RoLo

With those big marble eyes, she looks every bit of five Roger

You've become a man of few words.

A K-9 test was performed using a group of people and a handkerchief. While the dog was out of the room, someone in the group would pick-up the hanky then drop it to the floor. The dog was brought into the room and allowed to sniff the hanky. The dog not only picked up human scent every time, but went unerringly to the person in the group who touched the hanky. This test was repeated for everyone in the group, and the dog had a near-perfect score. Interestingly enough, the only time the dog showed any indecision was between twin sisters. Apparently confused by nearly identical DNA, the dog paced back-and-forth between the twins. Roger

A couple months back I stuck a treble hook deep into my index finger (big dummy). I pulled on the lure with all my might, but it was hooked on so much flesh that it wouldn't rip out. I then pushed the hook-point all the way through my finger, snipped it off with wire cutters, then backed out the hook. There was virtually no pain, but I felt sorry for my wife who was wincing with sympathetic pain I smeared some Polysporin on the puncture and went back to fishing. Roger

Congratulations Kyle! A 5-lber is a hog anywhere USA Roger

It's a biological fact, bass are sight feeders with a very poor sense of smell. Fish species with barbels such as bullheads, catfish and carp have a good sense of smell, but I've never heard of an instance where a catfish or carp was repelled by human scent. In fact, the cornmeal doughballs I use for carp bait are thoroughly kneaded by human hands. Moreover, carp are deemed the craftiest and wariest of all fish. For animals with a keen sense of smell such as deer, dogs and bear, masking human odor is a myth. Adding odor to another odor doesn't eradicate anything (else bloodhounds would be out of job) When deer hunting, I've tried every cover scent imaginable, but all to no avail, Whenever I place myself upwind of a buck, it's a pretty safe bet I'm going to hear a farewell nasal snort Roger

Wow, what a day! That's the best bladebait commercial I've ever seen, regarding their multi-species capability. Roger

Well, I can understand why immature pike might be considered a nuisance. That is, the grass snakes that are derisively dubbed "hammer-handles" & "snot-rockets". On the other hand, large old pike are a horse of another color, and behave like a different species of fish. Big gator pike do not spend the summer in shallow weedy bays, but generally inhabit deep open water beyond the outer weed-line. In lakes that support pelagic forage fish, gator pike feed on ciscoes, whitefish and smelt, much the same as lake trout. Gators over 35" are powerful fish (peel line off the spool) and are hard to come by, the stuff that makes a superb target species. Back to the 1970s, Al Lindner confessed that his favorite freshwater game fish is a "trophy pike" over 12 pounds. Al stated that trophy pike are even rarer than muskellunge, the fish of 10,000 casts. I fully concur Roger

On days when bass seem to have 'lockjaw', I might relent to a wacky worm or shaky head worm. In all honesty though, neither of those techniques light my fire. Anglers come in different forms; some simply go bass fishing, others target trophy-bass exclusively. If you're a trophy-bass hunter, your self-confidence should be affected one iota by an occasional skunk. After all, the fish have to win once in a while too Roger

On more than one occasion, I placed an online tackle order while an unopened box was sitting on my desk from the previous order. I know...I am one sick puppy! In my own defense though, I am working on Bait Monkey control Today, I will not place any tackle orders Roger

Hmph, this does not bode well for the future of Yeti. Yeti 'must' sell lots of coolers just to pay for their TV air time Roger

By "mono", I'm going to assume you mean 'nylon' line. It really depends on what you're looking for. For sheer manageability, you'd be hard pressed to beat Berkley Trilene XL. For abrasion-resistance, I'd go with Sufix Siege (Sufix Elite on spinning gear). As far as stretch is concerned, 'all' monofilament lines are elastic bands (nylon, copolymer, fluorocarbon & hybrid). Roger

In reality, the most important component of any cooler is the 'thickness' of the Styrofoam insulation. Throughout the years I've owned Igloo, Rubbermaid, Playmate, Coleman & Gott coolers. One day I came close to trashing a thick Styrofoam box used to ship Omaha Steaks, but that little sucker was one of the best coolers I’ve ever owned. During a fly-in trip in Quebec, I stored frozen shiners in the Styrofoam steak box, and the day I broke camp the leftover shiners were still frozen. When it comes to drinks, my Triton has a cooler built-in to the hull. For the angler who targets bonefish & permit, every flats boat has a strong deck platform. I've also had locking dock boxes for a boat in a slip, but they don't have to be insulated, so the need for an expensive Yeti cooler somehow escapes me. Roger

