RoLo

In reality, we all teach ourselves everything that we do in life. Input is only the beginning, that is, data gathered from books, the Internet, our family, our friends and so on. Regardless of the source though, information gleaned only represents what someone else found useful in their exposure. How we process that information is what ultimately determines our own level of expertise. For example, let's pretend that KVD had a mentor; today Kevin would blow the doors off his mentor, who ever that might be. That's exactly as it should be, first gather all the data possible, then restructure and improve upon that information. Roger

If you're using spinning tackle, I can understand why line-memory might be an issue. In any case, if memory is the issue then Braided Line is the best solution. In addition to manageability, braid gives you the strongest, thinnest line available. How bad is that? Whether it's made of Nylon, Fluorocarbon or Copolymer, "all" monofilament lines exhibit springback. In my opinion, the most manageable monofilament line available is Berkley Trilene XL. I’ve used it for decades, and if polyethylene braid was never introduced I'd still be using Trilene XL. The toughest mono I’d go with is Sufix Elite, which is great stuff, but beyond that you might as well stick with CXX. Roger

By most measures, Charlie Brewer's Slider Heads are super jigheads. A book can be written on when and how to use the Round-bend, Wide-bend, Ball-head, Spider head, etc In fact, Charlie Brewer of "Do-Nothing" fame did write a book, and it's called "Charlie Brewer on Slider Fishin" (good read). As much as I like and recommend Slider Jigs, they're a tad too flimsy for Florida-strain bass. Charlie Brewer passed away in year 2000, Billy Westmoreland passed in 2002. Roger

Take a good look at "Dirty Jigs" http://dirtyjigstackle.com/ Tour Level No-Jack Flippin Jig [Rattles - 3D Eyes - Gamakatsu Xtra-Heavy Super-Sharp - 3/8 to 1½ oz] Roger

Tom beat me to the punch

Perhaps, but its main competitor is the "Gambler Big EZ" Roger

Welcome aboard! Hmm, Union Lake is just down the road Roger

Welcome aboard Tony. Freshwater fishing should be any easy transition, where much higher winds are usually needed to be life-threatening Roger

I would imagine that it's based on our personal allergens, because different folks have different reactions to different species. I'll give you an example close to home. After a productive day of bass fishing, my wife's hand will itch for several hours. It's just a mild reaction that oddly enough is not accompanied by any visible reaction such as swelling or redness. Very different from Lois, I can hand-land bass all day long without any itching. On the other hand, my nemisis is northern pike. I confess that "gator" pike are my favorite freshwater quarry (they are rarer than muskies). In order to avoid the teeth of pike, the back of my hand will often make contact with their gillrakers. That same evening, the back of my landing hand will invariably be mildly swollen with a visible rash. Big Deal! Does this in any way inhibit my pike fishing? Not on your life! Roger

The soft-plastic lures I take on my boat make up less than 1% of my unwieldy stash. My wife buys more lures than I do, which helps to ease my guilty conscience The lures in my tackle box are piled loosely in worm-proof trays, and ready to grab. In the bottom of my tackle box I keep a surplus of high-use lures in their original bags. The mother lode stays at home, which is an untold number of soft-plastics in their "original packages". These original bags are stored in an 8-drawer dresser in my den, and pigeonholed in one of 14 different categories Roger

Stanley 4" Floating Ribbit = Sizmic 4/0 Toad Hook Stanley 4.5" Bull Ribbit = Zoom 5/0 Horny Toad Hook The Floating Ribbit floats well at rest with a Sizmic 4/0 hook (hook weighs only 20 grains). The Bull Ribbit is made of sinking plastic and needs to stay in motion to stay on top. With a nonstop retrieve, hook weight is not an issue, so opt for a screw-coil retainer with the largest diameter (i.e Zoom 5/0 Horny Toad hook). Unlike hollow frogs, I find the Ribbit to provide an excellent hook-up ratio. Roger

I'm going to let that one slide I've caught runt bass on worms that were as long as the bass itself. In other words, if the worm wasn't struck head-first, the bass wouldn't get hooked. On the flipside, I seem to remember that Kevin VanDam caught a bass over 11 lbs on a 4" fry worm. That said, I'm most comfortable fishing plastic worms longer than 6" but shorter than 10" ("Actual" length, not advertised length) On a side note, I've never fished a 10" Trick Worm, but I have fished the 7" Magnum Trick Worm, and do not like it. Although I'm not thrilled about the spindly body of a standard 6" Trick Worm, it has better action than the Magnum Trick Worm. I believe the action of the worm is far more important than the length of the worm. Roger

