RoLo

2lb 10oz Roger

I love bass fishing in Winter, because in Florida it's so easy to put holes in the ice 8-) Roger

HOLY COW!! I can see it now, the new east coast killer lure, the "Chain Pickerel Swimbait" ;D Roger

When bass fishing in very deep water, the C-rig and a floating plastic can be used with a heavy weight. The heavy weight will get you down there pronto, but it won't affect the action of the plastic in tow. On the other hand, the T-rig with a heavy weight will be dragged around by the nose, directly affecting its fall rate. Given a choice, I'll always opt for the T-rig because it's quicker to rig, easier to cast and easier to set the hook. When setting the hook on a C-rig, you've got to straighten the line between the rod-tip and the egg sinker, as well as the line between the egg sinker and hook. That V-shaped dihedral in the line can absorb a lot of hook-setting force. Roger

Yes, Yo-Zuri is a hybrid line and a copolymer, which are one and the same. The only disputable attribute of Yo-Zuri is whether it should be classified as a monofilament line. Under a microscope, Yo-Zuri line consists of longitudinally aligned nylon fibers that make up the core, encased in a fluorocarbon coat. Very interesting technology. Roger

IMO thats the same theory as using the same lb test for every situation. Personally, i couldnt see myself using mono around abunch of rip rap. I don't think that "Line-test" is the best analogy. I own several dozen fishing outfits and the main reason I've sunk thousands of dollars into rods, reels and line is to satisfy different fish species and different line-tests. I stated the following, "I believe that once you select the line that you deem best overall, you'll soon become accustomed to it's behavior with different lures, and how it needs to be managed." For more than 50 years I've fished rip-rap with nylon monofilament, and now that I've switched from nylon to spectra braid, I now fish all rip-rap with braid. I didn't feel disadvantaged before, and I don't feel disadvantaged now (maybe happier now). When something goes wrong, I rarely blame my equipment, but typically blame myself and make any necessary adjustment. A. I don't fish for a living, I fish for recreation. B. I'm not easily hornswaggled by tournament marketing hype that would have you and I buy a different line for each different lure presentation and for every type of cover. But as always, to each his own Roger

Tremendous photo, Doghouse!!!!! Fish always look best when held by a child Roger

Well I'll be darned, and I thought LBH and I were the only heterodox on the forum ;D I actually started with baitcasting gear, but as Fish Chris admitted, I too stink at casting with conventional gear, but unlike Fish Chris, I have no excuse. As a kid, I've never even seen a spinning outfit, but after I got my first Mitchell-300 cap & blue Conolon rod, I was hooked for life. Much like Fish Chris, moving from mono over to braid was almost as monumental for me, as moving from casting over to spinning. Crappie with 2-lb test fluorocarbon...Hmmmmmmm Roger

BassAssasin12, I'd be interested in knowing what you think of braided line, so keep us abreast. Everyone learns from everyone else. Maybe Fish Chris is a spinning-only guy too, I sure didn't know that. But I've gone on record saying that I do all my casting with spinning tackle. I use conventional gear only for saltwater fishing, pike & shiner fishing for bass. I can tell you, spinning tackle and braided spectra go together like a Center-Console and Evinrude E-Tec. Roger

I never use the texpose style, but like both the 'texskin' and traditional 't-rig' (buried hook). The 2/0 is easier to set home beyond the barb, but tends to bunch up with plastic. The 4/0 is a cinch to sock home with braid, but the extra weight increases the fall rate. In the real world, it's hard to fish any stick worm wrong (senko, tiki stick, dinger, you name it) Roger

Though I'm not familiar with sea bass in the United Kingdom the sea bass in the states are called "Black Sea Bass" and are a saltwater species. If you're interested in Where, When & How, you've got a choice, try the "Other Species" forum or shoot me a PM, I'm very familiar with sea bass. My wife with a couple sea bass

AWESOME Vid Russ, as usual Are you getting soft in your old age, I thought I saw a baitcasting outfit ... Bass on those don't count, ya know ;D Though I said it before, you'd be Pure Murder here in Florida Roger

Tip-wrap is a minor occasional occurence, in fact, I wasn't aware of tip-wrap until someone else mentioned it. The first time I noticed it I was casting in a headwind. Small potatoes. Digging into the spool. Here again, I wasn't aware of line-burrowing until I tried to lift a stump off the bottom of the lake. Then my next cast was shortened by buried line. If anyone is thrown off balance by line-burrowing after a heavy hangup, it's only a matter of seconds to strip a few yards off the spool after you've been hung-up and before the next cast. The pike in my avatar was caught on 50 lb PowerPro braid and there was zero line-burrowing (I can't remember any that week). Impossible to cut? Well, no, it's very easy to cut, but sometimes it's almost impossible to break. But isn't that a good thing? Here's what I would suggest. Start out as I did and spool-up one outfit with braided line. In short order, you'll find out for yourself, the pros and cons. I've now got powerpro braid on every outfit with the exception of my ultra-light spinning tackle. I have a feeling that won't last forever : Roger