I wasn't totally sold until the product developer said "Bigger Fish"....that did it for me!! Got to be the greatest thing since the Pocket Fisherman!! Roger

I've learned the most by far from the In-Fisherman staff, and still have handwritten letters I exchanged with Al Lindner. In the final analysis however, there is no better instructor than hands-on experience. Roger

Florida is dubbed the “Lightning capital of the nation”, so if you head back to the barn every time you spot a cumulonimbus cloud, you’re fishing time will be savagely minimized. Several years back, Lois & I were fishing Reedy Lake while listening to the distant rumble of thunder. I relocated the boat closer to the ramp, which put the storm 2 or 3 miles to the right of our boat, and put the ramp about 3 hundred yards to the left of our boat. Well, the subsequent clap of thunder was directly overhead and was far louder than any bomb we’ve heard in the Avon Bombing Range. From one clap of thunder to the next, the lightning strikes hopscotched over our heads, from a few miles to the east to the west side of the ramp, a learning experience I’ll never forget. Lightning is caused by an imbalance in protons and electrons between a thundercloud and earth. Unfortunately though, the imbalance in electrical charge can be satisfied far from the thunderhead, in some cases 5 miles away under fair skies. To this day, I haven't forgiven myself for such blatant stupidity. Roger

An elevator smells different to a midget. Roger

We all know how tempting it is to fish in the overcast of an approaching storm, pushing the envelope to the last minute. I'll bet we all have a harrowing story to tell about lightning, sitting in a boat like a BoPo while holding a graphite lightning rod!! Be smart, when you hear nearby thunder or see a bolt of lightning, promptly put angling on the back-burner, no fish is worth it. Roger

My punching rod is a dual-purpose outfit that also serves as my frogging rod. Roger

In my case, it will always be braided polyethylene, but which test-strength and the need for a leader will depend on the application. Roger

Virtually Never There are only 3 situations when I’ll use a swivel: => As a stop for a Carolina rig, but I very rarely use a C-rig => For spoons that make a full revolution, which calls for a Sampo ball-bearing swivel, but haven't fished one in years. => For saltwater 3-way swivels, but that doesn't count Roger

The jetty jockeys in Jersey called it "reading the water", and were darn good at it. They focused on rip currents, back eddies and the slicks between the rips. All the same, the baitfish in the swash are highly mobile, and a blitz can occur just about anywhere at anytime. That's when you see the surf anglers grabbing up their gear and running down the beach to meet the gulls Roger

It's the reel operator who's responsible for the speed of the lure, not the reel ratio. Reel ratios only make the operator's job easier by offering him more speed or more power. In other words, regardless of the reel ratio, only the reel operator can mess up the action of the lure. A high-speed reel is nice for quickly picking up loose line or for speed cranking with a lipless crankbait. But when push comes to shove, "torque" is more of a need, while "speed" is more of a convenience. Two situations when cranking torque is needed is for cranking deep-diving plugs and when horsing lures thru dense cover. Florida for example is a 5:1 state. In our shallow weedy lakes, I rarely have the need for a deep-diving plug, but always find myself in dense vegetation. If you use an ultra-fast reel to churn large lures thru gnarly vegetation it'll feel like you're retrieving a drift sock Roger

I've been around Robin's barn with punch baits: 'Zoom Big Critter Craw' => 'Sweet Beaver' => 'Havoc Craw Fatty' => 'Jackall Sasuateki' => 'Rage Lobster' => 'D Bomb'. Today it's the 5" 'Zoom Z-Craw - black light' (1¼ oz weight - No skirt) Roger

Bullseye! Bass routinely engulf baitfish with a trail of excrement or a nondescript object projecting from its mouth. It's well-documented that bass readily accept the sight of snap-swivels, rattleboxes, fiberguards, treble hooks, and ultra-strong wire on Alabama Rigs. Is it rational to believe that when this same animal sees a fine braided filament...All Bets Are Off? Roger