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I took advantage of this deal last month and got two 7’6″ ML Temple Fork G. Loomis Spinning Rods for the price of one. I’ve heard a lot of great things about these rods and they’ve been on my list to get for over a year now. They are great rods and so far I’m happy with how they’ve performed. There are also other sizes available. I ended up going with the 7’6″ ML spinning rods for kayak fishing for smallmouth bass on the local rivers and lakes. So if you’re looking for a great deal for yourself or a fellow fisherman, take advantage of this buy one rod get one rod free deal from Amazon. Plus as an added gift, you’ll get a free Temple Fork ball cap. Not a bad deal at all.

It’s supposed to be a hot weekend in much of the United States. Hope everyone enjoys some time on the water. The fishing should be pretty good as the water temps are looking really good. In my backyard in Indiana, I’ve noticed lots of water snakes hitting the shores. I was also lucky enough to see my first snake ball where about five small males were trying to mate with a large female. With all the water snakes active on the water, you may want to try some top waters as well as some soft bait that mimics little snakes. I know the larger bass as well as the huge muskie and walleye love snacking on small snakes.

Also, Amazon is offering some good deals on fishing gear like South Bend fishing gear. So if you haven’t stocked on gear for the summer, you may want to take advantage of this weeks holiday deals at Amazon. Hope everyone enjoys their days off and be safe out there as the lakes will be pretty crowded this weekend.  Happy Memorial Day.

Shop Amazon Sports – $15 Off $50 Purchase of South Bend Fishing Products

I imagine it is a cold and dark world, the Land of Lost Lures. It’s not a place most fishermen like to think about. I’m sure there are some dark forces or evil goblins that live down there hiding under the knotted limbs that look like an old witches hand. I’ve stopped counting how many lures I’ve lost to that distant, dark world a long time ago. It would probably bring a tear to my eye if I actually knew the number I’ve lost.

Those evil son of snags can’t be avoided. It those places that have taken some of our most prized lures, that also supposedly hold some of the biggest fish. It’s almost a catch 22 in the fishing world. We know we have to risk tossing our lures into the brush and down into the rocky and snaggly land of the bottom in order to hook the big ones. Even the lures that promise to be snag-proof I am able to prove them wrong.

I’ve always thought about taking up scuba diving and venturing to the Land of Lost Lures someday. I’m sure it wouldn’t be as lucrative as the scuba divers diving for golf balls at the golf courses but I know some spots around my local lake that I’ve lost quite a few lures at and I’m sure others have lost some too. I do get occasionally lucky walking the shores and finding lures during some extreme droughts when the water is down about 4 feet or so. Just this past month, I found a nice black Jitterbug in great shape snagged in some vines that were exposed. It’s made up for the half dozen Rooster Tails that I’ve lost in the same area.

Over the years, I have learned some tricks and tips to save some of my lures from the dark oblivion. Usually if I can reel the line all the way up to where the lure is at the end of my pole, I can get it unsnagged by pushing the lure in the opposite direction. Sometimes I can get it unsnagged by running the boat in the opposite direction of the snag or walking down the shore from the opposite direction to the original snag.

I wonder what the goblins and the other evil entities in the Land of the Lost Lures do with all our lures? Do they go fishing with our lures? You might not thing they have any rods or reels to fish with but I can attest to losing one rod and reel to the dark underworlds of the bottom of the lake. I do wonder if they do go fishing, do they lose their lures like we loose ours? Are there lost lures the ones that we find occasionally right next to the shoreline? Is there Land of Lost Lures our land from where we toss our lures in hopes of hooking the big one?

We’ve all heard of the ‘Diet Roller Coaster’ but what about the ‘Fishing Roller Coaster’? With record high temperatures in March and frost warnings in April, it seems the fishing has been hit and miss for the past month or so. The water temperatures rose above 60 and got close to triggering the spawning season and the the temps dropped. Hopefully this won’t hurt the spawning season this year.

As I write this, it appears that the weather may be warming up and the frost warning will come to an end. I did have some decent luck at the end of March when the temps were up but it has been slow for a while since the water temps went back below 60. With the slow down in fishing, I have had time to stock my tackle boxes and put new lines on my reels. I really didn’t have the time when it first warmed up because it got so hot, so fast. I’m looking forward to the next month or so as the temps are comfortable and not too hot and the fish should be biting like crazy. Hopefully it won’t rain too much as this usually puts a damper on any decent river fishing.

We’ve all been fishing without a boat and many of us have spent all our lives fishing without a boat. But is there a way to get onto the water and off the shore without a boat? There are actually quite a few options with many of them being quite affordable.

