Fishes in trees

Years ago, one of the reasons I upgraded to a bigger boat was so that I could carry all the gear I wanted to carry. I suppose I could down size if I felt like it, but I don't feel like it. I like carrying a bunch of different rods, all rigged up. I think it saves me time on the water. The only time I'll downsize the amount of gear I take is on those rare occasions when I've got a passenger fishing with me. Then I'll drop down from 22 or so rods down to 10 or 15. That's just one of the reasons I fish by myself most of the time.

Rod Saver makes an interior rod carrier that fits near the ceiling on vans & SUV's. It costs around $20. Mine has 8 slots (I think) but it can carry a variable number of rods. I can fit around 20 on mine. It is a good deal and very sturdy.

I used to have a Buster "Trophy" edition. It is a much better boat than the Pelican. One, the acrylic resin its made of is practically immune to UV rays, which many plastic boats aren't. Two, the built in cooler is great. It is one less piece of clutter in the boat. I never used the live well as a live well but it was great for storage, especially for stuff I didn't use very often. The down side to the Buster Trophy is it is a little heavy. It comes on its own little trailer and you are somewhat limited as to where you can put in. This wasn't an issue where I live, as there are quite a few small conservation lakes and they all have ramps. For the most part, farm ponds were out of the question if I was fishing by myself. The Buster boats are more money than you will spend for a Pelican or something similar at BPS.

If you want to go hassle free with your batteries, go ahead, bite the bullet and get an on board charger. You get home from your trip, plug it in - no muss & no fuss. Remember to unplug it before leaving for your next trip. The last time I had battery issues was over 12 years ago, prior to purchasing an on board charger. All you've got to do is remember to plug it in.

I have to wear glasses all the time anyway. I got some polarized prescription sunglasses that I wear whenever I'm outdoors. I like them and I don't get headaches.

I'd keep it on the trailer in the front yard. Should neighbors make any mention of it, declare that it is "lawn art". Now get 2 or 3 old toilets and/or washers & dryers. That will guarantee that the neighbors won't say anything about the boat.

Just my opinion, but I think a Timber Tiger DC16 gets through deeper cover better than the DD22 or the Bomber or Spro and I think you get bit just as often. For really gnarly cover go with 17 or 20 lb line and a DC 16. With the heavier line, it will only get 10 feet down or so, max. but you will be amazed at the cover it will come through.

Isn't the smoke towards the top of the line for Quantum gear? To be fair, shouldn't you compare it to more top of the line Shimano reels? Like a Chronarch, or a Calcutta TE or a Core? Oh, that's right, there is no comparison, sorry.

That's a good question. I used to fish Sliders quite a bit and I own most of the different styles of slider heads, and I don't know the answer to that question. I would just randomly pick one of the weedless styles, really without any thought to it. I'd fish one one time and another style the next. I wonder what would happen should you call up Charlie Brewer (or whoever answers the phone now, I think Charlie Brewer is dead) and ask them the question about what style of heads to use where.

I've got one. I think that when I'm fishing by myself, that it is useless because it is really hard to deploy using one hand. When I'm fishing in my boat with a buddy, I think it is great because it is a full sized net and it stores very compactly. I think that there is a learning curve to using this net. The flexible front part of the net takes some getting used to. Overall, I think it is a great net, unless I'm fishing by myself, then I think it is useless.

