Jmurphy87

I noticed that one of my local tackle haunts was declining on selection on the one minus for a minute. I figured that it was coming but never took heed, doesn’t really matter too much anymore since I offloaded most of my tackle and gear last year. Although it probably means I didn’t need it lol, but it’s still a sad loss.

You have caught a lot more Muskie than anyone else than I know, a well deserved congratulations for an amazing angler from me. GOD has definitely blessed you on your catches and success, you have put in the time, knowledge, patience.

Just a small guy but we did have quite a bit of rain last night so the river was flowing pretty decent and chocolate milk. Was hoping for some smallies but a fish is a fish and beats the skunk. Bill lewis gnat crank on a Kistler hunt x4ul with a conquest bfs with an upgraded roro spool and 8lb ygk sinking braid. It’s a blast no matter what you catch.

There’s a definite learning curve to it, but the reward for me in my past experience is usually larger fish consistently. Plus who doesn’t like fishing a frog at night when you can’t even see it. Night fishing will definitely hone your senses even more, especially if there just slurping a frog that you can’t see. I have had nights where I didn’t catch anything but I had to learn when and where to fish the spots. I enjoyed night fishing because I could get away from everyone and everything and just enjoy what I love doing and the nature that goes with it. I mostly fished top water when I did, from 9pm- 4am .

Well it was another disappointing day size wise, but it has been warmer the past few days. It was around 90 degrees again so I wanted to try a different time of day, late afternoon slash early evening. I had no luck in the river so I tried the bridge again, pretty sure that I hooked the same fish from yesterday but he shot out of the water like a rocket and threw my paddle tail back at me. That was it for the bridge, decided to parallel the bank on my way back to the car, it paid off and I beat the skunk. Tried below the spillway for a smaller but struck out and snagged my jig head. Decided to call it a day. But it was a good day overall because I caught something and that’s the name of the game. Try and learn something new from every trip and I did, a new spot to hit and that I might need a heavier weight.

90 degrees plus today, and sunny skies midday to boot. Small guy but in these conditions a fish is a fish and that beats a skunking lol. Was fun getting him up 15 feet plus to me on the bridge with my 8lb ygk maxdrag braid lol. 1/16 keitech jig head and a 3” easy shinner in fire craw. Guess this guy didn’t get the memo that it’s a spring color. Not that I buy the color thing, I just throw whatever colors that I want to so yeah, I am special.

Some more stuff that I just needed to have lol.

Yeah the accuracy and different trajectory of the cast makes it a blast. I have not given up on my ultralight spinning rod since it’s 2 piece and hides in the back of the car but I notice the difference greatly.

Just a couple small ones on my bfs setup, it’s still fun as long as something is biting. Lures bill lewis gnat crank bait, mepps size 0 inline spinner that weighs around 2.3 grams if I remember correctly from the last time that I weighed it.

I get the color name thing, it’s why I just shop by the colors that I am trying to use for the local forage or what works best. I really don’t know why they call some of the colors what they do. think that it’s just a sales gimmick in all reality, it’s also why I don’t try to get sucked into just using one color. I don’t want to have a constant go to and just want to keep mixing it up.

I took the ultralight spinning setup out with 2lb line and a very minimalist tackle tray from bkk. I caught 2 on a little minnow bait. Ultralight and river smallies are a blast especially with 2lb line. But I love challenging myself to try new things.

Nothing special out of me but at least I didn’t get skunked. I didn’t get out before 9pm and the light was fading quickly. No bites in the pond so I headed down to the river producing this feisty little guy. Very close to the bank along the rocks and under the trees. Caught on a 1/8 keitech jig head with a 3inch easy shiner in Arkansas shiner color. I had one about the similar size come off while trying to land it. But any day you catch a river smallie is a good day.

Yeah the river giveth and taketh away is pretty much how it goes, after a little while you get more in tune with what is hiding on the bottom wether it be rocks laid out oddly or snaggy debris such as limbs and other storm debris reclaimed by nature. But the thing to remember is that what takes your tackle is also relatable cover for the fish. Just got put in the time to find what pieces they are hiding near. I use to avoid certain spots because I would always lose stuff if I tried to target that specific cover, although try as I might I would still end up fishing it and lose some tackle but it usually produced fish when I did. I lost quite a bit to it but to me it was worth it, well most of the times until my crank baits found there ways into trees sometimes lol. Or as I call it the wall of shame lol. You leave fish behind if you’re afraid of losing stuff but hey it’s a good reason to try something new bait wise if you lost a lure that you had.

