Marty

I use the #7 a lot when I'm cranking the appropriate depths. They're great and no less effective in their depth than the deep-diving models.

"NFL Thursday Night Football is back!!!!!!!" Doesn't matter much to us Time-Warner customers.

I'll just echo what's already been said. The megapixel difference between the two cameras can be ignored unless you have some overpowering need for the higher amount, which is unlikely to do much anyways. Also, do take advantage of the many camera review sites. You can learn an awful lot from reading them carefully.

That's a great pickerel. Ever since I caught my first pickerel some 40 years ago I have thought that they are better fighters than largemouth, although I'd rather catch the bass.

Thank you for validating the point I was trying to make. I respect the fact that you--as one with a vested interest--are not trying to make silly claims like "my lure catches more fish than your lure." I can readily accept verifiable differences in lures such as quality of components, hook sharpness, durability, tuning required, made in USA, or whatever. Whether it's a buzzbait, crankbait, hunk of plastic, jig or others, or the actual lure color, we're venturing into the unknown when we say one outfishes the other. Too often we tend to extrapolate and state as facts our preferences, biases and confidence factors. I have an incredible amount of confidence in Jitterbugs and that's the only topwater I want to use when conditions will allow use of treble hooks. But I never have and never will claim that it's better than some other topwater or that someone else will do better by switching to them.

I've never used Cavitrons, but I have no doubt they're good lures based on what I've read. It's just not possible to draw conclusions like that based on one outing, not to mention a slow outing. I don't think that you or me or the world's best pros can catch enough fish, over a long enough period of time, under controlled conditions, to definitively say that one lure is better than another. I've used Strike Kings with tri-winged blades for years. Of course, it's impossible to know what would have happened had I used other brands, but it strains my credulity to think that results with other buzzbaits would have been significantly different over the long run.

Don't owners' manuals have towing specs?

Nope, other than to say that fishing is notorious for being good when it shouldn't be and being lousy when it should be good. They are unfamiliar with our version of conventional wisdom.

Lots of options. If you're going to be stationary, such as ice fishing, the warmest option is pac-type boots, the kind with rubber bottoms, leather uppers and a removable felt liner. Another option for fairly deep snow is insulated 17-18" rubber boots, such as offered by Rocky, LaCrosse and others. Yet another option could be a low, warm boot and a pair of gaiters for when the snow is too high for the boots.

It's not that obvious to me. I know nothing about the style of boat that you want, but I don't hesitate to go out on a large lake with my canoe. It's the conditions that matter, not the size of the lake. For example, I go to a 10,000 acre lake a few times a year. It's 15 miles long, but if there's a south wind and I'm fishing the south end, it doesn't matter to me whether the lake is 1/2 long or 50 miles long. But regardless of conditions, I don't stray very far from the launch.

Like most others, I've done well with the "wrong" winds and well with the "right" ones. However, regardless of the validity of those guidelines, it's not the wind direction, per se, but the weather systems that are associated with the wind direction. Probably the one that most people are familiar with is that fishing is bad after a cold front. With the passing of the front, the wind shifts toward the north, thus part of the fishing caution about the north wind is really about the underlying cold front.

I used to occasionally fish for them and white bass and they were usually schooled up together if I was fortunate enough to happen upon them. Great fun on 4# line with their hard hits. However, it's been a number of years since I've fished in waters where they can be found.

Hard evidence of what? Does this boil down strictly to the question of whether they feel pain or not? I suggest you Google "fish feel pain" (without the quotes) and you'll get numerous hits. You could start by checking this article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2983045.stm

They're important in that they could protect your eyes from a flying object, such as a hook, they can protect your eye health and help you see into the water. Whatever you get, make sure they offer at least 99% protection from both UVA and UVB. There are lots of good brands out there.

Call Cabela's (toll-free), tell them what you told us and ask what your next step should be.

I'm tossing this out just in case one of the canoeists or kayakers might be interested in trying it. For those who get Bassmaster, you may have noticed the Here's How To section in the September/October issue. One of the subjects was slowing down a kayak. It was aimed at kayakers fishing a river's swift current where anchoring can be dangerous and tricky. They suggested a drag chain using 3' of heavy chain for heavy kayaks or swift currents, 2' for slow water or slowly drifting a weedline on a breezy day. Wrap two full rolls of electrical tape around the length of the chain except for one link, to which a dog leash is attached. I don't fish from a kayak or fish rivers, but I do fish from a canoe in shallow weedy water. Most of the time I can't drift and cover water because the wind is enough to blow me around too fast. If there are surface weed mats I can stop on those, otherwise I have to anchor, fish my area, pull up anchor, clean off gobs of weeds and move a few yards to try the next spot, a total pain in the butt. So I decided to try the suggestion. Not knowing what they meant by heavy chain, I bought 2' feet of 3/8 and some 3/16 poly rope instead of the dog leash. I used just a fraction of a roll of tape, winding it around the chain two or three times. I used the chain twice, both in the same pond. So far it hasn't slowed the drift, it just stops the boat. But that doesn't mean it's a failure because there are two big pluses. 1) I can paddle with the chain out, making things much easier than repeatedly pulling anchor, and 2) It catches many fewer weeds. So I consider it a big success for an investment of only a few dollars. Here's a photo of the article.

As a dyed-in-the-wool Pats hater, that was absolutely delicious!! ;D

I'm certainly not going to knock the baby bass color, but let's keep it in perspective, it's one of countless colors that can be very effective.

No doubt ultralight is great fun. I had a good year for large bass, but my most enjoyable fight was a two-pound smallie on UL with 4# mono while trying for panfish. But I would advise only to us UL in relatively open water. Using it in heavier cover will lead to more breakoffs and I don't think any of us like to lose tackle or have a fish swimming around with a mouthful of crankbait or whatever.

You can't generalize and you can't predict. Both are great baits overall, but that doesn't mean they'll produce equally on a given outing. It's usually trial and error to find what's working at any particular place and time.

Pike around here readily take any lure that exists. If I had to choose one I'd take spinnerbait, but by the tiniest margin over several others.

I can't make out the pictures. This is just a stab in the dark, but look up coontail. It's an unrooted, free-floating plant that is abundant in some places.

Follow the first two sentences of ALbasser's advice. However, and I've said this countless times, ignore the label position. Firstly, the label position has nothing to do with the physical process of spooling line, and secondly, label positions are inconsistent and I've always had lines with labels going both ways, sometimes both ways on the same brand. Yes, but we shouldn't generalize. I know from personal experience that both Daiwa and Shimano have instructed to spool the reel as you describe for a baitcaster, but these instructions are given only for reels that have an anti-twist line roller. I have found that this works well on these reels, but the old-fashioned way does also. My advice is to consult the reel's instructions and if there's any doubt, do it the old way by laying the spool flat such that the line comes off counterclockwise.

I'm not saying that. Years ago I read that a steady retrieve works fine so I use it. Even if I used stop-and-go half the time I don't think I'd be able to make a valid conclusion about which is best because of the sample size and all the variables. Good point. Before I use any Jitterbug I remove all screws and get some super glue into those holes. I think it's a great lure for attracting strikes but I also think it's poorly made with poor components.

Jitterbugs are my favorite lure, I use them a disproportionate amount of the time and they've accounted for a lot of fish and most of my larger ones. I generally use a steady retrieve. Over the years I've never been able to detect a difference in effectiveness between the regular and jointed.