Paul Roberts

Well, although bass are primarily visual (tons of evidence indicating just how visual they are), they also have other skills too. These other senses and the software to back them up can take center stage in visually challenging environments. Bass adapted to turbid waters can hunt effectively using the other senses. How far can this go? I once discovered a fully blind bass (due to cataracts) in a very clear water pond that, surprisingly, was in excellent body condition. I had a discussion with Ralph Manns about it and he believed that that bass could not be fully blind. Looking at all the evidence for the major role vision takes in bass, one could certainly think that. But I was able to see that bass enough times, in a bunch of contexts, to be pretty convinced she couldn't see much, if at all. She was fat and happy, although a social dolt. I also once caught a very large small-stream brown trout (22") that was fully blind from cataracts completely grown over his eyes. He, too, was in excellent body condition.

Very cool. Keith Jones book "Knowing Bass" comes, in part, from his work at Berkley. A ways back I was offered an entry level job with Berkley, but I was too shy at the time to accept. I think it might have been a good fit.

I guess I can't see any advantage glass would have over graphite, and with a loss in sensitivity. Fished glass for a bunch of years and can't see going back. Graphite was a godsend. Catching big trout on the Great Lakes back in 1981: "Got one! Oh, the lines hung on a fin -thump!- there, it's off. Oh no, the line's crossed into it's mouth; I can feel the teeth! -tick tick tick tick- that's got to weaken the line... " "What are you talking about??!" my buds would stammer. Then... "I can't wait to get one of those!"

Agree with T9. Good post. Brian goes above and beyond in his fishing and tackle knowledge. I use XT, and have been using Sensation some now, for mono's. Been an XT user for a loooong time. I know it and trust it. A while back -like in the 1980s- XT was very wiry and had reduced stretch. I worked in a large tackle shop and on quiet nights we would test all sorts of things. We found XT to be the lowest stretch line on the shelf. I also found it to be true in fishing it. It would load up (you can feel the stretch come out of a line as it maxes out (I was/am a back-reeler)) and when it broke it gave all of a sudden. I believe the formula has changed since then, as it appears to stretch more. The packaging now says "shock resistant" (or something along that line) which indicates stretch. Big Game is also a "shock absorbing" line and thus likely has some stretch built in. Sensation is advertised as a "controlled stretch" mono and it does feel that way although I've not tested it. It feels a bit more like the old XT but I haven't had it give all of a sudden when maxed like the old XT did; "controlled stretch" is a good description I think. It's a nice line. Another thing about XT: It's much thicker than other lines for the "Lb Test" rating on the box. And it breaks at a correspondingly higher load than others. One way to get abrasion resistance is to go thicker. So... 8lb XT is the same diameter -and break strength- as most other 10lbs, Sensation included. Diameter is what counts in presentation so keep that in mind when you purchase. I'd recommend either line.

Outside edges; inside turns.

Just watching. I've a bunch to add to the discussion, but am trying to get it into a book chapter... before I die.

As WRB said, if they get hot, or are in direct sun, line degrades very quickly. Never store line in an automobile. Otherwise, everything's been covered above that I can see.

Thanks, Wayne.

OK, thanks guys.

Hmmmm.... What most consider hard jerkbaits are minnow plugs that suspend. One can use a floater as a "jerkbait" -yanked and darted- but it would not hang suspended during pauses which is often needed in cold water where suspending jerks shine. One can definitely use a floater but it would be an active horizontal retrieve. One can also weight floaters to slow the rate of ascent, which can help where fish are lethargic. This works for crankbaits too. As to floating jointed minnow plugs as "jerks"? Sure, why not, however they tend to roll or turn immediately rather than dart forward on a tug, which is part of the draw of "jerkbaits". One could rip a jointed though. Give it a shot, play around with it. You may find something that works for you.

I thought I saw a portable unit that had a feature that allowed for map generation of uncharted waters. I see the FishHunter has this function but the resolution quality looked poor. The Insight Genesis software looks great but maybe not useful with portable units -esp with smartphone use? What's out there? Anything?

