RoLo

The peacocks were stocked in Florida more than 20 years ago, so their niche is already well-established and well-behaved. After one or two mild winters their range may extend slightly northward, but this is never a problem. Butterfly peacocks cannot survive in water below 60 deg F., so the first cold winter would prune them back to their tiny confined range in south Florida. Roger

Whether the lake is Natural or Artificial has a profound influence on the best cover in that lake. In my opinion at least, the "cover-preference" of bass never changes, what changes though is the "availability" of their favorite cover. Find a fisherman who fishes artificial lakes, and he will tell you that "wood" is the best cover (stickups, blowdowns, stumps, brush, etc). Ask a fisherman who fishes natural lakes and he'll tell you that any cover is good as long as it "weeds". When I lived in Georgia I fished West Point Lake a lot (an impoundment). At that time (1990s) I was not able to find any weed-beds except in two sluggish headwater arms. In the entire reservoir "wood" was King, and of course manmade structures like sunken roadbeds, barns, culverts, yada, yada. However, if you were fishing in either of those headwater arms, it would take dynamite to separate the bass from the weeds. In general, the order of cover preference is: Weeds - Wood - Rock. For smallmouth bass you'd just reverse that order (hard to soft). Not all fishermen agree as to the best plant species for largemouth bass, but these are among my favorites: > Pondweed (called "cabbage" in north, "peppergrass" in south <> Botanical Name: Potamogeton) > Hydrilla > Bulrushes > Eelgrass > Waterlilies (good ole lily pads) Roger

A little bit, but you need to narrow down the field

Absolutely Dom Mom & I frequently vacationed on Lake Huron, Ontario (30, 000 Islands), which as you know is an immense oligotrophic water (precambrian shield). The water is crystal clear with a rocky bottom and cavernous depths. Before each vacation, I used to preselect the mesotrophic bays at home using a hydrographic chart, and meso bays are very common in large oligotrophic waters. The oligotrophic main lake body has great "picture-postcard appeal" with its gorgeous rock outcroppings and clear blue water, however the water suffers from low fertility. The middle-age bays support far more fish per acre, because increased sedimentation reduces the depth, provides more color to the water (color is good) and higher water fertility. As a result, the meso bays is where you'll find the lushest weed growth and greatest biomass of warmwater fish such as northern pike, muskellunge, largemouth bass and smallmouth bass. Each mesotrophic bay is treated like a seperate lake within a large ecosystem. All that said, if you were targeting coldwater fish like lake trout or salmon, you'd be better off sticking to the clear, sterile oligotrophic waters of the the lake. It's the same on any large body of water in the United States. In most huge oligotrophic lakes, you'll find mesotrophic bays. In many large meso lakes you'll find backwaters and sloughs that function as eutrophic waters (more color, higher fertility). Bear in mind that all this applies only to natural lakes, and since reservoirs are "manmade" they have no part in this discussion. Roger

Limnology is a very comprehensive subject, so I'll just skim the surface. Two major lake subdivisions are Natural Lakes and Reservoirs (reservoirs are also known as impoundments & manmade lakes) NATURAL LAKES Natural lakes are subdivided according to "age", which is closely associated with "fertility", but they do not move lockstep. OLIGOTROPIC = Young Natural Lake Oligotrophic lakes are subdivided into "Early Stage" - "Mid-Stage" -"Late Stage". The lion's share of oligotrophic lakes occur mostly in northern latitudes where the glacier was last to recede. Oligos are typically clear, cool lakes with low fertility. MESOTROPHIC = Middle-Age Natural Lake Mesotrophic lakes are subdivided into Early Stage - Mid-Stage - Late Stage. Mesos typically have tinged water, medium fertility and support the most different species of fish, plants, reptiles and amphibians. EUTROPHIC = Old Natural Lake Eutrophic lakes are subdivided into Early Stage - Mid-Stage - Late Stage. Eutrophic natural lakes are found mostly in the southerly states, especially Florida. Eutrophic lakes are normally of dingy to murky clarity, warm water with high fertility. Old lakes support more fish, but not as many different species as middle-age lakes. Before a eutrophic lake dies all that may live in their water are roughfish such as catfish, bullheads and carp. A joke among limnologists refers to "late-stage eutrophic lake" as being synonymous to "early-stage cornfield". RESERVOIRS Manmade lakes are classified according to the topography of the surrounding terrain, just for example: > Hilland Reservoir > Flatland Reservoir > Canyon Reservoir Naturally we've only scratched the surface of limnology, but at least you have a small foundation to build upon Roger

Without getting into the price wars A Nikon with a Nikkor lens is state-of-the-art (a camera is never better than its lens) Roger

Wow, it looks like you're running on all cylinders already! That's a gorgeous bass Chris. Roger

Randall, you never cease to amaze, you are really dialed in on Lake Varner! Roger

It isn't the wand, it's the magician GREAT going fourbizz, I'm green with *** Roger

To my knowledge, Nest Depth is pretty much tied to Water Clarity. So if you can actually see the beds in water that's 9 feet deep, there may be enough sunlight reaching the bottom to support photosynthesis. (But that is "unusually" deep!). Roger

I use PowerPro on ALL my spinning reels So what are you saying, that there's something else? Roger

Muddy, I was an avid hunter in New Jersey and a frequent flyer at Cabelas. Today I rarely hunt anymore, so it's all about fishing. As a result, I've all but fired Cabelas, and it's due to their limited fishing inventory. I'm a One-Stop shopper, and that's not possible at Cabelas. I can get everything I need from BPS and TWH (rod & reels at Reeds). So, if I'm not in the market for Yo-Zuri Hybrid Ultra Soft I have no further use for Cabelas ;D Roger

