Bazoo

I've been using the Kreh Loop Knot without issue. I still haven't tried it with braid, but with mono I have no complaints. I got to where I can do it with muscle memory and use it for flukes, jigs, and rapala floating minnows.

Howdy and welcome. My favorite rig is a Abu Garcia Black Max 6'6" casting rod with a Bass Pro Shops Pro Qualifier 2 casting reel. It feels good for casting all day.

Thanks for the read @Bluebasser86, congratulations.

He's never played video games. We don't watch tv either. Closest thing is youtube, but we limit that. He's outside moving some bricks around as I type. No, he's not very serious yet, he fishes a while, then he's using his pole to swat at birds or stab at frogs or whatever. I do scold him for trying to do those things with his fishing gear. He plays a lot when we're fishing. At the river he throws rocks in and watches them splash. But he wants to go, and he wants to fish some, and he occasionally catches one to keep the fire going.

Thanks. That's good info.

I appreciate all the suggestions. I'll check most if not all of them out. My original intent was really to find more from the pros. I don't keep up with the pro circuit. Basically videos showing tips and techniques, rather than folks just fishing.

Thanks yall.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Some I've heard of, and plenty I have not. I completely forgot about the BR channel. I also watch NDyakangler. I've picked up a few tips from him.

Thanks for sharing.

Thank you very much for sharing. I'm not sure how he'd do with 4 or even 6lb line. He gets tangled in brush/trees quite a bit. With the larger reels I run 10lb line for him. He can usually rip a gob of leaves off and fix the problem himself. I haven't been able to teach him to re-tie yet. Being a young'un, casting distance is priority for him. I most often give him an 1/8-3/16oz bullet weight to go with his worm, because he wants it to really fly.

I appreciate all the suggestions. I got into some videos last night and thought about the walking baits. I have a zara spook I want to work with. I normally use a Spit'n Image. I had not thought about a hard jerkbait in the sense of matching the fluke, even though it's obvious now... thanks. And jerkbaits are something I want to learn. I've been trying roostertails because I want to thoroughly learn those. I got a gut feeling about them for some reason.

Thanks for all the suggestions. To be clear, he wants to learn to use a baitcaster (just like dad) and is prompting me to practice in the yard. He knows it'll not be quick or easy, and I've tried to dissuade him. But I also figure he might get it easier by starting early. I am not currently spending lots of money on his gear. He likes the short handle of the $10 durango rods from walmart, and the reels he's been using were all second hand, save for a Zebco 202 which was less than $10. ---------------------- So the Zebco 33 Micro is decent? Would it handle 8lb line?

Course I am a Roland Martin, Bill Dance, and Jimmy Houston fan, but who else is worth watching? So far I've found Matt Stefan https://www.youtube.com/@MattStefanFishing Randy Blaukat https://www.youtube.com/@randyblaukatintuitive And Ott Defoe https://www.youtube.com/@OttDeFoeFishing All of them offer great tips and tricks, who do you like?

Howdy and welcome. Sounds pretty awesome if you ask me. I'd organize them into totes, then sub categorize them further. Each tote would be a style of lure, such as lizards, craw, worm. If there is sufficient of different types of worms I'd dedicate a tote just to each variety, such as ribbontail and trick worms. Gallon ziploc bags stuffed with bags of similar color/style plastics would be easy enough to sort through within the larger tote. Use an index card in the ziploc bag to identify what each bag contains. Write on the index card in large letters with a sharpie LIZARD, WORM, ect, then in smaller letters in ink, details you might want to know quickly when filtering through that variety of plastic. I'd also consider if I'd actually end up using a lot of it due to color and style, and probably make a swap/sell box.

I didn't know you could still get those. I had some about 20 years ago.

I don't have nearly the experience that others here do, but I would get shallow and work the shore with my confidence baits. I'd slow down and work it thoroughly, then move a bit.

