RoLo

If we're going to credit bass with the ability to reason and remember, then I'm afraid we'll have to remove all our hooks! Predatory fish are accustomed to seeing forage fish with food protruding from their mouths, such as insects and vegetable strands. If a bass could actually associate a fishing line in the mouth of bait with "danger", then why would that same bass forget about the hook, which is much larger, much easier to see and far more unnatural than one hair-like filament? Roger

True. Anyone who elects to re-sharpen their own hooks should not purchase Owner hooks. To manually sharpen the Owner you'd need to start with a coarse stone to reconfigure the knife-edge point (re-triangulate) which removes a lot of metal and ends up with a thinner, weaker point than the original knife-edge. Roger

Yup, and spinnerbaits immediately come to mind

You obviously know how, but most anglers are better off not attempting to re-sharpen a hook (lost art). With hooks like the X-point you'd need a coarse stone to re-triangulate the point, then a fine hone to get a keen point. I wouldn't bother. How often to replace the hook is not time-dependent, but depends on the condition of the point (e.g. Nail-shave test). For instance, if the point makes hard contact with a rock on the "first cast", it's already a candidate for replacement. On the other hand, the point may stay sharp all day, especially during a slow day. I'm pretty sure that Roadwarrior feels the same way. Roger

Hmmph, you've piqued my curiosity...we'll stay tuned

Strike King Elaztech Finesse Worm It comes in 4 and 7" and floats higher than any plastic worm on the market. Did I mention indestructible? One worm could last as long as the jig Roger

Welcome Back Lane I was wondering about your long radio silence, and I'm glad that your back Roger

The content is a tad underwhelming, and frankly, I already know most of that stuff ;D Roger

I get a boot out of reading the self-deprecating replies. Not only does it takes guts too blame yourself, but it shows that you're on the right track. There are many things that can go wrong, but lost fish are usually the result of one of two angler faults: 1. The hook was not "Set Beyond The Barb" (the only substitute is a wing and a prayer) 2. The angler did not maintain a "Constantly Taut Line" To be totally fair, there are a couple of other things that can go wrong that smack of bad luck rather than total negligence. 1. When the hook "keyholes" in the fish's mouth. 2. When the line wraps around an underwater object (stump, reed stalks, brush, piling, ad nauseam). The pike family (pickerel, pike and muskellunge) have alligator-like snouts composed of membrane that's especially susceptible to keyholing, and bass to a lesser extent. Even on a taut line, once the hook is badly keyholed, a headshake or an abrupt turn can mean a lost fish. Much worse than keyholing is when the line wraps around a snag!!! Whenever this happens you are in trouble DEEP! In truth, this single event has cost me more big bass than all other causes combined. Once the fishing line gets snarled around an underwater snag, the fish gains two tremendous advantages. Even if you're maintaining a taut line, the tight line is only good up to the snag, because behind the snag the bass has the ability to produce slack line and slip the hook. The flipside is just as bad. Once the line gets wrapped around an object, the fish now has the leverage to literally tear free of the hook, because the reel drag has been rendered totally useless. Roger

FivePound, there is nothing unusual about your question at all. When there's a puppy with big feet, what is the first thing that everyone says? "Oh boy, he's going to be a Big dog, because he's got to grow into those Big feet". But in this case, that's a fairly accurate statement Roger

Fish Chris and Raul both nailed it. The weight of a bear in the wild is very difficult to estimate. Be it a black bear, grizzly bear or polar bear, the hunter will typically estimate the bear's weight by assessing the relative "smallness" of its skull in relation to the body. The skull consists essentially of bone and has a more stable growth rate than the rest of the body which hinges more on food intake. It's the same for bass. Roger

I wonder if they're any cheaper if you order a few of them : Roger

Like me, I'll bet you've read several articles stating that bass will rise 15 feet or more to a surface lure. Okay, I've caught smallmouth bass in the Delaware River that blasted topwater lures in 15 to 20-foot deep pools. Now ask me how often that happens...once every 30 minutes or once every 30 days. There's little doubt that the lure will indeed be perceptible to bass, but 15 feet is a long sprint for a bass, even without any change in depth (lateral run). More important than the depth of the water is the depth of the open corridor between the weed tops & water surface. As the open-water corridor exceeds 5 ft or so, my confidence in surface lures wanes sharply Roger

I'm in KU's camp here. Last year I ordered a Boga Grip for our Canada vacation, but was very disappointed! The 30-lb Boga is graduated in 1/2 lb increments; which is not what I had in mind. > I also own a "Normark Digital 50 Weigh-In" that must be 30 years old. About two years ago, the digital scale still read within an ounce of a certified scale, and that's what I'm accustomed to. I will say this, keeping the Digital Scale in batteries can be a drag, whereas my Boga and Chatillon scales require no electrical power. Roger

