Fishes in trees

I've really wanted one since I found out about them. It isn't so much about what they cost - things cost what they cost. It is just that I haven't had the spare money to buy that toy.

Years ago in St. Louis, an inner city school was playing a very affluent suburban school in a basketball tournament. Inner city school was winning by 40+ points. With every basket, the inner city cheerleaders, with a loud, boombox drum background busted out with a cheer that went like Hey - Ungowa --- We got the power. After several cheers, the suburban cheerleaders replied with : It's all right It's OK! We might employ - you some day! The fight was on and they don't play each other any more.

Back years ago, when I was a meat fishing bush hippie, I invited myself onto lots of private waters. There are many ways to do that without getting anyone steamed at you. Rule #1 was don't look skuffy. Clean clothes, no rips or tears, act like you belong there. All the swank subdivision lakes are being promoted by some real estate company, there is a name to drop, just say so and so at the real estate company told you it was ok. Any resident can give you access. Find out who lives there and charm them into giving you access. The key is getting your first in. Once you get that first one, they know somebody who knows somebody who will get you on to the next lake and the next lake and so on. Once you get access, be very polite and don't make a mess. Not even a cigarette butt or a gum wrap. I was in my early 20's and fishing in and around a college town (Columbia, MO) Professors and university administrators who were friends of friends (very tangental acquaintences) would tell me where their spare key was, so I could go into their houses and use their bathrooms. It is all about building friendships and being trust worthy. I would occasionally do the odd job or task which would help me get an in. The challenge of getting to fish in very private places is fun and you get to meet alot of interesting people. Good luck & remember rule #1 - Don't look skuffy.

I try to go once a week and take 2 or 3 3 day trips during the season.

I never know what I'll be hungry for so I like to take a variety. In my water tight lunch box I carry Lance crackers, butterfingers, Mr. Goodbars, maybe a Landshire chicken salad sandwich. In the cooler I'll carry a few beers, lots of water, a couple of gator aids, couple of Starbucks doubleshots and a couple of Carnation Instant Breakfast chocolate milk drinks.

My new favorite skipping bait is the Sebile soft plastic Magic Swimmer. Just using this bait has made me better at skipping. I even skip it when I don't have to, like casting across points with no obstacles or anything. A few times, I swear, the skippiing action drew the fish to the bait. I don't have any proof for that, other than I think that's what happened. I'm using fireline with a fluorocarbon leader.

I like the Cabela's Guidewear, but the Columbia stuff is good too. I think the Guidewear has better pockets. I like the vertical zippers. When it comes to warm weather fishing specific clothing, affordable is a relative term. A shirt & shorts set in the Guidewear or Columbia PFG will cost in the neighborhood of $50 to $70 bucks. My guess is that the Bass Pro or Under Armor stuff would be in the same ball park and I know that very occasionally that stuff goes on sale. If you want to spend more money you can, check out Aqua Designs with the high tech fabric and specialized aqua camo patterns. That's just one of many specialized fishing clothes companies out there. It becomes a question of how much do you want to spend. Do you look dorky? Well, yeah, but no more so than golfers clothes or cyclist clothes. You get what you pay for and the sunblock fabric that wicks away sweat works really well. I generally bring several sets of clothes with me for summer fishing trips. At the end of the day, when everything is packed up and the boat is on the trailer, I like to change my clothes, especially if I'm going to stop at a restaurant on the way home. I find I get better treatment if I don't stink so bad. This rule doesn't apply so much at marina restaurants.

Early and late in the season, I like my Cabelas Guidewear. Lots of other times though, it is too hot. I like my frog toggs. I've been in some substantial summer downpours and came through really dry wearing the frog toggs.

Back when I was a meat fishing bush hippie, I fished out of a tube quite a bit in warm weather. The way to carry more stuff is to fit a cooler inside of an inner tube and drag it along behind as you paddle with your swim fins. It offered quite a bit of semi-dry storage and I could carry a six pack in a smaller soft sided cooler inside. While there are foot paddles available that let you go forward, I thought the swim fins were better for moving several hundred yards across a small lake, once you got moving it took less effort to keep moving. I never had any issues with snakes, but it was always in the back of my mind t hat there were potential issues with snakes, so I was always wary when I was tubing.

yes

At that price level - in that basic size - all the major brands are roughly the same. I have several Spirex reels & I like the quickfire trigger - but it isn't a necessity. Shop around for the best deal. You are in Kansas City - go to Rogers and see what reel deals they have this week as they are always closing out something.

Trackers and the other Bass Pro boats are cheap for a reason - i.e. they cut alot of corners. They are manufactured to a minimum standard. Hopefully you will shop around and as you compare other brands to Trackers you will begin to see where they cut corners. You live in Kansas City. I don't live very far from there. There are a number of reputable boat dealers in the KC region. Take a Saturday and a tank of gas and drive around and visit all of them. I've got a Lowe I bought new in 2002. I've fished it hard and smacked it into a lot of stuff. I think I would have sunk a 2002 Tracker. This is not an anti BPS rant. I think Johnny Morris is a marketing genius. I just think he makes cheap boats and I don't mean cheap in a good way.

