever bought specifically for bass in 1976. Landed a bass on my first cast. Two sizes, Sonic, and Super Sonic. I have seen early models made of wood. The plastic version is one of Heddon's all time best sellers. I quit fishing Sonics, after buying my first Rattle Trap in 1978. I still have a couple Super Sonics and caught a bass last spring on one. I'm sure they still work as well as they did years ago.

A fish finder will survive a quick dunking. I never thought I would flip my Kayak. In Salt water I would tie most of my gear down, but in fresh water I never bothered. I even took my kayak out through heavy surf with no issues. Then one day on a lake I had been fishing all day in 20 mph. winds, getting wet but never worried about tipping. After all I reasoned, I had been in a lot rougher seas and wind on the ocean. While drifting with the wind casting at a flooded fence line, I hit a fence post just under the surface. Before I realized what happened I'm trying to save all my rods and gear. I didn't loose any rods, but did loose three boxes of tackle boxes. Like I told a friend who had just flipped his plane over on a gravel bar in Alaska. There are only two kinds, those that have and those that will.

I can't recommend a translucent replacement, but I have a Jumping Minnow, that I colored black with a magic marker that works great. I also have one I colored the top black, with black hearing bone pattern done with the marker. The bone Jumping Minnow is my favorite top water for both fresh and salt water.

I tie hundreds of FG knots every year. I insist my deck hands tie an FG Knot. Each person I have work for me has a different way of holding the line. Foot, teeth etc. I use a method that I don't have to hold the line tight while making the wraps. I have convinced one deck hand to use my way, the others still like holding the line with their teeth. As others have stated, the key no matter how you hold the line is before making the finishing half hitches , you have to cinch extremely tight. Many different ways to finish the knot, half hitches, whip finish etc. All work equally well. I use the Alberto for all my braid to leader connections while bass fishing. I don't see the need for an FG with lighter line. I used the Uni to Uni for years, and consider it a very good knot, but now prefer the Alberto. Just as quick and easy to tie, but slimmer, and slightly stronger.

I would take the line you are using both braid and leader, and tie your knot. Get a scale, pull until the line breaks. Repeat many times, record the lbs. it breaks at and notice where the break occurs. If it consistently breaks on the braid just above the knot it is because the line slips a fraction of a millimeter before breaking. Cutting into itself and creating heat which causes the break. A few extra wraps may solve the problem, or try another knot. I'm not a big fan of the blood knot with braid, but many people that are far better fishermen than I am will disagree, including the Tacticalbassn buys. Only way to find out for yourself is test you knot. With 30#braid even a 50% knot should not be the weak point with 14# leader. Tied correctly almost any popular braid to leader knot will be over 50% strength.

I don't think the Bait Monkey could keep my wife from noticing a purchase of that magnitude.

You can always fly commercial to Mazatlan, and rent a car if you have to. Flying with the owner of the lodge would be faster.

All you did was forget to put the line though the level wind? I have forgot to even bring a rod and reel before, turning an epic fishing trip in to scenic drive.

Jointed Rebel,and Rapala plus inline spinners are all I take when wading creeks for smallmouth. May be old school, but they work. Have you ever noticed, that almost any place that sells tackle in the entire country sells them. That is because they work.

I usually start with a lure that can be fished at a variety of speeds, and depths such as a spinnerbait. After trying different retrieves and depths, I hopefully will be able to determine if I need to change baits, or location. If I get a strike waking the spinnerbait, I may try a top water. If I get a bite slow rolling along the bottom, I may try a jig, or worm. If I don't get any bites, I most likely will try a different location. If they crush the spinnerbait, but the bite slows down, I may change blade type color, or switch to another lure that works at similar speed and depth before leaving the location.

I fish out of kayak all the time, and like fishing alone. If you like to fish with a friend, than a boat is the way to go. If you have a fishing friend who also has a kayak than you can fish together, but still not the same as fishing out of a boat. As far as wearing waders, don't worry about drowning because you have waders on. I have fallen in many streams with waders on. The water in your waders will not pull you down. The water inside the wader isn't any heavier than the water outside the wader, so it doesn't effect you buoyancy at all. Lee Wolf was filmed jumping off a bridge with old style heavy rubber waders to prove this point. It does make it difficult to pull yourself back in a boat or up a steep bank because of the extra weight out of the water. The only time I was in big trouble with waders, was when I was duck hunting. I tried to get a decoy that was floating away in some fast current. I slipped and fell. I had an ammo belt tight around my waist. Air in the bottom of my waders, made my feet float, making it impossible to get my feet below my body and stand up. I took off the belt, let the water flow in the waders, and was able to turn on my back and back paddle to shallow water where I could stand up. I still wear a belt on my waders, to keep the water out, but am ready to unfasten it if I have to.

Does any one ever use Lumaflex material for jig skirts. I prefer spinnerbait skirts made out of the material, and am going give these a try. They look good to me, don't know what the fish will think.

#3 vibrax or Mepps inline spinner, and a floating rapala is all I need in creeks. A jig works well if their are deeper pools and pockets. Fish all current breaks, holes, tail outs, runs, riffles, undercut banks, and any current breaks such as rocks, logs, etc. Fish in the faster water are positioned to feed and will bite anything presented properly. Fish in slow deep holes, may be inactive and have to be finessed more.

