Bazoo

Thanks for the suggestions. All round rod for me will mostly be for 1/4 ounce beetle spins, weighted and weightless worms, flukes, spinnerbaits, crankbaits including 1/4 ounce crankbaits, jerkbaits, topwater including frog, buzzbait, popper, walking baits, jitterbug. Very occasionally a jig, but never flipping or pitching from a boat, all horizontal.

I need my coffee of the mornings... sometimes of the evenings too.

Thanks. Well, let me be clear. I can fit my rods in the car, but only if my family isn't in it too. The majority of my fishing is with them as passengers. We go to town to the store for example, I swing by the lake and fish a couple of hours while the boy plays, and the wife waits.

I've never seen anything like it, pretty cool. Thanks for sharing.

The preacher of the church I go to smokes. I asked him if he was planning on going to heaven. He said yes, to which I replied "So you decided to do your smoking in this life?" I don't like the negative associated with cigarettes. Partly because my mom was addicted to them. Once she chose to buy cigarettes instead of paying the electric bill. I didn't know until they cut the electric off. I had to pay an extra fee to have it turned back on. She also died of cancer - 5 types in total. Pipes do have an interesting feel associated with them, and I too think they don't have the negative connotation that cigarettes do. I have considered it myself. I know a classy old gent that smokes a pipe. And I guess thats how I sum up pipes, classy. I do like the smell. Both cherry and vanilla.

Cool, that has flown under my radar until just now. Thanks.

On the way to church this morning the transmission went out on my van. Thankfully it happened on the country road we live on, instead of the highway. I called a friend to bring us home. The van is still in one of the neighbor's yards 2 miles up the road. I do have another car, a small Chevy Tracker. It's not in the best condition but it runs, and I'm thankful to have a vehicle to drive. It'll need some repairs before I can drive it though. One "problem" associated with the Tracker is that most of my rods are 1 piece and will not fit in it. My wife suggested that we take a break from fishing... I have a cheap Zebco casting rod that is 2 piece, and I have a rhino rod spinning rod. So, I'm considering looking into finding a decent quality casting rod that is 2-piece. Spinning rod will be second concern. I do use the Zebco rod, but it's not ideal for most fishing, and is pretty cheap. I don't want to rely on it solely for casting purposes, not to mention it's 5'6". I suppose budget would be around $100. I'm fine buying a $50 rod if it feels right in hand and casts good. I believe in buying quality, but I also believe that there are budget items that fill the bill just as good. What's important to me is the way it balances and the way it casts. Right now my favorite rod is an Abu Garcia Black Max 6'6". It's the right balance of weight, power, flexible tip, and length for a nice all around rod. For those that don't know, I am primarily a bank fisherman. I throw a lot of 1/4 oz lures. No flippin' and pitching normally. Suggestions for 2-piece rods please.

I've not had the good fortune to fish places that are wild, or by myself. Closest I've come is a private lake up the road from church that has very little pressure. I don't fish it by myself as I normally stop with my family after church Sunday and Wednesday.

I can't say I've had much correlation between the sky/clouds and the fishing. For the high pressure city lake I fish, it's the number of anglers that have been before me. If I get there and there is a parking lot full and 8+ anglers elbow to elbow, It usually means I get skunked. If I get there and there are no/one others out there I usually catch at least 1. If there is a good spot, IE, it looks good, not that you catch anything, then as soon as one angler leaves it, someone else takes it up. It could be anything from kids with bobbers, to catfishermen, to bass fishermen, to someone hand lining for carp. Often times I've seen someone set up for catfish and then do a little bass fishing while they wait. The most I've ever caught in a single afternoon there was 4. I've been skunked many times. If I catch just 1 I feel like I have won that day. If I fish a place with less pressure, I generally feel like I slay them because I don't have any problems.

I normally only fish straight braid when fishing plastic worms. I only have 1 reel with braid currently, a spinning rig. I fish most of my worms and everything else with mono. I appreciate how far braid will cast, and the low stretch for solid hooksets at a distance. I like the sensitivity too. For topwater though, I can't stand having to get the braid out of the split rings or out of the hooks.

I don't backreel. If I need to let a little line out, sure I'll use the anti-reverse sometimes. Most of the time if I need a bit of line because I reeled up too close to the tip top, I will pull some out or turn the spool.

I don't even own any underspins!

So whats everyone's go-to lures for a short trip? Do we go exclusively with confidence baits?

