Fishes in trees

I'd have a secondary means of propulsion available. If you 10' boat is a Jon boat - I'd have a set of oars. On your pond boats, like the Bass Raiders, they aren't equipped for oars, so a paddle or two is necessary. When you shear a pin on your trolling motor, you're SOL unless you got another shear pin and the tools to change it out. I've went years without shearing a pin on my trolling motor and then sheared 3 in two weeks, so it happens.

Over the years it has been my experience that round jig heads ( like the old Eakins jig ) more often than not hopping works better than dragging. Any other jig head shape (with the exception of darter heads and some swim jig heads ) dragging works better than hopping. Glad you had a great day pond fishing. Be mindful, for the future that pond fishing and reservoir fishing are only kinda related. Don't count on pond fishing techniques translating 100% into reservoir tactics. There are LOTS of reasons for this, and exploring all the reasons would make this post WAY too long.

I have an older 7' Kistler ( the olive green one ) that says Small Swim Baits on the side of it. I used it for spinner baits & square bills. For a current, more readily available rod, the 7' Bucco Trap Caster might be an option.

Great - spinning gear an another fascinating gear addiction when it comes to bass fishing. You've taken your first step. Next, you'll get a little better rod, or maybe just another one so that you can throw different baits without taking the time to retie. Then the addiction hits and if you ain't careful There will be Diawa Tatulas & Black Golds, Shimano Stradics, maybe even a Stella or 2 in your future. 1/5 ounce ain't nothing, you can get spinning gear that will throw 1/16 or smaller the distances you're talking about. Throwing light stuff can get addicting and is really fun.

To echo prior posts, I've never considered resale value in my addiction to rod, reels, baits, fishing tackle in general. I guess that might become an issue if I become down & out, homeless, something like that. Tackle & gear are toys. I don't know why you'd ever sell toys, but then I realize space sometimes becomes an issue and not everyone can build a 40 x 60 fishing shed like I did.

Problem isn't the correct product - there are plenty of correct products out there, just pick one. Problem is time to use the product. Your other home projects are probably more important than shining up your boat. I have similar issues. The way I solve the issue of cleaning my boat is I don't. I have an Aluminum boat. Carpet gets vacuumed every other month or so, when I start slipping on the gravel in the carpet. Boat makes it to the car wash maybe once or twice a year. I'm unconcerned about how my boat looks, I bought it to fish out of and at 18 years of ownership & counting I'm not that concerned about resale value. I wonder if your boat hygiene is that important, perhaps there is some teen ager in your neighborhood who needs some extra cash and can be trusted to clean your boat with minimal supervision. Money well spent, maybe.

There are many reasons why you can go through periods where you're catching less fish than you think you should Maybe you're misinterpreting seasonal patterns. Perhaps you're trying to make the fish bite the way you want them to. Me, sometimes when I tell myself to slow down, I don't slow down enough. Other days, I've had myself convinced that low & slow was the ticket, only to find out later that guys throwing Rogues, jerking hard & fast loaded the boat with their best 5 22 lbs. Most of the time, the real reason you ain't catching fish is that something is missing between your ears. All the information you need is in front of you, but you ain't seeing it. You got several options. Option A - quit. A great philosopher ( Homer Simpson ) once said on TV that is something is pretty hard, maybe you don't want to do it. Option B - re-assess your judgement of current seasonal patterns & how that jives with todays conditions. Option C - maybe it is a gear/bait thing. Could be that you don't have the correct gear/bait. Option D - something is wrong between your ears. Re-think options A, B, & C.

Spring & fall - hard to beat the Cabelas Guidewear. My suit, purchased 1999 - 2001, somewhere in there is still going strong, at least 18 years later. Summer rain wear it is hard to beat the lightweight Frog Toggs, for price & effectiveness. It can be over 75 degrees, raining cats & dogs and you ain't getting wet from water getting in AND you're not sweating up a storm because perspiration can get out. A great product, IMO.

