Choporoz

I generally dislike YouTube and avoid watching most anything other than BR. However, I will admit that videos from Swindle and Andy Montgomery helped reduce my skipping learning curve some. But mostly, crank up the brakes and start practicing. I venture to guess that few of us are skipping on any better equipment than what you got...so if you can't get a Steez to work for you, maybe a DC or spinning reel is in your future.

Wordle 961 3/6* 🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Connections Puzzle #239 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟪🟪🟪🟪

That Skeleton Ayu is similar to an old color I've been looking for. I don't recall the name. It had a bit more pale green than this. Was my best, for at least 8 years...broke in half on a fish last year and I've been looking for its replacement since.

Wordle 960 5/6* ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟩 🟨⬜⬜🟩🟩 ⬜⬜🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Connections Puzzle #238 🟩🟦🟩🟩 🟪🟩🟦🟩 🟪🟩🟩🟩 🟨🟩🟨🟨 Haha @Jar11591 ...I did have coffee first. ... it didn't help

Heartbreaking...very sorry for your loss, Dean

My grandfather used to say there are no dumb questions, but there are plenty of dumb people who ask questions. Birds. Gulls are definitely a good tell. Osprey, too. Ducks, geese and swans...not so much. A cool indicator is when it is calm, watch the surface when a heron or cormorant flies low. You will see where the baitfish are from the boil. Floating gulls may not be on bait, but they aren't far from it, usually. Mammals. Otter within a hundred yards can absolutely kill a bite. But bass know the difference between beavers and otters. I was shocked a year or two ago when I got bit in 3 foot of water right as a beaver was swimming over the bass. Some of my most reliable spots are right outside...or even inside a beaver mess. Fish. I don't catch bass around gars, but then again, when I know there are gars schooling, I tend to relocate pretty quickly. So my dislike for catching gar may have more to do with it. Bass and catfish absolutely share the same water. Bass and snakehead also share the same spots and snakeheads are crazy mean and aggressive. However, I rarely catch bass if carp are plentiful...no idea why

Learning from the internet worries me some. Hopefully, today's youth (and their parents and educators) are doing a much better job than I do learning from the internet. I'm in my 60s, so even my kids growing up learned much more from books and experience than the internet, so I really don't know much about how youth learn today. My concern comes from my personal experience that having answers to anything anytime makes the new knowledge so much more perishable. That is, when I look up something, in my subconscious, I know that I don't really have to retain it. I can just look it up again tomorrow. When I read something in a book or magazine, or encyclopedia, etc, I worked to know it. And retain it. Maybe as much a function of an aging mind...I don’t know... But I definitely do not retain information well that I just google and move on quickly to something else. Not just availability, but the internet lends itself to short form immediate answers. Trying to get in depth knowledge about anything on the interwebs can be quite challenging.

Wordle 959 4/6* ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟨🟩⬜ ⬜🟨⬜🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Connections Puzzle #237 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟪🟪🟪🟪

Wordle 958 4/6* ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨 🟨⬜🟩⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Connections Puzzle #236 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟩🟩🟩🟪 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟪🟪🟪🟪

On my kayak, I use 7 inch unit that has down, side, gps and maps. I would not be willing to give up any of those functions. I find stuff to fish most with side and maps. I find and mark plenty of brush, trees, rock, stumps, etc with down, also.

Idk....of course accidents happen... but if the guy who turned left had sufficient training, instruction, guidance.... this accident wouldn't have happened

I'm not so sure....enough people get mad at the organization, the coaches, the schools.... just maybe steps would be taken to keep these kids a bit safer

Just now saw this..... now I'm even more ticked "two boats were headed towards each other, but couldn’t see each other in the fog until it was too late. As soon as they could, they both corrected the same direction" I'd love for the coach referenced above to explain how just a tiny bit of rules of the road training wouldn't have avoided this

A college coach was asked how to prevent such a tragedy.... his response... '**** happens' 😡 Maybe sending 500 kids out into the fog, with 250HP strapped on and little limitation and direction isn't a real great idea?

Wordle 957 5/6* ⬜🟩🟨⬜⬜ ⬜🟩🟨🟨⬜ 🟩🟩⬜🟨⬜ 🟩🟩🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Connections Puzzle #235 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟦🟩🟩🟩 🟦🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟪🟪🟪🟪 🟦🟦🟦🟦

Wordle 956 4/6* ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ 🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟩⬜🟨⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Connections Puzzle #234 🟦🟨🟪🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟪🟨🟨🟦 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟪🟪🟪🟪

Typo? Did you mean 18lb? 12, maybe...15 probably better

Wordle 955 4/6* 🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜🟩 ⬜🟨🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Connections Puzzle #233 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟪🟦🟦🟦 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟪🟪🟪🟪

Go ahead and dump oil PA rivers, but, never fear... you will soon be protected from those evil summer bass tournaments

Crazy to consider, but clean up 2 or 3 'one-second' WR lapses by Reynolds and Flowers and we're looking at an entirely different SB.

Love the concept! And, I really appreciate your site; easy to navigate, aesthetic without being busy or slow. Welcome to BR. Very much hope that you can help keep some small batch guys viable and be successful in your own right.

@Functional, I just yank on loops. I have read many times about thumbing the spool and cranking the loops out, but it has never come close to working the dozen or so times I tried. The tools that I have used are a crochet needle, jig eye cleaner hook that is part of a multitool .... and scissors

I wonder if any two anglers on this thread define '5 fish bag' the same way. Is it best five any day that I fish at all? Is it average best five over every 8 hours on the water? If not in a tournament, I don't weigh any fish that looks to be under 4, and I never count the fish I catch (unless it is like 2 or 3 .... that i don't have to). So while I think I have a good eye, I guarantee that I really have no clue what sort of bag I have except in a tournament. And, especially no clue about averages.... because it is easy to call to mind strings of good, 'average' days, I am just as certainly not thinking about factoring in the lousy days accurately in my head. I think I have average days of 18 pounds, and average days of five pounds.

Never tried straight retrieve. But 'walking in place' is a little different than regular walking, and can be quite productive. Over shallow wood, or under bushes, twitches that move your spook back and forth with minimal movement towards you can allow you to work it in the fish's space longer and more effectively than hoping to draw her out. Nothing really new here...same with poppers and frogs, but it is different than a rhythmic walk back to you