Loop_Dad

Tom, great info. A couple of questions, if I may... Do you mean in the same water, you can find some bass which grow to be 1lbs, and some rare giant bass which grow to be 4 lbs the first 2 years? Or are you talking about between different lakes? How can I tell if a bass is Northern LMB or Florida strain LMB? I did not know male top out at about 4lbs. So when I catch 5lber, that is most likely female. (Is there a way to tell the sex of the fish?) Edit: Never mind about Northern vs LMB. I found your response to other thread.

Thank you all for your contributions. I don't get to fish a lot unfortunately. so this information will help me identify what stage a lake is in when I get to a lake that I haven't been for awhile. 1. From the beginning of spawn (when they stop eating, I guess) to making bed and deposit the eggs. Female comes up about 2 days later, and plus look around the nest for few days, so maybe 1 week 2. From the deposit of the eggs to hatching 5-10 days.Here in Northern CA probably more like 5 3. From the deposit of the eggs to female bass leaving Right away(?) 4. From hatching to male bass leaving This one veries between Tom's info (2 days) and Scott's info (upto 2 weeks). And entire spawning takes 2-3 weeks. Based on these info, the lake I visited the last weekend was in late stage of spawning cycle, because I saw some empty nests (some are done), nests with one bass (male guarding) and nests with two bass (they are still mating). If I go back in 10 days, the chances are that they are all done with it and in post-spawn mode. Scott, any idea why some nests were guarded for 15 days and some are only for 3 days?

Ego S2 Slider nets are very good looking, but they just slide in and out. They don't fold.

Can anybody recommend a good solid foldable net? I see many reviews online saying that they break easily.

During the spawn, how many days does each steps below take? 1. From the beginning of spawn (when they stop eating, I guess) to making bed and deposit the eggs. 2. From the deposit of the eggs to hatching 3. From the deposit of the eggs to female bass leaving 4. From hatching to male bass leaving I saw a bunch of nests today in probably 2ft of water and the water level is coming down. Hope water stays up until they hatch.

This and pinched barb work wonder.

I bought one from BPS last summer. I was thinking about buying one and one was on sale when I walked in. A week or so later, someone mentioned one from Gander Mountain in this forum... I wished I hadn't bought the one from BPS. Not the material or quality, but the design of Gander Moutain would have fit my needs better. My advice is to look around. Not all bags are equal.

+1. I was going to switch from 65 to 50. Then I realized the difference is minimal and didn't want to spend more money on it, so I got 50 on some 65 on others.

Please educate me...Assuming the line and rod are strong enough for the fish, what kind of problem can you get into if you are using a reel which has too small of max drag capacity than what you just hooked? People talk about good to have strong drag, but I have never had problem with drags and have never pay much attention when selecting my reels, to be honest. And does anybody know how much of pull in lbs a health 10lbs bass can give you when it is swimming away from you? More or less than 10lbs? Lets say the pull (in lbs) by a fish is 10 lbs, same as the weight of the fish, total guesstimate. That means 10 lbs pull at the rod tip, not by the reel. The rod takes a way the some of force by being bent. So at the reel the pull is dramatically reduced, I would think. Maybe by 50%? I have no idea. If so 10 lbs pull at the rod tip equates 5 lbs pull by the reel. If I am using a reel with max drag 11 lbs, this should be able to handle 22 lbs pull by the rod tip with this calculation. So I would not have any trouble unless I hook a 22 lbs bass.

For me, there's a huge difference. I can really wack the cxxxxp out of it with casting set up and get the distance. But with spinning set up, I am hesitant to swing it in full force, it shows in the distance. It's something about my index finger holding the line and weight when I back swing that makes it awkward for me.

Thanks Ben. This is very helpful. "Power ratings vary by the type of rod described; a heavy bass rod and a heavy offshore rod will definitely not feel the same."

Thanks for the reply. But maybe I didn't ask it right. Let me re-phrase my question.... Is the rating based on... 1) the lure weight it can cast and work, or 2) the load (or fish) the rod can take before it breaks, or 3) something else? And I know the spinning gear are more towards lighter side in general, but that's not what I was asking...If a rod is softer than other, it should have lighter rating, no matter what kind of rod it is. Yet my MH Shimano spinning feels a lot wimpier than my MH Shimano casting rod. Oh and the reason for considering 4-piece is I am planning on hiking up to the ponds on the hills.

I'm considering buying cabelas 4-piece H casting rod online but I am hesitating because I have no way to feel the rod before buying it. And started to think about action rating of the rods. Is the rating based on amount of weight it can take before it breaks, or something else? Is there some sort of industry standard or guideline for rating? My MH Shimano casting rod is softer than my M Daiwa casting rod. My MH Shimano spining rod is much softer than MH Shimano casting rod.

I have two (7's). Nice and smooth. No complaints.

Thanks, alexandboi. They have something even better than two-piece...four-piece rod. I like that I can pack in my backpack completely. I'm strongly considering getting this 4-pc rod. However I am bit concern about the action with so many joints thou. I wish I had one of their store near by so that I can check out the rod...

Is anyone aware of any 2pc Heavy action rod? This is probably strange combination that not many people would want. I'm thinking about hiking up the hills and fish those hidden ponds.

Hey, Felix77, that's the exact two sizes I carry now.

If you are using braid, you might want to make the drag a bit looser as the line does not stretch. How much looser? My line slips a tiny bit at the hook set right now.

+1, I agree, this is the single most important piece of information I've learned from here. I also pinch barbs and fishing became a lot more joyful. I carry two tools for cutting hooks, 7" end cutter and 7" bolt cutter. With these two, cutting hook is easy in the most of situation. I cut hooks when trying to remove hook might hurt fish (ie. hook came out very close to the eye.)

I bought Daiwa Silver Cast last year, so that my daughter can use my old casting rod... Bad Idea! Don't buy this reel. It was nothing but the trouble. My daugher's plastic zebco which came with 3" rod worked better than this.

I use 1/2 oz mostly. By using mainly once size, I can keep my set up simple, selection on the water fast and the feel is automatic to my arms.

I am still trying to understand the river fish at California Delta. Many bass fishermen there appears to forget about LMB and just switch to striper fishing during winter months. (Thank god it is spring now.) All those writings about bass behavior talks about lakes, but less so about rivers. For example, I have no idea where those bass from back slough go during the winter months. Unlike lakes, the real deep waters are far away. Do they just bunch up in nearest sort of deep water (like 10 feet) and just get through the winter? Or do they travel more distance than lake bass to find the real deep water? I don't know. If someone knows a good book about river bass's behavior, I would appreciate if you let me know.

Right now, straight braid when I am at some heavily vegetated water because I don't feel like I'm hurting anything, and attach leader when I am not. Sometimes for jigs and worm, I go straight braid, even if it I'm in open water. All of this can change as I am experimenting what's the best compromise with limited resources.

Agree, something you need to try and see for yourself. For me I prefer bait to more straight majority of the time. Depending on the weight and bait, it moves unnaturally.

Other possibility is the fish knocking the door for you were smaller fish. You mentioned your buddy had lots of half eaten baits When I have lots of non-hook up, I downsize the baits a bit to see if that makes the difference. If that works and the fish is small, then I can verify my theory was correct. And then I upsize to eliminate the little boys.