I believe that alligators should be appreciated and admired, certainly not feared. The little yard-long gators are the most aggressive, when they're still young and impetuous. But as an alligator grows older and larger its fear of man grows too, and it becomes craftier at avoiding man. We live in Florida, so my wife and I look forward to seeing gators on our fishing trips, and when we don't we feel a little cheated. If there's a particularly big guy sunning on the bank, I'll usually try to approach it slowly using the electric motor with camera in hand. More than once, I've gotten so close that the gator's entry splash wet my boat. I have a couple photographs where the alligator's splash alone fills the photo. . Roger

For many years my color preferences were "White Ice" & "Albino", but no matter how hard I try, I cannot make color make any difference at all. The next time you're in the midst of a hot fluke-bite, change the color after every bass and you will find that color has zero effect. When they're biting flukes, they'll bite all colors, when they're not biting flukes, they'll bite no color. With the gate wide open, be selfish and choose a color that appeals to 'you', and bass will like it too. I like a "bubblegum" fluke for its visibility, but also use black aurora, just because I like that pattern. Roger

Carolina rigs and Dropshot rigs are "bottom-oriented" rigs, they are not sink-rate intensive. The weight attached to a Carolina rig is only used to reach the bottom quickly and to maintain bottom contact. However, once the weight makes bottom contact, the C-rig is presenting an "unweighted" lure. While your "unweighted" T-rigged worm is sinking one-foot per second, a C-rigged 3x worm may actually be lofting upward.. The same applies to a dropshot rig, once the weight makes bottom contact, you're presenting an "unweighted" soft-plastic. Roger

Since my saltwater days where there's lots of fish-slime and slippery fiberglass decks, I developed the habit of wearing "deck shoes". Currently I wear Rockport ProWalkers and I'm not sure if deck shoes have anything to do with it, but the next time I get sore or tired feet will be my first time . Roger

It's the "metalimnion", a narrow band of water exhibiting rapid temperature change which is sandwiched between the epilimnion above and the hypolimnion below. Roger

Hi Randall, good hearing from you again (you had me worried) . I'm glad you pointed out that fact, because some anglers are under the impression that oxygen-depletion forces bass deeper, when in fact it drives them into shallower water, particularly where plant life abounds. Roger

Fortunately, there isn't much evidence that such a bass exists For example, my favorite lipless crank is a Spro Aruku Shad. Nonetheless, when bass are on a hot 'lipless crank' pattern, a $3 Cordell Super Spot will very likely keep pace with a $6.5 Spro Aruku Shad. Inversely, when bass seem totally disinterested in lipless cranks, I wouldn't expect a $17 Zipbaits Calibra to mop the floor. As a sidenote, I believe the Calibra is no longer in production. Roger

I'm sure you meant the opposite Roger

When you resort to a mechanical device, you're at the mercy of the scale's integrity and up-to-date calibration Fortunately, the bass pros on television are fully capable of estimating the weight of a bass within an ounce or two. Roger

That feels a little like a leading question, that I should say that you should turn your back to the shoreline. Actually, it's usually not that simple, and with surface temps in the high 80s, many bass will remain shallow and many will also be deep. What's most important to the fisherman is the depth range of the "Most Catchable" bass. Regardless of the season, the depth range of Most Catchable bass is continually altered by local weather conditions and light conditions, so realistically the answer is a moving target. Roger

Granted, it's not easy to find 100% waterproof raingear that's both strong and lightweight.. When I fished the Atlantic Ocean with a center-console, I wore "Helly Hansen" raingear, Although I consider Helly Hansen the ultimate in wet gear, it's lobsterman gear and weighs a ton My last rainsuit was "Frog Toggs", which was lightweight, surprisingly strong and well-suited to Florida storms. Today I'm using "PATAGONIA" wet gear and have no complaints. Though it's not Helly Hansen, the Patagonia rainsuit is totally dry, is made of highly durable polyamide, has a drawstring hood, zipper-down front and velcro sleeves. Roger

Whenever the topic is about 'crystal-clear water', it reminds me of the legendary phosphate pits in Bartow and Mulberry, Florida. In their heyday, the phosphate mines yielded countless double-digit bass, but the pits were super-clear and super-tough to fish, Bass could easily see every flaw in your delivery, where getting skunked was cliche. The key was to make the lure as difficult to see as possible, or resort to live wild shiners like the fabled Smith Brothers. The reputation of the phosphate pits was bolstered by a small handful of pit savvy anglers, some still hold IGFA records today. Needless to say, 'translucent' and 'transparent' lures are preferred to opaque lures. With respect to color, during the hours of daylight most pit anglers favored light-colored lures with "pure white" being the clear favorite. By the way, Doug Hannon was one of those early-day pit anglers. Roger

The opposite of what might be expected, bass taken from clear, highly transparent water normally exhibit darker mossy green and a blacker more prominant median line. Bass taken from murky or muddy water tend to be silvery and washed out in color. Roger