lmoore

I don't know this for sure, but from observation it seems like flouro breaks down fairly easily when exposed to sunlight and the elements. Seems especially true with smaller flouros, and it's the reason I change any under 15 lb test before every tournament.

That's a good point. Maybe I'll get some 6 right now and test it out, and if I really don't like it I can jump up to the 7 like I was thinking.

Hey guys, Wondering if anyone has any reccomendations on 7lb flouro? I'm a Trilene 100% guy, but wanted to move smaller than the 8 pound I normally use. I feel like 6 pound is a little lighter than what I want, so 7 pound would give me some of the decreased size and workability I want, without sacrificing too ,much strength. I actually got some 8 pound Berkley Nanofil to try this year, but I just spooled it on, and I'm not a fan. I know Aaron Martens is a big supporter of 7 pound Sunline, but does anyone here have recommendations?

As stated, it's a young Bluegill. You can already see the dark gill spot developing. While White Crappie also have this spot, the mouth doesn't extend back to the eye as it does with crappie and there are more then 6 dorsal fins, which rules out White Crappie. They look healthy for young fish. BG won't generally start to fill out until they get larger, IMO, due to competition for food at that age. EDIT: Also, they are probably last years hatchlings, and some of the larger ones even from the year before.

I'm not sure what I copied there. LOL This link should work. EDIT: Did the same thing. If you google "Kistler Carbon Steel" it's the first result from another site.com

Talk about a logjam in the co-angler standings! One more decent fish would've been the difference between your place and makig a run at the top 20. Nice job.

^Agree with this. It also made me think...if you're willing to wait a month or 2, Tackle Warehouse usually has some pretty good sales in February or March.

Good price range, you should have a lot of options for that. Personally, I love my Kistler MH Carbon Steel for all around fishing with the ability to throw lighter baits fairly well. They have them listed here for $110: http://www.another site.com/showcase.cfm?PID=5673 That leaves you some room for a pretty nice reel. If you use Ebay and search for "Okuma Citrix" there is a guy that sells them for $87 shipped for the 5.4:1 ratio or $90 for the 7.3:1. They retail for about $120 and are really nice reels. That would be a pretty high-quality set-up for right at your price range. If you would like to spend a little less, I'd take some off the rod before the reel. A good rod is important, but not nearly as much as a good reel. Hope that helps get you started in the right direction.

What price range are you looking at?

I've used them a time or two. Good baits for the money. I got them because I fell in love with the hype-train that is the Sexy Shad color. The action is more similiar to a Rogue than a Pointer.

I do this also. It's kind of amazing how much better they taste after an extended period of time, compared to just being frozen by themselves. As far as killing them, I don't usually worry about it. If my concience acts up, I drop them on the ground, a quick stomp to the head, and rinse them off in a bucket of water. Of course, you can't use that method on good sized Walleye or you ruin the tastiest part of the fish....the cheeks!

I use a MH for frog fishing. I like the tip on mine and it let's me make really long casts when necessary. As long as you get them up on top and out of the weeds quickly, the power shouldn't be a problem. If you let them get down in the pad stems, you'll probably wish you had a bigger rod along.

Best post I've seen from you recently. Lots of experience and good advice on this board if you're willing to listen to it.

For the record, you will only see about a 9% increase in casting distance from a 7' to a 7'8" from pure length alone. The tip action and how it transmits force to the lure will have a larger effect on the casting distance of your lure.

LOL. I think it comes down to how you describe opportunistic. I think our general idea on the variation between trout opportunisticism (it's not a word, but it should be), and that of bass is pretty acurate. I tend to think of bass as predominately neutral. You sometimes see short periods of high activity, and sometimes see periods where they won't do a d**n thing, but for the most part, they're like a fat guy laying on the couch. Pretty content not to do anything, unless a large piece of cake drifts in front of their face.

Thermoclines are kind of a whole new beast. During the warm summer months, thermoclines involve a layer of warm water on top an a layer of colder water below. It would make sense that the colder water would have more oxygen, and I think they do when the thermocline initially forms. However, as the thermocline stays and the colder water down below never has access to new oxygen supplies, the oxygen levels drop because oxygen "leaks" through the thermocline into the warmer water above. Because of this, the water with the most oxygen ends up being right above the thermocline, the coolest water of the upper warm layer. Someone correct me if I'm wrong here, but that's my understanding of thermoclines in relation to oxygen levels.

