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I lose more bass than I lose lures, and wish it were the other way around : Roger

Some of us pay 200, 300 even 500 dollars for a rod, pointing the rod-tip at the fish is like throwing that rod in the waste basket and fighting the fish off the reel drag. If money were on the line I might not have a choice, but it isn't and I do. Roger

Man-Oh-Man, those are super pigs, Dwight!!! You definitely have your hand on the pulse. The weight of those bronzebacks would keep most largemouth anglers happy. 8-) Roger

Congratulations Scorcher, I'd say your hooked With regard to best lure for pike, you must first decide whether you're after "pike" or "gators". Hammer-handles may strike most any lure, but that's far from the case with trophy pike. Small pike and large pike live entirely different lives and are like two separate species of fish. Roger

Maybe I'm getting lazy Kent, but I like the convenience of a self-contained jig, which can also be worked in heavy vegees without any sinker to peg Roger

Exactly! Rigged on a belly-weighted hook the tail wags-the-dog and looks very phony. I rig the 5.8" Keitech fat swing impact on an Owner sled head (4/0 hook) which funnels incredible throbbing into the paddletail, while offering bass a stabilized, realistic-looking target. Roger

That's really funny. Your story reminds me of a taxidermist in New Jersey who painted fish like an 8-year old with his first set of oil paints. Looking over this man's fish mounts without laughing out loud was a true test of strength. Proving that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, he actually said, "NOBODY paints a fish like me!". Well, I suppose he was right, nobody does paint a fish like him, nor would anybody want to :-[ : Roger

I totally agree Kikstand, and that's what fuels every forum. To my mind, the lure on a C-rig rarely touches bottom anyway, except momentarily, so it isn't that bad if the sinker departs momentarily from the bottom. The weight required to keep the sinker in constant contact with the bottom comes at a high price. The heavier the sinker weight, the more pressure is needed to straighten out the dihedral in the line (V-shape). In this respect, a C-rig is the opposite of a Dropshot rig. With a dropshot rig the hook is tied direct to the mainline, so it "directly" receives the strike and "directly" receives the hook-set. With a C-rig, both the strike and the hook-set are "diluted" by the weight of the sinker, and there's no positive strike sensation or hook-set force until the dihedral in the line has been straightened out. Roger

I agree. I'd sooner risk having to anchor-up twice, than having to wield 200 foot of anchor rode. I normally drop the hook well updrift of my final target. If I'm dragging anchor I'll simply pay rode until the anchor is holding bottom or until I'm on my numbers. Roger

I've owned a bunch of electric motors, and admit to a strong bias in favor of Minn Kota. Dave, if you go to this website you'll find a menu-driven motor selector. http://www.minnkotamotors.com/selectamotor/ Roger

Exactly. The knee-jerk reaction to a question like that is a finesse presentation for negative fish. I can't tell you how many times it took a fast aggressive retrieve to turn the trick. Roger

sorry No you're not ;D ;D

This hook-up was not with a fishhook but with a boat anchor. I was fishing at anchor for kingfish and due to a strong tidal flow we began to drag anchor. Eventually the anchor got a new bite on the bottom and the boat remained in place. When I finally decided to pull-anchor and leave, I had to heave with all my mite to hoist the hook. Finally after a long strenuous haul, I had the anchor up to the water surface and there was a fat black cable draped across the anchor flukes. As I reached to remove the cable, it suddenly slipped off the flukes and ripped a slot in the ocean as it flew back to the sea floor. I then unfolded my NOAA map and learned in retrospect that I was anchored in a "Restricted" area that was dotmarked with an "electrical cable". Roger

I've said this before, but I'll say it again, the fisherman who believes that live bait fishing for largemouth bass is easy and a form of cheating, has not done enough live-bait fishing. Fishing natural bait is tons of fun, but it is not easy and requires a goodly measure of know-how. During the pre-spawn period, I'll often take live golden shiners along in addition to artificial lures. Nearly every year without fail, we catch more and larger bass on artificial lures. I hasten to add that I'm speaking here only about largemouth bass, because boating a trophy smallmouth bass, walleye or northern pike is definitely easier with natural bait. In any case, provided it's within the law there's absolutely no reason to feel guilty or sensitive about your chosen method of enjoying your day afield. Roger

This addresses something I often think about, that fish (and other animals) seem to possess a sixth sense or other tracking device that we may know little or nothing about. Bass do not have ear holes (auriculars) but have evolved 'internal ears' instead. Unlike air, which is highly compressible, bass live in a medium that is highly incompressible (water). For this reason, sound waves travel 'through' the fish's entire body. It stands to reason that the lateral lines of bass (median lines) would serve to detect low-frequency vibration. Low-frequency waves are most effective at close range, because they dissipate sooner than high-frequency waves. Accordingly, it's widely accepted that the lateral sensors of fry fish are what enable them to remain in a unitized school even in muddy water. Bass living in water of average clarity, tend to lose bodyweight if the water becomes muddy (adaptive lag). On the other hand, I've observed bass living in Carnegie Lake, NJ, which is perennially muddy water, that display average if not slightly above average girth-to-length ratio. Remarkably, we've caught many bass in Carnegie Lake on soft plastic lures with no clacker or rattlebox, which strongly suggests that bass are able to perceive and track microwaves, as it were. Roger

