The Bassman

Follow up to last post. We made it into the 40's today which is normal for mid Dec. but was really pretty pleasant after two cold mornings. I got out this afternoon for a couple of hours and action was real steady. No bigs but lots of fun size on a 3" sticko ned rigged on a 1/32 oz. Owner blockhead. I've settled on these as the best MWF heads out there. Anyone else getting out? I'm trying to keep this thread alive. We must have lost @frostywho was always posting.

I couldn't have said it better except some days I get on them pretty good.

Give me that "different" feeling of being 48. You can have my "64" feeling. It's obvious that most of us have some physical issue(s), but as my wife says "you do what you want to do". It's easier to hurt while fishing than (in my case) hurt while painting.

Heavy braid over a wrap of electric tape will keep your total spool weight as light as possible. Cheap mono works fine if that's not a concern.

Thanks for reminding me about DMSO. Tried it but didn't really give it a chance.

I've been doing good in the smaller lakes I fish. High temps in the 30's will keep me off the water for a few days though. I'm betting on a warm up before Thanksgiving.

We were in and out of ice last winter even with sub-zero weather in Jan. I was fishing two days before Christmas and at the end of Jan. @Team9nine is always posting pics of nice bass in cold weather. He's right here in central IN. Give it a shot. Fish the sunny side of HOA lakes mid afternoon if you can get out.

For many years creek wading was my favorite technique. An ankle injury has for the most part kept me from that. A bigger matter in the long term is arthritis in my thumbs. It makes baitcasting painful sometimes. I'm OK with spinning for now.

Does the pond have grass carp? My experience with catfish has been that they move pretty fast. A big turtle makes a lot of sense, but I'd opt for the big bass of course.

That rod is very light and well balanced and cosmetically would look great with my Stradic FA's. I just don't like the ss guides. I suppose changing out the tip top would fix that concern.

I used to subscribe to the notion that bass are like bears. Being cold blooded creatures they don't need to store up energy. They eat at varying degrees governed by water temp. As you mentioned they do in fact gravitate towards warmer water, though.

Yeah, I looked it up after I posted. A lot of guys try to say little noises and such are no big deal but when I drop two bills on a spinning reel I ask a lot of it.

I might be wrong but I think the Luvias has worm gear oscillation.

I replace split rings with VMC crankbait snaps on all my moving baits but still rety when changing. I have trouble opening and closing snaps. (old age, arthritis)

That's what I've always thought. This guy (who's well known and is very good) insists that wear patterns develop on main and pinion gears. Wouldn't mesh locations change constantly anyways?

Had a local reel tech tell me that when servicing spinning reels that it's imperative that gear teeth location be the same as before it was disassembled. I'm looking for some opinion on this.

The noise is from the ice expanding. The water movement is just from the pressure releasing at points of least resistance (like a hole).

That's actually when the ice is the safest. Quiet ice can mean trouble.

There used to be a Senko commercial where Roland Martin throws a bag to a kid. The kid asks "How do you work these things, mister?" Roland replies "Son, you don't work them, they work for you!" They have to be foolproof with that kind of endorsement wouldn't you think? LOL

I was out this afternoon in 30 mph wind with temp right at 50. Really frustrating that I was still spooking bass right off the bank. Bear in mind though that I fish smaller lakes on foot. The sun's effect is still pretty strong here. Last year I was catching fish right up to ice up and as soon as it went out the end of Jan. @Paul Robertsgave some good advice above.

I use straight braid most of the time. One downside is that it tends to get tangled with certain baits like spooks and blade baits. I'll sometimes use a leader when I'm focusing on those techniques.

I jumped into this discussion late. Wish I would have mentioned that 3000 size Shimanos have a bigger handle knob. Higher end Shimano reels have removable knobs and can be changed out. I use left handed PG II baitcaster knobs (BNT4240) on my 2500 FA's.

We had a dramatic weather change almost three weeks ago. Actually, I've done pretty well. I do fish smaller lakes so location is not an issue. I do find that a little wind really helps. Dead calm days insure a tough day.

For straight braid terminal connections I use a variation of the uni called the "Fishin' Fool" knot. Easy to learn and reliable. Easy to search online.

I always get a kick out of their grading system with arbitrary decimal #'s. How do they arrive at those?