WRB-2.0

There are few factors to consider; the size of the reel spool, diameter and width. The size reels cranking handle. For example a round reel with larger spool diameter and width may have a 5.4 to gear ratio, recovering 26" of line per turn. The round reel with 28 IPT is with a full spool of line, all reels rate the IPT at full spool. With 90' of line casted out the round reel spool is still 75% full, the IPT drops to about 26" The low profile reel with 7.1 to 1, rated at 31" IPT at a 90' cast may only have 50% spool capacity, the IPT drops to 18" or less' A reel with a 3" handle has far less power than a reel with 4" handle, handles are important. Bottom line; low profile reels with smaller spools benefit from higher gear ratio, 6.4 to 1 to 7.1 to 1 good for most presentations, if the reel has a wider handle. Tom

PB&J is the same as brown & purple. Do you have some idea of what the crawdad colors are? Way back in the dark ages ('69) I fished an All American tournament on Eufaula and caught all my bass on purple jigs with brown pork trailer, so purple brown may still work there. I would think about making up June bug; dark purple with green, this is a good spring crawdad and bluegill color, depending on the trailers you choose. Also consider using flat living rubber skirts in lieu of silicone skirts as long as they are hand tied. Adding color by using the trailers with metal flakes for highlites. I would also select one jig head design like the brush head. Tom

Just pulling your string, don't get upset, we agree that 1/16 oz wasn't close!Tom

And you didn't believe my answer; between 1/4 to 1/2 oz depending on the tail type.Try weighing 10 worms, then divide by 10 to get a accurate weight.

If the bass is a largemouth they tend to engulf the jig fully into their mouth and crunch it between the tongue and top of the mouth. Look into a basses mouth and in the back on the top of the mouth are a set of crunchers used to kill prey. Largemouth use their lips to prevent prey from escaping, not usually to bite with. The tap you feel is the jig hitting the back of the bass mouth, the second tap is often the jig being spit out.You can't set too fast on largemouth bass. Smallmouth and spots often grab a crawdad by it's claws and shake it, before taking it info the mouth, so a hesitation works OK. More than likely the bass swam directly at you and simply spit the jig without being hook well. Better hook set will help. Tom

Between 1/4 oz to 1/2 oz depending on tail type, ribbon is lighter.Tom

Waters in the low 5o's would indicate winter cold water period, the lake should have turned over. If there isn't a thermocline, bass can be at any depth depending on what they are feeding on. Find the bait and what depth they are in. You basically have 2 choices, fish bait schools or fish crawdad areas. It sounds like you target bass on baitfish, take your shot early, then go looking for baitfish. I would take a few minutes to meter the marina area to determine what depth to start fishing, before running blindly and hope to find bass feeding. Structure spoons with feathers are good in cold water for deeper bass, you might want to consider a spoon. When water is going down in depth, bass tend to move deeper. Tom

As mentioned earlier a high quality snap, not a snap swivel, is good for vibrating lures like crankbaits, lets the lure wiggle without knot wear. If you like the Palomar knot it's easier to tie on a hook or snap, then larger size lures. The Millers fishing knot is a complex knot to tie on the water and takes lots of practice. Knot test show the Miller knot slightly stronger than a standard San Deigo jam knot. The SD jam knot is easy to tie, the double SD jam knot, 2 wraps through the hook eye is stronger than the Miller knot. The Palomar knot can slip on both FC and braid, the double Palomar resolves that problem; 2 overhand wraps, like the surgeon knot, in lieu of the standard single wrap, improves the Palomar knot. Whatever knot you choose, wet it and clinch it down slowly and evenly. There isn't any reason to have more than an 1/8" of tag end left after trimming a knot. If your knot slips when tightening it, retie! Look at the finished knot for any flattened line next to the knot, if you see it, retie! Tom

I switched from Sunline Shooter to Blackwater Toray Solaroam Bass-High Class FC because of knot strength issues. Whatever knot you use must be tied properly without creating any flatten line within the knot and kept wet during the tying process, clinching tight. Knot strength is a big problem with FC line, if it wasn't we wouldn't be posting so many different knots to use. The Toray line referenced cost about $13 for 86 yard spools. Go on line and check it out, good line. Tom

Norman DD14 is a good choice. Tom

For trout you can cast retrieve or slow troll. Thomas Bouyant spoons work great. Follow lure makers instructions.

I believe the cross fire is a fly rod. Fly rods are designed to cast fly line of specific weight, not lures. Bill Siemantel did a Vedio on float n flies you could check out. Tom

Spoon plugs proved bass related to structure away from shore. During Buck Perry's era trolling plugs was as common as casting crankbaits today, it was the accepted fishing technique. Deep diving plugs were limited to River Runts, Whopper Stoppers Hellbenders and Bombers. Perry's metal version of a Flat Fish proved a controlled depth diving plug trolled over mid lake structure elements like humps caught bass that few new existed.Tom

I do remember; it was in '55 at Big Bear lake on a black hair jig called a Doll fly, no trailer, under a boat dock. My older brother worked at the boat landing, today called a marina. A box of Doll Flies came in a shipment of crappie jigs. I was curios about a big crappie jig and tried it around the dock, catching several bass. The jig was about a 3/8 oz size, black deer hair tied with red wrap and yellow painted eyes. I used Dool flies until discovering football head around '61 and started making my own hair jig with pork rind trailers and never stopped. Tom

