Baitcasters: lefty or righty??

JD, I am new to bass fishing and and ready to purchase my first baitcaster reel (I know I’ve got some tangles in my future!). My question is, should I go with a left-handed reel or a right-handed? Great site, by the way!

–Alex S.

Hey Alex, you didn’t say if you’re a righty or a southpaw, but since the vast majority of the word is made up of righthanders, we’ll assume you are too.

I’m a righty and prefer all my baitcasters to have a left-hand retrieve. My dominant hand (right) does the casting and my left cranks the reel…all without me having to switch hands.

For reasons that escape me, most righties like right-hand cranks, but it seems silly to me to cast with the right hand and then have to move the rod to the left hand so you can crank with your right. I’m especially mystified by pro bassers who do it that way…when time is money, you’d think those guys wouldn’t want to waste the time it takes to switch hands after each cast.

Over the course of a day during a tournament, that probably translates into a few extra casts if they did the other way. And when ounces separate guys from tens of thousands of dollars, you’d think…

What do you think of the Kenai River?

Hey JD,

I am considering my first trip to Alaska this summer and was wondering what you think about the Kenai River? Good place to go?

Thanks, Merle M.

Merle,

I assume you’re talking about king fishing and on that subject I will say this: the Kenai’s great if you’re looking for a potential monster king. Seventy and 80 pounders are taken there every year. However, don’t go there looking for wild Alaska. During king season, the river looks like the 405 freeway between the Valley and LA on a Friday afternoon. Also, the fishing can be very tough there — it’s definitely not a numbers show most of the time.

Still, it’s one of those things everybody should probably at least do once in their lifetime — on the Kenai, you next bite may be a 100-pound king!

How do I get started in guiding?

JD,
Could you could possibly give me a hand on how to get started in the guiding field (or you could laugh at me that would work too)? It would much appreciated — this is a dream I would like to make into reality.

–Chris W.

Chris,

To get into guiding, you need to make sure you have all your licenses, bonds and insurance taken care of ahead of time. Here in California, you’ll need a DFG license and a Coast Guard Capt.’s license depending on what waters you’re planning to run on. You also need to post a surity bond each season.

Then, don’t expect to make a full-time deal out of it for a few seasons. Do it part time and have a back-up income source for awhile until you get a good client base built up. It takes t-i-m-e! Figure a good 5 years before you’re full time.

Also, keep in mind that when you’re guiding, you suddenly don’t have any time for fun fishing anymore. People think it’s all fun (which it is!), but there’s a lot of stress that goes along with it, too.

I thought I knew a lot about fishing…until I started having to do it every day, under all kinds of conditions, with people of all skill levels. The more I did it, the more I realized that I didn’t know so much.

Honestly, it’s a tough time to get into the field, with declining fish populations, ever-increasing crowds, expensive fuel and a recession. When times are tight, fishing trips often get axed out of people’s budgets.

If you’re prepared to hang tough and give it some time, you’ll do fine.

I’ll leave you with what I think is the most important aspect of being a guide:

It’s what you do between bites that makes or breaks you.

Good luck!

–JD

Spend the extra $$ on a fish finder?

Hey JD,

I was reading your recent report on the Lowrance LMS 527C sonar and have a question for you. I know that you have fished for kokanee and trout, so I wanted to ask your expertise on is this unit for these gamefish.

Do you think this unit is more than adequate, or would you recommend spending a few more bucks and go to the next level of sonars like the Lowrance X-27C with 8000 watts and the most pixels?

The goal is to fish smarter with the sonar, but do you think the added cost would be worth it for trout and kokanee as the target fish?

–Andy

That LMS 527C is more than adequate — unless you’re hankering for a huge screen. I’ve got a buddy with one of those jumbo graphs that looks like a 52-inch flat screen plasma TV and we kid him about having to sit on a phone book just to see over it! The big screens are nice, but I don’t see the huge advantage.

In this day and age when everything is getting more expensive, I’d say save the money and use those extra couple hundred bucks for something like, oh maybe a half tank of gas or something…

Steelhead Rods for Bass?

JD, I mainly fish for salmon, trout and steelhead. I’ve never really had any desire to fish bass fish and have thought of them as kind of a boring fish. As I get older, however, I’m really finding myself wanting to go after the bucketmouths more often. I only live about half an hour from Clearlake and want to get good at bass fishing. I’m not worrying about figuring it out, I just want some help with rod selection for different techniques. My question is this…which of my steelhead and salmon rods will work best for crankbaits, spinnerbaits, swimbaits, jig fishing, and fishing plastics with different rigs, etc? I know most of my rods are long, but oh well, I’ll make due. Thanks very much for your help!
–Kevin

Kevin,

Without going into every rod you own, let’s keep it simple. Yes, most of your steelie sticks are going to be too long for normal bassing, but if you’re trying to save a little $$ by not buying a bunch of new stuff, you can get by with some of your current gear.

