Team9nine

You can either take it to a shop and get it repaired, or tackle it yourself. I use a razor blade to scrape any epoxy/covering/wrap that overlays the tiptop, then being careful, use a heat gun or a lighter to simply heat the glue/cement that holds the tip in place, carefully pulling off the tip once the glue softens/melts. Once removed, simply clean up the blank a bit, then using a new guide and some rod tip glue, melt some back onto the tip of the blank and then place the new guide on straight. Most stores sell replacement kits, but you might have to visit a specialty tackle store if you want higher end components. -T9

VMC half-moon jig heads are more like a shakey-head with a larger hook. Notice how much smaller the Gopher hooks are, usually nothing bigger than a size 2. Also, the VMCs come in nothing lighter than 3/32 oz. Most Ned riggers never go that heavy, preferrig to use 1/16 or 1/32 oz. heads most of the time. Not that you couldn't catch fish with them, but they wouldn't be considered part of the Midwest finesse (Ned rig) system. As for the weekend comedy of errors, Sometimes I fight it, sometimes I don't, but I've learned to give myself options that avoid the worst of it Maybe the rain threat will keep some of the traffic away. -T9

Yes Fish them shallow on open banks. Often times fish will hit it on the initial fall, but if not, you can swim them, hop them, drag them or just dead stick them. Fish eat 'em all those ways depending upon their activity level. -T9

Everything that can be thrown on a baitcaster with the exception of Frogs and Ploppers (and punching hvy cover) -T9

Gopher's are available online from Gopher Tackle Co. in most any color you could want. It's where I buy all mine direct. The other commonly used head (not pictured) is the Z-Man ShroomZ which is available at most online tackle retailers and in quite a few local stores. -T9

8# is what Ned uses the majority of the time, so you'll be fine. It's probably what I would consider the baseline. I will often go lighter, but rarely heavier. -T9

A couple pics from Ned. The first is a variety of 1/2 ZinkerZ on Gopher mushroom heads. The second a variety of commonly used Z-Man baits paired with 1/32, 1/16 and 3/32 oz. Gopher jigheads.

Just my experience, but if you catch enough fish, eventually most all tip tops will go bad and need to be replaced from using braid. Have never had an issue (from braid) with any of the other guides on a rod. May not be a problem for many, but I've replaced the tip tops on 5 or 6 rods now, everything from $300 customs to $50 Berkley's. All have been spinning rods as I almost never use braid on baitcasters. Only one rod down with tip wear at the moment and it's a Loomis GL2/3 -T9

Just an opinion, but yes, you'll get way more benefit from a unit with side-imaging (w/o CHIRP) than you will from a CHIRP unit (w/o side-imaging). -T9

Almost no chance for any kind of across the board slot limit on bass, but they will from time to time put slot limits on specific lakes to try and restructure the population. Depends on how bad your lake is...and assuming it's a public body of water. -T9

Most all these tests have been done and documented. The short answer is yes, it does affect your hook set...but there are variables. I don't have a ton of time to go into details at the moment, but keep 30 ft in mind as the magic number. The majority of the differences lie in distance to your bait upon hook set, combined with the overall diameter of your line (i.e., heavy vs light). At 30', everything is about equal. Less than 30 ft., heavy line will get you a better hook set. Over 30 ft, and lighter line will get you a better hook set. There will be some stretch at all distances, but slack in the line also plays a part as you rarely have a true straight line connection to your bait. At 100 ft vs. 20 ft., hook setting power is halved for lighter line. But for heavier line at the same distances, it is cut down to about 1/3. Proper hook-setting technique, as Catt has alluded to in other threads, can make a big difference in how much force is actually generated. Keep in mind this is all in regards to nylon lines. -T9

In terms of pure physics, and taking a single line of rods all built by the same manufacturer and process and with the same components and materials, a shorter rod will be more sensitive than a longer rod, a faster action rod will be more sensitive than a slower action rod, and a more powerful rod will be more sensitive than a less powerful one, unless that power is achieved at the expense of a weight gain. Whether an individual can truly detect such differences is where the variability really lies in your questions. No doubt, some probably can, and others likely can't. -T9

Yeah, just depends upon how far along as well as what the water temps were before and after. As was stated, if eggs have already been dropped, males are much more likely to try and tough it out to stay and protect, but will still abandon if the water temps drop too much (more like too cold). If eggs had not been dropped in the beds yet, moving off beds for a while is much more likely. Either way, females will likely pull out and wait for the warming trend to resume before any further spawning activity takes place. -T9

