Tennessee Boy

People are issued stupid patents all the time. Someone successfully patented a sealed crustless peanut butter a jelly sandwich. My mother was cutting the crust off the bread 30 years before the patent was issued. Your mother probably was too. You are not doing something wrong if you cut the crust off a peanut butter sandwich before eating it. The patent owner could sue you but they won't. My mother could easily challenge their patent but she won't. Zman has a right to prevent you from violating their patent. You have a right to challenge their patent. They will not spend the money required to take legal action against someone making their own lures in their garage. You will not spend the $100K+ to challenge their patent. It's a win win. That how our crazy legal system works. Zman does not have a patent on the lure. They have a patent on the way the blade is attached. If you think this is truly a new invention worthy of a patent then you should respect the patent. I don't think it would survive a challenge. I don't respect their patent. It's lunch time, I'm gonna make me a crustless peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

I agree with what other have said. I've always caught bigger fish on bigger streams and smallmouth like current. Sounds like your having fun catching the dinks. I would slowly move out to bigger water and try to figure them out as you go.

Are the small fish you're catching in backwater largemouth or smallmouth?

Hope you've had your rabies shots.

It's a dangerous business. I had a cousin who's still blew up. It put him in the hospital for a month.

I'm having a hard time getting a sense of scale but I'm guessing bats.

LMB are native in more than 19 states. They are both native and invasive in several states depending on the body of water. https://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/factsheet.aspx?SpeciesID=401

Software Developer for 35 years

I have a Solix not a Helix so I may not know what I'm talking about. I don't think you can connect two transducers to one unit at the same time. There is no switch that will work with high end transducers used by a Helix. There are Y cables that spit the side imaging out to one transducer and DI and Sonar to another but not to run two transducer that do everything at the same time. You can always disconnect one transducer and plug in another when you want to switch but that's a pain. Like I said I could be wrong but I would check with Humminbird support before spending the money.

About 30 years ago, I worked my tail off to get my bass boat from the Tennessee River back into this "kayak only water". I brought a hand saw and cut out several lay downs that were blocking the creek. I finally got back into the open water expecting to find many bass that had never seen a lure. Never got a bite. Most of it was about 6 inches deep.

It really depends on the boat and motor. Some boats need less water than your Kayak. You don't have to worry about seeing me in less than 2ft.

30 years ago, every time I hit the water I would grab a Texas rig and fish the bank. If I didn't catch anything after an hour, I would start trying different things. If I didn't catch anything after a hour of experimenting I would head back to the nearest bank and fish with my Texas Rig for the next 6 hours. The Texas Rig was my confidence "crutch" and that was no way to fish. Now I'm focused on trying to find the right location and I use the techniques that I think are best for the location. That usually includes a Texas Rig and a Jig of some sort.

The boat monkey got a hold of somebody in a bad way.

On this side of the Plateau we call that a bigun.

I tend to agree with @Catt that the bass are biting somewhere. Call it a hunch or superstition but I’ve always felt like the better lakes make you earn it more than the lesser lakes. Takes Guntersville for example, I’ve had some of my best days on it and my PB came from it but it’s always been a challenge to figure them out there. Kentucky Lake and Pickwick are other examples of lakes that will reward you but make you earn it. Compare that to Old Hickory Lake, it’s easier to figure them out but you’re not gonna see many 25lb limits there.

Here is my humble estimates on the factors that determine how well vibrations are transmitted to you hand. 97% - The amount of bow in your line. This is affected by the amount slack the angler is allowing, current, wind, the amount of line out, lure weight, and the type of line. 1% - The moment of inertia of the rod and reel 1% - The stiffness of the rod 0.9999% - Line stretch 0.0001% - The ability of the rod to transmit vibration. (Like most people I’m probably over estimating the importance of this one) None of this matters if you’re brain is not trained to interpret what you’re hand is feeling.

I don't go to the trouble of killing Common Carp even though they are not native. In Tennessee it is illegal to release an Asian Carp.

That is a very good test. The question is how one defines "wide margin". Most people would say that on a given day if they caught five fish on one lure and 1 fish on another that that is proof. If it happens everyday I would agree but on just one day it could easily just be luck.

I'm questioning the case where the angler can't tell any difference between the two lures and how they perform. It is certainly possible that there is some subtle difference that makes all the difference to the fish. It is also possible that after a few hours of unsuccessful fishing with the new bait that the angler looses confidence in it and stops fishing it as much. I can't say you're wrong about any conclusions you have reached. I do believe that almost all angler's jump to a conclusion way too soon. It takes a lot of data to show that two baits perform differently.

Personally, I refuse to believe that two identical baits will not be equally effective. Obviously, one could have a defect that affects it's action but then they are not identical. The randomness of fishing will mess with your mind and convince you that some lures don't work and other are magical. I try not to let that affect my judgement. That's just the way I think. I'm logical to a fault. Just ask my wife.

All things being equal I prefer using a spinning rod for walking baits because I think having the weight of the reel under the rod just makes the walking action feel a little easier. Other factors would be more important than the type of reel in my decision on a given day. I use both and I use left hand bait casters. If I tried to walk a bait with a right hand baitcaster I would probably get dizzy and fall in.

Some yes, most no.

I would just like to eco the advice that George gives in this video.

I've watched a lot of this one. It's been a good tournament. Did you see when Bobby Lane reaching down to grab a fish and got his shoulder crushed between the boat and a dock? That had to hurt. It was a nice fish though.