TOXIC

Fake News!! I'm leaving Saturday of this week for 7 days of toadapoolaza on St Clair!! Careful, after I retire in June, I may just head to your personal Lake Menderchuck and sample it as well!!

I've recounted this story many times when I was looking for tires 2 sets ago on my dual axle Ranger trailer. Here in Virginia, we have to get our trailer inspected every year. The shop I take my trailer to is an independant (no brand loyalty) for inspection. He specializes in very high dollar equestrian horse trailers that carry a lot more weight and travel a lot more miles than we as bass fishermen do. Some of these equestrian setups run over 100k and get pulled 10's of thousands of miles a year. That being said, here's what he told me. When choosing a trailer tire you need to buy a tire that fits your trailering style. The golden rule of trailer tires is to buy a tire that is going to be replaced in 4 to 5 years, every tire manufacturer recommends replacement by age and not tread life on a trailer tire. Depending on how many miles you put on your trailer in that timeframe will dictate the amount you spend on the tires. If you buy a high mileage more expensive tire that you are going to pull a limited number of miles per year for 4-5 years (replacement time frame), you have wasted your money. Second consideration is weight. You don't need high capacity tires on a dual axle where the weight is spread out over 4 tires. Single axle are more of a concern. While the Endurance is a very good trailer tire and has excellent weight and tread life as does Kuhmo and Maxxis, my trailer guy recommended Power King Towmax, he felt the Endurance were overkill for my trailering habits. He does not carry the Power Kings but had installed a lot of them and none had come back for replacement. I took his advice and ordered a set to be drop shipped to his shop. He balanced and installed them. They were flawless for the 4 years I ran them and I make some long pulls. I put a second set on 1 year ago and they have performed well.

I have been blessed to work grand openings and special events for Bass Pro and Cabela's all over the country. Depending on the location of the stores there is always a different type of fishing that is the most popular. Stop and think about it....."Fishing" is such a broad term. There are so many different types of fishing that it boggles the mind and when you are sent into a location to promote, you better be versed in as many different fishing techniques and styles as possible including the more specialized ones for the location you are going to. My wife always is amazed at how when we meet new people in social settings that if there is a fisherman in the group, they will talk to me for hours. I just tell her its a common bond and as a rule all fishermen are part of a big social club. Never look down on any other style of fishing. It's a passion we all have in our own way and none is better than the other.

I have used Ranger's Customer Service multiple times albeit for parts and not repair. It is top notch. Going to the dealer is the first step. It will be up to Cabela's as to whether they authorize you to take it to an approved repair shop or if it needs to go back to Ranger for the repair. I do not think Cabela's has the tools and welders to do the repair. One way or the other I would bet a month's pay that it gets taken care of per the warranty.

OR.....depending on how much line you have on the spool, you can take the existing line off the spool by winding it on to a paper towel tube or TP tube, then put some old line on the spool as filler and reload your mono. If you don't have close to a full spool of mono on there now, it would be easier just to strip some of it off down to the amount of backing you need and re-spool some new mono over it to get to a full spool.

It's more like "I Got You Babe"

So, does that settle the debate on which trail was the true "Elite" group? BASS or FLW?

It's been tough here as well. Lots of rain, grass is sparse and we had a very short spring. That's why I am going to Michigan for a week!!

Interesting discussion. Conventional wisdom has always been that night, or low light (dusk and dawn) fishing is more productive because the bigger fish that are normally deep, move up shallow to feed and when daylight presents itself, they move back deep. That's been my experience but I have not targeted the deeper depths at low light either.

