Fishes in trees

The primary reason that I don't keep fish to eat is that by the end of the day I am tired and I don't feel like messing with cleaning fish. My goal is to pack up my fishing truck correctly ( so that it unpacks easily the next time I go fishing) and go home. At the end of the day, I am generally hungry, so I am most likely to stop at a restaurant on the way home. Back in the day, when I was a broke hippie, I ate fish quite a bit. I had access to a couple of private places that were filled with small stunted bass, mostly in the 9 to 11 inch range. I had permission of the owner to keep all the small fish I wanted, just throw the ones over 12" back. For the record, I recall these fish as being very tasty.

That is quality engineering right there. Should you desire to make the edges softer, you can cut up and fit some foam pipe insulation. I hope that isn't in a walkway. You could skuff up a hip or a shoulder should you walk past it and forget that it is there.

Pick whatever line you think. Should you lose a few fish, you might want to upgrade. If you don't, either you made a correct choice or you can go lighter.

I find spinning gear better for lighter cranks.

The good thing about pork trailers is that they will last all day, until you lose them. The bad thing about them is that you have to keep them damp. If pork dries out, it is worthless.

I had a few trips this summer when the ticket was throwing 5" paddle tail worms on a 1/4 oz slider head. Throwing that bait on 10 lb Abrazx generated many more bites than the same bait on 14 or 15 lb fluorocarbon. I think it had to do with drop speed more than anything else. All I know, and I experimented quite a bit during those trips was that if I went heavier than 1/4 oz jig head, I didn't get bit nearly as often. A 3/8 oz head on the 10 lb line either dropped too fast or overpowered the rod I was throwing, jury is still out on that issue. So, bottom line is yeah, you can pitch using 12 lb line. I don't know if I would flip with it. I don't flip very much, mainly because I'm more comfortable backing off and pitching to targets. Big fish got interesting. I caught a few fish in the 5 lb range and had to cut back 10 to 12 feet of line after I landed the fish due to line nicks and skuffs.

I don't like wasting time when I am fishing. Fishing rods & reels & bait & lines can be purchased. Last time I checked, I couldn't find a place to buy fishing time. You only get so much of it on any given day. Anything I can do to save fishing time is money well spent for me. I don't mind taking the time to retie, if in the course of normal fishing events I lose a lure or scuff up lines or decide I need a different lure. Wasting time is a different matter. Why retie, when all I have to do to throw a different lure is pick up a different rig? When you get a severe backlash, and we all get them from time to time, just put the rig away for the day, rather than waste time messing with the tangle. When I was fishing as a co-angler in BFL's, I carried 3 or 4 extra bait casters so that I didn't waste time messing with back lashes. That is when the worst ones seemed to happen, fishing out of the back of the boat, and the boat moves unexpectedly and a back lash happens. Each cat his own rat, so to speak, I find that when I'm fishing by myself, 20 rigs laid out on the deck are manageable. With a buddy in the boat, I cut it down some. Should I break one by stepping on it or something like that, I've only myself to blame. It has been 5 years since I've done that. Close calls happen every week and so it is only a matter of time before I break another one. It is a system that works for me.

My most recent purchase in the jig rod category was a 7'2" Fenwick AETOS MH with an extra fast tip. I am pretty happy with it. Fenwick customer service is as good as anyone in the business. In the past couple of years I've broken 3 Fenwick rods ( all my fault, doing something stupid. ) One got replaced in store because they had the one I wanted in stock. The other two took a few weeks and I had to send $10 in. I broke a 7'9" Technica AV and got a 7'9" AETOS in return. They explained it was a top of line for top of line swap. I think I paid around $160 for the latest AETOS I got. I've even gotten used to the blue color.

