Gavin

Medium Spinning gear. 2000 or 2500 series reel, lighweight braid, and a leader.

If you stick with the 5/6 you will be limited to smaller flies in the size 6-2 range. Small flies catch tons of sunfish and rockbass in addition to bass. It's a ton of fun, but if you want to target bass specifically you will want bigger flies. Line selection really depends on the rod...since you said its a 5/6...I'm figuring that its an inexpensive starter kit rod. Most of those feel like pool cues, or noodles...so it might be a good idea to take it to a fly shop and figure out what line works best on it. The Scientific Anglers Headstart line is a good one for beginners, inexpensive and basically a bass bug line with a different name. If your looking for flies...Buy local if you can...if not there are plenty of good online sources. Look in the Streamer, Bass, and Saltwater categories. Have fun!

I'd get a 7wt so you can deliver some bigger flies...most of my topwaters are on size 2 or 1/0 hooks...Poppers, Gaines Sneaky Pete's, and some Pencil Poppers..Subsurface stuff is in the 3-4" range on size 4 or bigger hooks. Sparkleminnows, Shenk's Streamers, and some of the Articuated Patterns. S. Dungeons, Circus Peanuts, etc. Have fun.

Bank fishing around public river access points...usually stinks....You'd be better off floating in canoe or kayak. There are plenty of them for rent on the Spring R. Plan a mid-week trip to avoid the party crowd. Have fun.

If the water is clear...I'd go with a walk the dog plug. Make a long cast upstream and work it back as fast as you can..Stained water...I'd probably go with a shallow running crankbait or a spinnerbait... Plastics on the bottom if all else fails.

Its always better to receive more cash and pay the tax...Your marginal tax rate may go up, but in the end its more cash for you.

The Sammy 100, and LC Gunfish 95 are my go to topwaters, followed by buzzbaits.

There is a guide book for the Slyvania...Fish Sylvania...forget the author...pick up a copy if you are planning a trip there.

Any good optician should be able to set you up. Pick out some frames you like and have them install some top of the line polycarbonate polarized lenses. Brand doesnt matter that much because there are only one or two companies that manufacture high quality polarized eye glass lenses.

Why not carry a fly rod? Its a heck of allot of fun..and some nymphs, emerging patterns, duns (look like little sailboats on the water), and spent patterns (darker than the duns, and there wings will be flush in the film) in appropriate sizes and colors. On light spin tackle...try some small marabou or chenille jigs under a cork...twitch every couple of seconds...or use a casting bubble and flies. Good luck.

Great bait...especially for river fishing.

Some great choices...There are too many great players to narrow it down to ten...Tommi Iommi, Kirk Hammett, Slash, and David Gilmour are worthy of mention.

Stabilizers would be helpful for lake fishing...or maybe on a big river...but I'd avoid them if you want to float anything thats narrow & twisty.

The soul food establishment down the street from my office usually has fried common carp and buffalo on the menu during Lent. Both are pretty good, IMO.

If your in Eureka Springs...I'd fish the Kings River...its just east of Eureka Springs and there are some canoe rentals on it...may need to do a rain dance if you want to float it this year though. The Buffalo and Crooked are allot further to the east. Look up Zack Hoyt if you want to fish the Kings..His primarilly a fly fisherman but I'm sure that he can put you on some fish. Have Fun.

A possible alternative would be Sitbacker canoe seats. They snap on with two clips and they are very comfortable..They dont swivel but they provide ample back support.

Shannon style twin spins, Baby Lucky 13's, Tadpolly's, River Runts, Lazy Ike's, Jitterbugs, and Bass Oreno's.

They all work, but the best ones seem to be a bit squeakier than the others. Maybe 1 in 5 is great from the get go...others need a few mods to make them louder. Take the rivet off, file a notch in it...add a bead in front of the blade if it doesnt have one already. Enlarge the holes on the blade. Reinstall the rivet and crimp it. Paint the rivet flourescent orange or red. Add a trailer hook if your not fishing in serious junk.

Big Hammer Paddletail or a 4" Zoom Fat Albert

Are you gonna trailer it or cartop it? Those swivel seats might be a pain if your planning to car top. As for mounting swivel seats. Not sure about your boat, by my Wenonah has two aluminum brackets that hang down from the gunnels and support the seats. 4 bolts and the seats come out. Take your seats out and use them as a pattern to make some wooden mounts for the swivel seats. Maybe get some nice pine and varnish it up.

My 5 year old daughter does pretty well with road runners and inline spinners. Just chuck em & wind em back slow.

I'd take a walking bait or a buzzer over a popper or a prop bait.

Location is key...and sometimes the obvious spots arent the best ones because everybody fishes them. Time on the water is the only way to figure it out. As for baits...I fish relatively clear rivers....so I tend to go with bigger baits fished fast on top, or fished slow on the bottom. Toss into junk that most folks wont cast too.

I'm not gonna push product like some on this site. Cranks are hard to understand unless you break them down into categories...Two main categories are wide wobblers and tight wobblers...Fat Round Baits are the wide wobblers, flat sided baits are tighter wobblers. You want some in each category to cover different depths.

Brown & Orange, or Olive & Brown. Toss out a crayfish trap in your area...then match the hatch.