WRB-2.0

Another big storm coming with 7” to 10” of rain and flooding starting tonight🌧️ Merry Christmas Tom

You can get bye with 2 types of spoons; Fishlab Bio Shad flutter spoon and P-Line Laser jigging spoon. The Fishlab is wider slower fall, the P-line is narrower faster fall. I use white feathered hooks and FC line no braid. Use 3/4. & 1 oz size in shade colors. Simple cast pasted the bass metered and let the spoon fall on slightly slack line, when the stops left firmly and replete letting the spoon fall. Strikes are simply the spoon stops falling. When do set the hook keep reeling to prevent the bass shaking the hook loose. Tom

Aerospace business went through the stigma that composite material was plastic and fragile. Today composite make up major content is aerospace parts because they offer light weight with strength plus corrosion resistant. Tom

I am a ASU alum and knew the Salt River lakes very well back in the 60’s. My in-laws were snowbirds having a home in Mesa, we visited often in the 90’s so familiar with the lakes. Saguaro has become a high traffic lake due to it’s easy access and proximity to Phoenix the area. With that said Saguaro is a decent bass lake and has some big Florida strain LMB. Can’t think of any area on the Salt River lakes where you need a flipping or pitching rods. A swimbait rod will work. Your vintage Shimano has value and still functional with a tune up. Finesse spinning requires braid to leader to reduce line twist. BFS combo is finesse casting no line twist. I wouldn’t go beyond 4 combos and focus more on soft plastics than hard bait with the exception of jigs and spinnerbaits. All the Salt River lakes have moderately clear water to 6’ or so. As far as brands Daiwa s casting reels are easy to cast, Shimano are generally smaller in overall size. Today’s casting reels have smaller spools and faster gear ratios. Spinning reels you want a good reliable drag system in the 2500 size. Rods are another component that have changed completely the 20 years. Rods are longer, lighter to balance well with the lighter weight reels. Brands like rods and reels are a personal choice and suggest a visit to local tackle shops that specialize in bass tackle to get up to date. Tom

Hanging spinnerbaits or buzzers line tie eye up keeps the skirts straight, trailers and blades in good shape. The down side is the deep box shape isn’t suitable for shore anglers. Shore or back seater's don’t need to carry everything they own, select only what you need then storage isn’t an issue. Tom

Every one of my giant bass were caught using jigs and casting 45-50 yards (long cast). Long casts are not ideal but get any closer and those big wary bass shut down and move to deep water and suspend until you move on. Tom

5.20 Beaver in Big Texan works good in the fall and early pre spawn when big crusty crawdads are digging or emerging from clay winter burrows, speaking from experience. Tom

Back in 2020 I sold all my big swim baits including wooden Back Dogs for $60 each on the Flea Market forum. Now is the time to re sell them!🥺 Tom PS, kayak angler Max Lee caught 16.01 lb bass using a winged Zoom 5” Fluke at Western Menderchuck central Cal.

Also search for Catt night fishing threads. Tommy fished about half the year at night for several years. RIP Tommy, we all miss you🥲 Tom

2 giants were caught in a central Cal lake 16+ lbs on wooden surface lures. I looked up the lures being used Black Dog 8” Lunker Plunkers or a copy and they are selling for $1,000 or more. Tom

I seriously doubt no lake has been subjected to more fishing pressure than lake Castiac during the late 80’s to mid 90’s. Castiac is only 2 1/2 miles long and height of the Million Dollar reward for new world record bass was being offered. Castiac was producing giant bass during that time period and new swim baits were being created to catch them. Castiac had 2 launch ramps and parking areas that held about 300 boats with trailer full nearly everyday for the 6 year insane fishing pressure period. When say my lake is high pressed you don’t know high pressured. Finesse bass fishing was created at lake Castiac as a technique to catch a limit of tournament bass, 1 big bass doesn’t win tournaments. I was using 10 to 12 lb line with hair jigs and pork trailers along with maybe a few trophy bass anglers. The majority camped out on known spots using live bait mostly crawdads. Jig fishing allowed me to be mobile, didn’t need to anchor or troll big swim baits. My jigs could be considered finesse but over sized. Fast forward to today and I still use my hair jigs with pork trailers but the giant bass population doesn’t exist at Castiac. Now I am into BFS finesse bass fishing. BFS allows to to use casting reels and target unlimited number of average size bass that put up a good fight. Tom

The one thing I learned is being stealthy or quite doesn’t shut off a bite and noisy can. Tom

RI 5.2 Big Texan works good on 5/0 jig hook. Tom

My tier 1 reels are Shimano SLX 70 MGL, 2 each and a Ark Limited Edition BSF reel, under $150 new domestic price. Tier 2/3 are 2 each Shimano Aldebaran BSF reels purchased for under $250 each new, domestic price is $500 each. That is my current 5 casting reels. Tom

A friend of mine uses 2” round shower curtain rings to hold soft plastic bags by the leg hole by type. IE, Senkos bags on a ring. Simply pull out a ring of Senkos and flip through the bags to find the length and/color you want. Good method to quickly find what you need. 1 ring holds 10 bags and a soft tackle bag holds well over 10 rings of soft plastic bags. Tom

By tier you mean price point or skill level? Entry level ease to learn casting under $150 USD Skilled caster under $300 USD Bragging rights no limit starting at $600 USD. Tom

Screens are sonar Head Unit for the dash, you need to purchase new sonar unit and net work them. Go to the Lowrance Webb site and look up networking sonar units. Tom

Don’t let anyone put off trials, you have “The Right to Try” law now! Will pray 🙏 Hope you get the chance to fish the derby. Tom

The hook is important! Tungsten? Tom

Small world the rod I extended the handle 4” was Lamiglas XC705 the model before Skeet Reese changed the color to yellow SR705. No longer have the rod left in Canada. Tom

Thick aquatic vegetation from shore and BFS isn’t a good mix imo. Tom

Picture is worth a thousand words. Tom

I did extend the rod butt years ago by matching an aluminum bar to equal the OO & ID of the rod butt end blank. The ID end was the same length as the OD extension length. Epoxied the aluminum ID bar end into the rod blank and thread wrapped the very end of the rod blank about 1” up to prevent splitting. Using cork rings finished the rod butt to match the original handle. Worked good and balanced. Added weight 25 years ago wasn’t a big issue. You could bore out the OD bar end to reduce weight. Tom

Do not take the reel apart if you do the warranty is voided. Tom

^^^^^bass lost about 10 lbs^^^^^ Tom