Bass vision is another whole new can of worms or pandora s box. Stick with Kieth Jones on this topic as he maybe closer to factual data on this subjective topic. Tom

Sunline FC Sniper is premium 100% fluorocarbon line, however it's about $30 for 165 yds, expensive line. Sunline is also honest with their line diameter to lb test data, most other brands are not. Knot strength is an issue with FC line, 80% knot strength is about as good as it gets. For this reason most FC line now label their 12 lb as 10 lb, for one example, comparing line diameter data. That should bother you, if it doesn't so be it. Premium mono lines can achieve 100% knot strength with common knots and are about 1/3rd the price. Mono, like braid, floats, so you may loose some feed back with bottom bumping lures compared to FC. The compromise is FC hybrid line, mono with FC outer layer. Agian you should be aware of line diameters and select hybrid based on line diameter, not the label lb test, if that is an issue with you. Line conditioners are good for both FC and mono. Tom

Don't let it get to you, it wasn't fair to bait you. Everyone is equal, we are just fisherman at the end of the day.Tom

How about nearly 1/2; most low profile bass reels with 6.3 to 1 ratios having 26" retrieve rates are about 13" at 50% spool capacity. I would say that is significant.The average 26 + 13 = 39 / 2 = 19" (18.5" ) per handle rotation may get you closer to an ball park number. Just pulling your string a little. Tom

How many inches of line is recovered at 50% spool capacity with a reel rated at 26" per handle revolution?Tom

R2Sea S Waver is a glide bait, not a traditional swmmer. You fish the S waver like a slow motion jerk bait.

Do you own ad use a sonar unit? Step back and lets start at the beginning. 1. Look at the lake map you fish and locate where the water has a sharp break line into deeper water; 8' to 20'. Now look for flat spot inbetween the 8'to 20' depth zone, mark those spots. Next look at long under points, humps, and any islands in or near that 8' to 20' depth zone. 2. Using your sonar unit, determine at what depth a thermocline may be and at what depth any baitfish or other fish are holding (suspended) at. This depth becomes the life zone where the majority of bass should be located. This is the depth you need to select lures to be used at. 3. If the lakes you fish have threadfin shad, the bass will be close by, find the shad. Shad hide under docks, in brush etc during low light periods and move out into open water during the day light to feed on phytoplankton. Now we can think about where to fish and what lures to use from the information above. Buzz baits work best when there a slight wind chop on the water.Sppoks etc are better in calmer water. Crankbaits work good at specific depth zones, select them to run at the depth of the baitfish. A-rigs work around large schools of baitfish, find the bait first. Structure spoons work cast through baitfish. Drop shoot, jigs etc work best near or on the bottom at the depth you meter bass. Your sonar unit is just as important as your lures to find bass, use it. Tom PS, at 58 degree surface temps, you are into early winter, late fall transition, the bass should be deeper; 8' to 20'.

Pull line between your hands until your arms are fully extended, one arm span, measure that Length. Example 60 inches. If you want 75 yards of line removed, pull off 45 arm span lengths; 75 yds = 225 ft or 2,700 inches divided by arm span inches (60). Once you know your arm span, it's fast and easy. Tom

Whatever you decide to do, don't make casts that get hung up and the boater needs to stop what he is focused on doing. You can't cast a crankbait into shallow cover unless you are controlling the boats position. I don't recall if you are fishing for money and shared weight tournaments? If it's a club ego tournament, get another boater that fishes a pace you can be successful with, life is too short not to enjoy your time on the water. Flipping or pitching can't be going so fast you can't hit targets being missed. I would fish the exact same jig as the front seater if it's working! Try casting forward out in front of where the boat is going, on the outside, keeping your line away from the trolling motor prop. This allows your lure to move slower and you use other types of lures, as long as the front seater isn't making overhead back casts, his rod should be out of your way. Tom

The Loomis company under the ownership of Gary Loomis is different under the ownership of Shimano. Gary Loomis, Like Gary Dobyn's was all about high quality with excellent customer service and warranty. The IMX series rods are now 20 year old rod making technology, good rods, just not lightweight state of the art that the newer GLX and NRX series rods are. The problem today with Loomis state of the art rods are price ($450-$525) and questionable customer and warranty services, the rods are excellent. Tom

We are trying to discuss bass behavior and apply scientific analysis to behavior that hasn't have enough funding to attract a broad base of information. The 2 reports I referenced were funded by the city of San Deigo to determine if the goal of improving angler success Carch rate per hour of fishing and the bass being caught averaging larger size. This is what Orville Ball hoped to achieve by introducing pure Florida strain largemouth bass into San Deigo city lakes. Larry Botroff and Mike Lembeck, both DFG biologist, studied the bass and catch rates to make thiat determination. The results of the studies proved that FLMB were more difficult to catch and the angler per hour catch rate declined as a result. The FLMB introduction was considered a failure to meet the goals intended. The intend to introduce giant bass was not planned, it was a byproduct an unintended result. This often happens in research, sometimes the unintended results far exceed the original goal, most of the time it fails. One of the most outstanding study was a project named Alex. Alex was a African grey paroit that was trained to talk to determine the vocabulary a paroit could attain. Alex's vocabulary was astonishing, however the bird also showed the ability to comprehend the vocabulary. The scientific community is split on Alex ability to comprehend words. There is no debate that Alex was an intelligent bird. Birds, bass and humans are not all the same and this makes behavior studies subjective. Tom