Paul Roberts

Caught a fair number on lures. They are aggressive critters.

Ouch! Man... Please! Get a lure retriever! Seriously. I'm feeling the pain from here! ?I love my lures. Many are old friends, going back to the 80s. Rock and wood are the toughest. My waters are mostly vegetation, so I lose precious few. And, I'm sentimental... OK, I'm darn cheap too! I get them back! I actually find more lures than I lose, by far. I joke, although it's true, that I find at least one lure every outing. What's hot in the catalogs is what I find: squarebills have been big, and I've nabbed a few LiveTargets too. And Senko's, of course, are the most frequent find. I'll even take em home and mend them. Or recover an end for a Ned grub. The last 4lber I caught was on a found Senko. Still have it too. Yep, I'm a cheapskate. Most lures I find are hung in trees. And usually with too light a line attached. With my video poles, I can easily pluck them out. A few weeks ago, I pulled up to a pond and three guys were looking up in a tree. I hopped out, grabbed my pole, and said, "I just got a call. Someone's got a spinnerbait caught in a tree! Must be you guys." I extended the pole and pulled it down for them.

MtH has much more to do with context: where, when, and how than what the lure looks like in hand.

Well... a few things: -Get to know how deep your lures are. May have to practice this visually in clear water to get the feel for it. -Learn to fish deftly. Lures snag if they crash into cover. So... try not to crash. As you get better you'll be able to crash, which can be an important trigger. With sinking lures, one way is to keep the rod high while you retrieve, which can keep the lure rising up as you pull rather than dragging deeply into cover. This is esp helpful over rock. Using nylon mono's can help too bc they are buoyant. With diving lures like crankbaits, try using the rod to advance your plug rather than the reel. Crank the plug to depth, then pull in cautious strokes with the rod. That way you will deftly contact cover, rather than crash, which can wedge a lure, or stick the hooks in. Water's thick, lures and line buoyant, so gravity isn't there working against you; Take advantage of that fact. -Realize that different cover types require different approaches and/or tackle. Weeds, wood, rock are all different. Weeds envelop, and some species are easier to fish through than others; Some are nearly impossible. We rarely lose lures in weeds though, just a nuisance. The danger of rock tends to be wedging. If you are deft -do not wedge too hard- you can often pop a lure off, or move to the other side and pop it free. The danger with large wet wood tends to be hooks sticking. Wedging tends to be minimal, esp if you are deft. Brush is often the most challenging bc your lure can wedge, stick, or tangle lines. -Map out the snags around you as you fish deftly. That spatial visualization not only allows you to avoid, or fish deftly around, snags, it also allows you to go to the fish, instead of expecting them to come to you. -Use appropriate tackle: line diameter; lure weight/depth; rod power and sensitivity; rigging: hooks, jig head/sinker design, leader length, .... -Learn how to unsnag lures, both from a distance and with a "plug knocker". Hope this helps.

I don't know the threshold levels needed for color vision; It's probably been studied in related fishes, if not bass. Certainly the longer wavelengths (Red end), which bass retina's are most sensitive to (being shallow water dwellers), would be filtered out by water as light diminishes. Their other peak, in the green range, would be more useful in low light I suppose, if anything bc it can penetrate water a bit further. FYI: The explanation for the two cone peaks is that green maximizes background light in algal and vegetated waters. The red offers a direct contrast that makes camouflaged creatures pop out against the green background. I'm not sure color vision is at all required at night for bass to feed effectively though. Cones really do require a lot of light. And color vision is different than grayscale vision. I for one cannot see color under even the brightest moonlight. And I've had a number of interesting experiences under full moon lighting -in places quite familiar to me- that suggest that my rod vision (rods are a lot more sensitive to light than cones) is all about contrast in grayscale -edges and textures popping out instead of color patch differences. I see things under moonlight that are lost to me in daylight. Color is great, but it's like a veneer that glosses over lots of details, details that jump out under moonlight. I've called it, "seeing like a deer". Just some thoughts. There's been some research that backs this up. Part of it has to do with simply having larger eyes, but I think that the shift is quicker for bass than some prey fishes too.

Interesting. Dunno. I've heard a number of theories, but none put to test/measure. The seasonal growth idea might make sense, but... have never really looked at it. The "based on sheer numbers of fish" sounds like the made to order alternative hypothesis.

Rods are highly sensitive to light, but not to color. Rods are shielded during bright light. When light levels fall, rods migrate into place to take in existing light.

