Junk Fisherman

How often do you swim a tube? This is a technique I have never used. This past weekend I was in Door Co, Wisconsin for several days and my coangler caught some nice fish swimming a tube. He was slowly retrieving it over rocks in shallow water. He was doing this when it was very windy or when there was a lot of moss on the rocks. There was one time in particular when he caught a couple 3 lbers while fancasting a flat. I was throwing a spybait and a finesse swimbait and I had no action so clearly the fish preferred his tube. This experience really opened my eyes to this technique and I will experiment with it further. It also makes the tube more versatile. Just thought I'd share this.

Dropshot, Ned, Neko I fish 30' of water often and catch fish on all 3.

Don't even get me started on jinxed and superstitions!

Fruit- apples or bananas. I also keep granola bars in the boat.

Blue fleck, watermellon red, and watermellon candy are my 3 best producers. Along with Superhogs, Baby Brush Hogs were my best pitching baits.

Great job! Helluva day and congrats on the PB.

For spinning, I wouldn't go much over 8 lbs. I know a fella that swears by Gamma Touch 9 lb line. For baitcasters it really doesn't matter. Use either 12 or 15 lb flourocarbon on your baitcasters.

I've only used the YGK G-Soul sinking braid after it was recommended to me several years ago. It was much better than anything else I had tried (Power Pro, Daiwa, Suffix). I haven't tried any of the YGK lines because I was so satisfied with the sinking braid.

I use straight fluoro on at least 1 reel for pitching plastics and jigs. Never had a problem with it on baitcasters. On spinning reels I used to use straight 7 lb Gamma Touch for small swimbaits and that fine. No issues but my casting distance was not good as with the braid/fluoro setup.

I have a few more rods than reels. But in both cases I have gear that I am not using that I should sell.

I keep my glue in the refrigerator so it doesn't dry out. I always prepare my Neds and swimbaits beforehand. I haven't glued something in the boat for a long time.

This is what I use as well. I have a weather nerd colleague and he told me the weather App on the iPhone is just about the best one to use. He told me it was some other site and Apple bought it. I've been using it over a year and I agree that it is very accurate.

First thing is to consider the season. Being in St Louis, the fish should be getting to their summer patterns but still relatively shallow since we are not in the dog days of summer yet. I'd start by looking at shallow water cover. Weed edges, docks, shallow wood, riprap, mats- whatever the best cover is on the lake you are fishing. If that is not successful, I'm checking out structure and depth changes- dropoffs, points, humps, saddles, ect. Having FFS helps this a lot. In terms of presentations, you need need to match your lure to the cover on the structure you are fishing considering the fish's activity level and matching color with water clarity and forage. Overall, you are trying to find productive patterns using process of elimination and using feedback from the fish to guide the decisions you make. Experience helps tremendously in this process. Even when going to a new lake, veteran fishermen have experiences they can relate to wherever they are fishing giving them starting points to focus on. If it's a place you know well, your past experiences give you starting points and then you adjust on the water. Personally, I am much better locally than I was 20 years ago since I have so many experiences to draw from. I still try to fish new water every time I go out but overall it is much easier. Hope if helps.

I have 4 Steez rods including the 761 in both the 1st and 2nd generation. While I LOVE both of them, I wouldn't pay $669 for them. Looks like my next high-end spinning rod will be a NRX+. And like rangerjockey said, contact ALF for the best price. Saved big on one of the Steez rods I purchased over the winter with ALF.

I often do the opposite of this. Many times in the past I ended up throwing a Ned Rig for the majority of the day and while I'll catch a lot of fish, I didn't improve in any other technique. I read all these articles, watch all these videos, get all this stuff, and then end up using the same few lures. This is fine in a tournament when I only want to use confidence baits but if you do this all season long you just won't grow enough as a fisherman IMO. So what I'll often do to combat this is to set a 2-hour time limit before I can start using my confidence baits. There's been a few times I never even picked up the Ned Rig since I was catching them on other baits. This has helped me gain confidence in a Neko rig, free rig, using a drop-shot for shallow water largemouth, scroungers, underspins, and Cover Scats over the last couple years. But to the OP's post, I have done this with jigs in the past. Had some great days too.

I've caught a lot of bass (largemouth and smallmouth) on a 3/16th oz ballhead jig and a 4" Keitech Swing Impact (non-fat, longer skinny ones). I like Keitech and Owner jigs. Just cast, let it sink to your desired depth, and slowly retrieve. As a HS Coach this is what I always have my newbies use. I used this to finish 2nd in a tournament earlier this year when the wind was blowing 30 mi/hr.

I would just replace them. If they are wet cell then you have definitely gotten your money's worth. If they are AGMs, I would have liked to have seen you gotten a couple more years out of them but 5 years isn't that bad.

I used to always avoid the wind and fish in the calmest water possible. Nowadays on windy days I am always fishing windblown points and shorelines with fast moving baits. I also have greatly improved my boat control. I used to just let the wind take me down shorelines.

I do. Just this week I started getting bored about halfway through my day. I had fished Monday and then again Wednesday and was primarily using the same bait. I caught a lot of fish but nothing bigger than 18". But yeah I was getting bored and catching another 14"-15" didn't really do much. This winter I'll be dreaming of getting out and having a day like that.

Is that river good for a kayak? Would you recommend getting a guide for Watauga or someplace else? I'm going to be there a week with my family but I'll have time to do solo stuff.

I wish I was there too. This week has always been the time I have caught my biggest smallmouth including the 6.6 in my profile. But I'm leaving for your neck of the woods (Kingsport) this Friday for family stuff so I decided to stay home this week. Had a great day on Lake Michigan locally yesterday but GTB in early June has always been good for lots of 4s and 5s with the chance at a 6. I've seen KVD up there a couple times during this week.

I always focus on the east arm and launch on the center ramp. If you don't want to get the DNR pass and you're only going to be there a couple days, you can launch at Sawyer Park in Acme and pay to launch daily. ($5 last time I was there) There's a primitive launch without a dock off 31 in TC that is free. I see people launch bassboats there but they do the 2 poles down and are probably getting their feet wet. I've spent a lot of time fishing the bay in June but am usually leaving by the end of June. I can point you in the right direction. The biggest wave of the spawn will be done by then. This week would have been the time I would have gone there but I've got other family stuff to do. Traditionally, this is the time right now when the mass of bass are moving on their beds. End of June is prime spinnerbait time IMO. Good luck.

Are you getting the Steez? I was just throwing it out kinda as a joke. But if you're only going to have 1 spinning combo, that is the rod to have. I had a great day fishing Lake Michigan for smallies today and my main producer was a Ned on a 1/10th oz head and the new TRD FattyZ. I caught a good number of 16" to 18" healthy, strong smallies and fighting them on the Steez was an absolute joy. The rod is so sensitive, light, crisp, yet still has good backbone. The picture I posted was of a catfish I caught earlier this year on the Steez. Took me about 10 minutes to finally land it. You're going to love the rod.

I can't comment about the Expride but I can tell you that the Steez rod most comparable to the 742 (761 MML) is a level or 2 higher than the Champ HP in all respects. Granted, it was $200 more but that is money I am willing to spend for a much superior rod. Don't get me wrong, I like my 742 but it has become a rod I use for fast moving baits (swimbaits) or all-around while my Steez rods are for dedicated finesse, bottom contact baits (Neds, Nekos, tubes, shakey) in which I want max sensitivity. I would assume a NRX+ would outshine the Champ HP in the same manner.

Glad I bought two over the winter. At this price, I will buy a NRX instead.