One of the first times I ever stepped off the shore and into the water without a boat was when I was fishing for rainbow trout on the Cumberland River. At the time, I didn’t have any waders and just walked into the river with my shorts and shoes on. The river is usually a constant 65 degrees, as the water is pulled through the dam from the bottom of Lake Cumberland, and my legs and feet became numb very quickly but I did learn many things. One thing was that I was able to reach areas further from shore by getting out into the water. I also learned that I could fish the shoreline by standing out in the middle of the shallower parts of the river. While the cold trout streams may be a little too cold to stand in the river too long, there are plenty of freshwater rivers throughout the country that are shallow and warm enough to wade in wearing shorts and shoes. There are many situations though, that call for waders and/or wader boots. This can be because the water is too cold or the river bottom is too slippery for regular shoes. But as opposed to free with no waders and wader boots, you can find affordable waders and wader boots for those times.

The other affordable way to get onto the water without buying a boat is to buy a kayak. You can find used kayaks for $200 or less and nice sit-on-top fishing kayaks for $800 and up. If you are looking at getting a kayak, you might want to try one out or borrow some friends kayaks first to see if you like the sit-on-top kayaks or the classic sit-in kayaks. Many of the fishing-specific kayaks are sit-on-top kayaks so it’s easier to get in and out and turn around in your kayak to get gear or to switch rods.

If you’re looking for an option between waders and a kayak, then you might want to look into a float tube. A float tube is great for getting into deeper waters where you can’t wade and is usually more affordable than a kayak. The down-side with a float tube is that it is a little more difficult to maneuver versus a kayak and in cold waters, you still need to wear waders while in the float tube. Also, it’s not recommended to use a float tube on many rivers because of dangers with rapids and underwater obstacles. If you want to float on the river, look into a single seat pontoon boat like the one in the link below.

My preference for fishing without a boat would be a kayak on lakes and waders or shorts and shoes on the river. I’ve put a link below for my favorite waders from LL Bean. Not only do they feel great but they have a lifetime guarantee. If I wanted to float a large section of the river, I would probably save my money for a kayak, like the Wilderness System Tarpon series, since I can use it on the lakes also. Also with a kayak, you can paddle up a river and float back. Trying to paddle up a river with a decent current in a pontoon float can be very difficult if not impossible. But like I said, it all comes down to what type of fishing you do most often. Sometimes getting out in the water and off the shore can get you to spots that you couldn’t get to and give you fishing angles that you didn’t have on shore.

I think every fisherman has his favorite lures. It may have been lures that his father or grandfather introduced him too or it may just be ones he discovered later on. I would have to say that my favorite lure is the Rooster Tail.
I didn’t start using Rooster Tails for warm water fishing until I went fishing for trout for the first time in my life. I was about 20 years old when after fishing Lake Cumberland in Kentucky for my entire life, I decided to see how fishing was below the dam of the lake. The first time I went there, I didn’t even know there were trout in the water. But after catching about 20 rainbow trout in an hour, I was well aware of the trout and I was hooked. The most popular and favorite lure for fishing below the dam for trout was the Rooster Tail or other inline spinner baits. I learned this from talking with the fellow fishermen and visiting the local bait shop where they had plenty of Rooster Tails for sale.

After that fateful day of catching my first of many rainbow trout, I always had Rooster Tails in my tackle box. And I soon ended up using them for catching smallmouths on the rivers, largemouth on the lakes and plenty of panfish when the fishing got tough. I usually prefer a steady retrieve and keep the lure about a foot below the water where I can see it. I enjoy seeing the fish strike it within my sight as opposed to fishing it slow and down deeper. For crappie, I find a slower retrieve will get them to bite but for every other fish, it’s the steady retrieve right below the surface that always gets them.

Beyond the Rooster Tails, I enjoy fishing with Big O crank baits, Rapala minnows, spin baits, Lazy Ikes  and tubes. But usually I start doubting my alternative choice in lures and end up going back to a Rooster Tail. I would like to learn how to fish with more tubes and soft plastics but I was never taught how to fish with them. Maybe my kid will learn how to fish with worms on a Carolina or Texas rig and teach me because I know I won’t have the patience to learn on my won when I’ve got some Rooster Tails begging to be thrown in the tackle box.

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With the recent high temperatures in the Midwest and elsewhere, you may have been tempted to start fishing with your regular spring and summer fishing gear. I know I was looking forward to casting a line the other day while at the lake. I walked up to the shoreline to see if I could see any fish or bait fish swimming in the shallows and I saw nothing. It seems like the water is still too cold to get the fish more active and drive the them up into the shallows for food. So at what temperature do the fish start becoming more active?

I checked the water temperature of my local lake and noticed that it has risen 15 degrees in the past month from 45 degrees to around 60 degrees. As long as the water temperatures hold there, the fish should start biting. Most fishing experts say that 60 degrees is the magic number when bass as well as panfish start becoming more active as their metabolism starts to rise resulting in them hitting the shallows and the shoreline for bait fish and other food. If you don’t see any or much fish in the shallows, try tying on a crank bait and see if you can get any bites around the 4-6 foot depth just off the shores. Look for rocky outcrops or submerged structures like docks and trees where they may be hiding.

