Fishes in trees

couple of thoughts . . . Brass & glass used to be a thing. Guys would use a glass bead behind the sinker/ahead of the hook and shake it some. This would make noise that some thought would attract fish. The same thing kinda works with lead, only a different sound. All the brass sinkers that I ever bought, the hole you thread your line through was larger than the hole in an average lead sinker. What this meant was that a texas rig on the drop the sinker would separate from the bait somewhat farther than a lead sinker would. I'm not a big tx rig fan so I never have experimented so much with the drop differences between lead and brass. A decade or so ago when I was fishing BFLs guys in the parking lot were discussing the differences between regular brass and black painted brass sinkers, with the consensus being that the painted black ones were "more stealthy" - making noise but being harder to find and thus the sound drawing more attention to the bait. Jury is still out on that one. Anyway - these days when I tx rig I use tungsten so the issue is moot. I've taken a smallish assortment of brass sinkers and put them in my assorted weights box that stays in the boat all the time. The rest of them I've repurposed into home made jigs rigs. (These I spray painted black) My advice would be to just use them up - they are free. I would experiment on using a glass bead between the weight and the hook, just to see. . .

I'm psyched and ready to go. Fishing for Freedom at Truman Lake happens this weekend. I'd call in at work tomorrow, but I've already been told not to, and there is no reason to steam the bosses unnecessarily. Pack on Tuesday - leave prior to dawn on Wednesday and fish Weds thru Sunday. The Leavenworth Bass Club in cahoots with Long Shoal Marina and a multitude of sponsors put on a fine event. Kinda interested to see if anyone else on this board is planning on attending.

What October fishing trip? I'm leaving for the annual Fishing for Freedom event at Truman Lake on Wednesday. I have an interesting time down there every year. One of these years I will figure out Truman Lake in the fall, in the meantime, it is a beautiful time of year when the leaves are turning on all that federal land with no development on it.

That is a good reel. I have several of them. I'm also curious what the local shop is asking for it.

Tool selection is pretty simple. Look over your tow vehicle - boat & trailer. Any fastener which might need to be loosened or tightened, get the correct tool for that. Then add - a 12 volt compressor - decent jack - jumper cables - battery brush & cleaner - assortment of fuses - towing strap - hand cleaner & hand wipes. I keep 4 wheel chocks bungeed to my boat trailer in case I need them. I have a voltage meter in my box of tools I always carry in my truck. I don't know how to use it very well. However one time in a motel parking lot a guy was working on his boat while I was sitting nearby swilling a beer and he let out with a string of curses that ended with "the battery on my multi-meter is dead." I was able to say - " . . . .want to borrow mine?" A first aid kit doesn't come under the category of "tools" but you ought to have one. I have one in my truck and in my boat. Same goes for fire extinguisher. An assortment of different tapes is a good idea. Electrician tape (different colors help) Duct tape - Gorilla tape. An assortment of zip ties is a good idea. Over the years I've needed tiny ones and large heavy duty ones. Don't forget all the different tips you might need for you screw driver. You will need blades and phillips and torx and stars and hex and probably some I'm forgetting Certain issues require a set of tools. Once in a blue moon, I will break a shear pin on the trolling motor. Sometimes, depending on how it breaks that can be a challenge to get out and put in a new one. I have an assortment of vice grips and punches and assorted tools that have aided me in removing shear pins n the past. Really everyone has to make their own decisions about tools, what is enough and what is too much and even then there is a strong possibility that you won't have the correct tool when you need one. I have a buddy who won't leave his drive way without a charged battery drill and a spare battery - and he'll put them on a charger in his motel room when he's traveling. Tool paranoia takes many forms.

If you need to get your cranks to run correctly, there isn't any substitute for a crank bait tuning tool. You can look it up in your gear bible (BPS Master catalog)

There is not a limit to how much money you can spend in a quest for "sensitivity" in a rod. Good luck in your quest. Me - I currently use a 7'2" Fenwick AETOS - MH with an extra fast tip for most of my bottom contact fishing. Decide how much you are willing to spend - add another $50 or $60 bucks and the go looking.

Timber Tigers - Models DC4 or DC5 or DC8 of DC13 or DC16. I carry other ones in case I decide that the Timber Tigers aren't working but more often than not I run out of fishing time before I'm at that decision.

