OldManLure

I spoke to my brother in NC this evening, and as our conversations always do we talked about our recent fishing experiences. As it turns out, his son recently purchased one of these and loves it. He has double checked a number of smallmouth catches, and is impressed with the Proof Ball’s accuracy. He’s an engineer so measurements are pretty sacred to him. I rarely order anything on a whim, but @Further North’s post intrigued me and I ordered one yesterday. I admit that my nephew’s review did erase a fear that it might be a novelty item or gimmick. I’m looking forward to using it.

Thanks. I ordered one. I think it’s ideal for my kayak.

Leave them in original packaging. Group packages of craws and use a binder clip. Group packages of bugs and use a binder clip. Group bags of worms (by size if you prefer) and use a binder clip. Group packages of grubs and use a binder clip. And then buy a small soft side bag (Walmart’s Ozark Trail has a perfect size) to store all of them. If you try this, place binder clip in slightly different locations at the top of packages (think tabs on file folders). You can create labels with white adhesive tape for the flat tops of binder clips.

The current issue of In-Fisherman magazine has an article devoted to solunar theory (and the article points out that it is not actually a theory, but after 90 yrs remains at best a hypothesis). While the current article focuses on feeding behavior, it references other studies which if you pursued might well take you to the topic of spawning, or at least provide a starting point for researching the topic. And I bet that if you asked AI, it will offer links to research examining spawning behavior and effects of lunar phases. I mention this assuming you can access the article on-line. I’ll also mention that you might be surprised by the article’s conclusions.

Willful negligence is not an accident.

Unfortunately, there are recreational anglers who share Iaconelli’s perverted sense of etiquette. I’ve had words with guys, including guides, who believed because they thought they were on a stretch of river first, they had laid claim to it from bank to bank. And this on a river that is 250-300 yards wide, and me fishing the bank opposite them.

There may be conditions in which they may not ‘see’ us, but they know we are there. How they react is the unknown. Some might flee while others might just hunker down. And I’m sure we have caught some who ‘decided’ we posed no threat. I think the equinox is a pretty good benchmark. But I believe it is largely the convergence of shorter photoperiod and cooler water temperature that promotes what we’d consider the transition. One without the other can delay their seasonal response, while sustained cooler water temps and shorter photoperiod can stimulate it. I think they will feed as long as temps allow it until their biology eventually tells them it’s time to prepare for winter and the next spawn. I think this is why fishing this time of year can be such a challenge.

Makes sense. The manatee angle hadn't occurred to me.

There may be conditions in which they may not ‘see’ us, but they know we are there. How they react is the unknown. Some might flee while others might just hunker down. And I’m sure we have caught some who ‘decided’ we posed no threat. I think the equinox is a pretty good benchmark. But I believe it is largely the convergence of shorter photoperiod and cooler water temperature that promotes what we’d consider the transition. One without the other can delay their seasonal response, while sustained cooler water temps and shorter photoperiod can stimulate it. I think they will feed as long as temps allow it until their biology eventually tells them it’s time to prepare for winter and the next spawn. I think this is why fishing this time of year can be such a challenge.

I only fish rivers, and I never abandon moving baits. I’ll still fish shallow water with the understanding that in low water conditions it just relocates. What was shallow water 2 weeks ago is now only inches deep or exposed mud and rocks; what was deep may now be shallow. And I think this creates new opportunities. Along with changes to current in low water, what is now shallow will often bring into play bottom contours and structure that fished differently at higher water levels. When the water is particularly clear, I believe it always requires casting to targets from farther away. Combined with lower water levels, this often requires a difference in positioning and casting angles. I am a firm believer that it is primarily photoperiod that spurs seasonal behavior change. I don’t know where you are located, but here in the mid-Atlantic region I’m not sure day length has shortened enough to stimulate transition, especially with water temps still in mid 70s. But I know we are close, and after a pretty dismal summer I’m ready for it.

So what is the “personal agendas” you are referring to? Family members seeking accountability from those who contributed to the death of a loved one, or the voices who are advocating for measures to promote public safety?

Another interpretation could be that Alwine’s sunny day bait is better under the sun than his cloudy day bait is under clouds.

