My Gear: Tackle and Lures

In this segment, I'll go over the tackle box and lures I use.

Tackle Box: Plastic craft box and "R2F (Ready 2 Fish)" tackle box
Pretty simple.  The craft box came with little things to make compartments inside the box, so that works well. I was given another tackle box, which also has compartments as well.

Bass Pro Shops Tackle Binder
I decided to move from the box to the binder.  While I may stay with tackle boxes, the binder is nice in that you can flip through the pages and find the lure you need.  I've enjoyed it so far.

Lures:

• Spoons: multiple sizes.  Who can go without adding a few spoons to their tackle?  I have sizes anywhere from brim to Musky (like I plan to use that soon!).
• BOOYAH Pad Crusher.  -Good for weedy areas, good topwater movement.  Once had a bass follow the lure until it was right in front of me, but it saw me, and decided not to bite the lure.
• Diving lures: crawdad, tadpole, multiple other divers I don't know the names to.
• Surface lures: Pad Crusher, Jitterbug, Rebel Grasshopper popper, Tiny Torpedo
• More jigs than I can care to count, many configurations: crawdad, minnow, curly tail, and more

If you have any question on lures or want some better specifics, just ask!  Keep on fishing!

My Fishing Gear: Rods and Reels

Today I hope to show you guys my fishing gear.  For this part, I'll be doing my rods and reels.  Next time, I'll hopefully show you my tackle.

Fly Rod: Crystal River Fly Rod
This name in itself may cause some people to cringe.  Yes I know it's not a top of the line Orvis, however, I had not tried fly fishing, and $25 on Amazon wasn't too much of a sacrifice.  Honestly, I think the rod is a good rod for what you pay for.  It operates well, and it feels good in my hand, and it swings well.
The reel, not so much.  The drag system was always making a deafening clicking noise when I tried to reel in line. I immediately had to modify the reel, taking out the little triangular gears in the reel to stop the horrid clicking, afterwards it had no drag.  While I had no drag, in my mind it was worth no clicking, not to mention when fly fishing your holding the line anyway.
The line is decent, it has memory, however, you can get new fly line.  You'll need to buy more flies, the rod only comes with two.
Overall, this rod combo wasn't too bad, I will probably keep the rod and just get new line and reel.

Spinning Rod: Ugly Stik GX2 Rod and Reel Combo
Some people might be thinking "Now your talking!  I hoped this guy wasn't totally out of his mind."  The Ugly Stik is quite awesome!  It casts great, feels good in the hands, and overall a great experience.
The reel that comes with it is aluminum, and the rod is graphite and fiberglass with stainless steel guides.  I haven't gotten a ton of experience with this rod, as it's new to me, however, I feel I'll have it for a long time.

Reel: Shimano IX4000R
This is another reel I put on the Ugly Stik.  The Shimano is a reels so smoothly, it's like your hardly doing anything.  Again, I have not had much experience, however, I again feel like I'll be using it for a long time.

While I know a couple of the reviews were probably not as thorough as many would wish, I will probably go more in-depth as I get to use the rods and reels more often.  If you have any questions on the rods or reels, (or any fishing question actually!), feel free to ask away!  Until next time!

Spring Fishing

It seems that spring has come!  I have not been writing like I should, life takes it toll on time!  Anyway, it's been a while since I've done anything on fishing.  Right now, the big thing for me is river fishing, I'm hoping to at least get good at it.  Here's what I've learned.

• Look near brush.  Fish crowd around structures for shade and cover.
• Use live bait near shore.  While this might sound weird, it works.  If there is a tree overhanging the river, with branches nearly touching the river, then throw some bait under there.  Fish are waiting for food to fall of the branches into the water.  So, you just might catch something.
• If at first you don't succeed, try try again.  I haven't had much luck lately, but I need to keep trying.  I know there are some big fish in the river I'm fishing at, it's just a matter of finding what the fish want to eat.