I really feel that all members of the pike family are of similar strength-per-pound, but if I were splitting hairs, I'd rank them in the following order: Pike - Muskellunge - Pickerel (but not by much). A lot of pickerel I've caught were much scrappier than a lot of hammerhandle pike I've caught. Though I've caught fish in the ocean that weighed several hundred pounds, I still enjoy catching chain pickerel and bluegill sunfish...just lucky I guess Roger

Excellent...I can't top that ;D

Ideally, a hard jerkbait will weigh the same as the water it displaces. Since the specific gravity of water varies with water temperature, "neutral buoyancy" can be very elusive. An unweighted soft jerkbait weighs slightly more than the water is displaces so it will descend but 'very slowly'. However, a soft jerkbait cannot be fished in this manner because it has no diving lip to get it down to the productive depth. In cold water when jerkbaits come into their own, the soft jerkbait is preferably used in the same fashion as a jigging spoon. Instead of casting over a school that's 40 feet away from the boat, the sounder is used to get directly over the target. The soft jerkbait is then lowered into the depth that is marking fish (bass or bait) and is jerked or yo-yoed on the drift within the productive depth zone. This cannot be done with hard jerkbaits, where you need to be laterally displaced from the school, if you get my drift. Roger

I agree with Avid, who quickly touched on most of the major points. Probably springing from my saltwater exposure to tidal influence, I was indeed a "lunatic" for a while (I know, I know, some things never change). I kept scrupulous records on everything that my wife and I and all my friends had caught in relation to lunar phases. I was actually beginning to discern a correlation that really wasn't there, because it was something I really "wanted to see". To make a long story, short, I put no stock today in lunar phases. Many fishing guides adamantly maintain that fish spawn according to lunar phases, but I reject that notion as well. I've yet to experience any convincing evidence that goes beyond lip-service. Roger

As the name suggests, copolymer line combines 'cooperative polymers' to create a hybrid line. Almost without exception, copolymer line (hybrid line) is some combination of nylon and fluorocarbon. The goal of course is to reap as many benefits from each material without inheriting their disadvantages. In spite of manufacturer claims, this is not possible. Not unexpectedly, "copolymer" falls somewhere between nylon and fluorocarbon in every line property in the chart below: NYLON COPOLYMER FLUORO BRAID Memory-Lack 85 80 70 100 Stretch-Resistance 65 75 80 95 Abrasion-Resistance 75 85 90 80 Life Span 70 85 95 95 Invisibility 85 90 95 65 RAW SCORE: 380 415 430 435 I apologize for the chart misalignment, we need RTF To be realistic, the "raw score" needs to be replaced with a "Weighted Score". That is, each line-property needs to be weighted between 0 and 100 according to each angler's personal order of declining importance. My order of importance coincides with the order listed above. In that order, the weighted score of "braid" (which is not shown) blows the wheels off all other line materials. Roger

Hmm, now I'm gett'n the feeling there's another way Roger

I'm pretty sure that if pickerel grew to 15 pounds you'd realize that they're just as strong as pike. It's really not fair to take any fish out of context, that's why we separate boxers into weight-classes Roger

As stated above, I agree that the Johnny Morris offers excellent quality components for the price, but I rank the Team Daiwa L&D over the Johnny Morris on the basis of balance and "feel" (the bottom line). Feel is really not something that can be argued, otherwise we'd all own the same rod. In the next room I have a pair of 14-lb class Johnny Morris rods and a pair of 14-lb class Team Daiwa Light & Tough rods. My Johnny Morris rods are 85-million modulus Graphite (6' 0 1 pce MH) and use Fuji SiC/Titanium Guides ($130 each) The TeamDaiwa Light & Tough are IM-6 Graphite (6' 0" 1 pce MH) and use Fuji Aluminum Oxide Guides ($115 each) I really liked my Johnny Morris rods "until" that is, I bought the team daiwa light&tough. Compared to the team daiwa L&T, the Johnny Morris now feels like a TV antenna (very disappointing) Roger

The bionic blade may not cost as much as the Johnny Morris, but in my opinion, it is definitely a contender of the Johnny Morris as is the Team Daiwa Light & Tough, which IMO blows Johnny away. Without splitting hairs, all of these are LOW-END rods, and when compared to a $300 G.Loomis, you begin to realize that $50 more or less is no guarantee of higher quality. Roger

I don't think your idea is completely without merit, I'm working on a similar plan myself (with modifications). You can throw softbaits anywhere that you can throw hardbaits, but not the other way around. Soft baits are not only weedless, but they're more mouthable. The one feature in favor of hardbaits is casting distance, but I use spinning tackle (not a problem). The swimbait is actually a renaissance, nothing more than a soft crankbait (old as the hills) I wouldn't be too quick to dump your idea. Roger

Quote from Laggyman Yes. There are bound to be some hidden variables, but any difference would be negligible. I personally prefer the copolymers (hybrid lines) over fluorocarbon on the memory issue alone. By the way, Cabelas carries Yo-Zuri and Yo-Zuri Ultra Soft. Roger

Pike make excellent table fare, and rank among the most palatable fish. The only inconvenience with pike & pickerel is that you've got to cutout a strip along the upper fillet that contains the Y-bones. If you fail to do this, you'll end up with a mouthful of whisker bones. Roger