MIbassyaker

Maybe I don't have a very good imagination, but I can't think of a single reason why fluoro would be advantageous over mono for buzzbaits.

Well....let's be clear: we're not talking about extinction of the largemouth bass species here. We're also not talking about massive waterbodies like Lake Erie, which has a surface area of 10k square miles. We're talking about whether bass in a small pond can be overharvested to the point that the population declines. The answer is yes: "One of the best series of studies of the impact of anglers on a relatively small largemouth bass fishery was made many years ago at Ridge Lake, a 14 acre Coles County, Illinois impoundment by Dr. G. W. Bennett. The studies showed this newly opened, un-fished lake, after being subjected to two weeks of fairly heavy pressure, lost over 70% of available adult bass. Fish populations before and after the opening were measured by draining the lake, so there wasn't much error in the initial and final population estimates. A creel agent at a single exit point counted all fish harvested. Similar results have been measured at other newly opened or re-opened ponds, and years ago skilled anglers from the In-Fisherman Magazine staff proved they could completely down-fish a small lake within a few weeks during the spawn. [...] "During the Ridge Lake draw-downs, most of the smaller bluegills were culled and not returned to the lake. The result was almost all of the few remaining adult bass spawned successfully; there was little competition for food, and almost no predation on juvenile bass. A disproportionate and highly abnormal number of bass survived to replenish the fishery. In real ponds with no draw-downs and culling, abundant small bluegills would have decimated nests of the few remaining adult bass, competed with the few surviving bass fry for plankton and insect food, and eaten many more fry. Without draw-down and culling, the Ridge Lake bass fishery would have been ruined by the excessive fish harvest."

Without disputing your point that small ponds can be certainly be overfished (I don't disagree with that), the genetic contribution to variability in lure avoidance among bass is not merely theoretical. See this study, for instance: https://afspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1577/T06-243.1 "Three successive generations of artificially selected largemouth bass were produced from a single experimental study population. Within each generation, individual adult largemouth bass were identified as having either high or low vulnerability to angling through a series of controlled catch‐and‐release angling trials. Individuals of each vulnerability group (high and low) were then selected from that population for breeding to produce the next generation. The response to selection for vulnerability to angling increased with each generation; that is, the magnitude of the difference between the high‐ and low‐vulnerability groups of fish increased with each successive generation. Realized heritability was calculated as 0.146 (r 2 = 0.995), indicating that the vulnerability of largemouth bass to angling is indeed a heritable trait. Our results indicate that recreational angling has the potential to alter the gene pool of wild fish populations, which may indirectly affect population characteristics such as survival, growth rate, and reproductive output as well as directly affecting angling success rates." It's pretty well-known that individual bass vary along some rudimentary personality traits according to some basic behavioral tendencies. Even in humans, major personality traits are around 40-50% heritable. It would be rather shocking if personality traits of bass were generally less heritable than those of humans. In bass and other members of the sunfish family, the relevant trait seems to be a sort of "boldness" or propensity for risk-taking behavior that seems to vary substantially among individuals in a population. Here's a recent study that was able to differentiate both largemouth and rock bass as a more vulnerable to capture on crankbaits vs. wacky-worms based on an experimental measure of boldness: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0135848

I would expect this to be true of individual fish, but populations can also become wary over generations via genetic selection from catch and keep practices. Bass exhibit genetic variability in their disposition to strike lures, and if willing biters are regularly caught and removed, while the warier fish are not; the fish who are dispositionally less-willing to strike lures end up taking over the population.

Add me to the chorus of those in favor of the Pad Crasher and Popping Pad Crasher. They hook up well, they're not too hard to get to walk, and the price is right.

Drop-Shotting: The practice of having a weight suspended below a single-pointed hook that is tied directly to the main fishing line is lawful on inland lakes, drowned river mouths (see p. 11), Great Lakes and Great Lakes Connecting Waters only. This gear may not be used on rivers or streams. (p. 10) https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-350-79119_79146---,00.html The purpose of the regulation is to protect salmon and trout from snagging during spawning runs. It wasn't intended to be a restriction on bass fishing. The newest rule now permits drop shot on drowned river mouths (e.g. Muskegon Lake, Kalamazoo Lake, White Lake), which were previously also included in the prohibition.

Yes -- throw it where largemouth live, at a time they want it, and they'll get it. Largemouth are the only bass I have ever caught on a drop-shot, because almost all smallies I catch are river fish, and in Michigan, drop-shotting is outlawed in rivers.

Very well -- I blaspheme. Bone is fine, just never been convinced of Bone's universal superiority over anything else with a white belly.