Jeeze - talk about a classic case of OOPS - sorry, I forgot to hook up my kill switch. And the boat ended up smacking into someones dock? The double whammy. Hate to be that guy - be all dead and everything, go to meet your maker and get asked "Why are you here?" And he'd have to say "I forgot to use the kill switch, so now I'm drowned and my boat smacked into the dock." Outstanding. Seriously though, as I was reading the article I realized that the last time I had my boat out on big water and was running here and there in 20 mph winds and medium sized waves, I didn't have my kill switch attatched. So thanks for the wake up call. A few weeks ago I got away with doing something stupid and more recently, this guy Jerry didn't

What do you want an extra spool for? Are you concerned about getting a bad backlash, where it might be easier to swap out spools rather than waste time untangling the birds nest? The old Abu 521s came with spare spools and it was a relatively easy deal to swap out spools. You might try to find one of those. I fished as a co-angler for a number of years in BFL tournaments and I was very concerned about backlashing a reel and wasting time or taking the rig out of the game. After a while, I always carried 2 or 3 extra reels in a box in the bottom of my tackle bag. My personal rule was 2 minutes. If I worked on a backlash for 2 minutes and I couldn't see progress, I'd stop and change out the reel. That only took a couple of more minutes. If that's why you want spare spools, you might want to consider just carrying a couple of extra reels. If this rant stretched this thread in yet a different directiion, I'm ok with that.

Don't you mean reels? As you assemble your arsenal, you are going to want more than one. There is much to be said for having all your reels match. When you lay down your jig rod and pick up your spinnerbait rod, you don't have to compensate for the different weights. It just takes another variable out of the equation. A number of years ago, I fished a BFL tournament on Truman Lake. The aspiring pro I drew had me in an area of active fish and varied cover and we were frequently switching from spinnerbait to crank to worm and back and forth. I was consistently missing on my first few casts after I switched outfits. The pro told me I needed to get all my reels matched up and it was good advice. A year or two later, spring rolled around and I had a modest roll of cash in my pocket. After some negotiation at a local tackle store, I acquired a half dozen 11 ball bearing Calcutta reels, at a considerable discount from published catalog prices. Green money was a factor in this purchase. Anyway, good luck picking one, you really can't go wrong unless you go too cheap, and even cheap reels work ok for a while.

Yes, the senkos are fragile - that is part of their charm. I always use o-rings. 3/8 od (outside diameter) x 1/4 id (inside diameter) is the correct size to buy.

I'm in agreement with Smallwatermayhem on this one. I'm 5'7 and when I use a 6 1/2 foot rod to work walking baits, I smack the side of my boat more often than I would like. I haven't broken any rods doing this - yet - but it contributes to the reasons why I don't use walking type top waters very much. For those few times of the year when I'm convinced that a walking type bait is the way to go I've got a 6' trigger stick that gets thrown in the boat.

Don't leave the oars on the bank. A 32 lb thrust will work, but when it is time to upgrade - go ahead and upgrade. There is no substitute for troling motor power. Minn Kota makes a 55 lb 12 volt trolling motor. With variable speed and maximizer you'll be able to go slower and go faster and you battery will last longer. Still, make sure you always have a a couple of spare shear pins and don't leave the oars on the bank.

I had that same problem and solved it by gluing the line to the spool with super glue. It just takes a dot or so the the glue and a minute or two to dry and then no more line slippage.

Timber Tigers are good baits. You can throw them into gnarly stuff and be reasonably certain that they will come back. They are my first choice of crank to throw around wood.

I don't have a lot of good memories from that time period. My dad's idea of a vacation was air conditioning and scotch. Other than the pond which was 1/4 mile from my house, I remember having to beg and kiss *** alot to get to go fishing anywhere else. I remember tearing up Zebco 202s carp fishing and getting ragged at for tearing up my fishing equipment. Money doesn't grow on trees. Bust your reel and you were out of business for weeks or a month or more. I am way over tackled now. I built a 30 x50 shed to keep all my fishing stuff in. I'm in for over $300 just in shelving. Probably another 2 bills in portable lighting. Wal-Mart puts plastic shoe boxes on sale and I drop a C-note, just so I'll have plenty. So, I pull truck and boat into the shed, plug in the on board charger and I'm done til next time. I'm pretty certain that my mania for accumulating fishing tackle now stems from childhood trauma, not getting to go fishing because my one fishing rig was broke. I'm not going to waste any shrinks time with this issue. Also, I'm unlikely to change, should I come across any piece of fishing tackle that I want I'll probably buy it. It could be worse, if I had a cocaine addiction, all I'd have to show for it at the end of the day would be a runny nose. Thanks for letting me rant for a monent.

I throw most of my rattle baits on a Bud Erhardt composite cranking rod (7'). I generally throw a 1/2 oz rattle bait. Over the years, I've tried several different reels for this duty, currently I'm using a well broken in Calcutta 250 and 20 lb Berkley Iron Silk. You have to go easy the first few casts while you're getting the Iron Silk wet and stretched for the day, but after that you can cast a long ways and the abrasion resistance of that line is incredible.

late 70's - early 80's the old Fishing Facts magazine had a slogan - The fish are deep - or shallow - or somewhere in between. They attributed that slogan to Buck Perry. Anyway, if you fished all day under those conditions and didn't catch any fish, all that means is that you didn't figure it out that day. They weren't biting that day for you. Every day is different. If you had the day to do over again, what would you do different? I think it is tough to learn stuff on days that didn't go well, but you've still got to try.

It is possible that you just had a bad day. Those just happen from time to time. I think it is OK to take some time and try to figure out why, but sometimes, after analyzing everything, there isn't a reason - or there are a bunch of kinda reasons. It is possible to obsess over this stuff and it will drive you nuts. My advice would be to pop a top, chill and shake it off.

There are lots of different sizes of small 0 rings. 3/8 od (outside diameter x 1/4 id ( inside diameter) work best for senkos. I like the Falcon K wacky hooks. They come weighted and unweighted and in different sizes. Most of the time I use a 3/0 1/16 weighted one.