RoLo

For smallmouth bass I'm partial to 'Smoke Hologram'. For largemouth bass it depends on the depth zone. When fished near the surface I favor the light colors such as 'White'; in mid-depth water I prefer the mid-spectrum colors like 'Watermelon'. but when fishing on or near the bottom I like dark grubs such as 'Black'. The Kalin Lunker Grub is my favorite, it has a very thin ribbontail that remains active to a standstill. For 'spoon trailers' I prefer Mister Twister grubs which are made of tougher plastic Roger

"Killed" is the word alright. Back in the day, muskies were routinely dispatched with a handgun, before they were dragged aboard.

It really boils down to local semantics. In our neck of the woods, to "deadstick" is to allow the bait lie motionless on the bottom. On the other hand, "tight-lining" refers to a 'pendulum glide', something you might use with a jig or Ned rig to transmit strikes. 'Tight-lining' is distinguished from a slack-line "freefall", which you'd normally use with a stickworm like a Senko or Ace. Roger

A punch bait tends to whiz by bass rather quickly, baits that usually generate an impulsive strike. There's no need to get hung up on esoteric brands or elaborate profiles, it's better to satisfy the basics: Punch Bait Properties: > Big Signature: A noisy bait with strong vibration and a bait that moves a lot of water expands the strike window, which is important in the murky shadows of matted weeds > Streamlined Profile: The more streamlined and penetrating the punch bait (like a flattened beavertail), the greater the odds that it will reach bottom, which is the puncher's foremost goal > Dark Color Dark colors like black, junebug & green pumpkin absorb the most light and provide the most contrast, which is important in dense vegetation where deep shade may be found at high noon. Roger

A graphic depiction of the debilitating & demotivating affects of high THC pot (We're not talking ditchweed here) Roger

> Rapala Husky Jerk 12 (silver blue) > Blue Fox Vibrax Musky Buck (firetiger) > Gambler Big EZ (alewife) Roger

If I had to pick 2 lures that bowfin attack I'd go with a T-rigged plastic worm and a soft swimbait. One day sticks in my mind when bowfin destroyed '2' Keitech swimbaits back-to-back. Roger

Currently I'm throwing a 'Revenge 1/2 oz Viberator' (not a misspelling) It has a nice thump, but what I like most is the little hitchhiker that allows a T-rigged weedless trailer. I use different trailers but prefer a non-throbbing trailer that doesn't compete with the throb of the blade, normally a Kalin 4" Lunker Grub (chartreuse/pearl). Roger

"Show Off Your Stuff" Nuh-uh...Anthony Wiener got in trouble that way!

Legendary waters, not a bucket list LARGEMOUTH > Falcon Lake, TX > Toledo Bend, TX > Kissimmee Chain, FL > California Delta, CA SMALLMOUTH > Lake Erie, PA > Green Bay, WI > Lake Simcoe, ON > Burt Lake, MI Roger

What does that mean?

A 40-year lookback period is capable of reflecting more than a short-term phenomenon. It's possible that you're dealing with natural eutrophication for which there is no easy solution. Eutrophication normally takes many decades or hundreds of years, but can be greatly expedited by a metro area. A strong population of carp or catfish is a marker of later stage eutrophication. As I'm sure you know, if the decline in quality bass is in fact due to eutrophication, removing small bass would be little more effective that trying to bail out the ocean. Roger

An old bamboo fly rod will take a set if you just lean it against a wall, but not a graphite blank which is hard & brittle. There's no chance that hanging it from the tiptop guide will remove a kink. Removing a kink takes a great deal of 'over-bending', which would rupture a graphite blank before it removes a kink. I know of no possibility other than a manufacturing flaw. It would be very interesting to hear St Croix's perception of your problem. Roger

