WRB-2.0

Hook sizes are perfect! Will order some when I get back from this trip. I don't use the snap because prefer a tighter wiggle, the snap gives the Scrounger a wider wiggle. The 1 and 1 1/4 oz should be good with 8" and 10" Sluggo's. Tom

Less than state minimum length, CA it's 12" Tom

Open face reel as in spinning reel verses closed face spin casting....haven't heard that term in a few decades! With today's spinning reels you can bass fish without a bait casting reel Gary Yamamoto uses spinning reels only for one example. Like everything in fishing balance is the key to casting. The most expensive reel on the wrong rods doesn't perform good. What weight and type of lures, line do you use and what rod do you have? Tom

Wind, depth, size of soft plastic, line size/tpe and cover. ROF about 1 ft/ sec most of the time. Tom

Simple physics; big bass have big mouths and eject lures easily without you knowing it. Smaller bass tend to strike a lure that doesn't fit inside their smaller mouth and run off with the lure so other bass can't steal it from them. Very easy to detect a strike when the bass moves the lure,difficult when there isn't any movement. Tom

The reason I remembered the 12" worm was back in the day Mann's made a 8" and 12" Sting Ray worm.When Paul said he used a 12" Jelly worm, couldn't recall a 12", so rummaged through a buckets of old Mann's worm and a package of black w/ red tail 12" Sting Rays that were long forgotten. Maan's still makes the 12", ordered direct. To

I belive Elias used a 12" Mann's Jelly worm for part of his record catch. Tom

The BM article started by people comparing pets and fish having human characteristics as being a false concept. If you take nothing else from this thread remember that fact. Fish don't see, hear, smell, taste or feel pain or the concept of fear like higher primates or humans. I know from experience that fish react differently depending on where they are hooked, more than likely do to nerve reaction. When hooked in the eye socket bass fight harder, gut hooked they fight less, hooked into the brain they don't fight. Fish are fish and should be treated like a renewable resource and source of food, handled with respect of a living animal when catching and releasing. Tom

Siebert has a line of tungsten jigs and punch weights. Tom

Use Little Crippers Trash Fish, the original that Reese copied. Trash fish have great colors and made of softer plastic. Don't boil your soft plastic, put them in the hot water after it comes to a boil, turn off the heat first! Tom PS, a Sharpie pen can be used to add color to soft plastics.

Take a look at Miller punching wights and Paycheck skirt collars/ bobber stops...TW. Tom

The practical choices are tungsten or brass weights. A-Jays rig is called a punch rig. Tungsten jigs are available, about 50% more than lead jigs. Tom

There isn't any standards that apply to line diameter verses strength rating, each mfr differs. Look at the line diameter listed for the braid you use; 30 lb Pwer Pro is .011d, Trilene XT .011= 8 lb test. Looks like Power Pro used Berkley Trilene for a comparison. Tom

Compare line diameters for the rated # test. There are several FC lines offered by each mfr. Tom

Could have used age discrimination, older fatter fish accumulate more body organ contamination than young lean fish. Didn't want to upset the old or fat folks. PETA has been active with mercury contamination propaganda for several years and it's having an impact. If you are worried about mercury contaminated fish meat ( don't eat the livers) contact your local DNR and request the data they used to justify posting the warning. Tom

Maybe Smallies and Walleyes are consider democrats, LMB conservatives in NY. Tom

Wake up fom the nightmare and go fishing with all my stuff. Tom

The late Tom Mann was my favorite, great personality, loved bass fishing and very friendly to everyone he met. The best pro bass angler by far is KVD and also nice to the average bass angler in person, easy to talk to. Both Greg Hackny and Shaw Grigsby are are good bass anglers and comfortable to talk to in person. I have known Aaron Martens since he was teenager, can't say he is my favorite bass pros...he is a good angler. KVD is the man and my favorite today. Tom

Areas where spawning sites are limited anglers often add structure in spawning bays, the most common being 12" concrete stepping stones. Keep an eye out for light areas on darker bottoms. Tom

Smithwick WaterGator was a hot lure in the 70's in bone white color, still works today. Lewis Rat L Trap and Cordell Spots both work good, the Trap comes in larger sizes. Dave Nickels made a striper size 1 oz 4" and 1 1/2 oz 5" Rattle Shad lipless in holographic shad that is very good on big bass. Lucky craft lipless came out in shad colors like ghost minnow and they are very good in clear water. Rapala lipless are very noisy and good during low light. The xclalbur one knocker works good at slower retrieve speeds. Take your pick, each brand has a different sound , wiggle and a few big models. Tom

You can let a trap sink to the bottom on rocky structure and rip it off the bottom like a structure spoon or jig, work good at times, but you lose a few! Tom

The old Mud Bugs have zinc plated treble hooks the are weak, upgrading to VMC red or black nickel size 2 works good. If you remove the screw eye hook hanger, install heavy split rings, then super glue the screw eye back in and align them straight. Tom

Well lets talk about the Classic and line used by the Sunday Elite anglers; no braid they all used FC line. The reason, no weed beds, no reason to use braid. This should tell you something or too stuburn to consider the facts. A fast moving lure like a crankbait or school of A-rigged swimmers, the bass focus on the lures, line is secondary. Slower moving underwater lures bass may be very critical of line and wary enough to avoid striking. Depends on activity levels and school behavior. Done with this topic, good fishing. Tom

When lakes Castias and Castaic were in their prime, before stripers infested Castaic and trout plants stopped at Casitas, wolf packs of giant bass would occur occasionally. I witnessed one wolf pack at Casitas off shore but couldn't get more than 2 bass to strike a swimbait from that school, they moved too fast The Scrounger bass were at Castaic and that was the only time I witnessed a big school of big bass near shore. I have been blessed to catch several 50 lb and one 62 lb 5 bass limits, not more than 3 giant bass from one location. The Scrounger bite lasted over an hour, very unusual event. The location was more than 2 miles from the launch ramp, mid week before any trout stocking was going on. These bass hearded a big school of trout up against the bank and was lucky to see it and be there at the right time with the right lure. Could have driven past the feeding spree and missed that bite, if it wasn't for seeing the blue herons. Lesson, keep your eyes open for feeding activity and use your instincts. Tom

Whenever I have posted the 18-10 ( 18 LMB over 10 lbs in 1day) there has been a lot of discussion and claims of fraud or disbelief. I hesitated to post this because of static from the past. Here is the story; A friend, Gary Gerber, asked me to teach him how to fish jigs so he could add a kicker fish when tournament bass fishing. We fished out of his BassCat and spent the morning jig fishing with some success and around 10 in the morning decided to make a run about 2 miles to another area on a different arm. While running at 60+ as a passenger I noticed several blue herons standing on a point in the water, very unusual. Tapped Gary on the shoulder and motioned for him to slow down so we could take a look. What the herons were doing was feeding on trout being pushed onto the bank. I had 1rod rigged with the Scrounger, didn't have a swimbait rig with me. Gary didn't have any big bass tackle in his boat. We put the trolling motor down and moved within casting distance and the school of big bass stayed in the area until the count reached 18 big bass, Gary watched and kept count. Wide open bite that may never be repeated. Tom