.ghoti.

Craw for me. T-rigged, it is much less prone to hang up then a jig. RoLo's point about fine tuning the weighting is right on the money. For years my first choice was the Berkley Power Craw. I still use them, but now use the NetBait Paca Craw most. I also use Berkley's Power Hawg. Not really a craw, but serves the same purpose. I tend to use the craw more in the spring, switching to the hawg when the water warms. I have almost no confidence in a jig. Cheers, GK

When it's time to fish plastics, which is about 90% of the time for me, I have these setups rigged at all times. 1. 5/0 EWG hook, unweighted 5" senko 2. 4/0 EWG hook, Fat Ika, reverse rigged, weightless 3. T-rig, 1/4oz weight, 5/0 EWG hook, GYCB Cuttail worm, 10" Power worm or Power Hawg 4. Ike's Spike jighead , 7" Power worm ( call it a shakey head if you must ) or Slim Sticko 5. 3/0 Owner Rig'n hook, unweighted Super Fluke or 4" Senko ( the only spinning rod in the mix ) 6. 3/0 EWG hook, internally weighted Zoom tube This gives me options to cover most every condition I encounter. I have lots of other plastics, which come out of the bags when nothing else is working, but the ones listed above are my go-to baits. Cheers, GK

If you're using today's plastics, you're gonna guthook a few fish. Particularly with heavily salted or scented/flavored baits. Here's the easiest way to remove that hook. 1. you'll need a few feet of slack line, so put down the rod after you've stripped off a couple of yards. 2. stuff a wad of line into the fish's mouth. 3. you have your thumb in the fish's mouth, so use a spare finger to hold open one gill plate. 4. reach up through the gill plate and pull a yard or so of the line down through taking care not to get your pliers into the gills. 5. put your foot on the line running up through the gill plate. 6. slowly raise the fish to tighten the line. this will rotate the hook to place the point and barb pointing down into the gullet. 7. grab the rotated hook at the back bend and pull it out placing a bit of sideways pressure opposite the barb. This works every time, after you've had a little practice. the only tricky part is how much line to pull through the gill plate. You want enough to allow you to step on the line, but not so much that you can't see down into the mouth after you've raised the fish far enough to rotate the hook. Remember to cut off the hook and re-tie after this procedure. You've probably damaged the line. Cheers, GK

There's not much you can do to prevent line twist with a spinning reel. It's the nature of the beast. About all you can do is occasionally troll the line out behind the boat, with nothing tied on, and crank it back on. I've recently started using spinning gear, after a long hiatus. The combination of spinning reel and shakey head rigs, which spiral on the way down, and on the way back up, will twist your line quickly. I've started using a swivel, with about two feet of leader, with the jig/worm combo. It helps somewhat, but is not a cure. Cheers, GK edit; I got interrupted by a phone call, and lost my train of thought. That seems to happen more and more, as I get older. Anyway, I've stopped using fluoro line on my spinning reels. Went back to good old Trilene XL and have a lot fewer line problems with the "eggbeaters".

The Berkley Power craw comes in two sizes. The smaller size is, I believe, 3" and is perfect for the Bitsy Bug jig. Cheers, GK

Quote "I will make up any differences needed " Call me if you need some extra cash for this. I think there's more than one of us over there. Great idea. Cheers, GK

Nathan, I'm so sorry to hear this. I thought I'd been going through a tough patch, but after reading of your troubles, all my stuff seems very minor by comparison. You and your family will be in my thoughts. I know you have your head screwed on straight, so you'll get through this. Just let her know that you love her and that you're there for her. She's going to need a little time to get her head back in the game, so all you can do is wait it out, and be supportive. Best wishes, Gary you have my number. call me if you neeed anything.

I use a Johnny Morris reel on a BPS Pro Finesse rod; 6'9" ML, fast action baitcasting rod for flukes, jigworms, lightly weighted tubes, grub/jig combos and the smaller cranks. Started with 10lb test XL, then went to 8. I get more bites with the lighter line. Not the preferred choice for heavy cover, but a blast to fish with. A two pounder on this rig is like a 5 on a MH rig. I don't carry all my rigs around all the time, but this one is with me most of the time. Cheers, GK

I've been a fan since day one, but this has to be the lamest excuse for an ending I've ever seen. Everthing is wide open for a return. Last episode ever my aching arse. I'd say the money has spoken, and new episodes are already being written.

