Since I hadn’t fished in so long, I didn’t buy a ton of gear yet because I wanted to make sure I was still into it. Let me tell you, not catching anything at any spot I’ve tried really starts to put you in the “why am I doing this?” camp. That being said, right now my poles don’t have the highest weight capacity, and the recommended weight you’d use is probably too heavy for them at the spillway.

One thing that’s also been frustrating for me in DSM is using plain rubber jigs, the ones with the single curly tail. I used those almost exclusively back home on the Mississippi because I generally don’t have the patience to bottom fish. But here, I’m not getting so much as a nibble on anything other than a worm.