WRB-2.0

Only the bass know the answer to this question. Tom

Now you know where the big bass lives....go catch it! Tom

There are 3 basic categories of jigs; 1. weedless jig with skirt and weed gaurd. 2. Plain jig without shirt and weed guard. 3. Plain jig, with collar or blade to give it swimming action when retrieved. When 99% of bass anglers say " jig" they are talking about #1 because that type of jig is fished in heavy cover. #2 the plain jig without a skirt or weedguards covers most of the jigs used with worms or grubs without a skirt or weed gaurd; shaky head jig and fish head swimbaits are popular type 2 jig. #3 are a group of jigs that have either bills or blades that give the this type of jig action when retrieved; chatter bait, Scrounger and under spins come under this category. What type of jig to fish usually depends on where and how you plan to fish the jig. #1 type jigs come in several head shape and weed gaurd designs to help prevent the jig from snagging weeds, brush, trees etc. Trailer styles vary widely also within this type of jig from pork rind, soft plastic creatures and crawdads. The Arkie head is the most common #1 type jig, followed by brush heads, bullet and football heads. #2 type jig come several head shapes: ball head, ball head with stand up feature, dart head, fish head are common. This type of jig is usually fished with a soft plastic worm, tube, grub or swimbait is more open water or rocky areas and rigged with the hook point exposed. #3 type jigs are also fished with similar trailers to #2, except have added device to make the jig wiggle when retrieved or have a blade attached to give the jig more flash. What type of jig are you interested in using? Tom

Your are trying to catch larger size bass in general or from a specific lake? I ask this ? Because of your post regarding a preserve lake that you inquired about catching larger size bass. Does your lake have smallmouth or largemouth bass? I know from the other post the lake has pike. With pike in the lake the bass must share the water and pick out locations they don't need to compete with the faster toothy pike. If the lake has largemouth they will tend to roam the weed beds and stay fairly tight the cover in this type of lake. If the bass are smallmouth, they they will be more active moving around to diffident types of structure like rocky or gravel areas where crawdads tend to hide. The bigger fish will be deeper during the dy time; between 6' to 8' or deeper so those are the depth zone to target. For smallmouth crawdad soft plastics work good: tubes, shaky head jig with craw trailer. Largemouth drop shot or finesse C-rigged soft plastic worms in bluegill and crawdad colors. Fire tiger colored crankbaits like a Bomber 6A should work good. Location trumps lure size for big bass. Tom

The easiest way I know to reduce deep backlashes is the tape method; pull off about 50-60 yards of braid from the spool, tape over the balance of spooled line with plumbers Teflon tape with a few wraps, then wind the braid back on the reel. When you backlash and you will as we all do it, the loops will be only surface, not deep and easy to pull out. Like mentioned earlier, don't start pulling out the backlash, put your thumb on the spool and reel the casted, line back on, then slowly pull offk the line until you reach where they isn't any more loops, with the tape it will not be very deep! Be aware of tip wrapping your rod with braid, the line cut the rod tip off! Tom PS; Gary is very involved with his riod business and likes to help out new bass anglers. Note: eyes are called guides and today quality rods use ceramic guide rings.

Any questions you have regarding your Dobyn's rod, you can ask Gary Dobyn's directly and he will respond!Good luck with your bass fishing.

You can add a treble hook stringer on the weighted hook. You didn't say what size Sickfish 5" or 6", So I can't say what size treble to add. Haven't fished with the Sickfish, don't have that problem with LittleCrippers Trashfish, it's a softer plastic! You might want to pause your hook set, this is a swimbait and the bass will turn with it. Tom

Fish the 68 like you would 8", slow steady retrieve so the oversize tail swims naturally. No Need to modify the 68. Tom

The typical use of braid is to use mono as a filler under the braid. The reason nearly everyone uses a low profile knot like the Uni knot to join leaders to braid is the knot is reliable and small diameter. A loop knot is not a strong knot and the loop is bulky and may not go through the rod tip or the smaller rod guides. You will only retie a leader when the leader is too short or no longer good and you only waste maybe 3- 4" of braid line to retie. Not knowing the braid size or where you fish, you maybe able to fish the lure directly tied to the braid. Tom

It's been over a decade since Abu made Ambassadeurs in Sweden, they are made China. A hand full of Abu reels are still made in Sweden and you need to know someone to get one. The legacy pre 2000 Ambassadeurs are valuable, both collectors and reel repair technicians buy them.Before the Japanese Daiwa and Shimano reels became state of the art, the 2500C, 4500/4600C and 5500C reels where the go to fresh water bass reels for decades. Tom

Copolymer lines are mono!