My favorite for a long time now has been the Timber Tiger - specifically the DC4 & DC8. These baits come through brush better for me. If you are throwing into sunken bushes & thorn trees, like I do alot, you can't beat this bait. It will occasionally get "wedged" into the crook of a branch, but they very rarely get "hook hung". I got this far and then remembered your stipulation about availability and apparently they've been discontinued and Tackle Warehouse doesn't carry them anymore. This bait has been my favorite square bill since my BFL co-angler tournament days, when a tournament semi-pro gave me a couple and they worked that day. I didn't cash a check that day (I rarely did ) but I didn't catch fish and I finished 1 fish out of the money in a 120 or so boat field. I have plenty of them for myself, because 5 or 6 years ago I came across a close out of them for 75% off and I bought most of what they had left. Specifically I think that the DC8 is their most versatile size and and the DC 16 & DC 13 are very under appreciated baits for catching suspended fish in standing timber in the post spawn through early fall. I'd tell you they are worth seeking out in the aftermarket area and if you find them they are worth getting them repainted in your favorite colors. (At one time, they were available in a bunch of colors )

I've tried nose hooking trailers on spinnerbaits rather than threading them on the main hook. Mixed results - I think it gives the trailer a little more action, which might or might not be good and it gives the bait a little longer profile, also which might or might not be good. Once, I tried threading BPS Cajun trailer on a trailer hook, all the way past the eyelet, with the notion being that it would hold the trailer hook more or less in place AND serve as an attractor AND when the fish bit down on it it would be kinda soft and less likely to be instantly rejected. Tried it twice - once was one of those perfect spinner bait days you encounter every few years. 40 or more slot fish (12" - 15") with a few over 15" for good measure. Next time I tried it - they didn't want the spinnerbait that day and didn't get bit at all. Then I ran out of the cajun trailers ( which has since been replaced ) and I lost the Terminator spinnerbait ( which hasn't ) and then I forgot about that experiment until I saw the picture in the previous post. Looks like a different attempt at extending the profile of the bait, while adding a trailer hook. A good idea and I wonder how it worked. It crosses my mind that in my experiment, the trailer/ hook combo was held to the spinnerbait hook at one point. In this experiment, the trailer hook is held to the spinnerbait hook in a much more flexible arrangement AND the boot tail trailer is nose hooked on the trailer hook. This makes me think that it will flop about more. Makes me wonder about pulling it through various forms of cover and if it will tend to get stuck more. Still I think that it is something worth trying. For me, the areodynamics inherent in a spinnerbait make precision casting difficult. I have a good to great spinner bait rig and I don't think that the extra plastic flopping around off the trailer hook is going to improve casting accuracy. Not a big problem, but something to think about if you are trying to land 3 or 4 feet past a shallow stump or you think there is a big enough window to throw underneath some low hanging branches. OK - that's what I think about that trailer hook/trailer combo.

Here's how I do it. Step A - keep baits in original packaging. Step B - sort baits into categories, i.e. tubes, 10" worms, senkos, other stick baits, etc. Now, Harbor Freight sells canvas tool bags. They go on sale often, the 12" one generally is around $5 and the 15"one is generally a buck more. The 12" canvas bag will hold 30 bags of bait ( more of less), the 15" holds more like 40. Now just sort your soft plastics into different categories and go buy as many canvas tool bags as you need. 10 of the canvas bags will stuff into one decent sized beach gear bag and there I have a storage system for 250 to 300 different baits. When I'm riding in some else's boat and can't take all the stuff I want, I go through the seasonally appropriate categories and get 6 to 10 bags from each. That seems to be enough variety.

I just started experimenting with the Biffle Bug last season. I use a rig very similar to the previous poster,. i.e. an All Star 7' Carolina Rig rod with a Shimano 200 E. Trying it on the conservation lakes that I fish week to week wasn't real successful, 100% because the Biffle Bug isn't really vegetation friendly. I got down to Truman, very little vegetation and was immediately successful. Got bit on clay/gravel flats, got bit on clay/stumpy points, REALLY got bit on 45 degree banks/points that had mostly gravel, a little clay and sparse stumps. I believe that I was throwing the 11/16 size. I look at it as a crank bait that always stays near the bottom. I don't think that you have to stick with the Larew bait, any decent craw imitator will work just as well. I caught my person best Truman bass doing this. It was windy, boat was bouncing around, fish was more than 22" but less than 23". Put another decent scratch in the boat while I was measuring, bounced off a dead tree AND a boulder. Like I said, in lakes that had an abundance of vegetation, I didn't have success - at all - it got bogged down in vegetation easily.

