Just because Harold Schoeffler uses simple gear such as homemade marker buoys and bamboo pole depth sounders, don’t be fooled into thinking he isn’t particular about his tackle.
Schoeffler always uses straight-handle (versus pistol grip), level-wind casting rods, largely because they fit easily into the rod holders he built into the gunnel of his custom aluminum boat.
Rods are always trolled “dead stick” — never held in the anglers’ hands.
All his reels are spooled with either 17- or 20-pound-test monofilament. Each rod’s main line is tipped with a 1-foot, 20-pound-test leader of doubled fluorocarbon.
While Schoeffler’s choice of plastic lure styles might be a little retro, he is particular about colors, with his favorite being root beer flat-tail grubs.
Grandson Jean-Paul — no inexperienced fisherman himself — prefers smoke-colored grubs or a Texas Trout Killer in “who dat” color.