I know y'all have just been waiting for me to chime in on this. The correct answer is..............All of the above. I could go point by point and discuss everyone's stated reason (some are good and some are just plain wrong) but to sum it up generally...It's the formula for the bait. The formula allows it the unique action, consistency and the fall rate. IF you stop and think about it, what's the only thing about a Senko that cannot be easily duplicated? It's not the color, it's not the shape, it's not the ingredients because you know the big bait company's have reverse engineered the Senko and it would be easy to identify all of the ingredients, it's not the weight; and just to highlight that, I have mentioned many times that different Senkos perform differently depending on color, amount of fleck and laminate type, there is no secret scent added either so, the only thing left is the actual formula. And believe you me that is a closely held secret. I have been to the factory in Page, AZ and watched them being made and I have touched them while still warm (just like a chocolate chip cookie right out of the oven). I could go into more detail on the formula but it normally just causes heated discussions. You can call me a fan boi and a talking head for GYCB but I honestly do believe they manufacture the best baits on the market bar none and that they do in fact out produce other imitations. But like I have always said, it's your $$, buy what you want and throw what you have confidence in and you will catch fish.

There are almost as many different Jerkbaits as there are Crankbaits. Different Jerkbaits are designed to work in different depths depending on bill size just like a Crankbait. Then there are floating models, sinking models and suspending models. Some then modify the action with "Suspend Dots" or pinch weights on the line to customize the action. There are also different lengths and sizes of Jerkbaits. All of the advise above is good but ultimately you have to pick the right bait for the conditions you are fishing and the species you are after. Your retrieve is only 1 part of a pretty involved process. It's a great bait and if you can maneuver around 2 or 3 sets of treble hooks, they are fun to fish.

Let's be clear here. There are 2 types of line twist. First is the way you spool your reel and 2nd are baits that due to their action, twist your line on the retrieve. A swivel will not correct line twist if you spooled your spinning reel wrong. While I'm not a big fan of swivels, they will help with the 2nd source of line twist.

My setup on Lake St Clair which is a lot like Erie is a standard 8-10 inch leader with a 1/4 oz QuickDrop dropshot weight. Baits are T-rigged on a gamakatsu #1 (not 1.0) ewg hook. Best baits in the world....Yamamoto Shad Shape Worm and 5" Pro Senko. I guarantee you fish if they are there, they will bite. Spinning rod with 6 or 8lb mono.

It is a great lake but fishes tough most of the time (cold side). The hot side is fun but the average bass size is usually lower. It's Lake Anna, Virginia. The other problem is that the hot side is totally private and there are no public ramps. You cannot get to the hotside from the cold side. There are 3 dikes that separate them and the return flow from the hotside to the coldside is a bridge at water level with barriers. You need to know someone who lives there or has access to a ramp. I used to guide on the hotside for people that lived on that side of the lake. I also guided on the cold side. Both sides are extreeeemly busy in the summer months.

IMHO with DShads (Yamamoto version of a fluke style bait) I delay my hookset until I get a steady pull. I have found the DShad to be heavier than other fluke style baits and less prone to be "pushed" for lack of a better term, than other fluke style baits that are generally lighter. I also consider weightless fluke fishing a finesse technique and throw them on spinning gear with 6lb mono no matter where or in what I'm fishing....yes, even in the Potomac grass!! I use a 4.0 Gamakatsu EWG hook Texas rigged. The DShad also has a "channel along the belly that allows you to put the hook further into the bait and also makes it so there is less material for the hook to travel through on your hookset. Good luck, it is one of my favorite techniques and I never leave the dock without one tied on.

I would hope so but I'm sure it depends on the consistency in the blanks, all other things being equal. Now the same action/power between different manufacturers is a whole different beast and I've seen pretty big differences.

