.ghoti.

A very interesting take on one of the Lindner boy's major contributions to our favorite pasttime. The only point I'd really disagree with is taste. As a guy who primarily fishes soft plastics, I'd argue that taste is a major factor. A bass can spit out a bait that doesn't taste ok much faster than you can set the hook. If you don't believe that, try squirting a little Off, or the bug juice of your choice, on your baits, and see how many fish you catch. I use a scent basically as a cover up, to help conceal any scents or flavors I may have added to the bait. I almost always have a thermos of coffee, a sandwich or two, and a couple of fine cigars along for the trip. I seriously doubt that bass find tobacco, coffee, or mustard to be flavorful. Maybe they do, but I doubt it. So, I try to cover it up. I've proved, at least to my own satisfaction, that a cover scent will improve my catch rate. Good topic, and an interesting analysis. Cheers, GK

Good question Mr Baugher, I had to think about this one a bit. I've come to the conclusion that I'm a specialist. I'd like to be able to say that I'm a generalist, but I've only been fishing about 50 years or so. For baits, I'm a specialist. Soft plastics account for at least 80% of my fish. Within that specialty, I'm a generalist. I carry and use a wide range of baits. So many that I've devised a new organization scheme for my soft plastics. I used to lug around 8 double sided binder bags, stuffed full of different plastics. I've cut it down to three. I was going for two, but couldn't quite pull it off. For my target range, I'm a specialist. Give me the 6 - 15 foot range. If I can find some structure in that range, with some cover on it, I'm a happy camper. Almost all of the biggest fish I've caught have come from the 8 - 12 foot range. A few shallower and a few deeper. I do fish shallow, early in the day, or at night. I do fish deeper, but rarely have to. I'm comfortable down to about 30 feet. I'm clearly a finesse guy. I do not use heavy rods and line. I use 8 and 10lb test on my spinning rods, 10 and 12 on my baitcasters. The run & gun approach drives me crazy. Interesting topic. Cheers, GK

Haven't seen a capricorn baitcaster. I do have two Capricorn spinning reels. Got "em last year from Cabela's at 50 bucks each. I like them so far. I can't comment on longevity just yet. They are very smooth, handle the line well and have a good, smooth drag. The Tackle Tour boys compared the Capricorn and the Stradic a couple of years ago, and rated the Capricorn better. They are now out of production, replaced by the Tierra. Does that mean parts will no longer be available? It probably won't be long before that's true. But, if they are anything like all the other Daiwa reels I have, they will still be going strong ten years from now. Cheers, GK

I'm a firm believer in scent as a cover, not as an attractant. I used to squirt the scent in the bags. It is messy. The bags will leak much quicker than the bottles the scent came in. I also came to the conclusion that if the scent was actually capable of penetrating the plastic, it would, over time dissolve the baits. I never had any baits dissolve, so, the scents i use do not penetrate the baits. The only advantage to soaking the baits is you save a few seconds when putting on a new bait. The few seconds saved was not worth the extra mess and stink, to me, so I quit. Shiver me timbers, mate GK

weightless 5" Senko or t-rigged 7" Powerworm red shad color for both Fat Ika and X-Rap close behind Cheers, GK

About the only time I fish one of these is deep. T-rigged with at least an 1/8oz weight. Good bait for deeper structure. Cheers, GK

spinnerbait or shad rap. If you can't get bitwith these, or at least a follow, move. Cheers, GK

tacoman, you have yours rigged exactly the same as I rig mine. I miss almost no fish on the Fat Ika. Let's hear a few more details. What hook, line size and rod. All these could be contributors to the problem. A 4/0 or 5/0 hook requires a firm hookset to drive it home. If you using a soft rod, with light mono, and have made a long cast, you could easily miss a few. Other than that I have no idea. It looks like you're rigging it just fine. Cheers, GK

Jimmy went home one night after work. His wife of many years met him with the comment; well, you've forgotten our anniversary, again. I am not going to stand for this much longer. He says "what can I do"? She replys " there better be something new in driveway tomorrow that will go from 0-200 in less than ten seconds" Jimmy goes shopping. The next morning the wife notices a box, wrapped and ribboned in the driveway. When she opens it, she finds a new bathroom scale. Jimmy is still unable to receive visitors.

My biggest fish this year was 12oz tuna steak, extra rare served on a bed of stir fried bok choy with ginger. Got it with an American Express plastic.

justfishin, to answer your original question, yes, it is easier to remove a hook from the gut if the barb is mashed down. The In-Fisherman method, which Avid posted a link to, is by far the best way to deal with a guthooked fish. I've done it with both barbed and barless hooks. Barbless is better. There is one place I fish regularly, where the fish are so aggressive that, at times, they swallow Senkos and Ikas before you can set the hook. I started flattening the barbs down when fishing there. I do it now anytime I'm using scented or salted plastics. For me, these are the baits that get swallowed. Cheers, GK

I use both of the Falcon boxes. One for spinnerbaits, and one for both spinnerbaits and buzzbiats. I've never had a bait fall out, or even come loose. You can open the lid, turn it upside down and shake, and nothing comes loose. I know, I've tried it. The spinnerbait box holdsthirty baits. The combo box has slots for 15 each, buzzbaits and spinnerbaits, but you really can't put 15 buzzbaits in one side, and still be able to get out the one you want. I think I have about 9 or 10 buzzbaits in mine. I've tried everything I could think of, or had heard of, to store these bait. Tried bags, binders, 3700 boxes, wallets, I've even taken a hot knife and a Moto-tool to a couple of Plano boxes, and tried to make my own version of a spinnerbait/buzzbait box. These Falcon boxes are the best thing out there, right now. If there is something better, I haven't seen it. That doesn't mean there isn't something better. It just means I haven't seen it. Cheers, GK

