Team9nine

Neither...or maybe none of the above, kind of. Now days, over the course of a season, I'm about 55% structure fishing, 25% simplified approach (junk?), 10% pattern fish and 10% "explore new water."

11" of snow at the start of the week, then 2" of rain through the middle of the week has messed up our lakes big time, so was pleasantly surprised to get on a decent bite this afternoon once skies cleared and the high pressure moved in. Got to go well back into last year for me to remember the last good jig bite I had, but that was the ticket today with the stained water. More than a dozen in the boat today - Good times.

Lots of questionable statements floating around in this thread. But to your point, shock loading is one of the biggest reasons for using 65 lb. braid. Anyone who has cast a bait on braid that the spool locked up for whatever reason and sent the bait flying off into oblivion can attest to this. It's a little bigger problem in punching/flipping scenarios than frogging, but similar enough. You don't break 50# braid often, but it does happen, which is why most pros moved up to 65# which has become somewhat of the standard. Braided lines are very funny creatures. Braided lines DO stretch...usually around 3-4%, but that's minimal compared to other line types. But forces increase quit rapidly because of this. Braid has horrible knot strength, and increased impact/force on knots can heat them up and cause them to fail prematurely ([braid] due to lower melting points). Add in things like line twist, braiding pattern, individual fiber diameter and condition, number of fibers per strand, etc., and there's no telling the exact strength of your braid line at any given moment. Most times these factors never come into play because most people rarely exert such forces on their lines due to drag, etc., but punching/frogging applications push more toward the extremes. Also, rods break at a lot more strength than you might think. They seem like delicate creatures, but properly loaded, most freshwater bass rods break in the 20-45# range. Material composition plays a big role here, as does how that force is applied. I've seen test data that shows Ugly Sticks surviving more than 55# pounds of force without breaking. Bottom line, as always - use what works for you and your style of fishing and brand of equipment.

Another vote for 10-12 pound depending on bait and cover - usually Tatsu or InvizX.

Whatever lure I'm throwing is the one I have the most confidence in...

I still pull out and use my Lowrance Lo-K-Tor from time to time, just because. Your unit looks like it's reading just fine that way.

Would be interesting to know where they got that info from. Unless something changed recently, DNR hasn't surveyed that lake since the mid 80s in opposition to the poor access and ridiculous launch fees. Additionally, in a true survey, 80% keeper to small fish ratio would be a bad thing signifying a lack of reproduction or recruitment on the part of the bass. That was one of the factors down at Boggs that lead to a complete renovation. Finally, most stories in G&F are usually written 6-9 months in advance, hence data from last fall. My guess is they are using info provided by whichever company was hired to generate the reports for the lake analysis related to their vegetation management plan. They've been treating for milfoil now for around 5 years or so.

Lol, I'm not saying they don't work at all. I'm simply stating that the few instances in which people cite where they supposedly have made a difference are not enough for me to justify their use and purchase. To me, the evidence doesn't outweigh the costs and inconveniences - and I'm perfectly happy with my catch rates. As for purchasing and using plastics with or without scent, I could really care less whether a company did or didn't add anything to their baits. I'm not a huge plastics user, but the ones I do have are a mix. I can say I never purchase any though just because they have a scent addition. And just as I'd never say they absolutely don't work, I likewise find it intriguing to hear people state the opposite absolute, that having them in a bait can't hurt.

I find that statement incredibly naive, though very commonly held...

This ^^ So I just stopped fishing in the rain ☔️ Haven't had any issues since... Working out great so far.

Sounds like you might have spun a hub. If you can put it in gear and still move at idle, but can't put any throttle into it without it going nowhere, that's probably what happened. That would be a good thing, relatively speaking. Pretty common. If that doesn't match up with what's happening, then it might be something worse.

7 inches here since this morning and up to 2.5" more expected. Weird. Southern IN is 36-40 and rain, and north IN including as far N as Chicago and Detroit is 40 degrees. Only a thin band in the central part of the state is below freezing and getting snow. Sucks to be us right now...

The great thing about fishing is that there a lot of really successful anglers, professional and otherwise, that encompass about every style or approach you can think of, from the incredibly simple to the overly complex, shallow to deep, with all gradations in between. There is no one "right" way to approach this game, so we can all choose to learn from, copy or emulate those we tend to think alike with or are drawn to. Early on, as a bass angler with professional intentions and a scientific/computer background, Clunn was the man for me. Now that that chapter in my life has passed, I've gravitated toward studying and adopting simplicity in approach (Kehde, Brewer, Perry, Cullen, Binkelman, Plummer, Murphy, and others). It's what works for me - might not for others. Doesn't matter.

I was one of the first to research and write about this, and the best answer, recently supported by a fish physiologist (Dr. Bruce Tufts), is that it's the carbon dioxide in the drink, which means it doesn't matter which brand of cola you use, as it simply could be carbonated water. The higher the content, the better. Regardless, CO2 is weird in that in nearly all cases, it acts as a vasodilator in people. The one exception is the lungs, where it acts as a vasoconstrictor. The belief is that the gills in fish are acting like the lungs in people, and the blood vessels feeding them immediately constrict when met with high CO2 contact. This is the best "scientific" answer I've seen, though no one has addressed if there are any negative consequences to the practice.

Prop the rod/reel up in the garage against something, open the bail and then walk off 100 feet of line into the yard or down the street. Close the bail (leave the line on the ground), then start at the rod tip and just pinch the line and walk toward the end of the line. Might have to do this a couple times. Similar to what LogCatcher mentions, but you only have to walk the line out once. If it's really twisted, a single pass won't undo it enough. There are some other little tricks with this, but no easy way to explain them.

This is what happens when you put your confidence in baits (and/or tackle). They're all just tools, and it's not always the fancy or expensive one that's best for the job.

We've covered it before, but if you think it helps you or makes a difference in your fishing, then definitely use it, by all means. As for me and "the power of scent" - meh!

Definitely check with Westside B&T. Those guys would know. I've never really heard of many flatheads through that stretch for whatever reason. More commonly they seem to be caught south of Indy near the Martinsville stretch. A lot of carp fishing though in that downtown stretch, along with some good bass fishing. There's a couple really deep holes just further up near the top of that stretch that might be worth checking out.

Nope, Dec 10, 2017 as our waters were bouncing between iced up and not. Local reservoir Sunday was only 43 though, so we haven't gained much. You can try and guess all you want, but if you don't have an accurate starting point as your basis, or a calibrated finger like @Paul Roberts , you're totally guessing, and the worst part is you'll have no idea how right or wrong you are. A small shallow pond where the correlation of heat transfer is more direct, you might get close, but a larger body of water like a reservoir where you could easily have 10 degrees difference or more within creek arms or between headwaters and lower end - good luck...and be sure to wear your waders if you walk in waist deep to take readings ?

No way to know for sure...too many variables at play. Drop $5 or $10 bucks for a pocket thermometer and never wonder again.

Definitely affects action on anything slow or paused - poppers, Spooks, Devil's Horse, etc. If you constantly reel baits in like buzzers or Ploppers, or have something underneath to support the bait (weeds, vegetation), you can get by with fluoro with few problems. Do whatever you want though...

1 - No 2 - N/A

The rivalry is real...

Still fighting tough conditions over here, with water temps hovering around 43 degrees, but had another enjoyable afternoon out on the water. Last couple stops saved the day for me.

Only the second trip with the boat this year, but everything running good. Needs a good cleaning when things warm up enough, though. Surface temps just 43 deg and change, but managed 7 bass in a little over 3 hours, so everything is good