Doelman

Snap swivels? No, just snaps or swivels. I use snaps all the time up in canoe country when I only bring two rods with me. I typically use the smallest ones possible that exceed whatever pound test I use, just make sure to buy quality ones. They don't last forever though! Make sure to constantly inspect your knot/line/snap. I never noticed any reduction in catch rate, but honestly the fish up there are voracious most of the time.

Trolling cranks

I use wacky rigs and shakyheads fairly often, never a ned rig, but I use them interchangeably. When conditions call for finesse fishing, how do you pick between the three?

If it was me, I would go deeper than 5' if you can. I had a pond in south Florida that was roughly an acre and also about 5' deep in the middle, during a pretty bad drought almost every single fish in that pond died due to low O2. If you guys are digging it yourself, take that sucker down to bedrock. The more water in there the better.

Good deal! Keep em coming.

You make it sound so easy, it isn't, especially getting a big tarpon. If you only have one day to fish, you definitely want to get a guide, especially if you want to get a nice tarpon. Even then you probably won't get one. Peacock bass are easy, nice snook are not. If you're happy with catching smaller individuals of those species, you can do that on your own in the brackish waters.

Nice fish! I hope you released it alive... but judging by the bathroom shot I'm kind of doubting it.

I fish in Quetico Provincial Park every year and you have to pinch your barbs in there, never noticed any difference in landing fish. The one negative I have noticed though is that the barb helps keep oring rigged senkos on the hook, without the barb they often slide right off.

"Caught" my first snake this year while fishing. I almost filled my shorts when I stuck my hand in there.

My gut feeling tells me a fluorocarbon leader helps in clear water, but I have no way to prove that. What I do know is that it has better abrasion resistance, it is less visible, it has less tendency to get fouled on your lure/hooks, and it helps you from losing the line on your spool when you break off or retie. I always use a fluorocarbon leader on braid, always. Uni to uni knot, never fails, takes a minute to tie once you get the hang of it.

I'll have to give those pointers a try, little more reasonable on the price. How well does that lure retriever work? Can they get single hook lures like jigs and such off the bottom as well? For $25 on a bass lure it should be incredibly hard to bend out the hooks, just my opinion.

Pike are funny fish. I usually go up north for a week or two every year into Quetico/Boundary Waters. I always bring some musky lures to try to get a big pike, and I fail every year. How did I manage to catch my PB 40" pike? On a freaking senko when I was bass fishing, with a light action rod, 10 lb braid, fluorocarbon leader, hooked it perfectly in the side of the mouth. I thought I was snagged on a big branch as I slowly pulled it up to the surface, then this guy stuck his huge head out of the water, I yelled, he took off and then the fight begun. Crazy fish.

Anyone ever fish these two side by side? I've had the STX for a few weeks now, it hasn't lit up the water by any means but it does catch fish. Not sure if I should invest the money into a few Visions though.... seems like a lot of hype, and $25 for a twitch bait is awfully pricey when there are so many good twitch baits out there for 1/5 the price.

I had a similar experience, I was bass fishing and hooked into a pike, it ended up biting the bait off. My dad caught a pike a few minutes later and what did it have in it's mouth? My lure lol

My great grandfather used to fish as well, but I don't have any pictures of him. Grandfather Father Myself

X3 on the thermacell, it flat out works. I'll be absolutely covered up in mosquitoes, turn the thermacell on, and within minutes I won't get bit again a single time. Might be an issue if it's really windy, but otherwise it's great. I don't use bug spray for mosquitoes when I fish or when I'm doing yard work anymore.

Wow, I used to live in north central Florida and did some fishing in the Mill Pond and Chipola River near Marianna, fishing those springs was some of the hardest fishing I've ever experienced. That was before I learned about finesse fishing, looks like I really missed out, those are some nice clear water bass!

Maybe I'm in the minority but I love it when they jump, I also fish with light tackle so maybe I'm one of those anglers that's more about the experience of fishing than actually bringing fish into the boat. Different if it's a tournament, or if you're food fishing, or if it's a big one you want to get some pictures of. Otherwise, the higher they fly the better!

I'm looking for a fishfinder I can use out of a canoe. The transducer has to be able to be removed easily, it needs good battery life, and the battery pack needs to be a reasonable weight. It'll be used on local lakes but also up in the Boundary Waters for week long trips, hence the battery requirements. Any suggestions?

Why would you use braid without a leader on a finesse rig? It takes 1 minute to cut off a 6 foot piece of fluoro and uni uni it to your main line. I've never had an issue getting excellent natural action using braid with a leader, but I only use Gary senkos and they tend to sink faster than most. I would never fish senkos if I couldn't watch the line, gut hooking is a problem if you aren't on top of the bite.

Use a floating line like braid. I've never caught a bass on a senko that I couldn't see the line acting strange when bit, I also don't leave it on the bottom for more than a second before popping it. If I ever even think I may have been bit, I'll reel until I either feel the weight of the fish or bait. With that said, big bass can inhale these things even when you see them take it and gut hook themselves. The only thing that will stop that is a hook big enough they can't swallow, but you'll get less bites.

I'm like you, I've stayed away from soft plastic baits until about last year. I kept hearing about how great these senkos are so I asked my buddy who fishes bass tournaments pretty often about them, "I never fish without one tied on to one of my rods" he said, well heck, now I have to try them. I've caught my largest SMB (5 lb), LMB (7 lb), and pike (41") with them since, they're ridiculous, from the deep south to Canada they catch fish. I was fishing a local lake last week. I caught 1 LMB on a jerk bait and then I turned to the senkos since the bite was so slow, caught 8 more with the largest at 6 lbs over the course of 2.5 hours. I talked to 5 other boats on the lake that afternoon, one guy caught 2 and the rest said "not a bite". I still like to fish with other lures, but these things catch fish when nothing else does, no doubt about it.

Looking for advice on some tackle strategies for a semi private lake located in Alabama that I recently got access to. It's roughly 90 acres in size with a 80% developed shoreline. Lots of docks and tied up pontoon boats. A little bit of grass in some areas but not substantial, some trees and bushes but again not substantial. I have no idea how deep the lake is, but right off my friend's dock it's about 10-12 feet. Lake was created in the 70s by damming up a creek. It's stocked with shad, fertilized, and has a sizable population of sunfish, crappie, bass, and catfish from what I've seen/caught. Water is almost always green with around 3 feet of visibility. Pretty sure the lake bottom is mud/vegetation for the most part. I've fished it a half dozen times now with mixed results. There are big bass in here, I've heard reports of people catching them up to 10 lbs and I caught a 6 lber on my 3rd outing. It gets a bit of pressure but nothing serious and everyone is supposed to release all bass caught. I usually do pretty well with senkos, but I'm having a hard time with most moving baits and top waters. While catching bass with senkos is better than no fish at all, I would like to have some success with other artificials. What kind of tackle would y'all plan on using in this lake in the early summer?