RoLo

Agreed, tail-down Does anyone remember the "Ditto" Gator Tail? In the 80s, the Ditto gator tail and Stanley Jig vied for top spot.

The Shimano Compre is a fine rod but I'm biased in favor of the Okuma Concept C3...one heckuva blank! I own a couple 6' 6", Med Hvy, Fast action, Okuma Spinning Rods ($150). They're handsome rods, but more importantly they cast very well, and have wrestled a few good bass out of heavy cover. They're rated for 10 to 20-lb line & 1/4 to 1 oz lures, and they're fitted with titanium guide frames, zirconium inserts, a Fuji reel seat (ported) and carbon grips. Roger

That's never an easy question to answer, as the answer hinges on personal choice. I personally am a target angler, and any bycatch (no matter how large) is taken as an insult. Consequently, my leader material is chosen according to the quarry. When bass fishing, I try to avoid pike-infested sites to minimize cutoffs, and you'll find that most holding sites are dominated by one predator or the other. I know of several trophy pike anglers who successfully use fluorocarbon leaders, but I've personally had too many bad experiences with non-metallic leaders (usually on the best pike of the trip). As it happens, trophy pike can be landed on 12-lb nylon monofilament if one of two things takes place: 1) The line stays nested between two teeth, which act like two ivory guides 2) The line is outside the pike's mouth during the fight, and out of harm's way. When I'm targeting northern pike I always use metal leader, "Titanium" to be exact. Titanium is soft, knottable, highly kink-resistant and inconspicuous. Roger

Good coverage Paul, and I have to agree with most points made. While toying with fluoro, I liked Maxima, but most anglers seem to prefer Seaguar. Oddly enough, tests by TackleTour found Seaguar to possess the lowest score for line traits characteristic of fluorocarbon, so its popularity may hinge on the fact that it behaves least like fluoro. I gave fluorocarbon a college try (cost me a small fortune) but ultimately I threw in the towel. I get the distinct impression that I've worked with titanium leader that was more manageable than pure fluorocarbon line ;D Roger

You use a 'lighter' sinker with a larger worm?

What makes fishing line a good choice? It's common knowledge that P-line produces some of the "toughest" fishing line in the world, but its memory is not in the same league as braided line. (that stuff would never find its way on my spinning reels). Roger

Spro Aruku Shad For many years, my favorite lipless crank for has been the Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap, but that's history now. During the past couple seasons, the Spro Aruku Shad has been a more consistent producer. Unlike other lipless cranks, the Aruku Shad does not fall over when it's paused, but remains erect. Scrape it along the bedding flat, then kill it in the nest Roger

Really good stuff Glenn, coming from a couple of classy guys. ;D Roger

The most deadly technique is the technique that YOU devised. It goes without saying, every angler has his own favorite lures. but the savvy angler stays aloof of lure worship. Our angling efforts are best concentrated on technique, versatility and experimentation, but not the slippery slope provided by pet lures. Roger

Natural lakes and manmade lakes both comprise an "inlet" and "outlet". To my knowledge, the "upper end" of any lake, be it natural or artificial, refers to the headwater source even if it lies in the southern hemisphere. Conversely, the "lower end" of a lake refers to the tailwaters, irrespective of compass bearing. Roger

After just one exposure to saltwater, a "low-end" reel may begin to show signs of corrosion. On the other hand, most high-end reels, whether they're specified for saltwater-use or not, consist chiefly of non-corrosive components except for some renegade screws, springs, washers, et al. Wherever possible, reel manufacturers like to use polymer components such as nylon, Teflon and polycarbonate, which are non-corrosive materials. However, when a reel is specified for "saltwater-use", they need to use marine-grade aluminum (a la magnesium), and at wear points they need to replace plain carbon steel with "stainless steel. Stainless steel is simply machine steel that's alloyed with about 10% chromium. Roger

It's only the body that ages, the mind stays impetuous and naive 8-) Roger

Granted, hardcopy maps are from the Stone Age, but if you truly want to be in charge, you can purchase the Garmin Inland Lakes 2010 DVD" (money well spent). It supplies the cartography for something like 53,000 water bodies, and 1,400 of them are in High-Def (1-foot increments). Simply download the Garmin DVD onto the resident drive of your personal computer, and you'll enjoy total interaction with all charted lakes in the United States. The data is not embedded on a preprogrammed write-protected data card, but resides directly on your resident hard drive, where it's totally interactive. You'll be able to pinpoint your own waypoints coordinates on your computer monitor without ever seeing the lake. Waypoints can be quickly & easily edited, renamed, added and subtracted. Furthermore, contour maps, waypoints and routes generated on your computer screen may be instantly downloaded to your GPS device, while coordinates and tracks generated "afield" may be instantly uploaded to your personal computer. It's the Cat's Meow Roger

We caught one or two here and there but, our best numbers came on the northeast side of Strum Island. Holy smokes, we went through the Pig Trail on Monday, and drove right past "northeast Strum Island" on our way to Seven Palms. Roger howd you do at seven palms? Not as good as we'd hoped. Lois boated 3 legals on a Gambler Ace (T-rigged) and I boated a 4½ on a Gambler Sweebo (W-rigged). There are lush hydrilla beds at Seven Palms, but the water was 57 degs. With this little warming trend, fishing at the Big-K should pickup nicely this weekend. Roger

