RoLo

In freshwater, my favorite spoon is a Johnson 1/2 oz Silver Minnow dressed with a Kalin 5" Lunker Grub. Since color is most important to the angler, Have-At-It A weedless spoon offers four advantages over a T-rigged soft-plastic: 1) The weedless prong is more permanently weedless than a T-rigged plastic (only effective till hook penetrates trailer) 2) The J-spoon offers a 35-deg patented wobble (A grub body offers 0-deg wobble) 3) A 1/2 oz spoon provides a longer casting distance than a 1/4 oz jighhead 4) The J-spoon offers a more brilliant finish than a soft-plastic lure (last listed and least important) Roger

I too have moved from New Jersey to Florida, but that's of dubious value. Based on my own personal exposure, I'd vote for Lake Eloise or Lake Winterset long before I'd opt for Saddle Creek or Tenoroc. If you're goal is to boat a bass weighing 9-pounds plus, look no further than Lake Kissimmee, Lake Toho and Secret Lake-X Roger

If I were unable to fish, I'd probably opt to be thrid base

Fishing Cowgirl provided a terse yet accurate reply. The surface water temperature in many central Florida waters is now 100 degs F. or more. Bass metabolism is currently at an annual peak, but muscle response and overall vigor is not. Although most lures will produce during the summer period, productivity is typically modest. In any case, if I were forced to select ONE midsummer lure I'd go with a "Plastic Worm". Roger

Questioning the worth of any turtle is questioning the judgement of Mother Nature. Regardless of their staple diet, ALL turtles are good because no turtle can survive where food is inadequate. Roger

If there's any room left on this bandwagon, allow me to pile on I've been a huge fan of plastic grubs ever since the advent of the Mister Twister grub. As K_Mac suggested, there's seems to be something magical about "white" grubs and not just for largemouth bass. Roger

Based on that slender tail-stalk, I'll bet she has great low-speed action (something the Ditto Gator Tail never had) Might there be a 5.0" grub down the road? Roger

HOLY COW! Now THAT'S a Gorilla! Roger

No doubt about it. Bass can move surprisingly fast in coldwater, but coldwater does slow down their rate of digestion and seems to create a “brain fog”. Strange but true, the coldwater brain fog can be penetrated using two opposite methods. One way is to wake them up with a lure that produces short, quick oscillations like a Lipless Plug or Rage Tail Lobster. The other way is to accommodate their slow decision-making process with the pause interval of a Jerkbait or the plodding coverage of a Live Minnow. Roger

Heck, I've even heard of guys that actually target crappies Seriously, I have nothing but admiration for walleye aficionados like Gary Roach, Gary Parsons & Dwight Hottle. When walleyes are the target they're the only fish that matters, a time when bass just get in the way. Whenever we vacation at a Canadian lodge for pike, we’re always outnumbered by walleye fisherman (we're the oddballs). Walleyes aren’t nearly as aggressive as bass nor as easy to locate. In my opinion, targeting walleyes is a great way to sharpen both your structure-reading skills and presentation. Roger

Once I've found what I believe to be a worthy site, the first thing I do is hold my finger on the "Enter" button to Save The Coordinates. Sometimes it'll take me several years to figure out why a certain spot is exceptional, so the onsite save is the critical first step. Roger

Whether I'm fishing in Florida or Ontario, I’m never surprised to find big bass in shallow water during the summertime. The largemouth bass occupies one of the shallowest niches of any freshwater game fish, even shallower than adult chain pickerel. According to conventional wisdom, bass go deep in summer in search of cooler water. Though it's hard for a warm-blooded human to conceive, cold-blooded creatures have no body temperature to maintain and no need for a thermal distress system. In other words, cold-blooded creatures are comfortable in all water temperatures and lowering the water temperature merely lowers their core temperature and their metabolic rate. If food and cover are plentiful on the shoreline flats, a bigmouth bass has no pressing need to go deep in summer. There are however two situations when bass will be found deep in summer: 1) Manmade Reservoirs That Lack Suitable Vegetation In artificial impoundments lacking adequate weedbeds, bass are forced to seek offshore cover in the form of deepwater drop-offs, woody cover, manmade structures & manmade reefs.. 2) Clear Water Lakes Arguably, the "outer weedline" is the most powerful holding feature for largemouth bass. As a result, bass in clear waterbodies are typically deeper, because the clearer the water, the deeper the outer weedline, the deeper the bass. Finally, the maximum depth of bass may be limited by the thermocline, however not all lakes stratify. Furthermore, depending on dissolved oxygen levels, the "oxycline" may be shallower than the metalimnion (thermocline). Roger

Not unexpectedly, US stocks did indeed undergo another “Black Monday". In fact, August 8, 2011 goes down as the 14th largest percentage decline in the history of the stock market! Even easier to predict than the meltdown is the sucker rally that’s sure to follow (we're now deeply Oversold). However, rather than chase the ambulance, it might be wiser to wait for a retest to see if support holds up. Roger

I feel your pain, but I've come to the same realization many years ago What makes matters worse is that the brick-and-mortar Bass Pro Shops (Orlando, FL), doesn't maintain the same robust inventory as the online store. This means that I can't place my order until I get back home. Roger