I have an old Bottom Line version of the same thing. It works ok I take it along when I'm fishing a pond/lake that doesn't have a ramp and I can't launch my Lowe, but there are boats on the premises. Mine will tell you depth & water Temp. It runs off C batteries and it does eat up batteries. Easiest way is just to get new ones for each trip.

The best way to get better at fishing tournaments is to fish with guys who are better/ more experienced then you. A local club might not be the best route. Back in the day - I had a year of fishing Red Man tournaments as a co-angler under my belt (Redman was the precursor to FLW & BFL) . Anyway, I decided/got talked into joining a local club that was trying to start up. There were 30 or so members - more boaters than non-boaters and decided that they were going to fish a semi-regional tournament schedule. By the end of the year I had discovered that all any of the boaters knew how to fish was to beat the banks. The problem was that I already knew how to beat the banks. When I did the math on out of town tournament expenses, I found out that aside from the entry fee, expenses were the same as BFL, i.e. I stayed in similar motels. I didn't eat any different. My gasoline expenses were roughly similar - everything was similar except for the entry fee. the BFL co-angler entry fee was higher than the club entry fee. After a year of club fishing, I did the math and decided that I didn't learn enough fishing in the local club to justify the savings. Going to the BFL's and drawing partners whose fishing skills went beyond the banks enabled me to learn a lot. Hanging out in the parking lot the couple of days prior to the tournament, I learned a lot of stuff that I could apply to my week to week private fishing and also to the tournament situation. I'm not saying don't join a local club. I'm just saying that in my opinion, fishing in a local club set back my skills accumulation compared to what I learned in a season of BFL. AND the BFL didn't cost that much more A national or regional tournament organization might be a good choice for you also.

Good Story. I'm looking forward to the Wounded Warrior event in Missouri, put on by the Leavenworth Bass Club at Truman Lake. It is scheduled for Oct 7-8 & 9. I made my motel reservations a couple of months ago. I've went the last few years and had a good time. I'm not the most comfortable guy driving a boat in a crowd so I've requested to be last boat out the past several years. Last year I was boat 132 and previously I was boat 138. I hear they're trying to hit 150 this year. This past year I weighed fish - not enough to come close to winning by I caught fish and so did my co-angler. 2 years ago I won the prize for "trash fish" which in the parlance of the tournament is any fish other than a bass. I caught a 9 1/2 lb wiper shallow on a big thumper single colorado spinnerbait. Got a trophy which I gave to my co-angler. The Leavenworth Bass Club & Long Shoal Marina (with a ton of sponsor help) have put on this event for a number of years now, and it gets better and better every year.

I think that the HMG & Aetos brands have a lifetime warranty from Fenwick. I'm not sure that HMX comes into that category. I;ve been happy - Fenwick has replaced the HMG rods that I've broken over the years - maybe 3 over the past 7 or 8 years. Just call them up and ask them and go from there.

Everyone I ever met at a Grateful Dead concert was super friendly, helpful and cordial. The same goes for most blues festivals that I've attended.

I often try top water stuff throughout the day, but I don't stick with it very long if I don't have success. If you're fishing around standing timber and you think the fish are suspended I think a popper or a spook is worth a try.

The old pistol gris rods I used to use hurt my wrist over time. A day of throwing spinner baits with those rods and my wrist would hurt at the end of the day. Going to a longer straight handled rod enabled my to get better at 2 handed casting and my wrists stopped hurting.

I have 4 Kistler rods. I got them over a period of months when Cabelas in KCK was closing them out - a number of years ago. I don't remember which line they were in but 2 of them are olive green and 2 of them are blue. The olive green ones - a 7' MH jig rod and a similar sized one labeled a "small swim bait special" see limited use these days because I like my AETOS jig rods and spinner bait rods better. Of the blue ones, 1 is a telescopic 7'5" Pitchin/flipping stick. This is in the boat with me every day and gets used every time out as my primary bubba drop shot rod. The other one is a 6'10" MH spinning rod and I occasionally use it for different applications - depending on which reel I want to use. When I put an old Diawa 2600 spinning reel on it it makes a great cranking rod. I haven't had any breakage issues with Kistler rods. Since Cabelas closed out their supply, they aren't readily available in the KC Metro area. These days I seem to buy my rods & reels from Rogers Lures in Liberty, MO. I just can't buy a rod over the internet without touching it first and having an idea of what I'm buying.