If a plastic craw is not considered a creature bait (as if bass know the difference), I'd go with the Gambler Ugly Otter. Roger

if by heavy animal you mean me, then yes. i put on some waiters(sp) to clear a path for my jonboat and instead of going through it, the plant just sunk some and i could walk on it. if i were to lay down flat and distrubute my weight evenly im sure i could be completely above water. so i looked it up and all the pictures and descriptions of aligatorweed match the stuff in my lake. Thanks to your excellent photos, plant identification was possible (great field work on your part). Normally I get a sketchy field remarks like "It's bright green, stands about 18" tall and has white flowers in summer" ;D Anyway, once you've seen alligatorweed you never forget it; and yes, when it's very dense it might support a human being. Roger

The only freshwater fishing shows that I actually look forward to watching are the "In-Fisherman" and "Lindner's Angling Edge". The In-Fisherman has been televised from 1979 to date, so it certainly stood the test-of-time. Though Al and Ron have sold to Primedia in 1998, Doug Stange does a great job, but of course he's got an impossible act to follow. Like everything else the Lindner brothers do, their latest venture, "Lindner's Angling Edge" involves top-notch photography, trophy-class fish and is chockfull of information. I believe that Lindner's Angling Edge is only aired on OLN (versus), but it might be cheaper just to buy the Angling Edge DVDs instead of subscribing to Versus ($30/mo). Oh wait a minute, but then you would miss Ted Nugent and his paintball gun : Roger

AvalonJohn, With any new lure we unfortunately start out with a confidence tank on Empty. Before fishing "any" new lure, I would strongly suggest studying the action of the lure from shore or preferably from a pier over shallow water. Determine the best retrieve to use, so when you actually fish the new lure, you won't have to guess what it looks like. You will already know exactly what it's doing and your confidence will already be in gear. Best of Luck Roger

The zoom super fluke is truly a versatile lure and may be fished a number of ways. I rig the fluke unweighted and upside-down on a Gamakatsu 4/0 Z-bend Super-Line hook. I bury the hook-point as centrally as possible in the back-plastic which is only about 1/8" thick. With braided line, hooking-up is a cinch, but removing the hook is often a problem : Roger

In this situation, the hook-size is determined primarily by the bulk of the plastic lure rather than the size of the quarry. Using a 5-inch stick worm (senko, ***, tiki stick) I'd go with a 4/0 Gamakatsu Offset-Shank Super Line hook (0.062" dia). However, if you're using monofilament line instead of braid, you might be better off using the standard-wire Gammy (series 58). Roger

Have you ever thought about Tennis? just kidding, just kidding ;D

The paddletail worm is an incredibly productive soft-plastic, I'd have to think long and hard to name a lure I like more. A couple of years ago, I purchased every readily available paddletail worm and compared them brand-for-brand. Surprisingly, the most productive was the Bass Pro Shops Paddle Stik, which is actually the BPS Stick-O with a paddletail. In the same vein, the new Swimming Senko is nothing more than a senko with a paddletail. The paddletail worm can be fished anyway you like, my wife fishes a "white" paddletail like a plastic crayfish and does very well. I prefer a slow-glide as though working a ribbontail worm. By the way, a 5½" paddletail worm will take a 12-lb bass! The Gambler Flapp'n Tail Worm is another excellent paddletail worm, made of tough plastic and perfect for weed probing. Another super paddletail worm is a local handpour at Bridgemasters, which is a dead-ringer of the Bass Pro worm As a reminder, when ordering anything from BPS, click on the Bass Pro Shops banner Right Here in Bass Resource. If you're interested in the BPS paddletail, you'll need to type "paddletail stik" in the find box. For some reason the BPS search engine doesn't recognize the correct name (Paddle Stik). Roger

I prefer the "solid" toads to the hollow frogs, which have the annoying tendency of taking on water. I haven't been able to get out lately, but based on years past, temperatures in the 90s are just fine, as long as the lake isn't suffering from a dissolved oxygen deficit. Clear through the summer (in Florida), you'll find days when bass are busting in the pads and maidencane; easy pickings with a toad. BTW: My favorite toads are the Cane Toad and Sizmic Toad. Roger

When I fish (not nearly enough), I enjoy experimenting as much as catching fish. Experimenting helps me to learn and grow, but more importantly it keeps the game fresh and interesting by placing special meaning on every bass caught. That said, one of my favorite experiments is comparing leaderless braid with leadered braid (with my wife's cooperation). I've used fluoro leaders (which I loathe), but switched to Trilene Big Game with negligible loss (refractive index: 1.42 vs. 1.52) If there's a difference between braided line with a leader and braided line without a leader it has eluded me many times. Long story short, I never use a leader with PowerPro braid (unless I'm experimenting again). Roger

There you have it folks, yet another advocate of buzzbaiting during a light show. That's what I'M talking about! Roger