Russ E

I would go fishing. Depending on the water temp, a warm rain might get the bass biting. For whatever the reason, in late fall and winter I catch more fish in nasty weather. If conditions are not favorable for the fisherman, the fish are often biting.

From my own experience Larger Bass can survive just fine without much cover. I always look for structure first. If there is cover on the structure that is just a bonus. One of my favorite lakes has large expanses of featureless rip rap. it holds large bass, but usually only in certain isolated areas. thanks to GPS and side imaging, i have found subtle contour differences along the rip rap. Nearly every large Bass I have caught in this lake, came from these areas.

until recently I used 8lb.Trilene XL on most of my spinning rods. When I switched to 10lb power pro an increase in casting distance was noticed on all of my rods. That was just a bonus. I did not switch to braid for casting distance. I wanted a line that did not stretch and has minimal twist. Trilene xl stretches like a rubber band.

I did this to a Dobyns champion, trying to hoist a 4 lb bass into the boat. Snapped the last 6 inches of the rod. Expensive mistake. My favorite way to break an expensive rod is to leave it hanging out of the boat when you pull up to a dock. Works every time. I only do this to $300.00 + rods. never broke a cheap rod. But that is for another thread.

at least someone finally answered his question.

exactly. That or the bow eye are the only things that get a rope attached on my boat.

I agree. Weight of truck vs weight of boat. NO!!!! there are better things to wrap the rope around.

Nice fish

The Local Cabelas and Big cedar lodge is a popular tourist destination. Due in part to its proximity to the popular Legends outlet mall and Kansas speedway. I don't foresee the store closing, but I would not be surprised if it turned into a Bass Pro.

They went to a standard 90 day with receipt. Personally I don't recall taking anything back to Cabelas because of defects. Did not know until the merger, that they had a lifetime guarantee.

^^^ this is what I do. I usually let out about 5 foot of the winch strap so the boat gets off of the roller. Back it down just until the back of the boat is floating. Jump in the box. Lower the tailgate, Then walk out the tongue and into the boat. Don't like dragging my boat up onto the ramp. even with a hull guard. I bought this Tire step at Cabelas to get up into the box. Helps this old man get up over the tire. Plus I never have to step into the water.

my spinning setups are nearly all braid with a copoly leader. I use the Alberto knot to tie them together. its easy to tie, goes through rod guides, and strong if you tie it right. the FG is a good knot, but a pain to tie while you are in the boat.

That is so true. this year i have gone back to my fishing roots, on some baits. All of the old baits still catch fish.

There are several variations of the knot. Shaw grigsby had a version. So does Gerald Swindle. The knot zona uses, seems to be the easiest to tie. He admits he did not invent the knot. He is just the first person I saw use that variation.

it was a little too stiff for my liking on spinning reels. I do use it as a leader for braid on my shakyhead rod. I have a spool of 8lb kastking flourokote coming tomorrow. we will see how it works on spinning reels.

here is a good thread about flourocarbon knots.

I don't use cheap flourocarbon. i had too many strange line break and knot fail issues. the only pure flourocarbon lines I will use are sunline sniper, tatsu, and berkley 100% flourocarbon. all 3 are expensive. I used the grand slam most of this year. I have not lost a fish due to line breakage with the High seas. Can't say the same for most flourocarbons I have tried. It has great knot strength and good abrasion resistance. I don't think it comes in green because most flourocarbon is clear.

I have replaced most of my flourocarbon with High Seas Grand Slam flourocarbon coated copoly. It is cheap and in my opinion handles better than most flourocarbon. Like flourocarbon it works better on baitcasters. A little too stiff for spinning reels. it is stocked at Walmart and cost around $7.50 for a 300 yard spool.

If I am using straight flourocarbon, I use Zonas shark knot. It has been the most reliable for me. If I am using a flourocarbon coated copoly, I use a standard trilene Knot or palomar knot.

the gen 4 is quite a bit different than the gen 3. gen 4 is more streamlined and has much better brakes.

i had one, it felt like a cross between a gen 3 revo sx and a silver max. It had the same crappy brakes. you can get a gen 4 revo sx online for about the same price. much better reel in my opinion. I currently own 4 of them.

might not be fishing tomorrow.

My haunting occured 2 years ago on Smithville reservoir just north of Kansas city. It was april and I was fishing a fluke around flooded timber. the line all of a sudden got that heavy mushy feel. I set the hook and there was a huge splash. I felt the fish shake its head a couple times then the line went limp. this all happened in a span of about 5 seconds. I stood there in disbelief trying to process what just happened. It could have been a large catfish. We seem to have a lot of them around here. What haunts me the most is if it was a bass, it was by far the largest one I ever hooked.

they are all great reels. I would add the abu garcia gen 4 revo sx to the list. my 2 preferences are the revo and the tatula. They both feel good in my hand. Go to a sporting goods store and handle them all. Bass pro and Cabelas has samples mounted on rod blanks. Pick the one that feels good in your hand. how it feels in your hand is the most important aspect in a good reel.

fall and winter fishing can be feast or famine. Bass can be harder to find this time of year, but if you do find them they are usually concentrated. When the cold water bite gets tough,Two baits I use is a suspending jerkbait and a ned rig. and fish them painfully slow. If there are fish in the area, one of these baits will usually entice a few. yesterday was a good example. Water temp was 42 degrees. I searched 1.5 hours trying to find fish. finally found fish hovering in 8 foot of water on a steep rocky shoreline. Tried several different baits with no bites. slowly swam a ned rig through them and caught a dozen bass in 15 minutes. I found other similar areas on the lake and caught several more doing the same thing.