RoLo

I'm not familiar with Hevicore, but since flouro and braid are closely sandwiched around neutral buoyancy, I wouldn't expect a noteworthy difference. But of course that's speculation. Sounds like you're looking to minimize line-belly, which is always a good idea. With a stationary line in the water, braid will have noticeably more inverted line-belly than fluorocarbon (bowed upward not downward). Oddly enough though, when the lure is moving on a tight line (cranked, drifted or trolled), fluorocarbon will have more line-belly than braid, due to the water-resistance of its double-wide diameter. For this reason, anglers who troll will often use braid to attain greater depth with the same weight. If you have a micrometer, mike the diameter of your Hevicore and you'll have much better insight to its water resistance on a tight line. Roger

Fresh-caught fish is the real deal, and well worth a few minutes of filleting time. In order to inflate profit margins, a high percentage of store-bought fish is farmed-raised. Many studies have found that farmed fish generally contain significantly less omega 3s and have a higher inflammatory value. These bad boys are linked to diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease. Roger

Actually, there are many lakes that don't stratify into thermal layers, which is saying that many lakes do not have a thermocline (aka: metalimnion). Further, trophy bass don't actively "seek" the thermocline, and for all we know they may not even know it exists (indeed, on many lakes a thermocline doesn't exist). In lakes that stratify though, the thermocline tends to limit the maximum depth of fish. I say "tends to limit" because it's actually the "oxycline" that dictates the maximum depth of fish life. If a fish spends time in the anoxic zone below the oxycline it will succumb to asphyxia. The oxycline usually lies at a similar depth to the thermocline, but depending on the season, it can migrate considerably below the thermocline. Roger

Even when a smaller bass nails a swimbait, they swing for the fence That chunk in the bottom pic looks like it wants to be a pie plate. Nice going. Roger

"Skinning" is simply removing the skin from the fish, it is generally done last. "Filleting" is carving the flesh off each side of the backbone, then skinning each fillet. Roger

Don't be silly, I like to be quoted

My post was only meant to point out the benefits of a shorter rod, I didn't mention any benefits of a long rod. Central Florida is laden with shallow weedy lakes, where the most important benefit of a long rod is the 'haul stroke'. A long rod with a stiff spine is best for quickly turning the head of a bass before it gets hopelessly buried in the cover. Oh yeah, one other benefit of a long rod. When a hat blows off, the long rod is best for fishing a hat out of the lake Roger

I've noticed that over the years the average length of fishing rods has been creeping upward Back in the day, the average rod was 6 to 6-1/2 ft long, but today it's more like 7 to 7-1/2 ft long Rod length has very little to do with angler height; only one exception comes to mind: When working a jerkbait with downward strokes toward the water, a 5-1/2 foot angler with a 7-1/2 foot rod will be smacking the water. Aside from that one exception, rod length has little to do with angler height, but everything to do with the job at hand. Based on the trend toward longer rods, anglers are aware of the advantages of a longer rod, but a shorter rod offers several important benefits: => Leverage: This is the most controversial advantage of a short rod, but it’s not my law it's the law of physics. The longer the rod, the more leverage you give to the fish (for example, the 5-ft strokers used for standup tuna fishing). => Sensitivity: As the rod length approaches hand-lining, the greater the sensitivity (the same reason why some lay the line over a finger). => Cast Accuracy: Based on the law of 'accumulation-of-error', the shorter rod offers more casting accuracy (left & right) => Water Clearance: As noted above, this is only important when using downward strokes, for instance with a Zara Spook. => Rod Storage: Short rods create fewer storage issues than long rods (at home, in the car and in the boat) Roger

Braid weighs a smidgeon less than water, while fluorocarbon weighs a smidgeon more than water. A few years back I ran my own buoyancy test using a short trace of braid versus a trace of fluorocarbon. The braid trace floated uncomfortably, often with one or both ends under the water. The fluoro trace would hesitate on the surface (apparently due to surface tension) then sink slowly. If one teensy sand granule was clinging to the braid trace, it would sink slowly like fluorocarbon. If one teensy air-bubble was clinging to the fluoro, it would remain on the surface like braid. Roger

'Owner 3/0 Wide-Gap Plus' (triangular cutting point) Roger

The durability of Elaztech and 3x plastics is unexcelled. All the same, if you want a T-rigged trailer that stays weedless, you don't want a Cyberflexxx trailer. The plastic is very soft and jelly-like, and the hook-point pops thru under light resistance (a big No-No) Before messing with superglue, I'd rather select a more appropriate trailer. Roger

