RoLo

Like Tom, I never snell the hook, and select my punching spots based on bottom contour, and there I'll pinpoint the best weed pockets, weed alleys and weed points. In short, my electric anchor gets far more exercise than my electric motor. The Zoom Ultra-Vibe is my wife's best punch trailer, I've done pretty good with a Zoom 4.25" Z-Craw (black light) Roger

"Is he wasting his time?" Quite possibly If this were during the spawning season, he might do better in 1 to 4 ft of water Roger

Based on your synopsis, you already know the ropes. The word "punching" is often used to describe simple 'weed-probing', but true punching is essentially a vertical delivery using heavy weights that start at 3/4 ounce. Braided polyethylene is the punching line of choice (e.g. 65-lb Sufix 832), but that's not etched in stone. Tungsten weights between 3/4 & 2.5 ounces are typically used (tungsten is preferred, but not necessary) In Florida's salads bowls I prefer a heavy power rod, but by all means use your frog rod before investing in any specialized outfit (Rod lengths & reel speeds are based chiefly on personal choice) The trailers used are generally referred to as 'craws', but due to the heavy weights & fast sink rates, stuff like lure placement and lure behavior are far more important than shape. For example in Florida, 'twin-tail grubs' get far more play than plastic crayfish. Keep your casts short and wait for bottom contact after every cast. Good Luck Roger

She's a beaut! You really set the bar high for 2017 Roger

Are tractor-trailers allowed in your neighborhood? Three of them???

Most would agree that Tanqueray makes a better martini than Seagrams, but you can get equally intoxicated on either one. Roger

Whenever we speak of "Bassy-Looking" spots we're generally referring to the scenario "above" the waterline. However, the fish's world is 'below' the waterline, so our 3D Downscanner is today's most valuable tool for finding the ‘real’ sweet-spots, where Structure and Cover come together.

What you refer to as a 'female point' is an indentation in contour lines, commonly called an inside turn. To be sure, "major points" are widely touted and universally loved, but nothing stokes my interest more than a sharp INDENT in bottom contour, the sharper the better. The existence of a major point is typically betrayed by shoreline configuration. As a result, major points are worked to death by anglers. But more than this, a 'point' is a geometric shape that acts as a wedge which tends to diverge the traffic flow of predator & prey. On the contrary, an "inside turn" (indentation in depth lines) tends to converge the traffic pattern, thereby enhancing 'population density'. Roger

Really enjoyed reading the responses, our fishing fraternity is the Bomb! We will tow our boats 50 miles to tap into a pre-spawn bite, but New Year's Eve doesn't make the cut. My sentiments precisely, Lois & I will be keeping the home fires burning, but tomorrow it's Lake Kissimmee. Happy New Year!

Well, as hard as we tried to slow the hands of time, another year has come-&-gone. Happy New Year fellows and gals, here's hoping for a HOG-filled 2017 Tonight I'll be watching 'Pitbull'...okay, who am I kiddin, I'll be watching the 'Bad Ones', his 6 dancing girls Roger

When I lived in Jersey there were 4 deer seasons every year, including a doe-day & black powder season. I hunted deer during the 6-day shotgun season and the Bow & Arrow season (the month of October when bucks were in the rut) During most years I would bag 2 deer (1 gun/1 bow), but there were several years when I bagged just one, but the year that stands out the most was the year I got skunked (a story in itself). Roger

Some anglers may look askance, but the bulk of my locational search is conducted in the comfort of my home. It's perfectly okay to blow thru a mile of beautiful cover to get to your pre-selected coordinates. Frankly, the only time I get choked-up about cover, is when it has a basement of unique bottom contour. Roger

Geo summed it up Though I've encountered hundreds of them, I still marvel at the beauty of every gator. In the recent past I've photographed sunning gators from a drifting boat (drifting toward the gator). I've gotten so close at times, that they're departing splash hit my camera. Provided you never feed or provoke a gator, you have little to fear (gators have fear too). Alligators are only guilty of being born alligators, it's people we need to train Roger

If I were limited to one lure, it'd have to be a "Gambler Big-EZ" (any color) Roger

I'll drink to that ('magnum' ultravibe) Roger

BREAK: Abrupt Change (that's all she wrote). Might be an abrupt change in bottom depth, plant species, bottom content, water current ~ ~ BREAKLINE Abrupt change that is linear Might be a submerged creek channel, edge of a weedbed, riptide, mudline, pipeline ~ ~ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In the tiny brain of a fish, the common denominator in every case is "transition" When we get too intricate or precise in our definition, we tend to depart from the fish’s world. Roger

Gomer's Electric Swamp Donkey (by Splash Craft) Okay...so it's not 'real' popular Roger

I'm glad to hear that farmer, it seems that all the hook manufacturers upped their game. I'll bet you remember when your hook hone sat smack in front of your tackle box. But with today's laser-sharpened & chemically-sharpened hooks, I have to hunt for my hook file. It helps of course, that there are no rocks in Florida Roger

I feel that I should preface with a lesson I learned many years ago, a lesson I'll never forget: Based purely on dumb luck, I found myself smack dab in the middle of a red-hot topwater bite. At the time, I was throwing a Stanley Ribbit and was getting action on every cast, sometimes 2 or 3 strikes during a single retrieve. It quickly hit me that this was a golden opportunity to experiment. I had about a half-dozen different types of topwaters in my tackle box, and I fished them all. As it happened, 'EVERY' topwater I threw produced action, virtually on every cast (Strikes, not bass). Then after about 20 minutes of pure ecstasy, the bottom dropped out and the action fizzled. Although I continued to throw all the same lures, and utilize all the same retrieves, I wasn't able to raise a single bass with any lure...Nada! That was a lesson of a lifetime I'll never forget. Anyway, with that in mind, my favorite topwater lures include but are not limited to: > Rapala Original Floater > Cavitron Buzzbait > Stanley Ribbit (solid toad) > Bronzeye Hollow Frog Roger

Unlike the hooks I fished with 50 years ago, the hooks manufactured today are virtually forced to be competitive, otherwise they'll fall by the wayside. In any case, "VMC" is probably my least favorite hook of all, one of the few brands I do not regard as premium. Roger

In a lifelong search for a plastic worm that doesn't work, I've come up empty! Put differently, every time I'm asked this same question I'm likely to offer a different answer That said, my current favorite worm is an Uptons 8" Straight-Tail Worm (So Cal Magic) Roger

As I live in Florida, there is no 'off-season'. Between you & I though, I sometimes wish there was Roger

Sadly, I can fully relate to that statement. My usual 'pause goal' is 3 seconds, which I often scale back to 2-seconds. When I shoot for 5-sec pauses, I run the risk of running low on oxygen and losing my sense of belonging

I normally buy fishing line in Bulk Spools, which not only reduces line cost, but reduces the instances where the supply spool runs out just before the reel spool is full As a result of buying in bulk, the lion's share of my fishing line is several years old (mono & braid). All the same, my line spools are stored in a cool, dark drawer where their integrity is indefinitely preserved. As a case in point, I have a bulk spool of 15-lb Trilene Big Game that I purchased in the late 1970s. Today (~40 yrs later), you would be very hard-pressed to break that line with your bare hands. Roger

During their infancy, Al used to push Skyline rods and Cardinal reels. I got suckered into a combo, but didn't care for the rod or the reel. I believe that was during the first year of In-Fisherman (75), but may have been when Al was still writing for Fishing Facts. Roger