RoLo

Back in the day, the "redhead" as it was called (white plug, red head) was the most popular color scheme for plugs. And today 'red & white' plugs are hard to find?? Sends a pretty clear message about the importance of color Roger

Your 'reel ratio' is simply the happy medium you choose between 'Speed' & 'Power', you can't have it both ways (6:1 is the mean). Just like 'colors' however, reel ratios serve as an enticing selling feature. Roger

I used to throw the 'No.11 Pork Frog' for largemouth bass and the 'U2 Twin-Tail' (discontinued) for smallmouth bass. The soft-plastics of yore tended to lose action in cold water, but today's soft-plastic trailers remain supple in cold water. For fly-in trips and remote drive-to fish camps, pork rind is still used, especially for outback pike fishing where a jig & rind may substitute for a jig & dead minnow. Roger

Even here in Florida the mercury is plummeting. Now they're saying that Friday's temperatures may dip into the 30s!!! That means a lot of fishing trips will be postponed a couple days, because temps should be back in the 70s by the weekend. Just saying. Roger

Diesel Fitter

I use 30-lb braid for worms, jigs, plugs, spinners & spoons. For frogging and punching I use 60-lb braid (tungsten is expensive). Roger

I'm a very lucky man who was blessed with the world's greatest fishing partner (over 50 years now). Be that as it may, when you're in the company of another person, your thoughts and your choices are compromised. When I'm alone, I make decisions, take chances and run experiments that I would not impose on others. Though I don't fish alone very often, several of my best stringers and biggest fish have been boated while fishing alone. Roger

Yes, my update privilege is still pending, so I update my Navionics Plus SD card before every outing. Each update imports the latest 'Sonar charts', 'Nautical charts' & 'Community edits'. Living just 25 minutes from Lake Kissimmee, I regularly get to see the broad discrepancies between Navionics HD contour lines and the real world as displayed by 3D downscanning. Roger

Actually Wayne, the Navionics HD contours for Lake Kissimmee are badly skewed, but are far superior to LakeMaster cartography, which is new to Florida and laughably inaccurate. Roger

Unfortunately, no cartographer could possibly provide accurate bathymetry for every lake. All lake charts have inaccuracies, more so in some lakes and less so in other lakes. The 'only way' to guarantee accurate bathymetry is to generate your own contour maps. I have a Humminbird unit, so I use 'Onix AutoChart Live', but be warned that it's very time-consuming. Roger

In the past I've run Garmin, Humminbird and Navionics, but am currently running a Humminbird unit. Navionics SD cards can be viewed on your PC monitor via "NavPlanner2", but Lakemaster chips cannot. I got around the Lakemaster dilemma with an AC/DC converter that allows me to do my offsite work on my Hummingbird unit, right alongside my computer. Although Lakemaster bathymetry rules in the north, they're new to the southeast and their cartography is blatantly inaccurate (for the most accurate cartography I use Onix AutoChart Live, but it's time-consuming). With regard to pre-programmed cartography, I'm running Navionics Plus on my Hummingbird Onix, which allows me to pinpoint waypoints at home, either on my computer or my Humminbird device. Roger

Why is there an expiration date on sour cream? ------------------------------------------------------------- Shouldn’t hemorrhoids be called asteroids? --------------------------------------------------------- One nice thing about egotists, they never talk about other people -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Is there another word for “synonym”? ------------------------------------------------- Do infants enjoy infancy as much as adults enjoy adultery? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I asked the woman at the bookstore: “Where is the ‘Self-Help' section?” She replied, “If I told you, wouldn't that defeat the purpose?”. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What was the best thing before sliced bread? ----------------------------------------------------------- Roger

