RoLo

WOW, a monster splake! Roger

Pretty much like washing yours hands with Ivory soap then washing them again with Dove soap For decades, the Gold Standard toolroom degreaser was 'carbon tetrachloride'. But due to liver toxicity, carbon tet was banned by OSHA and alternative degunkers are now used. Gasoline, alcohol, paint thinner, acetone, mineral spirits & kerosene are all popular degreasers (flip a coin) Roger

Plain ole 'gasoline' is tough to beat, but does harbor a fire hazard. 'Kerosene' is a safer alternative and an excellent degreaser. Roger

OUCH! We've all had our turn in the barrel, at least you have the right attitude

Those lesions could be caused by parasites, but it's my guess that they're due to a bacterial infection. After the spawning season (right now) fish are most susceptible to bacterial infections. Roger

In a 'true' loop-to-loop connection, passing one loop thru another loop offers the integrity of a square knot. (Caveat, everything must fit thru the primary loop) If you're joining two tag ends and worried about the braid severing the monofilament, you can tie a 'doubled' uni-knot then use 8 wraps on the braid, 5 on the mono. Roger

That sounds like a classic mayfly hatch to me. Panfish poppers on a fly rod will take panfish and bass on successive casts, a Real Blast! Alternatively, a clear 'bubble float' may be used with spinning gear, that is, if they're still available. Roger

Try This: Spray a reputable fish scent on the soles of your shoes, then take a stroll around your favorite bass pond. You will notice pods of fish following you around the shoreline. Now break into a moderate jog and you will be followed by a whitewater wake! This is all true of course, except the part about 'fish scent'

I agree with your thinking, 30-lb braid would be the cat's meow. I have a few outfits spooled with 50-lb braid, but they're used strictly for mat-punching and frogging. Roger

When planning to fish a new waterbody for the first time, all my searching, studying and site selection is conducted at home, long before I wet the boat. Using an AC/DC converter, I create all my waypoints with the bathymetry in my Lowrance chartplotter. By the time I finally launch the boat, the lake will be as familiar to me as my backyard. I'll hopscotch from waypoint to waypoint, while totally ignoring the rest of the lake. If the lake is very large, I'll probably be fishing less than one percent of its area (the best 1%). Although the expressions 'search lure' & 'locator lure' are in my vocabulary, they're not in my repertoire. To my mind: No lure is a search lure Every lure is a search lure. Roger

All Terrain 3/8 oz Grassmaster Jig Roger

Straight braid, NO leader for both. Should I discover a need for a leader, I'll get back to you (be very patient) Roger

Actually Jeff, I've been ordering direct from Lunker City's online site for a good many years. I've ordered their 6" Slug-goes, Fin-S-Fish and Shakers for pike fishing. Like you, I love their stuff Roger

When fish coloration is very dark, it's generally due to gin-clear water. In waterbodies that have perennially clear water, bass tend to exhibit a pronounced dark median line. Conversely, bass taken from perennially muddy water will usually be silvery fish with washed-out color. Roger

I'm sure every angler knows that lure colors are designed to hook fisherman...not fish. When was the last time you seen a bass with a credit card? When a bass is in active feeding mode, it's not likely that any color will destroy its appetite. Conversely, I wouldn't think that color alone can give an appetite to a non-feeding bass On the other hand, the importance of 'lure visibility' cannot be denied, because a bass won't strike a lure that it doesn't see within its striking zone. Realistically, only 3 hues are needed to straddle the light spectrum: White - Green - Black Roger

There's a lot of chat about weed-lines and mud-lines, but not much chat about 'Shade-Lines'. In the AM, west facing slopes offer a long wedge of shade that extends to the west. In the PM, east-facing slopes and drop-offs provide a long wedge of shade that extends to the east. The steeper the drop-off, the more extensive the wedge of shade, yet too few anglers are exploiting these twilight zones. Roger

I opened the reply box last night to respond to this thread, but realizing the number of unknown variables, I got cold feet. => For instance, a misty drizzle might have more affect on fisherman than fish. In contrast, refracted light caused by a torrential downpour can be a big game changer. => Rain formed in the upper troposphere is usually colder than the lake water, but runoff water that traverses sun-baked soil is usually warmer. => A downtrend in water temperatures normally degrades fishing activity, and if you're dealing with muddy water on top of that, you've got yourself a BIG monkey wrench! => In a perennially dark lake, bass are well adapted to pursuing food with their median lines & auriculars. But in a gin-clear waterbody, a sudden influx of muddy runoff can take away the punch bowl In brief, adding a list of lures to an unknown scenario would only 'muddy' the waters Roger

Nice chunky bass right there! Roger

Anyone who can't, belongs on a golf forum

Consumer ignorance

I seriously doubt that your problem is due to dull hooks. If your hook-set is delivered when the lure is engulfed in the bass's mouth, even a dull hook is bound to penetrate beyond the barb, 'especially' if you're using braided line. Although the following statement is not a crowd-pleaser, try setting the hook 'immediately'! That is to say, try to take the lure away from the bass, and you might be very surprised to find that you are cranking a lot of bass to the boat. I'm not alone in that approach, as Dean Rojas (the frog master himself) sets the hook immediately. Roger

Based on my own past experience with liquidating vintage boats, motors & trailers, the residual value is disappointingly paltry (barring antique value of course). Many complain that the price of today's boats & motors has grossly outpaced the rate of inflation, but that dismisses all new technology. The ole stuff doesn't hold a candle to today's boats & motors, they are totally different animals (I've lived in both eras). Roger

OH NO!! Oh wait a minute, I don't have any Gander Mountain gift cards never mind

"It is any good?" It sure is! For largemouth bass in Florida, I'm kind of forced to use a weedless popper like a hollow popping frog. But for smallmouth bass, I've had some of my best topwater days on a 'clown' Skitter Pop. I believe the 'Clown' pattern has been discontinued Roger

Among other things; Florida is dubbed "The land of Newly-Weds & Nearly-Deads" Not to worry, many nearly-deads outlive the newly-weds. They hate when that happens Roger