Do some research, the question is, " How finesse do you want to get?" I've got several different finesse rigs that I use depending. . . . Do you want to go Charlie Brewer style and throw 1/16 to 1/4 slider worms? Do you want to go even lighter and throw Ned rigs? Go a little heavier and throw quarter ounce or so shaky heads? You can go mono - or fluorocarbon - or braid with fluorocarbon leader on any of these rigs. Here are some examples of what I mean. By no means are these exhaustive or the only word on this subject. If I had unlimited funds, I would probably have different stuff than what I've got now. For throwing slider heads on 6 lb test, I currently use a 5'4" Fenwick HMG spinning stick, Med action/ extra fast tip and a smaller Shimano spinning reel. Most of the time I use this rig as my Ned Rig, substituting 10 lb braid or nanofil tied to a 6 lb fluorocarbon leader. I've got an older Diawa Light & Tough Finesse spinning rod 6'3", similar action to the Fenwich HMG, that works great for throwing quarter ounce or slightly larger shaky heads on 8 ro10 lb fluorocarbon. I use a slightly larger spooled spinning reel. I use straight fluorocarbon, the only time it screws up is when I forget to use line conditioner on it. You can go a lot heavier and still throw quarter ounce jig heads as far as you want. Most of the time, I use a 7' Fenwick HMG MH action/Extra fast tip - spinning reel loaded with 14 lb Fireline and a 15 or 20 lb fluorocarbon leader and I don't feel like I'm missing any bites compared to the lighter rig. There are degrees between these extremes, I have several different rigs that fit into this category and I use them mostly for guest rods. If you want to go ultra finesse, look at some Walleye live bait rods in the 6'10" to 8' range, with very soft tips. You can go bait casting if you feel like it. A Falcon 6'10" Eakins Jig special - Curado 50 E with 10 lb Abrazx is a very versatile casting rig for baits in the quarter ounce range.

In my opinion, you can go good round bait caster or inexpensive round bait caster, you can't do both. If you buy new, then you don't buy some one else's old problem. There is generally a reason why they are getting rid of it. I know that sounds paranoid, but I am paranoid about some things - purchasing used reels being one of those things. My advice is to save your pennies, and when you've got enough pennies, cough up the cash and get a Calcutta. The Shimano Cardiff, mentioned earlier, is a decent reel, maybe an option and maybe not, but it isn't a Calcutta.

I've got a couple of the older style Berkley line spooling stations. One is set up for filler size spools, the other for larger spools. They are both close to a decade old. Over the years, I've lost parts for them, but you can go to the hardware store and improvise parts using allen hex head locking collars, cone shaped washers and so forth. Go to Ace hardware and look around in the specialty fasteners aisle. Mine work ok and I can set them to any tension necessary. If you lose the bent wire that plugs into the base and serves as an axle for the spools, you are kind of screwed. At that point - go home made. OR spend around $300 and get one of those electric line winding machines, line they have in many tackle shops.

The Charlie Brewer book - On Slider Fishing will focus your attention on finesse fishing. You are in Kansas, the Midwest Finesse fishing blog, on the In-fisherman web site, most of that comes out of Lawrence. Those guys are hard core finesse fishermen. For information that you can adapt to your fishing situations, I think that the In-fisherman series of books are the best. For a good read with fishing tips here and there that old Roland Martin book - 101 Bass Fishing Secrets is ok.

The rule of thumb with worm weights, traditionally has been to use the lightest weight you can get away with. In olden times, that rule had as much to do with size of the weights as it did with the weight of them. Some of the 1/2 oz tungsten are smaller than the 1/4 oz lead ones used to be. So throw that rule out. Choose your weight based on what you want to accomplish. For example, should you want to flutter your lure down next to a bush, you might choose a lighter weight than if your goal was to fish the root wad as the base of the bush. You could do that with a lighter weight, but just have to wait longer while your lure dropped into position. Fishing jika rigs, I seldom go lighter than half ounce. I think that the chances of me getting bit on the drop is less than the chances of me getting bit when I've put the lure where I want it quicker. i.e. in this case on the bottom asap. So, experimentation is in order, take a couple of seasons before you make up your mind. If your are fishing from the back of the boat, you might want to go a little heavier than if your were driving, to allow for your lure to get into the position you want it in before your boater moves the boat on you.