The emphasis in Florida is typically placed on trophy bass, the pre-spawn period from January through March. Less publicized is the fact that April & May provide the best fishing activity of the year in mid-Florida, your timing couldn't be better. April & May represent the post-spawn season and the best topwater bite in central Florida, when the cows (albeit lighter) are back on the feed: Four lures I wouldn't leave home without (surface to bottom): > Solid Toad (Stanley Bull Ribbit) > Soft Swimbait (Gambler Big EZ) > Punch Rig (Missile D Bomb / 1-1/2 oz tungsten sinker) > Ribbontail Worm (Berkley 10" Power Worm / 1/4 oz bullet sinker) (If you're hoping for a PB, leave the little northern-bass lures at home) Roger

Soft paddletail swimbaits can be fished in 'any' water clarity. I normally rig a Gambler Big EZ on a 1/4 oz keel-weighted swimbait hook. The swimbait will run just a few inches below the surface, but when plowing thru heavy cover (where it belongs) it'll sporadically break the surface. Fished in this manner, paddletail swimbaits really excel in murky water. Roger

No I choose blade size according to the 'Vibration' and 'Flash' I want (water clarity, sky clarity, surface turbulence ~ ~). Although the fry-of-the-year are smaller in spring, bass feed less frequently in coldwater and prefer larger prey that'll tide them over a long time. Roger

Culprit 7" Fat Max - green pumpkin Roger

Now that we're dealing with Florida-strain bass, I don't use them for bigmouth bass anymore. But when we lived in Jersey & Georgia, we often targeted chain pickerel and bass using Roadrunners on spinning tackle with 8-lb nylon monofilament. Off-Topic, But I Gotta Tellya: One day in Georgia, I tied the cartopper on the roof and took a ride south to find Guestmill Pond (it holds the 9-6 world-record pickerel). In a sport shop in Homerville I learned that Guestmill Pond is a members-only water. I then drove to another lake not far away called Banks Lake...ever heard of that one? This was during the 1990s, when a girl was tending the little shanty, and they had rental boats. I was taken aback by Banks Lake, it has a tropical Floridian look that I've never seen in a Georgia water. Beautiful cypress knees everywhere, chock-full of pizza-sized lotus pads! Roger

Success builds confidence, but rare is the day that I would hang my hat on color. Lure color is the caboose in my train of thought. A change in lure depth would be first, lure speed and cadence would be next, then a change in lure type. That failing, the Talon is lifted and we're off to the next waypoint. Color gets very little love on our boat Roger

There are two ways to win an argument…but neither works. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you think there’s good in everybody, you haven’t met everybody --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To select ‘Yes’ – Press ANY key | To select ‘No’ – Press any other key -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way you’ll be a mile away, and you’ll have their shoes too. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When a man talks dirty to a woman, it’s ‘sexual harassment’ When a woman talks dirty to a man, it’s “$3 Per Minute” ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you lend someone $5 and never see that person again, you got your money’s worth. Roger

The Blakemore Marabou Roadrunner is my favorite spinner/fly combination. I've compared them to the CP Swing, ABU Reflex, Shyster, Mepps and Vibrax (second favorite). Roadrunners are killer for bass, chain pickerel, crappie & bluegills. Roger

That's for sure. I'm currently running a 115 Optimax I've never owned a Pro Craft, so I probably shouldn't voice my opinion. In any event, when I was in the market for a new saltwater cuddy cabin, the Pro Craft got pretty lousy press. In the boat shows I attended, I'd rate them on par with Bayliner (not bad, but not too cool) Roger

Eli Wallach "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly"

Happy Birthday Jeff, and thanks for your indulgence on BR Roger

When I'm fishing for largemouth bass...smallmouth are more predictable. When I'm fishing for smallmouth bass...largemouth are more predictable Roger

I know I'm dating myself, but the ‘dropshot rig’ is the latest version of the age-old ‘dropper rig’ used for ground-fish. Instead of attaching the hook to a dropper line, the hook is attached directly to the main line. In a nutshell, the dropshot rig provides superior depth control, but like any rig it may be used off-label as the angler wishes. Like you, I don't use the dropshot rig for suspended fish, but use it only as a bottom rig to suspend the lure a specific distance above bottom. (Yes, smallies definitely do strike sinkers and cork bobbers in lieu of the lure) Roger