thinkingredneck

Mine would rather dig in the d÷=% yard, and wants me to dig too. I keep telling her we are getting old and need a maintenence free type yard. So I dig. She still won't fish.

I have caught one fishing it like a jerkbait. Maybe I am messing up fishing it like any other worm. Probably not slow enough

Are you replacing with octopus hooks, J hooks, Siwash? When I lived in the Pacific NW, a lot of guys used Siwash hooks on spoons for Steelhead and Salmon. I thought I read in an earlier post that someone had used circle hooks on spoons for bass with good results. The photo looks sort of circle, but not quite. I think I will change some out. Please let me know how you are doing this. I hate treble hooks for all of the above stated reasons.

If you use clip on, especially ones from your optometrist, don't put them in your shirt pocket on the way home and leave them in the shirt. Mine got scratched up in the washer after one trip. Expensive mistake.

Lightning rod shock is a great rod for the money.

Yes

Something to cover top, middle and bottom of water column. 1. Top: popper, Jitterbugs, frogs, toads, spooks, buzzbaits, weightless floating worms, etc 2. Middle: swimbaits, spinnerbait, crank bait, grubs, swimming worms (U vibe), etc 3. Bottom: worms, jigs, grubs, Senko, etc Or you could just go midwest finesse, but not with a BC combo. Don't buy everything. Learn a few techniques. I àm partial to plastic baits. IMHO you can start with some offset round worm hooks and some trickworms, U vibe worms and floating worms. You only need a few colors. I am partial to Junebug and dark colors on bottom, white on mid column. Not sure color matters on top. Of course, I now have boxes of all kinds of crap. I think the most easily overlooked thing starting out is to match your gear with your technique. Read all of the articles and watch the videos. Walmart usually carries some zoom worms and booyah products. Also, order from Sieberts. Good quality and fantastic service. Welcome to BR.

Use something with treble hooks. There are plenty of top waters besides frogs. Poppers, spooks, Jitterbugs, Devilshorse, etc

In WY, an inflatable pontoon might be a better choice

To get comfortable with worms, I spent a whole yeafishing nothing but Junebug plastics TX rig in pads and heavy plant growth. Changed the weight and shape only. I would fo from Trickworm to U vibe, to Ole Monster,etc. Weightless to 1/4 oz. I got much better at worm fishing and caught a metric crap ton of fish. Now I am getting into swimbaits and Toad fishing.

I have been teaching kids who are a product of the MS public school system.

Anyone who teaches knows that there ARE stupid questions. This was not one.

A couple things: Plastics Texas rigged is a good start Get on the water safety first: kill switch, pfd, sun screen, mosquito spray, etc

I just bought some grubs to try. Don't know why I never tried them before. Got shad color and chart pepper. Gonna try them several ways. They seem to be cool on a scrounger head and a plain fish head jig.. may TX rig too.

Creature baits. Senkos,. I really have not done well on them yet. I am really getting into jigs and soft swimbaits. However, this summer I plan on using some larger worms. Bought some anaconda by Rage, some big Mann's Jelly worms, and some Ole Monsters

I catch far more by feel than sight. Anything that feels or looks different gets a hookset. I want constant contact once it is on the botton. Tight lines.

June bug and GP. I caught them on pumpkin green glitter. I haven't given up, but I just don't seem to be getting it. Watched videos, read the sticky, etc.

I have used Ned Rigs and Senko plus Senko knock offs. I have caught exactly two on the Ned and 2 on the name brand Senko. All dinks. I have given it a fair try. I have gone right back with a trickworm in the same location and caught decent fish. I am fishing Senko weightless, weighted , Texas rig and Wacky. NO luck. I have used the Ned with Gopher jigs and Zman, with TRD baits. No luck. Is this because I fish muddy water, or am I just not getting it?

Location is most important. However, IMHO the closer to the fish you get, the more important quality becomes. Hook, lure, line, rod, reel, in that order. It baffles me sometimes that someone would use an inferior hook or cheap, stiff line on good gear.

Depends on how cheap. Real crap sucks, no matter how good you are. I am a mid range guy.

Go to the pond and cast different lures and see how it feels. Stiffer means more sensitive, to a point, used for bottom contact single hooks. You want it to be more limber when using treble hooks. From there you can refine. As stated above, manufacturer labels are a loose guide.

I remember graduating from cane pole to Zebco 202 in black plastic. Later I got a silver Zebco 33 and I was a serious dude. Still have a couple. My wife will only use spin cast reels.

Where I fish is always muddy. Sometimes after a rain when it is really muddy, they like a topwater.

The salad spoon is plastic, sort of tadpole shaped. Put an EWG hook in it.

I have been a big fan of toads, however, it seems you have to reel too fast in order to keep them on top. Today I tried some Lunker City Salad Spoons and I have to say they cause nice action at a slow crawl and stay on top at slow speeds. They sink very slowly when stopped, and slowly undulating down. I haven't gotten to really gotten to fish with them yet just cast them a few times at the ramp. They seem really cool for something I bought on a whim. I think they may mostly replace my toads. Anybody else have experience with them?