RoLo

. . NOT HARD TO SPOT A MILLIONAIRE Roger

As WRB pointed out, birds make viable targets for bass in bulrush fields. Wherever bulrushes are available, redwings blackbirds prefer them over other emergent plants, where they weave their nests right into the stalks. Particularly in the more northerly states, I've noticed that the first brood of redwing blackbirds tends to coincide with bedding largemouth bass. On more than one occasion I've stumbled onto the nest of a redwing blackbird while bass fishing deep in the bulrushes. They lay beautiful turquoise eggs with brown scrawlings. (Unfortunately, nesting redwings head the list of airboat casualties). In the Major League Tournament on Istokpoga, a lot of that heavy cover was cattails and maidencane. In dense stands of bulrushes you've got to reign in your range and play closer to the vest. During that tourney, you'll recall that Chris Lane busted deeper into the bulrushes than anyone else, but it didn't pay off. Getting your lure 'way back' into a bulrush stand is real easy, but getting it back to the boat may not be so easy. Roger

Yes, bass can get way back into the bulrushes, but anglers cannot. I mostly work the perimeter of buggy-whip fields and in the pockets and alleys. Working the holes is where you'll get into trouble, because snagging a bulrush cane is no better than hooking a stump. Even with 50-lb braid, you'll have to move in to fetch your lure. Bulrushes normally don't grow well in water deeper than 4 feet, but hold up well during unusually high water levels. In Lake Hatchineha, the deepest bulrush bed sat in 5-feet of water. The level remained high and the following year the canes eventually suffocated so we had to move our game inshore to the 4-ft depth level (In Florida, a difference of 1-ft can mean 100 yd) Roger

You're correct, it takes about 67 lead balls with a .410" diameter to equal one pound. Oddly enough, Remington made shotshells for the 410 shotgun that they labeled 36 Gauge. In fact, there are some 410 shotguns that have "36 GA" engraved on the breech. There's a few different opinions out there, but as you indicated, it is not 36 Ga. This blog discusses the same thing (kind of funny): http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?p=192696 Roger

Great lake and a great report! Sounds like you boys are really dialed in. Roger

Eric Clapton is my favorite, when he played with Cream. Jimi Hendrix was very captivating, but he relied a lot on acoustic psychedelia Another great guitarist was Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin) Don’t count out Keith Richards, in his early years with the Stones, he played one mean guitar Roger

Hopefully, no one is taking any of this seriously. For years, my wife & I lived on the top of a mountain in Georgia, where our nearest neighbor was 1/4 mile away and faaar out of sight. Lois and I fed wild animals every night and after installing a motion-sensor light, we seen raccoons, gray fox, deer and opossum every night without fail. (Did I mention sasquatch?). Though I own shotguns, rifles, handguns and bows, never once in 5 years did it ever occur to me to keep a loaded gun nearby (all were unloaded and buried in my den). On the other hand, whenever Lois or I drove into the city of Atlanta, we knew instinctively that our danger level increased a hundred-fold. Roger

I know what you're dealing with, we have a lot of those salad saucers here in Florida. In a fish factory like you've described, bass seem to do perfectly well without any drop-offs. In the absence of sharp sloping terrain, there is another strong approach to siting. Begin by determining the approximate depth of the outer weed-line. Then using your GPS chart, visually circumnavigate the lake while looking only at that one depth line. Create a waypoint wherever that contour line forms an inside pocket (indent pointed shoreward). The sharper and tighter the corner in the outer weed-line, the more powerful the site, but even subtle pockets cause bass to aggregate. Roger

I can't help but agree. Roger

He's not picking on the handicapped, he's making an association between old people and the handicapped Roger

Lush patches of milfoil blended with clumps of cabbage overlooking a steep drop-off! Now that's REAL reason for excitement. Roger

I'd try to find spots where the two plant species merge together, especially since lily pads are a surface plant and milfoil is a submergent plant. If that weren't possible, I would give the nod to 'milfoil', because it grows in deeper water than waterlilies, and healthy stands of milfoil offer excellent shade on their own. Roger