Ditto WRB's comments. I've also used the original floater as a clear water topwater -(esp effective in early spring when water is still cool). Paused between twitches it's killer. Both the straight and jointed work as the buoyant balsa makes the bait do a killer flashing roll when twitched or tugged. The jointed version does the same but with an added wriggle that can be killer too. I also modify the F-ll jointed into a waking topwater for calm surfaces in summer. I use a lighter to heat the lip just enough that I can bend it down. This keeps the bait from diving so it just crawls across the surface. The jointed version adds a snaky wriggle. The BX Extreme looks great, but one advantage to the originals is how light they are -being all balsa- so they land very quietly; something really important in high visibility (for the fish) conditions. I also use the original floaters as an active jerk bait. Since it floats I must keep it moving but in warmer water that's often just what's needed. Then there's the big F-13 which can make a good swimbait as WRB mentions. I love those Rapala's. And they are so beautiful -works of art. I always wanted to collect every model and frame them, but nowadays there are so many models they would require a heck of a frame!

Ah, double-digits you'd said. I just ordered some mushrooms too. Of all the jig heads I have I can't believe I'm buying more.

Sometimes I dig in and try to figure it out. Other times I throw up my hands and switch ponds altogether, looking for cooperative fish. Depends on how much challenge or reward I need right then. Tough thing is knowing how much of it was me, the fish, or the pond. It's a hard lesson looking at tournament stats in which, almost always, someone whacks em. Kent: Alabama or Ned? Both are pretty amazing.

Wondered who might notice that.

Yeah, finding them can certainly be an issue, esp on big waters. But in the waters I'm talking about I can cover them entirely by walking around the bank, and others by float tube. I know where they are; they just aren't having what I'm tossing. A couple examples: I fished a couple small ponds this October. Things just felt "dead". I couldn't raise a fish in a spot I knew held fish. I cajoled with a bunch of things with not a look until I tried a wacky'd soft jerk, and by twitching it like a dying minnow just under the surface over those dying milfoil beds bass started to materialize. They wouldn't commit, but were interested and told me they were there all along. I switched to a buzzbait and got whacked by three. The next pond (with high clarity) I'd hit twice in the day and fished a bunch of things: swim jigs (2), SB, tiny buzzer, topwaters (Zara Puppy, popper, waker), and 2 crankbaits. Zippo. Then I put on a lipless and just burned it, and got smacked 4 times in probably 10 minutes. They were there all along. Sometimes I can catch em on what I've tied on before I left the house -knowing season and local conditions- but other times I have to play around. Both hit my challenges and rewards: love when I'm onto something, especially when I can predict it ahead of time. But it can be tough on the psyche when the fish don't cooperate.

Not to contradict, but to jump off from... I fish a lot of small waters, and "finding the bass" isn't the issue there, unless we use the term loosely. They are right in front of me. But they aren't always "happy" or "active" or... appreciating what I'm trying to feed them. Sometimes "finding them" is as much about matching method and technique to water, conditions, and fish, about stealth, about timing, as it is about their actual whereabouts. Most challenging for me: Finding time to fish, and staying focused when the bite is tough. Most rewarding: Gosh... all of it. Still love the strike! And figuring something out. That always feels good.

Scientific names serve a different audience with a different purpose, mostly. But I may use them in a fishing context when I'm talking about an entire taxonomic group -in part because I'm used to them, and partly because they are more precise and save typing. So I may use the terms Salmonids (trout and salmon) or Centrarchids (sunfish, crappies, and "bass" -but not striped, white, or yellow bass -they are Moronids). Recently I used the word Ostariophysi because it sweeps in an entire group of related critters that share a charateristic -the one that was asked about. I could have listed them all or used "other fish" but that could mean .... perch or smelt or ... and it didn't. I'm not averse to using appropriate nomenclature and am not too concerned that someone may need to look a word up, or not. I'm also a fly-fisher and many of the insects that trout and other insectivorous fish eat don't have common names, especially at the level that experienced trout FFers take it. Being able to separate Baetis tricaudatus from Drunella lata allows you to literally go to the stream at the appropriate prescribed time with just the right set of flies and cash in. It's powerful information, and adds a lot of fun in my book. One doesn't need to know the insects to have some fun and catch trout of course: Here's a good story told by FFer Joe Humphreys: A bunch of anglers are sitting around the wood stove at the fisherman's bar on a cold inclement day, grousing about the tough fishing, and "Latinizing" about the insect hatches of the season. An old codger walks in with a full creel and everyone blurts out, "What fly were they on??" The old guy plucks a wet ragged fly off his vest and says, "Why, this 'ol gray bastid here." I've been fishing long enough now, in such a variety of ways, I am both nerd and codger. I don't discriminate against tackle, methods, or language, be it colloquial, literary, scientific, mathematic, or otherwise.

Energy flow (deciphered through thermodynamic laws) underpins everything biological.

Bass are, so far, not known to produce an alarm substance like Shreckstoff substance found in Ostariophysi (minnows, catfishes, and some others). And there's been little anecdotal evidence that bass or other Centrarchids produce such a chemical. FYI: Here's a recent article on Shreckstoff: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fish-schreckstoff/ However, Bob Underwood in his book "Lunker" -describing his hours observing and experimenting with bass in SCUBA gear- had a whole chapter highlighting his observations of bass with torn skin alarming the schools of bass they were caught from. Mouth hooked fish produced no such response. He did repeated "experiments" and was convinced that tearing the skin of bass alarmed others. As to the more general question of whether bass can communicate with other bass, the answer is yes. But that depends on what they are communicating. One bass (or other fish) spooking can alarm others nearby. Seen that.. a whole lot more than I'd like. Many fish -bass included- are known to learn what is edible and what is not by observing others. This is well documented in fish behavior literature -called "social learning". This is very likely at work in bass becoming "educated" to angling (another thing that's very well documented). A fish doesn't need to sample a non-food item, much less be hooked, to learn that a particular item is not edible; they can observe their cohorts doing the sampling and that can be enough.

Ha! Neat shot.

LOL! Now that's a fun shot.

Horizontal speed seems to be the issue in really cold water. Give it a shot, but be ready to go vertical. Hard vibrators with little horizontal movement seems to be key for me in cold water. Chatters, blades, and lipless, can all do it. I once found a way to catch em with a small spinnerbait but I had to make it myself to get one that worked. I used a 1/16oz jighead, a thick brush of bucktail, a chunky plastic trailer, and an overhead spinner with a good-sized CO blade. I could just c-r-a-w-l that thing and I could catch those bass I knew were there. Going subtle, hair jigs are good and lately I've been doing well with Float-n-Fly. Forward speed is often the problem in really cold water. I was out yesterday and found my ponds finally iced over. They'll likely thaw in the next few days and I'll be back at it.

Thanks, Wayne. That's... too cool. Sounds like trying to decoy geese. A couple dozen dekes just can't compete. You sit there and can't help but watch em ignore you. I'm outta the loop there. Sticking with my 2D for the time being. Next upgrade will likely be Downscan.

I've been using a Lowrance 2D color unit from my float tube and it's very helpful -even in shallow water. I can tell depth changes, bottom composition, vegetation edges and types, and even spot fish. The narrow cone angle at the depths I'm fishing (under 12ft mostly) may not be ideal but I can sure see and gain a heck of a lot more info in a short amount of time than I could without it. Here are some previous fishing reports that show my use of 2D sonar in shallow water. They might be inspiration for your son: http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/69812-more-mapping/ http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/69619-some-more-fishing-crankin%C2%92-and-finessin%C2%92/ http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/70481-peri-spawn-blues-and-grays/