James Yalem

I use 50 yards of the braid and mono backing to fill the spool.

Liquid wrench. I soak the small parts with it for about 5 minutes or so. It removes all the old grease and oil. Then I dry with toilet paper. The bigger parts I spray with it, clean hard to reach areas with old toothbrush and then dry with toilet paper. Then I reassemble reel with new grease and oil.

I've been bass fishing for over 40 years. Since I have not used spinning tackle that much, it has been 40 years of switching. When I use a buzzbait or want to wake a spinnerbait, I actually stop the cast right before it ends, switch hands and start the retrieve right when the lure hits the water. That is the extent of my coordination. I cannot stand and fish at the same time.

Hey, Nick, do you expect a lot of boat traffic at night after dark in the summer on the week nights? Do you intend to do some night fishing for bass next summer?

For 30 years, I have had a house on Truman Lake in MO. It is a muddy lake for most of the year. In the part of the lake, its 55,000 acres, that my house sits, the water never gets clearer than about 3 feet. Spring and fall visibility is usually .5 to 1.5 feet. Summer can be clearer, but sometimes is not. Yes, the bass live in shallow water. However, the lake has always been somewhat inconsistent because shallow water bass are very influenced by weather. If the bass do move deeper due to fronts, then they become very difficult to catch. Remember a bass' strike zone is smaller in muddier water. So catching them in water below the lower 50's is very tough. Also, night fishing in the summer is useless. OTOH, the lake has been very good in stable weather and since the fish stay relatively shallow in the summer, it has been a good summer lake. The truth is that my best days came with 2-3 foot visibility. In the last 10 years, bass fishing on it has declined likely due to constant water level changes in the spring. It's great for crappie because they never get deeper than 15 feet in the summer and the lake is loaded with trees. However, I'm in the process of moving to LOZ which has clearer but not super clear water.

In the days of fiberglass rods (before late 1970's) and only monofilament, you had to set the hook really hard with a texas rig worm. Guides often would set the hook for female clients. With the introduction of graphite rods it was a bit easier. Now with braided, high tech line, all you have to do is get a real good hookset. However, IMO, many anglers set the hook too soon with texas rigged plastics. I wait until I can feel the weight of the fish. Sometimes that is instant; sometimes it takes a bit of a wait. If the bass runs toward you and you just have a slack line, then reel down fast, set hard and hope.

Every 20 to 30 minutes, less with moving bait, more with bottom bouncer; unless I catch a fish, then the lure gets another 30 minutes to catch another bass. But if a lure doesn't catch a keeper (15" or more) in 1.5 hours, I try another lure.

I agree, but it is true that you will get less bites in muddy water than stained or lightly stained to somewhat clear. The clearer the water the larger the strike zone of a bass. However, gin clear water, visibility over 8-10 feet, is more difficult to fish because the bass will be much deeper in such water most of the time.

Getting short strikes is what happens when the bass are not biting. Sometimes changing colors or downsizing helps, but most often it doesn't. When this happens and after a couple of hours all I get is short strikes or really small <12" bass, then I just quit and try again another day.

I used to make many of my own plastic baits. I would make baits that I could not purchase. Check out Barlow's tackle for all the materials to make your own plastic baits. I'll admit that I no longer bother to make plastic baits because so many different types are on the market. This wasn't true 20-30 years ago.

I cannot stand, operate the trolling motor and fish in my bass boat. So I sit down when fishing. Thus, I still use my 5'6" pistol grip rods. Most are older Bionic Blade rods, but my reels are older Black Max 5600 Garcia reels. The good new is that I have found a source for a heavy action 5'6" casting rod. http://customanglerods.com/

If the water is very stained to muddy, like .5 feet to 1.5 feet visibility, then bass will stay shallow even in the summer. My home lake Truman is usually muddy like this and even in the summer, I catch bass in 4-7 feet. Not this summer though and fish are deeper.

East wind, I live in MO and fish Truman Lake. Even when I am having a good day bass fishing, if the wind turns to the East, then the bass shut off. Also, a barometer reading over 3.15 is very bad and over 3.3 I can't even catch crappie.