Spro BBZ Fast-Sink Shad Maybe it'll work for you, but we've found that soft swimbaits work much better. In short, the BBZ is hyperactive, but unproductive. Roger

I'm real glad you had a good time, and you can rest assured ANY Floridian would be very proud of a 9-pound bass We caught one or two here and there but, our best numbers came on the northeast side of Strum Island. Holy smokes, we went through the Pig Trail on Monday, and drove right past "northeast Strum Island" on our way to Seven Palms. Roger

I usually bring six all-purpose rods on my boat, and they play musical chairs based on availability. I have no spinning outfit dedicated to toad fishing, because I believe that "hookset timing" plays the major role. BTW: Two toads we like a lot are the "Stanley Floating Ribbit" and "Sizmic Popp'n Toad". Roger

Agreed It's fine to use a high-pressure jet on the rods and guides, but turn the pressure down when directed at reel joints and seams. High-pressure rinsing can deposit corrosives and abrasives in the reel mechanism that will be trapped until the reel is dismantled and cleaned. Roger

It's been many moons since I've pegged a bullet sinker. Owner Type-Z Bullet Head (3/16oz - 3/0) (no screw-coils, no toothpicks, no bobber stops, no rubberbands...NOTHING) Roger

All you really have is the outline of a lake, which is like playing darts with a blindfold. Tributaries streams are very important, but they cannot replace contour lines. What you need is a good "contour map" that displays the depth lines, and the smaller the increments, the better the chart. Roger

The first thing I'd do is kick it out to "late March" The rest is easy Roger

Inasmuch as nylon monofilament has greater "line diameter" than polyethylene braid, the mono should offer a little better cushion against fraying and abrasion. However, line diameters aside, the intrinsic abrasion resistance of each line material depends on the study you read. I've seen line material charts that rated the abrasion-resistance of nylon a tad better than braid, and other line charts that rated braid a tad better than mono. To my mind it's a wash. Fish are curious by nature and in my opinion, they'd be more likely to be attracted to a visible line rather than be alarmed. I've often said kiddingly, to use the brightest, gaudiest line to help bass follow the line to the lure at the end. All kidding aside, I've fished Dale Hollow Reservoir and gin clear lakes in Canada, and line-visibility has never been an issue I'm probably the wrong guy to answer that question, because I tie Fireline Tracer braid direct to everything and never use a leader. A) Polyethylene braid has less memory than any other line material, and with spinning tackle, limp braid is a Godsend. Like you, I too spent most of my life fishing with nylon monofilament (Berkley Trilene XL), and I ain't never goin back to the Boing-Boing string. In effect, the no-stretch amenity of braided line upgrades the sensitivity of your rod blank similar to increasing the tensile modulus. In addition, thanks to the "No-stretch" property of braid, it's not necessary to rock the boat every time you set the hook. C) Braid boasts remarkably thin line-diameter, and I believe that's far more important than line visibility. In my opinion, when we downside line-test to fish in crystal-clear water, what we're really doing is "reducing line-drag" to provide a more natural lure delivery. D) Braided line is indefinitely durable, and when I spool up a reel, I don't even have a replacement schedule. I just keep casting like a fool, until a couple hundred knots has shortened the line enough to be great Thanks

Is bullrush another name for buggy whips?....also what should I be using? It's the other way around...Buggy whips is slang for "bulrushes" (only one "L") I lived on the shore of Lake Walk-In-Water for several years. In many central Florida lakes such as the Stick Marsh and Walk-In-Water, "hydrilla" has been torn out by the root system by the hurricane-trio of 2004. In Lake Walk-In-Water, when you're fishing in water over a yard deep, bulrushes aren't the best thing, they're the only thing. Roger

Loomis?? That's a can of worms I'd rather not entertain. Let's just say that Loomis was taken prisoner by Shimano, and Gary escaped. My tow vehicle is a RAV4, so I know the feeling Roger

The motor is almost brand new, probably less than 10 hours. One minute it will run fine, the next, it bogs down and runs like crap. It starts easily and I get no alarms. They said it ran perfectly in the test tank and couldn't find anything wrong during the normal tests and computer diagnosis. Before I brought it to them, I drained the tank, added fresh fuel and changed the fuel filter on the motor. There's no inline filter. Ater that, it still did the same thing. They said the fuel lines are fine, no restrictions. IMHO, it's probably the ethanol messing with the engine management system. They told me there was no additive that they would recommend but I'm willing to give the Stabil stuff a try if they can figure out what's wrong. If engine repair was my bread-and-butter, I wouldn't recommend Sta-Bil either. ;D I'm now running a 4-stroke outboard motor, so instead of faithfully adding oil, I now faithfully add "Sta-Bil" as though it were oil (1oz per 2.5 gal) You never know when your boat may be decommissioned or laid up, and if there's no stabilizer in the fuel, it's going to gum up eventually. It's my understanding that stabilizer used to be a regular additive in gasoline, but has since been excluded. This behooves the boat owner to add it back. Roger