No easy panacea or lure will help you catch 5+ lb bass consistantly. If you want to catch big bass you must fish for them....where they are located. Suggest that you read In Pursuit of Giant Bass by Bill Murphy to start with. Tom

Casting distance is relative to many factors, the rod has more to do with distance than fine running the reel with space grade bearings. Your typical medium heavy fast action bass rod is poor rod for casting distance for example compared to a medium moderate action crankbait rod. The more parabolic or more of the bank bends the slower the actions is, the better the rod will cast. The reason is the spool starts up slower and the rest depends of the lure aerodynamics or wind resistance. In the hands of a good caster, with trained a thumb, the highly tuned reel will cast further. Most skilled bass anglers that I fish have trouble casting my fast action jig rods because I have highly tuned reels and other anglers usually backlash if I don't add a little spool tension. Tom

The important factors are cloud cover verses bright clear windy weather. Air temperature changes alone have little affect on water temperature or the bass unless the temperature stays cold and windy for several days. Tom

Spinning reels need a low memory mono like Trilene XL not FC line. If you want to a braid with a top shot of FC like a leader, that combination works well. Berkely's Nanofil low vis green is a good choice, casts well and is quite going through the guides. You use a filler of mono and about 75 yards to Braid like Nonofil, then a Uni knot to join a 6' FC leader. Line size depends on how and where you plan to fish; 12lb Nonofil works well with 6 to 8 lb FC. Tom

What do you prefer; spinning or casting?

What rod/reel do you currently have? Do you prefer bait casting or spinning? What is your budget approximately?Tom

Copolymer line stretch is about equal to other mono line. Hook setting wasn't an issue with this particular problem...the line broke and the bass still had the jig embedded in it's mouth. Hook setting can be a problem with a medium power rod, but I am not familiar with what rod the Abu Black Max is supplied with as a combo?You can't cast onto a pocket in heavy cover and expect to lift the bass out fishing from shore....plan ahead how to get the bass out if you hook it. Tom

+1..... Heed this reel repairman s advice, every reel technition that I have known will tell you the same thing; Real Magic gums up more reels than everything else combined. It turns the reels lubricants into glue!I use TangleFree, not a big fan of KVD line conditioner. Tom

Set the drag with the reel mounted on the rod you use: run the line through all the guides and tie a simple over hand loop on the line end. It takes 2 people to do this; hook the loop intro your fish scale, stand back about 10 feet,l hold the rod up about 2 o'clock and reel down until the drag slips or you reach 1/3 the line strength, do not exceed 4 lbs tension. With the load applied adjust the drag until the drag just starts to slip while your partner is telling you what the pound force is. Most medium/heavy to heavy bass rods are fully loaded at 3 to 4 lbs of tension. 6 pounds of force will over load a heavy action rod, unless it's made for lures that exceed 1 1/4 oz rating; flipping rods and swimbait rods. Most fresh water reels will not hold more than 8 pounds of drag load without causing severe damage to the reel.As mentioned you pay $$$ for state of the art drags.....use it. Tom PS; be aware that using dead weights and lift upright can overload most rods because you lift the weight with the rod. Don't exceed 3 lbs for most fresh water rods if you do this.

Braid is made from very high temperature materials, no issues with car trunk environment. Mono is Nylon and about 105 degrees F is about the limit, FC is fluorocarbon, also high temperature material. Tom

How many adult size bass do you believe live in a 2 acre pond?Yes the bass have become conditioned to seeing you and your lures! Try night fishing with a buzz bait or T-rigged plastic worm. Good luck. Tom

Tatsu isn't a brand name it's a coextruded blend of fluorocarbon called the Tatsu it is a process. Several line suppliers offer "Tatsu" " or "Hi-test"; Seagar, Sunline, Blackwater to name 3. on average the Tatsu is high priced at $12/100 yards approximately. I do not like the Hi-test or high abrasion resistance FC due to the memory issues and lower knot strength associated with FC line in general. I found Blackwater Solaroam Bass Hi-Class FC,a good line for how I fish. Before discovering Blackwater I used Sunline Shooter, similar to Tatsu. Tom

Keeping in contact with your lure means knowing what the lure is doing. This is sometimes called weighing the lure by feeling the line resistance between the rod/reel and the lure. If the lure is a crankbait you can feel the lures vibration, a surface you can visually see the lure. Jigs and other under water lures that don't vibrate or create line resistance from moving through the water column, the only connection you have is the line resistance the weight of the lure applies to the line. If you have a lot of slack line between you and the lure there isn't any feel of lure, you have lost contact, the lure feels weightless.When you have no feel of the lure you can watch the line for a change of direction, stop sinking or makes a jump in the slack line that indicates a fish may have the lure. Controlled slack line means managing the amount of slack in the line to a minimum, this helps to keep in contact or feel what the lure is doing. Type of line, diameter of the line creates more or less line drag going through the water; larger diameter equals more line drag. FC line has less drag going through water than mono. Braids and mono lines float causing a belly of slack line in the water, FC sinks and has less belly. For this reason FC is easier to keep in contact with lures like jigs and worms. Tom

We are being assaulted everyday by regulations. In California the DFG department of fish and game has been changed to DFW department of fish and wildlife, the word game indicated the aminal could be killed. The radical environmentalist win arguments by putting their money where it counts; by electing government representaitives and regulatory appointees into controlling what sportsmen and women can do or can't do as they see fit. We have lost a lot outdoor public areas to closed areas for hunting or fishing. PETA is simply one of several groups that have pooled their resources to achieve their goals without confronting recreational individuals or groups.....and they are winning! Tom