RoLo

I'm not sure whether you're referring to the fish or the pirate ;D

The answer would depend on where you live. If you live in California, Florida or Texas, I'd say about 17 inches. But lets say you live in Tennessee, then anything over 12 might be a keeper. Of course we'll never know for sure until Roadwarrior remembers his camera. Roger

Maybe he was probably trying to make it good for you. You might have refused the new replacement. You made some points Flechero that I also thought about. I'm easy to insult, so I really didn't pursue the matter beyond Bantam1, who I believe is a Shimano rep and not a Loomis rep. I've probably purchased 6 to 8 rods in the past 12 months (garage full of cardboard tubes). I'd probably pursue the matter more aggressively if I truly cared, but as crazy as it might sound, I honestly am not interested in owning anymore Loomis rods. Roger

Two Suggestions: 1) Look for structure, not bass 2) If you can't find structure, then fish the drop-off and forget structure ;D Roger

That leaves General Electric and Loomis, but GE is a candidate for delisting

ESPN is a large-cap, multi-national corporation in the entertainment industry. They have greater financial resources than most splinter groups to effectively promote B.A.S.S. Even so, I was never comfortable with the marriage between ESPN and BASS, but held out the hope that angling would make the cut. On the bright side, B.A.S.S. should benefit from proprietary management with more TLC, instead of being viewed as a non-performing asset to be divested. Here's to B.A.S.S. and venture capital Roger

As most know, one of my Loomis rods snapped in two while I was cranking in a middling bass. Blank failure was not provoked by poor handling, a careless step, a car door, a car window, etc. For this reason, I actually pursued the rod warranty, which is something I've never done before in 50 years of fishing. Long story short, I didn't pay for Xpeditor service and refused their offer. I wasn't about to shell out an additional $50 for a rod that I already paid for in full. I was merely asking Loomis to make good on a defective blank. I was told to ship the handle-end of the blank for inspection. Before shipping the rod I inspected the blank under a toolmaker's eye-loop, and found no impacted fibers. Several days later notwithstanding, I received a call from Loomis informing me that they found a "hit mark", and that Loomis will not replace my rod. For the record, Shimano was not party to this decision. Adding insult to injury, Loomis also refused to reimburse me for shipping costs. The rod has long since been replaced by a Damiki Dark Angel, but Friday of last week, I get a call from Loomis. The Rep said that they'll send me a new rod for $25. I thought to myself, isn't it amazing what a contraction in discretionary spending can do. My answer to Loomis: "I will not accept a new rod from Loomis unless you reimburse me for shipping costs on the broken rod, and send me the new rod "free". Naturally, that's not what Loomis wanted to hear. The Rep then asked me if I wanted them to ship me the broken blank. This I found to be highly suspect, because Loomis had already returned the broken blank many weeks ago (months ago). I wasn't in the mood to offer any explanation to some stranger, so I tersely answered "No". In retrospect, that was probably a mistake. Someone at Loomis did an amateurish job of adding a "hit mark" to the blank they returned to me (probably the inspector who rejected it...LOL). An eyeloop would not be needed to see the blatant bruise on the blank. I should've have answered, Yes, just to see what Loomis was about to send me next. Loomis had a good run, and for a long time, but I'm afraid their day has come. Every business has a shelf life, only GE and GM are charter members of original Dow Industrial 30, the other 28 have all been replaced. From all appearances, the high-end rod market has reached maturity. Owing to that theory is the founder himself, who's now shaking the money tree at the lower end. If I hear anything more from Loomis, I'll let ya'll know ;-) Roger

As Tom pointed out, the early years of tourney fishing had to deal with heavy weed infestation. Milfoil was the first awe-inspiring epidemic in the south, closely followed by hydrilla. Today both plants enjoy cosmopolitan range, but hydrilla has become the bugbear of the south while "milfoil" today is more problematic in the north. They're problematic only when they spread out of control, because milfoil and hydrilla have been a boon to largemouth bass, pike & muskies. It's vital to work the underwater weed caverns and for the lure to ultimately reach the bottom. In reality, "punching" is only useful for penetrating the surface mat, but until the lure actually reaches the bottom, you're a long way from home. When a jig of sufficient weight is used, a slow pumping action should be enough to coax the lure to burrow deeper and deeper into the weed-bed. Unfortunately, bass anglers don't have a wide selection of heavyweight jigs for working tall submergent weed-beds (up to 18-ft tall in clear water). When necessary, I won't hesitate to use a heavy saltwater jig or slide a 1/2 oz bullet sinker in front of the jig. IMO, adequate weight and a streamlined lure are more important than lure color or even lure appearance. Dense heavy cover produces heavy shade and reduces the sight window of bass, a place where bass have little time to ponder (i.e. a great place to fish). Roger

