RoLo

Highly over looked Agreed! I've got a drawer full of Outkast Swim Jigs and Pro Staff jigs, a rather expensive anthology of dust collectors :-[ Roger

I'd go with the X-Rap, and since you didn't say "hard", the Zoom Super Fluke. Roger

You'll have to be a little more specific. At least 50% of all plastic worms float, maybe two thirds. I think you're looking for the same worm that I'm looking for. I'm looking for a plastic worm with the buoyancy to float a standard wire 3/0 Gamakatsu hook. The Strike King 3x Floating Worm was THE worm for surface work, which floated high on the surface during long pauses. Unfortunately, it seems that most (all) tackle distributors have dropped the Floating Cyberflexxx Worm. Roger

Zoom Super Fluke - 1/2oz Rat-L-Trap - Plastic Craw w/1/8 oz Bullet Sinker Roger

I had to look at the name to be sure I wasn't reading my own post. I agree with what you wrote, verbatim literatim Roger

Gambler Cane Toad or Uncle Josh Sizmic Toad (specify high floater) Spinning tackle with 50-lb PowerPro braid. Pitch it smack into the slop and begin the retrieve simultaneous to splashdown. Crank the toad slow and steady, only fast enough to keep it on the surface and to keep the feet active. If you're still here in April and May you're in for a topwater treat Roger

On all the best fishing days of my life, my lures carried the scent of human hands mixed with fish slime. Please forgive me for that, but I kid you not. Roger

I always tie direct to the manufacturer's original equipment, without adding or subtracting any hardware. It's their product, so I give them the benefit of the doubt. Roger

The SENKO was the Biggest Hit in the past couple of decades, yet it took fishermen many many years to discover its productivity! Why Did It Take So Long? Because lure action that appeals to "fishermen" is not always the same lure action that appeals to bass. Although fishermen may be lured to baits that CORKSCREW through the water, bass may prefer a more natural delivery, a lure that glides with subtle action like the senko, sluggo and gitzit. A dying minnow does not undulate in helical fashion, the death-rattle involves stiff spastic jerks separated by periods of total inactivity (hence the jerkbait). When you've seen as many new fangled lures as I have, you become much less impressionable. Is that the Bait Monkey I hear growling? :-/ Roger

I stopped kissing fish, when I learned that Jimmy Houston has Halibutosis. Roger

WELL...I thought the music was pretty Kool 8-) The swimming action of that lure makes you wonder if a lure can't have TOO MUCH action (it's very un-senko). A fat, lazy old bass may not be in the mood to run down such a nimble energetic looking target. The other thing that comes to mind is that head action. As the bait swims forward the head wags vigorously back-and-forth. If that were a live fish, he'd be dealing with vertigo and migraine headaches ;D Roger

Actually it's SOOL (does that help?) Spring is a long and schizophrenic season. During "very early" spring the Suspending Jerkbait can be uniquely productive. In contrast, "late" spring is that magic time of year when ALL lures seems to work (surface, mid-water & bottom lures). I can hardly wait Roger

Great thread guys...good stuff! I would only add one little thought. In my opinion, jigs should not be thought of as "deepwater lures" necessarily, but rather as "bottom lures", because when properly fished, jigs are effective at any depth. Roger

Along the eastern seaboard, tree sparrows usually doesn't migrate farther south than Virginia. However, their wintering quarters in central United States is further south, where tree sparrows commonly winter in northern Texas. In fact, winter birders reach their highest counts of tree sparrows in Kansas, directly north of Texas. (As an aside, I seen a tree sparrow in my backyard in Georgia, but that was on the heels of the blizzard of 1993) http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/bbs/htm96/cbc622/ra5590.html Roger

Well....Yes and No. Since you only fish in the northwest corner of the lake, during a strong southeaster your Snake will be washed up on the beach ;D Roger

