RoLo

I asked her out Tuesday....She said she had a date on Tuesday. I said how about Wednesday...She said she's got class on Wednesday. I said how bout Thursday....She said she's got class on Thursday. Okay I said, maybe we can go out one night when you have no class Roger

Great job Jeff, and congratulations on TWO personal best fish. Truly remarkable! Roger

Thank you gentlemen for your kind words. Nice hearing from you Chris, I hope you become a frequent flyer again on the forum. That's funny, A-Jay: Plagiarizing Autry's song title for a thread title actually did give me pause Roger

Our boat's been in the shop the past two weeks, and this is a bad time of year to be stuck on dry dock. We finally got on the water this afternoon and the weather was outstanding: cool, dry, clear & sunny. I fished a jig-&-craw, Spro Aruku Shad and Upton plastic worm, but couldn't muster a bite. Eventually I realized that the bass were lofted high in the weedbeds and were feeding. Switching to a Gambler Big EZ made the difference, they were really whacking it hard. Well, we didn’t land the mule I was hoping for, but it was great getting back out there and playing catch up Roger

In the early going, a swimbait was a hard-bodied, segmented, fish-shaped plug. At that time, Larry Dahlberg defined a 'swimbait' as a lure with two independent actions. I suppose Larry was referring to the lateral body waggle plus the independent tail kick. On a low note, hard-bodied swimbaits that originated in California were not weedless (Hud made one). Enter the 'soft' swimbait: Today the market is flooded with soft-plastic, "weedless" swimbaits, every lure company markets them. Most soft swimbaits have two things in common: a fish-shaped body and a paddletail lobe. Based on the new definition, you might say that the Mister Twister Sassy Shad was the first swimbait Roger

A crankbait heading directly at a passive bass might evoke an impulsive strike, like ducking from a rock. More likely, a crankbait passing an active bass will be perceived as a living creature (not necessarily a baitfish), which would elicit a feeding strike. On the angler's end of the line though, I'm not aware of any way to distinguish a feeding hit from an impulse strike. On the water surface however, some reaction strikes are clearly defensive. There'll be instances when a bass sees your lure in the air as it's arcing to the surface. This bass may smack the lure the INSTANT it touches down. I'm not talking about a 1/4 second later, but the 'instant' it touches down. That's an impulsive reaction and not a feeding strike. Roger

It's really very simple, but the big mistake anglers make is confusing Water Depth with Fish Depth. Forget about 'water depth' and focus only on the distance between the water surface and the fish. In other words, 'fish depth' is measured from the top down, not from the bottom up. Fish naturally cling to their seasonal 'top-down depth', so in order to maintain that depth, a change in pool level is going to force the fish into a new setting. When the pool level is changed, the angler has to find 'new' bottom structures that merge with the 'same' fish depth. Roger

The different results from polarized lenses is interesting. Some see best when viewing head-on, for some it's the difference between a portrait and landscape screen, for me it's something else. I tested two different pairs of polarized sunglasses. When I view head-on I see an opaque black smudge on both pairs. When I tilt my head back or turn my head to the side, I can begin to read the screen Roger

Yipes, that had to be channel cats When I lived in Georgia, the blue cat anglers went to great lengths to keep the bait fresh, and for flatheads it was all live bait. Roger

Brecknell Digital Handheld Scale by ElectroSamson - 22-lb Capacity - 1/4 oz Precision (0.02 lb) At one time, this was the only IGFA-approved 'digital' scale (others may have since been added) Don't worry your head about batteries. My Brecknell scale has gotten heavy use for the past couple years, and my backup 9v battery is still sitting the my dry box, dusty & lonely. My only complaint: It's not as compact as my other digital scales and takes up undue space in the dry box. Roger

Looks like I'll have to switch back to bluefin tuna and give up on bear spleens Roger

Very nice...the posture you described reminds me of a Sammy. I added the Pencil dogwalker to my Buy List along with their Vibration crank. Got to hit 50 you know, but I try to keep it under my electric bill Thank you sir. Roger

Small fish in particular have a hair-triggered reaction to overhead apparitions. Their overhead world is teaming with piscivores like ospreys, eagles, seagulls, kingfishers and a throng of wading birds. Roger

Nice photo, great fish and I like the backdrop. Roger

Based on TW Reviews, a gentleman from northern Michigan agrees with you I'm close to a tackle order and the Pencil is one sweet looking lure. I was wondering Andy, if the Pencil is tail-weighted similar to the original Spook. Roger

Yeah..I hate when they do that! If the short-lived thrill of catching a big fish gives a man the right to point it out, I'm pretty sure that a long & happy marriage gives that same man even greater bragging rights. He's not offended by your comic relief, don't be offended by his pride Roger

Absolutely, nearly any transition presents an opportunity. Some may recall, a tank study was conducted several years back. The researchers were trying to figure out what largemouth bass would relate to as available cover was stripped away. One by one they removed structural elements from the tank. Long story short, they ultimately reached the point where there was nothing left in the tank, nothing that is, except a difference in color on the tank floor. You guessed it, the bass in the tank actually aggregated around the color transition on the tank floor. When we're out there in the field, I think that's a good thing to bear in mind. Roger

The best answer of course would require hands-on experience. In any case, I would normally begin my search along the 'Deep Outer Weed-line'. Since you're dealing with clear water, that will likely be in the 10 to 15 ft depth zone. Thereat, you'd be looking for rapid depth change, any abrupt change (up or down) can be dynamite. And of course, the usual pockets and fingers in the weed-line as well as mergers of two plant species. Roger

What Wayne said ^^^^ Don your polarized sunglasses then look at this same computer screen. If your lenses are polarizing, you'll see a black, basically illegible smudge. Roger

Married a world-class woman 50 years ago. Also won a pencil-sharpener at a raffle. Roger

In New Jersey during the 1950s, pizza was commonly called "la beets" and "tomato pie". The word 'pizza' came later, which eventually replaced the others. Roger

Back in the 70s, sushi skyrocketed to stardom. When you returned to port in the evening, you'd generally be greeted by merchants on the dock who came from Japan. They would bid on every giant tuna that hit the gin pole at Hoffman's Landing in Manasquan, NJ. At that time, tuna was going about $10 / pound, I have no idea what it's worth today. Roger

A 3/8 oz jig is probably the best 'all-purpose compromise'. But here's the irony: the jig weights I use most frequently are 1/4 oz and 1/2 oz. Although 3/8 oz is the mean weight, I don't use it as often as 1/4 oz and 1/2 oz. Roger

Good advice. The lake is your schoolhouse, and the more time you spend in school, the larger your database. Roger

One for good measure > Jig & Grub > Jig & Tube > Hard Jerkbait > Soft Swimbait (e.g. Keitech) Roger