WRB-2.0

OK, you are from mid-Atlantic region, eastern PA...no FLMB or spotted bass,mostly Pocono mountains with highland reserviors, coastal low land lakes and rivers.Your bass are mostly NLMB and there are several PA Bassresource on this site that can give you more specific advice than I. Highland reserviors I can help with. Pre-spawn occurs as the water temperatures warm above 55 degrees the early pre spawner's stage near major points that lead to spawning areas. At about 58 degrees the staged pre spawner's begin to move up into secondary points, these are big females looking for high protein prey to fatten up on. The lures that work in deep structured lakes with pelagic fish like trout, smelt, shad are swimbaits that closely mimick those baitfish. Crawdads are always a high protein meal, so jigs that mimick craws work well. As the water continues to stabilize pan fish swimbaits that mimick crappie or bluegill work when the bass are up shallower,the water temps approaching 60+ degrees. You start to see big female cruisers at this time period and big worms, Senkos, crankbaits, spinnerbaits all work until the bass move up on bed sites. Spawn, no feeding occurs, only nest site protection and nearly anything in a bass bed can get strikes. Egg eaters are the basses enemy; salamders, crawdads, small bits fish and pan fish all get the basses attention, now that the water is above 62 to 65 degrees. The major spawn ends about 67 degrees in most lakes, big reserviors tend to have up to 3 spawning cycles. Tom

Sapphire is today's blue neon. Tom

Try both, somedays a slower fall rate works better than a faster one. You can use a wider trailers with more water resistance to slow down the 1/2 oz. You are fishing shallow water, as Catt pointed out, so the 3/8 will be a good choice, if the cover isn't to thick. Only you know what type of water you are fishing, we can only make a guess based on our experiences..Tom

Line size should be determined by water clarity, cover and depth/ structure and lure weight you normally fish. I fish deep rocky structure lakes, clear water with sparse cover, so line diameter can be critical during day light hours. The same lake at night, line diameter isn't an issue, other than being compatible with the hook/ lure size. You can control any size LMB with 10 to 12 lb line in the lakes I fish due to the sparse cover. In heavy weed cover 3 lb size bass can be a hand full with 10-12 lb line. Light line means less line drag going through the water, lures fall faster and you have better feel of the line movement that translates to knowing what your underwater lure is doing. When fishing with top water lures, sometimes heavier line helps with walking the dog type lures. Tom

Couple of tips on this rig, make a wire rubber strand pulling tool and try the mojo weight as a slip shot rig. The tool is simple; 1/4 oz lead bullet weight and 7 Strand Surflon 45 lb wire. Cut the wire 5" long, fold in half and crimp the bend end tight. Put the open ends into the length of bullet weight an crimp tight in a vice. Open the 2 wire into a elongated diamond shape. Put the mojo weigt on your line, then Push the wire end through the mojo weight, place the rubber strands into the opening between the wires and pull back out using the flattened bullet weight. Easier and faster than using a piece of line. Slip shot rig; put the mojo weight up your line, follow with a bead, then pull rubber strands through the bead and trim. The bead is a stopper for the mojo weight., no knots to tie except the hook on the main line. Fishing rocky structure, the slip shot rig out performs the mojo rig, better strike detection. Top Brass Pro- Jo weights painted black work great with the slip shot rig. You can fish nearly every soft plastic on these rigs; worms, Hula grubs, creatures of all types. Tom

Crayfish or crawdads are not indigenous to Arizona, so whatever is found there was transplanted. Both Northern and Southern swamp crawdads are the most common variety, there are others and Arizona considers all crawdads invasive and tries to eradicate them. Crawdads molt as they outgrow their shells. Following the cold water period, after they have burroughed in soft clay banks, there appears to be a large quantity of crawdads molting at that time which coincides with the pre-spawn. This is a good time to fish jigs around clay bank and rocky deep water areas. I spent a few years in AZ and it was my observation that the crawdads in the Salt River lakes tend to be lighter coloration in the cinnamon/blue colors or cinnamon/green. The Colorado river the crawdads where darker black/red or black/green. I used what is called June bug today (black grape with green flakes), black grape-blue neon and cinnamon-blue neon/red flakes in most of AZ lakes with good results. 3 color combinations that can be mixed with trailer color combo's, that is what I do. Tom

Welcome Yelsew to the BR site. Your ? Can be better answered if we know what regional area you fish, this narrows down the type of lakes, rivers or ponds and what type of bass you maybe targeting; northern LMB, Florida LMB, Smallmouths or spots. Tom

Depending on how thick the cover you plan to penetrate will determine the jig weight. All around general use jig would be the 1/2 oz brush head with Owner hook, colors Bluegill and brown craw for your area. Tom

2013 list fished 22; 2, 3, 9, 13, 15, 18, 21, 24, 31, 32, 33, 37, 39, 41, 46, 51, 53, 61, 64, 66, 74, 85. Tom

Bassmaster needs to update this list! I have fished 25 of these lakes: 7,8,10,11,17,19,20,24,30,32,33,35,38,42,51,53,58,59,66,70,73,89,91,92 and 97. Tom

There isn't a standard to determine hook size as they differ between manufactures and hook styles. For Texas rigged plastic worms the hook gap should be at least 2X the worm body diameter, where the hook point is inserted. Tom

