WRB-2.0

More night tournament have been won using 10" Berkley Power worms than any other lure. The black or black w/ blue flake is a staple for night bass fishing. Tom

Copolymer is a nylon mono line, Yo-Zuri hybrid is nylon with FC jacket co extruded. Knot strength of copolymers and hybrid are about equal. P-line CXX is a good abrasion resistant mono, the FluoroClear a good hybrid. The simple solution is go up in line strength when fishing cover, however you need a rod that can handle and control the bass when casting into cover.....plan ahead before making the cast. Tom

A few ?? What rod are you using? and what knot do you like to use? You can't force a good size bass through heavy cover, give the bass controlled slack and it may swim out on it's own, it did when you broke it off! You need heavier line and rod to control bass in cover. The problem with FC line is knot strength, about 20% less then equal diameter mono on average. Using FC with braid means tying 2 knots that can fail! If you decide to use FC, go up in strength from 12 lb to 15 lb. Your top water lures work good with 15 lb mono and that would give you better knot strength; about 25% (3 #) increase. Tom

It's your budget!Take a look at Mountain Gear headlamps, good quality at a fair price, however above your budget. Tom

The issue with weights should consider the rod/ reel/ line and size of worm and depth being fished. 3/16 to 1/4 oz works for your tackle and depth you plan to fish. Heavier weight tend to snag easy and deaden any feed back a medium action spinning outfit might offer. Tom

Nose hook about 3/16 from the worm nose tip completely through.Tom

Pond aeration helps the decayed matter from consuming DO, that is why the pumps are located in deep water. The weed growth produces DO during the day time and stops at night. The aeration will also help to prevent a thermocline from forming. Tom

Either a Shoal bass or a Redeye bass, both look like LMB. Tom

Doug Hannon fished in Florida, natural lakes or low land reservirs for Florida strain LMB. The data will reflect this regioanal area and bass species. Collecting random data for anglers that fish in deep structured lakes for bass species that differ form FLMB in shallow lakes will have little facts to base any theory on. Moon phase is an importnat factor during pre spawn though post spawn as it affect tidal movement and animal activity levels, bass are animals. The moon also affects summer bass during night periods, bright moon light helps a sight feeding predator. I have caught 5 FLMB over 17 lbs. All were caught between Jan to March. Depth of water between 15' to 20' Water temperature between 58 to 65 degrees. Lures was hair jig with pork trailer; colors brown, purple, black. Time between 8A to 10A Moon phase; within 3 days before or after the full moon. Lake type; highland deep rocky structure. Tom

About 85' Crow lake in Canada fishing for lake trout, caught a smallmouth bass. Lake trout can easily come out of 150' of water without any air bladder affects, they have values to release the pressure change....bass don't. It's common out west during the winter period to meter bass at 90' and a lot of anglers catch bass at that depth. My depth limit for bass is 40' due to pressure change creates severe stress to bass. Tom

Locate and fish points. Drop shot isn't a search presentation, it's a slow spot technique. Depth the bass are at is essential for a drop shot rig, it determines how deep to fish and how far off the bottom to set the hook from the weight. You cast and pull the rig along the bottom, however there are better rigging choices if that is your plan The finesse slip shot rig works far better for casting and dragging the weight along the bottom. Most anglers tend to over fish a drop shot rig; drop the rig to the bottom, take up enough slack so the weight is sitting on the bottom with a few inches of slack line. All you do is lightly bounce the rod tip against the slack line to give the worm a little movement, not a lot of movement. Nose hook the worm with a swivel type hook or wacky hook the worm is you are missing strikes. Hook setting is a firm rod lift and reel set. Good luck. Tom PS, start with a 3/16 to 1/4 oz weight, little easier to feel with spinning tackle.

Rayovac SPHLED. B sportsmen headlight, red/white LEDs, AAA batteries, in your price range should work. Tom

Casting distance is a complex set of factors, rod length is one. How a rod bends under lure load, rod giudes type and placement are also very important. The rod length from the reel seat to the rod tip is a consideration and so is the rod handle length from the reel seat back to the butt end of the rod. A well balanced rod that combines all the elements to maximize casting distance may be less than 7' long for the average lure weight of 3/8-3/4 oz. the more parabolic the rod bends to luanch the lure, the more distance you can cast, with rods length being equal. for this reason crankbait rods tend to be slower action longer length to achieve ease in casting with greater distance. The faster the action the rod is with shorter rod handle, the more difficult it is to cast. Tom

