IgotWood

Arctic fox is a wonderful material for these types of jigs. It is very soft and supple, and acts much like marabou in the water, except it maintains its bulky appearance the water, unlike marabou. It can be pricey to buy in small packs, and you also get mostly shorter hairs. I buy my arctic fox from a fly shop in WA that sells whole tails for cheap. They have a ton of colors to choose from, and you'll get plenty of long hair to tie with. Another nice material that you may like are EP brushes. Craft fur brushes, and arctic fox brushes are part of that line. You can google it and find it at a lot of fly shops. Search it on youtube so you can see how to use it. Brushes are a fun material to tie with.

Understand that most guides aren't anxious to give out too much information. He may have spent many years learning that lake, and perhaps is keen on something that others aren't. That's my guess as to why his answers were vague. I am only a year into bass fishing myself, and still learning. This being my second season fishing the same two local lakes, I am now able to predict, to a degree, where the bait will be. Everything mentioned previously is accurate. When I fish a new body of water, I use my sonar to look for changes on the bottom, ie; depth, hard/soft bottom, brush, etc. Often times I'll mark the bait in these areas, or see cormorants, or other birds looking for the bait. Birds, in my opinion are the best sign to alert me to bait.

I fish a lake with tons of cypress. A few things I've noticed is that on most days the fish will hold on one side of the trees...either the sunny side, or the shade side. Pay attention to which side of the trees you get bit on, and focus your efforts on that side. And like someone mentioned, the roots extend out further than you think, and often times the fish will be near the top and against the trunk, and sometimes they may be near the bottom and 6' away from the tree, as you see it on the surface. I don't have much luck with moving baits on the trees. I do well with senkos (obviously), t-rigged craws with a pegged weight, and sometimes a jig when the weeds aren't too bad. With the craws and jigs, I make my pitch and let it fall. I'll move it or hop once or twice and then pick it up and pitch again to another part of the tree. I think if I were you, since there are so many targets, I would want to cover water. Maybe a spinner bait, and a craw.

Rage Structure Bug Power Team Conviction Craw Power Team Craw Devour Not exactly a craw, but I fish the Rage Structure Bug a lot, and I do very well with it. But this season I have been smoking them with the Power Team Lures Conviction Craw. It's big and ugly, and it works! However, I'd rig it on a flippin hook for better hook-sets. The Power Team Craw Devour is goo too when I want something a little bit smaller.

I'll admit I do not rinse them after every use in freshwater. However, if I take them in the salt, I rinse them very well immediately when I get home. But as I said previously, I have only oiled them once. And when I did, I used two drops, which I quickly realized was a little bit too much.

Lews recommends that you open up the reel and oil it after every use. Des anyone actually do it? I've owned my reels for a year now and have only oiled them once. The last time I did it, they didn't cast well for a few days, and they made a crazy whistling sound. I've had my reels in the salt a few times recently, and I feel like I need to open them up and oil them to prevent any corrosion. Anyway, I'm just curious how often every does this, and if anyone has had the same issue.

I use the Gamakatsu G-Finess. Awesome hooks...strong, wide gap, slender weight design, and the weed guard works well without inhibiting the hook-up ratio. They're a little expensive, but well worth it. Also, I saw a guy fishing a plain old EWG hook with a pegged bullet weight, and he caught plenty of fish. So your idea of choosing a hook and tying your own weed guard may work out well for you.

I picked up a pack of Gamakatsus to try. They look just like the Owner, same baitkeeper too. Hopefully it works. Those Trokar's are no joke! I miss VERY few fish with them. I just seem to spend more time re-rigging my bait or rigging news ones than I do fishing...

I've recently made the switch from offset hooks to flippin hooks. I have definitely noticed an increase in the hooksets. However, I have also noticed that I burn through baits faster too. Yesterday I burned through a whole bag of Structure Bugs for only three fish. The hook point doesn't stay buried in the bait, and the bait keeper doesn't stay in the head very well. I also seem to tear a lot of baits just simply pulling it through the weeds. What gives? Am I doing something wrong? I'm using Trokar hooks.

Cliff Outdoors! They make storage boxes for fly fishing. Perfect for your application. I tie lots a giant articulated trout streamers and store them in this boxes. Plenty of room inside, won't flatten out the hair/feathers on your jigs, and they dry well too. The Fishpond Sushi Roll is another option, which would also work well for you.