WOW! Da Man spoke! Thinking more about it, I think your excactly right. Time of year is the first thing to take into consideration. A guy spends 1 day in the boat with Ike and he's a genius! LOL Everyone agrees that seasonal period is the "first thing" to take into consideration. This is especially true in manmade impoundments where bass generally scatter in shallower water in spring (creek arms) but tend to aggregate deeper in winter (original river channel). However, the responders to this thead were not alluding to systemic order. Rather than our "first consideration", your question Chris, asked for the MOST IMPORTANT FEATURE. Indeed, seasonal period is the logical first stepping stone, but in Florida for example, it's not a very important feature. Bass in the Deep South may be caught in 3 feet of water during Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter, whether they're spawning or not. If your planning a trip to Florida, you'll probably want a little more insight than calendar month to really nail down location. Roger

You forget about bass, and break out the big stuff Roger

Holy Cow! Looks like the Tennessee River is still growing them big & beautiful. Great fish, great pics. Roger

It was Buck Perry who coined the word "structure", and I really wish he hadn't. I read Buck's book called "Spoon Plugging" hot off the press. At that time the term "structure" implied "manmade", such as buildings, bridges, highways and dams. Indeed, Buck's expertise dealt with reservoirs, but anglers fishing natural lakes began using the word "structure" as a "placeholder" for the unknown. Unfortunately the meaning has been so obscured that fishermen today find themselves debating the differences between structure and cover. At any rate, I still refer to structure as "bottom contour", the same as I did before Buck published his book. A nagging problem between Bottom Contour and Cover is that some lakes contain cover but are practically void of contour (my home lake is a good example). Other lakes are chockfull of contour but are practically void of cover. Falling in this category are many of Canada's oligotrophic lakes, which are clear, rocky and loaded with drop-offs and underwater islands but are virtually weed-free. With that in mind, I believe that wherever a bass has a choice, it will gravitate first to "bottom contour" (rapid depth change), then find the best "cover" thereat. In lakes that are practically void of contour (like the dishpan lakes in central Florida), bass will always gravitate to the best "cover" For largemouth bass, weeds are their first love, followed by wood and lastly rocks. For smallmouth bass the order is reversed (hard to soft). As for depth, that's really another matter, sort of a combination of location and delivery (i.e. speed & depth). Bass depth changes with the seasons, but it varies a whole lot more between natural lakes and manmade lakes. Buck Perry's writings dealt chiefly with manmade reservoirs, so naturally he spoke of greater depths than Doug Hannon for example, who lives in Florida. Buck spoke of a bass sanctuary in 30 to 35 feet of water, while Doug maintains that the biggest bass are caught in less than 6 feet of water. Both gentlemen are correct. Roger

As much as I enjoy bank-fishing, you've hit it on the one big disadvantage. When fishing from shore in snag-infested waters I've had a lot of luck with T-rigged worms and with Johnson spoons. With the Johnson spoon, over-bend the weedless barb to create a little extra preload. With the t-rigged worm, be sure the hook-point is deeply embedded in plastic (no texskin, texpose or any halfway house). When you feel a snag, coax the lure through with a minimum of line tension, using very slow and very delicate pumping motions. The enemy is "pressure", because once the weedguard is depressed or once the hook-point busts through the worm, that's the ballgame. When you do get hung-up, walk the shoreline in both directions to change your line-of-pull. If you have to break it off, don't stand in the same place where you got snagged. Roger

Frankly, I don't know of any color fluke that doesn't work well (I've tried them all). For years my favorite fluke colors were Ice and Bubblegum, but lately I've been partial to Albino. In the real world, choose ANY color to be your favorite, and bass will convince you that's it's their favorite too Roger

Feb 25 - South end of Lake Kissimmee (I must have past Warmer today) > Rat-l-trap: 5 > Culprit worm: 1 > Zoom Fluke: 1 All bucks again, nothing over ~2.5lbs > Though I spent most of my time with the fluke, the lipless plug was today's winner. At boat-side I lost what may have been my PB chain pickerel! His head looked like a northern pike (fell for a rat-l-trap). Get this, my wife caught a 12" crappie on a rat-l-trap. All but two bass came from maidencane, one from spikerush and one from spatterdock. Most of our action was along the south side of Brahma Narrows and at the South Lagoon near the 60-bridge. We bombed at the slough, which was lousy with boats but we didn't see one bass taken...go figure. Roger

You really need to be more specific. "Braid" is an umbrella term that describes the weave not the material. There's Nylon braid, Dacron braid, Kevlar braid and Polyethylene braid. Roger

Rat-L-Trap

X4 (smithwick rattlin' rogue)

Feeding an alligator is not brave, it is not selfless, it is not humorous and it is certainly not kind. The only reason a gator might follow an angler is because it was fed in the past by a human (cowardice). Over time the gator will lose its fear of man, and become a nuisance gator that must be destroyed. Gators are gorgeous creatures that should be respected but not feared. Unfortunately, an alligator that is fed by humans will ultimately cost the gator its life. Roger

I voted for: 'Learning new techniques' (new lures, new techniques, new lakes). I enjoy breaking new ground more than repeating old ground. On a new lake, taking notes might consume a third of my fishing day. Roger

I tried that once in an old rowboat, but when I came down I busted through the bottom of the boat!