WRB-2.0

Northland makes walleye jigs with stinger hooks and airplane jigs with a wire and a treble hook stinger used for primarily for vertical jigging during the winter. Not everyone fishes a bass jig like mosy bass anglers do. The Airplane jig is similar to a Rapala ice jig, except has short wings to aide the circular swimming action. Walleye jigs are a banana head hair jig used with a minnow. Tom

You got to love Bill Dance, he is one of the sports icons......however he holds bass incorrectly by the lower jaw bent to the point where it may dislocates and keeping bass out of the water to play with it is like holding the anglers head under water...both are suffocating and very stressed. Enjoy your time on the water and slow down when fighting your bass and enjoy the moment. Bill Dance usually takes few moments to land his bass, tries to get a jump out it for the camera! It doesn't have to be a race to get the bass in as fast as possible by winding the fish across the surface like a water skier and bouncing it into the boat. Tom

Been fishing swimbaits since the mid 80's for giant bass in SoCal. The original swimbaits were salt water calico bass lures like Worm King and Kelp critters in custom rainbow trout colors because of planted hatuary trout . Swimbait range from 6" hollow bodies to 12" dynasors soft plastic boot tails, soft and hard body hybrids and multiple jointed hard bodies. The optimum swimbait was originally Eagle Ospry and rigged with Gamakatsu or Owners Stinger black nicklee treble hook, size depending on the lure size. A small craft magnet glued to the belly to keep the hook attached to the swimbait during casting or a rubber coated paper clip cut to make a tempary push in hook hanger. Today I mostly use Huddleston Deluze 8" or 68 series, 8" Triple trout and Little Creapers Trash Fish, 6" Basstrix paddle tail, Matt's 5" bluegill or crappie. The key to being successful with a swimbait is learning to retrieve slowly and covering a lot of water. This takes a lot of time and dedication. You don't pound the shore line and cover water, you fish several high % spots. Tom

Both Owner and Gamakatsu make a weedless wacky "octopus" style hook in sizes 4 to 2/0, small compact light wire and very strong. Tom

There is pros nd cons to getting bass in s quickly s possible. If the bass is lightly hooked, playing too much may give the bas an opportunity to tear out the hook or throw the lure when jumping. However it is a lot easier to land a fish thtat is a little tired and as hot or fresh around the boat. The closer to the boat a big hot bass is your odds of landing this fish go way down. The reason most bass anglers loose a fish of a life time is they crank it to the boat and when the big bass sees what is going on, it makes a hard turn runs and breaks off...bad things happen on a short string with a big hot bass. My philosophy with bass is get a good set, control the fish so it doesn't get into trouble like finding something like a tree to wrap the line in, enjoy the minute or so it takes to tire the bass and land it under control. This isn't hard to do in day time, however at night you tend to fish closer to the boat, make shorter cast and bass tend to be hot fighters at night and you can't see where they want to go, so you end up with some hot bass on a short string, a good reason to use heavier line. I don't worry about over stressing bass fighting them, it's improper handling in the boat and livewells that cause fatal stress issue. Tom

I don't know what the average fight time is with most bass anglers, it depends on the tackle used and type of bass. My guess would be for largemouth bass with the average angler using med/hvy tackle, 15 lb line catching 2 to 4 lb bass, the fight time about 20 to 30 seconds. If you used light spinning tackle with 6 to 8 lb line in more open water areas the fight may last a little longer; 45 to 60 seconds. The longest that I have fought any fresh water bass is less than 2 minutes, a very long time for bass to fight without rolling over. If the bass rolls over and can't maintain it' upright swimming, the fight has lasted too long. The lactic acid issue isn't a problem when you release bass right away, it can be a problem for bass hept in livewells and tournament bass angler tend to put the bass in the boat as fast as possible. Tom

I use straight shank hooks for all my Texas rigged worms. Texas rigged being a slinding bullet weight sinker and the hook placed into the front of the worm weedless. Casting the worm and retrieving back along the bottom, doddling or shaking the worm vertically or flipping or pitching it. I also use straight shank hooks for split shot, slip shot or Carolina rigs. It is easier for me to say where I don't use a straight shank worm hook; drop shot, for drop shot use a octopus style hook in the worm nose and wacky rigs. Tom

I use the straight shank hooks that was suggested in my post and the knots suggested, very rarely miss hook sets or break off bass. How you rig a Texas rigged worm and your hook set technique is important. Most bass anglers prefer the J bend off set wide gap hooks and they work, however you miss hook sets more often because of the simple physics of line pull verses hook point direction being in a straight line with off set hooks. Straight shank hook the hook point is always above the hook eye and when you pull on the line with the hook point penetrates basses mouth, if' s not covered with plastic. The key is placing the hook point where it will easily contact the fishes mouth when you set your hook. Skin hook is a term for placing the hook point under the skin of the soft plast. One method is pushing the hook point through the worm passed the barb, then pulled back and pinching the worm and sliding the hook point just under the top surface or skin. Another method is placing the hook point into the side of the worm, just uner the skin. Both methods work, depending on the diameter of the worm and the size of the hook. The hook gap should always be at least 2X the worm body diameter. Tom

Strip line is a term for the reel drag slipping and letting line come off the reel spool. Tom

