Josh Smith

I tried braid, then tried going back. I can't. Braid just has too many advantages and leaders are easy to tie, when needed. Josh

Mann's is excellent.

Hi All, There are a few baits on which I'd like to replace the front treble hooks with the same size, but red. Come to realize there's a huge gap in my memory pertaining to hook sizes. I've always eyeballed regular hooks and never paid much attention to size. Problem is that when I go to replace hooks, that lack of knowledge could mess up the lure action. This was never an issue in the past, but the replacing of regular hooks with colored has me interested, and some hooks just feel cheap and I'd like to replace them with something else more substantial. Help? Regards, Josh

What is this "Pure Fishing"? I have gone to their website and I get a "store closed" message. This is the one listed on Google; comes up first on the search. Josh

I buy handmade ones from eBay. Figure on supporting the small business folks! Josh

Hello, It's closer to Huntington, right near the county line. Me and a kayak would be an interesting experiment. Never have tried one. PM me and I can give you the coordinates. Regards, Josh

Not that lake! About five feet out from almost every shoreline there is a major dropoff. A lot of the shoreline is not accessible, either, except by boat. Josh

Alberto, Albright, or Seagur. Josh

If I recall, I sounded it at 20ft but that was like 20 years ago. I'll be doing it again after the boat is repaired... I need that boat! Josh

Hello, Practice with 1/2oz. Turn off the mag breaks and activate all four centrifugals. When you cast, ride the spool with your thumb. Tighten down with your thumb a bit if you feel the line start to get loose. In my opinion, a person should train without brakes, then use brakes to make life easier. I used to practice with Grandpa's old Bronson a lot for this reason. That thing has no brakes and the handle spins on the cast! I do regularly do 40+ yards when I practice with a 5/8oz dropshot weight. I could go further but my target tree is at 40 yards. These reels are supertuned, and so I expect more from them than stock reels. Stock, I expect 30 yards from a good baitcaster. What kind do you have? Josh

Hello, It's 11 acres. Josh

I generally run at least 4' when I run a leader. Most times, the leader is there so I can break it should all else fail when snagged. That just happened to me today, in fact. I had to let a lure go and I tied a snap right to the braid, and ran a Zara Spook along the same lane I lost the crankbait. Well, I'll tell ya', the bass that blew it up sure wasn't line shy. Josh

Hi Folks, I'm wondering what your favorite topwater lures are? Mine was the Hula Popper, but I'm rapidly coming to like the original Zara Spook. They hit those Spooks when they're not hitting anything else, it seems. Bad fishing conditions put me in mind of Texas rigs and Zara Spooks. Rarely do I go home without catching at least two anymore. Josh

I'm catching largemouth on topwater (Spooks mostly) and I'm at around your latitude and climate. I would try jerkbaits colored like baby bass or sunfish. Add some red in there. Do you wade? I didn't get to this past summer and I'm hoping we'll have a bit of warmer weather yet where I can go wading, but they are emptying the reservoirs. My all-time favorite tactic for river fishing is to wade out (or at least find a sand bar or a bend in the river). I cast out a small jerkbait and let it drift with the current to a breakwater like a rock. Right in front of the rock I either twitch the jerkbait or tug it hard, depending, and more often than not something blows it up. This has never failed me. Generally I target all the rocks in an area like this before moving on. Smallies hit like this, and recently it's been what I call razorfish -- walleye, sauger, and saugeye. Funny thing: I keep catching small channel cat on inline spinners so I've mostly stopped using them. Josh

.... and for 21 bucks I would.

http://www.basspro.com/Bass-Pro-Shops-210Piece-StikO-Kit-with-370-Tackle-Storage-Box/product/1407071613/ or, if that doesn't work, type in item number 1407071613 Regards, Josh

