king fisher

Go to your sonar screen. Scroll back until you see the object you want to mark. Press select. It will mark the spot exactly where your unit was when whatever transducer you were using was over the object. GPS is in your unit, not the transducer. Older units, you had to mark a waypoint the instant you drove over it, and would still be a little off. Most newer units let you scroll back on your sonar screen and mark the spot long after you have passed over it. Some units you can even mark the spots while you are at home reviewing the day. I believe the ability to mark spots this way is one of the best advancements in electronics that has come out in the last few years. Having to criss cross a spot several times to get the waypoint in the right place was always a big waste of time.

I simply keep it all in my head. I can't remember birthdays, jokes, or what my wife wanted me to pick up at the store, but I can remember what size, brand, and how old every line is on all of my reels, including 40 or more Salt water reels, I use for work. I can even remember what leader material, and which knot I used. I even remember what line is on my friends reels. If I wrote it down in a notebook, I would forget where the book is, and if I put it on my computer, I either wouldn't be able to find it, or wouldn't be able to remember a pass word to get at it. I guess I have what my wife calls selective memory.

If I had to choose between one hard bait to fish for any fresh water sport fish in the US. It would be a toss up between, a Bomber Model A original Storm Wiggle Wart, or a floating Rapala. Cast, or trolled, Bass, Salmon, Trout, or Walley, I would be confident fishing one of these and nothing else. I fish a Bomber 7A almost every time I go bass fishing, and probably should fish it more.

Not even live bait gets bit all of the time. Every method has a place and time that it works best, but when they are biting, usually multiple techniques will work. Anglers tend to fish their strengths, and remember what worked in the past, without considering maybe something else might have worked also. Two anglers on the same lake may be crushing them. One with finnesse the other with power. Both are convinced their method was the only way to go.

Do you change the internal brakes often? Or do you leave them set at half, and only change the external brakes? I don't mind changing outside brakes, I do it on my Diawa's all of the time. I am curious if it is common for anglers to constantly change the internal brakes. Thanks.

For the past few years I have been using Diawa reels for bass fishing, and am happy with the performance. I am thinking about buying a new reel, and the Shimano Curado looks like a reel I would like to try. My question is how often do readers take the side plate off and change the brake settings. Do anglers change the settings often depending on wind and lure weight, or do they set them once, and forget about them. One of the advantages of Diawa is simplicity with one brake control on the outside of the reel. If most people only set the brakes once in a great while, on the Shimano's, than that advantage wouldn't really mater, and I might give the Curado a try.

No help from me. Bait Monkey makes me open all mine before I even get them home.

In Alaska the law is, if a fish was caught in a catch and release season, or body of water, weighing and taking a picture would be legal. If a body of water is closed to a certain fish species, and a fish of that species was caught accidently than you would be required to release immediately without removing from the water, no weighing, no picture. Otherwise people would be tempted to target the closed species while planning on using the excuse of an accidental catch when caught. This law had to be clarified in Alaska because one year they closed the King Salmon season on a river, and some lodges stayed open while catch and release fishing for Kings. They claimed they were fishing for Chum salmon, even though true fishing for chums was in a totally different part of the river, with different lures. Other lodges quite fishing for Kings, while truly targeting the chums, and immediately released Kings if caught accidentally. Every state is different, but the intent of the law is the same. A catch and release fishery, means intentionally catching and releasing a species of fish. A closed fishery means closed to targeting a certain species, accidental catches are true accidents, released immediately. An honest anger will not go fishing, planning on having accidents.

I am certain a Red Eye Shad Can't catch a fish in a tree 30 feet above the water, but for some strange reason I have tried.

I planned on fishing three days last week, and at least three days this coming week,but I took my car to the shop on Monday, and a one day job still isn't finished, it's a holiday in Mexico this weekend, so I doubt it will be done by the end of next week. A mechanic that was supposed to do some work on the boat I captain, was supposed to show up and do some work last week, that he promised to finnish two weeks ago. Of course he had a different excuse every day for not making it and I'm sure he will have more excuses this coming week. Last week, I had to have one tooth pulled, two root canals, and I'm still not done with the dentist, but I can't complain because my wife is my dentist. I might have time to fish one day this weekend. I will be busy with work the following week, so if I'm lucky, I will get to fish one day during what I planned on being a two week break from work. I definitely would not let yard work get in the way of me going fishing. With the attitude I have right now, if I had a yard I would pay someone to put enough Round Up on it to make sure nothing would grow for a 100 years, and if I had a leak in my roof, I would put a bucket under the leak, grab a tent, and move to the lake.

