Well it’s that time of year again where I start thinking of “thinning” down. No not a diet! I’ve got a lot invested in this figure; I’m talking once again about my fishing gear.
Does anyone else have this happen to them? Every year or so I get to thinking about my fishing style and I get to thinking about all the lures that I have never used. I have got one particular X-Rap that has only seen the water once and that was when I fished with Jack. I have crank baits that have never hit the water and swim baits that have never caught a fish. 90% of my fish are caught on jigs or jigging plastics and the rest are caught on top water frogs. I keep buying this other “stuff” but I always end up going back to the proven gear. My tackle bag is so stuffed that I have ripped the zippers out of it!
Yep! It’s time to slim down; My Grandson just loves this time of year.

Since my last two sessions of thinning dowm were due to theft I have not technically thinned down any of it since then. However, I have built a pretty good historical display for Zoom Bait Co. since then, which is stored in my tackle bag  . Other than that I've got a bunch of "wounded" lures(hard baits), that need to be repaired or thrown out. I've got a good bit over over-stock, but most all those are duplicates of proven "go-to" stuff. If I thin down it will be in the plastics department.

Sounds like "Grasshopper" is going to have a "Very Merry Christmas" pretty soon  .

 

Not really "thinning down" but I only have a few more weeks to go to succeed in my 2010 resolution,  ie, buy no plastics in 2010. I haven't bought any and that feels good.

                  


 

Islandbass I can tell you for certain that if you fished the type of waters I fish you would quickly give up your cranks. Maybe not all of them, but certainly the deep versions.  Heavy weed growth does that to a man.

I am no jig expert for certain. Joe S. wrote a ”how to” article on jig fishing a few years back that I consider a must read. And remember all the pictures that J4F use to post of the 6+ pound fish that he was catching in Connecticut? I picked his brain also. And then there’s Jig Man, with his friends Bubba and Darrell, who offered their knowledge and support to my very long learning curve. It has been a group effort.

If you search back through some of my old post you will see that I have been searching for answers to many questions about several different fishing styles. One post I made was about a trip that me and three other guys from work went to a “primo” bass lake and the two guys in the other boat just hammered them with cranks. I was all knotted up about learning how to fish cranks; J4F let me know that there were “other ways”. A couple of years later I finally listened and learned about swimming a jig. Again Jig Man stepped up to the plate and gave me some solid advice and help. This past season I was able to take #1backlasher to our “weedy” lake and we put the hurt on some green fish by swimming jigs.

I know your “landlocked” and that puts you at a disadvantage when it comes to vertical jigging, but you can certainly bounce, crawl, jiggle, and swim to your hearts content. Get hold of G-Man and order up a few different colors and sizes. With you fishing from the bank you most likely won’t need anything heavier than 1/2oz. I use 50 and 30 pound braid for the weeds and 12 BPS fluorocarbon for swimming and open water.
Keep us posted. Have fun.

PS. My Grandson catches fish on just about anything I give him. One reason for this is the fact that he will keep throwing whatever bait he uses until he catches something on it! Funny thing is he hates jigs; why? Because their “too slow”. He could give KVD a run for his money when it comes to cranking and winding!

Pond,

Thanks for the advice. I am at my wits end with jigs. I even have Gman's super awesome jigs (most I've lost to unrecoverable snags  ) and have read Joe's excellent article and just about every thread where jigs were the subject. I will not, however, give up on them because I know they are good lures. I'm just going to have to keep at it and keep payin' my dues until they reap dividends.

Every once in a while, this thought comes to mind about taking a look at a map of the USA and see if there is a correlation between lure type and their effectiveness in different regions of the country. Granted we know that all lures can work (and have worked) every where, but would some be more effective than others in different parts of the country or does the angler's efforts and time spent on such lures the source for their effectiveness?  Aw, nevermind. I think that's cabin fever talk. 

@ Jig Man - No need to be embarrassed, my friend. You definitely know your stuff. The knowledge you have freely shared with us here in your posts would bear weight in my court. 

As I have mentioned before; when fishing with Jack we came across a mud line. Something I never see in the waters we fish around here. Our waters are generally that color!