When I was a kid I fished a creek near my house, that opened into a small deep lake for a mile, then turned back in to a small creek. The large mouth bass in the lake section large, up to six pounds, but were not plentiful. The small mouths in the creek section were small most less than a pound, but very willing to bite. I spent most days trying to catch the trophy large mouth first, then ended up fishing for the more willing to bite smallmouth. I didn't prefer one over the other because of species, just preferred to catch the larger fish if possible. Now their are no largemouth in this system, but the smallmouth have grown up. The slow section has the big fish topping out at 6 lbs. but not plentiful, similar to years ago, and the fast section still has all the small bass you can catch. I have to admit, after hooking in to a couple 5 pound smallmouth, the only reason I miss the largemouth in this system, is only due to nostalgia. Now I live in Mexico, and their are no smallmouth, but I don't care, because my next cast could be over 10 pounds. If I caught smallmouth the size AJ catches, I don't think I would fish for large mouth very often. I think the reason largemouth are more popular, is because they are everywhere, and big. The same reason King Salmon are more popular than silver Salmon. Size matters.

I use crimps to close the loop. Works great for me. Many ways to skin a cat.

The lake I fished is flooded, with almost zero visibility. Next time I go I'm going to try some highly visible spinner baits I made.

Yamamoto Senko Yamamoto Hula Grub Zoom trick worm Zoom Brush Hog Zoom Old Monster Reaction Innovation skinny dipper Reaction Innovation Spicy Beaver Strike king magnum rage bug Strike King Rage Craw Any tube, or grub No particular order

I saw a 12 year old kid in Mexico use a lure made from a tooth brush handle fished on a hand line catch dinner for a big family. He would let the tooth brush handle sink a foot, then twitch it just under the surface. It walked the dog sub surface well enough to catch a dozen bass.

You are on shore trying to cast as far out in to the lake as you can. I am in a boat trying to cast as far as I can towards shore. Maybe the fish don't care how far we cast? A 9 foot two piece moderate fast with the weight of the lure you are using in the middle of the specified range, will give you the best distance. I use on of my steelhead salmon rods, when I want to really bomb crankbaits.

I have been fishing a small reservoir all summer. Half the lake is a shallow muddy flat with no structure, or cover. The other half is rocky with steep banks and large standing trees, in 25-40 feet of water. There are no aquatic weeds in the whole lake, not a single one. The fish have been suspended in the large trees all summer. Best fishing was in the afternoon when the wind picks up 15 to 25 MPH , and the fish moved higher in the water column. Water clarity was between 2 and 3 feet, temp. in the mid 80's. Now the rainy season is here in force. The water clarity is 6 inches or less. Temp. has come down to the mid seventies, and the afternoon winds are light. I managed to catch a nice fish, randomly fishing the flooded shore line, but couldn't find any more. The far end of the lake is a flooded pasture now. The grass is thick, and tall in about 6 feet of water and sure to come up more. My question is, will the bass cross the mile of barren flat to get to the end with flooded grass with bushes,or would it be best to concentrate on the limited cover along the rocky shoreline on the deep end of the lake? The lake should keep raising for 6 more weeks. So far I have identified tilapia, catfish, and carp as possible prey. I have not found any crayfish, or any other prey. I'm sure their are a few snakes, frogs, and mice, but haven't seen any. The commercial Tilapia fishermen place their nets next to the standing trees, but I haven't been able to talk to any of them so I don't have any experience with the tilapia, except for the few large ones I have caught on bass lures. I did fish the far end flooded pasture for a couple hours Saturday, but it will take a full day to thoroughly fish this area. Time is limited, is it worth spending a day on, or will the fish not want to go that far away from the deeper water? I know they will be shallow, but I don't have any idea if they will travel that far to get to the best shallow cover. There are no other sport fishermen on this lake, so I don't have any other anglers to compare notes with. Thanks in advance for any replies.

In the Northwest they are called Mag. Willow blades. They have become practically the only style of blade used for king salmon. You can get them in an almost unbelievable number of color and finish combinations. My favorite color for salmon is called strobe. Half char. half black on the front, half orange half black on the back with the black on opposite sections. Is supposed to have a strobe like effect. Looks cool to me. I have also had success using them on spinner baits for bass.

Why is it a common belief that a bass will strike a black worm, black, black or black with other color jig, black creature bait, black chatter bait, black crank bait, and even black buzz baits during the day, but will only strike a black spinner bait at night. I have success with black spinnerbaits even in clear water on sunny days. Am I missing something?

I went to Tepic Lake yesterday. I hadn't been there for three weeks. The rainy season had been less than normal, but made up for it this week. The water was up 8 feet and the visibility went from 2.5 feet to under six inches. Water temp. dropped from 84 to 76 degrees. I changed plans from fishing for suspended fish in tees, to fishing the flooded grass on the shore line. Started off with a buzz bait and got one right away. No bites the rest of the day. Only one bite but the fish was 9.4 pounds, so I have no complaints. A horrible picture, but that's life trying to take a selfie with a camera in a kayak.

Thanks for the reply. Braid is not my first choice of line in most situations, but I do use it when I feel the advantages out weigh the disadvantages. I recently started using it in timber, but have noticed noise, better defined as vibration, when dragging baits over limbs. I am wondering specifically if this vibration - noise, is a disadvantage or if people with more experience using braid in trees, feel it is not a factor. Other advantages, disadvantages of braid, I already have strong opinions on.

6th Sense Crush and Spro Rock Crawler are new additions to my line up that are getting lots playing time. I still love the Deep Weer but after all these years I am still cussing the hooks catching each other. Starting to run low on my old Bagelys, glad I tried the Crush. I will be trying the 1.5 oz 6th Sense square bill for the first time tomorrow I could probably catch the same number of fish by only using the H20 line, but the bait monkey would not not let me go down that road. Shallow to deep Manns 1- minus Norman Fat Boy Acadomy H2O CRS Bagley Balsa B 2 6th. Sense Crush Acadomy H2O model M Deep WeeR Bomber 6 7 A Spro Rock Crawler DT 10 Deep little N Fat free shad Bagely diving B 2 Original Bomber DT 14 5 XD 6XD DD22