For my finesse drop shot applications, I'm currently using 14 lb Fireline and a longish leader, 6 or 8 or 10 lb, I think I've got 10 lb tied on right now. Leader length is 7 feet or so, long enough that I can retie several times before I have to change out the leader. If you go lighter on your leader, remember to back off on your drag some. For my bubba drop shot, I'm currently going with 20 lb abrazx. Of course, all line strategies are subject to change depending on if I find some new line I want to try or I find some line on sale.

Consider this: If you are fishing "feel" baits like soft plastics, jigs and the like, feel becomes an issue in the wind - more so from fishing from the bank than from a boat because your approaches are more limited. If I was determined to go and given the conditions you described I probably would have gone, I'm thinking throw something heavier, to counteract the wind and keep it moving. Looking for a reaction bite. Some previously unmentioned options might include - a cicada blade bait or something similar, a heavier Mepps style in line spinner, a white or any color grub really on a 1/4 or 5/16 oz jig head. Anyway, my thoughts for fall bank fishing in windy & cloudy conditions.

I've got some of each and I think that they are all good rods. I've got a 7' MC Fenwick HMG MH spinning stick that I like a lot. It can throw jig worms/shakey heads down to 3/16 as far as I need to. It can handle 1/2 oz jika rigs. I mostly use a 14 lb fire line with fluorocarbon leader on it. Why 6'6"? I think that the only reason to go shorter with that variety of rod would be if the 7' didn't fit into your vehicle easily. I don't know if there would be significant weight/handling characteristics between a 6'6" and a 7" rod.

Species is probably the wrong word. All I know is that sometimes at Table Rock you will come across schools of shad that have a greenish tint to them and other times schools of shad will have a more purple tint to them. I've seen this on different lake areas on the same day in very similar light conditions.

There are numerous bass clubs in and around St. Louis, and that is the place to start. Something to consider, right now you are 16 and lots of guys ( kind of like me) don't want to deal with the potential liability involved with transporting and fishing with a non family minor. Good luck.

Yes, you can learn how to pitch sitting down. Yes, it does take practice. Yes, you are going to backlash a few spools of line in the learning process. You will find that the sitting down pitching technique isn't quite the same as a Jimmy Houston style side arm roll cast, but you will get to the point to where you will use both casting styles interchangeably. Good gear helps the learning curve a lot. Clean, correctly oiled reels with plenty of ball bearings, to get the spool started spinning quickly helps. I first learned with Calcuttas. When I went to the Calcutta TEGT (10 ball bearings) pitching, both sitting down and standing up got much easier. Once you get the technique down, reel choice doesn't matter as much. I pitch with Curado's, Calcuttas, Calais, and even spinning reels from time to time. Rod choice is all over the map, find one that works for you, start with what you got and if you find you need a faster tip, then go there. I find that softer, more flexible rod tips don't work that well for me, sitting down or standing up. On a side note, sometimes poor balance is an indicator of other health issues. I'd mention it to my doctor during my next check up. Even though it has been a lifetime thing, docs can fix stuff now that they couldn't in olden times and it doesn't cost anything to ask.

I've had nothing but bad luck with P line, in whatever forms it comes in. Even when it gets to $2 a spool at Walmart, I won't buy it. I curse that stuff. If it works out for you, great.

You gonna finesse drop shot or bubba drop shot? Any of the rigs mentioned previously will work for finesse drop shot fishing. If you want to bubba drop shot, and fish around gnarly cover, in and around thorn trees and deeper tree roots you might want to up your game somewhat. Currently I'm using a Kistler 7'5" Heavy action flipping/pitching stick (telescopic so that it stores easier) A Curado 50 spooled with 20 lb Abrazx completes the rig. This is more than $200. You can get a flipping stick and a small bait casting reel and 20 lb line for less than $200, just look around. You fish it just like you would a regular drop shot, except you are in and around heavier cover, hence the need for heavier line. A half ounce drop shot weight is pretty much standard for this rig, go heavier if you can find weights that work for you.

