RoLo

I like your style

You lucky devil When I was very young, I used to dream about running my own trap-line in British Columbia (really). Roger

Actually, it probably was.

I agree with that Tom. Items with the lowest profit margin probably receive little in the way of quality control. In fact, the big tackle dealers only carry this stuff as a marketing necessity, because if they can't provide One-Stop Shopping, they can't corner the market. Roger

Raul, I couldn't help but notice that interesting backdrop!!! Yah, they put so much phophate fertilizer in Bill's ponds, the bass are turning blue : ;D : Roger

Sufix makes terrific fishing line and I recently tried Sufix Siege on my spinning gear. It boasts every asset you could ask of a line except one, it has "too much memory", a Big No-No for the spinning angler. Braid has zero memory and causes zero problems. Any problems I might have with braid are caused by me, not the line. And yes, I can get into trouble with any line Roger

Dish Network - Channel: 217 (Polk County, Florida) Roger

Great going pickerelpiney!!! Don't forget about the Big-W 9-lb 0 oz Green Pond, NJ (former world-record) 9-lb 3-oz Medford lakes, NJ (Jersey broke its own world-record) 9-lb 6-oz Guestmill Pond, GA (current world-record) Roger

In my opinion, the slowing down approach that Flippin4it described provides your best chances with a buzzbait during coldwater periods. When I lived in New Jersey, we've seen days in mid-winter when bass could be found in 3 feet of water! Yes, but in every case it was in the afternoon during a warm-front and the shallow water was adjacent to a sharp drop-off. Although these bonanzas are typically short-lived, we all tend to talk about them for years on end. Roger

Fish Tank, you asked an innocent little question and look at this can-of-worms ;D Pursuant to what JT Bagwell contributed, it's not a good idea to chase a problematic product (be patient). Roger

Kool Question 8-) It's been my experience, that when a bass strikes a lure and misses, there's a better than even chance that he'll strike again. On the other hand, if I felt the weight of the bass during the strike, it's almost a certainty that I won't get him to strike anymore. We as fishermen typically say that the bass "felt the hook", but in reality a bass has no idea what a hook might be. More than likely, when a bass experiences "resistance" during his attack, he may instinctively feel as though he's unqualified to subdue or hang onto the prey, so he will opt out. For example, striped bass will hit an eel harder than anything else that I know. I believe the reason for this is that stripers instinctively know that they need to whack an eel fast and hard. It has been documented that even a swallowed eel is sometimes capable of swimming back out through the bass's gullet and out his mouth. So while fishermen believe that the fish felt the hook, the predator may have his own reasons for snubbing a bait. Roger

FC, what body of water are you fishing? I'll bet you've given serious thought to the lower Columbia River, WA/OR. I sometimes dream about the Fraser River, BC :-* :-* Roger

I agree with Senile1, and should've mentioned Kevin's book. Lump me in with the newbies, because I learned a lot from Kevin's "Bass Strategies" Roger

I'm admitting my age here, but the most remarkable author on bass fishing that I've ever encountered was "Jason Lucas". He published a book entitled "Lucas On Bass" and the tenets he disclosed in that book still fit perfectly into today's age of high-technology. Jason was waaay ahead of his time, but unfortunately his work wasn't fully appreciated until after his passing. Another icon and legend in his own time is Homer Circle (Uncle Homer). The word of Homer Circle carries an air of credibility that most other writers can only ***. I still enjoy reading Uncle Homer to this day, his reign can be likened to Joe Franklin's "Memory Lane" (who's Joe Franklin?). My all-time favorite writer by far is Al Lindner. I've learned more from the "In-Fisherman" magazine than all other publications combined. I still possess hand-written letters from Al Lindner. We corresponded after he left Fishing Facts and started the In-Fisherman magazine. Roger

