RoLo

There you go, the matriarch of Banks Lake Congratulations on your new PB! Roger

As Wayne indicated, it's not physically plausible for commercial cartographers to match the accuracy of an onsite mapper who uses close-knit passes. Commercial bathymetry and personal bathymetry both use algorithms for connecting the dots and smoothing the unknown. Consequently, the more tight passes you make with AutoChart, the greater the accuracy of your custom-made chart. Roger

I still throw Johnson spoons, and they still catch bass. About 4 years ago, a 1/2oz Johnson spoon dressed with a 5" Kalin grub caught more sow bellies that year than any other lure. In his book, Roland Martin mentions that his two best bass stringers were both taken on Johnson spoons. No surprise there. Like a hollow frog, the J-spoon can be tossed into the heaviest cover, and like a solid toad, it keeps on coming so it has great area coverage. It's very exciting to watch a bulge in the water, close the gap to your spoon! Roger

Fluorocarbon has 3 negative properties I find hard to digest: > It's almost as wiry as the titanium wire leaders I use for pike > It has very poor knot strength > It streeeetches Unlike other line materials, fluorocarbon is susceptible to cellular fractures (cracking). For this reason, the connection knot you use has a huge effect on breaking strength. No matter how much saliva you add, the wrong knot is bound to fail. Early on, it was the Albright knot, then the Alberto knot and now it's the No-name knot. The 'No-name knot' is tied with a doubled line, and will generally break an 'A' knot. Roger

Whether I fish or bypass a major point depends on what I see at the moment. If the spot is loaded with boats, it will be treated like the bubonic plague (I'm outta here). Even in the enormous expanses of the Atlantic Ocean, anglers tend to pile onto hotspots, places you won't find my boat. On the other hand, if a textbook point is barren of boats (e.g. at night), I'm definitely going to fish there. Since it's been heavily pressured, I might have to resort to co-angler tactics...LOL Roger

All impoundments that lie on the Atlantic Coastal Plain are gang-classified as “lowland”. But the typical lowland reservoir is a shallow wetland lake, while Lake Marion has a maximum depth over 75-ft. Marion has current, depth, structure & cover; which is why it vies for America's best inland fishery for striped bass. On riverine reservoirs, the water current along outside bends helps to keep the drop-off areas fairly intact, while the bulk of sediment is deposited on the downstream sides of points (inside turns). Sedimentation causes a widening of shelf areas but that's not a bad thing; Santee Cooper is living proof. Roger

As long as we're not talking about smallmouth bass, I kind of doubt that they’d leave the lake to enter the river. If the laydown areas you’ve found have descent depth and descent cover for shade, it's not likely they’d move very far. In any case, I wouldn't stop looking for places with abrupt depth change (up or down). Particularly in an uncharted lake, whenever you find a jutting ridge or abrupt drop-off you found a goldmine. Then just run along the breakline looking for submerged vegetation and spots-on-the-spot. Last but not least, there is always the possibility of lockjaw (they're home but not biting). I know what you mean by 'wide open', that's especially the case on Lake Moultrie. Marion is a 'real' standout, and the same lake where Preston Clark set the all-time 4-day record (115+lb), which has since been bested. Roger

Lake Marion is not your typical bass lake? Well…in a way I guess that's true, because Lake Marion is the quintessential bass lake, well above your typical bass lake. Not by accident, Roland Martin boated his two heaviest bass stringers in Lake Marion, SC (not Okeechobee, FL) We spent a vacation on Lake Marion (Santee Cooper) and that lake is loaded with structure. It has primary points, secondary points and a well-defined river channel that snakes thru the entire length. In addition, Marion is chock-full of shoreline vegetation. In uncharted waters, you're wise to keep your eyes glued to the depth sounder. On the other hand, I wouldn't be looking for fish, but would be looking for fish-holding contour. Beating the bank has been stigmatized, but bass don't keep running tabs on their distance from the nearest shore, so why should fishermen? A lot of offshore real estate is barren wasteland, and most of the best offshore hotspots are generally shallow humps. In contrast are the many honey holes that sit a stone's throw from the shore, it's all dictated by contour & cover. During a search for structure and cover, I think it's good to be single-minded, and don't pay attention to whether you're out in the middle of the lake or ready to bump the bank. btw: I agree with your take on not being intimidated by lake size. The bigger they come, they harder they fall Roger