Wow, a double-digit first post. Welcome to the forum Roger

From what I've heard, the U.S. Military is just as scared of Bigfoot as you are. I believe they stated that they refuse to get involved in any Bigfoot confrontation. I'm afraid you're on your own

Every waterbody is either 'natural' or 'artificial'. Some natural lakes with a surface area over 2,000 acres have a basin depth less than 10 ft. The origin of a 50-acre pond with a 60-foot basin and no visible DAM, does not leave many possibilities. One possibility is a natural lake that originated from a karst (sinkhole). Another possibility is a manmade strip mine that encountered an underground spring. I know of one case in Parsippany, NJ where the excavation company struck an underground spring in the evening, and over the weekend their heavy equipment was basically inundated. The equipment they failed to rescue now serves as bass cover. In 'any' case, water depths greater than 20 ft are less valuable to bottom-relating largemouth bass, than depths greater than 20 feet. Roger

Sounds like an abandoned strip pit, where the lion's share of the deep basin will be useless to bass. If you're on-the-hoof, I'd take the time to walk around the perimeter of the pond in search of the best looking weedbeds. In a boat, this can be quickly accomplished by running the 6 ft contour line while watching your sonar unit. Once you've isolated the best vegetation (food-shelves), then you can expand your search into deeper water where the outer weed-line joins the drop-off. Roger

It might be hard for warm-blooded humans to comprehend, but 'numeric' temperature values are not as important as water temperature ‘trends’ (temperature uptrend vs. temperature downtrend). Cold-blooded animals acclimate to whatever the temperature happens to be, and are comfortable in all but extreme temperatures. Despite the numeric values, a downtrend in summer temperatures might appeal to humans, but causes a temporary decline in fish activity due to the downtick in metabolism. There are two reasons why this is especially true for Florida-strain bass: > Florida-strain bass are indigenous to natural lakes and to shallow water (the basin depth of many lakes is less than 10 ft) > Florida-strain bass delight in high water temperature for which they are innately acclimated A midsummer cold-front in central Florida (regardless of the numeric temperatures) can shutdown bass activity like flipping a light switch. Roger

Nah...that can't be right, "smallmouth" is one word

You may have uncovered a breakthrough, the founder of the revolutionary: 'Panicky Duck' retrieve Roger

Punch Stops When not in use, I'll leave it on the line and it gets in nobody's way. Roger

Just 4 more letters, and that would be the world's looongest word. Roger

I believe the OP is interested in plant species that can serve as a biomarker for hard substrate (very wise approach during the bedding season). However, according to nature's master plan, most plant species are highly adaptable, and may be found growing in a wide variety of soil textures. Nearly all beneficial plants grow in sandy, well-ventilated soil, but very few plants grow ONLY in sandy soil. As a result, plant species do a rather poor job of identifying bottom content. Spatterdock is one of the best aquatic plants in central Florida for harboring Florida-strain bass (it resemble waterlilies, but rather than lying on the surface, about half the pads are held 'above' the water). I've found lush beds of spatterdock growing in sand, in loam, in clay and in mud. Roger

I'm pretty sure that's the fella I was talking to yesterday. Not a bad sort, but his breath reminded me of skunk cabbage. I asked him why he goes barefoot, and he told me that he can't find shoes big enough. He DID have big feet Roger

You think that's a stumper, I'm still working on SMB But I'm pretty sure it means 'Steve Miller Band' Roger

There's a monkey wrench here. Most aquatic plants thrive best in sandy, well-ventilated soil, but very few plants grow 'only' in sand. In any case, there are a few plants that make pretty good hard-bottom indicators (sand plants). If you're looking for sandy substrate in a dark bottom bay (topped with humus or detritus) the 4 plants below are good sand-bottom indicators (No, this isn't something you'd ever find on the Internet): Bulrushes (Scirpus) Watershield (Brasenia schreberi) Elodea (Elodea canadensis) Pennywort (Hydrocotyle umbellata) Roger