Drop perch? If I could keep only one, it would be perch! I would drop Bone or I Know It.

With 60 feet max depth, the first thing I would want to do is find the deep weedline, which you probably can't access from the bank. You can do that without a depthfinder by throwing a worm on an open hook jighead, counting it down, and see where you stop hanging up in vegetation. You'll probably catch a few doing this too.

This is a little unorthodox, but after trying to carry both both more and less, I've settled on bringing two 3500 boxes and two 3455 boxes (together about the same size as 2 x 3600s, maybe smaller by volume actually), along with a small soft-sided tackle bag. -One 3500 box for terminal tackle for plastics (worm, wacky, & drop shot books; bullet weights, ned heads, shaky and slider heads) + some reusable plastic bodies -One 3500 box for jerkbaits and/or topwaters, typically 3-5 of each might fit, depending on size. Usually room for some weighted swimbait hooks or tube heads in here too. -One 3455 box for jigs & bladed jigs, 6 compartments 2 per compartment, maybe 4 for jigs and 2 for bladed jigs (or vice versa), 12 total; Or sometimes fill one compartment with extra trailers. -One 3455 box for crankbaits; 6 compartments, I usually don't need more than 6 cranks: 2 mid-divers, 2 shallow, 2 lipless would be typical, but depends on the waterbody & time of year. Sometimes I can get 2 cranks per compartment if they're small. -Buzzbaits and spinnerbaits (3 or 4 each) go in a side pocket in the bag. -All plastics in the original packages in main center pocket of the bag.

Rage cut-r worm, weightless or light texas rig. Cast, let it drop, give a few jerks with pauses, then slow straight retrieve back. 3 presentations in the same cast.

.... I said to myself two days ago. So I did a small-river float today. Smallies were a little more elusive than usual; I got 12 in 4 hours (In a stretch that often yields 2-3 times that), all but two on a whopper plopper 75, the best being this 16.5" coupla-pounder: Also happened upon a medium Abu Veritas combo tangled in the branches of a laydown, poking out of the water. I'm guessing somebody lost it overboard upriver and it washed down. The reel is a goner, and the previous owner replaced the tip at some point, but other than a couple of slightly bent guides that were easy to bend back, it looks salvageable if I can get it cleaned up:

The idea that salt attracts or makes bass hold on to baits longer to any substantial degree is not supported by the evidence. Berkley lures scientist Keith Jones addresses it briefly in his book Knowing Bass: "Bass are not the salt lovers we are. While sensitive to sodium chloride, bass find it mildly appealing at best. Flavor tests in the laboratory show consistently that bass quickly lose interest in objects flavored by sodium chloride alone. When added to an organic mixture, such as worm extract, table salt may slightly improve the overall flavor, but it is no more than a minor enhancement." (p. 57-8) The data reported in the book from the Berkley experiments show table salt and garlic fare only very slightly better than sugar and anise which are "almost always spit out, often within a split second" (p. 57), and much worse than complex extracts or mixes of electrolytes found in actual prey species like baitfish and invertebrates: "Studies show that whereas no single salt is overly tasty, bass deem salt mixtures that replicate prey species' electrolyte content to be quite palatable. Apparently the various electrolytes in the mixture react with each other synergistically to make their combination more potent than any single salt by itself. Although sodium and chloride are major ionic components of these mixtures, prey salts contain a wide variety of different electrolytes. Bass can readily distinguish between these complex mixtures and plain table salt." (P. 58)

Well, the mid-summer slow-down on the largemouth lakes is underway. 4.5 hours Tuesday morning produced just 3: one chatterbait fish, one senko fish, and the long-bodied 20", 3.5 pounder below on a Pompadour jr...the only topwater strike I got: Time to start hitting the rivers again!

