Jordanelle tree monster strikes 6/25&6/27

[ape920]

I went up to Jordanelle on Friday 6/25 and had a pretty successful day. Caught about 10 smallies, largest one being about 14" I was trying out different areas and the wind kicked up by mid-morning which limited where I could control the boat and fish. I caught some on the Northern portion and then some on the Southern Part to the east of the damn. 3 pics are attached the length of the tackle box is 17" with the start of the flip top is 13". Near the end of the day I lost the hot lure of the day in a submerged tree.

After having a good day Friday, I felt confident in going up early on Sunday to do some more fishing. Again I was trying some new areas trying to learn the lake some more. First cast I caught a fairly nice chub, they don't fight much. Then things went down hill in a hurry. In about 4 hours I lost about 5-8 lures. I even managed to lose a few weedless setups, one was immediately after it landed in the water. I went to work the crawfish plastic and it was beyond stuck. I caught 1 dink and 8 trees or so. I even hooked onto the same submerged feature with 2 lures. I know fool me once shame on you fool me twice shame on me. I sure would like to know what it was I caught on though. It was about 12-15' down. on the East side of the main portion, if you want to know more or might have a thought shoot me a PM and I can give you some other details.

In hindsight I've decided to look into a lure retriever. Does anyone have any experience with the pole versus heavy weight retrievers? Any thoughts or suggestions would be great, before I buy one and figure out it doesn't work too well.

I'm also looking for a place to replace some of the lost lures. Anyone know of any "hidden" online tackle store? I searched most of the local stores in the valley and Cabelas and no one carried the hot lure I lost.

Ed
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[fsh4fun05]

Spark plug, place the 'wire' over the line, fold it down and send it down the line. Kind of redneck but it works. Send me a pm on your 'hot lure', I'm pretty confident I can find them.
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[nkunz]

I have used one made with a heavy cylinder and a couple of large treble hooks. I can send it down 10' or 100' or more and it almost always comes back with the lure. Of coarse nothing is perfect and some times you just can't get the lure free. Also it is hard to use in a heavy wind but what isn't. The unit is simple and I copied the design and made one for my dad. I have hooked onto trees and rocks that I thought I would have to cut the line in order to get free but I haven't had to yet. I have had mine for over 20 years. So I can't begin to estimate the number of snagged lures that it has retrieved.
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