I actually read a study about the survival rate of large Pike after a fight. This was a couple years ago so I don't remember the exact details, but they caught the pike using rod and reel and then tagged them and tracked them. The mortality rate was right around 50% and most of those that died simply went to the nearest deep water and sat on the bottom until they passed away. I'm sure lactic acid poisioning was the cause of the ones that did that.

I would've never even thought to correlate lactic acid build up from exercise to the same type of thing in bass. Kind of common knowledge in the gym, but ertaintly applies to more than just weight lifting. Things like this are the reason I absolutely love BassResource.com. Sometimes, even if I observe a behavior in bass, I can't really fully explain the reason. January is the time to expand my thinking and try and get a better understanding of the behavior that will be affecting my income (hopefully in a positive way ), come April.

Interesting about Smallies. That makes sense, I'd never heard that before. Googled the temp, first article I read quoted a study that said the optimal temp for largemouth was right around 80, which makes more sense. Bass do need to eat more when it's warmer, 110% correct, but activity level starts to decrease at higher temperatures. I assume it probably has to do with the declining Oxygen levels as temperature rises. EDIT: I thinkacticity level moght be the wrong phrase there. Bass are certaintly very active at warmer temps, they just don't seem to move as far to find food, like they sometimes will in the spring or fall.

Another very good point. Along the lines of what you were saying there, Bass are significantly less opportunistic during warm summer months and cold winter months. Partially due to the fact that there isn't a large supply of food congregated in small areas, like you find in the spring and fall season as you mentioned, but also because (IMO), they become more reserved at points of peak activity. The optimal temperature for bass activity, if I recall it correctly, is right near 70 degrees farenheit. It's probably not a coincidence that the times of year where bass appear to be most opportunistic happen to be times of the year where water temperatures approach that numer. EDIT: Re-reading your post, I essentially just elaborated on the food and water quality idea. Looks like I just happen to be a lot windier today. LOL

Very good point. The reasoning behind me saying bass are more opportunistic is that, in my mind, they are less likely to become zoned in one one type of forage than a trout. I certaintly agree that trout are much more active in the search of food and are more constantly in a "feeding" mode. The only thing I really disagree with there is that bass eat only when hungry. That may certaintly be true with some bass in some areas, but in general, a bass will eat if there is an easy meal nearby. I used to keep a few small bass in an aquarium and they would literally have minnow tails sticking out of their mouths while still trying to eat others. Side note, I should mention they were, of course, of legal size

Change occurs constantly in every ecosystem. Leanr to adapt to the changes in fish behavior, or learn to be OK with an empty livewell at days end. Blaming birds and minnows just gives you an excuse not to learn.

Aggression and the active state of specific bass and certain bass certaintly plays a part, especially in areas that recieve lots of fishing pressure. I think the biggest thing that makes me think of bass as more opportunistic than trout is the variety of forage associated with bass. This probably applies more to Largemouth than smallies. In any given lake/river at any given time, there is usually 2-3 different "patterns" you can play to while fishing. There usually will be a predominant pattern which correlates closely with the time of year and the activity of the various forage species in the body of water, but there are usually small groups of bass who are feeding on a different forage species. Don't get me wrong, I firmly believe that in order to be a successful fisherman (of any kind), you need to learn to match your bait to the specific forage. However, I think bass offer the inexperienced angler more room for error due to the (assumed by me) higher variability of forage species.

Read the thread title. Remsume is not a word. Helping you would be easier if you answered that question about what format you have it in. If you don't have it in a Word document, I would move it there. Unless you have a really long resume, I would think you could upload a Word file pretty easy. While we're waiting, let's have a look and see if you've ever fished an FLW or BASS tourney. Are you Andrew Loberg or Andrew Loberg Jr? EDIT: looks like both FLW profiles are you. Had a pretty good first full year on the Everstarts this season as a co. Are you planning on going to college? If so, I would definitely look into making sure they have a bass team there. There are a few of them in California that are pretty active on the tournament circuits.

Ya sorry I was going to mention that when I posted it. These are only rabbit hair. Lots of options but slightly higher priced: http://strikeon.com/weedless.html These are some material the producer calls "Bass hair" and are lower in price. Not as many options, but some of the basic ones: http://andyscustombasslures.com/?page_id=255