I fish a nuke plant discharge series of lakes that are connected by canals. The process is that the plant pulls water from the "cold" side (public 13,000 acre lake) and discharges into the "hot" (private 3,000 acres) side. There are 3, 1,000 acre Lakes (pools) that are connected by canals. The plant discharges into pool 1 which feeds into pool 2 and then into pool 3 which empties back into the "cold" side with a water temperature that is supposed to be within 3 degrees of the "cold" side temperature. Spawn is a tricky problem because you can find a lot of varying water temps depending on which pool you fish in. Most days we run all 3 looking for the active fish. I have caught bass on a buzz bait in December in a snowstorm at the end of the canal 1 (warmest water) leading to canal 2 where there is current and warm water. Add to it that there are numerous big fishable creeks (more like small rivers) that feed into the various pools as well. The creeks all run at normal seasonal temps. I find that matching the seasonal probability of longer daylight ( around the first full moon in April) with the right water temps and there will be some spawners. I will say that they spawn longer and more often due to the stable water temps. It is a winter fishing bonus because if I can get to the ramp, no matter the winter conditions or air temp, I can fish with a good probability of catching them on many different techniques.

Water is 4 foot high on St Clair. Lots of shoreline flooding.

In addition to the Senko, try a Yamamoto DShad on a 4.0 EWG hook weightless. Even if they were roamers, it's hard for them to pass up an easy meal with the DShad.

Nice Feesh........I hope to get in on that action a week from this Friday. We leave for St Clair and a week on Harsens island (if its not underwater).

IMHO....the call was correct and justified but many, many, many, times that call is not made. It's no different than football where you could call a penalty on most play sets. Notwithstanding a couple of factors in this race. First, blocking is part of racing, it's not an infraction unless you make contact with another horse i.e., not having an open lane. Maybe the Jockey didn't see his lane was blocked and allowed his horse to drift out or possibly it was an intentional block but I'm just saying that blocking is an accepted strategy. His explanation that his horse spooked from the crowd is a little weak both from the standpoint, it isn't his first race and the horse went towards the crowd not away from it. In my 3 years training, I found they spook away from perceived danger. The consequences of one or more mounts going down at that point on the track, the conditions and the way they were bunched up would have been disastrous and I guarantee you there would have been major injuries to both mounts and riders.......possibly fatal. Whether or not that played into the decision is anybody's guess.

I think I remember reading an article somewhere that the USA is the only country that allows Pharm companies to advertise directly to the public on Broadcast TV. I always get a good laugh out of the possible side effects of drugs that I have no clue what they are prescribed for. I do get a kick out of the blood thinner commercials since I used to own a pest control company and many of the blood thinners are the main ingredients in mouse and rat poison that I used. So just for scratching my head and not that I condone it but they banned all tobacco ads from TV but yet alcohol and these pharmies can dump billions into advertising? All legal substances (although some of the drugs require a prescription). Hmmmmmmm.......

You missed a major cause of degraded water quality and that is the systematic spraying and eradication of naturally occurring plant growth by both municipalities and waterfront homeowners (most often with regulatory approval). Aquatic plants filter the water and promote healthy fish habitat for both water quality and fish reproduction including a safe haven for fry during their development. We, as fishermen and women are rarely given much of a platform in these types of decisions. More emphasis is on the recreational use (boating/Skiing/aesthetics, etc.). Another factor is invasive species as well as invasive plants. You highlight Lake Okeechobee in Florida and with a little research you would have found the major cause of the water quality problems they are having are due to massive government authorized spraying and the sugar industry controlling the water movement. I would venture a guess that although we should all be cognisant of our plastic disposal, it is a very small factor in overall fish morbidity. Certain states have banned lead weights and have attempted to ban plastics as well. In my waters, runoff from major metropolitan areas including trash, household appliances and every other imaginable man made products, pose a bigger problem than discarded baits. Industrial polluters also cause a lot of harm. A local shut down power plant here was going to flush their coal ash ponds directly into the Potomac river but due to conservation groups, they will now be required to pump them out and dispose of them in a more ecological manner. Keep up the good fight and keep bringing issues to the forefront!!

As long as it can handle the GPH your bilge pump is putting out. I can't see where your bilge pump out should ever be underwater or even get enough backwash to put water in your bilge.....

Drop your anchor or poles and tell them to vamoose....Seriously though, it was a cheap move and I would make sure I returned the favor at the next TX.