It depends on the seasonal periods, not going to get on the water early during the cold water periods and prefer fishing at night during the mid summer. Most of the public water in SoCal opens 1/2 hour after sunrise, so dawn is spent waiting for the lake to open. The same lakes close 1/2 hour before sundown, so the boat is on the trailer at dusk. Anglers targeting big bass on beds love to fish at noon with the sun over and no shadows for better sight fishing. I haven't found any preferred time slot where big bass are more active, it depends on what the baitfish are or crawdads are doing on the lakes I fish. Crawdads being low light critters, my best jig bites have been during those time periods or light rain periods that tend being out them out. Baitfish like shad hide in cover during low light periods and are more active mid day with the sun raising up the phytoplankton that activates baitfish, the bass follow. Jigs, low light, swimbaits bright light, everything else anytime. Just get out on the water and let the bass decide which time they prefer to play. Tom

Bass fool over for a few reasons, the number 1 being over stressed, weighted fins do nothing for stress but add more. Tom

Get a 12 oz torpedo weight, tie or clip onto your line, put the weight into the basses mouth push down the throat about 1" so it doesn't fall out, then lower the bass down to about 30. Now lift the rod up firmly and reel up the weight., the bass will come off the weight and stay down. You must release or needle the bass as soon as possible, before they become over stressed. Tom

Wayne, I appreciate everyone's perspective regarding this topic. FC Line is still in development and new formulas are evolving. My first experience came by way od Aaron Martens back in the early 90's when he told me about Sunlime. I tied Sunline Shooter via GS Trout and really liked the line, until my I 1st. night tourneyment when I broke off 3 DD bass in an hour, due to knot failures and didn't understand the FC knot issue. Being a R & D director of an major aerospace firm I do have acess to testing equipment and I did test every FC line and known knot as a result of breaking off big bass during a tournament. As a result a of my own testing and over 15 years experienceI have a good idea of what FC lime can do and can't do. Tom

I consider myself to good at knot tying, the Uni knot is at best a 80% knot strength with FC line, Tackle Tour could only achieve 75% knot strength with any brand of FC with the Uni knot. The strongest FC knot is a double SD jam not..FYI.Tom

The only downside with FC at night is knot strength, being able to tie a great knot at night isn't easy! Bass tend to be hotter fighters at night, especially around the boat on a short string where knot failures get amplified. For that reason I rarely will use FC at night and haven't had your experiences with getting bite on mono at night. When I do use FC at night I go up 25% in line strength. Tom

Check out western bass on line free bass magazine with vedio clips showing lure presentations and great bass articles. I am a life B.A.S.S. member since 1968, the magazine changes with ownership and has never been state of the art, usually about a year or two behind the latest presentations due to the fact most articles are supporting Elite pro bass anglers who are reluctant to disclose current presentations. Tom

A boat load of Spooters doing pole dances may out do stripping bass, pound for pound. Tom

Without knowing something about the tackle you are using it's not possible to give good asvice. The term jig covers a lot of different design jig heads, the Strike King could be a grass head that looks like a bullet weight? It could be a Strike King Bitsy Bug, they come 3/16 oz. I would suggest using a smaller size trailer like a Havoc slop craw cut down so the body length is about 1 1/2 long, the overall jig length about 3" long. You cast and let the jig hit bottom and slowly move it about 6" to12" with a pause between each move, you are fishing slowly and not in a hurry. Tom

The salt added to a package of injection molded soft plastics is there as an attractant and washes off as you fish it. Granular salt mixed into the injected or hand poured soft plastics add weight and the salt in contact with lure skin surface a would also act as an attractant for the bass. Unless you plan to dead stick the fog and expect the lure to float the hook, there isn't any reason to remove the surface salt. Dissolved salt as in salt brine doesn't add weight, but acts as an attractant, Roboworms for example mix salt brine into their soft plastics for better floatation and durability while maintaining a very soft plastic. Tom

Wind can make it difficult to cast if you must cast into the wind. Generally bass will be active on wind blown shore areas when the wind has pushed plankton and baitfish like threadfin shad follow the plankton near shore. Wind also creates a current condition and stirs up clay or soil making a temporary floating mud line that use to ambush prey. Fishing from a boat it's easy to cast down wind or across the wind direction to take advantage of a onshore wind. Fishing from shore this isn't an easy task. Lures like crankbaits and other baitfish type lures work good under the windy conditions. A swim jig would be easier to cast into the wind than a spinnerbait because of the reduced wind resistance, however the spinnerbait flash can draw more strikes under these conditions. Tom

I will disagree with the rod alone being the problem. The rod is flexible enough to effectively cast this swim jig over 100'. The fact this combination is using very low stretch braid doesn't help when a bass is close to the boat with the drag set too high, 4 lbs should be max and the angler should trust the drag or be ready to back off the drag. I fish with 5 1/2 power, 6'10" jig rods for casting a jig over 100' as my normal jig presentation and rarely loose a bass. The problem is the jig design with too short of hook that makes the jig ideal for a more verticle presentation, a poor choice for a more horizontal casting presentation. The hook set technique or rod setting is another factor. I wrote an article in In-Fisherman; Horizontal jigging that describes what the problem is back in 1995. Suggest you take a moment to read it. Tom PS; Siebert went out of his way to support his protect and deserves credit for his efforts.