Heron

Joe....you two were meant to be together. It is destiny.

They are the ideal, weedless, topwater, muck surfing, pond plastic. And kick up more than any other buzz frog. Show some love......It calls to you, haunting your dreams at night, saying "Joe.....buy me.....Joe....Fish love me....Joe...you need me."

I dont see any Rage Tail Shads. The Rage Tail Shad is your friend.

You can still lighten your load here, by not bringing all of those bags of plastics. When fishing from the bank, theres a fair chance youre not going to need them. At least not until youve established, which baits are working for you and which ones are not. Except for maybe the stick worms. Id bring that bag, If you can bear it, try just pre-rigging one or two items from those bags, and leave the bags at home.

Ive used them as well. Aside from using them as a jig trailer, Ive also rigged them snagless with an offset hook, and an internal weight. Havent caught anything with them yet.

Agreed, much more enjoyable. I see the guys down the way, carrying 5 rods, and slinging a large duffle bag full of gear....I think to myself, naaah, that is not my preference.

Nice, mine is similar, but smaller still. I use the "Plano 3380 Small Fish Scene Bag(Camo)." Accomodates only 3 3500 boxes. I typically only load two, with extra space for misc. items.

Fear not, Joe. This whole thing becomes much easier as you catch more fish. You will eventually start to see some consistency in what baits become most productive versus those that are not, and you will grasp a better understanding of the conditions which stimulated that productiveness. Once you get to that point, Youll know enough to go walking the shoreline with just a handful of baits, and still get fish.

I dont know.....I cant speak for most guys. But the small satchel type bag sure suits my needs well enough.

Who-what?

Get yourself a gaff. hey you never know.

If consistently fishing shallow water, consider adding a double colorado spinnerbait for that sort of use. One of the attributes of the double colorado configuration, is that it tends to generate more lift than others. This can keep it high in the water column and allows you to cruise it through the shallows very nicely, even with a slow retrieve, with little effort.

You could limit your storage space. Instead of taking a backpack, take one of those smaller satchels with you. The kind that only holds a couple 3500 boxes. So when you pack it, whatever wont fit, stays home.

Just try not to let your imagination get away from you. Dont let your mind trick you into thinking that you absolutely need to be prepared for anything and everything that you may encounter, or otherwise youre going to miss out on "the fish of a lifetime." so to speak. Its easy to keep your colors simple. As mentioned above. White is universally good for swimming baits, in almost all water conditions. Greens and Blacks for bottom baits, again good for all water conditions. Its all gravy after that.

Id say its all in your head. 3/8oz Colorado/Willow spinnerbaits have caught me 4lbers and plenty of 1lbers. But if youre really looking to go smaller, there are quite few micro-sized options out there.

Use some Mend-It.

Simple, the answer is....Riot baits, Fuzzy Beaver

This....

Hey nice, a worm dispenser.

Im not famiiar with it at all. But I will check it out. What are some of its best attributes?

So theres 3 votes for braid. Im kind of leaning away from braid though. Only because Im finding that I dont have much need for neither its great strength, or great sensitivity. All of my fish are/have been caught by pulling a bait with a slow, steady retrieve, through water that is mostly devoid of vegitation. But I'll take this into consideration.

You may be right

2 votes for Yo-Zuri. Both for mono I presume. Ok, why Yo-Zuri rather than other brands of mono?

If you had only one rod (Baitcaster 7ft MH), to use for all of your baits, and all of your fishing....what would be your best preferred line to use, for handling everything?

I bought a pack of hooks.