Over the decades, I've had the pleasure of fishing with a great many male fishing partners, jeez they could probably fill a small stadium. Still and all, my wife has been the best fishing partner I've ever found. Our boat bears the handle "Team Rolo", where we pool our efforts for the "boat", and where there's never any feelings of competition or jealousy. At the end of a super day, we were on our way home and I remember feeling like I was on top of the world. Then it hit me, I didn't land one legal fish that day, Lois boated everything. The same thing has also happened to Lois. In sharp contrast, I watched Roland Martin this morning, who was fishing with Mike McClelland for spotted bass on Lake Lanier. The ONLY thing on Roland's mind was catching more and bigger fish than Mike. Whenever McClelland tried to explain his spotted bass technique with the McStick, Roland never had the decency to stop fishing. Instead, Roland tried desperately to regain the spotlight, and would start shouting over Mike's voice: I Got One, I Got One, I Got One. Anyway, Mike caught the two largest spotted bass that day, and when the show ended Roland conveniently failed to mention Mike McClelland's name. If my wife behaved anything like Roland Martin did that day, I'd be fishing alone most of the time. Roger

Bass are opportunistic predators, and knowing what they ate during their last meal, may have little or no bearing on their next meal. Strange but true, my comfort level is highest when my lure resembles no creature in particular. In most of the waters we fish you will find shad, bluegills, redear, crappies, tilapia, baby bass, golden shiners, dace, chubs, salamanders, snakes, tapoles, frogs, crayfish, and many other tasty morsels. Many of today's lure finishes are highly artistic and have great angler appeal. All the same, among the most consistently successful crankbait patterns are still "firetiger" and "clown", which catch bass in any lake USA. As an aside, the greatest number of largemouth bass I caught on back-to-back casts came on a lipless crank that was given to me by a Japanese tackle distributor that went belly-up. The underside is bright chartreuse and the upperside is sky blue Roger

I've never intentionally used any red hooks, but I've gotten clumsy a few times and ended up with a red hook Roger

Booyah

There's a generous overlap in seasons between the spawn, post-spawn and summer periods, which makes it difficult to quantify the actual length of the post-spawn. Speaking for Florida, the post-spawn period is a hazy, indistinct period that seems to last up to two months, namely April and May. Buck bass during the post-spawn are far more aggressive than cow bass, and in Florida anyway, the big girls seem to dissolve away during the 'early' post-spawn, but after they recoup, a few super pigs are always taken during the 'late' post-spawn. Meanwhile, the little bucks are cooperative throughout the entire post-spawn period. During the 'early' post-spawn the bucks offer a great topwater bite , and then toward the end of the post-spawn period they become suckers for a lipless crank. Actually, this is the signal that the post-spawn period is transitioning into the summer season. When bass chase shad in late spring, fishermen commonly attribute this to a shad spawn, but I have my druthers about that. Most of the school shad are about 2 to 4" in length, whereas sexually mature gizzard shad can range upward to 10 or 12" in length (threadfin to 8"). Perhaps I'm wrong, but I believe that these late spring jumps are the result of fingerling shad aggregating in corners and on drop-offs. Though bass are credited with being crafty in locating shad, they instinctively seek out all the same structural features. Roger

I'm not positive what plant that is, but my best guess would be Pondweed (Potamogeton). http://www.ontariowildflower.com/images/floatingleavedpondweed.jpg Pondweed is a very large family of aquatic plants, and here in Florida the local moniker for pondweed is "peppergrass" and when I fished in Canada the local name is "cabbage", a broadleaf form of pondweed, and the favorite plant of northern pike. If it's pondweed, then you're dealing with a highly beneficial and non-invasive plant that doesn't threaten to overrun your pond. It's a favorite submergent plant of bass, exceeded only by milfoil and hydrilla, and is much loved by waterfowl and turtles. Roger

Brand Loyality is a recipe for disaster! Jack be nimble, and Jack be quick (A Lehman Brothers quote). Roger

