Paul Roberts

I use two types: A dial type from either Taylor Instruments, or Omega Instruments. I think the Taylor one is called "Dial-Temp." They come calibrated, and are re-calibrate-able. About $25. I also use regular "stream thermometers" (alcohol), usually from fly-fishing sources or hardware stores. About $20. To get closest guess to accuracy, I look at all of them on the peg, pull out the outliers (if any) then average the temps of the remaining, and then choose one at the average. The one you buy can be checked against your Dial-Temp too.

Phew. Appreciate your understanding. Appreciate your in-depth review. I started looking into WPs only recently, and decided to go with the Choppo's, both the 90 and 120. Too cold for them yet, but your post has me encouraged. Thanks. Apologies to the OP'er too. I guess I should just refer such concerns to a moderator and let them decide.

I don't think we've ever met. But I thought we chatted a wile back about the Penfield area. I did experience the hooks and bow lines thing, but the hooks never buried, both the elastic and parachute cord being hard cased enough that I ended up leaving them on. I'll have to try with my rods. I am quite sure mine won't. Esp my Ardito travel rods, at least with their heavy butt ends. They will probably go down like a rocket, and stand vertically off bottom. I might then be able to catch em with a crankbait. Maybe I should just leave them as is, and say those massive butts were designed esp for kayak fishing.

Thanks, Rich. Yes, I'll be playing around with ideas to keep my stuff safe, and efficient. I do have a Kistler Helium LTA ("Lighter Than Air"); Apparently there is He injected into the blank (??). And, it floats. :)) Not sure if all my rigs will float with pipe insulation, but will play around. I can tell that I'll probably need to go lighter, rather than heavier, in time. Getting there already it seems. Lots of great option out there though. Heck, my float tube weighs 40lbs, all dressed up and ready to go! I tend to carry lots of lead. Yes, I think we talked about "Manitou" once. Interesting place it was/is? Paul

Sorry... Don't mean to put you on the spot. But, it would be nice to know that someone's opinion is genuine, esp one so convincing. We want to be able to spend our hard-earned cash wisely here. Otherwise, what's the point of this forum? A while back, when Nanofil came out, someone got on here, with few to no previous posts, and sung the praises of Nanofil, with obvious expertise in both the industry and writing about it. He was very convincing. A bit too convincing. So... to be clear... what kind of sales? Apologies, up front, otherwise. And welcome to the forum -truly.

This reads like an ad.

I too have suffered a few nautical disasters over the years, so... I guess I'm a bit paranoid there. Some were doozy's. The one that still gives me the heebie-jeebies, was a canoe fishing trip with a buddy on the Genesee River. We hit a long flat glide, and I spotted a log laying partially in the water. It was too shallow, but back then I'd stop to cast at anything. Heck, I guess I'll still do that. We tied off and I waded over to cast, and noticed the mist just ahead. We'd stopped just yards from one of the massive Letchworth falls! The people we could see below looked like ants. And I suspect that log saved them from seeing two boobs in a red canoe go over. I found the front deck space to be the primary workspace. My boat is a bit cramped to easily access the area behind the seat, esp with the vertical rod holders there. I haven't had too much trouble casting around them, but they do limit direct overhead casting. I may have to re-think the rod holders. The more horiz holders are for spinning rods and I cut slots in them that partially locks each outfit in place by the reel stem. Rod goes in at ~45deg, and the reel stem drops into a 0deg slot. Twist to 45 and remove. I'm still going to want to tether though. I love my rods n reels! Wow, that Hornbeck sure is light! 18lbs for a 12fter. My poly yak is 50lbs, bare. Paul

Awesome fishing! We'll done. Even better, yes, you are onto something. You found the prey your bass are using. That is a huge step. As to knots, I like the FG Knot. Second, the Alberto. Congrats. The grade ahead just got a bit more level.

Yes, she was. She was older than the others. The others were beautiful specimens, in their prime, esp the 3+ in the last photo. The "beast", if I'd held her up to a wide lens and hid my fingers, she could have weighed... anything I wanted. :)) I didn't weigh her. I don't care really, and know what I'm looking at. She was 20". I did weigh the 4.5, (who just touched 19"), for those who might care, remembering I'm on camera.

@J FranchoFranchoFrancFranchFraFranchFranchoFranchoF ???? Anyway... Those Roch winter's can get rough by the end. Dark and dreary. Is that why Roch drivers are the meanest on planet Earth? Hope you get out in some wonderful spring weather soon.