Hi Folks, This is the lake I've been studying this year: As you can see, access to many parts is hard. There are places I flat won't be able to get to until I get the boat operational. Finding time to repair that danged thing is tough! Anyway, the northernmost point, where there's that lone "Bass" label, is right where the overflow is. It leads to a waterfall and ultimately, the river. This is some of the cleanest water I've seen. All fish from this lake are safe to eat. It's a drainage lake, too, so that says a lot. Back around 2005 there was a lot of thick matting that seems to be gone. Now, it's a lot of seaweed and grass cover. As you can see, I've only covered a very small portion of that lake, and that portion produces 12" to 14" bass regularly. They bite on things most folks don't fish, most folks using live bait. To really explore this lake I should get a canoe, but the deep V with the trolling motor will suffice for now. It's really not that bad off; if I took a week off to finish repairs I could have it done easily. Can't afford that week off, though! I did enhance the picture a bit with filters to show the shallows and dropoffs, for you and for my own reference. It's a fun little lake! Regards, Josh

The lake I've been concentrating on this year seems to have mostly 12" to 14" bass. Very healthy. Are there bigger ones in there? Likely. Being Northern Indiana, though, I am betting there aren't many bigger. I am still studying the lake, though, and could be wrong. Josh

Well dang. I just use a casting sinker or rubber core sinker and a hook loaded with worms or chicken gizzard or liver. You all fancy it up! Josh

I have found that the lighter the mono backing, the less it digs. I use 8lb backing for this reason, but have been thinking about going to 2lb backing. There's just less space to dig into this way. Josh

Hello, That stuff is on all nickel Winchester I've ever seen, to a greater or lesser extent. I always assumed it's sealant. If its polishing compound then that's a bad assumption on my part, but bottom line is that it never hurt and is fine to use for defense. Josh

It's cool. All round Abu Garcias are welcome!

I noticed I messed up the math. It should have been 2πr. I don't know why I did that. The new numbers should be 12.56 inches vs 9.42 inches. I don't know why I did that. It's embarrassing. I agree that it may be insignificantly faster taken by itself. However, taken as a whole and multiplied by the reel's gears, it starts to become significant. The true overall ratio of a reel should be measured in inches per turn of the handle for inches of line retrieved. This gives a truer picture. If I have a 3" handle, one complete revolution will travel is 9.42" . A 2.5" handle will travel about 2" less. The insignificance does give way to what feels right for a given application. The small handles which came with the first Ambassadeur reels, for example, feel too small for most things save maybe panfish. They do let you reel faster on the 3.8 gears, but it doesn't feel right. A larger, aftermarket handle and upgraded gears feel better, to me, anyway. That's the thing: The difference between a 2.5" handle and a 3" handle is insignificant until you start talking subjective observation. At around 3" of handle, your wrist stops doing all the work and your forearm and even upper arm begin doing the work. This is why I'm interested in IPT and overall ratio vs gear ratio. Regards, Josh

OK, here's the math showing the mechanical advantages/disadvantages. Using a rod, the mechanical advantage always goes to the fish. It's just how much advantage you're willing to give up to the fish that you have to determine. All a rod is, is a series of mechanical advantages/disadvantages. The above shows the relationship. It's a series of levers. All a gear is, is a round lever, by the way. The title of the picture is "Force Multiplier" (or, could also be named "Why You Should Have Paid Attention in High School") Let me know if you can't read something; I'm no longer used to drawing schematics for anyone but me. Longer rods give the bass a greater mechanical advantage over the angler. A rod that has a medium action doesn't give up as much as it bends in the middle and reduces the overall length. For the argument, however, we're assuming stiff rods with no bend. Theoretical rods, in other words, or rods with the same amount of softness in the tip and strong backbones. Likewise, if you have two different rod handles, the longer one will do less work than the shorter one for the same distance traveled, but in return you don't have to reel quite as hard. Make sense? Can you read it? Regards, Josh P.S. I noticed I messed up the math. It should have been 2πr. I don't know why I did that. The new numbers should be 12.56 inches vs 9.42 inches. I don't know why I did that.

Hello, The crank handle is just a lever, and the lever is the simplest tool. It consists of a stick (or whatever) and a fulcrum. This applies to rods as well as reel handles, and it's one reason I don't understand when folks say longer rods give them mechanical advantage in fighting fish. Explanation to follow. I'm going to draw up a couple pictures and scan them. Regards, Josh