Since I'm retired, I'm at liberty to choose fishing days when the air temperature is rising (we haven't seen much of that lately). A warming trend is usually but not always associated with a wind out of the southern hemisphere. Beyond that, I'm really not concerned about wind direction. My only mission is stay out of the teeth of a big wind so I can maintain boat control. During a nasty chop I favor the sheltered water along an upwind shoreline, a protected bay, canal, cove or feeder creek. We all know that water current is a tremendous catalyst for triggering a bite, but the wind force required to create just a little water current is quite shocking (a very poor risk/reward ratio). I believe it's smarter and get your water current from "under" the water instead of "above" the water. Elevated water current is found in any bottleneck, whether it's a canal, finger creek, thoroughfare or island cut. If it's an impoundment, learn the generating schedule and favor the times when water is being released (no wind necessary). Roger

It would be my guess that the bird you heard was a "tree sparrow" (Tiny black stickpin on his breast). In New Jersey, we only seen tree sparrows when there was snow on the ground, when food was in short supply. Roger

In my experience, Daiwa, Shimano and St Croix all offer excellent blanks at a fair price. If you're in the market for something esoteric, you might be happier with a Kistler, Loomis or Megabass 8-) Roger

I use spinning tackle exclusively (save my ultra-light gear) and every reel is spooled with 20 or 30-lb PowerPro Spectra Braid. It casts stupendously well, it's non-stretch, it has zero memory, it's non-twist, it's exceedingly strong, it lasts indefinitely ~ ~ ~ ~ In all sincerity, PowerPro braid is the greatest angling upgrade I made in about 25 years. I don't miss mono one iota Roger

I even stopped using fluorocarbon for leaders, that stuff is kinkier than titanium wire Roger

That is definitely the case, and I've hunted deer for several decades with shotgun, rifle and of course bow & arrow (my favorite). Deer are innately crepuscular, meaning that they're most active during twilight. Twilight connotes half-light and includes dawn, dusk, overcast days and moonlit nights. Nonetheless, this has little or nothing to do with a celestial influence, but is a simple matter of luminosity (good viewing light). Moonlight is nothing more than sunlight reflected off the moon, which is therefore subdued light because it's indirect. Deer are always more active during moonlit nights, and as a result, deer hunting typically stinks during the following day. Almost invariably, deer are already in their bedding quarters after a moonlit night "before" I reach my morning stand. That same evening, deer will stay put until after legal hunting hours, and won't make their way into the fields until moonlight. However, if an otherwise moonlit night is shrouded by heavy cloud cover, then it's business as usual, which corroborates the fact that the moon's effect is purely a matter of lighting and not astronomical or celestial in nature. Roger

I didn't know that Ronnie, but I'm pretty sure they were separate entities when I formed my opinion, when pterodactyls where still roosting in my giant live oak tree Roger

Rod discussions are always amusing because they're mainly subjective. With price in mind, I think the world of the Bionic Blade, they're super little shafts. For twice the price however, I'm about 3 times happier with the Daiwa Light and Tough. Again, it's not about right or wrong, it's merely one's personal opinion of feel, function and latitude. Everyone isn't fishing the same way, so we're not all looking for the same thing. Roger

Shimano are my favorite reels, followed closely by Daiwa. Pflueger makes excellent and affordable reels, they're just not my favorite. I use the little Pflueger Purist for pike and muskies and they've never failed where Quantums have literally fallen apart > (I'd go with Zebco before Quantum...just a bone to pick) Roger

The forerunner of the high-tech super lines was Spectra line, a German kite-string made of non-stretch "braided polyurethane". Once the stage was set, several super lines made their debut in rapid succession. The first super line to appear on the angling scene was TUF Line, a braided polyurethane, the same as spectra line, but with added dacron for better colorization. Hot on its heels were braided "Kevlar" by Dupont and braided "polyethylene" by Fenwick, but both lines were short-lived as they failed the test of time. Ironically, PowerPro Spectra IS "Braided Polyurethane" the same material as the original German kite-string! Kevlar and polyethylene have both fallen by the wayside, so in some cases, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Although fishermen enjoy brandishing the name of a given manufacturer, if the line material is "Braided Polyurethane" you're going to be happy with its performance. The difference between the performance of PowerPro, TUF and Sufix will remain an ongoing debate, which is testament to the fact that any difference is illusory and benign. I personally use and love PowerPro braided polyurethane, in fact, if there's a better line than Braided Polyurethane, I'd feel as though I were cheating :-[ Roger