First of all, I am NOT a professional fisherman. I just happen to be a guy who has always loved to go fishing, especially when it was to a place where the fishing would be productive.

Fishing Trips

In all of the years that I have gone fishing, I have been able to fish: in small ponds, farm ponds, strip pits, small lakes, and large lakes.

Two of the most exciting fishing trips were to Minnesota.

All I can remember are Brainerd, Minnesota, and Bemidji, Minnesota.

Brainerd is where we got live bait every morning and went fishing at a nearby lake and Bemidji is where the statues of Paul Bunyon and Babe were.

Each summer, the fishing trips were for 10 days each. So needless to say we caught all kinds of fish (musky, northern pike, walleye, catfish, bass, crappie, and panfish).

Not only did we eat fish each night for dinner, but we also brought home multiple coolers with frozen fish.

I have also been fishing multiple times on Tablerock Lake in Branson, Missouri.

On three occasions, I had a guide.

The first two times with a guide were extremely productive and fun. Not only did we catch our limits on fish, but we also threw back over 100 hundred largemouth bass that were smaller than the legal limits.

We caught bass, crappie, and panfish. Now the really exciting thing about this guide was that he could have been Kenny Roger’s twin brother.

The following summer, I went to Branson again and called the guide and to my luck, he remembered me and we went fishing again. Once again, the fishing was incredible and we had fun.

Little did I know that when we came back to the dock after 8 hours of fishing, the guide took all of the fish, filleting them, wrapped them all for freezing, and gave me everything we had caught.

The third experience with a guide on Table Rock Lake was totally non-productive.

Fishing Equipment

Almost all of the fishing equipment and tackle that I have purchased have come from 2 stores: Academy Sports and Bass Pro Shops.

Academy sports often have some of the same items at lower prices, but Bass Pro shops have absolutely huge selections of equipment and tackle.

I have 6 spinning rods and reels. Two of the reels are Abu Garcia, 1 is Shakespeare, 1 is H20 Express and 1 is Pfleuger. All 6 of the rods are 7 feet long.

I have always liked Abu Garcia spinning reels. There is nothing wrong with the Shakespeare reels either.

One of the Abu Garcia reels and the H20 Express reel are larger than the others.

The 2 larger reels have 30 pound Power Pro dark green braided line on them with 3 foot long 15 pound test flurocarbon leader and the three smaller reels have a 12 pound Monofilament line on them.

Although I have purchased a fair amount of fishing tackle, I have also bought a lot of different types of plastics, jig heads, and spinners and made my own tackle.

Due to the volume of tackle, I have a large tackle bag (Bass Pro) that holds 5 large plastic boxes in the main compartment. The bag also has space for other smaller boxes.

The last time I counted the items I made, it is approaching 100 different plastic baits. They all have jigheads and some have spinners and some do not.

In the past three years, I have gone fishing 5 times at Table Rock Lake in Branson, Missouri.

Sometimes the fishing sucked.

If you want to contact me, please use the Contact Me form and I will respond.

Mickey Lieberman