king fisher

You will never be best friends with the Bait Monkey if you don't throw crankbaits into cover not made for treble hooks. You will however catch bass that ignored your less snag prone lures. Once you start catching big bass out of trees, it can be very addictive. The higher the risk, the higher the reward. My PB came from the middle of a large tree with many branches. I fished a worm, and a spinnerbait through the tree with no success. I thought I could get a big bass on a square bill, but wasn't sure I could finesse it through all the branches, and I was sure I wouldn't be able to maneuver my Kayak well enough in the strong wind to get the bait off, if I snagged. I went for it, and the first cast I had a new PB. Start fishing cranks in rip rap, to get confidence in them. Rock banks were made for cranks. The more fearless you become, with crankbaits the better friend the Monkey will be.

That will work

Rig the center one with a hook and a bait either larger or a different color than the others. Rig all the rest with no hook baits. You will hook just as many fish having one hook bait as two. The bass will hit the furthest back different looking bait most of the time. Umbrella rigs used in salt water are often rigged this way.

7 inch Senko, Wacky rigged, June bug if I can find them, Black blue flake if I run out of June bug. Fishing this way may be classified as sacrilegious to many, but you northern fineness fisherman can't sick the bass police on me, because they have no jurisdiction south of the boarder. what happens in Mexico, stays in Mexico.

No. Only because they don't ever sell fishing tackle door to door. If they did, the salesmen might as well move in to the closest motel and save himself some driving time.

Yes, my scale said 10.3 lbs. I have a new scale now but unfortunately my unknown lake has been discovered, and the fishing isn't what it used to be. There are still giant bass there, I lost one a few weeks ago, but I can no longer go there and hook a double digit every time a fish there. It may be awhile before I get a new PB and weigh it on a quality scale. At the time, I didn't think it was a big deal. I assumed I could go to the lake and catch a bigger one easily and weigh it on an accurate scale when I got one. I now know DD don't come so easy, and wish I would have bought a good scale when the Bait Monkey told me to. I didn't even have any scale when I landed the bass in my Avatar. It measured 25 3/4 inches. To be on the safe side, I estimate it at 10-11 pounds. It was caught mid morning on a spinnerbait.

Mid April 2021, 7:00 PM, 72 degree surface temp., cloudy skies, 25 kts. west wind, 25' deep, large standing tree, 6th. Sense Mini Mag Square bill bluegill color, deflected off tree branches, Diawa 7' medium travel rod, Tatula reel with 12lbs Big game line, and my wife thinks I have a poor memory.

I use them to take up unused space in my house, along with boxes of lures I am saving for the same purpose.

I believe camera's kill almost as many fish of many species as do fillet knives. I have witnessed and am myself guilty of mishandling fish only for the sake of a photo. Pictures of bass are great to have, and can be taken with no harm to the fish. A plan must be in place before the fish is hooked, and if you can't get a picture without decreasing the chance of survival, than keep the camera stored, and cherish the moment with your memory. I have been as guilty as any one when it comes to camera kill. I am currently making every attempt I can to listen to my own advise.

May be true, but my parents always told me it was better to be early than late, and that advice has served me well in life.

Using the same retrieve speed and cadence, even when it isn't working. The slower the fishing the more I fall back in to the same old chuck and wind mode.

I don't care when I have to get out of bed, or if I have to camp, sleep in my car, or stay on the water all night. Any time I'm in pursuit of of bass or ducks, I guarantee I will be on the water at sunrise.

I fished a river that had very few small mouth bass in it. The fish that were there were big with an average of around 4 pounds. I was almost the only one that fished there. In the summer the water would get so low, I could jump from rock to rock and cross it without getting my feet wet. The bass were only in a few places. The spots were very predictable and the bass easy to catch. I would catch one or two out of each hole, then walk down to the next place and catch another one. I rotated the stretches of river I would fish. In a couple mile stretch of river there would be two to three places were I could catch one or two bass from. I had access to about 20 miles of river and would fish almost every day. I was able to fish a stretch, then rest it about a week before going back particular spot. If I only rested a particular spot a day or two, I would either get skunked or catch a couple 8 inch bass. One time I got skunked at my favorite whole. I hadn't fished there in over a week and was very shocked at my lack of luck. I found out later a friend of mine had fished there a couple days before and caught two over 4 pounds. That solved the mystery of my skunking. If the river didn't almost dry up every summer, I'm sure a couple other locals and I that fished there would not have been able to over fish it, as long as we were careful to release the bass in good condition. As it was, the river was marginal for survival of bass. Fish and Game said there was only carp and a sucker like fish called a northern pike minnow in the river. An old man that had a house on the river kept the bass a secret for years, but let it slip one day when I was talking to him about trapping there. I'm sure I repeatedly caught every bass in the river. If it would have been a pond instead of a long river there is not doubt in my mind that I could have over fished it all by myself. As it was I could keep catching the same bass as long as I rested each section of river for a week or so.

