RoLo

That does seem logical, but cold-blooded animals don't have the luxury of choice. A bass cannot eat more food than its digestive tract can metabolize. During the pre-spawn season with water temps in the 50s, it takes a bass about 5 days to digest one minnow. In mid-summer with water temps in the 80s, that same minnow will be fully digested in about 1½ days. Not sure I follow, but bass in warm water are significantly more active & energetic than bass in cold water. In summer, bass eagerly take on long, slow tapers, but in winter they seek the shortest distances (fast slopes). This dovetails into the fact that bass consume the most food in summer, which provides them the necessary fuel. Roger

I'd go with ML spinning, with a bias toward medium before light. Roger

I haven't fished for flatheads since we lived in Georgia (Altamaha River). The most popular bait by far is live baitfish around 4 to 5 inches. The type of bait doesn't seem to matter (minnows, shiners, goldfish, kllifish ~). Roger

If you're hooked on Daiwa, why wouldn't you consider the BG 2500 over the Fuego CT-HS? Roger

Sam, which will be your main target: Channels, Flatheads or Blues? Roger

$31 - Probably not, what you had in mind ? (jk)

Tragic events like this one, make us all think more about self-preservation, and rightly so. Carrying a handgun is fine, as long as it doesn’t create a false sense of security (Wyatt Earp Syndrome). The most powerful defense we have against life-threatening situations, are the eyes and brain in our head, not the gun under our belt. Life-threatening situations rarely play-out like a high-school play, but more often like a spaghetti western. You may not be taken out in cold blood, but no assailant is going to standstill while you're fetching your popgun. It’s vital to be vigilant of your surroundings at all times, to interpret the behavior and attitude of all strangers, and to act accordingly. It could be as simple as behaving like a mugger rather than of a victim, slipping out the backdoor or just avoiding a venue completely. The foremost goal is always to ‘avoid’ a deadly confrontation, because once you actually need a weapon, you’re in trouble deep, and there’s no escape! Roger

To your point: spring and fall are both transitional periods, but winter and summer are stable seasons. Also to your point, the metabolism of fish is the highest in summer, when fish consume the most food. Even here in subtropical Florida, my wife's favorite month is July (mine is not) Many of the lakes we fish have a max depth of 8 ft, so I really can't go very deep for them in summer Roger

As ‘12poundbass’ stated, the 3 suspects are all behind bars. I believe they were apprehended just 4 days after the event. Word has it that the 3 victims had clean rap sheets and no drugs were found in their vehicles. I’m not aware of a plausible motive, just some banter about a truck engine. Our sheriff described the henchman as “pure evil in the flesh”. All is well, thanks Geo I had a similar situation with a suspicious looking car. It was parked awkwardly, and appeared to be casing the marina. Intentionally, I stared directly at the car with my hands on my hips. After a prolonged staring contest, I decided to walk over to the car, but when I closed the gap about halfway, he took off out of the parking lot. That sort of confirmed my suspicions. Roger

I'm usually telling myself to slow down, so that puts me in the low gear ratio camp Roger

Several years ago, my wife & I fished Lake Livingston, Florida. This small lake piqued my curiosity because one of our favorite lakes spills into Lake Livingston via Livingston Creek. The launch for Lake Livingston was off Rt-98, at the end of a mile-long dirt road that ambles thru uninhabited xeric scrub. When we retrieved the boat that evening, I said to my wife that this would be the last time we fished here. A little surprised, my wife asked why. I told her that our tow car and trailer were sitting all day at the end of a dead-end road in stark wilderness; they were sitting ducks. Fast forward: July, 2020 Just days ago, 3 anglers were shot to death on Lake Streety Rd. I don't expect anyone to know the whereabouts of Lake Streety, so I will tell you. Lake Streety is on the other side of Rt-98, in fact, Lake Streety & Lake Livingston are separated by 5 miles. I might add that Lake Streety Rd (scene of the crime) is a thru road, whereas the unnamed road to Lake Livingston is a dead-end road. Moral of the story: 'Trust Your Instincts'. Roger

By all means, trust your instincts Roger

A quick overview of this thread finds proponents of Shimano, Daiwa & Pflueger...and rightly so. The biggest headbutt is probably between Shimano and Daiwa. Naturally, I have my personal favorites, but try to keep them out of recommendations. To be fair & equitable, Daiwa appears to wear the crown for casting distance, whereas Shimano gets the nod for braking system. Roger

Everyone here knows what 'not catching' feels like, but you're not missing all that much Being in the great outdoors is the best part Roger

Good stuff Remarkably, you didn't once mention color ? Roger

Many moons ago, Ned Kedhe of midwestern United States allegedly introduced the Ned Rig. If the response to this thread were limited to the original Ned Rig, all the posts would look pretty much the same: Gopher Mushroom Head: 1/16 oz - Gamakatsu #2 Goes without saying, I fished with the original Ned Head, along with many other versions. In Florida at least, my most effective Ned-type head is a Gamakatsu Round Jighead. Okay, so I'm not a copycat ? Roger

Are there other forms of intelligent life in the universe? It would take a megadose of egomania, to visualize homosapiens as the nucleus of the cosmos. Are there other celestial beings interested in human life on planet Earth? Let's all hope, they have more ambitious aspirations on their plate Roger

Gamakatsu Round Jighead: 1/16 oz - 1/0 Hook Roger

To avoid shipping charges, I normally wait tlll my order exceeds $50, which never takes long On my latest order, TW had everything in stock with one exception, which I replaced with an item in stock (Business as usual). Delivery was very prompt, and I have zero complaints. Roger

Unless you're fishing around rocks or shellbeds, I'd be tempted to go straight braid. Roger

Unless you create your own real-time contour map, you will always find areas where your contour map deviates shamelessly from the real-world terrain. When Lakemaster first tried their hand at mapping Florida lakes, their contour lines were so badly skewed, they had depth lines crisscrossing islands In normal progression: Terrain (structure) should be evaluated before Cover (weeds, wood, rock~), Nonetheless, in cases of badly skewed communication between the chart and real-world terrain, I might have to reverse the normal order. Instead, I'll begin by searching for the best cover (By eye, above water | With sonar, underwater). Then at each site with outstanding cover, I'm scrutinizing the bottom for depth drop-offs (rapid depth change). Once you create an onsite waypoint in this manner, it's yours for life. Roger

Nothing Here -- I Should've Gone Fishing

In all likelihood, your 3 back-to-back bass were the product of prefrontal conditions. Roger

Walleye fishing is very good in Champlain, but we never target them. The lake supports loads of good pike in the 5 to 8 lb range. Sadly, if it weren't for legal firearm fishing, Champlain would likely produce its fair share of 40" gators. The best pike fishing tends to be in the northern tier, like the Grand Isle region and Missisquoi Bay. Roger

I rarely target walleyes per se, but the statistics behind the Columbia River are very impressive. The Columbia River has produced 3 out of the 8 heaviest walleyes on record. Now that Greer’s Ferry has fallen from grace, that places the Columbia River high on the ladder of world-record potential. Roger