senile1

Nice post, Roger. When I saw this thread had arisen again, I remembered posts from quite a few years back where the same subject was broached and you responded with similar facts. I haven't forgotten that lesson. Barometric pressure changes are accompanied by temperature changes. After a strong cold front passes, the temperature drops. Considering the extraordinarily minute effect of barometric pressure, cooler temperatures and the other factors mentioned by Roger are the most likely culprits in poor fishing during the high pressure days after a front. As for the winds from the east/northeast idea mentioned earlier in this thread, that is also related to the passing of a cold front. Air circulates in a counterclockwise direction around a low pressure system. After the low passes, if you are located in the upper northwest quadrant of that low pressure system you will see winds circulating from a northeasterly direction. Locations directly on the upper side of the low receive east winds.

Congratulations, Blue! That's the best Christmas gift you could receive. Sorry I just now saw this. December was "screw Ed month" at work this year so I haven't been on the boards much. Ed/senile1

I had to copy A.J.s quote because I feel the same. There are some awesome "big fish" anglers on this board and I have nothing to teach, but everything to learn from them. I agree with A.J.s first two choices, and my third choice would be "Spend a great deal of time on the water fishing and applying what you have learned." Only through constant application does learned material become second nature.

Based on the time I have to fish, I don't think I set my goals too high. Sometimes I reach my goals, and sometimes I am disappointed, but I still enjoy what I am doing even when I fail. Goals should be set based on your own situation, skills, and preferences. For some people, it is enough to catch some fish. For others, they need to place well in tournaments or even win AOY in their neck of the woods. For others, only the biggest fish will do. And still others have what it takes to compete with the Kevin Van Dams of the world, though they are very few. There are a lot of trite self-help cliches out there about if you set your goals high and never give up nothing can stop you from being the best. If that were true, there would be a lot more superstars in every field of endeavor in this world. At some point most of us have to be brutally honest with ourselves, recognize our skill limitations, and set our goals high, but achievable, based on our own situation.

This can happen when a spinnerbait with very large blades is fished too fast.

You took the words out of my mouth, Mike.

I've been a Powell rod user since 2006. I have a number of Max rods from then, as well as a few later models. The original retail price was $169.99 and then they dropped the price on the under 7' models to $139.99 when the Endurance rods and the longer Max rods came out. The $109.99 specials over the last year are a steal for these rods. The Powell rods I have purchased are a good buy even at original retail prices. If the quality of their other rods is any indication, the Inferno will be a very good rod at its price point.

Very nice, Mike. I'm very busy at work at the moment, but you will see an order from me over the next few days, not only for Rage Tails products, but a few jigs as well. In other words, I'm going to try to make you work over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Dwight, those are some extemely impressive numbers of huge smallmouth. I didn't realize they were all on jerkbaits. Whatever your system is, it sounds like you could write a book about it. My hat is off to you. Incredible!

I see you were using the new wacky rigged crankbait technique.

That's an excellent day for water that cold. Very nice work by both of you. Congratulations to your friend, Brandon, on his new personal best!

The Zara Spook is my favorite topwater lure. I have used it for many years, and I suspect that you are correct that few are offended by it. My point is that if someone was offended by it, I am not got going to demean them by saying they are overly-sensitive. The same goes for names and comments with which men may not have an issue, but for a woman the comment could be understood as misogynistic or demeaning in some way to women.

Sometimes examples can help understanding. I am 52 years old, born in 1960. Let's imagine my experience if I were black. The Civil Rights Act passed in 1964 but things didn't change immediately. My parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, etc would have experienced the worst of what Jim Crow had to offer. I would have experienced quite a bit of the effects of it as well. My children would have probably heard about the experiences of me and their other relatives. Put yourself in those shoes and ask yourself if the word, "spook," wouldn't bother you in many contexts. I don't want to cause this thread to be locked. I just want to, hopefully, open minds to the experience of others so we can be more empathetic.

Very nice article, JT. One never learns how to avoid losing lures in thick cover without pitching into the thick of it and experiencing it. Having said that, lures will still be lost by the most skilled among us. All it takes is one big bass to make it all worthwhile.

Very nice pics and fish, Big-O. I feel for you with that shoulder, brother.

I saw this on the news this morning. I hope this is a lessson learned for these fellows.

One can pretty much tell 100 percent of the time if it is a spot by the lateral stripe and if the mouth comes back behind the eye. Rarely do you have to look for the toothy patch on the tongue. That would have been a very nice spot.

Very nice fish and pic, Big O! Another nice fish in a long line of 'em.

I wouldn't say I get disappointed. Sometimes, I am pleasantly surprised. It is a slight downer when you think you have a good bass and then you realize that whatever it is you have hooked, it is pulling like a train on the bottom of the lake. That is typical of catfish and drum.

That's a chunky bass. Very nice! Congratulations on the PB.

You said that all of the bluegill you catch are nice-sized. Are most of them the size of your hand? Often, if the vast majority of bluegills in the pond are huge, your bass won't be. If you are only catching very large bluegill it could very well be because the bass eat the majority of the small ones and the large ones are all that is left. A 10 inch bass isn't capable of eating a hand-sized bluegill so they go hungry waiting for the next bluegill spawn. The Missouri Department of Conservation provides pond management strategies and one of the guides states that a pond managed for trophy bass typically has high numbers of bluegill less than 6 inches long. I see you are in central Indiana so your bass are probably similar in size to Missouri's and their forage size would need to be similar as well.

Anglers like Butch and Tom deserve their kudos for lots of hard work to catch bass that the vast majority of us only dream about. Most of us would be happy to catch a DD one day. Butch catches 5 in a day. Of course their area has more DD bass, but the majority of California fisherman aren't catching these behemoths. These guys are elite in that regard.

You are correct that the fish is connected to the line, but your hand isn't always touching the line. The vibrations from the line have to go through the rod to get to your hands in many cases. I would find it interesting to read an analysis of the physics of how the vibration is actually transmitted. It has been my experience that there is a definite difference between a G.Loomis GLX level rod and the $160 range of rods when fishing bottom bouncing lures such as jigs and t-rigs with the same braided line. It isn't imagination. Of course, in my opinion it isn't a huge difference and as price rises I do think you reach a point of diminishing returns. I'm not justifying the price. I'm just saying there is a difference and I appreciate that difference when fishing jigs and soft plastics. I am sure individual differences in our own sense of touch comes into play here as well. Someone else may very well be able to feel the same thing with a $160 rod that they can feel with a GLX or an NRX. Unfortunately, I cannot.

Without wind and with calm water (I assume the OP means very little current), the main factor for choosing a heavier or lighter weight is rate of fall. However, when wind and current are involved you have to be concerned with getting the lure to the bottom, how much slack you want in your line, and the rate of fall. To me, the choice of a weight in different wind and current conditions is the next logical step in this discussion. When wind or current is involved I want a weight that will give me a connection to my lure with just a small amount of slack in the line. That depends on the speed of the wind or how fast the current is. Bulkiness of the lure comes into play as well. A bulky lure tends to slow the rate of fall but in a high wind there is more area for the current created by the wind to affect and I think the bulky trailer would even slow the rate of fall more.

Those are some very nice fish, David. And by the way, it is nice to see you back on the forum!