J Francho

Perhaps then we should discuss slaughterhouses and chicken farms while in earshot of someone mawing down a Philly Steak sandwich, LOL.

How do you think the vegetation breaks down? Cite your sources. Stuff doesn't happen by itself.

Like Raul said, the options are only limited by your creativity. One of my favorite rigs and ways to fish it is nose hooked with a 2/0 mosquito hook, and fish it fast as hell over submerged weedbeds in dawn/dusk times. when there is no TW bite, this often draws strikes. A TX. buddy uses a fluke like this exclusively rather than mess with spooks, sammys, poppers, etc. because he says the hookup ratio is better. I also like them nose hooked on a DS, or weightless/weedless on a big EWG (5/0+).

Duo Lock Snap. No swivel, no split rings.

Get OEM grease and oil. grease is for gears, oil is for bearings.

You get what you pay for . Tie your line to a tree, give it a quick stretch, and reel it back in, every ten cranks or so, shoot some KVD at the spool. Not if it lasts more than two weeks. Try P-Line CXX. YES, MAN! Seriously, get the KVD stuff. I always use a backer - who casts more than 75 yards for bass anyway? Luckily for them, they probably don't fish that often, and losing fish doesn't matter. Sometimes perfectly good line gets this way after sitting for a few days. Get it wet, zap it with some KVD and after a few casts, it goes away.

Yeah right, and none of that gives you any confidence or takes any patience. :

The two seem inextricably linked in my mind. Both.

Toyota texas Classic is a paper Tx. This is the wave of the future in warmer climates.

That's awesome Bobby!

I like them on baits that will be sitting still for a period of time, like topwater poppers and suspending slash baits.

I know that it works, because I've tried it. My question is, did you catch fish that would not have caught otherwise? Thanks!

Small swimbaits? Its the rod and line, not the reel, so if you have that I'd say your set. When you get up to the big boys is when a tough, solid round reel is important.

The bacteria that consumes the dying vegetation is what uses the oxygen up. Areas with wind and current will not be affected by thisevent, since the turbulence at the surface sufficiently degasses the water. One thing to note, all photosynthetic plants use oxygen in the absence of sunlight.

Another vote for the Falcon boxes. Very tidy.

I'm a Daiwa guy, but I'd go with a Citica in a heartbeat, if that was my only choice. In fact, I owned a couple of citicas back in the early 90's. Great reels, easy to service. The new Shimanos look like they are continuing their path of producing VERY fine gear. I'll know more as people bring me their reels for winter service

I couldn't get this in the first time, but some additional info, if it helps... Some thoughts on FC. Do not use on topwaters, it sinks (duh). Switching from mono to FC will get a Pointer/X-rap/[insert your slashbait here] down another foot. The effect is more dramatic with diving cranks. Be very careful tying knots, any kinks or bends, retie. 40# FC leader works very well in northern pike waters, and doesn't affect the bait like Sevenstrand. Use KVD Line & Lure to eliminate memory problems. Spinning reels always introduce twist, so manually flip your bail, don't reel in while a fish is taking drag, and use a reel with Twist-Buster or some other roller tech. For FC, I actually like a tiny bit of memory, since I use one of the stiffer brands. Soak the reel filler in warm water and spool from that. Every 20 cranks or so, give it a squirt of KVD L&L. Heavier FC sometimes peels when nicked. It will hold, but retie as soon as you notice any nicks. I usually see after catching a toothy critter.

Fluoro Leader: Gamma or P-line Fluoro Reel fill: P-line 100% Copoly: P-line CXX X-tra strong

Its not crap, but KVD Line & Lure works better, and I was a diehard Real Magic user. It still has its uses though, but mostly for rebuilding reels.

I'd say get a scale. It is impossible to tell weight from a photo.

5:07 PM 3:42 PM 8:26 AM 7:32 PM 5:00 PM (wearing a suit, fishing from shore, LOL) 3:10 PM 11:15 AM 5:54 PM 3:10 PM I generally fish from dawn to dusk, with the exception of TX days, and quick trips after work. One of these fish is an after work fish. None may seem that big, but up here anything 5+ is a pretty good fish. I'm not getting anything close to that time slot, and in fact never heard of the 10-2 rule. Its also worth mentioning that that one fish that came at 11:15 AM was one of 22 fish, all caught on a spinnerbait, all ranging from 3-4.5 lb., all from around 11:00 AM until 11:45 AM. One of two spectacular moments where the bite was on this year. The second fish was from a string of similar hot bites on a jig. What I am aware of is that a basses vision is able to recover from drastic light changes faster than many baitfish, which could explain their crepuscular (dusk and dawn periods) feeding habits.

BTW, another thread with some interesting DS tips: http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1222219185

My buddy and talked about that too. He basically said it would be a magnum rig: 30-50# braid, a flipping jig as a weight, and something big, like a Super Fluke on a 5/0 EWG hook. The hookset would be the same. Now I cannonball the mats and pads with a 1/2-3/4 oz. weight and a fluke, but I still say don't over complicate it with a jig. Ripping a bait through the weeds is hard enough - now add another bait and a fish (potentially a big one) and you've got trouble. This is an interesting notion for smallies in Lake Ontario. I drag tubes, and I drop shot for smallies there in deep water quite a bit. Doing both at once is appealing to me, but I'm still not to keen on the knot on the DS hook with the tag running through, and a fish on the end of that tag.Like I said, I've tried this variation, but not in every iteration possible. Perhaps there is a formula that works. Perhaps someone on BR has done it with CONSISTENT and DEFINITIVE results. What I mean is, that they caught more fish than if they fished this rig separately. I'm not sure how anyone could quantify that though.

I see your counterpoints, and like I said to my friends, it just doesn't fit my style of fishing. Yank on a knot to swivel connection and see if you can break it. Probably not. Yank on a the bottom of a DS rig, and I bet the line gets a little mangled at the hook. One thing I didn't mention, watch out for twist - make sure the knot is in the middle of the jig eye. One other issue I had with it, was that the drop line would get caught in the weedguard. This almost never happens when fishing a jig alone. And BTW - I hate c-rigs for the same reason. Also, that rig takes a beating here with all the quagga and zebes, though there are workarounds. Too much of a pain on TX day for me. Here's my take after getting back into the game after a 12 year hiatus. Do not try anything new the first 3/4 of the day. Fish your strengths. If you have a very good bag by then and have been catching fish consistently, this counts 10X. Now, if you are struggling to get that last fish, have a mediocre bag, or are doing terrible, throw whatever you can think of that might get bit. Just this year I've seen crazy things, like a Sammy 128 tossed into seemingly weedless unproductive water with 5 minutes to fish on a clear blue windless afternoon cat the lunker bass. Anyway, one of my points in there was that even if it does get bit, the retying after is going to eat up too much time. And I really believe that if you're catching the hell out of them with this rig, then one or the other would probably catch the hell out of them just as well. Good luck this Sunday, and keep your head on straight. Get a good night's sleep the night before. Its tough though - too exciting

I generally don't pay attention to the ratings on the rod, and go by feel. What's funny, what I like usually pretty close to printed guidelines anyway.