Marty

That's not an easy question to answer. All that I know for absolute sure is that a lure must appeal to the fish's sense. I don't believe it needs to mimic something. And as to the orange belly, that's also a mystery as far as I'm concerned since we know that there are scads of baits without orange bellies that catch numbers and size of bass. There are too many variables that go into what makes a fish strike for us to have definitive answers. The best fishermen in the world don't know although some of them think they do. Before someone jumps all over me for that last statement, the very best certainly know how to catch fish, but listening to their explanations it is obvious that many of them don't know why.

Best of luck to your mother and your family. My sister's doing great after surviving two bouts of breast cancer many years ago (and ovarian 20 years ago) and a cousin now in her 40s is thriving after having a double mastectomy maybe 7-8 years ago.

I'll echo the others and say a medium with fast tip is a good general-purpose rod. My rods are 6'6" and my reels are spooled with 15# Power Pro and I use them on all techniques.

It's like so many other things; there's no one best method. Mix it up and see what happens. Usually i do a stop and go. The Couintdown catches anything that swims and I would imagine the Scatter version would too.

Congratulations, that's one helluva fish. That should be around 10# if it's normally proportioned.

Congratulations. I'm sure you'll get great enjoyment from it. I bought a canoe a few years back and any kind of boat you own opens up possibilities that you didn't have on the bank.

That's a resounding YES.

Deeper than what? The smaller the line diameter the greater the diving depth.

I wouldn't rule out using crankbaits from the bank. I was bank bound for 35 years and caught plenty of fish on crankbaits. My belief is that a full variety of lures should be used as appropriate, and there is no reason to not use crankbaits when the cover permits their use and the conditions are right.

Very interesting. This page on the Brooks Reefer shows it as a jointed lure. http://www.fishwithjd.com/2012/03/25/vintage-lure-the-brooks-reefer/

A fourth reason is the reel itself. Some reels induce twist and over the years that has been my biggest reason for twist. I'm guessing that I've owned perhaps 25 spinning reels and 4-5 of them have induced twist. I could find no solution other than to not use those reels.

I agree with Teal; Romo's not a bad QB. He hasn't had a supporting cast. And don't hold your breath waiting for Jerry to fire the GM.

It hasn't mattered to me. I regularly use cranks that have a lot of paint scraped off. Fish don't see things the same way we do and the missing paint doesn't seem to affect the action.

I use a "stream thermometer", as shown in Goose52's BPS link. In stores, if they have them, they're often in with the fly fishing supplies.

An e-mail to Rapala might get your question answered. http://www.rapala.com/Contact-Us/customer-contact-us,default,pg.html?id=1

I don't know about the "better" sticks, but the ones I've bought at places like Dick's and Gander work fine for me.

I think Zoom offers an extremely wide selection of baits at prices considerably below those of the higher priced companies and their baits are very effective, as are most brands of plastics. Power Baits is another with a good selection. You made specific mention of Senkos. Zoom's Z-nails are excellent and I've used them for quite some time, but I don't know if they're still in production. Just my humble opinion that just about any soft stickbait will catch fish for you and most of them are more affordable than Senkos.

I'd e-mail or call your DNR for clarification. New York clarifies it when they say a line can have no more than five baits or lures and the line can have no more than 15 hook points in any combination of single, double or treble hooks.

Unfortunately, no underwater cameras to record the action, but I always thought this was a strike followed by the fish swimming toward you and then away from you as opposed to biting it, getting rid of it and biting again.

I've used Senkos, Yum Dingers, Zoom Z-nails and some things I've cobbled together. I've been unable to detect any difference among them, but you'd have to catch a lot of fish over a long period of time while testing under controlled conditions, which is extremely difficult, to draw conclusions. So, make some assumptions and fish whichever you have confidence in.

I never use leaders. It boils down to the fact that I have full confidence in what I'm doing. Others disagree, so take your choice.

Do a search for Massachusetts fishing forum.

I think it's not the wind direction, per se, but the atmospheric pressure changes that are associated with certain wind directions. Maybe there's some truth to it over the long run, I just don't know. But I never decide to go fishing or not go fishing based on wind direction, as I've done lousy too many times on west and south and done well on north and east. As the old saying goes, the best time to go fishing is when you can.

I figured I might be the only fisherman in Rochester who hasn't been to the BPS Auburn store. Sounds like I haven't missed out on a lot. I don't buy much tackle these days compared to my younger days, but even my modest needs can't be met by the combination of Dick's and Gander.

Everything seems instant these days. But I've used a number of reels with backplay. As I recall, the amount of backplay was very small and I wonder how much of a practical difference it made to a fisherman. I also felt that the small amount of backplay was largely negated by the angler keeping his hands on the reel handle.