I absolutely believe logs are helpful, but my experience is limited to only river fishing. When I started fishing the Potomac, Shenandoah and other nearby rivers nearly 40 years ago, it became pretty obvious how drastically different it was from fishing the TVA chain of ‘lakes’ I grew up on. While I knew that river smallmouth behaved differently in a flowing river environment, I had no idea how those differences might look. So I kept a log. I also quickly realized that just as important was learning the river’s behavior. I could float and fish the same stretch twice in one week, and the changes in depth and flow rate resulted in what seemed like a different river. So I expanded my log. I began recording information about the river. In addition to the typical information about #s, size, bait, weather, water temperature, clarity, time of day, etc., I also began noting depth and flow rate using a couple of USGS river gauges for reference. By adding river conditions (depth and flow rates) to the routine information, I began to see how when all else was identical, an increase or decrease in depth of as little as 6-8” and the consequent change in flow rate seemed to change fish behavior. And conversely, when depth/flow was the same, changes in weather, water clarity, time of day, etc., resulted in changes in behavior. The changes weren’t necessarily always drastic, but I realized they were somewhat predictable. By going through and reviewing my logs which had grown considerably over the years, I could find historical information for a particular stretch that matched the conditions I was about to fish. And over a short period of time (a couple seasons or three), the results became pretty noticeable. My numbers increased which would have been rewarding enough, but the average size increased as well. An added bonus was I found I could go to a new stretch of river and had information that gave me a good idea of how to start. I guess I might have enjoyed similar improvement without my logs, but I firmly believe that it would have taken much, much longer to gain the information and be able to use it reliably from memory alone. And 40 years later I still record information from each trip, probably as much out of habit as fear that some tidbit of information could prove useful for my next trip.

Does the orange ball serve as a reference and must be included in photo? Or does it have another purpose?

Reaction times of bass have been measured in fractions of a second. And they have shown speeds in short bursts that allow them to cover 3’ in 2/10 of a second. So in less than 1 second, they can detect and capture food that is 3’ away. While their vision serves them extremely well, their lateral line system is a biological marvel.

That’s classical conditioning. Imprinting occurs before an animal has developed the ability to learn.

Imprinting occurs in the first few days after hatching. This duck hatched many, many days ago.

I used Krylon High Heat. Rust-Oleum makes a heat coat that some around me favored. I think I went with Krylon because it was available and I was impatient. It looks good and provided the results I was after. I think either is a solid choice. There are others available but I did not look into those deeply enough to have a worthwhile opinion. Not to be confused with their paints for grills, fireplace inserts, etc.

There is very good paints for aluminum that is specially formulated to resist solar heating. I used it to repaint the trim on the gunnels of my Xpress, and it made a huge difference.

You witnessed either an example of a hungry bass’s incredibly fast response to movement, and/or its ability to detect the movement in the air and position itself. I have caught both largemouth and smallmouth that intercepted a lure inches above the water’s surface. The fish weren’t surprised or caught off guard. They were feeding, and particularly good at it.

So there are baits designed to deprive a fish the chance to examine it?

Any topwater except a plopper or imitations.

Last year I posted an ad for a kayak. A guy called and asked to look at it that evening, and I told him I’d be waiting. About 45 minutes later, an attractive young lady knocks on the door, introduces herself as his girlfriend, and says he’s stopping at the ATM and will arrive shortly. She asked to look at the kayak and oohs and aahs at some of my modifications for fishing. I immediately grew a little suspicious because none of the tweaks were deserving of any oohs and aahs. She then asked if we could load the kayak onto her car and strap it down while we waited on her boyfriend. I said no, that if her boyfriend didn’t like it I was going fishing in it the next morning. A couple minutes later she looked at her phone and appeared to type a text. She said her boyfriend had asked about the kayak and she texted back she wanted it, and that he was leaving the ATM and would show up in about 10 minutes. 5 minutes later she looked at her phone, said her boyfriend had run out of gas in the parking lot and she was going to go get the gas can from him, get gas, and they would be back. She, or they, never came back. Several weeks later, I was fishing with a buddy from a couple counties away. When he asked where my blue/green yak was, I told him I had sold it, and then told him about the young lady and boyfriend. He nearly choked laughing and told me that his neighbor had posted an ad for his kayak, and a young lady showed up with the same spiel and the same ‘mythical’ boyfriend. The only difference was that his neighbor had gladly helped her load the kayak onto her car, and when her boyfriend ran out of gas, gladly let her go rescue him. Of course she never returned, and after waiting about 45 minutes he decided to call the police. He had paid no attention to tags, or even model of car so he was only able to provide police with color of car and the color of the kayak on top of it. The officer told him that the kayak and racks were probably already in the back of her boyfriends truck, but he would put out an alert. Sadly, his kayak was never seen again.

I find it amazing that you photographed and documented your projects so thoroughly. Excellent!

CRI is definitely key. It’s not information I always see provided. Heck, I’m not even sure what the ratings are for the ones I use. For tracking blood, though, I would have to know before buying.