There are several varieties of aquatic salamanders and snakes that eat fish and fish eggs, land lizards do not. Tom

It's Dr Jones and his research is creditable regardless of what you or I may think.My personal beliefs are based on experience and what I read and observe. I am do not have a degree in the field of marine biology or zoology. What I have observed doesn't coincide with the popular belief that bass see colors similar to what a human does. It's been my experience that bass have extremely good color vision in low light, we don't. How bass see well underwater in the dark has yet to be explained to me. The only explanation that seems logical is bass see ultra violet spectrums, we don't. Can bass change their flicker rate or magnify their close range vision? Dr Jones published that they can, should I believe you or Jones. Who are the biologist who disagree Jones? Tom

Catt, there is a lot support for both Kieth Jones and Gene Gilliland by Bassmaster/ B.A.S.S. I feel the same about Gilliland as you do Jones, so will just say the information is published and accepted by the majority of bass anglers. Tom

What is scientific fact verses opinion has been discussed at ad nuseam. What we know today often changes tomorrow as facts are proven or disproven. Today I will go along with Dr Jones until someone comes up with a better study. Agree we know little about how bass actually see their underwater world where they have evolved to servive, not by intellect but by instinct and physical attributes like good underwater vision. Tom

Would you prefer fishing during overcast days with chance of light rain and mild wind conditions or bright sunny days with strong winds? If that doesn't matter to you than ignor the barometric pressure or weather conditions. Standard barometric pressure @ sea level is 29.92 inches of mercury. Variances to standard pressure (14.7 psig) of 0.5 inHg is a big change, 1 point would severe weather changes, lower indicating storm conditions, higher indicating high winds not related to a hurricane. When watching a barometer for change you are looking for slight rise or fall, not big changes. Tom

Knowing Bass: The scientific Approach To Catching More Bass by Kieth Jones. The bass vision information was printed in Bassmaster magazine quoted by Kieth Jones, referencing the above book. Don't believe me then read the Jones book! Tom

When you say jig are you casting the 1/2 oz jig or planning to pitch it into cover? A traditional C-rig has a swivel, bead and sliding egg sinker with a 3' to 4' leader, a longer rod 7'6" works better. A finesse C-rig using brass tubular weight like a Pro-Jo from Top Brass and a pegged Bead for a weight stopper would work good with a 7'3" heavy jig rod and the 1/2 oz jig, for example. Tom

Jig rod should be dedicated to jigs or T-rigged worm depending on the weight, you mention 1/2 oz jigs. Line diameter or lb test affects a jig sink rate, not an issue C-rigs. Copolymers are mono line. P- line CXX is another good copolymer. Unless you are fishing heavy weed cover 15 lb would work good for both. Tom

Agree contemptuous acts of disrespect isn't always directed at the older generation and respect must be earned.Longevity in the work place isn't granted to the incompetent unless you are tenured or protected. The average age for those who participated in this thread is 65 years, meaning they made to retirement age. I believe congratulations are due to those members. Tom

One of the interesting characteristics of fresh water black bass is the ability to change the flicker rate they see things moving when they are close to te prey. Increasing flicker rate is like watching a movie in slow motion real time. This allows the bass to see fast moving objects clearly. We see fast moving objects like a spinner bait blade blurred, the bass sees it clearly moving in slow motion. The question about custom painted colors is best answered when comparing the importance of detail getting wary big bass, that have experienced seeing a lot of lures, to strike your lure. Life like swimbaits answer this question, the more the swimmer looks like the real baitfish, the effective it is for catching big bass. Butch brown for example is a master at customizing swimbait colors and camouflaging hooks to blend into the lure. Tom

The more you learn about the bass behavior in the lakes you fish often, the more good spots will be available. Two reasons bass will be actively feeding, therefor catchable are; 1. Abundant food supply and 2. Sanctuary or safe heaven nearby. Prey source and safe resting area or sanctuary differs with each lake classification/location. When they prey source tends to be primarily dermasil or prey that lives close to shore, the bass relate to shoreline locations. Lakes that have a combination of both dermasil and pelagic prey sources, the bass tend to be both near and off shore locations. The feeding zones or spots where you catch bass therefore depend on the prey types and the specie of bass. When you find a specific location you gaurd it's location when possible and fish there often. No spot stays secret for long, so take advantage when the bass are there. Tom

I consider people rude when they act immature, brash and disrespect anyone older than they are. Tom

You can drop shot by nose hooking, wacky and weedless skin hooked soft plastics. Roboworm makes several good drop shot worms, reapers and minnows. Basstrix also makes very good soft plastics like Flashtrix minnow. 3" and 4" Sluggo and Fluke type soft plastics work good. Most anglers over fish a drop shot rig, it's more of a do little technique. The weight is usually on the bottom, the work about face level with the bass off the bottom. Meter bass with your sonar unit to determine how far off the bottom the bass are and adjust the distance between the weight and bass depth. If you don't know, then start about 12". The basic technique is bouncing the slack line against the weight with 3" to 4" movements. When you feel a strike or added weight, lift set and reel. Good luck. Tom

Look at spear fishing and kayak stringers. There are several good stainless steel string clips available and Sampo makes a good nylon slide lock fish stringer clip. Tournament mesh weigh in bags work. You can also use a knotless net, zero the scale with the net on the scale, then weigh the fish in the net. Tom