The BPS in St Charles has Kinami Palm Trees, not Fat Ikas. Same exact bait, different packaging. I buy from them all the time. Nine colors, $4.50 for a five pack. http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10151&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&partNumber=53865&hvarTarget=search&cmCat=SearchResults Cheers, GK

A while back I told myself that i'd never again get into one of these "senko vs knock-offs" debates. However, this one is quite timely. I just got back from an awesome trip to Trophy Country. I caught about 125 bass in approx 18 hours of fishing time, with a six pounder being the biggest. Also got two fives. Right before we left, I ran into another angler who goes there regularly, and he claimed to have torn them up on the Tiki stick. I decided to try them again, my first experiment being a miserable failure. Got one pack of sweet potato pie, his favorite color, and another in a shad looking color. The first thing I noticed was the Tiki does not wiggle on the fall. It just glided down. The second thing is the Tiki seemed to be much tougher than the Senko. I don't know if the toughness will make it last longer than the senko because I DID NOT CATCH ANY FISH ON THE TIKI. If you don't catch any fish, you can use one senko all day long too. I caught fish on Senko's, Ika's, Super Flukes, Power worms, Zoom tubes, spinnerbaits, GYCB creatures, Power hawgs, Paca craws and X-Raps. The six bit a Super Fluke, one five hit an Ika, the other a Power Hawg. I did not catch fish on Tiki's, forked tail Dingers, or any topwater baits. Needless to say, I've bought my last package of tiki's. Cheers, GK

I give a couple of dining recommendations. My wife and I have been going to Branson in either the spring or the fall for several years now. There's a mini Bass Pro Shop at Branson Landing. If you look straight across the water, you'll see the Candlestick Inn. If you don't mind dropping a few bucks for dinner, this is one of the finest around. Not even close to being cheap, but very, very fine. Along the strip, right across the street from Walmart is a little hole-in-the-wall Thai restaurant. I can't recall the name, but it's the only one in that location. Excellent food at a very reasonable price. If you make the drive to Springfield to go to BPS, you'll be looking for Sunshine to exit off the highway. Before you get to it, coming from the south, you'll find Battlefield road. At that exit is a restaurant called Rodizio, a Brazilian Grill. If you like grilled meat, this is the place for you. They'll put a little salt shaker looking thing on the table for each person. It's green on one end and red on the other. After you've been to the salad bar, and are ready for the main course, you flip the thing over so the green side is up. You'll get plate of veggies and potatoes, then they will start bringing you huge skewers of grilled meat, and will carve it right onto your plate. Thay'll bring out several kinds of beef, pork, chicken, sausage, lamb, fish, etc. And they will keep bringing it until you give up and flip the thing over so red is on top. Then they'll bring out the dessert tray. Go early; I think they're open at 4:30, so you can go to BPS afterwards, and spend a couple of hours trying to walk it off. I darned near killed myself the first time we went there. Big Cedar is an excellent place to stay. Chateau on the Lake is even better. Boat rental at Big Cedar is a little pricey. On our last trip, we went to Lilley's Landing for a trout trip. Boat rental was cheap there. We got a comfortable boat, and some right on the money advice about where and how to fish. Had a blast catching rainbow on spinning tackle, and didn't spend a whole lot of money to do it. Bob, at Lilley's is a super nice guy. There on the web, go look "em up. Cheers, GK

Now there's a blast from the past. Haven't heard that name come up in conversation for at least a couple of decades. Great songwriter, half-arsed singer, and, in person, at least when I met him thirty years ago, a total jerk.

Thank you, too. GK

You know, if you were to dig deep enough, you'd no doubt find that just about every question that could come to mind about fishing has been asked and answered here. So, then, the only solution is to lock every topic, and turn this whole site into an archive. What's the fun in that? I actually like to see topics revisited from time to time. You can find some new answers, new ideas, and new things to add to your bag of tricks. It's all good. It's all a part of the growth of the site. I even like to answer questions I've answered before. This can sometimes clarify things for me, or even generate a new idea every now and then. I'm an old dog, but I can still learn new tricks. Muddy, I don't really think anybody has been offended by this post. Those of us who've been around here for a while know that your tongue is firmly planted in your cheek about 98% of the time. And, we wouldn't have it any other way. Now, where's my stick? By the way, what's a shimano and how do you pronounce that? Is it like SHE-mu-NEW, or shim-anew ? And that other word Pflueger? is it like, piffle-you-eager ?

Diamond back water snakes. caught two of them so far; one on senko, one on a toad. My wife got a copperhead on a senko. She had cast up on the bank about a foot, and the snake grabbed it before she could pull the bait back in the water. That was a bit more exciting than the water snakes.

