Indiana Fishing Expo

This weekend I'll be at the Indiana Fishing Expo at the Johnson County Fairgrounds, Franklin Indiana.250 Fairgrounds St. Franklin, In.46131

selling my new hour and a half long river fishing DVD set. It's not really a fishing video as much as it is an instructional fishing DVD or kind of a fishing book on DVD. Sure there is at least a half an hours worth of fish porn like most videos but the majority of the video is just serious talk about river fishing

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The stinko rig???

Something I started using a bit last fall and plan on using a ton more this year is a twist on the neko rig. The neko rig was developed in Japan. Neko is the word for cat in Japanese. In the eyes of Japanese anglers, the neko rig travels along the bottom the way a cat often uses its paw to scratch the ground or a litter box. (don't ask me I'm just a simple hillbilly fisherman) A neko rig normally ...is a wacky rigged worm with a weight placed in the head of the worm. The worm falls straight, standing upright off the bottom wriggling around for the fish to see. You can just leave it there shaking it in place. Also when you pull on the line the worm folds in half like a normal wacky rigged worm when lifted then when it falls straightens out and plummets straight down to again stand on its head. It's a finesse presentation that can be fished either way faster or way slower than most finesse presentations. My twist on it is the addition of several small washers. (the stinko rig???)
If you do not tighten the screw too tight against the worm but instead leave a bit of play the washers clack against each other and the screw as the lure is worked along the bottom. And if you use several small washers you can fine tune the weight of the lure for whatever depth or current you are fishing. I've found I like to use this with a four inch ringworm Vic makes for smallmouth. I really like it in the upper LMR from say above Corwin all the way to the headwaters and in the bigger tribs to both the LMR and the GMR as well as below the smaller lowheads way up the GMR. What I'm looking for are gravel bars, ledge pools or rock bars made up of smaller rocks. Places where I can throw it out and let it set for a bit standing upright kind of working in place. One big advantage of this rig is that it costs very very little and you can afford to lose a few without going broke. Two or three top line crankbaits probably cost more than a years supply of the small hooks and worms you will use in this rig and if your like me you probably already have the screws and washers out in the garage. If you haven't seen a neko rig in action watch a couple you tube videos of one in the water and I bet you'll want to throw one.

 

 

A few reviews...

Okay Ill start with a few things
The first is Triangle Taper Fly Line by Royal Wulff Products. Amazing stuff. Depending on line size the first thirty to forty feet or so of the line is like the front half of a double taper fly line which then tapers very fast down to a long skinny running type line the rest of the way. So you pick up that head and cast and its kinda like a shooting head distance is incredable. But the whole front end is tapered so everything lands delicately. Distance and delicacy, it's amazing. And you can roll cast the stuff farther than some people can overhead cast. It's the only line Ive ever used that I can shoot line on a roll cast. I've used the stuff for twenty years now and will probably never buy another brand of fly line. Ever. It's perfect. Only one of maybe four or five fishing related things I can say that about after a lifetime of fishing. Five stars

Carrot Stix Rods, So in the interest of full disclosure let me start off by saying they gave me four of these things. No strings attached tho, if you like em tell people about it, other than that no strings. Well I've taken one fishing about five times now and I've learned enough about it to say a few things about one. I've been using a 6'7" TI spinning which is their top end rod. The first thing you notice is the guides. Wierd huh? They were designed by the legendary Doug Hannon and are called the Micro Wave guide system. Their web site says they give you increased accuracy and distance and quite a few people on different forums said it was noticable with braid. Well I've been fishing mono and honestly couldn't tell a difference in distance. BUT that doesn't mean I don't thing they are awesome but for another reason altogethor. You see the first stripper guide is two guides in one, a larger guide then a smaller forcing guide right in front of it on the same frame. Then the rest of the guides all the way out the rod are the same size, which is tiny. Which means they add zilch to the rods weight compared to conventional guides. Which to me makes the rod amazingly sensitive. It's easily the best jig, grub, swimbait type rod I've ever used. The blank is very lightweight and has a fast action and combined with the tiny guides you can feel the lure better than any rod I've ever used. I have to admit I do not like the the little hook keeper loop. Instead of a loop like most rods it's a very snazzy double bent wire hook. Looks great but when I snag the bottom with a jig and pull the rod back and let the line go suddenly to free it the line sometimes gets behind this keeper. But that's pretty much my only quibble with the rod. It's very different looking with the micro wave guides but it's extremely functional. It fishes extremely well, is comfortable and super super sensitive. If your in the market for a high end top of the line performance rod for things like jig or worm fishing I doubt you will find a better rod anywhere. 4.5 stars

Bass Pro Shops Extreme and pro qualifier Spinning Reels
I tried so hard to like these things. I've owned like three or four. Loved the big round spools loved the way line came off them. Loved the way they took line in. Everything about em. But, BUT they just wouldn't hold up to as much use as I put them thru. By the end of each ones first year they were coffee grinders. A complete tear down and lube job seemed to help for just a week or two. I tried, it just didn't work out. 1.5 stars

What is that thing???

Looks like somebody spotted the camera....

Bluegills and bigfoots...

Yeah it's 35 degrees and all my saugfish spots are flooded. But sometimes when you have a new rod and reel to try out you make do. So I hit a pond at the local wildlife area and fished a tiny beadhead nymph as so as I could manage. They weren't so much strikes as just a heavy feeling on the line. Pretty slow cold fishing but hey I'm catching fish on January 2nd in Ohio so I can't complain too much. And then I found it. An obvious for sure, gotta be, bigfoot tooth. And some mushy impressions in the grass that were I'm sure bigfoot tracks. So if you want a bonafide bigfoot tooth I could probably be talked into selling it....