RoLo

I was aware of the story but only now encountered the post. What an incredible body of water, those puppies are all living high on the hog. You certainly have the Midas touch my friend, and happy birthday. Roger

The live bait vendors in Lake Wales were in full swing from January thru March, but they're pretty quiet right now. In central Florida, bass fishing with artificial lures normally hits its stride in April and May. Yesterday I lost the best bass so far this year, an episode that reminded me of the thread called "Words for lost bass" (yes, there were expletives). In any case, nobody's interested in the one that got away. Outclassing me again, my wife was successful in getting a good bass to the boat. Lois' fish was 7-lb 3-oz (25") and fell for a big plastic worm. Roger

In my opinion, the most intuitive way to compare fishing lines is to compare ‘line diameters’ rather than ‘test strengths”. When I fished for bluefin tuna in the New York Bight, I used 80-lb tackle. The line diameter of 80-lb Big Game nylon is 0.035” (over 1/32”). The line diameter of 30-lb Smackdown Braid is 0.009”, one-fourth the diameter of 80-lb nylon. Roger

I still remember when the Rebel was first introduced. It was a big hit with the jetty jockeys along the Jersey seaboard because the tough plastic fuselage wasn't destroyed by bluefish. For freshwater fishing though, I still prefer the balsa wood plugs like the original floating Rapala and Bagley BangOlure, but they don't cast as well. Roger

I can't speak for the head of a waterfall, but the bottom of waterfalls and the tailrace of dams are always top-rung smallmouth sites. Roger

Wow, you guys are really hammering them! Roger

A porcupine crib is an artificial habitat that offers shelter for prey fish and young predators. It's a wooden framework consisting of two right-angle pyramids. The horizontal cross boards extend beyond the teepee-shaped frames, supposedly resembling the quills of a porcupine. Roger

The only fishing video games I've ever played are bathymetry by Navionics and cartography by Lakemaster Roger

For the past couple of years I've been using a Brecknell digital handheld scale (ElectroSamson). It has a 22-lb capacity and 1/4oz precision (0.02 lb). A 9v alkaline battery is included which I've yet to replace. Roger

I'd fault the lure rather than the plant In a weedy lake, the buzzword is "weedless". If your lure is picking up weeds, slide on a punch stop followed by a 1/16 oz lead bullet sinker with a pointed nose. Since lead is fatter than tungsten, that tiny 1/16 oz worm weight has enough diameter to deflect weeds from the eyelet, screw keeper, etc. Roger

Nothing lucid or intelligible Roger

Coontail doesn't have a true root system like most submergent plants, as a result, its growth pattern is highly variable and erratic. At the bottom of the plant, coontail grows hairy appendages called "holdfasts" that allow it to form large colonies. It would take a violent storm to move an established bed. You'll also see uncolonized coontail, those are the bright-green floating clumps you see. Yes indeed, bass love coontail and bass bury in coontail. In fact, coontail isn't far behind milfoil and hydrilla. Baitfish love coontail and bass love baitfish. Roger

For the Zoom 7" magnum fluke, I’ve used two different types of Owner hooks and both offer a good hookup ratio. One is the Owner 5132, which is a twistlock hook with an LOP bend (line-of-pull). The other is the Owner 5168, a twistlock flipping hook with a round-bend. If you're having difficulty hooking up, you might try the Owner flipping hook (5168), because the point is not in the line of pull, but is angled somewhat outward. In real heavy cover though, the flipping hook will break out and hang up more often than the LOP hook, but that's always the tradeoff. Roger

Along the shoreline are cypress trees, primrose, pickerelweed & dollarweed. A few yards offshore are cattails, water-lilies, maidencane, spatterdock & bulrushes. Among the submergent vegetation is hydrilla, coontail, pondweed & eelgrass. Roger

Sometimes backhand, sometimes underhand, whatever suits the moment, but I'll never switch hands or reposition the boat. If I'm not comfortable with any option, there's nothing to stop me from pivoting my body clockwise until I can make a right-cross pitch. Roger

You've been whack'n em Paul, that's for sure! Roger

Slone makes an excellent point. In the past, I used to printout all my contour charts. Then I would trace specific contour lines (based on current water level) all around the lake using different colored pens. I did this so I could quickly isolate the broadest food shelves (areas with the widest spaced depth lines) then pinpoint the drop-offs that adjoined the best food shelves (drop-offs appear as tightly bunched depth lines). Lakemaster bathymetry includes independent shallow-water and deep-water shading (Navionics does not), so the busywork is already done for you. The angler's only responsibility is to know the best depth parameters for the food shelf, and the most favorable depth for the breaklines. Lakemaster sprang from the upper midwest and the Great Lakes region. Although they've expanded into the southeast, the accuracy of their contour lines in Florida leaves much to be desired. They're a quality company though, and I'm confident that they'll eventually work out the wrinkles (I can't wait). Roger

Just the other day, my wife took a hard look at the color array in my tackle box. She summed it up in 2 words: "Pretty Boring". Yeah, it's basically a sea of green pumpkin, black & blue & watermelon seed. My wife uses a Color-C-Lector (and though I never ask), and always tells me what the Color-C-Lector says. Oh sure, she catches more fish than me, but I still think my lure colors are prettier than hers Roger

If I agreed with the above, we'd both be right Roger

Some people are just like 'Slinkies'. They're really not good for anything, but when you push them down the stairs, they bring a smile to your face. Roger

The 3 most popular grip materials are Cork - EVA Foam - Hypalon. SPECIE CORK Pros > Cork is dense and thus more "sensitive" than foam (less important with large gamefish) Cons > Cork grips get slippery when exposed to fish slime > Cork gets dirty with use, especially around blood & slime (gets ugly fast in saltwater) > Cork is available in one humdrum color (cork tan) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- EVA FOAM (Ethylene Vinyl Acetate) Pros > Very comfortable to grip (important with large gamefish) > Non-slip grip (even in the presence of fish slime) > Does not get soiled (impervious to blood & slime) > Very attractive and available in many colors Cons > Gets chewed-up over time, and quite quickly under heavy use --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HYPALON (chlorosulfonated polyethylene) Pros > Very comfortable to grip (important with large gamefish) > Non-slip grip (even in the presence of fish slime) > Does not get soiled (impervious to blood & slime) > Very attractive and available in many colors > Hypalon is softer than EVA foam > Hypalon is more durable than EVA foam (wears like iron) Cons Years back, I had custom bluewater blanks paired with Penn Internationals (Shark River, NJ). I choose Hypalon grips, and have revered them every since, they're the cat's meow (but hard to come by). Roger

Nice bass - - - You're now off & running

As a rule-of-thumb: The lighter the lure weight, the longer the hangdown length between the lure & tiptop guide. For instance, a 1-1/2 oz mat punch would sit right below the tiptop guide, while a 1/8 oz lure might hangdown 30 inches. I never use a leader, so the hangdown length is never dictated by connection knots. Although you mentioned 'mono', you didn't mention the line materials you're joining. In any case, if you're joining braided line with fluorocarbon, I'd strongly suggest using an Alberto knot. Roger

For largemouth bass, I'm biased toward the Lucky Craft Pointer 100SP Now then, in weedy situations where exposed trebles are out-of-the-question, I won't hesitate to use a "soft" swimbait, namely a Zoom 7" Magnum Fluke (smoking shad) Roger

Nice going matt Roger