I used to do heaps of sight-fishing in Ontario, New Jersey, South Carolina and Georgia. Sight-fishing is very absorbing, very challenging and very entertaining. However, anglers who think that bed-fishing is a quick shortcut to a trophy bass, have not done much bed fishing. Yes, the bucks on the bedding flats are a cakewalk, and are easily caught without even being seen. Cow bass are a horse of another color, and are very aloof on the bed. Since we've been living in Florida (1998), I've done very little bed fishing. Mainly because the eutrophic natural lakes that I prefer to fish have water visibility that averages about 9¾"...LOL. Roger

Let 's point out some points, starting from the end. 1.- You don 't "need" a baitcaster to fish jigs 2.- How come you came to the conclusion the fish are "not biting" ? in my experience the fish are always biting but not what you are offering them, that brings us to the point we have always discussed here, most anglers are bait/lure oriented and not location/presentation oriented, if they were location/presentation oriented instead of being bait/lure oriented they would be more succesful. When we talk location what imediately comes to mind is where, yup but that 's only one part of the location, where and at what depth. You can be at the right place but at the wrong depth so just being at the right place doesn 't guarantee good results. Also, you say they weren 't biting, are you shure about that ? let 's assume you are at the right place, fishing your jig at the right place, let 's go further, lestá ssume also that you are fishing with the right presentation, all the elements are there for a good bite except for one ----> practice, and I don 't mean you going out there casting jigs like mad all day long, seven days a week all year long, I mean your practice in detecting the bite. Jigs can be very frustrating and it takes months of practice in learning how the bite feels while fishing them. So it 's easy to blame the lure for not having the results we expect .... when we should be blaming ourselves for not knowing how to fish them properly, the first things we say is either the lure doesn 't work or the fish weren 't biting. Very good advice. I'd like to add just one little thing, because I believe it's important and is frequently overlooked. It falls under the broad heading of "Presentation" and I'm talking about LURE SPEED. You may be at the right location, fishing the right depth with the right lure with the right action. But if you're not retrieving at the optimal speed, you may end up with very little or nothing. For example, when the only two bites you get take place while ripping the lure back to the boat, that speaks volumes. Roger

You're fortunate to be saddled with such a decision ;D Good advice. Roger

I'd say that Ghoti summed it up. On the flipside of the coin are anglers who think of spinning gear in terms of 4-lb line and ultra-light lures. If you so desire, you can choose a spinning rod that can tow a small boat that would fracture the garden-variety baitcasting rod Roger

Great question! Spotted tilapia are coldwater intolerant, and really can't survive the winters in "central" Florida. The spotted tiliapia is even tender in "south" Florida, and I'm not surprised that they were knocked back hard by the brutal winter you underwent. I was very surprised though by the winterkill of blue tilapia here in central Florida, especially in the smaller shallower natural lakes. Unfortunately, my favorite bass lake was hardest hit by the blue tilapia winterkill. We seen carcasses of tilipia over 3 pounds around the entire circumference of the lake. My fingers are crossed that they make a strong comeback. Roger

I definitely understand what you mean, and while that may be important in a hill-land impoundment, here in Florida, "deep" is 4 to 6 feet. Nonetheless, even when I fished reservoirs in Jersey and Georgia, I often used 1/4 oz C-rigs with good results. I really don't mind if the sinker momentarily parts company with the bottom contour, because the trade-off is a more buoyant and natural delivery (reminiscent of dropshotting). I know I'm not going to feel every pebble on the bottom, but bites are easier to feel with a lighter sinker, and hook-sets are surer. Roger

During the 50s, when my dad took me hunting, the only thing playing on early-morning car radios was "western music" (the term 'country' music came later). We listened to singers like Shorty Warren, Rusty Draper (muleskinner blues) and Carl Perkins (blue suede shoes). When I entered my teens, I grew up during the Be-Bop' era with names like the Temptations, Platters, Four Aces, Five Tops, Five Satins and so on. All the same, I like most every genre of music, as long as the music is good. I'm partial to individual songs rather than to any category or artist. To me for instance, some of Skynyrd sounds like Pink Floyd and Marty Robbins only made one El Paso. Rather than hardcore western laments (whining), my favorite country stuff are the upbeat songs: Second Chance (38-Special) You're Still The One (Shania Twain) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXtc-TH0Iv4 When My Ship Comes In (Clint Black) http://www.singingfool.com/Title.aspx?publishedid=91316 Roger

I'm really not sure what you're eluding to, because line friction is a fact of life and cannot be isolated to the line, as your guide rings may be equally involved. I used PowerPro for a couple years and loved everything about braided line (not powerpro per se). Unfortunately, I got unlucky and purchased a bad batch of PowerPro. My wife and I both experienced serial line-failure without provocation. Previous to my own experience, I always thought of a "bad batch" as a scapegoat or a figment of the imagination. Kudos to PowerPro though, because by their own admission the company acknowledged that they had problems with certain bulk spools. PowerPro offered me a free bulk spool but I refused their offer. Instead I switched to Berkley Fireline braid, and now inexplicable breakage is a thing of the past. All that said, PowerPro is not at all terrible. Roger

ROD: Damiki Dark Angel Spinning Rod 6' 6 Med Hvy (1/4 to 1oz lures <> 12 to 20-lb line) REEL: Shimano Stella 4000FD LINE: Berkley 30-lb Fireline Tracer Braid Kevin said I was only allowed one outfit Roger