ElGuapo928

Well said! My first boat was a Coleman Crawdad (the 8 foot “floating suitcase” version) that I got for a graduation gift. Had a .037 lb thrust Shakespeare trolling motor that my Grandpa scratched up somewhere and I couldn’t be happier with it. Scored a Super Sixty flasher at the swap meet for $5, and I thought I was in tall cotton. After wearing that out (literally had holes in it), I bought a third hand 14’ Montgomery Ward jonboat, moved into a 17’ Bass Tracker, then found a deal on the Ranger I dreamed of a kid. My oldest boy has been wanting a kayak to fish from, and I’ve just about had to carry a defibrillator with me for when I look at the price tags. Somehow our sport has gone completely sideways, and I am praying that it resets itself before it becomes a forced reset.

Usually when I’m getting a lot of followers, I start throwing a suspending lipless crank. The first couple twitches will usually irritate them into some solid strikes. When that doesn’t work, it becomes time to bust out the Westy Worm.

I’ve got a couple bags in the tackle room, I did not like them at all. Tails are too thick, have to burn them to get any real action out of them. Yamamotos have great action, but really fragile. For my money you can’t beat Kalin’s.

I’ve never been able to keep Elaztech baits Texas rigged without help. I stick a piece of cheap 50lb mono through the bait and the hook eye, then leave about 1/8” stick out on each side. Works pretty good, and the spool of Zebco mono was only $2 at Wally World.

We used to set up targets around the front yard and basically play HORSE, flipping, pitching, over/under obstacles. 1/2 oz jigs with the hook cut off. 44oz Circle K cups make great targets, knocking bottles over….it could get pretty wild.

I put Reelsnot on mono and fluoro while spooling up, and keep a bottle on the deck for tying knots. I haven’t noticed any magical increase in casting distance, but it does make a difference in memory and longevity.

Sometimes you just don’t have that option. Using my little microcosm as an example, the city lakes don’t have a teaspoon of water that someone isn’t beating to death 6 days out of the week. The big lakes are a pretty decent drive, absolutely suck for shore access, and even if you have a small boat or kayak you are in constant danger of being run over by a wake boat blasting “Pony” by Ginuwine (why they all gravitate to that particular song is beyond me). But in the end, you hit the nail on the head - that’s why I always bring my “old school” bag of tricks with me. And now that you mention it, I don’t think I have a single Senko/stick worm in the boat anymore.

Most of them will fan out just from manual pressure. But…..I started heating them after some jigheads had the entire weedguard fall out while trying to spread it out.

I usually leave it alone, but some that are excessively stiff I heat up with a lighter and splay out a little bit.

General rule of thumb is about 12-15 inches for shallow water (15’ or less), 18-30 for deep or suspended fish.

My favorite mono is Izorline Platinum. The Izor XXX is a little more manageable, but has a bit more stretch. The high vis Platinum (best described as “Mountain Dew Green”) is the deal for night fishing under the black lights.

I really miss the Gambler “baby” Guido Bug. Fished on an 1/8 oz Slider head, they had a special way of irritating smallmouths.

I’ve got some ocean front property just outside Phoenix that I’ll trade you for it.

The absolute best method is to solder them together and put shrink tubing over the joint (preferably the stuff with the hot melt sealant in it for extra protection).

That’s a good point on tautness. Most of the finesse techniques relied on out here don’t allow for much in the way of slack. A dropshot 30 or 40 feet down is going to stay pretty taut. Also this was in the days that Trilene XL represented the pinnacle of technology. Super braids were still several years away, and fluorocarbon was limited to saltwater leaders.

The line is only a piece of the overall puzzle, but it is easily observable. Fish that get hammered day in and day out start getting really jumpy, and they will stay away from that intruder into their environment. Back in the mid 80’s I attended a tank seminar at a Fred Hall boat show, and the pro would pitch an identical bait on different weight lines, and we could see their reaction in real time. He started with 20 or 25, and the fish would stay huddled up in the corner. As the line size decreased, they would be more inclined to approach the bait and investigate. None ever got close enough to strike until he was down to 6lb line. What he said was to think of your line as a guitar string - the heavy line transmits your movements to their lateral lines like a thumping bass note, as the diameter decreases, it becomes a higher frequency that gets lost in the other noise. Whether this was scientifically verified or not, it has stuck with me since I was a kid and has consistently put fish in the livewell for me.

Pressured fish definitely get line shy, so you want to keep it as thin/unobtrusive as you can get away with. Most of my finesse presentations are on an 8lb fluoro leader attached to 10lb braid. I will cut down to a 4lb leader in some situations, but that’s only on one reel where I’m really confident in the drag’s performance. My “pond” baitcaster is spooled with 10lb fluorocarbon.

I experimented with it on a dropshot, had some success, but not enough to keep it in the rotation.

I use mainly chatter spikes, Fluke Jr, or a boring old 4” grub.

Got a few on Roosevelt this morning, pretty tough bite today - very sluggish short strikes with a storm coming in. Picked up a 3 lb on a Choppo, then switched to plastics as the sun came up.

Spinnerbaits can take some tinkering, don’t get discouraged.

I’ll have to get mine all cleaned up for photos. I’ve got everything from steel “Old Pal” and JC Higgins boxes to Fenwick, Rebel and Plano classics. Even a Woodstream “Bass Boss”. In addition to family heirlooms, I can’t find one at a thrift store or yard sale without it following me home.

Sticking with the core stuff is a good plan. I’ve seen way too many people get hung up on “flavor of the month” techniques and end up with nothing to show for it except frustration.

Looks pretty handy. Plano Stowaways are standard of the sport for a reason, so you can be confident in buying them. I can definitely see the value for a portable setup, I would use that in my pond/travel bag.

A friend of mine that does a lot of crappie guiding uses a 5 gallon Igloo water jug with one of those Frabill portable aerators rigged up through a hole in the side. Keeps them in good shape in the heat.