When the water temps are consistently holding at around 65 degrees is when you will see the best fishing in the shallows. This is usually the mark of the pre-spawn period when the bass are getting fat as they prepare for the spawning period. The spawning period tends to begin around the 65 degree mark but is usually in full-effect around the 70 degree mark. So if you’re wondering when will the fish come out of the deep, watch your local lake temperatures closely and start testing the waters when the water holds steady at around 60 degrees. You should start to see increasing amounts of fish in the shallows as well as improved fishing when the water reach the mid 60′s.

When it comes to fishing for bass and pan fish, I prefer a good spinning reel with about 6lb line on it and a light action rod. Over the years I’ve had the experience of fishing with many different reels.  While I’ve spent over $100 on a reel, I usually look for ones under $100. I find one can get a good reel with smooth retrieve and durable parts for under $100. While I would love to have a Shimano Stella Reel or even a nice Shimano Stradic CI4 Reel, I’ve found that one doesn’t have to spend that much for a decent rod.

So for under $100, what is the best spinning reel? While I’ve always loved Shimano reels and I think the Shimano Symetre Spinning Reel is a good reel for under $100, you do end up paying for the name. While the Symetre is a popular reel with quality parts, you could get an even better reel for less money. If you ask fellow fishermen what they think is a great spinning reel for under $100, you’ll probably hear many mention Shimano and perhaps Daiwa and other popular brands but you’ll also hear many mention the Pflueger President Spinning Reel. Pflueger is a fishing tackle manufacturer that has been around since 1881. They are one of those names that many fishermen recognize but not as a modern fishing reel manufacturer. While it may not be as heavily marketed and advertised as Shimano and Daiwa reels, the Pflueger President has quietly become the favorite spinning reel of many fishermen. It has 9-bearings for a smooth retrieve along with a 5.2:1 ratio for a quick retrieve. I think the best thing about it is that it only costs around $60. For that little money, you won’t mind if you lose it or break it. If you’re looking for a little tougher body then you might want to spend a little money for the Pflueger Supreme Spinning Reel. It has a magnesium body rather than a graphite body on the President and also comes with a second spool.

So for under $100 you can get a great reel that you’ll be happy with. They’re great for fishing for smallmouths on the river, having fun with the kids catching panfish or going for the largemouth bass on the lake. So if you’re looking for a new reel or reels, you may want to consider Pflueger reels.

It’s been a mild winter and as the sun is shining outside, I can’t help but think about getting ready for spring fishing. While the fishing can be slower in the spring, you can increase your chances of getting some bites by following a few simple rules. Unlike the summer or late spring when the fish are active and love going after top waters and fast moving baits, in the early spring, you want to slow things down. Think about going with some soft lures like worms, lizards or my favorite, the  Strike King Coffee Tubes on Strike King Tube Jig Heads.

With soft baits and some weight to get it to the bottom, you basically want to go with a slow retrieve. I usually pitch near the shore or on points and bounce it slowly back towards the boat. With it being cold in the early spring, the fish probably won’t bite very aggressively, so when you go to retrieve or bounce the lure, do it slowly and feel for any resistance. By fishing slow and down at the bottom where the fish are, you might just have a decent day of spring fishing.

You can’t outrun the cold air now. It’s here and it’s here for a while, unless you live in Florida or other warm climate areas of our globe. But if you live in the Midwest, on the East or out West in America; the cold is here. But there’s still time for fishing until the waters freeze over and then you’ve got ice fishing if you live in Minnesota or other Northern destinations.

The challenge with cold weather fishing is not only how to keep your hands warm but also how to catch fish. While many give up on fishing, there’s still plenty of fish to be caught, you just got to go deep and slow down. While many fisherman will get out their small jigs in order to catch those chunky bluegills and crappie feeding down deep; I go a different route. I get out my fly rod for some exciting and fun fishing on the surface.

With the cold weather, the weed beds at the lake near my home have started to retreat and die. During the summer, it was impossible not to get tangled up in the weeds on the surface unless you used a weedless top water or a spinning bait. But now that the weeds are below the water, I get out my fly rod and tie a #12 dry fly onto my tippet and drag it across the top of the weed beds to get some rise out of the fish hiding out down there.

Because there’s still a chance of hooking into the weeds, tie your flies onto a tippet of at least 4x or 5lb test. Because the weeds are weaker, you can usually pull your flies loose with a stronger tippet rather than loosing them. For panfish like bluegill and crappie, I usually go with a #12 size dry fly like a Elk Hair Caddis or a Royal Coachman. Just toss it out over the weed beds, twitch it every few seconds and let it sit. In no time at all, you’ll either be hooking into a bunch of fish or you’ll get cold. If you aren’t getting any action move on to different parts of the weed bed. Sooner or later, you’ll find the sweet spots.

If you’re after some bigger fish like small mouth, large mouth or white bass; try a larger dry fly or a streamer like a Wooly Bugger or a Clouser Minnow. If you’re seeking fish down deeper and don’t want to resort to a jig; try a sinking tip fly line with a streamer or wet fly. Again, the fish are slower and don’t want to chase the bait during the cold months, so slowly retrieve your fly. Nothing beats battling chunky pan fish on a 4 or 5wt fly rod. Happy fishing, warm thoughts and tight lines.

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