Is there a thermocline? Once water warms up over 75 degrees or so I use my electronics to try and locate a thermocline. Then I'll try to fish structure/cover that intersects with the thermocline. I don't think this is a cure-all approach, but it gives me a place to start when fishing warmer water. Years ago (early 80's) there was a fisheries biologist from the University of Oklahoma - Loren Hill. He did quite a bit of research into bass color preferences and water preferences. He believed, and had quite a bit of research to back it up that the single most important factor in fish location was water PH. I remember reading some scholar-type articles he wrote about defining a PH cline, which is like a thermocline, but a distinct change in water PH as opposed to temperature. He went on to market the Color-C-Lector and the Combo-C-Lector with Lake Systems, Inc. I heard Loren Hill speak at a fishing seminar a couple of years after the Color-C-Lector hit the market. He talked about how he wasn't in charge of marketing, and how the unit had been, in a sense, marketed under false pretenses. The Color-C-Lector didn't define the fishes "favorite" color. What it did tell you was what color was most visible to fish, given the water color. The primary problem with the Color-C- Lector was that it was too precise. Given 3 feet of visibility, 8 feet down over weeds it would read one color, move 30 feet and now you're 8 feet down over pea gravel and it is reading an entirely different color. It was very frustrating, and as Loren Hill pointed out, the color that bass could see best, given the water clarity wasn't necessarily the color that bass would most readily strike. The Combo-C-Lector was the basic unit combined with a PH meter. The idea was that you would slowly drop the probe until you noticed a significant difference in the PH. Right at this moment, I don't remember what the "preferred" PH was. All I remember was that the unit was a pain to use, it was slow to deploy and there were many things that effected the water PH in any given location. (wind, time of day/sunlight, algae concentration, just to name a few) Anyway, the point of this rant is that your question has motivated me to go back and re-read Loren Hill's research. I'll report more on that later. Anyway, what I do know is that water temperature isn't the only factor in play here. Water clarity and PH also play a role, but I don't know exactly how they all fit together at this moment. Something to think about and research.

Post spawn through fall, my favorite reaction bait is a Timber Tiger crank bait. I'll have a DC4, DC5, DC8 and DC16 tied on and ready to go most of the time. Timber Tigers seem to come through wood and brushy cover good for me.

I've been working on dropshot fishing this year, trying to throw it in places where in years past I might have thrown a jig or a tx rigged plastic. Then, the last few weeks I'e had some modest success fishing shakey heads "bubba style" By this I mean I'm using the same shakey worms I'd use on spinning tackle, but I'm using 3/8 or 1/2 ounce shakey head jigs on a bait casting rig with 14 lb fluorocarbon line. I'm liking how in 10 to 20 feet of water how it gets to the bottom quicker. Anyway, that's the finesse approach I'm working on this summer.

Aren't those prowlers just a relabeled Motor Guide? I remember hearing that somewhere, but I don't remember who told me.

I grew up in a rural area - early to mid 60's. There was a guy in my same grade at school who lived roughly a mile away. That's primarily who I fished with. I didn't have a whole lot of adult supervision when I grew up. I didn't need that much. I knew that if I broke anything or caused any trouble, that my dad would probably smack me around after the fact as soon as he sobered up. Therefore, I took precautions to (a) avoid trouble and ( not get caught when I did.

Today is Sunday, over the past few days, half the time when I tried to log on I got - "Safari can't find the server" - . Over the past few days I could occasionally get on, but not every time. What up with this?

I haven't seen those in any fishing tackle store for a long time - not even in the bargain bins. What happens when you call up Berkley and ask about them? I'm pretty sure they wouldn't answer the phone today (Sunday), but call them tomorrow, during business hours (CDT) and find out. Berkley has their own site where they sell discontinued product, I found it once, but right now I don't remember it.

The Pomme Special spinnerbaits I remember buying (mid 70's to early 80's) were a farily heavy half ounce or so short arm spinnerbait with a fairly large single or double Colorado blade. The spinnerbait had a closed eye and there was a 3 inch piece of spinnerbait wire attatched to the closed eye. You tied your line onto a loop formed on the other end of the wire. It was a spinnerbait with a very short wire leader that came already attatched. So, yours don't have the wire leader attatched and they say Pomme special on the packaging? How strange. Anyway, no big deal, you fish them like you would any other spinnerbait. Buzz em, wake em, sub surface, slow roll, etc. The point is they were invented by a Missouri company, intended for fishing on Lake Pomme de Terre Anyway, Pomme has a muskie population who will occasionally hit a spinnerbait and instantly snap the line. The short wire leader was a precaution against that. Mar-Lynn recommended that Reaper as a trailer because they originally designed and manufactured the reaper and it worked as a good all purpose bait and trailer. Reapers are good jig tralers on Power Head jigs as well. (We're talking old school here, Mid 70's to early 80's Fishing Facts Magazine, Harold Endsley, Virgil Ward era) Basically, you got some bargain bin spinnerbaits and ou can fish them any way you want. They say Lyn Marr on the packaging? I remember the company as Marr-Lynn. Maybe one of us be dyslexic, and it's probably not you. Anyway, that's what I remember about the Pomme Special spinner baits, hope this helps.