For crankbaits, use any Kwikfish or Hotshotting rods you may have — ones with a soft tip and some good backbone. For flipping jigs, stout back-bouncing rods should do the trick. Heavy salmon back-bouncers will also probably suffice for topwater frogging and tossing big swimbaits.

For finesse tactics like drop-shotting, use a light spinning rod.

Hope that helps!

–JD

Which rod for divers & bait for steelies?

JD — I fish a river that is +90% hatchery steelhead. The last few years I have started backtrolling sand shrimp using Brad’s divers. What rod would you recomment for this? Also how do you like your drag when backtrolling bait or when you are backtrolling plug for steelhead?
–Eric T.

Hey Eric, depending on how big your steelies are, the GLoomis HSR 941 is a dandy stick. I’ve also had lots of fun with smaller spring-run fish on the HSR 9000.

I run a really light drag setting because I’m using braid most of the time when pulling plugs or bait divers. Since braided line doesn’t stretch, the light drag builds in some “give” that helps keep the hooks from pulling free on the takedown.

Which rod and reel for coho fishing in Alaska?

Hey J.D. — I enjoyed your writing about fishing for coho in Cordova, Alaska. One question I have - what rod & reel do you suggest for that fishing?
– David M.

David, I ran a GLoomis STR1165C and my buddy fished a STR 1025C. Both worked great. As far as reels, go, the new Shimano Curado 301 is sweeeeeeet!

Are stripers a threat to salmon?

Hey JD, do you have any input regarding a theory that the non-indigenous Stripers may have a contribution to the current downturn in several indigenous species (i.e. Pacific Coast Salmon, Delta Smelt) populations?
–Don B.

Don, while stripers do put some un-Godly numbers of juvenile salmon down their gullets and certainly aren’t helping the situation, they’re not the big reason. Since the West Coast, as a whole, was generally down over the past couple years, the only common denominator is the ocean. Something isn’t right out there! Stripers also eat their share of Delta smelt, no doubt, but the main problem with the smelt is poor water quality in the delta…and water diversions. Back when we had big numbers of salmon and smelt, the striper numbers were also high…

I just did a post recently about this. Check it out:

Stripers vs. Salmon

Can Redfish live in freshwater?

JD,
I have a friend that caught Red fish in the Gulf waters and brought them home and released them in a fresh water pond 2 years ago. He was fishing in the pond this past weekend and caught one of the Red fish. The fish had survived for two years out of salt water in pond water. The fish has gained weight and doing great. Is this normal for a salt water fish to be able to adapt to pond water?
– Water Wolf

Wolfie, are you speaking of fish that are red or redfish? Sorry, just a geeky journalism major joke there! Anyway, during my stint back in the early 1990’s as editor of the now-defunct Texas Fishing & Hunting News (I swear it wasn’t my fault!), I remember writing stories about freshwater reds in some of the reservoirs. The interesting thing here is that most osmoregulators (fish that can live both in fresh and salt like stripers, shad, steelhead, salmon, etc) need some acclimation time between the two water types. I’m surprised that your buddy’s red made it in the pond, coming direct from salt but maybe they’re just super tough, bad ass fish. Hey — where’s that pond, anyway? Just kidding!

Ask JD (Special Edition): Yes, I am the King of the Smokers!

This is one of the best questions ever sent in by a reader, so without further adieu, a very special edition of Ask JD…

Question: JD, As the all-Big Enchilada and host of the Smoker of the Year Contest, I was recently wondering if you know of what you speak. After all, all I see you holding in pictures on this site and in the various magazines I see you in are chrome fish. I mean, what gives, dude? What are your qualifications? — Tom H., Redding, CA

Answer: Well I’m glad you asked, Tommy Boy! I probably should have posted my resume a long time ago when I first started the Smoker of the Year thing, but better late than never.

Well, here’s the deal. Though I have long since been reformed, I was quite the accomplished bead fisherman in my youth. Back then, my home away from home was the infamous “Wall” in the Nimbus Basin of the American River. That place was the epicenter of Smokers — it was to dark fish what Greenwich Village was to folk music. In the mid 80’s I was an unstoppable force in the field of catching dark fish…sort of the Joe Montana of sore tails.

Need some proof? I offer you this, a trip through my “dark” history…

Our trip down memory lane begins with this nearly 30-pound slab of “the other white meat” from 1987 (which I’ll add to the 2008 contest entries). This black buck was typical of the quality of fish I used to bring home. In those days, I made my fish even more “flavorful” by never bleeding them, keeping them (dead) on a stringer all day, throwing them in the back of my truck in 80- to 95-degree weather for the 45-minute drive home and then freezing them in tinfoil wrappers! YUM!!

But wait, there’s more…a lot more. I have quite a body of work from my days at the Wall. Read on!!

Read more

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