Thanks. That fish was in early January. Only decent fish of the day. Great start, but I haven't been able to get back to that lake sense. Work is getting in the way of my bass fishing. I hope to get some time in April to chase the big ones.

My first bass this year was a good one. Just under 26 inches, and a little over 10 pounds.

I went a year without sonar on my kayak. I wanted one, but didn't have the money to buy one. I caught lots of big bass, but it took me a year to find many of the spots I fish. I had to troll crankbaits to determine depth, and type of bottom. I did catch fish, and locate structure, but lost many crankbaits and had a hard time going back to specific spots trying to triangulate with objects on the bank. When I got my fish finder, a simple Garmin without side scan, I instantly found trees rocks, and fish that would have taken me all day before to find. I could find schools of bait, and other life first thing in the morning, and have a good idea what depth to fish the rest of the day. I could even predict what shoreline cover would be worth trying because of bait and fish I found close by. I created my own map of the lake, and would study the map, my tracks and waypoints when I get home. I can even show friends my map, and where I fish, to get their opinions of where to try next time. I can instantly tell how much the lake has risen, or dropped telling me weather a place at the other end of the lake will be a good place to fish, or high and dry without wasting my time going there to take a look. In the past certain places have only been good at certain depths, and I can instantly tell from my sonar, and map if those places are worth trying or not. The more I learn about the lake, the more I rely on my fish finder to save time. I now know my lake like the back of my hand, but would rather restrict myself to one lure and a hand line, than not have my fish finder.

Get the reel you want, and buy your wife some flowers. If you have to spend a couple days in the kennel, at least you will have a new reel to play with.

Bass do not care what time it is, but my wife does.

Diawa BG best salt water reel for the price even twice the price

Sunglasses, Swiss Army Knife, hat, watch, toilet paper, pliers, spinnerbait, at least one working rod and reel, spare line, tape measure, scale, water, lunch, and positive attitude. I leave work, and any problems behind.

Here in Mexico, usually fish a buzz bait, whenever I take Ice out of my cooler.

Because once in awhile I get a bite.

When I was 13 years old back in 1976 a three pound bass smashed my only top water plug, a Fred Arbogast Jitterbug. I instantly became an Arbogast fan. My friend and I had many arguments on what was better, a Heddon Crazy Crawler, or a Jitterbug. I didn't care how many bass he caught on hia Crazy Crawler, that three pound bass had me hooked on the Jitterbug. He was loyal to Heddon, I was an Fred Arbogast fan. I fish almost every brand now, but still have a Jitterbug.

Good luck. I know the method I described works. I did it many many times over 20 years with zero physical exertion or damage to my boat. But I do realize there are many ways to skin a cat.

Floro will last a long time making it cost effective only if you don’t change lures and retie often. I have to respool often not because the line goes bad but because after removing frayed sections and retying the amount of line on my reel gets low. If you have many specialized rods and don’t change lures often the cost is not so bad.

Use a long rope to drag the boat. No need to get the car close. Don’t lift boat on trailer, instead use your hand winch with a long strap like normal. When you crank the handle the trailer pulls under the boat and wheelies straight in the air. As you keep cranking the boat and trailer come back down. Then hook the trailer back up and drive off. I wish I had pictures. This method worked for me many times in all kinds of crazy places. I even launched my boat off of a bridge embankment and retrieved it this way.

Use a rope attached to your vehicle and drag boat to level ground. Back trailer to boat. Take trailer off of hitch. Crank trailer under boat. Front of boat and trailer will come off of ground about head high. Let it go up.this is not a problem. Once boat is completely on trailer. Lower the front and place back on hitch. I did this hundreds of times with a 16 foot Lowe john boat full of decoys for many years duck hunting in Alberta with minimal damage to my boat and back. Many places I would hunt would look to be impossible to launch a boat but if there were ducks and geese I would find a way

Spinnerbait. I can work it slow on the bottom, like a jig with some flash, fast on top like a buzz bait, or anywhere in-between. They are inexpensive, can catch multiple fish without re rigging or replacing, I can change or replace pieces, (skirt, or blades) and I rarely loose one to snags.