NYWayfarer

On the bank try a weedless Texas rigged worm or a Ned rig if there is not much to get snagged on. Nothing destroys an outing more than getting snagged every other cast. On the canoe try drop shotting or jigging.

My wife keeps me in check. I married an accountant for a reason. I am reasonable when it comes spending on most everything but fishing gear. I use the old, "do I want this or need this?" method of controlling my purchases. Problem with fishing is I always seem to be able to find a way to justify "needing" a new rod, reel or lure.

I have used them and yes they stay on, unless you snag something dragging them on the bottom. They are designed to come off with a few tugs when stuck so you don't lose your whole rig. I have improvised a lot of different sinkers as dropshot weights when low on resources. Split shot, Dipsey sinkers and even egg sinkers with a bobber stop to hold them on at times.

Maybe use this stuff For $60 I would be willing to gamble if I could patch it or not.

Trout magnets work great. I use the soft body baits that come with the jigheads or switch to Berkley gulp 1" minnows. They can be fished as is, with a spilt shot or my favorite method of suspended jigging with a weighted float. I like Rooster tails, phoebes and Kastmasters as well. I stay away from live bait or power bait when I am practicing catch and release.

The Lew's Carbon Fire series is a Dick's exclusive. I have the Carbon Fire spinning reel and it is pretty sweet. The rods look (Winn grip) and feel (IM6) good. I would say the combo would be on par or slightly under a Mach 1 combo in quality.

Is there anything hanging over the pond? Tree limbs, bushes, etc? I fish a similar pond and have found Bass congregate around a bush that is growing out half into the water. They also gather near the shade of a overhanging tree limb. They are there even at this time of year when the tree is bare of leaves. The shade alone seems to attact them.

I wear regular Crocs most of the time but if I am dealing with slippery boat ramps I wear the Crocs Swiftwater Fisherman Sandal instead. The bottoms on those are better equipped to deal with that issue.

Depends on the time of year to me. For bank fishing right now when it's still chilly at night I like to go out early to late afternoon when the sun has had a chance to warm up the water. In the dog days of summer I will go out early morning before it gets to hot. when I am out on a boat or canoe I go anytime as I can find where the fish are hiding.

Bank first fishing I usually wear some old $19 Champion memory foam sneakers that I don't mind getting muddy. When I am on a boat or canoe it's Crocs for me: They cover enough of my foot to avoid a burn. Slip on and off easy. They float. I don't worry if they get wet when I launch. They clean up easy. Best of all they are comfortable. No Flip flops for me. I have seen to many accidents with people wearing them to chance hurting myself. I am a notorious toe stubber.

If you are near a Field and Stream store the have an exclusive rod and reel, the Lew's Carbon Fire. The rod is new for 2017 and looks great with Winn grips. $49.99 Spinning reel and $79.99 Rod buy the reel get the rod 50% off offer good until 4/22/17 I bought the reel last year and love it. It was my first Lew's.

This pic should be in the fishing meme thread with the caption: "Bought pro qualifier reel...Now he backlashes like a pro."

I hated Fluorocarbon when I first tried it as well. It seemed to jump off the spool and knots would break easy. I have since converted and become a believer for my finesse fishing. I am almost exclusively fluorocarbon on my spinning gear. I solved my issues by: 1) Not filling my spools more than 3 quarters full. 2) Upping the lb test I was using (8lb minimum) 3) Wetting my knots and pulling them slowly to tighten. 4) Recently started using line conditioner. KVD brand and Reel Snot.

I was hoping M.O.A.B. in this thread stood for the Mother Of All Baits...

Nice to see the bright colors don't scare away the fish. Great catch!

I cut Yum Sharpshooters, Warning shots and Kill Shots in half using the back half as trailers. Yum baits are cheap and come in big quantity packs so it's not a waste to me to get creative with them

KVD line and lure conditioner reel snot java line conditioner yum crawfish scent trout magnets in various colors yum dingers 3" pumpkin pepper and green pumpkin pepper 4" morning dawn and tin foil yum pulse watermelon red trout magnets were bogo for 1/2 price and the Yum were $2 each with 5 or more last but not least is the Kastking 10L dry bag formy canoe fishing

Yum Pulse

I use straight 8lb fluorocarbon no braid on a size 2500 reel. I use that reel for drop shot and Ned rigs.

I am not engineering genius by any means but the spool has two sides. The pins apply some resistance to the spool to slow down the spin. What difference does it make what side of the spool the pins are touching to slow it down?

DVT is spot on with advice here. Don't overfill your spool and use some line conditioner. I use reel snot and have dramatically reduced the instances of line getting under the spool.

This sums up nicely why I would say the Ned rig is not great for kids. When I was teaching my son to fish it was a full time job. No fishing for me as I was busy getting tangles undone, snagged lines free and retying lost rigs. The Ned rig would have been a nightmare with the exposed hook. A great rig for kids is a suspended jig. A Trout magnet or ball head jig with a Gulp Minnow or curly tail grub under a float. Have them cast out and slowly reel it in, stopping every foot or so and letting the bait drift back under the float then reel again. This gives more for the kid to do and keep them interested and less chance of snagging. Best of all it works and kids love to see that float disappear. Its like a real life video game to them.

I work for a not for profit organization. Our goal is to keep disabled and developmentally disabled individuals in the community rather than going into nursing homes or institutions. I worked in big business for many years. Made companies lots of money and felt empty inside. Then I got laid off. That was when I took a look at my life and decided my next job had to be different. I help people now and its a great feeling.

Exactly! I have friends that invite me all the time on their boats to troll for Lake Trout and Salmon. Big fish, exciting fight, great to eat but most boring fishing imaginable. Take that from someone who loves finesse fishing for Bass and it means that much more.

I bought a small softsided plano tackle bag. It fits up to 4 plano utility boxes inside or 1 box and 4 gulp jar baits in an included tackle rack. some extra pockets hold my pliers, nippers, wacky rig tool, hook-eze and tape measure. I limit myself to this bag with 2 boxes and several bags of soft plastics inside. I fill it with baits and terminal tackle based on the fishing I am doing that day, bank fishing small ponds or canoeing a large lake or river.