I use the 90 a lot. I had the same problems you're having. As others have said, let the bait rest for a second or two before beginning your retrieve, and as you begin your retrieve, give it a couple of fast cranks to pull the head of the bait up. I always fish this bait with my rod tip up high. Not only does it allows for the best action, it also hooks every fish that bites. Seriously, I don't think I have ever missed a single fish on the plopper. They set the hook themselves if you keep the tip up, and the line tight.

Structure Bug was money for me last year. Haven't had much luck with the Pit Boss.

Gamakatsu G-Finess. This small gauge hook is super sharp, and super strong. I have never bent one. The weed guard is wire, but it is very supple, yet just sturdy enough to keep the gunk off the hook. I use this hook exclusively unless I need to fish weightless. I would say my hook-up ratio with this hook is 9:10.

Core Shot Luminous tail is my go-to in all conditions! My next three are watermelon/neon, PB&J, and Junebug. I mainly fish cloudy green water, and some tea-stained water.

I started learning how to fly fish around that age. My uncle taught me. He was probably the most patient man to ever walk the earth. I would suggest a class or two, if possible. Or, if you know anyone who fly fishes, maybe they can at least help you learn to cast. Don't go out and spend a ton of money on a rod. Get something inexpensive, and upgrade as you get better and decide to stick with it. There is also TONS of content on youtube. As for the fishing part...you an use a very simple assortment of flies to catch panfish. I would go somewhere where you know you can catch a ton of bream, perch, etc. I would also recommend surface flies (dry flies) at first, like, grass hoppers, crickets, or small panfish poppers. I recommend this for two reason...It's a blast to catch fish on top, no matter what they are, and this is the perfect way to keep a child engaged in something difficult. Second, it trains you to control your line a little bit, and know what effect your line has on the fly. You can also try some simple streamers which you cast out and strip in just like you would a crank bait.

Pursuit

Do yourself a big favor, and reconsider the NuCanoe, or the Wilderness Radar. They are both in the same price range, and they've got great features. That wide open deck on them, and their stability, as well as paddle-ability it top notch. I just recently bough a Hobie and am having a little bit of buyer's remorse. I wish I had bought the Radar or the NuCanoe.

They all do their job just fine. I always wore Simms and BUFF, but since I have found those SA buffs, I haven't bought any others. The SA buffs work just fine, and they are super cheap.

At 5", I too thought it's a little big for finess fishing. I was able to see a shoddy tank demo on YouTube where it was rigged weightless on a worm hook and it fell horizontally and shimmied sort of like a senko.

Saw a video ad for these yesterday. It's new to me. Seems rather interesting, but I don't know whether it is a fitness bait, jig trailer, or a t-rig bait. Anyone here fish with it? Would you recommend it? How do you fish it?

I do not believe it is an advantage over paddle kayaks. Yeah, hands-free is a nice feature, but they are not as agile as paddle kayaks. You can't turn on a dime with a pedal drive. With my old paddle yak, I could make one stroke and turn my kayak 90 degrees without moving the boat. This is something I really miss, because I fish lots of isolated cover, and boat position is very important to me. You can't do this with a pedal drive. Sure I could unstrap the paddle on my Hobie and make my adjustment, but I try not to. There certainly are pros and cons to each, and I think they weigh out evenly. No advantage to either style kayak, in my opinion.

Well, clearly the evidence shows that wacky worms work for just about everyone, in just about any conditions. I have caught fish with them in temps from 40-90 degrees. THEY WORK! But to answer your question about the color. Yes, I'm sure green pumpkin will work. Fisherman usually determine the color of their bait by the clarity of the water, or by the presence of bait. There are also colors that simply work on one lake, and not another. Green pumpkin is a great place to start. If I have less than 2' of visibility in the water, I'll use something like black, or purple.

I really like the new Ascend! Nice design, and a wide open deck. I have heard from quite a few folks who say it is just as stable as any other modern kayak that guys are standing on. I wouldn't exactly call this an entry level boat. If you're willing to shop at that price point, you should take a peak at a few others, like the Vibe, Perception, etc. There are plenty of other good kayaks out there in that price range.

I just ordered a pack of Bombshell Turtles. Seems like the perfect bait to drop in the beds during the spawn. I'm curious if anyone here has experience with this bait. Not sure whether to t-rig it, of rig it on a swim bait hook. I even thought about the neko rig. Have you ever watched a turtle? They go almost completely vertical to swim down to the bottom. Anyhow, just curious what everyone has to say about it. Cheers!

Goin Ike. Very catchy, and contemporary. An old childhood friend of mine wrote that song. He actually just released a second record, all about fishing.