Josh Smith

Sounds like a turtle or carp. Josh

I have one setting there, but don't think it's seen water yet. I just like lures that look cool. Good decoration. Josh

Dad bought me a Zebco 202 -- or maybe he already had it. I was 2 or so. I wore it out on chubs and I inherited a Zebco 33. I later learned Dad stole it off Mom's rod The rod was a fiberglass. I couldn't begin to tell you what brand. Josh

I generally prefer my line to be visible as it helps me spool the reel. The bass are too dumb to know the differnce. Josh

I will take that back. I did catch a bass on a nightcrawler a couple years ago. It was a trailer on an inline spinner. As for there not being fish... I recall this year before the reservoirs went to flood stage my boy and I were fishing a likely looking place for crappie. Bobber fishing wasn't producing, so I tied a spinnerbait on his ultralight and I put a Rat-L-Trap on mine. He got hit with a nice size crappie and I got a good size smallmouth on the 'Trap in a matter of minutes. I mean, they're there, but for me anyway, generally don't bite unless there's some action. Lots of times in the 10-acre lake I like so much, that means rattle jigs worked so hard that it would snap monofilament. Maybe live bait is used too much where I live and they're wise to it? Dunno. Josh

But the short-term memory's shot. There's always a trade-off. I also remember Mom cutting my hair on the porch of the country home they rented. Motorcycles would go by and I'd cry -- they were very loud. The horses across the way never whinnied, so I grew up thinking they just blew, you know that noise they make? Little Flat Rock River had a lot of... flat rocks. Dad made me wear a life vest and I'd fish for chub minnows while he waded for smallmouth. Some of my earliest memories are of fishing. Josh

Used to be folks would cut down rods to make them stiffer. They became jerkbait rods. Josh

Hello, I posted a parallel thread, here: http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/162983-fishing-with-live-bait-my-experiences/ Posting that as a response here felt like threadjacking to me, so I made it a separate thread out of consideration for Brett's Dad, but it's absolutely pertinent. Regards, Josh

Hello, While I have been thinking of posting this as a subject for a couple weeks, the recent post by Brett's_daddy reminded me to actually make the post. I've been going over nearly 36 years of fishing memories. Dad started taking me when I was around 2 years old, and I'd fish for chubs with live bait while he caught smallmouth (or, at the private pond, I caught sunfish and he caught largemouth.)) I've tried to remember times when I've caught bass on live bait, and only two come to mind: I once found some schooling fingerling bass when I was still mostly using live bait. I tossed them a hook and worm and got a bite. After I did this the second time Dad made me stop because he didn't want them stressed. I was bobber fishing off a dock once and saw the bobber swimming around. A really small largemouth fry had managed to eat the #8 (I think; smallest I had) hook. I was also still small enough to thumb the critter. After this, I have nothing. All other bass I've caught throughout those years were on lures. Heck, even rock bass took Rooster Tail inline spinners to catch. My first largemouth of any size, if I recall, was on a Hula Popper. This is not to say that live bait has been useless to me. I've caught lots of drum and catfish on nightcrawlers, plenty of panfish on redworms, and quite a few crappie on minnows. They were fun, and still fishing is still sometimes fun. I just have never been able to get live bait to produce black bass for me. Is my experience unique, or have you experienced the same? Thank you, Josh

Birdshot is effective at distances at which it still acts as a solid mass; ie, a few feet, or as a candle catridge, and from a shotgun only. Hanguns with solid projectiles have enough trouble stopping threats. I would not want to handicap myself further by using pellets the size of sand. Josh

Originally, baitcasters were meant to be cast while on top then flipped over to the bottom for reeling. This is why the handle is on the right side. Josh

Birdshot is the dumbest thing you can use for self-defense. Best to use #4 buck and up from a shotgun, and handguns need solid projectiles with hollow points or truncated noses. Josh

When I get a new hollowbody frog, I throw it in a Ziploc bag, spray scent, then seal for 24 hours. Josh