Some small pros and cons for each, but a lot is personal preference. I love tillers and would never go back to a wheel boat, but that's just me. A lot depends upon how you fish (troll, backtroll, never troll, hover and go vertical, planer boards, fish from up front all the time, etc.). Power trim and tilt is nice, especially if you run a larger engine on larger waters, but I almost never use it with my 40 outside of loading/launching - but I don't spend tons of time in skinny water either. Wouldn't be a deal breaker for me. Electric start vs. manual would be though. As for best boat for your waters, the In-Fisherman 80% rule still seems best to me - buy the boat that will handle the waters you fish 80% of the time, then just use common sense and caution the other 20% of the time. Smaller packages pull easier, use less gas and are usually cheaper to insure, and will frequently launch from places larger boats can't/wouldn't. -T9

Yep, it will catch fish all year long out there. How fast fish move varies on a variety of factors, but the fact that you have so much cover (docks, weeds, etc.) shallow, along with the bluegills that will be moving in to spawn soon, will end up keeping quite a few fish shallow. Don't forget topwaters and shallow cranks as these fish go post-spawn. Males will hang around and guard fry for about 2 weeks in the shallows before leaving them and resuming normal daily life, while the females will pull off slightly deeper to recover from spawning. According to the Corp., Cataract is 14' over pool, so no, I'll be passing on that lake and looking elsewhere Good luck though! -T9

I'd shoot for the next one in two weeks (5/15) while they're still shallow. Will likely still be some on beds even. Once those fish go post spawn and start feeding up again as well as moving toward deeper water, you'll likely be at a disadvantage, and the weights will start going up again. Next one is 6:30-11:30am. Maybe play the weather a bit to make sure it's not pouring rain all morning

Have you fished any of the tourneys out there yet? You should have jumped into Sunday's event - you would have smoked them from the sounds of it. Staff at the marina told me it only took 10 or 11 pounds to win that morning (5 fish). Word was they bit a lot better on Saturday during the rain, then kind of shut down on Sunday for most of the guys. I've been leaving the bass alone and messing with other fish out there. Got into a good group of white bass Saturday evening and landed just over 90 - they had shut down though by Sunday, too. Water is getting too clear out there. We need some more rain -T9

Will a moderator please close this thread down? We've already well established on this site that fluorocarbon is just a bunch of over priced, over hyped crap. Now along comes this post and I fear it might trigger a sudden fluorocarbon change of heart, potentially ruining our overall disdain for the stuff and our love of braid (and Yozuri). LOL - just kidding; Tatsu is good stuff - use it on several outfits along with Toray and other Seaguar products (all fluoros). People are always asking on these forums, wanting to know and buy the best rod or reel or type lure for a particular presentation. Why wouldn't you spend the money then on one of the best fluorocarbon lines, also? Welcome to the party -T9

Sounds like you already know the answer 1 rod, 1 reel and whatever baits I can fit in a pocket, a paper bag or a small belt clip box (more trout-like), along with a pair of pliers/cutters and my camera phone for pics. Mobility rules - As for my thoughts on "what if"....."what if" you drag all that crap with you and don't need/use any of it no thank you... -T9

Bought several pieces of electronics for the new boat last year from them and was very happy with the whole deal. I would certainly consider buying from them again in the future. -T9

No coincidence, just passing along the good information provided by Seaguar in this thread to a different audience I'm just as amazed at people who always seem to be breaking off -T9

Not really lost, but now worthless Throw in a brand new Shimano Clarus that broke about 15" off the tip end when it got tangled in the braid of another rod, which then got wedged underneath a boat cleat, all while trying to unhang a 0.50 cent crappie jig from a shoreline bush - the wind blew us past the area, everything was hung together, and something had to give... -T9

The double barbed jigheads in the pic (bottom two - Gammi and Mustad) are both from Gopher tackle. The top heavy wire head is a custom pour by a guy named Dave Reeves (dtrs5kprs - Missouri). He sometimes hangs out here, but a Google search should pull up his info. The name of his little jig pouring company escapes me at the moment, but he pours a nice head with no barbs (he uses glue) and also a good weedless head for those that like that little extra protection. -T9

Don't have all the answers because I don't fish with all the hooks - no need to That said, I can tell you that the std Mustad Gopher and the std "Pro" Series Gammis are both light wire hooks with the same diameter (.0270") regardless of size (applies to #8 - #2). I also have a set of std. #1 Gammi Gophers that are just slightly thicker for that size (.0275-ish). I don't have any of their "heavier" version hooks so I'm not certain what thickness they are. I do know that Gammi makes a heavy wire hook (604) that some use to pour Ned's with and that hook diameter in the #1/#2 size range runs .035" thickness. EDIT: Forgot to mention for those curious, the Shroomz Head by Z-man is kind of in-between coming in at .0294" a little heavier than the std. light wires from Gopher, but not nearly as thick as the "heavy wire" Gammi versions. Pic below isn't great, but from top to bottom: Gammi 604 heavy wire (HW), Gammi/Gopher "pro" LW, Gopher Mustad std. LW -T9