RoLo

Sadly, there are skin mounts on every wall of my den. I hasten to point out though, without exception all the trophies were taken during the 26 period between 1960 and 1986. As Matt said, fiberglass replicas were not available back then, furthermore, "catch-and-release" was a phrase that only came into vogue later on. During most of that era, the closest thing to "catch-and-release" was a few "No-Kill" stretches imposed on a couple of New Jersey trout streams. As Matt also said, good skin mounts do seem to last a lifetime, well, most of them. I have moved several times (thrice in Florida alone), and all the wear-and-tear that they show was sustained during those moves. In all honesty, two of them did become so shabby that I decided to discard them. Okay, that was then...this is now. For the past 20 years I've been releasing my gamefish. I know fully well that a certain percentage of those fish ultimately died as a result of toxic buildup and stress. Be that as it may, we can only do the best that we can. My wife and I both enjoy eating fish, to put it mildy. As a result, I will designate certain days for table fare when we target big bluegills and crappies, which are highly prolific.

Spring is the easiest time of year to fish, especially late spring. I can remember when I first started bass fishing. I caught more bass by accident in spring then I caught the rest of the year on purpose. Other than a buzzbait, you can fish just about anything your heart desires. I personally like tube lures and jerk plugs in early spring, which promptly widens out to stick worms, action-tail worms, plastic grubs, jig & trailer, spinnerbait (esp. single colorado) and twitch-type topwaters.

Technically speaking, the weeds are cover, and the drop-off you described is your structure. Speaking just for myself, I always place structure (bottom contour) ahead of cover, and wherever you can bring the two together it's virtually assured that you've found a holding site. The point being, if I'm not covering big bass, no lure, size or color will produce a big bass.

Wow, this thread was read 1,752 times (Feb 8), but only 1 person in 35 responded, that's pretty low. As it happens, the senko is nothing more than a stick worm, and the stick worm is not new. When I say stick worm, I'm not including straight worms like the Creme Scoundrel and Manns Jelly worm. Those have a little shape, but I'm referring to the true Pen Worm. I'm only guessing, but I'd say the Culprit jerk worm was available about 20 years ago. It was the first true pen worm I have ever seen, but I'm sure there were predacessors. The pen worms never made it big, and I believe the culprit jerk worm was discontinued a long ago. So what took the stick worm so long to become popular? If you were to ask me, I'd have to blame it on the fishermen (the bass never changed). The problem it seemed, was that no one really knew what to do with a stick worm, myself included. Our first mistake was to add a bullet sinker. Our second mistake was to jerk it. To my knowledge, the first person to advocate adding NO action to the lure was a fellow named Charlie Brewer. Charlie was way ahead of his time, but not many fishermen were listening. Anyway, it took anglers an eternity to finally "do nothing", with something that already looked like "nothing", and to do it without weight. BOY, what a difference that made!

For the most part, the larger the school the smaller the bass; the larger the bass the smaller the school (population dynamics). For this reason the term "schoolie" is synonymous to "small". When a guy tells me he caught 50 bass yesterday, I instinctively visualize a bunch of small bass. To minimize cannibalism, bass almost have to school in year-class (age). As a result, the older the bass, the scarcer the bass, the smaller the school. Indeed, the largest of bass usually swim alone or in a small pod of two or three bass.

I introduced my daughter to fishing when she was very young, but 2 things dominated my thoughts: > Keep her rod bent as much as possible (bluegills / carp), even if meant that daddy was bored > Make darn sure she didn't get stuck by a hook. After that it was a walk-in-the-park, as both my girls love fishing (my wife and my daughter).

Gary Yamamoto didn't become a multimillionaire by chopping down the Money Tree

I have a hunch that the key to your 8-lb bass is a matter of Location . With regard to presentation, there isn't much I can tell an angler who fishes 250 days a year Furthermore, if you're catching several 4 to 6 lb bass, I don't think your presentation needs much work. Avid, do you have a hydro or topo chart of your home lake? If so, I'd be interested in looking at that chart.

I don't like hardware anymore than you. I too have done a lot of pike fishing by tying direct to my line. However, the extent to which we get away without using wire leader depends on three things: 1. Size of your Lure 2. Size of the Pike 3. Mood of the Pike If I'm trolling a 6" plug or spoon, the chances are very good that the pike's teeth will never reach my line during the fight. On the other hand, if the pike is 18 pounds and in an aggressive mood, my luck may run out. Sadly, it's usually the trophy pike that will cut us off, not the hammer-handles. In my post above, I said you can fish the same "JIG" all day. When fishing a jig and minnow (a highly effective method) a wireless rig is an invitation to problems, regardless of the size and mood of the pike. The jig & minnow is a finesse delivery that generally requires time to coax the pike to engulf the lure. With a wire leader this is a piece of cake, without any wire though, especially with big aggressive pike, it's like spoon-feeding jigs to the pike.