Thanks for the kind words, RW. I have put some thought in it, but not that much. Here's how I did it, for any who mat need a nudge. I went through every bag and box, and asked one simple question. Did I use this last year? If I answered yes, it made the cut. I eliminated at least 60% of the stuff I was lugging around. Maybe more. Now, all I have to do is get it all put together. It should be much easier than last year's re-organization, because I have a plan. I also have a small list of things to buy to round out the color selections, and a couple of bulk spools of line. It doesn't amount to much. I'm having a much harder time figuring out how to trim down the number of rods. I've made at least five different lists, and every time I look at it, I change it. AH well, it keeps me somewhat occupied during this nasty, fishless time of the year. Cheers, GK

I'm the Raul camp. I have to carry all that stuff around, because I don't know what I'll need until I get there. Sounds like justification to me. Really. I'm still in the re-organization process. It's going very slowly. I keep changing my mind on what goes in and what just goes. Here's my best guess for now. Plastics: 5" & 6" Senkos, 10" & 7" Power Worms, Zoom tubes, Power Brush Hawgs, Super Flukes, Zoom Trick Worms, Fat Ikas, GYCB Cuttail Worms, Power Craws. I'm giving away all the rest of the plastics I've stocked up on over the last few years, and I'm only going to stock a few colors of each of the ones I'm keeping. I've been carrying around 8 BPS double binder bags full of plastics. My goal is to get it down to two, maybe three. Plus one Facon terminal tackle box. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. Jerkbaits: one Shimano 3700 sized box is all I'm going to carry, stocked with X-Raps and LC Pointers. The rest go into storage or will be given away. Cranks: one 3700 box each shallow and medium divers. The list now includes Minus1', Shad Raps, DT's Bandits and Bomber As. I'm no longer gonna carry around hundreds of cranks. I'm getting rid of the deep cranks. I don't use one often enough to keep carrying them with me. Spinnerbaits/buzzbaits. One Falcon spinnerbait box with mostly Terminators in 1/4 and 3/8oz. I like those becuase I don't have to tune them. White, charteuse and bluegill colors, with a couple of blacks. One Falcon spinnerbait/buzzbait box, again mostly Terminators. Topwaters: One 3700 box, Spooks, Spit'n Images, Skitter Pops and Skitter Walks. One Shimano 3700 sized box full of original floating Rapalas. One 3700 box for misc hard baits. The 8 3700 size boxes will fit in the main compartment of my Fats bag, the terminal box will fit in the back pocket, and tools and scents will go in the front pocket. The two side pockets will hold 3600 boxes, one full of jigs and one with Brody swim baits. I figure the whole thing will weigh in at about 40 pounds. Maybe less. That's the plan as of thiw week. It will probably change, but not much. Still trying to figure out how trim down the number of rods and reels. Cheers, GK

I like dink's reply. I'm gonna use that one on the wife. I have way too much stuff. I'm going to cut down. I really am. Yeah, right. Cheers, GK

In no particular order: greens, browns, black, reds, blues. My go to baits are a red shad Senko, black/blue Zoom tube, pumpkin Power hawg, black 10"Power worm, blue 6.5" GYCB Cuttail worm, baby bass Super Fluke, black/chart Power Craw and a watermelon Fat Ika. Cheers, GK

Bassbeat, I'm not going to far out on limb by saying that if you don't watch your line, while fishing jigs or plastics, you're missing at least half of your fish. Maybe more. And that's pretty much the end of the story. Focus, and practice. Cheers, GK

I loose quite a few hooks, weights and jigs. Don't loose many spinnerbaits, but I will hang one occasionally. I probably loose a couple dozen cranks every year. I'm a firm believer in banging cranks off of something. You're gonne loose a few, but you are also gonna catch more fish. I consider it the price of doing business. Cheers, GK

Ah, Avid, you crack me up. But, I know what you mean. I'm a bits and bytes, and electrons guy myself. Cheers, GK

My reel with the highest gear ratio is a Quantum Energy PT 7:1. It cranks in 27" of line for every turn of the crank. Aother reel of mine is a Abu C4 with 6.3:1 gears. It cranks in 30" per turn. Which one is the "burner"? I still like the PT better. But, if you're interested in speed, look at inches per turn, not gear ratio's. Cheers, GK

The two washers, that act as springs, and look like this (), can get compressed. You'll end up with a drag with little or no adjustment range. I back off my drags after every trip. You'll get an added benefit. You have to set and test your drag every time out. I used to forget to do this. Now I don't. Cheers, GK

Avid, you may try drilling a small hole into the stud. Then either tap it and screw in a bolt, or use an easy-out. This would give you something to grab it with. Squirt a little spray grease in there, and wigwle it about with the bolt, or easy-out, until it comes loose. Best I got. Cheers, GK

Sure, I've misjudged a fish. I once found one guilty, filleted him, and ate him. Then I found out the other fish did it. ;D

Bass-Brat is right on the money. Store them standing up. If they will be in storage for any length of time, Take the reels off. And back off the drags on the reels. Cheers, GK

For overall numbers, over the years, I gotta say a t-rigged plastic worm. Last year it was the Senko and Fat Ika, with an honorable mention to the X-Rap. Cheers, GK