I didn’t have long to fish before getting around to get ready before work today. The first cast I caught this small one and I decided that I succeeded in my mission and I had some errands to complete before heading home to get ready. This tiny little pond gets pounded non stop so any fish is a victory, felt the hit watched my line start running and set the hook. I made one more cast to get the braid tightly back on the spool and called it good. 1/8 oz jig head and a little hazedong shad got it done.

I just use whatever I find at my local tackle shop, I have an assortment of different brands. The biggest thing is to make sure that you have a variety of different weights. My local shops only go down to a 1/8 oz if my memory serves me correctly and up to 1.5-2 ounces. Then for my shallow water excursions I had to go to brass bullet weights to get to 1/32-1/16 weight range. I hope this helps, mainly use 1/8-5/16 for my normal fishing in lakes and ponds and experience and then if I am not getting any bites I will go up to a 3/8 for a faster fall to see if they are more interested in a quicker moving bait or trying to trigger a reaction bite. The next part of the equation is water depth and vegetation density. This comes down to if you have pockets in vegetation that you are trying to work a bait into and maintaining not getting hung up in the vegetation due to density and too heavy of a weight. It’s been a minute since I have had to buy tungsten because I invested in the different sizes and found there applications. last but not least, before I forget lol. If fishing moving water with a current you will probably need to go up in weight to keep your bait down further due to current. When I use to fish for smallies in the Kalamazoo river I normally went with a 3/8 ounce weight and a rage bug or d bomb. Depending on if we have had rain recently or if the current or water level was higher or lower I would have to go up or down in weight depending on the conditions that I was fishing. Sorry for the long winded post but I wanted to give you insight on what I have learned from my experiences. But seibert definitely has some of the best prices no doubt. I hope that this helps you out with making your decision have a great day.

I use a acu cull scale and it works great. I have had it for 3 years now and I have not ever replaced the batteries. Seems good enough for me. I think that I paid around $40 or so. I like it, stays in the tackle bag all the time.

Caught this tiny one on Sunday when it was over 90 degrees outside lol. I saw a few cruising the bank and one shot out from under the bridge, at said point and time of my retrieve I couldn’t entice a bite. Casted back out and brought it to him and he ate it. Place gets crazy pressure so if you catch a fish here you are doing ok. Caught on a z man something or another on a 6th sense under spin jig head and it seemed to work. I also caught a small turtle but he came off and that doesn’t hurt my feelings any. I have caught a big snapping turtle on a Texas rig before and that was no fun to deal with lol.

I caught a few with the family on my wife’s birthday yesterday, I took the past 2 days off work to spend time with my family and my wife. I also wanted to regain some sanity from being at my job so much. Just some crappie, one bluegill and I caught some tiny bass all on a tiny crank bait. My wife got her fish for here birthday dinner.

A few fish from the family fishing trip, they were not super active but I caught 3 crappie biggest around 13 inches or so and 3 tiny bass largest might have been 14 inches if lucky. Caught on a hair jig a 1/4 keitech super football jig head with a small hula grub trailer and the last bait was a 3 inch easy shiner with no tail caught the biggest crappie lol. I don’t usually give up on plastics when they loose there appendages I just get more motivated to catch a fish on one that is missing something.

A tiny one and a fat little fish, pretty sure it’s the same one from the other day. Same bait for both fish, currently at storage unit deciding what to go back with lol.

A small smallie on an inline spinner, before I had to go to work. I have a very narrow casting lane but then again this is synonymous with smallies, tight to cover and no room. I am waiting to get into a big one with my bfs setup, should be fun.

Had a hour to fish, didn’t want the jerk bait so a lil trooper on a 1/16 oz keitech jig head paid off. Not big but definitely better than a skunk lol.

I had a hour or less to kill and wanted to test out my conquest bfs with a roro spool for 1/16 oz to see if it compares well to a bfs combo that I lost on Saturday, still hurts $600 worth of gear gone. Oh well I guess I didn’t really need it lol. Maybe the moral of the story is don’t get drunk and have 3 combos while bank fishing, but she found a good home hopefully and that is all that matters. Caught a smaller one no photo biggest of the day came on a 1/16 oz jig head on a 4 inch culprit ribbon tail worm. Right were I thought it would be hiding, this place gets pounded lol.

I don’t really like the bait monkey and it’s caused me quite a few problems. Honestly I should take responsibility and say it is 100% my fault which it is. But I get crazy ideas in my head about trying this or that and the cycle goes on. I am going to be 38 this year and I have probably more than I could ever use in my lifetime already, a 55 gallon tote full of plastics and then some and probably 20 different rods once again and maybe 10 reels. I am good but it doesn’t stop me, I have gotten extremely picky about what I buy though so that helps a little bit lol.

A tiny guy on the baby bladed jig.