The Bait Monkey, and his cousin the guns and amo monkey lived with me for over 30 years. They especially enjoyed showing me new Cabela's catalogues while drinking beer late at night, every time I got back to my house after working in the AK Bush for a few months. When I got married, I assumed they would simply move to the spare room in my house, and life would continue as normal. Living in Mexico forced the G and A Monkey to move out permanently, and I haven't seen him in years. The Bait Monkey keeps coming back, even though my wife has bloodied his nose more than once. Poor guy has a permanent limp, and lives in a homeless camp a few blocks away. He does still get to celebrate Christmas and my birthday with me, and once in awhile I meet with him in the alley behind my house. This usually happens after watching a Tactical Bass'n video or looking at one of AJ's posts complete with obscene tackle photos. The truth be told, I don't need the Monkey at all. I have enough fishing gear to last a lifetime. I just hate to severe ties completely with such a good life long friend. I do wish he would quite climbing on my back and yelling Zillion in my ear every time I see him. After all Christmas is a long way's off. Even if it is my birthday, he better not bring up the expensive glide bait subject again. I don't think my wife is capable of murder, but I sure would hate to have to buy the Monkey a head stone with the words I told you so written on it.

Yes. I have used it for all my big game reels for years. I have never found an application for a hollow braid splice for bass fishing. Now that many manufactures make hollow braid in 65# test a person might want to give it a try. The biggest advantage of hollow braid, would be never having to replace the braid. You can simply splice in a few yards of new line when your reel starts to get low. A hollow braid splice is 100% in strength, and almost impossible to tell where the splice was made. Finger trap splice with hollow braid to leader is also !00% strength, but I replace my leaders too often while bass fishing to to bother with the splice, because of the time it takes to make the connection.

My casting accuracy is 10 out of 10. I can hit dead on 10 out of 10 of the only snags along a mostly snag free bank. Some are sticks so small, that most people wouldn't even notice them, but I can hit them and snag my lure from up to 30 yards away. I also must be better than most at distance, because I can loose lures higher up in a tree than any of the other peoples lures I see lost in the same tree.

What about the Okuma Hakai? Anyone have experience with this reel. Lots of buzz when it came out, but I haven't seen any reviews by some one who has had one for awhile.

Don't do it. I tried to compare the action of two different paddle tail swimbaits in my bath tub, and my wife almost had me committed to a mental hospital. She still has the pictures she threatens to post on the internet whenever the Bait Monkey tries to sneak in the house.

Give me your hard baits. I would put them to good use. Bass where I fish love them.

Bass live in the thick stuff. If you are scared of loosing lures, go troll for trout.

Not true. Bass relate to the current in a river. They station in feeding lanes, and resting areas wherever they are, weather close to the bank are in the middle. The current brings and concentrates there food, and current breaks provide a place to rest. The best places are where a bass can rest while still able to access a feeding lane. Examples would be an undercut bank on an outside bend, or behind a big rock in the middle of a tail out. Any river will have many prime places, as well as strictly feeding or resting spots. Location from the bank as nothing to do with their location.

I used the Uni to Uni and Albright for years. Both easy to tie strong knots. I haven't used either of those knots once I saw my first Alberto There is a learning curve to tying the Alberto. If you make a couple of the common mistakes the knot will fail. I have seen many videos where the person teaching others how to tie the Alberto is making those exact mistakes. Once you learn to tie the Alberto correctly , it is stronger, faster, and slimmer than a Uni to Uni. If you already know how to tie the Uni to Uni and don't want to learn a new knot, than I'm sure the fish wont care and neither should you.

xxxx happens.

It never hurts to have a lure in the water. I even through out a soft plastic and let it sit on the bottom while I'm taking a break eating my lunch. Every time I move to a new location with my kayak I troll something. My normal speed is over 3 MPH so some lures will not work. Many times I catch bass trolling medium to deep diving crankbaits, even when I am not catching them casting the same baits. This usually means I'm reeling my crankbaits to slowly. I then start speeding up my retrieve and start catching while casting. Sometimes the reason is my crankbait is diving deeper on the troll. Switching to a deeper diving crankbaits can then improve casting success. I recently have started trolling an A rig when I move, but haven't been able to keep pedaling slow enough to make this work. I seem to have a pace I always revert back to which is to fast. Here is a list of lures that I have had luck trolling with a Kayak in order of effectiveness for me. 1. Bomber 7 A 2. Shad Rap 3. Rapala DT 10-14-16 4. Spro Rock Crawler. 5. Square bill crankbait 6. Floating Rapala 7.Rattle Trap 8. Inline spinner 9. Spinner Bait More expensive crankbaits work, but I tend to snag more while trolling so I start with less expensive ones and the 7A probably works best anyway. I haven't tried any surface baits but after reading this thread, I may give a buzz bait and a wake bait a try.