I have one of those Falcon 6'10" Eakins Jig Special jig rods. Using 12 or 14 lb fluorocarbon, I just couldn't make it work for jigs for me. Too much tip. Fast forward a few years, I got a new smaller reel ( Curado 50) and spooled it up with 10 lb abrazx. Still too much tip for jig for me, but, 3/16 and 1/4 oz jig heads and finesse worms - perfect - for me, anyway. It is my go to finesse worm rig, as long as it isn't too windy. So, if you're fishing quarter ounce jig heads with slim plastic trailers, consider using that rod. For me, quarter ounce jigs with skirts flexed the tip more than I liked, and the standard 5/16 Eakins jig flexed the tip way more than I liked. For the jig/skirt & trailer combos , I much prefer my 7'2" MH Aetos with the extra fast tip. I'll throw them on a little heavier line also, mostly 14 lb fluorocarbon.

The easy answer is that there are different species of shad. I know at Table Rock, sometimes the shad have a purplish cast to them and other times they have a greener or geryish cast to them. 9 or 10 years ago, Lavender Shad was a popular regional color in the Ozarks. I don't see that color so much lately, guess it was a fad color that came and went. Around that same time frame, I started seeing the Table Rock Shad color, first on Lucky Craft baits and then repainted on other baits. That color has stuck around.

An extendable pole and a plug knocker are both valuable fishing tools that you need to have in your boat. Neither one of them works particularly well from the bank. I'd guess that the extendable lure retriever might work a little better, but bank fishing, that's just one more thing to carry. That being said, 4 lost lures in 3 hours fishing time isn't a record. You are going to have to try harder than that if you want to set a lure losing record. If you need any pointers on how to set a lure losing record, here are a few: Use older, more brittle mono. Insist on the lightest line possible. Fish in brushy, hard to get to places and maybe you can lose a few lures on the backswing of your cast. If you are fishing from the bank around brush and cover, using lighter lines and lures, always try to throw into the wind. These tips should help you increase your lost lures per hour ratio. There are lots more ways to lose lures, but I'm pretty sure you can figure them out by yourself. Don't forget the old "unlatch the tackle box" trick. This will allow you to lose many lures without actually getting them wet.

Back when I was a meat fisherman, I gained access to a very private estate in the mid-MO area. There was a boat house with an assortment of boats & canoes to choose from, there was an electric trolling motor, all we had to do was to bring our own battery and it was a smallish 50 acre or so lake with very restricted access. You got to the end of the blacktop and then to the end of the gravel and there was still 2 1/2 miles of private creek rock road before you got to the estate. Anyway, the woman who lived there acquired the property in a divorce settlement and went hermit and didn't allow any fishing or hunting access for 7 or 8 years - at all. The lake got stunted, with too many small fish and about that time I got access to the property through a friend of a friend. The only cash was that we had to keep all fish 12" and under and release all over 12". The place acquired the title of "Bass Valhalla" because the first few times we went there we caught so many fish we figured we'd died and gone to heaven. The first few years me and a few select buddies fished there, hundred fish days were common, and I became an expert in filleting 10" and 11" bass. Small bass from a clear water lake are tasty. I fished it off and on for 7 years and my buds for a few years after that. The constant removal of the smaller fish had its desired effect and the last few times I visited the place, hundred fish days didn't happen anymore, but 20 to 30 fish days did and about a third of those fish would be over 15". A 27" fish was caught from the water around 94 or 95, a few pictures were taken, it wasn't weighed and it was released alive. The last time I checked into returning to the property, the woman who owned it had passed and the property was in the hands of a grandson, who wasn't interested in letting old hippies renewed access to his grand mother's property. End of an era.