I’m not familiar with the boats you mentioned, but the shorter of the two could easily outperform a boat 1.5 ft longer. In addition to length, the ride depends on many things like hull configuration, deadrise, beam, overall weight and so on. Aside from length, a wider beam gives you more deck space (usually), better tracking and more stability at rest. A boat with poor wave-cutting at the bow or very little deadrise at the transom is more prone to slapping & pounding. On the other hand, if most of your waters are shallow you may not want too much draft. Selecting a new hull is always tightrope act, because you often have to rob Peter to pay Paul. It's a choice that really boils down to the things that matter most to you (now on my 14th boat). Roger

The best that any chart can do is place you in the right locality, but only your depth sounder can pinpoint location. The depth sounder provides the precise location of charted contours, it discloses uncharted contours, baitfish wads and the presence or absence of cover. No chart can do that. Roger

Frankly, I appreciate no-frills packaging. What turns me off is packaging overkill, because it's the consumer who foots the bill. No matter how purty the packaging, the first thing I'm going to do is tear it open and pour the baits into my tackle box tray Roger

What I don't see or feel is even more important, because it's a missed opportunity. Roger

Florida is the home-base of Gambler, but more importantly, Gambler uses a very tough plastic that floats, a rare combination. Roger

Sonar, fish finder & depth sounder are all one and the same. In addition to any topo map or hydro map, the depth sounder is the angler's bible. Roger

Yes they are contradictory, and realistically you can't do both perfectly, but perfection isn’t necessary. Take a Senko for example, the most coveted lure in America. To get maximum action from a Senko you need a completely slack line, what we call a ‘freefall’. However, when the lure is completely severed from the angler, the angler is completely severed from the lure (we can't have it one way in a bilateral event). Fortunately though, neither perfection or completeness is necessary. As Catt described, the angler’s job is to maintain line tension that’s midway between ‘taut’ and ‘slack’; a line in limbo. Gary Yamamoto calls this a ‘semi-slack line’, but I think of it as a ‘semi-taut line’. Most anglers would be surprised how little line-slack is needed to produce a big belly in the line. The ratio is about 10 to 1, where nodding the tiptop guide 1-inch will produce about 1 foot of line sag. This means that a bass only has to move the lure 1-inch to send a message on a semi-taut line. Unfortunately, when a bass moves the lure in the direction of the tiptop guide, the strike may go unnoticed. Although we know how many strikes we Do feel, there is no way to know how many strikes we Don’t feel. Roger

Quote: "That one flew over my head" Uh huh, but not if you were wearing a top hat

Very rare indeed. I don't mean top hats, but waterproof top hats.

Whatdaya mean "was", did he cash out?

Unless that lake was a strip mine, it's not likely that the entire terrain was excavated. In any case, I would obtain the topographical quadrangular that encompasses that lake. Unlike a hydrographic map (which everyone calls a topo map), a true topographic map illustrates the topography 'before' inundation. Roger

Exactly When you fish'em downhill, the only bass you contact are those wearing a top hat. Roger

I can see both sides of the line-stretch debate, and both are logical (I hate when that happens). Tom makes an excellent point. Before you can stretch any line, you first have to remove all line-slack. And as soon as any line is taut (stretchy or stretch-free) it's going to transmit vibration directly to the rod. That is unquestionably true, but I also believe that less line-stretch does translate to greater sensitivity, I'll try to explain: In the "stretch matters" camp; it's not about 'on' or 'off', but a matter of degree. That is to say, a taut line made of any material is going to transmit vibration, but line elasticity will deduct from the magnitude of that signal. For a fence-case, where the strike signal is borderline perceptible, a highly elastic line may absorb just enough of that signal to make it imperceptible. In the same vein, we add weight on windy days to reduce the line-belly and recover some sensitivity. During the hook-set, we kind of swap roles with the fish, and now the fish gets a chance to feel the angler...LOL. Few would argue that it's easier to drive the hook home beyond the barb with a non-stretch line compared to a highly elastic line. In my view, no matter which end of the line you tug, the line with less stretch is going to deliver more power at the opposite end. During the hook-set we call that 'hook-set power', and while we're sensing the lure on a limbo line we call that 'line sensitivity'. Now then, if you're one of the gifted anglers with "Soft Hands", all the above goes out the window. Sorry John, couldn't resist Roger

You never had me fooled for a minute. The Don Rickles shell is what protects the delicate undercarriage Roger