Interesting. So... it's one tip, 2 mid-sections (cast and spin), one butt section, and a two piece handle: convertible reel seat (cast and spin) and a "fighting butt". Is that what I'm seeing? So, that makes two rods: a casting and spinning in... M? MH? So... I put a caliper to my three Ardito's. It appears the M spin and M casting share the same handle and mid section blanks (different guides and spacing). However, the two tips are different; The spin being very slightly lighter (about a 0.5mm thinner at the tip-tip). On the M casting and MH casting rods, all three sections are different, differing by less than a mm in diameter from each other. Oddly, from a production standpoint, the rods all feel very similar in action and power. I can tell, but not easily, which is the M and which is the MH casting, just by giving them a shake. Same between the M spin and M cast. All three appear to be are powerful XF rods.

No, I have three the 3pcers, bought separately. I can tell you that I found the tips interchangeable across my 3pcers. In fact, I found that the M spin and M casting appear to be the exact same blanks. They are interchangeable across handles. Looks like the 5+1 should have: -spinning handle -casting handle -middle section -and 2 tips, a M and MH. If the rod is supposed to be a 7fter, it appears Daiwa only makes two tips, the M and MH. That would add up to 5pcs: two handles, one middle section, and two tips = 5 Would be nice to have the ML tip in there too, but that tip is for a 7'6" model. Might need a different middle piece for that? Call 'em. A CORRECTION: The tips on my three (awesome) Ardito's are NOT interchangeable (See my post below for the details). The M cast and M spin tips are very close, but not exact. Being ferruled, and quite powerful rods, interchanging the tips would not be recommended.

It's definitely a smallmouth. Smallies often have red eyes but can be maroon brown too, later in the year. The one the OP posted is quite likely a male that was guarding a bed. They develop very red eyes; LMs do too. I've seen very green smallmouth's, esp those from milky green waters due to suspended clay.

I do it. You can't have spent much time sight fishing without it! It trips the triggers on the larger fish too. Pauses in a retrieve can trigger fish. Duration of the pause can take us into "killed" or "dead-sticking" territory. While I don't often "dead-stick" for extended periods -without a darn good reason- I will "kill" a bait while checking out activity levels and if I suspect there might be more, or bigger, fish in a location.

Will, I like the Siwash hook idea. BB, That is a monster drum.

Ardito's are very strong rods. I'd call the M spinning a MH. They've now added a ML to the line, although it's 7'6".

Really like my Ardito's. I now have 3 of them.

Here's the list of bass predators I have on my waters: Pelican, herons, egrets, cormorant, grebes, terns, bald eagle, osprey, otter, mink, snapping turtle, and others I'm probably forgetting. Bite wounds and scars are pretty common on my fish. Some live to tell.

Excellent post. Thanks for that. I've been there -twice. First time took a year to heal. Second, a year-and-a-half. Wish I'd had your post then. But... I can now fish ambidextrously.

Velcro has been used by fly-fishers for "the next step in C&R: rise, hook, and... long distance release. Trout have sharp close-set teeth. Bass don't. They can engulf and spit pretty easily. "Frogs" are hot and let's face it, we buy lures as much as collectors items as everyday tools.

"Confirmed" is the word here as it corroborates past findings, which is important. I see Ellis Loew is on the paper. I knew him; His office was down the hall from my lab back then. That was... 25+ years ago now. Yeesh!

Yeah, there's a lot of ways to make them. I like the carabiner idea. Simple is best, esp when we're talking snags and tangles. U-tube. Great, customizable, design. Comfy too. Odd though, feeling worn out but not sore at the end of the day. A bit too much like a desk job.

I have a purchased one for boating, and a smaller DIY for my float tube. They are pretty simple: a weight, an open-able clip to clip on your line, and mine has short lengths of chain. Used mine just the other day.

How's the water clarity? Has that changed any?

Unfortunately, ignorant seems to be pretty common. In more hard-fished waters, damaged jaws are pretty common. Seems treble hooks are the worst for people to deal with.

How often do you go?

Thanks for the article. This type of thing is always a hard issue for the general public. However, according to the article, it's because of human alterations of the land through the construction of reservoirs of all sizes that the cormorant populations have exploded. There was a similar issue I got involved in NY involving the return of beavers. We were happy to have them back, but, the land has been altered so drastically from its original state due to deforestation for agriculture and urbanization, that trout streams were already heat stressed. Beavers ended up adding to that problem by ponding, heating and silting water even well below the series of ponds. Without wolves and lions the most effective means was trapping. That was a hard sell to the public.