I try to get my trailer set right so that I just putt on to it. Sometimes in a cross wind a little more power is necessary. If a lake doesn't have a semi-decent launch site, I won't fish there.

All I know is that tackle boxes can be cleaned out and cleansed - use windex or something similar - maybe lysol Plastic baits can be separated out on the lawn or a screen and rinsed off with a hose. Quart size zip lock bags are pretty cheap - so just repackage them. I don't think that you need to throw anything out just due to some maggots. As far as where they came from goes, I'd have to say that God put them there or he (maybe she) told them to go there. Gods work in mysterious ways.

BPS used to have a color called "puke" in a tube that was a hot color on Bull Shoals Lake and the other lakes in the White river chain for a while. I bought a couple of bags and it worked sometimes in semi-clear water. They never marketed that color in any of their other plastic shapes as far as I know.

I will use some 17 or 20 lb mono., whatever is on sale at Walmart each January during the close outs. Siege has worked ok for me in the past. This year the Berkley trailer, when it stopped at Rogers in Liberty, MO had a deal on IRon Silk. That is a very abrasion resistant line that works great for me for spinner baits - chatter baits and square bills.

IMO the old Berkley Frenzy lipless crank is a better bait than the Red eye shad or the Rippin Rap. Actually I've no experience with the Rippin rap but I own a couple of the Red Eye Shads. I'd fish them if I happened to be out of Frenzy baits or my second choice is the Cordell Spot.

By light beers, I'm assuming you mean 5% alcohol or less and a "thinner" texture compared to a stour or an IPA. I like Founders All Day IPA. I like a newer beer from O'Dell's called Drumroll. It is only available in cans (in the KC Metro area, don't know about anywhere else) On a hot day, very few beers beat a Shiner Ruby Redbird (must be ice cold) If I'm at some restaurant or bar and only domestics are available I'll go Miller Lite - which is a decent Pilsner, IMO

home made jika rig - 1/2 oz more or less - 3/0 hook - regular size Zoom Brush Hog green pumpkin/orange flakes Last month or so the secchi disc readings have been consistently 3 1/2 to 4 1/2.

Don't be a cheap skate. That will come back to bite you. Pop for a Curado or Chronarch 50 - maybe the newer Curado 70. This is you wife's first bait caster we're talking about here.

I think that some of the principles of the Ned rig are spot on - i.e. try to go as light and as low & slow as you can given the conditions. . .. In the lakes that I fish, if I stick with the classic Ned bait - a 1/10 oz exposed hook jig and a TRD, I lose too many baits. In the lakes that I fish, if I stick to the cleaner areas ( like the dam) all I catch are small fish So, while I feel like a Ned rig is a good situational boat, it doesn't fit my situation very often. Getting used to the "weightless" feel of your baits takes some getting used to. Ned often writes that 100 fish, more or less is the goal for a 4 hour fishing trip. As far as Ned is concerned, little ones count. My personal opinion is that Ned has found a method that works very well on the waters that he commonly fishes. 100 fish per day is achievable when you count sub 12" fish. It could be that the Kansas Lakes near the !-70 corridor are somewhat stunted and there is a plethora of little fish available. Like any other technique Ned rigging will occasionally capture a big fish - however it is my opinion that if you're targeting 15" or larger fish there are better options. I understand that I won't get bit as much. Case in point - went fishing last Wednesday - decent day - unusual in that the water temp was slightly higher than the air temp. I spent several hours trying to find a shallow bite - because I thought the unique water/air temp situation would be conducive to that. Don't ask me why, cause I don't know, just what I thought at the time. Anyway several hours into the trip, ran into a friend of a friend and his opinion was that the better fish were suspended in the trees (This lake has MANY trees) Anyway the next 15 minutes, targeting suspended fish in the trees, by dropping a lightly weighted tx rigged 10" worm resulted in 2 15" fish, one slot fish and a few missed bites. Guess how I tried to fish the rest of the day. I don't believe that given the cover that the fish were in that the Ned rig would have landed any of those fish.