WRB-2.0

What 14# test line? Tom

Fresh water boats no, salt water sports fisher was Cuatro. Tom

My choice of copoly line 5# Maxima Ultra Green .0084D and very strong. Sunline Super Natural 8# would be my 2nd choice. Hand pour worms actually float whereas most injection molded work sink or may suspend. Roboworm and Double ZZ worms float. Hook Owner #5133 Down Shot size 2/0 or 4107 size 3/0 Cover Shot depending on worn diameter. Medium Fast or Xfast works good, not a fan of most spinning ML rods. Tom

1. 5” Senko wacky rigged, spinning tackle. 2. Santone Swimjig-4” Single tail grub trailer, casting tackle. 3. Scrounger jig-Sluggo trailer,casting tackle. 4.Hollowbody frog, casting tackle 5. Dock edges, spinner bait, casting tackle. Tom

Cormorants Fly underwater using their wings to propel themselves unlike diving birds that use their feet. Japanese put a ring around their and line tied to the a foot using the bird to catch fish. The ring prevents the Cormorant swallowing the fish last the ring. Before 1972 we could shoot Cormorants no longer they are protected world wide, have thousands now in California lakes. I tried to hit them with my boat without success! Tom

A-Jay nailed it 👍 There is an old saying that 90% of the bass live in 10%of the water. That leaves finding that 10% of the water! I start by elimination areas with poor habitat too deep or too shallow. I don’t bass fish deeper then 40’ so that can eliminate a lot water and locations. With little research we know where bass like to spawn. Let’s use that knowledge and locate those areas to start with. Factoring in proffered seasonal periods like the spawning area we can determine the bass are in deeper water in the cold water seasonal period where the warmest water is. Now draw a mental line from the cold water locations nearby the Spawning areas. Somewhere along that path the bass will find what it needs...prey and a safe place to rest a sanctuary. Bass like to travel along break lines at a comfortable depth and water temperature. My 1st piece of the puzzle is to determine the depth the majority of bass are using, call this depth the life zone. Now we can eliminate a lot of water that is deeper then the life zone and start looking for areas that provide prey and sanctuary. For sake of discussion let’s say the life zone is about 17’ to 15’ during the Pre Spawn seasonal period. Look at your lake map and follow the life zone depth fairly close to where the bass will end up during the spawn. Structure elements like points, islands or humps and creek channels that intersect the pathway the bass are using will hold bass at sometime. So now we have a good idea where the bass should be but only time in the water surveying the areas and fishing those places can we determine when the best time is. Weather affects timing and constantly changing. So it’s important to fish often to get the rhythm of a specific or area when bass are active feeding. It’s a simple matter of trial and error targeting those higher percentage areas found. Winter is the cold water period Pre Spawn is the period before bass are on beds. Spawn is bedding egg laying and bed protection period. Post Spawn follows the spawn. Summer is the warmest water period. Fall is cooling water period. Those areas you located between winter and pre spawn will hold bass during summer and fall at some time period. Get out your map and start studying it! Tom PS, Google search my Cosmic Clock and Bass Calendar for more details. Keep in mind Bass have individual behavior, all I can do is generalize.

Anglers seem to forget that to outgrow it’s year class a record size bass must survive being a small aggressive bass competing for prey without becoming prey. Habitat to me covers the entire ecosystem where the bass lives. Abundant prey source, water purity to support both predators and pry and water temperatures, consistent lake pool to support both prey and bass recruitment survival. Congratulations catching Smallmouth Bass of a life time. Tom

The article posted suggests that Cormorants feed on the most available fish and that may be true but they feed on planted trout as the DFW truck is releasing them. Small ponds a flock of Cormorants can clean out the entire population of bass under 1 1/2# in a few days. This fish eating bird is a protected species! Beware pond owners! Tom