Normally I throw a very dark worm with a translucent tail, but on many occasions I've had good results using bubblegum or merthiolate trick worms. I mainly use these colors in shallow water, where I can sometimes watch the worm. As for the color preference of bass, I think the color of my socks is more important ;D Roger

During the long summers in Florida, the biggest issue is NOT water temperatures, but is low levels of dissolved oxygen that's sometimes caused by high water temperatures. Although hot sweltering weather may bother warm-blooded animals like you and me, bass are perfectly comfortable in warm water, provided that is, it contains adequate dissolved oxygen. If oxygen levels are depleted by a prolonged hot spell, bass will aggregate around the healthiest aquatic vegetation, ironically, with little regard to depth. When oxygen content is low, bass would happily converge on hydrilla beds in 8-ft of water, however if submergent vegetation were non-existent, they'd be equally happy to converge on spatterdock fields in 3-ft of water. Roger

It behooves each of us to report any infractions we witness...that's our job. The FWC cannot be everywhere at once, so it depends on you and me to keep them abreast of violations and maximize their effectiveness in the field. Most anglers and gunners tote a cellphone afield, below is the Wildlife Hotline in Florida: 1-888-404-3922 (24/7) Roger

"Knowledge" Knowledge has a way of undermining the need for patience Roger

With respect to jig-fishing in weeds, I feel that a critical point has not been addressed. As mentioned above, the end of the visible wall-of-weeds is NOT synonymous to the outer' weed-line. While this may be news to the angler who fishes mainly in manmade reservoirs, it's well-known to anglers who mainly fish natural lakes (necessity is the mother of invention). With the exception of the spawning season, the outer weed-line (alias deep weed-line) supports the lion's share of lunker bass. While this is true MOST of the time, it certainly isn't true all the time. After several consecutive days of warm stable weather, bass tend to loft progressively higher in the weed-bed, and their relative position in vegetation gets increasingly closer to the plant crown and farther above the lake floor. Although fishing above bottom may be unproductive today, in the wake of prolonged stable weather, ripping the jig in 6-foot hops may be the ticket tomorrow. The key as always is "versatility Roger

If it were me, I'd place more emphasis on 'location' than on lures. The St Johns River is about 300 miles long, and includes a large number of lakes and ponds. The St Johns is a riverine environment and "eelgrass" (valisneria) is one of the key plants, because eelgrass grows very well in current. An ideal scenario would be an eelgrass bed on the ledge of a drop-off, especially where it's strewn with wooden pilings. The best pilings are those with the largest diameter and the most barnaclels and molluscs. Roger

Thanks Dink, but the pleasure was mine Incidentally, we didn't have much to show for our efforts that day (couple small bass). Then about 5 minutes after I pulled the boat, the rain came down in TORRENTS! Roger

Yes I sure have, and totally agree that an unweighted swimbait makes an excellent lure. Unfortunately though, most of my favorite holding sites are infested with heavy cover, where weight is needed to penetrate the surface vegetation. I normally use an Owner 1/2-oz Sled Head, and even at that, the lure is tracking only inches below the surface. You're right captain, "Loose lips sink ships". However, I found out a long time ago that nobody pays any attention to what I say anyway ;D Roger

Be my pleasure. I should preface by saying that we mainly fish in natural lakes where the swimbait spends most of its time in heavy surface vegetation. Fishermen who focus on manmade impoundments have more rigging options than us, because their swimbait spends more time in open water. In the nasty waters we fish, a swimbait with an exposed hook wouldn't move two-feet without getting impaled on a plant stalk. I use nothing but 30-lb Berkley Fireline braid (virtually non-stretch) then Texskin the hook-point in plastic. Threading the hook in the usual way, through the height of the lure (belly-line to back-line) pre-occupies most of the hook-gap and chokes the bite. Instead, I rotate the swimbait 90-degs then thread the hook through the thickness of the lure (lesser dimension). The lure will now travel edgewise through the water with a slightly different action (a good thing). The lure will also swim off-keel, which suggests a sick or injured baitfish (a good thing). Best of all, since there's more exposed hook-gap and bite, there'll be an improved hook-up ratio. SIDE-VIEW TOP-VIEW BOTTOM-VIEW Roger

The jighead is a 1/2-oz Owner Sled Head. Though 1/2oz is on the heavy side, it tends to stabilize the body and helps to penetrate surface slop. I rig the swimbait sidewards which gives it a different action then they're used to, and also provides a less crowded hook-throat for the hook-set. Roger