RoLo

Can you think of any lure that is less 'technique-specific' than a swim jig? The skirt is optional, and when you remove the skirt you've got a hook, a weight and a fiberguard. A swim jig gets its distinction from the trailer, a lure that can be fished anyway your heart desires. Roger

When working a soft swimbait like a topwater lure, I don't hold the rod-tip high. Instead, I'll hold the rod-tip low, just above the water surface. This helps to keep the braided line lower in the emergent stems & pads. Holding the rod-tip high, especially on a windy day allows the fishing line to "clothesline" on emergent plant stems and protruding pads. Roger

WELL, when you do the math that's only 13 cents a lure But you've got to pity the guy who springs for $80, then loses the lure on his first cast!! It suddenly occurs to him that there won't be another 599 lures, that he lost all 600 in 1 cast Roger

I've been throwing the Gambler Big EZ for many years, which has a paddletail that remains active to a near standstill. With fat, old bass in mind, retrieve the Big EZ with a Slow, Steady retrieve, just fast enough to sustain a reliable throb. Just as important as the retrieve is the "cast". Soft-swimbaits are totally weedless, an amenity that should be fully exploited by pitching them smack into emergent vegetation such as water lilies, cow lilies (spatterdock), hyacinths & maidencane, where other anglers fear to tread. Roger

The Lightning Shock series are very fine blanks Roger

Would you happen to have the coordinates of your find?

From all appearances, you're fishing a depth zone that's highly supportive of immature bass. To be sure, the majority of any waterbody caters to juvenile bass, because they make up the greatest biomass. The tenet that adult bass reside deeper than juvenile bass has been done-to-death, but there are seasons & conditions when the adults tend to reside shallower than the juveniles. Roger

Well, I spent 20 years in Hillside, 20 years in Sayreville and 10 years in East Brunswick. Yeah, I guess you could call me a Jerseyite Roger

"Change For The Sake Of Change" Is that about underwear & socks?

I fish shaky worms on a braided main-line with a braid leader, better known as "straight braid" Tell me again, I keep forgetting....What is a "break off"? Any bass petrified by the sight of braided line is scooped up in a dip net Roger

Step #1 is to select the correct waterbody. Step #2 is to pinpoint the sweet-spots. The rest is easy. Roger

The lipless crank all the way. It gives you the advantage of reaching any depth in any pothole. It also gives you the advantage of lofting the lure up and over a sunken blowdown, which is also possible with a floating diver, but not with a sinking diver. Roger

I would've done exactly what you had done, but the incident would've left my mind as quickly it entered. You done the right thing which makes you the bigger man, now turn the page (life is short). Roger

If your segmented Live Pointer outfished my Lucky Craft Pointer, I wouldn't say that the Live Pointer outfished the rigid Pointer, I'd say that YOU outfished me. "Why are they so hard to find?" The law of supply-&-demand is a self-fulfilling prophecy

Evan learned the hardest part first, then was graced by the sweetness of victory. I'm proud of Evan, and his grandpa too. Roger

Hmph, I guess I am a collector....I found a few unmarried Shimanos and rejected Diawas http://rolo-1.com/Reels.jpg Roger

Two contrasting methods may be used to locate fish: the 'shotgun approach' (which relies on the electric motor) and the 'rifle approach' (which relies on the electric anchor), I prefer the latter. 1) Long before wetting the boat, I'll always perform 'Bottom Contour Analysis' using my Chartplotter, AC/DC converter & desktop computer to preselect all my Trial Sites (It goes without saying, you must first know how to interpret and apply bottom contour) 2) On the water, I'll anchor-down at every pre-selected trial site and evaluate the "cover" at each site, and confirm the accuracy of the hydrographic chart (chart accuracy frequently leaves much to be desired) 3) Lure Selection and lure delivery hinges on a host of variables beginning with the seasonal period and lake type, then branching out to cover type, water clarity, weather conditions and so on. It's better to fish the wrong lure in the right place, then fish the right lure in the wrong place. Roger

@catt & @raul Yeah, the graphite blanks today have much higher modulus, but the Kunnan Hot Rail was all about power & horsing. In fact, most of the bluewater rods during that era were E-glass blanks, because graphite was a tad too brittle for sharks & tuna. Gosh, I forgot about 'boron' I had a 'new' Browning boron rod that was snapped by a summer flounder (aka "fluke") while drifting with the rod in a rod-holder. Needless to say, that was my first and last Browning rod Roger

For both the 7 & 10" Power Worm I'd use a 3/0 straight-shank, round-bend hook. The weight used would depend on conditions. Roger

With a cane pole, we used to cherry-pick panfish thru clearings in matted weedbeds. We also used a cane pole to 'skitter' for chain pickerel, a word I haven't heard in 50 years. A spoon or pork strip is sledded across the surface (it actually works). Roger

My most frugal outfit was a cane pole without any reel

Fish the 'Lure', not the Color

Don't laugh, you should see his tomato garden

Absolutely, and make good rug-beaters to boot. Roger

I'm really not a collector, but do have a lot of vintage tackle in my den. The rod below is a "Stroker Rod"; a short powerful rod I purchased around '1970' (late 60s/early 70s) The Kunnan blank was my favorite rod for standup fishing with a rod-belt, mostly for sharks & football tuna http://rolo-1.com/Stroker-2.jpg http://rolo-1.com/Stroker.jpg ROD Kunnan Hot Rail > Graphite – 5’6” - Med Hvy – 20-50lb Line – Roller stripper guide REEL Penn 321 GTi > High-speed 4.5:1 Ratio – Left-hand – Graphite body /Aluminum spool – 19.5oz LINE 25-lb Trilene Big Game – clear > Long before the advent of polyethylene braid, the only braided lines were nylon braid & Dacron braid Roger