WRB-2.0

Sunscreen in the eyes is really a hot burn for a few moments, use water proof or water resistant sunscreens and apply it to your face before you leave the house to go fishing. Bue tinted lenses are very common for off shore fishing, Shaw Grigsby was always promoting his blue lens and it's really a personal choice, most bass anglers use dark amber or dark gray polarized sunglasses. Water glare is intense and using eye protection is a great idea, everyone should wear polarized sunglasses on the water and use a good eye wash, Genteal works very good and keep it my boat. Trying a new color could cause added eye strain, your eyes simply are working and adjusting to the new light source. Tom

The Tru-Turn has settled into the finesse category or smaller worm hooks. Today hook designs have proliferated to application specific hooks. If you are fishing with a Super Fluke, this lure has a lot of body width that can fill the hook gap, so most anglers use what is known as EWG or extra wide gap that are off set designs. The same style hooks are used with smaller hollow body swimbaits. Popular makes are; Gamakatsu 584, Owner 5140, Tokar TK110, Mustad 91768kH, 4/0 for the Super Fluke. Welcome back to bass fishing and good luck. Tom

+2 The way I test mono line before spooling it is wrap a few turns around each about a foot apart and give it a couple of firm snaps. You can tell real fast if it's weakened with a little experience. I always do this it's become a habit before starting out my day on the water. Very frustrating buying or using line that has gone bad and it can happen to every brand of mono, copolymer FC. Don't do this with braid! Tom

Every state has different regulations regarding transporting live fish, it's illegal in California and tournaments must have a warden monitoring the tournament weigh in at the boat ramp, you are not allowed to put the boat on the trailer with live fish in the livewell without a special permit. Your best bet is talk to the local DNR or whatever they are called in PA. It is also illegal in most states to fill in a lake without getting permission and moving the fish. The lake maybe small and on private property, but this doesn't allow the owner to do whatever they want regarding a waterway. Tom

Amazing that anyone would want more regulations than already exists. Move to California for good dose of what it is like to have everything regulated and pay fees to enforce those regulations you don't agree with. Tom

+1Keep in mind these big bass are fragile in regards to being poorly handled. Try to keep the bass wet, in the water as much as possible between taking photos and measurements, no more than a minute at a time. The isn't a reason to kill a trophy to enjoy it. The exception would be a record class fish, unfortunately to properly document a record the fish needs to be authenicated beyond doubt. Congratulations with your first DD bass. Tom

I do both, design my own jig heads and purchase jigs, both plain and finished. This BR site has 2 excellent jig makers and the only cost you have is the purchase price. When you pour your own jigs you have the combined cost of everything needed to make the jig. It is a lot of fun to make your jigs, it isn't cheaper! Lee's economy melting pot that shuts off the lead at the mold is about $70 Do-it mold another $40 (brush jig mold) Lead is about $1.60 lb. Hooks run about .30 each in 100 qty. Skirts, collars etc. Before you know it $200 is spent just to get started. Nearly everyone I know goes overboard with skirt color combinations, be aware! Tom

It really is a shame that Florida the home of Florida strain LMB that grow to giant size doesn't have the natural ecosystems to take full potential of these magnificent bass. What Florida could do is escavate some deep spring fed lakes and manage them for giant bass growth, catch and release only, well stocked with golden shiners and smaller sources of prey for the baby bass to get a good start. All Califironia did was transplant pure Florida strain bass into a few deep structured lakes and kept them closed to give the bass a good start, the rest is history. I remember talking to Doug Hannon years ago and he was surprised that California's FLMB lived to be 15 years old, in Florida the same bass rarely lives beyond 10 years. The answer was obvious; cooler deep water. What limits the FLMB range is cold water during the winter, they can't survive water under 45 degrees. When you consider the late Doug Hannon caught over 600 DD bass, only 1 was 17 lbs, his PB. I have caught 5 bass over 17 lbs, not because I am a better angler, it's becuase of where I fish...California. You can't catch a giant bass if it doesn't live where you fish. Tom