I've tried that route. Just when you think you're getting away with murder, the line suddenly goes slack and your fish and lure are gone. With a titanium leader (not steel), you can fish the same jig all day long. In the avatar is a bluefish and bonito. With bonito you can get away with 50 lb mono, because they have small well-spaced teeth, but it's Russian Roulette with bluefish and pike.

Yep If you're fishing for pike and you hear a loud splash in the shallows, nine times out of ten it's a largemouth bass. I don't why, but feeding bass up north sound like they've fallen out of a low tree. I always have an outfit rigged for bass that betray their shallow presence (they're usually good fish).

Depends on the point. Some points have one known holding site, some may have a dozen. (Long Point, Lake Erie probably has fifty)

The spawning season is a very protracted period and includes the pre-spawn, spawn and post-spawn stages. When anglers refer to the spawning peak this is often the pre-spawn peak, when the cows are still biting. Florida's spawn embraces almost half a year, but most would agree that "March" is the most productive month. In New Jersey, "May" is the peak spring month, so in your region "April" would pretty much nail it.

Originally, primary and secondary points were terms used for impoundments (manmade lakes). In the beginning, a "primary" point was a shoreline protuberance in the river channel, and a "secondary" point was a shoreline protuberance in the creek channel. Occasionally they were totally submerged and not visible in the outline of the lake. Because the river channel is involved, points formed by the merger of a creek and river channel were deemed primary points. Over the years however, those terms have become convoluted. Today, you'll read articles that refer to large prominent points as primary, and smaller, less prominent points as secondary, wherever they may occur. You might say that primary and secondary have now become judgment calls, yet another victim of semantics.

Haven't we been around Robin's barn enough times?

I've never known pike to feed heavily on the surface, unless you're talking about hammer-handles (or right after ice-out). I can tell you this, between bass and pike the northern pike is the dominant predator. When pike aggregate in an area of the weedbed, the bass will move shallower than the pike, that you can bet on.

KU_Bassmaster You had me laughing out loud when I read your story, because I've been in that same boat. That in fact is what I like about the 3/4 or 1 oz Hopkins Shorty, they cast a mile. They also sink fast which is good because, roughly speaking, larger bass often lie beneath the school (true of most species, fresh and salt).

I intend to spend more time with Brauer's go-to lure, the Jig & Trailer.

I'm all too familiar with your dilemma (note the avatar). Unfortunately there's no way to totally prevent cut-offs without using a metal leader. Yes, the wire tends to reduce the number of strikes you get from bass, for that matter, it tends to reduce the number of pike strikes as well. If you're willing to forfeit a few lures, you can fish without a wire leader. Very often the line will settle between two adjacent teeth, which will protect the line during the fight. Needless to say, if there's a moment when the line gets between an upper tooth and lower tooth, it will be instantly severed. If you decide to use wire leader, although it's extremely expensive, go with titanium leader. Titanium leader can be attached using an albright knot which eliminates the need for wire sleeves. Best of all, titanium wire is not kink-prone such as Sevenstrand braid and single-strand piano wire.

Rods: Daiwa (also st croix, bobby morris, fenwick) Reels: Shimano (also penn) Plugs: Rapala (also lucky craft, bomber, bill lewis) Spoon: Johnson Weedless Spoon (also hopkins) Spinnerbait: Lazer Eye Single Colorado (also booyah single colorado) Soft Plastics Yum Tubes (Mega Flash & Vibra King) Yum Dinger (Yum's Stick Worm) Yum Ribbon-Tail Worm (true killers) There's no blind loyality, and all brands are subject to change but do tend to persist.

I like the idea very much, because the ecosystem can only benefit. As fishermen we welcome a challenge...Right? Lower horsepowers and slower speeds simply enhance the challenge. As long as it applies to everyone, it maintains a level playing field. I began with a 10-ft rowboat and a set of wooden oars. If need be, it wouldn't break my heart to go full circle, as long as I could still fish. Yah, I could probably retire in Belize on the money I've wasted on boats, nevertheless, I've never forgotten that boating is merely a facet of fishing.

Cold and muddy, that's a Double-Whammy! The big problem is the locational dilemma that this creates. Cold water can sometimes be alleviated by moving 'upstream' in a manmade lake, toward the headwaters. In contrast, muddy water is normally alleviated by moving 'downstream' toward the dam, where sedimentation is more mature. It's a judgment call for sure, but I personally would put Temperature ahead of Visibility. To that end, it might be better to focus on the upper third of the impoundment in search of the clearest creek arm. If you get lucky you might even find a "mud-line". Equally important, in both muddy and cold water it's vital to fish S-L-O-W.

preach4bass, I wish I had thought of that ;D

Kevin Van Dam is the best, but Larry Nixon is my favorite

My favorites for fall jump-fishing is the Hopkins Spoon and the Rat-L-Trap