OK, I'll bite - I live in Missouri, mostly fish 200 acre or so Conservation Department lakes, but I make a pligrimage to the larger Missouri reservoirs from time to time. Here is a list of most of the technique specific rigs I currently use. Very seldom do all of these rigs make it into the boat at the same time. 10" worm rig. - Slider worm rig. - home made jika rig - pitching to objects rig (1 for smaller soft plastics & 1 for throwing larger soft plastics) - spinnerbait rig - chatter bait rig - deep diving crank rig - medium diving crank rig - square bill rig - Bubba square bill rig - Topwater ( popper/Sammy) rig - Bubba drop shot rig - Buzz bait rig - A rig - larger swim bait rig - Carolina rig. - Eakins jig - Biffle Bug rig - ( in a rare case of overlap, the Biffle Bug rig also throws heavy football jigs, sometimes for long distances) - Bubba Frog rig That's all I can think of in bait casting rigs right now. Spinning outfits - Ned rig. - Shakey head rig. - finesse drop shot rig - tail weighted stick bait (Neko) rig. - wacky senko rig - Fluke/plastic shad & minnows rig ( sometimes weighted, sometimes not ) - jerk bait rig - spinning rig for throwing wiggle warts & similar weight cranks when longer distance is important. - light weight spinning rig for throwing #5 shad raps & similar baits - spinning rig for throwing Brewer sliders (baits lighter than3/16 or so ) - rig to skip tubes, stick baits & other appropriate soft plastics underneath things - finesse frogging rig. . . . This is all I can think of in spinning rigs right now. As to what rod & what reel each rig will be at any particular time, I don't know as that changes from time to time, but these are the different techniques I like to carry specific rigs for bass fishing. I've left out the crappie rig options (of which there are several) and catfish rigs & distance casting for tail race rigs. As mentioned, I live in Missouri, so my current list is more or less targeted toward to what I fish for. Although there are walleye opportunities in Missouri, I'm not a serious walleye fisherman. I'm pretty sure if I lived elsewhere that list would change somewhat. If I lived in the Pacific Northwest, I'd have some steelhead rigs, if I lived farther north from here, I'd have some pike & musky & perch & walleye rigs. If I lived close to an ocean, I'd have a few inshore & off shore rigs.

There is a learning curve to figuring out how to get a bait unstuck. Mind you, I am not recommending that you go get some baits stuck so that you can learn to retrieve them. Wrapping line around a dowel or something similar is one way. Getting an extendable pole lure retriever is another. Once you pole is extended, be aware of your surroundings. It is pretty easy to get blown around or get caught underneath some branch that is sturdier than it looks and bend or break an. extendable pole. Still another is getting one of the "hound dog" types of lure retrievers. There is a time & place for each one, and I carry them all in my book. Another page in my book is the 5 minute rule, basically if I've labored at getting a lure unstuck for 5 minutes with no results, time to rethink. More often than not (knot?), I'll wrap line around a dowels and back off with the trolling motor. That generally resolves the issue and provides the fishing gods with a minor sacrifice.

Mann's Minus 1 comes in several sizes and does everything you want - PLUS - it comes with a rattle.

I'd echo the prior post. You don't need a "fishing" backpack. You need a back pack with enough room for all the stuff you want to tote. I like Jansport back packs because they have lifetime warranties, i.e. if you "wear it out" they will replace it. Over the years I've worn 2 out and they replaced them - both times I got a slight upgrade from what I had previously. Or you can get a cheap back pack from Walmart for $20 or so, wear it out and then get another one. Back in they day when I was a meat fishing, bank bound bush hippie, I didn't want to get my pack dirty, so I went to the goodwill store looking for other options. I found a giant heavy duty canvas women's beach bag. It would hold several 3700 boxes, or half a dozen 3600 boxes plus lots of other random gear. When it was full it weighed 20 -25 lbs or so. (please note, at the time I was a meat fisherman, this included crappie gear, live bait gear, catfish gear, weights & bobbers & stuff like that ). To top it all off, it was a black/neon green zebra stripe, which guaranteed that no one in their right mind would ever steal it. It was an extremely butt ugly gear bag and I was pretty proud of my $2 investment. People would ask me when I was out fishing "Is that a womens purse?" and I'd be forced to reply, "Hell no, don't you recognize a beach bag when you see one? Jesus son, your id skills are lacking." So there is an inexpensive option, to go goodwill and see what they got there.

Just a thought . . . .the eyes could have turned red from irritation caused by all the acid rain we've been getting.

That is the drag of trying to purchase fishing rods on-line. You can't touch it and feel it and make an educated guess if you want it or not. Buying rods on line is a leap of faith. I ain't a leap of faith atheist, but as far as buying fishing rods sight unseen, I guess I am. Where does the original poster live? Nobody near there that is a Falcon dealer?