Florida has never produced a LMB in the 20 pound class. The few that were ounce listed proved to be invalid. The reason may be a combination of very warm year around climate and shallow water that stays warm and not enough high protein prey fish to sustain growth. Another reason is Florida guides target bed bass with live bait and their clients keep their trophy. The odds are not in Florida's favor. Same problem with Mexico and Cuba, the bass must survive gill nets and poachers. Very few authentic 20 lb LMB exists outside of California and don't expect to see more anytime soon. California LMB populations are poorly managed, unlike Texas where they research and grow giant bass. If I had to choose a location in California today it would be Delta area or one of the foothill lakes. The reason is SoCal is too highly pressured and trout plants have stopped in most of the lakes that have potential to grow a record size bass. We have 1 lake that is closed for dam repairs that remains a high % to produce a 20+ and every SoCal trophy bass angler will be there when it opens! Don't overlook South Africa, they producing 18 lb+ LMB. The odds favor Japan for another 20+, then Califorina and possibly S.Africa. Tom

Try expanding your current outfit by adding a few finesse rigs like the split shot rig, slip shot rig, nail worm and drop shot rigs. You can also try out a few smaller size top water lures like a Splash-It or Chug Bug early and late in the day. Bank fishing limits what you can do or how much stuff you want to carry. Tom

I prefer the slimmer Rico's and Splash-It's and speed retrieve them like a panicked shad. Let it rest a few seconds before starting the retrieve. Tom

Any brand of mono can be subject to temperature degradation and aging. If mono is stored in sub zero or above 105 degrees F, it will degrade severely. I would question your knot testing skills and not blame Trilene. Tom

TripleFish is a nylon copolymer for it's worth Step 1 is getting strikes and you are doing that. Step 2 is putting the bass in the boat, you are not doing that consistantly. Without changing anything lets start with the reel drag setting;'set it at 3 1/2 lbs, use a scale with the line going through the guides, takes 2 people. Try this: when you feel the bass strike, reel faster and load the rod up, take your thumb off the reel spool and sweep the rod back firmly while continuing to reel. Keep the pressure on the bass and don't give it any slack line. When the bass is near the boat slow down and trust your reel drag. Good luck. Tom PS; sharpen those treble hooks!

Return the casting rod and exchange for the spinning rod you wanted, we all make mistakes, shouldn't cost you $$$.What is the reel you plan to use, the rod needs to be selected for proper balance. Tom

Before you can buy a mold you need to know what jig head design you like to use. Outlets like Barlows Tackle sells everything you need. My advice is buy some different plain jig designs, take a look at the various skirts, hooks, melting pots etc. remember a jig is only as good as it's hook. Tom

The Delta system is a world class bass fishery, the difference it is tidal influenced. If you want to save a lot of time and money my suggestion is contact Andy "Cooch" Cuccia. Cooch giudes on the delta and time with him would be priceless, give him a call. Tom Cooch has a Vedio on utube that should get you started.

There are a few "Madtom" lures on the market for bass. Tom

Location Location Location Seasonal period Depth

My custom jig rods are 6'10" because a 7' rod is too long for my boats deck where I nearly always have 3 rods strapped down. I am not fishing close in targets with these rods, my average cast is over 90' in deep structured lakes. Started fishing with this length rod about 20 years ago and see no reason to use a longer rod for my jig and worm fishing. My swimbait rods are 7'11" and I keep those in the passenger seat area, when not stored in the locker. The longer rods are an advantage for swimbaits and deep diving crankbaits. Tom

Where I live and fish thermoclines can occur year around, so it's part of my routine to find one if it exist, tells me how deep I can fish. No thermocline the bass can be anywhere.Suspended fish in the water column located away from structure are almost always not feeding unless you also meter bait at that depth. Early in the day or morning the bass should be tighter to the structure if the marks are active bass. Best way to know this is try to catch them. No takers, still file the info away, those marks could be bass and may move onto the structure in a few hours. I approach points usually from one side and cast to the shallow areas first by casting past the base area and work the lure from deeper water to the shallower water and back into deeper water with lures like top water and swimbaits. Then without moving the boat, I fish the point ridge down hill on a angled slope with a jig or worm and move out towards deeper water to cover the entire point out to deep water, around to the opposite side back to the base area. By doing this I can survey the entire area from shallow water to deep and back without driving over the bass before they see a lure first. I fish very high pressured lakes with highly skilled bass anglers, this gives the bass a different presentation and lure angle then they are used to seeing. My advice to you is first things first; try to locate bass before trying to catch them. If you can't find them, then just go fishing and enjoy your day on the water, it will come together in time. Tom