Ditto above ideas. A bass worth catching should be able to take that hook in. I actually have the opposite problem, bass taking stick-worms too deep. Since bass often hold onto a soft plastic, esp a stick-worm, I'll "weigh the line", if I'm not sure whether the fish has it or not. This means bringing some tension on the line, to assess whether it is indeed a bass, rather than a panfish, small bass, or weed. This is about the only area I want a soft-tipped rod, which allows me to pull into a fish gently, although it can be done with any good sensitive rod. The most sensitive way to do this is, though, is fore-going the rod altogether and holding the line in your fingers. But, I don't wait too long or I may have an esophagus-hooked fish. Other thoughts: -Your "M" power rod may be a tad weak, for a 4/0 hook, esp if it is of heavy wire, and esp if its dull. Is that hook sharp? It should stick instantly into your thumbnail, not slide across it. If you are able to get away with a M power rod, then you may not need the big 4/0 T-rigged, even Texposed. Either go to a lighter wire hook, or, go wacky, with a 1 or 1/0 wacky hook. -Are you by any chance fishing on a very short line, with the fish very close to you? The bass needs to have time to inhale the hook, then clamp down on it. This is not something we tend to notice at any distance, since it's done by the time our rod hand gets the signal. But, on a very short line I've found it's easy to pluck the bait from their mouth.

@MIbassyaker Besides "real" boats (I owned one once), I went from shore to a float tube. I was happy to be off the bank, but, there is a learning curve there too. Duck in the water, except, I wasn’t a duck. I guess I am now! If I want to turn, I can literally spin. Glad I’m not susceptible to motion sickness! That’s the kind of “spoiled” I meant. My standards became blaringly high, when I got in my yak for the first time, bc of my float tube experience. I have canoeing experience, so I had a good idea what I was getting into. But that 10ft “fishing” kayak is a different animal than a standard 15ft canoe; Much more responsive. My yak learning curve is going to involve reading the wind, with accurate anchor placement. And there are some safety concerns thrown in that might not be apparent, if you weren’t hip to them. Agreed, a fishing kayak is relatively difficult to roll, but with my little 10fter it is possible, and we can reach the point of no return pretty quick, if I’m not aware of my mass and inertia. When I first took it out, with all my rigging and gear, I warned myself, “This thing is a potential disaster waiting to happen”. I’ll definitely be re-thinking my gear tethering system. In terms of safety, I found YT and kayak sites, to be a great help. With my old car topper, I’d be able to double anchor. Bad idea with a kayak though, at least the one I have. So, I see, in my fishing, there is a definite place for both tube and yak. I could also see a place for a full-sized kayak, and a flat-bottom, and a bass boat —probably a little 17, and a big 20. :)) Luckily, there is more small water out there than I actually have time to do justice. I’m content with a good pair of boots, a float tube, and now a small portable fishing kayak. ?

Thanks, Rick. Yeah, pretty much true of everything that's truly worthwhile.

Yes, it was! Although I actually worked pretty hard trying to home in on the big females, despite that first cast. I know the place a whole lot better now, and it wasn't easy to find consolidated fish, beyond the initial spot, except for smaller fish. The weather flip-flopped: a glorious 75F and sunny on day 2, and 45F and windy on day 3. I lasted it out, but I was one fleece layer shy. But, that's fishing. Funny, the hard work seems to fade from memory pretty quick. The great days I remember "so well", when I go back to my written journals, I find took more time and effort than I remember. This trip was actually my third time getting the yak wet. I took it step by step. The first time I first got it wet, last fall, was to familiarize myself with its stability: test rolls, and standing up (AOK for paddling, but not for... casting , concentrating "out there", and hook setting, I think; Risky, at best). LOL, when I first rolled it, on purpose, a fisherman saw me and came running. "Dude! Dude! You OK!!??" "Yeah, I did it on purpose." And he shook his head and went back to fishing. Second trial was after it was fully rigged to fish, to see if it truly was rigged to fish. I had the 3 day fishing trip coming up and I didn't want to troubleshoot then. So I went to a local pond and... man, I'm glad I did. Took some time before I was even able to make a cast! I was able to take care of some crucial details that would have seriously hampered my coming trip. Had some good catching at the local pond though, so I was able to break myself in pretty well there. Then, I went fishing! I know you are a more experienced yakker than I, and I'm not sure you remember what it was like figuring things out for the first time. I immediately came to appreciate the importance of stability, tracking/maneuverability, and anchoring. And, my standards are high there, hence the . Once I got that stuff smoothed out a bit, I realized that this little yak and I are going to get along quite well. But, man, those switching breezes are a .