My boy is 5, and he's getting to be pretty decent with his aim. But he's rough as dagnabit on reels, and rods for that matter. Spinning reels he gets them in a tangle almost every time. The reel survives, but I have to get the knife out to fix the issue. Spincasters, like Zebcos, do not hold up for long. They either are junk, or his abuse kills them. They get dunked, they get pulled against too hard when he snagged. Yes, I try to teach him, but I often don't notice until he's been pulling a few minutes. He also has a bad habit of putting his reels down in sand, mud, and slush. Sand is the worst thing. I spend a fair amount of time maintaining his gear just to keep him going. I think I've finally broken him of throwing his rod/reel down when it stops working as intended, so there is some progress. In the last 2 years he's been through 5 spincasting reels that I can remember. Not sure what I'm going to do when he finishes off the Zebco 33 he's working on, and then goes through the reserve I have put back. I used to think the older Zebcos were tough, and they have held up better than anything else so far. Well, he is trying to learn baitcasting, slowly. I won't give him anything decent, because 1, I am using the decent ones, and 2, I don't want him to destroy it. He'll try in the yard with mine sometimes and he can do it some of the time, and he's getting decent at getting backlashes out Not good enough to take him on the water with one yet. Just pondering aloud I reckon.

I generally start with my known confidence baits and sizes on waters that I am unfamiliar with. On waters that I fish often, I experiment and get a feel for what works and doesn't both in size and color. I generally will pick the color I want, then the size. So I might throw a size that is a compromise if it's the color I want.

I mostly use Big Game - 8, 10, and 12 pound. I wish they made a 6 pound. I digress, I use Stren for my 6 pound needs for a smaller rod I use for panfish and for the wife's spincast rig that has only 40 yards line capacity (I spooled it when she first got it using a frog). Stren has more stretch than Big Game. I've tried suffix 14 pound, I forget the variety and name of it, but it was good line. Used it on a casting rod for heavier stuff like crankbaits. It was strong and tough, and had less stretch than Big Game. Once in a while I'll purchase something else to try. Used a lot of Trilene XL in the past, and it's good line. Big Game gets the nod because of both price, and how it handles. It works just fine and I use it both on spinning, spincasting, and baitcasting reels. The 8 pound sees a lot of both spinning and baitcasting. I don't do anything special to it. For spinning, I normally put it on and let it set a day before use to give it a set. For baitcasting, I spool up and will fish right then with it. I change my line every monthish if I use my rod a lot. My light baitcasting rod is in need of a change right now as the line is getting somewhat harder to manage and is sun-bleached for the first couple of yards. Been aiming to change it a week or more now, so I'll get it the next couple of days. I always use a mono backer, even for mono.

On the private pond I fish primarily Wednesdays and Sundays before/after church I've noticed something. The last about 4 times or so I've been there, I can't catch hardly anything except with flukes. I always try something I am not confident with, and sure, I expect not to get hits on that, but things that normally work there, and that I am confident with such crankbaits have been either very minimally effective or not at all. Then I switch to a fluke, and bam, the bite turns on. About a month ago I really focused on learning flukes (zoom super flukes) and I got good with them, and my confidence went sky high. It's my favorite lure and technique to use. During that time I used a few colors, but primarily junebug. I tried some other colors (including white and chartreuse), with none doing as well. Since then, my supply of junebug has started to wane so I switched to watermelon red and it's worked great also. Now that my confidence has hit a high mark, I have been wanting to taper off my use of flukes here and focus on something else. I've gotten 0 bass using roostertails on several trips, including this evening when I fished quite a bit with one. Earlier today I fished 15 minutes with one with nothing, then when switching to a fluke, I caught 9 in short order. Now... I am not against catching, but I want to: A, not wear them out with 1 lure, particularly with flukes because they are my favorite now. B, build confidence in other things. Things I've tried with little or no interest are roostertails in 2 colors, a couple different types of crankbaits, spinnerbaits (sparingly), curly tail grubs on jigheads, minor amounts of topwater, Berkley Nessie Glide bait. Now, I have had some success with crankbaits, but not as good as the fluke bite in my opinion, of course this is subjective because the bite is different on different days/times of day. So, is it just fluke season on that pond? What other lures/techniques should be a compliment if flukes are doing so well? Could it be the color more than the lure?

Next to a broken dam? So pretty good current? I would focus on only 2-3 lures. A crankbait, a Curlytail grub, and a fluke, provided the water isn't flowing so much to roll the fluke.

I get mine to run about a foot if I keep my rod tip high.

Howdy.

Thanks @IYAOYAS.

Interesting information, thanks all. Hmm, hot dash will do it eh?