I have sensitive graphite rods, blended rods, glass rods. Using each for its proper technique(s), I've not caught more on the most sensitive. In fact, I think the danged Cherrywood HD (the cheap rod I shouldn't prefer but do anyway!) has accounted for more bass caught by me than any other. It's my preferred jig and plastics rod. Dad has caught more bass on his (now my) '70s Lew's Speed Stick. Techniques were less sensitivity based back then from what I can tell; baits were usually moving. Since that Lew's he's gone through a few Fenwick rods and now has a nice BPS rod, but that old Lew's netted him more than the others. By the way: That Cherrywood HD I have has a cork handle. That cork handle is wrapped in tennis raquet padded handle tape, wrapped in friction tape, covered in shrink wrap. The handle is comfortable but not sensitive. The sensitivity comes through the braided line and into the reel and reel seat. Josh

Keep telling yourself it was a spirited dink, or better yet, a carp. Josh

... Or Medium, or Heavy, etc? When I was growing up, pretty much any rod marked MH was good for up to an ounce of weight; 1/4 to 3/8oz being the minimum weight, and with the ideal weight being 5/8 to 3/4oz. Now it's pretty ambiguous. I see MH rods marked as 3/4oz max, and I also see them marked as 1-1/4oz max. I consider the former to be more of a medium rod and the latter to be edging into heavy action territory. On top of that, my favorite jig and plastics rod has less backbone than my frog rod. The frog rod is rated MH, but the backbone is more what I'd consider a heavy action backbone. When you think of M, MH, and H, what's your reference? How do you personally define these? Regards, Josh

I wish I'd never taken up cigarettes. Used to be I'd enjoy a cigar while fishing, but since I quit cigarettes around 10-12 years ago, I've been afraid to pick up anything with tobacco in it. Josh

I come from the mono crowd of old. Braid is one of the most useful (to me!) inventions of the past 20 years. I've done several hooksets at 30+ yards with it. That's something I'd never have attempted with mono. I love the stuff! If I were going to replace braid on my ultralight with mono, I'd use Trilene XL. That's the best mono for that use so far as I'm concerned. Josh

Here's from the installation manual: http://static.garmin.com/pumac/echoMAP_4x-5x_Install_EN.pdf I'm not screenshooting it because it may be copyrighted. See how it's wired parallel with the transducer? What's the transducer fuse rating? That'll be the final word on its constant draw. Now, not having the internal schematics, I'm going to guess that it saves up quite a bit in a nice big capacitor between pings and releases it into (up to) 500w bursts. That's what feels right, though. Internal schematics would be enlightening. Whatcha' think? Regards, Josh

Speaking of heat, guess what went into thermal shutdown while I was looking at the specs? Yup. This one is from my phone while the computer boots back up. The specs I was looking at had the transducer wired in parallel. Specs said 7.5W max consumption (depending on transducer). If I'm reading this right, the 7.5W consumption refers to the display. The transducer is wired in parallel and has its own fuse. Look at the fuse rating to figure the tranducer power. Like you surmised, it looks like a marketing technique. I once had a car stereo amp that claimed 1000W. It was a good amp, but couldn't have been more than 500W RMS. If it peaked to 1000W at all (beyond theory, anyway!) then it was for very short periods. I'll post the schematic I found when the computer is completely booted. Josh

Edit: Posted while you were posting. Will look at the unit's specs. Do you have an amplifier of some sort somewhere? Separately powered transducer? What system do you have? Josh

If you give me the model I can answer it. If not, Dad was a GM electrical engineer and I'll take the question to him. You said 500w RMS (root mean square). Approximate by multiplying peak wattage by 70.7, though this doesn't hold 100% of the time. W = V * A. Therefore, with a constant draw of 5 Watts from the power source (assuming a 12v power source) would be roughly half an amp. 500 Watts RMS would be a constant draw of about 50 amps. It's either one or the other. You can't have a draw of half an amp (or even 5 Watts, if that's what you meant to type) and have an RMS power of 500 Watts. Josh

Well dangit, I just passed over one because I'd not heard about it, and I have had success with the Bully Wa 65. Ordered another Bully Wa 65 from my guy instead..! I'll have to see about the Bully Wa 2. It does look good. Josh

What sonar? I'd like to see the specs. Josh

Silas, You might be surprised at the checks and balances in Wikipedia. No, it's not 100% accurate, but it's pretty good. I contribute to Wikipedia and know something of the process. There are doctors and lawyers who donate their time to their areas, too. Josh