Corrected counter clockwise.🥺

The Kastking line spooler is a device clamped onto the rod with a mandrel that turns the filler spell sideways facing the reel. The line is fed up through a guide turning 90 degrees before going through a rod guide onto the reel spool. Spinning reels you want the filler spool rotating counter* clockwise, casting reel clockwise. I couldn’t determine how light pressure is applied to the filler spool, must be an adjustment. What could go wrong? 1. Filler spool rotating the opposite direction will cause line to twist. 2. Too much filler spool pressure will cause line twist on spinning reels. How to untwist line. Boat, remove everything off the line end so only the line is going into the water. Troll about 100’ of line behind the boat about walking speed for about 2 minutes or a few hundred yard, the while the boat is still moving reel in the line. Shore angler, walk off about 100’ of line without anything tied on and lay on a grass surface. Soak a terry cloth towel in water near the rod tip. Reel in the line and spray the reel spool with line conditioner (KVD for FC) a few times as the reel the back on the reel. All spinning reels twist line if the end can’t rotate. Spro Micro swivels help to let the line unwind as you retrieve lures using a spinning reel. Bait casting reel don’t twist line but some lures that spin in the water will twist line unless using a swivel. Tom edited*

Wheat does catching bass on a buzz have to do:with the spawn? Tom

ML Casting rods within your budget are rare. M moderate action will work and widen your selection. Tom Fury 702 Casting rod? DX702C above the OP’s budget. Tom

I would change the hooks in the lures you plan to use. Check the rear drag on the Cardinal spinning reel. You have several Plunkers and Crazy Crawlers plus Thin Fins that work well using spinning tackle. The Smaller size Lucky 13 and Bass O’ Reno will work. I like the 300 Bomber but not on spinning tackle. Tom

The pre spawn and spawning bass was just a matter of finding the bass when using live crawdads or (illegal) Live baitfish in our local giant bass lakes back in the 90’s before FFS. Give those live bait anglers FFS-Live Scope during the spawn cycle and kiss off your trophy bass populations in smaller lakes. Fortunately I didn’t have to witness FSS Live baiters seeing the big bass floating like volley balls on stringers was upsetting enough. Tom

The physics of cold water is 39.4 degrees is the max density fresh can get. As water gets colder 39.4 it getting lighter density and floats towards the surface freezing at 32 degrees. Bass being warm water fish seek out warmer water for a few reasons the most important is dissolved oxygen (DO) levels between 3 the lowest they can tolerate to 12 mg/L the high level. The reason 38 degree water temps are lighter density is the DO levels is greater the 13 mg/L uncomfortable for bass. Bottom line 40 degrees water is about the coldest water temps you will find NLMB, 45 FLMB. Tom

Look at Marine Deep Cycle Lithium Iron Phosphate LiFePo4 batteries. The 3 top rated for bass boats are: Iconic, Dakota and Millertech. I would contact Iconic customer service and ask them. Running 3 ea 12V 50 AH is popular when those batteries are on sale. 1 36V 100 AH is also popular but higher cost. Cranking and battery AGM’s are still popular and 12V 50 AH house battery. Tom

Nope a slider jig had hooks that constantly need sharping and snag easily in our rocky lakes. Tried Sliders and wasn’t impressed. Slip shot works better for me dragging a worm. Tom

Look for spring fed waterways. Spring water is rarely colder then 50 degrees year around. Depending on how cold it is a spring either is steaming when the surface isn’t or the opposite a clear spot without steam. Tom

California gasoline tax and fees is $1.18 per gallon! Finding ethanol free gasoline is difficult best source is aviation gasoline, average $6.30 gal. Tom

Another good video Glenn👍 Tom

It’s O dark 30, the wind is blowing on a cold front do you roll over and snuggle or get out of bed to go fishing? If I have committed to go fishing with a partner I get I get out of bed, if not rolling over sounds pretty good! Now if it’s prey spawn with a low pressure front I out of bed before the alarm clock goes off! Poor fishing conditions you must be dedicated, good conditions it’s a no brained even at 80+ years. Tom

I only use Gamakatsu and Owner worm and jig hooks. Buy in quantity 25 to 100 from Barlow’s. Tom

Take a look at ALX Zolo Jerkbait rod, 6’9” Medium+fast. Tom

Having “hunted” trophy LMB most of my lifetime what I have observed is big bass populations reacting to sonar signals by shutting down feeding activity and moving away from boats. I adjusted to this behavior by making long cast and not using my sonar until leaving an area. My guess based on experience is the bass will become wary of stronger FFS / Live Scope signals, those that don’t will be culled out. Tom

Basstrix Flashtrix and Livetrix shows up good on tradional sonar do to the hollow body trapping air and the coating shows up on FFS. Owner Ultra Dart head jig. Tom