Stamina Tackle and Barlows Tackle both sell lots of skirt material and pre-made skirts in lots of colors. Goggle them and you can find their website and order online. I use silicon skirt material for both spinnerbaits and jigs. Stamina has a great selection of jig heads and spinnerbait bodies.

IMO, it depends on how deep the bass inhabit. Bass that live in shallow water, like in Florida, are much more adversely affected by a cold front than bass living in deep water. Also, IMO, bass living in a muddy water environment are more adversely affected by a cold front than those living in clear water. Of course, the former usually live in shallower water than the latter.

Make sure that your lake has at least 4-5 feet visibility. I have fished Truman Lake in MO since 1981. Rarely is it clearer than 3 feet visibility. I have yet to catch one bass at night. Close to dark yes, but after full dark; not one. If your lake has sufficient visibility, then I recommend fishing deeper even at night.

I've caught lots of bass, big and small. I've lost lots of hooked bass, big and small. I just hold me rod and about 9 o'clock and reel. I love seeing a bass jump and fight. If it throws the hook, then I'm not really bothered; especially if it was on a nice jump. OTOH, I can only remember losing two real big ones, over 7 lbs. This was on Truman Lake over 15 years ago. One broke my line because I had a groove in my reel's line guide and one pulled off the hook on a rogue. But in March 2000, I caught an 8lb. on a jig and in March 1987 I caught an 8 lb. on a black bomber. I've caught two ten lb. in Florida. So losing a bass; even a big one does not bother me. However, I'm 56 and have been bass fishing for more than 40 years.

It's called variance (a poker term). Some years, you land every big bass that you hook; other years many get away. Sometimes, I believe the difference is how they take the lure, but a lot of it is plain luck.

I'm old. I still use Uncle Josh pork frogs as my jig trailer most of the time. When I swim a jig I like the No. 1 size because of its extra bouyancy..

An East wind is opposite of the normal trade winds in the US, except for the deep South and Florida. In MO, I cannot catch bass on an East wind. OTOH, in Florida it is the best wind because it is the normal trade wind. When I fished in FL, like Okochobee, the worst wind was a southwest wind.

Why take the skirt off? Why not just use the swim bait as a trailer?

Except that as you use more line, your spool has less line on it. Once you have used 25% of your line, then your spool is only 75% full. I like full spools for casting and fishing, so even after I have used 15 yards, I still have a fairly full spool. Since I use 4-5 rods in my boat, I don't retie that often on any one reel. Also, my usual retie only takes about 4-8 inches of line depending on how large a lure that I am using; hooks may use only 2-3 inches of line.

Well stated. I completely agree. Recently, I had my home on Truman cleaned to get ready to sell. The cleaning lady told me that her uncle is a guide on Truman and has the same opinion. Also, she informed me that the local person in charge of Truman Dam for the COE passed away in 2000. Since 2000, I have noticed that the change in water level is much more extreme. Even when the lake got 4-5 feet high the COE dropped in .4-.6 feet per day rather than the .2-.3 feet per day that it used to drop it. In addition, in recent years springs and falls have been very wet. I never did fish for white bass or hybrids (I have caught some by accident including an 11.75 hybrid). I just know that since 2000, largemouth bass fishing is much tougher than in the 1980's and 1990's, especially the late 1990's when I caught lots of bass as late as mid-November. So I am moving to LOZ where the water level never changes 10 feet in a year and rarely more than one foot in a month. Also, I am tired of the wind on Truman.

I only use 50 yards of braid and fill the rest of the spool with cheap mono backing. It takes a longer to fill the spool because you have to put the braid on first using a line counter (purchased from Bass Pro), then fill the reel with the backing. Then you have to put the backing on another reel and the braid on another spool or reel, put the backing back on the reel to be filled and then put the braid back on the same reel. However, braid line sometimes lasts for two years.

What size blades do you use for 1/4 oz. and 3/8 oz. double willow spinnerbaits?