Wow! Nice thing about tournaments is you know, in the end, whether there were fish biting. Even better when you get to be the bearer of the news. Congrats on a great day.

Got a yak, to cover larger waters than I can in my tube. It's a cheap one, and I probably spent as much on rigging it to fish as I did on the boat. It’s also small, at 10ft, which allows me to put it onto the roof of my truck by myself —even after a hard day’s fishing. But, it's not for standing up and fishing. After a couple trial runs to fathom her stability, and figure out what she really needed to be fishable, we hit a 30 acre prairie res I'd never fished before. I studied satellite images, identifying areas to start my search for big pre-spawn females. I got there, put the boat in, and paddled directly to a large bar, that bounds a large heated flat, I’d seen by satellite. On my very first cast I found the first big female, in the low 5lb range. Took two more -a high 3, and a 4.5- on a later run. The satellite helped, a lot, but things had changed some, of course, and nothing beats being there on the water with your eyes peeled and sonar pinging. In retrospect, I wish I'd done more pinging and mapping before I started flinging. Could have been an even better trip. Despite being spoiled by the boat control I have with my float tube, (ooooooo -I'm going to have to do some serious audio editing on that next video fishing journal), I found the little yak very fishable. I just have to be patient, which means more down-time spent positioning, and repositioning, and repositioning,... . ? But, it was stable, nimble enough, and fast. This last was what I bought it for in the first place. And, despite some headaches, it put me on some good fish. That little yak and I got busy. I feel better now, having got out and fished. Ahhhhhhhh. Now, back to the editing....

I'm back in business here... Phew!

I now carry so much gear with me... it could be anything. And too often... is! ?

Yeah, interesting topic, in a number of ways: Lau, Lembeck, "schooling", aggregation, individuality (personality), adaptability, ... There sure is a lot buried in this site. BR certainly does live up to its name. I always saw it as an archive of sorts, posting with that in mind. Plenty to find if one is willing to treat it as a database. Oh yeah, the book (make that, THE BOOK )... I've gone to scripting, which may be an indirect route, but, helpful towards pulling concepts, and graphics, together.

Not this year is right. Remained cold here too. Me thinks the spawn is going to come on fast here.

I like that idea. Thanks. And, Welcome.

Need more info: -First: Where you are in the season: Post-Winter, Pre-Spawn, Spawn. -Then, mainly: cover type and density (if any), and visibility for the fish (water clarity, and sky conditions). -Third, prey types in your lake? Shad? Sunfishes?

Fun! I was just going through my box of old IF, and deciding which to keep -Mostly the Bass Guides. Guess I'll have to pick up the new one too. Congrats, bb!

Sounds like there's a hole, or a bottleneck, in the food chain for those bass. 8-9in 'gills are too big for the vast majority of bass to tackle and eat. With 'gills that size, they should be reproducing pretty effectively, meaning there should be prey-sized 'gills for upcoming bass. Unless, they are either eating them all up, or... they can't get to them. Is there a lot of dense vegetation by any chance?

Bass in lakes and ponds are the same critters. The biggest difference -besides some potential prey types- lies in the sheer size of lakes. So bass can travel farther. But, realize most bass, even ion lakes, live in less than 20 ft of water, most probably <10fow. Shorelines are important in both, but in ponds, most "structure" where the habitats bass use develops, are attached to the shoreline. Whereas, in lakes, a lot of that habitat is not a casts reach form shore, and some of it may not even be attached to shoreline contours. Same is actually true in small waters, but, there's just less away-from-shore structure because there is simply less a-f-s real estate in a pond. In any small water though -although this varies pond to pond of course- there are places that are better than others in terms of those bass getting fed. One really good idea, instead of just walking up and starting casting, is to walk the shoreline and identify the best areas. I esp look for prey fishes, like bluegills in my waters. Some spots have lots of them, others few. As txchaser mentions, tall shoreline "structure" counts! In many, if not most, small waters, (and lakes too, when bass are on shorelines) shoreline trees -often the larger or denser the better- or high banks serve as objects for bass to relate to. On some of my waters, I can simply head straight to those high and dry "structures" and be on fish. What's in the water matters too, but shoreline objects can be a focal point within those important habitat areas. I've posted a lot on BR about spring fishing over the years, esp in the Fishing Reports section. My video fishing journals on YT essentially follow the seasons on small waters. A good one to start on might be this one, although there are several that hit spring fishing on small waters: