RDB

With respect, this just isn’t true regarding vegetation or movement. Typically you just have plastic & hook which is light and creates little resistance. With a longer leader and lower resistance between the weight and bait, the vegetation helps keep it higher in the column. I’m not saying it doesn’t pull it down some but it does keep it higher over a longer distance. Put on a white fluke in clear water with vegetation and test yourself. As far as movement, over rocks or chunky surfaces, shorter leaders do produce a more jerky motion as the weight bounces through the rocks. As an extreme example, if you had a 3” leader, the lure would basically match the movements of the weight. As the leader lengthens, you get a smoothing out of the action. If you had a long enough leader, you would get a pretty smooth glide.

IMO, getting skunked is a good thing and one of the motivators to improve our skills and knowledge. Most questions on this site are about areas of struggle, not success. Failure is a necessary component of growth. We grow muscle by tearing it down and building it back stronger. Without failure, there is really no reason to evaluate and improve.

Next time I hang a 110, I’ll just remind myself it could be worse.

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Roman_Made_Natural_Wood_Mother_Chaser_Swimbait/descpage-RMMCHSB.html And it only weighs 22oz.

You may be right. I scrolled through but didn’t watch the whole thing. If you’re saying he suggests that plankton support the bass v. shells, shad, etc., I agree with you. As far as the delivery part, current availability is absolutely one component I consider when searching.

Load the boat, store the tackle, and walk the bank till I find a grasshopper.

I think he was referencing situations where location can narrow the scope of your search. Specifically, situations where certain areas may have more nutrient rich waters and support larger bass populations. I’m confident he agrees with you that it’s not find plankton then find location.

Most of mine are from Andy’s Custom Baits.

I don’t fish tubes a lot but here is a pretty cool Zona video about cracking’ a tube.

Twin Lake…just outside of Crystal Minnesota. JK…O.H. Ivie

You might check with the Florida folks. I think it got below 40 a week or so ago.

If I’m casting a specific spot I might anchor. Otherwise, I just use the pedals to hold whatever position I want.

I wouldn’t make it too complicated. As a general rule, higher fiber, carrier, strand (whatever you want to call it) lines are smoother, have less noise and friction, and usually cast better. Low fiber, carrier, strand… are typically rougher and cut through vegetation well. Kind of like off road tires v. highway tires. Stick with a quality name and you’ll be fine. Just make sure you spool it tighter.

I occasionally kayak fish in my Pro Angler and physical act of pitching/flipping is easy…the challenge is boat control if you want to stand up but have some wind. I’ve gotten to where I stay seated and do a side pitch so I can use the pedals for control. Deep cranking no issues.

Depends on who you listen to. Some say the repairs are finished, others say another repair spot was found. I believe estimated completion was the end of January. If we can catch the spring rains, it shouldn’t take too long.

I get it…it’s crazy expensive and I don’t know that you get much, if any benefit. Tatsu (or any fluoro) is no magic bullet. At the end of the day, most suggestions you get relate to what others have confidence in. Confidence leads to greater attention. Greater attention leads to greater success. Greater success breeds greater confidence. Fishing is just a circular exercise.

In non-tidal waters, I would think it would depend on how rapidly the water is rising or falling. I am no expert on northern lakes but it seems like levels in your waters fluctuate more frequently and dramatically than our waters. In Texas, bass don’t typically respond well to rapidly falling water. In lakes that don’t see frequent or dramatic changes, my guess is safety and survival becomes more of a priority in their shrinking environment. Once stabilized, things return to normal. Rapidly rising doesn’t seem to bother them as much. Unfortunately it also open up much more water.

2 more kids left and I’m with you. Frankly you could give me 800 sq ft and a shop and I would be good to go. Unfortunately the wife is a little more high maintenance.

Just as an FYI, you can get 8lb Tatsu in the low $30’s. I’m not trying to change your mind but I’ll give you a counter argument for how I justify the price as leader line. Personally, I use hi-vis braid to leader (Tatsu) on all my spinning reels (I don’t like straight fluoro on spinners). Using 10ft leaders would get you 60 leader changes from a 200yd spool (~.50 cents/leader). Even though InvizX is ~.10-.15 cents/leader cheaper, Tatsu is a more durable line (IMO), so net/net there is probably not much difference in the cost when considering durability. And being able to replace the last 10’ with fresh line 60 times for me is a big deal.

One of the nice things about Texas v. many other states is you get a lot for your money. I don’t know what Germantown is like but I know housing costs in the Nashville area have exploded. You can afford 3 homes with CA prices. I lived in the Bay Area 30 years ago and had a close friend transfer there before the last housing crash. He paid more for an 1800 sq ft, no yard home in Burlingame than I paid for 6000+ ft on 3 acres 30 minutes outside of Dallas. And it was quite a bit more.

It really depends on the rod. My main criteria is a rod with a lot of backbone and a stout enough upper section to get a strong set and get the fish moving up quickly. Personally I use an XH/F for punching and either an XH/F or H/F for frogs, depending on the thickness.

Unfortunately that’s the negative side of frog fishing. If your talking hollow body, you might check to see how the hooks sit on your frog. Some brands point down & in while others sit more up which in my experience, impacts hook-ups. If I can get away with it, I will bend the hooks out slightly, especially on frogs using thicker plastic. The negative is they may be slightly less weedless. My other modification is like you, I also trim the legs. However, I will leave one side slightly longer than the other as I find it makes the frog walk better. Doesn’t help your hook-up problem…just sharing my experience.

This is another one of those topics that seems to be impossible to prove with believers at both extremes (fits the bias post). To me, there are just too many variables to be able to isolate the singular effects of barometric pressure or moon phase and I’m thankful for that. If fishing were paint by numbers, I wouldn’t find it nearly as enjoyable. I don’t use either to determine whether I go fishing but I do look at both when I do go fishing, just like I look at water temp, level, and previous weeks weather.

That’s a fair definition…maybe I could have used a less vague term. I was thinking more along the lines of: Bias - A preference or an inclination, especially one that inhibits impartial judgment. My thought was since there are so many unknowns in fishing, we often have to make judgements based on preferences or inclinations, often without quantifiable proof. I gave the example of color where by bias (inclination) that it matters to a degree but I can’t prove it and it’s inconsistent with many studies. My bias is not unreasoned but based on experience. However, I also acknowledge there could be a degree of confirmation bias involved. I had faith that we could have an adult conversation. That’s why I intentionally pointed out the inconsistencies with my positions.