After having fished some lures with soft split rings, I can tell it definitely changes the sound and action of a crankbait. Much quieter, and gives it a tighter wiggle because the hooks aren't swinging as hard. I haven't tried it much, but I have caught a few fish with lures that I modified thusly. I think the reduction in sound will certainly make a difference on pressured waters.

I don't fish in boats that have sonar. Now... if I did, sure I'd use it, but I would use it to better learn how fish relate to structure, and to my presence. My goal is to be a top tier fisherman, not to be able to use FFS to catch fish. It's just like learning to shoot freehand vs shooting from a bench. Anyone can learn the latter, but only the best shooters can do the former.

Thanks. I hadn't considered one of those. I also didn't have any idea what it was called. Certainly, worth looking into and considering.

I've not been to lakes with dumpsters, but great tip, thanks. I am a dumpster diver... and I admit it. Heck I even give a quick glance in the garbage cans beside gas pumps, since I once found a good extension cord in one.

Interesting. I too love a good recovery. I have spent an hour trying to get a lure before... Take the stringer and bend the wires so they are more hooky, and you might do okay. You could bend a couple coathangers into a grapple. Also might consider, once you get snagged on it, throwing in a crankbait and snagging it 2 ways.

Sorry to hear about your issues. Sounds like a frustrating day. I don't consider losing 2 as getting skunked - half skunked maybe. Certainly a whole lot better than no bites at all.

Thank you for all the suggestions. I definitely have some research to do. I didn't mention a budget because I haven't a clue. I won't be rushing out and buying a kayak, and most likely I'll buy used if possible. I had seen outriggers before and have kept the idea in the back of my mind, and that may be an option. The boat I have has water logged foam, making it I'd guess 125 pounds heavier than normal. I have made a cart for it, but it is right at the limit of what I push up hill for any distance. I figure that even if I get the water out, with the addition of a trolling motor and battery, the weight will be the same. So basically, it's a boat that I need to have drive up access. I don't have a trailer, and I car top the boat by myself. But moving it from the parking lot to the waters edge is the main issue. Some of the places I want to fish, the distance would be over 100 yards, and It's just too far. If I had a kayak that weighed 100 pounds or less, I could do it. Which is why I am learning. @Bankc thank you, that was very helpful. I still have a lot to digest and will of course be coming back to this thread and looking into all the suggestions everyone has made. Thank you all.

Pretty decent ones round here too. Usually my go to lures are worms, topwater such as popper or spit'n image. I normally use a finesse worm and power worms, not in any particular order. Though I've been warming up to flukes lately too. It seems beetle spins do well too, even when larger spinnerbaits will not.

I am clueless about kayaks. I am in the researching and learning phase. So let me tell a bit about myself and what I think I want, then have at me with suggestions of what I need. I have a 2 man bass buster plastic boat. I want a kayak so that I can fish places that I can't move my boat to the water because it's either too heavy or cumbersome. I am 6'5" and 330 pounds. The top requirement for me is stability. I have a balance issue because of a neurological condition. I feel off balance sometimes and will fall when standing on occasion if I don't have something to grab onto. So... where do I start?

I agree completely. I used to not have any confidence in clown... until I had a Shallow Shad Rap in clown and slayed them. Firetiger, I haven't used much, but I have confidence in it sure. I had a firetiger chug bug when I was a youngster... I don't think I ever caught anything on it. Course the fact that I was a kid with no clue could have played some bearing. Blue is a color I have a lot of confidence in for crankbaits and spinnerbaits. Not solid blue, but some blue mixed in to whatever the color is. Solid color crankbaits are a no go, I don't care what color they are I want them to have some contrast, preferably in the back, unless they are white/bone.

I set the hook on a dink the other day... and jerked the little guy up out of the water and then ripped the hook out of his mouth. I don't know why I did that, as I normally am not that aggressive, but it can be hard to think when the fish are biting.

I have a spot that is a small 2 acre lake that is right next door to where I go to church. I often only have an hour or so after bible study to fish it. This spot, which I've mentioned before, is very limited pressure. I normally fish something that I'm working on building technique and confidence in. It's normally easy to catch fish there, even in the dog days I catch several in a hour. Lets not limit it to dusk, it could be an hour before bible study, or an hour before church, or an hour after church. This evening I stopped by after bible study, and fished a worm a while... no takers. Then I fished a beetle spin with a minnow instead of the beetle, again no takers. I then tried a popper as bluegill were popping all over, no takers. Then I fished the Spit'n image, and got a taker right at the end. Does anyone else regularly fish short trips like this, and how do you fish it if you have only an hour? What changes if you only have an hour, but it's a place you've never been before?