Paul Roberts

Any rod, any leader length will do. The knot should not impede casting or retrieving.

Awesome! Now that's some adventure! 8-)

Because it's not an experiment. It's pure BS. I wouldn't say that was very smart. He's also working on his reputation.

I've added them to my arsenal for coldwater. I was hearing lots of talk about them for slow-rolling in coldwater and found they are a great coldwater bait, where lots of action with slow horizontal speed is the ticket. I'm sure they would work other seasons too, but there are lots of other horizontal options in warmer water I'm plenty enamored with. I've only used the Z-Man. And yes you DEFINITELY have to sharpen the hook -ESP so in cold water. Another good one (I originally heard used for cold water slow-rolling) is the KARU brand. But I haven't tried this one. I had inquired about how slowly it can be crawled, and remain engaged, and it supposedly does so very well.

Here's a recent discussion that gets into proper "lipping" and holding. http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1256262739/0

Awesome. Simply awesome. Heart, Soul, and Mind.

About what that steelie might have been doing? Oo what trips their trigger? It was probably staging in the bay prior to running, waiting for proper conditions to ascend mostly stream water level (in the smaller tribs). That being a steelhead (not a domestic) the call gets strong in December (to ascend). But some are ready to roll in November as evidenced by the bigger rivers getting good November runs of mint bright steelies then (LOVED that). So my best guess on your fish, from 1500miles and 20 years away: If you haven't had much rain, that fish was probably staging in the bay, or possibly nosing up into the estuary. As to its color, the vid is strongly backlit, but I believe it was a metallic slightly colored hen that recently took on her color in the lake they are happy to do that if they are ready to roll but cannot ascend. There are more there though -could be a lot of them in places. Check for potholes in the estuary. They want to run. You may need to apply drift stuff (on bottom) though bright jigs can be good too. If you find one, it probably wasn't alone. Being in a yak may give you access to fish few probably have. Get there before it ices up over them. The number of fish that stacked up in the SR estuary in the late 70s was amazing! By spring it was UNBELIEVABLE.

How might it work for vertically fishing for winter bass? Does it engage quickly? Looks like it would. Heaviest is 1/4oz (?) -might be useful in smaller (shallower) waters for this.

Wow. That was truly stupid.

Interesting.

What're Hustlures?

Those are some very healthy bass, nice scenery, and great pics. And welcome!

I was wondering that too. It has a sweet action under the water but it's definitely not a senko. I'm thinking some hand poured worm like a roboworm could have that type of action to it. That's almost certainly, considering the film's vintage, a pork eel. Uncle Josh just recently re-issued it I hear.

It's now got some big brownies (Mepps#2)! Ooooopps! I did it again!

Thank you for the paragraphs! They really are helpful when there's lots of info. "Air" in a crank sounds a bit like the ability of a spinner to engage, or a plastic tail to writhe -the reason I boil soft plastics. Wood also just imparts more action -I can really feel wood plugs better than plastics.

Nice report! Great details.

Yeah, they'd roll in in waves. We'd have days when we'd get 20 FAT egg laden females from just a few holes near the lake in BP. I always wondered if they came in from the lake itself. Never fished IB though. Did you know...(lol)... that there used to be a little impoundment in ER called Spring Lake that gave up pike up to 20#s years ago (50s/60s). I talked to a guy who fished it, and a few other hotspots, who's now deceased who said the pike "are now all small" (c1980). I talked to a butcher (my best friends Dad) who weighed a 22#er at his butcher shop from the canal right in town -sometime late 60s early 70s. Just a little trivia and time warp perspective on area pike.

The fishing world is the last bastion of the snake-oil salesman. I'm sure it'll catch fish just fine.

Those are good LO pike. I used to ice fish some of the W bays and saw a lot of pike. The bet I took was 11# -a buddy had a 13#. Things change though.

Howdy!

Howdy!

Amen to that, Paul. Believe it or not, I was the 1st one off the water that day, yelling for the other two to bring it in. And I'm the one most qualified to be out in the rough stuff. By the time we got the boats on the trailer, we had 4' white caps blowing left to right. You know where I was, and you also know how quickly the lake goes from glass to maelstrom in minutes. I do believe it. You gotta be able to see things coming, or be paranoid enough to know when you can't. BTW: That's a very pretty pike. 28"?

Yeah, when I read gravel pit I thought humps, ridges, potholes, and boulder piles. If it's a deep one, and many are, then shallows (where much of the food is) wherever they are found, are key they produce food, and/or attract fish. The deeper/steeper it is, the more likely these areas will be important. Depending on water clarity, these areas may be THE show. Definitely worth running around with sonar, if you can. If not, on calm sunny days, walk it before you fish, esp if it has high banks. I've even been known to climb trees, and it has paid off. I used to fish a lagoon' that had a creek running through it. The channel held LOTSA bass in the spring. I always caught a bunch at the two obvious bends I could read from shore. But I climbed a tree once and spotted a good deadfall along a straight section, and after crashing through brush found it also held fish. I rotated through 4 spots in that lagoon and had people always asking WHAT I was using never WHERE! I never let on it was too small a water, and too close to a town, to share what I knew. If it's not too large, you say it's only a few acres, just fish your way around with bottom bouncing (and/or known depth) stuff. For future reference, if it's a somewhat larger water, be sure to check the mapping websites out there. You'll likely see (by topo/contours feature) steeper and flatter areas (most important I suppose in natural/dammed than dug ponds), and by satellite views you'll possibly see the bottom in shallow areas. One site I like is http://mapper.acme.com/ . During the serious drought (when I took that above picture) the bass and bluegills became consolidated into the remaining depths often pretty small areas. The bass I caught from them during this time were FAT! Drawdowns can be really good for ponds, for a number of reasons resulting in booms. They can also be really bad at times, resulting in busts. Winterkill affected a number of ponds during that drought.

Todd, you might be better off moving! But I'll buy a ticket to -for the cause. Hey...have you perused the Arsenal yet? It's the closest thing we have to what you are after.

Don't wanta one-up anybody, but this might make you feel better. The last week or a little more has brought below zero temps for lows. My wife's the schoolteacher in our little two-room school, and the kids haven't had an outdoor recess longer than 10 minutes in over a week. It's insane over there. We finally got up into the single digits last night, but 50mph winds w/70mph gusts came in (it's a common Rocky Mountain thing). Despite the boiler running straight through the night the thermostat read 57F in the living room this morning. The faucets on the west side of the house are frozen so I've got space heaters going as I type. Wish I'd turned 'em on last night! : Wind hardened snow drifts buried ... never mind, you get the picture. So, enjoy your couple days off from fishing. And don't forget to SMILE!