Clarify 'internal hemorrhage'? Okay but I feel a little silly. Hemorrhage is a synonym for 'bleeding', and whenever an internal incision is made it causes internal bleeding (internal hemorrhage). If I asked a surgeon to perform a surgery without causing internal bleeding, he'd probably ask me who writes my jokes. Simply taking an aspirin causes internal bleeding, which the medical profession refers to as gastrointestinal bleeding or simply 'GI bleeds'. The problem isn't internal bleeding per se, the problem is the threat of a blood clot that ultimately blocks an artery. This can happen during or after the surgery. As you might recall, Doug Hannon passed away after a minor surgery. Every surgeon is aware of this risk and will add or restrict blood-thinners as he sees fit (a delicate balance). Roger

What was it you did that put a set in the rod?

Great fish, great memories! Roger

Terminator 5/8oz In-Line Snagless Spinner – chartreuse silver-flake (weedless gold Oklahoma spinner) Roger

Wasn't “Getting At” anything, just offering a fact. Again, I've personally known ‘several’ people who died as a result of an ischemic stroke caused by post-operative blood-clotting. Not all were the result of heart surgery, and one was due to hip surgery which was followed by an occluded carotid artery. It goes without saying, I’d be a lot happier if that were not true, but it’s a real-world fact. http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/100/6/642.short Background—Stroke after cardiac surgery is a devastating complication that leads to excess mortality and health resource utilization. The purpose of this study was to identify risk factors for perioperative stroke, including strokes detected early after cardiac surgery or postoperatively. Conclusions—Most strokes after cardiac surgery occurred after initial uneventful recovery from surgery. Women were at higher risk to suffer early and delayed perioperative strokes. Atrial fibrillation had no impact on postoperative stroke rate unless it was accompanied by low cardiac output syndrome. http://www.annalsthoracicsurgery.org/article/S0003-4975(02)04370-9/abstract Results Overall incidence of stroke was 4.6% and varied between surgical procedures (CABG 3.8%; beating-heart CABG 1.9%; aortic valve surgery 4.8%; mitral valve surgery 8.8%; double or triple valve surgery 9.7%; CABG and valve surgery 7.4%). Of 63 patient-specific and treatment variables, 54 were found to have a significant univariate association with postoperative stroke. http://www2.snacc.org/Consensus_perioperative_stroke.pdf Abstract: This document is supported by the American Society of Anesthesiologists. Perioperative stroke can be a catastrophic outcome for surgical patients and is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Roger

Based on historical data, Tenoroc FMA holds the greatest promise for a trophy-class bass. What I personally dislike about Tenoroc is the litany of laws or regs gerrymandered to specific waters. In fact, an inside joke regarding Tenoroc advises visitors to take their lawyer fishing with them Roger

In my opinion, 30-lb braid is the 'Happy Median' for spinning applications. It goes without saying, you'd go lighter for Finesse applications, and you'd go heavier for Punching & Frogging. It's important to understand the consequences of moving from 30-lb braid to 20-lb braid. When you go from 30 to 20 lb braid, you reduce line diameter from 11/1000" to 9/1000", a reduction of 18%. When you go from 30 to 20 lb braid, you reduce the breaking strength by 33%, which is not a great trade-off. To that you can add the fact that 30-lb braid has very low susceptibility to wind-knots and is virtually immune to line-burrowing. Roger

Surgery is always accompanied by internal hemorrhage, even minor surgery. Post-operative bleeding is the most common complication of surgery, where a blood-clot leads to an ischemic stroke. I'm only one person, yet I know several people who succumbed to a stroke following a surgery. Roger

As it happens, locating fish is my very favorite part of fishing (cranking fish to the boat is a distant second). I also enjoy computer programming, so I would be forfeiting two things that I love. On the other hand, I'd be 'extremely interested' in the algorithms employed, but since it's founded primarily on operator input, for me at least there is no compelling attraction. Roger

Very Kool, Scott!!

I would start with something like '409' or 'Simple Green'.

Don't you dare, I insist on paying all shipping charges