About 25 years back, Larry Kudlow coined the expression "Dead-Cat Bounce", which perfectly describes Friday’s market behavior. In spite of wild intraday price swings, the market failed to muster a sucker rally. Historically, price behavior of this nature suggests that the market is looking for a lower base. Market gurus have the irresistible urge to call 'market tops' and 'market bottoms'. However, history has shown that there's never been a single investor who can successfully time market tops & bottoms without the benefit of hindsight (without the benefit of trend-following). According to an old market saw, timing a market bottom is like catching a falling sword "Standard and Poor" just downgraded the United States credit rating from "AAA" to "AA+". Wow, does this mean that Standard and Poor is finally awakening from their deep slumber? (I don't think so) Surely we didn't forget that "Standard and Poor" is the same organization who maintained Lehman Brothers "AA" credit rating until minutes before Lehman's historic collapse. Only days before the Lehman bankruptcy their book value was $35 per share. Value investors were accumulating Lehman shares while it was already in a death spiral (Figures don't lie, but people do) Well, we already had a Black Monday in 1987, is there another Black Monday in the offing?? Roger

You’ve done a good job 'south FLA, this market is not for the faint of heart Given the shoddy fundamentals of our economy, I’ve been using a sensitive trading model and was fully out in mid June. Since that time the market has made a triple-top and is now under its 200-day moving average....Look out below! Kudos to investors who were heavy on the Short side, but now they’ve got to find a soluble bank to stash their profit Although today's market resembled "capitulation", I don't believe it was a selling climax. Though there will be some relief rallies along the way, the path of least resistance is "down". Roger

Maybe it's me, but I never give technical support much thought, instead I place my entire bet on selecting the best unit available. As for tech support, I'll muddle through the owner's manual before engaging in an hour-long tirade with some newbie technician. Believe it or not, I've never owned a Lowrance unit that's ever required any service or support.. Life is short and my fuse is even shorter, so if any unit malfunctions it's going into the local dumpster, which produces a feeling of euphoria that's hard to explain Roger

Today the senate passed the debt ceiling bill and the stock market headed south. This is not surprising, given the fact that the stock market never reacts to the obvious, and today's bill was already priced into the shares. Although today's bill passing was a foregone conclusion, equity markets are equally focused on the current “international” monetary crisis (European banks). Make no mistake about it, the US is merely one component in an outsourced global economy, where no nation can proper in isolation without international Win-Win deals. According to one TV talking head, stock prices tanked today due to the market's perception of a “double-dip” recession. Well, the market certainly embarked on a false start, but I totally missed the business recovery that separates the dips. Our economic recovery has been anemic at best and unemployment remains high. I think a better description of our current scenario is the '2nd down-leg' of an ongoing recession. Gloom and doom is the natural reaction, but every cloud has a silver lining and today's fiscal debacle is no exception. Unique buying opportunities lie ahead, which is a question of 'When' rather than 'If'. We seen currencies like Argentina and Indonesia fall as much as 90%, and yet they're still out there. As always, timing a trend-reversal is a tightrope act, but economic bottoms historically coincide with a market event called "capitulation". Capitulation is when bad news and futility dominate the news, and when the last standing bulls launch a selling stampede. When bad news and pessimism reach a peak, a recovery is usually in the offing, and after the sellside has been exhausted, buying is the only game left in town. Roger

During the 1970s, I exchanged handwritten letters with Al Lindner, but my wife Lois is by far my most famous fishing partner Roger

You said a mouthful Isn’t it amazing how easily people are distracted, and how quickly they take their eye off the ball. The mother of a missing girl goes 31 days without reporting the loss of her child (see anything wrong with that picture?) . Within that same timeframe Casey parties on Church St, enters a Hot Body contest. and gets a tatoo that translated to "Beautiful Life", Thoughout that timeframe Casey Anthony fabricated lie-after-lie-after-lie assuring her parents and everyone else of her daughter's well-being.(case-closed) As for Orlando, it’s no different than any other big city, even the infamous "Orange Blossom Trail" is tame by comparison to other metro areas I've known. Around the same year this took place, we were living in a home in Orlando off Chickasaw Trail, less than a mile from the Anthony residence who lived off Chickasaw Trail on Hopespring Dr. (BTW: It's the southeast corner of Orlando called 'Vista East', about 8 miles from downtown Orlando) Roger .

Loomis GL2 ?? Ho-Hum is probably an overstatement Consider St Croix, Dobyns, Shimano and Quantum . Roger

I know where you coming from Cap...and I lean to Yay

A rod purchase is very personal, and a decision that really can't be left to others. It's best to begin with a list of features that you 'must' have, and other features you'd 'prefer' to have. If this rod is the power, action and length that you're looking for, then you know the answer Roger

Yes. It's nothing fancy but it expands the weedless zone of the hook. It also adds a little more motion, because the jig is deflecting off more cover. The bristles have a great deal of springback, so mash them down without mercy, and when you return an hour later, the fan may only be half its original size Roger

There's no pat answer regarding the modification of weedguards, every product is different. Some weedguards are factory-soft and barely weedless, others are factory-stiff, which can hamper your hookup ratio. If you're looking to stiffen the weedguard, shortening the bristles will do that by reducing the flex leverage. As for the cut-angle, I don't think that means a hill of beans. If you're looking to reduce the flex tension, you should reduce the number of bristles but snipping them off at the base. Normally I leave my fiberguard as is, but "always" fan it out generously. To do this, you've got to be rough, and need to repeat the process several times to overcome the memory of the bristles. Roger