WHERE LAKE ERIE The attention has shifted from Bass Islands, OH in the western basin of Lake Erie to Dunkirk Harbor, NY in the eastern basin of Lake Erie. WHEN MAY is generally the best month but June is more comfortable and also an excellent month WHY From all that I've read, Lake Erie supports the world's greatest biomass of 2 to 4 pound smallmouth bass. My wife & I fished Bass Islands, Lake Erie and have no reason to doubt that statement, the fishing in a word, "incredible". Randy VanDam caught the Ohio record smallie in 1993, it weighed 9lb 8oz! Since that time there's been an ecosystem shift and the spotlight is now on the eastern basin, though all of Lake Erie is superb. As soon as New York picked up the ball, the state record smallmouth bass was broken thrice in one year: 7¼, 7½ and 8¼.lbs. In a tournament on Lake Erie, the winning stringer was an incredible 5-bronzeback stringer weighing 30.5 lbs (6.1 lb average). There's some sightseeing and wineries in the area. If you want more in the line of sightseeing for your wife, you might consider the Thousand Islands, in the St. Lawrence River, which we fished extensively (albeit pike was always the target). The St Lawrence River out of Cape Vincent and Clayton (to a lesser extent Alexandria Bay) is a very fine bronzeback fishery, but not in the same league with Lake Erie. On the upside, the Thousands Islands is absolutely gorgeous and due to the myriad of islands, you can get by with a smaller boat. Roger

Run a Q-Tip swab through the guide, and you can easily feel a slight ding or knick as the cotton will hang-up on any bad spot. Roger

Feel free to do so. We're all ears ;D Roger

This is a vibrant thread, but realistically, it rests pretty heavily on "semantics". It does bring to mind an old joke that I'd like to share: Two bulls are rounding the crest of a knoll, and as soon as they mount the rise they can see a half dozen cows grazing in the field below. The young bull blurts out "HEY, let's run down there and meet one of the those cows!!!!" The old bull replies, "Nah, let's walk down there and meet them all." Roger

A. I don't think it's possible to draw a hard line like 15 ft, because underwater lighting (subaqueous luminosity) varies according to sky brightness, water clarity, time of day, surface disturbance and other factors. B. In the second place, at a depth of 15 ft there's isn't much color recognition remaining in most lakes, regardless of the color. C. In the third place, it would be of little value in Florida, the bass capital. In Florida, you'd be hard pressed to find 15 ft of water in many of state's finest bass lakes, and when you do find 15 ft of water, it's normally dark, quiet and lonely :-? :-/ :-? Roger

Any single-strand line is "monofilament", common examples are nylon and fluorocarbon. Furthermore, some copolymer lines are "monofilament" (Berkley Sensation) while some copolymer lines are "cofilament" (Yo-Zuri Hybrid). "Hybrid" is just another term for "copolymer". The industry never waivers, it's fishermen who rewrite the definitions. Roger

PowerPro Braid (20 to 50-lb) BTW: 8-lb Yo-Zuri Hybrid Ultra Soft is 0.011" in diameter, 30-lb PowerPro Braid is 0.011" in diameter Roger

That's an excellent possibility! Nothing can insult a fisherman (again & again) like a little ding in the bottom edge of the tip-top guide :-[ Roger

It wasn't long ago that we discussed the COST of quality control and R&D, the topic being Lucky Craft. I guess this post represents the flipside of the equation, as it involves the Bass Pro Shops house brand. It's no big deal, but it's so pathetic that it's humorous. I recently recieved a shipment from Bass Pro Shops. While I was shaking my head over the length of the "back-order" list, my wife didn't agree with one of the items. She said to me, "These sinkers look heavier than 1/16 oz". I agreed with her and threw one of the sinkers on my grain scale (No, I don't smoke pot, I reload my own cartridges), sure enough, both BPS-Brand 100-pack sinkers marked "1/16 oz" were in fact, 1/8 oz sinkers :-/ : :-/ Just a heads-up fellows, don't even believe what appears on the label, and verify the veracity of everything. Roger

This may sound a bit odd, but all I ask of a jig is that it's "Stocky" and provides "Tentacles", the same two properties that complement the Fat Boy Ika. The stocky body provides the target, which in winter should be delivered very slowly. The tentacles provide a subtle perpetual motion to the lure, even at rest on the bottom. The overall length of all my jigs (year-round) is about 4 inches, give or take a 1/2" (equivalent bulk of a 7" worm). I'm measuring to the end of the claws, not to the end of the slender antennae. My favorite jig weight is 1/4 oz, but I'll go to 1/8 oz as needed, or up to 1/2 oz in very deep water or in a strong current. I don't mess with half sizes anymore, I either "double" or "halve" the weight. Roger

On another thread, I commented on Brad_Coovert's avatar, which pictures the Flappin Hog. Brad responded by telling me that the lure has been discontinued. Though I found them on e-Bay, I'm not inclined to chase a fading product. http://sporting-goods.search.ebay.com/yamamoto_Soft-Plastics_W0QQsacatZ31691 Roger