Fatboy, I use the "RW Method" a lot, but I'm always targeting something. Blindly casting along the bank will give you a lot of casting practice, but will not always catch that many fish. If there's a weedline, the outside edge is always my first target. Drop-offs, humps and ledges are my next targets. Wood cover is next. I think I remember you saying you had one fo those mini pontoons. I use mine all the time. If there's a Farm and Fleet near you, they have Bottomline Fishin buddy's on sale for $100. I've been using one on my little two-man pontoon for several years now. It's perfect for the mini boat. If you get one, turn off the fish ID feature; it's useless. Just use it to locate structural elements. It will be the best hundred bucks you spend on gear, trust me on this one. Cheers, GK

I do it all the time. My favorite finesse rig; a BPS Pro Finesse rod, 6'9" ML, Johnny Morris reel with 10lb test XL. Right now it has a 1/16oz Slider head jig, with the back 5" of a 7" power worm on it. Caught four nice bass on it this morning before coming in to work. I also use this rig for 4" senkos, lightly weighted tubes, un-weighted Flukes, and the smallest crankbaits. But, what's wrong with using spinning gear for lighter baits, if you're comfortable with it? I recently started using spinning gear again. I bought a 7'2" Airrus Tradition spinning rod to go with a Daiwa Capricorn reel. Spooled it up with 8lb test XL, and have been using it more and more for the lighter stuff. The only problem I have switching back and forth is the first cast. Don't know how many times I've tossed the first cast up into the trees when I pick up the spinning rod. I solved that problem by making the first two or three casts into open water before I try to hit a real target. I do the same thing when I switch back to a baitcasting rig after using the spinner for a while. I'll admit to having a heavy bias towards baitcasting gear, but spinning gear has it's place in your bag of tricks. Staying proficient with both will just give you more tools to use. Cheers, GK

I have two Symetre's. Great reel for the price, and I agree with Avid, it's the best value in the Shimano line of spinning reels. I also have a Catalyst PT. It's the best value in that line. I have two Energy PT spinning reels, and I think the Catalyst is a better value. Is the Catalyst 20 bucks better than the Symetre? I think so. I've not used a Kinetic, so I can't comment on that one. Cheers, GK

I have a couple of the signature series rods, and I like them a lot. When they're on sale, they are a lot of bang for the buck. I've not tried the elite series. A friend of mine has a Loomis with Recoil guides, and can't stand it. He hates the noise. I fished it for part of a day and loved it. The noise did not bother me; it was cancelled out by the awesome sensitivity. I'm still trying to buy it from him. To get back on thread, I'd suggest trying out a rod with Recoil guides before you buy one. The signature series rods, with Tic guides are as good as can be had, in their price range. I don't know if the step up in price to the elite series gets you much more than the noisy guides. Cheers, GK

Catt, you explained it perfectly, but, what is this Texas Rig Jig? Got any pictures? I'm also having trouble with the jig. I can catch fish on 1/8oz and 3/16oz jigs, but can't catch a cold on a 1/2oz one. Cheers, GK

I like the same color Catt does, but use a T-rig with a 3/0 EWG hook and a 1/8oz Ultra Steel weight. I'll go up in weight for wind and/or deeper water. I've been experimenting with swimming this bait, since the claws move so freely. I've found that this requires quite a bit more weight to keep it down, and a 5/0 hook to keep it from spinning. I let it hit the bottom, then just crank it back in slowly, pumping the rod just slightly. There have been no tentative bites on this rig. When they hit it, they hammer it. Cheers, GK

7' MH Johnny Morris rod, Energy PT 7:1 reel, 12lb test Transition line and a 5/0 Gammy EWG hook for both 5" and 6" Senkos. I'll go down to as small as a 3/0 EWG for a slower fall rate. For 4" senkos, I use a 6'9" ML BPS Pro Finesse rod , Johhny Morris reel, 10lb test XL and a 2/0 Gammy EWG hook. The 4" senko is a completely different bait than the 5" or 6". It's more like a Fluke than a Senko. Very little of the trademark wiggle, and a lot more glide. I 've almost quit fishing a Fluke since I started using the 4" senko. I find myself moving away from the Gammy's and more toward the Owner hooks. I like the Sugoi's also, but they can be hard to find around here. I have to order them. Cheers, GK

I work two jobs. I do that for three reasons. One of those is so I can buy more toys. Most of my toys are fishing gear. I still look for bargains. I have very few rods or reels for which I paid full price. If you have a little patience, you can find a deal on most of what you want. Sometimes though, you just have to bite the bullet. Catt has hit the nail on the head, twice. Make the best of what you have, and use your number one tool; the one between your ears. Cheers, GK

Grease on the gears, and that's about it. I used to put grease on the level-wind until ReelMech set me straight on that. Some drags require grease, others do not. Check your manuals to see. For years I've been using the grease from Zebco. It comes in a small accordion type tube that makes it easy to get the right amount to the right place. I've had no problems using this stuff, and it's cheap. Cheers, GK