Those Carrot Stix are a butt ugly orange. I'd consider buying one, if they weren't orange. Call me old fashioned, but I prefer my rods to have a discreet, subtle color to them. I think compared to the rod brands you mentioned, you could do better with any of the Shimano or St. Croix lines. I've got several of the mid-range priced Fenwicks, and they seem pretty sensitive to me and I haven't broken them yet.

When I first got my present boat (Lowe 180 W) I waited until a nice day in the middle of summer and practiced falling out of and getting back into my boat. Should you put any kind of a deck on that 13' V hull - you might want to schedule some of that kind of practice. You will need it. Any kind of deck will make that boat pretty tippy pretty quick. That looks like the kind of boat that you always want to be sitting down in while you're fishing. You could rig it out with better seats, trolling motor and stuff like that, but don't go changing the center of gravity very much. Somewhere on that boat there is a plate that will mention the total weight capacity of that boat. I wouldn't exceed it, That's just asking for it. Well, anyway, that's my 2 cents worth.

I've got a US Reels Supercaster 240 that does all the things you want. I'm not sure about the gear ratio. These reels handle braid great. They only cost around $50 at Rogers in Liberty, so should I tear one up I'm not that worried about it. I fish it on a 6'6" or a 7' MH spinning rod and I'm confident throwing into the gnarliest cover.

With baitcasters, I prefer to use my Berkley line winder. With spinning, sometimes I use the winder and sometimes I use other methods. Whatever method I use with spinning gear, every so often I'm going to drag all the line off the reel while I'm in the boat and then re-wind it, that seems to work the best. One of these days, when I get a spare 3 c-notes, and I'm suffering from low self -esteem and a lack of common sense, I'm going to get one of those cyclone electric line winders, I don't know why, just to have one I guess.

I had an automatic inflatable life vest deploy by itself once. I had worn it all day under extremely humid conditions,and it was still extremely humid when I stored it in my fishing truck. Then I drove home 50 or so miles with the AC on high all the way. Several days later, I was searching for something inside the truck and I realized that the inflatable life vest had deployed and then deflated inside the truck. Recharge kits are around $50 (I'd have to check BPS catalog for the exact price.) I just filed that away in my mind and that was that. A year or so later I came across a very good deal on the HIT inflation system. It is like the ones the coast guard wears. It is unaffected by water spray or humidity, it is activated by water pressure, i.e. a given number of seconds under water are required for it to inflate. So, as far as I'm concerned, under normal conditions, a regular automatic inflating model would be fine, but if you deal with extreme humidity from time to time, spend the extra money and get the HIT model. I'm pretty certain that the brand I got was a Mustang brand.

I think knowing drop rates weights is important. It occurs to me that there are other factors besides actual weight of the bait being used that could effect drop rates. Lb test of the line being used. size & type of hook being used, tx rigged or wacky rigged, shape of bait, how windy is it? - These are a number of factors that come to mind after a few moments of thinking about it - I'm pretty sure that there are more factors than I've listed. Despite that, I think it would be good to know which, among several similar sized and shaped baits actually weighed more, and whether or not it was enough to make a difference. Somewhere in my shop, left over from the days when I dabbled in the consumption and marketing of recreational herbs and chemicals, I have an electronic scale that weighs down to the gram. I think the next rainy day when I have nothing scheduled, I'll ice down a few cold ones and start weighing. It can't hurt and I might learn something. I'll report at a later date.

Self taught isn't really fair, because since my early teens I've always asked lots of questions to lots of different people who I thought might know more about fishing than I did, and I learned quite a bit from those conversations. In the early 80's, I attended several of the old Bass Fishing Institute classes. These were fishing classes put together by the Murray brothers and held at various venues throughout the country. It was these classes, combined with In-Fisherman magazine that first gave me an organized approach to fishing. My dad's idea of summertime relaxation was a combination of air conditioning and scotch, so it's safe to say I didn' receive any fishing knowledge or encouragement from him, or any other male role model in my extended family, for that matter.