I have....(counts)...24. 12 spinning, 12 casting. I take 3-7 at a time, and which ones I take depend on where I'm going (Rocky river? Deep, clear natural lake? Shallow, swampy lake or bayou? Gravel pit lake?), and time of year: SPINNING: 5'6" L-MF (panfish, stream trout) 6'0" L-MF (2-piece; wife likes to use) 6'0" ML-F (2-piece for travel) 6'7" ML-XF (1/2 main ml rods for finesse plastics, e.g. drop-shot/ned/mojo/slider/etc. ) 6'10" ML-XF (2/2 main ml rods for finesse plastics e.g., drop-shot/ned/mojo/sider/etc.) 7'0" ML-F (old rod, still good for small balsa crankbaits, keitechs, ned, etc.) 6'0" M-F (close-quarters tubes, grubs, topwaters, crankbaits) 6'8" M-XF (1/2 main M rods -- weightless or lightly-weighted senkos/flukes; also tube/grubs/small jerkbaits/topwaters) 7'0" M-F (2/2 main M rods -- shakyhead/jigworm/tubes/grubs) 7'0" M-F (2-piece for travel) 7'0" MH-XF (Main MH spinning option for texas rigs, tubes, grubs) 7'0" MH-F (2-piece for travel, but old rod, haven't used in a few years CASTING: 6'6" ML-F (2-piece for travel; more like a M than ML) 6'6" M-F (2-piece for travel but slightly heavier, also an all-arounder) 6'4" M-XF (1/2 main M rods for jerkbaits & topwaters; also good with light t-rigs) 6'8" M-XF (2/2 main M rods for jerkbaits & topwaters; also good with light t-rigs) 7'2" M-M (main crankbait rod, shallow and mid-depth up to 1/2oz) 6'8" MH-F (1/2 main MH rods for jigs/t-rigs) 6'9" MH-F (2/2 main MH rods for jigs/t-rigs) 6'10" MH-MF (Main spinnerbait/chatterbait/buzzbait rod. Also lipless & crankbaits over 1/2oz) 7'1" MH-F (2-piece for travel) 7'5" MH-F (long-cast moving bait rod -- spinnerbait/chatterbait/buzzbait/swimjig) 7'0" H-MF (flipping/pitching/punching bigger jigs/t-rigs, also heavier moving baits around 1oz) 7'1" H-F (Frogs, flipping/pitching/punching bigger jigs/t-rigs)

Pumpkin + Green Flake (#1, but hard to find) Pumpkinseed Green Pumpkin Green Pumpkin + Chartreuse Tail/tip Junebug Red Shad Motor Oil

Yes! I use them mostly as jigworm. They are great on a vertical drop -- the curly tail slows the fall, but adds a lot of rapid movement at the same time. Pumpkin Pepper Perch Junebug Grape/Blue Flake, Pearl tail Red/Black Core

If you're looking at the mojo, check out the 6'8" M-XF (the "wacky style" model). That particular length, power, and action for St. Croix is really special, and makes for a superb all-around spinning rod. It is ideal for weightless (or lightly-weighted) plastics like senkos and flukes, but also excels at tubes, grubs, jigworms/shakyheads, as well as smaller topwaters and jerkbaits.

The answer is unsatisfying: The numbers signify nothing in absolute terms, only relative size compared to other models in the same line of reels by the same company. There is no standard ...it is just that what Pflueger calls "30" is closest to the "2500" of other companies. You are better served by ignoring the number and selecting a reel based on line capacity, drag strength, line pick-up (inches-per-turn), and weight. However, much of the choice comes down to personal taste (what factors are you more willing to sacrifice for others), and it's hard to know what works best for you individually without some trial and error. I can tell you that for Pflueger reels, I have settled on size 30 for rods under 7', and size 35 for rods 7' & up.

Lookin' good! That's the same kind of bend as the Cavitron, on which I miss very few strikes.

When you say "around here", how close do you mean? This: "....a lake that has a shallow side mostly full of largemouth and a deeper side with smallmouth." would be a pretty good description of Gun Lake, just south of Grand Rapids. Also, like @Jleebesaw, I thought of upstate New York too, but the Finger Lakes region (Cayuga, Conesus, etc.), which I understand to have very good largemouth fishing in addition to smallmouth. Champlain also has lots of largemouth habitat, and in 8 days you would still barely scratch the surface of it.

It took a long time for buzzbaits to click with me, but once they did, I've committed to using them every time I'm out in the early morning or late evening. I use the whopper plopper too, but I fish in and around emergent vegetation too often to depend always on a bait with treble hooks....a single-hook buzzbait can still go where no whopper plopper can go. I'm not really sold yet on the idea of a trailer instead of a skirt. Admittedly, i've only tried this a few times, but there were immediately some things I didn't like. I thought a toad would add some lift, letting me retrieve slower. The opposite happened -- I found I had to retrieve faster to keep it from sinking. So I tried a Strike King Toad Buzz, thinking a buzzbait made specifically for a plastic trailer would be better. It did seem to run better, but I kept missing strikes, and I realized perhaps the wire design doesn't permit the toad to run low enough.

All of them, maybe? I like Culprit, Berkley Power worms, the Zoom mag II, as well as various ribbontails whose names I have forgotten by Creme, gambler, Charlies worms, BPS... But my favorite is the Mister Twister Thunderworm, currently out of production ...a meaty 6" with a gator-style tail. It's old model that goes away and comes back every several years.

Had a few show up during a family get-together in Wisconsin over the 4th: