J Francho

You can fish your worms and soft plastics with 50# braid. In many situations, its superior to mono.

Up until two years ago, bass were strictly verboten until the 3rd Saturday in June! Thankfully that rule was changed in MOST areas of the state, and we can now catch and immediate release in fall, winter, and spring.

Perhaps a worn pinion or worn spool shaft, at the point two engage.

Some of the best fishing around these parts in in the dead of winter. Not for Bass though. Spent a nice 1/2 day this past Sunday hooking 30"+ cold steel. My buddy and I had a mile of stream to ourselves.

Here is a honest to goodness 12# class brown buck. Coincidentally caught on a Shimano rod, Bantam1, LOL.

No issues standing on my PBG:

It works anywhere there are fish. Adjust the tackle to the situation.

It looks cool, but I have a few issues, mainly that it doesn't seem easy to retract, and it takes hand control.

I've used them, but mostly on fluke and paddletail swimbaits. They work great, though I haven't had an issue using the Wide Gap Plus hooks with beavers.

Seaguar InvizX? If not, try it. I didn't list the lines I've tried and didn't like. Needless to say, I tried both Invisx and Carbon Pro. Carbon Pro was OK. Invix was too stretchy. Spooled up nicely on spinning gear though. Its really about what you want out of the line - personal preference. I want it to sink, be sensitive and abrasion resistant.

I have no idea how far bass see, but I think its a mistake to compare their vision to ours. I don't think they "see" the way we "see." I think their vision, along with other senses, is much more closely linked to instinctive response.

I spit coffee on that one!!!

Blood knots are terribly unreliable on fast action bass tackle. They do not hold up well to the hookset. The Allbright knot is a very good one. I'm good with a Uni to Uni connection. If there is a big difference between leader and mainline, a spider hitch knot to double up the braid makes a better connection.

Fishizzle,you lose the weight, generally. _______ Fourbizz, that is one solid approach to the rig and application. Thanks, great post. I tend to think of "Drop Shot" as a rig, not a presentation or style. I'm pretty sure I've rigged it up on every rod I own. Well, not my trout rods, LOL. I love DS on braid as well, and 10/2 is ideal. I've also used much heavier line and a flipping stick to cannon ball the pads. A very deadly tactic with a 10" worm or Super Fluke. While many think of the rig as a way to deliver a soft plastic to a location, and add action while keeping it in place, it solves other problems. When slow drifting either live bait (GASP!) of finesse plastics in the Great Lakes, the rig keeps the business end of your terminal tackle from getting hung, or chewed up on the zebra and quagga mussels. I will often drag a tube and a DS when fishing in Lake Ontario.

Brands I've had good results with: Sunline Shooter XPS P-Line 100% I'm hearing a TON of testimony about Trilene 100%, and not just here. I'll probably try it out this year.

After spending about 200 days on the water in '08, it's really more about fine tuning and streamlining my approach to all fishing. Here's my list for '09: 1. Build my own rods. 2. Improve my club tourney results. 3. Fine tune what I've learned this past year. 4. Develop a couple of new techniques. 5. Fish new waters.

Flex the weed guard fibers to relax them. Some guys trim them, or spread them, but I haven't noticed a difference. You to have just the right amount of slack, not so much that you have to reel it up to set the hook. I only use an straight up hookset if the fish is right below me. All other times, it a two hands out front, about waist high, and a fast twist of my upper body. Once hooked, I continue the motion pulling the rod up to lift the fish from cover, all the while reeling it in. I prefer a heavy/x-fast rod for this, even in light cover, but MH will do. Goog advice to use FC or braid. I use 20# FC or 50-65# Power Pro.

Anybody do this at their club? If so, how do you work it, and how has it worked out?

1st time out will be ice out. I'll be throwing hair jigs.

The normans suck, and will straighten out. Use a strong duo lock clip instead.

Owner Twistlock Beast is what you want.

3/0 Owner Wide gap Plus.

Depends on the water temperature. I find spinners mostly ineffective below 45°. I won't say they don't ever work, but the fishes metabolism is just too low. I mainly use float rigs. If the flow is too high for even a huge 14g float, then I'll switch to a bottom bounce rig. For bait, spawn sacks, Berkley Trout Worms, Mini Foo jigs, 8 and 10mm trout beads, and the occasional wooly bugger or ESL fly. Yes, flies fish well under a float. On a warmer, sunny winter day, stonefly are a good pattern.

My friend uses his for winter chrome. Note the reel at the bottom of the frame:

Ahhh, thanks Mike. One of the temperate basses. We have two similar species here: http://pond.dnr.cornell.edu/nyfish/Percichthyidae/Percichthyidae.html.