Hold the dorsal fin up by pushing back one of the forward spines and you will notice the fin is connected where it slopes down. Largemouth dorsal fin is in two sections separated in the middle. Coloration varies greatly depending on the water chemistry, but the brownish tone, the jaw doesn't extend past the eye, definitely a smallmouth bass. Tom

We all have our own definitions to structure and cover. To me cover is everything that' grows or floats . Structure is everything mineral natural or man made. The pond bottom; soil, sand, clay, rocks of all sizes, the dam, man made posts or pilings, road bed or channel, etc are all structure elements. Your pond has aquatic weed growth that provides cover and a break line where the weeds stop growing due to depth or soil types. These break lines are very important to pond bass, it is where they find food and sanctuary. As mentioned pond bass are aware of everything near them, their life depends on this.. So tell us about your pond; how big is it, how deep, any docks or islands? Is this pond spring feed or stream feed? What type of prey is there for the bass to eat? Tom

Let me tell you what my routine is when fishing a lake that I am unfamiliar with or haven't fished this year, the fact is I always go thorough this marina routine. When I luanch my boat; 1. Look at the water for any sights of life around the ramp visually. 2. Start the big engine, back off the trailer and let warm up, 3. Put the trolling down, switch on my sonar unit and check the water temp. 4. Move the boat out into deeper water looking for a thermocline, baitfish and larger marks to determine at what depth looks most active, the life zone. 5 I fish alone most of the time, so I tie up the boat and park my tow vehicle. 6. Pick out a few rod combos that I feel will work from what the lake is telling so far. So lets ay it's early summer transition from post spawn by seeing the baby bass around the boat dock, 77 degrees surface temps, greenish water color with about 5' visibility. 7. Still tied up to the dock while I tie on a jig, a swimbait and a big soft plastic worm rig, these are my standard starting rigs. Because it's early summer I get out a top water Splash-it in baby bass and a LC Pointer in ghost shad and a crank rod with a clip tied on. Put a purple pork trailer on the black-brown-purple hair jig (like purple in greenish water), wet a pig blanket wrap the pig n jig leave this rod out. Lubricate th swimbait with hot sauce, wrap it with a lure blanket and leave this rod in the passenger seat rod holder. Rig a 9" purple thunder straight tail worm, add a little hot suace and leave the rod out on the deck holder with the jig rod. Put the top water rod with the other deck rods and put everything else away. 8. Stow the electric motor, idle out of the marina watching the sonar closely and check the ramp end drop off for bass and look for signs of baitfish in the marina area. Before leaving the marina area, take the boat of gear and make a few casts with the swimbait, usually the log boom wind break, any anchored buoys and dock ends. Some days the bite is so good I never leave the marina area! 9. Run to the closest major point and meter it, make a few casts with the swimbait and jig while pondering where to go next, if the major point doesn't have any life. More than likely during a early summer, I would head to a primary secondary point about 1/2 way back in a arm. This type of secondary point forms a Y intersection between to smaller forks. 10. Fish the second stop starting with the top water very tight to shore while studing my sonar unit. If I find bait or larger marks, I will stay and fish this area. If not, I will work a little further back, then further out. By now I would have a good idea what is going on and go fishing. Tom

The last thing I would do is suggest a particular rod for an angler who has been fishing with a pistol grip, 2 piece Ugly stick. You are used to a one handed casting rod with a nearly parabolic action that is very easy to cast. Changing to a modern straight handle rod will be night and day difference to how it feels and cast, so I suggest you go to a tackle store and put a reel on a rod within your budget and test cast it.. There isn't any standards for rod rating....none! Every rod maker rates them differently. Your 6'6" pistol grip rod is about the same length from the reel seat to the rod tip as a 7" straight handle rod, the extra length is behind the reel. You may backlash your reels more often with a stiffer fast action rod, especially using braid. You will need to modify your casting motion and slow it down when using a fast action rod. A 7', 3 power or Medium heavy is considered the basic bass rod today and they will vary greatly from the different rod makers. Tom

Learn to use your thumb to keep the line flat on the spool and feather out the over run before it develops. Tom