senile1

I don't either, but that may be because I clean off my bait religiously. I think it would be rare that grass hanging off the lure would not affect the action, though that might not be a bad thing in some instances. ?

Yeah, the gift package is all Favorite rods in addition to clothing as well. It makes me wish one could request that they forego the gift package and just take $2500 more off the price of the boat. It is a decent boat package but I get that some will have problems with the word, "favorite," on the side of the boat. I don't keep up with the Googan Squad or their products because their videos did not appeal to me from the beginning.

. . . . and what does that say about the chemical makeup of simple syrup and southern style iced tea? ?

None. Everything is based on science and mathematical probability. If that info isn't available I fly by the seat of my pants - logic and experience.

Phoenix is a solid boat, IMO. I just made a post about a Lowe Favorite that appears to be outfitted quite nicely in standard trim. I don't know what you want to spend but you might check the links on that post.

My goodness. That's one hell of a bass.

Buying stuff is part of the fun of bass fishing. And think about it, 20 to 30 dollars here or there is nothing compared to some hobbies. Enjoy it while you can, but don't screw yourself up financially.

I assumed you were making a joke. I could care less about the color of the eyes. I bought them because of the action of the lure. ?

I am not in the market for a boat but I always keep myself apprised of newer models. I thought this might be a decent buy for some people looking for an aluminum boat with a lot of standard features including Humminbird Mega side and down imaging at the bow and console, a Minn Kota Ultrex 80, a single 8 foot Minn Kota Talon, and SeaDek flooring. The price isn't bad for all the included features. Video: https://www.loweboats.com/stinger-favorite Overview, Videos, and Specs: https://www.loweboats.com/stinger-bass-boats/stinger-198-favorite/

Nice video, @Glenn!

Any place with a latitude equal to that of southern Missouri and further south from there will guarantee you "year round" fishing. None of Missouri's big southern lakes (Table Rock, Northern Bull Shoals, and Stockton) freeze during the winter. The water temperatures in these lakes typically reach the low 40s during this time. The winter air temperatures should be easy for a Minnesota transplant to handle. It all depends on what you want. If you want some snow in the winter along with open water this latitude is for you. If you don't care about experiencing all the seasons and want bigger bass move further south, but this latitude is where "year round" open water starts.

Good point about the camera angle. From the pic that fish appears to be as big as some upper 5s and lower 6 lb'ers that I have caught.

A 15 inch largemouth is running about 2 lbs, or a little higher if it is a fat one. I enjoy those and they usually fight pretty hard. I will enjoy 14 or 15 inchers for a couple of hours, more or less, but at some point I seek out larger fish. ? There is a big difference between a 12 inch bass and a 15 for me.

I continue to use my pedestal seat most of the time even after years of running a trolling motor, but not for the reason the OP states. I have a 2000 Stratos 295 Pro Elite with a 91 inch beam. (Displayed in my profile pic.) The gunnels of Stratos boats angle in sharply at the bow creating a much narrower area to stand than 91 inches in the front. The lake I fish most has a lot of traffic and consistent waves due to that traffic. The pedestal seat provides an additional point to brace myself so I don't fall out of the boat. So I have one foot on the trolling motor pedal, one braced against a gunnel, and my butt braced against the pedestal seat when a large wake comes crashing in. And @billmac, you are correct. It isn't easy sometimes especially when the waves are really bad. On busy days at Smithville Lake outside of Kansas City the trolling motor blades leave the water on occasion due to the height of the waves.

Nice fish all around! I am glad you were able to get out and get your line tugged and there is nothing better than watching your children or grandchildren nailing some fish. I hope things come together for you so you can get out more.

At my latitude if you catch a significant amount of 2 to 4 lb fish you are doing ok and you get a pretty good tug on your line. I can live with that and be happy until I nail an occasional 5 - 7 lb'er. If I catch a bunch of 9 to 14 inchers I am happy but far from satisfied though and I will be changing locations, or if all else fails, I won't fish that particular body of water.

That's a tank for sure! Excellent work!

Nice article. I wish them well once again!

I am sure some fish in the study had to be caught multiple times, and since they were each tagged with an ID number it would appear the study could have noted aggressive behavior as well based on the number of times a particular fish was caught. This article doesn't mention this subject though. That is assuming the tags were left on the fish and from my reading of the article that is what I inferred.

Some people may be confusing rate with numbers. There are more small bass than big bass due to predation, genetics, and disease which thins the herd, so to speak, as they get older - a common occurrence for every animal species. Using the definition of trophy bass from the study cited by @Team9nine, let's say we have a body of water with 16 bass over 8 lbs. In addition and just pulling a number out of the sky for comparison purposes, all other bass in the lake number 1200. If these groups of bass are caught at the same rate of 1 in 8 as mentioned by the study, the following occurs: 2 of the 16 bass 8 lbs and over will be caught which is 1/8 or 12.5 percent. 150 of the 1200 bass will be caught which is also 1/8 or 12.5 percent. In the example above, the bigger fish of 8 lbs and over are caught at the same rate of 12.5 percent as the smaller bass. However, since there are so few bass that live to be that size the numbers of smaller bass far exceed the numbers of big bass caught. The FWC study is stating that if the big bass were smarter the rate at which they are caught would be lower or less than the 12.5 percent of smaller fish that are caught. And as @WRB stated, "The majority of bass angers do not target big bass and prefer catching numbers of bass each outing. This simple truth is anyone can catch a big bass but few can catch them consistently. It's about knowing big bass behavior and locations it isn't about being smarter." This doesn't mean the big bass are smarter but we have to be smarter to find them. Having said all of that, I, like the OP, am just explaining what I get from the study. You can draw your own conclusions on whether you agree with it or not.

I have been using Sufix braids for years. I started out with the Performance braid and then tried out the 832 when it came out. It is good stuff. I use it on jig and other bottom contact bait rods on which I am not using fluorocarbon.

Interesting information. On a related tangent, this really emphasizes for me how important it is to fish bodies of water with larger populations of bigger fish if I want to increase the probability of catching a trophy. Fish where they are.

@Team9nine / Brian That is a great post with very useful information. Thank you. Ed/senile1

I agree with @Bluebasser86 except I would specifically state that deep diving crankbaits are part of the list for fluoro applications. However, in the OP's particular case, I would not use 15 lb fluoro for a deep diver due to its thickness. I use 10 lb and will even drop to 8 for deep crankbaiting. Gotta give the love to Invisx. That's about all I use for fluoro. I have picked up a few odd spools now and then to try others but haven't found anything I like as well.

Ah . . . . got it. I should have known. My apologies for casting aspersions on your post.