The original Fenwick flipping stick was a good rod. I had one. I was 20 something and didn't know any better AND I sucked at using a bait casting reel, so I put a decent spin cast reel ( maybe a Zebco 33, maybe a Johnson Certurion, definitely not an entry level one ) and flipped & pitched with that. I remember that the reel would handle 17 lb line. I'd use that rod to reach out over cat tails and swim/drop baits. I also had access to a couple of ponds that were being used to raise channel cats and I wasn't above putting abbot & bobber on that rod. You could horse them in pretty quick - which was important when you were fishing when the automatic feeder was going off. But I digress, while I know that is a decent rod, there are lots of better, stronger lighter, relatively cheap flipping/pitching sticks out there. Assuming the rod is in excellent shape, you're going to need to find a collector who has a hole in his collection to get what you want out of this rod. I don't know where you'd find one of those. E-Bay maybe? Is there such a think as an on-line antique fishing rod forum? I don't know.

Can you just move your feet so that you're casting forward?

Fishing from a boat I find it handy to have 2 different tx rigged baits ready to go. Different weights, different shapes, different colors, something different, just to give yourself a quick option when you're pitching at stuff. That is what I'd use that 6'10" rod for. Ask yourself, what is my favorite technique OR what is it that I see guys catching fish on that I don't have. Then get that. Rod arsenals are built up over time. Option #b - A good way to find decent rods inexpensively it to wander into any pawn shop you see, just to see what they got in terms of tackle. Every so often you will find a gem relatively inexpensively. This is the one situation where I will buy a rod and then figure out what I want to use it for. Sooner or later, from what I hear about Guntersville, you're going to need a frog rod, probably going to need an A-rig rod. A decent spinning rig to throw shakey heads, drop shot, stuff like that can save the day. It has been a long time since I've had a great day throwing lighter baits/finesse stuff. However, many days the finesse gear can turn a stinking day into an ok or decent day and that's why always make room for it in my boat.

I've been in tackle shops, marina restaurants, docks, pre-tournament meetings and heard some good natured ribbing about bait casting versus spinning gear - from both sides. I've never seen the conversation get mean and ugly, abusive. But then, I'm the guy who took a 6'6" ML bait casting rodeo a tournament with 8 lb line so that I could throw light poppers farther. Same tournament, I'm the guy who had 2 7' spinning rigs. One to throw Carolina rigs ( just cause I think that Carolina rigs are more sensitive on heavy duty spinning gear compared to similar bait casting gear, plus they are somewhat more easier for me to cast and get the distance I want out of a Carolina rig ) and the other to throw 3/8 oz finesse jigs, both to objects and dragging them down 45 degree banks, just cause I thought there was a good chance that I was going to get back boated and the spinning rod gave me the distance casting capability to offset that. I'm not married to either side, I just like to try to use the right tool for the job, and sometimes I think outside the box. That being the case, at the moment that bubba and sissy were discussing things, if there would have been anything I could have said to escalate the argument and increase my own amusement, most likely I would have said it.

Sqwormers were decent Berkley baits. No clue why they were discontinued, but you can say that about a lot of Berkley baits. I still miss the Pulse worms and the Bungee worms and when they marked their version of the Brush Hog in many different colors.

Be mindful that when Ned talks about catching X many fish per hour or per fishing session, they all count. 6" fish count, slot fish count, they all count, size don't matter much to Ned, he's willing to wade through the dinks to catch the occasional decent fish. On those few occasions when I'm fishing a private lake or pond and that lake or pond is stunted with too many small fish, I think that the Ned rig is THE ticket. For my normal week to week fishing in 100 to 300 acre semi-local conservation lakes I think that there are other techniques that will catch more keeper fish, maybe not the numbers. Personally I have a hard time sticking with the Ned rig. Continuing on this topic, I've heard Ned insist, several time at the KC Boat & Sports show & elsewhere that him and his buddies invented Midwest Finesse Fishing prior to anyone else coming up with anything similar. I think Charlie Brewer Slider Fishing is VERY similar in MANY ways to Ned rigging and. he was selling his baits & jig heads in Fishing Facts magazine in the mid 70's. Around the same time I don't EVER remember any mention of Midwest Finesse fishing in any of the magazines I read or any of the fishing seminars I attended. So, while I know that Ned has gotten his name attached to an efficient & effective method/fishing technique, I'm not sure at all that he was, (as he's written from time to time ) the first to develop a finesse style of fishing. I know about Charlie Brewer and the stuff that was written about his stuff and when it was written. I'm pretty sure that he messed with it for a while, prior to bringing it to market. Also I think that there are some guys on the west coast who would have some issue with his timeline. I've read a little bit about West Coast finesse fishing, but not enough to be a reputable source for it, by any means.

Lubricate the hook some prior to trying to attach the trailer. All it takes is some spit. I use the BPS Cajun trailers on that bait, the white ones with the chartreuse tails and when one splits like that grub in the picture it means that I didn't take the time to put it on correctly.