In conclusion, you were asking your buddy to do something that you were unable to do.......(keep a secret) Since it was your secret and not his, it's not surprising that he told more people than you did. Roger

Finally...I know everything, about nothing (Gary Busey)

I WAS here yesterday, and it was worse than today

Your query is a mighty tall order that could fill a book If you could be a little more specific I'm sure you'd get a stronger response For starters, the 'early' post-spawn and 'late' post-spawn are very dissimilar in my opinion. Roger

Back in the 80s, it was already everyone’s opinion that Farrington was overfished (25 years ago). In truth, fertile waters like Farrington, Hopatcong & Greenwood cannot be fished-out. On a low note, the fish are getting a C&R education which makes them tough customers. If you want to lose the mob scene, it's a short hop to Weston Mill Pond which is the same water. At Ryders Lane you can shore fish or launch a cartopper (assuming it hasn’t changed). Bass fishing is very good from Ryders Lane north to Rutgers Garden, my favorite stretch being the “Big Bend”. Carnegie Lake is actually a wide spot in the Millstone River, and though it has a good bass population it's not as fertile as the D/R Canal. The water was usually muddy, where I mostly threw spinnerbaits. The section from 287 south to Amwell Rd is filthy with bass! I used to put-in just south of Zarephath, where there’s an opening in the trees for launching a cartopper. You'd find it just before Weston Mill Road makes a hard 90-degree left turn. From there I rowed southward and normally had that pretty little stretch to myself. Roger

Best time of day during the pre-spawn? Just before I get there, and soon after I'm gone Roger

Are Expensive Lures Worth the Money? NO! Unless I want it, then YES! Roger

I totally understand Yes, I fished Farrington a great deal, my favorite stretch was called the 'pig farm' (near Davidson Mill Pond). Did a lot of fishing from my cartopper in Carnegie Lake and the Millstone River. My favorite spot on Carnegie was the pad field near the bridge (murky water / lots of small bass). For sheer numbers of bass it was hard to beat Weston Mill Ponds and the Delaware/Raritan Canal. BTW: I hunted deer on the Clinton Public Hunting Grounds before it was Spruce Run (used to yield some nice bass), hunted woodchucks before it became Round Valley (took 2 years to fill it up) and hunted small game in Roosevelt, NJ which is now Assunpink Lake Roger

That's great Kent, I wish you and the Memphis BPS the best of luck Roger

The snake did what he's supposed to, but the kid did not. Roger

It's really more about line diameter than breaking test, and more about the cover you fish than the fish you target. I don't perceive 30-lb braid as heavy line, it's only 0.011" in diameter and casts a mile (longer casts I don't need). In Florida, we typically fish in dense vegetation where 30 lb braid might be pushing your luck. The diameter of 30-lb braid is the same as 8 lb mono, so there's not much line material for abrasion-resistance. For this reason, I use 60-lb braid for mat-punching and frogging, which is still a lighter line than 17-lb mono. Roger

Given a choice, predatory fish generally prefer soft-finned prey over spiny-finned prey, for example shiners & shad over perch & bluegills. In any case, predators often have no choice, so abundance and opportunity usually dictate what's on the menu. Bass and bluegills are both members of the sunfish family, so as Catt pointed out, they both gravitate to the same habitat. A bass doesn't have to look real hard to find bluegills (when I used to snorkel, it was hard to find a spot without bluegills). We've all heard it a hundred times: "Find the bait, and you've found the bass". But bass are predators near the top of the food pyramid, while bluegills constitute a much greater biomass near the base of the pyramid. There simply are not enough bass in the lake to accompany every school of bluegills. For this reason, like A-Jay said: "I'd like to see some bait in the area" (me too). A more appropriate adage might be: "Find the bass, and you've found the bait" Roger

Congratulations on your new PB! I see you're in South Brunswick, NJ and was wondering where you were fishing. (I lived in New Brunswick & East Brunswick). Roger

At any cost, I say we chip-in and buy out that skunk ape (before we go broke)!

Just what you need...another hat

I bought his sister's album: "Angry Connie and the Hillbillies" and "I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now" on the backside Roger

IMO, if an angler pays too much attention to color, he runs a high risk of missing the 'real' reason for success or failure. For example: Place the right lure, at the right depth, at the right speed, on the right retrieve line, and there is no 'wrong' color. Take away any 1 of the above 4 criteria, and there is no 'right' color. Roger