Every animal has a limit to it's endurance, no animal is the same as every other of it's kind. Bass are animals, and subject to need rest after swimming distances or fighting for it's survival when hooked. Some bass fight harder than others, some species of bass fight harder and longer than others, they tire out. Bass anglers tend to use tackle designed to control the fish completely far heavier than necessary. Hook them and crank them straight into the boat with the thought that giving the bass inch is losing the battle! It's more rewarding to using the lightest tackle under the conditions you fish, then using the heaviest tackle and enjoying the fight. Yes they will tire out given the chance to fight long enough. The question becomes how long is too long or too tired out.? The answer is; as long as the bass is still swimming upright and hasn't rolled over belly, it's OK. Tom

Straight shank worm hooks come in 2 basic types; sproat and round bend, 3 different wire styles light , standard and heavy, and in 2 basic finishes: black nickel or bronze. The next choice is what brand to use; premium hooks like Gamaktsu or Owner, or Mustad and Eagleclaw. Gamakatsu worm hooks; #011 sproat light wire, #484 sproat medium wire, #464 heavy wire round bend. Owner #5100 light wire or 5103 heavy wire round bends are a few to look at. When you get into knots, you should consider line type; mono a Palomar works good, FC line you get into a debate, my preference is the San Diego knot. Straight hank worm hooks excell when rigged for soft plastic worms. Roboworms rebarbs help keep the worm head on the hook shank.. Tom

Tony and Lane Gererly are wonderful folks Aand wish them both a Merry Christmas and Happy New Years. Lane I hope you are feeling OK and in good health. Tom

Suggest he try out chatter baits, a jig with a swimmingl blade that pike love amd trailer hook would be helpful with. Owner makes excellent stinger hooks that would be ideal. Jenson makes a good pike jig, look them up. Tom

It's a common practice for bed fisherman to add a stinger hook to a jig. If you remember Dottie, the giant bass snagged on the top of her head with a jig that (reported) had a stinger treble hook. Some jig anglers use the stinger hook turned down and belive that improves strike to hook up ratio. The real problem is jig design and proper hook size, design and weed guard placement, design and stiffness. All jigs may appear equal, however they are not equal in strike to hook up ratio. What type of jig does your boss fish with and how does he fish it? Tom

If you weigh 10 worms and divide the total by 10 the average will be more accurate than weighing individual worms. A food scale that weighs in grams is accurate enought to determine weight in fractions of ounces. Tom PS; 1/8 oz = 3.5 grams, 3/16 oz = 5 grams, 1/4 oz = 7 grams, 28.35 grams = 1 oz

Avoid offers that sells large numbers of generic lures at discounted prices; you get what you pay for. There are sales from time to time on brand name lures, usually colors that don't sell for a region, that work great in another regional area. For example there is a Bomber sale going on and these are good lures! The Bomber 6A and 7A series deep divers are excellent, run good out of the box and have decent hooks. Baby bass, fire tiger and shad colors work everywhere. Tom

There are a few lures that I use year around and add a few seasonally or at night. Year around; casting jigs, drop shot and slip worms, crakbaits, swimbaits and wake baits. Pre spawn to spawn; add, jerk baits, T-rigged big worms, Senko's and spinner baits. Post spawn; add buzz baits and small crank baits. Summer; add top water poppers and spookks/Sammy's, frogs. Summer nights; add T-rigged big worms, big crank baits. Fall; add tail spinners, under spins and structure and flutter spoons Winter; add structure spoons. My go to lure is a casting jig; hair with pork trailers. Tom

The pocket thermometer suggested is convent to check surface temps and can be used to check fish body temps by inserted the probe quickly into the fishes throat. Fish being cold blooded will have the same body temp as the water they came out of! Tom

Water clarity, cover density and light intensity; dark, low light or bright light all factor in as bass are sight feeders. If the cover is heavy, then the bass may target only movement, then darker colors are good, low light or darkness, dark colors that create a silhouette are good. Clear water with little cover, then transparent or colors that look like the bait tend to be good and adding feathered rear hooks can help trigger strikes. Tom

Casting distance is affected by a lot of factors, the rod makers lure weight has more to do with marketing. The line size and type you choose is an important factor, the "action" of the rod or how "fast" the rod bends from the tip down is another important factor. First and foremost there isn't any rod building standard, every rod maker has a different definition of medium fast action, you must be the judge of how the rod cast . The better casting rods will bend more parabolic or evenly when casting a lure of nominal weight rated for your rod. The number of guides and the placement of the guides should keep the line off the rod blank during the casts. If the line drags on the rod blank it slows the line down tremulously. The stiffness of the line and the drag going through the guides also slows the line down. Length of the rod should be 6'6" to 7'3" for today's worm rods. The simple change is going to lighter line; if you use 15 lb test, change to 12 lbs and look at the line diameter; 15 lb mono or FC is about .015D and 12 lb about .012D, some 12 lb is smaller at .011D. Use a good line dressing like KVD or TangleFree. If you prefer the 1/8 weight, compromise and use a 3/16, which is a good weight size for 6" to 8" worms under most fishing conditions. Tom

If a angler wants to keep a trophy tournament bass they can, however most anglers prefer a good replica mount and release the bass. Post mortality rates vary with a lot of conditions, low dissolved oxygen being the number 1 cause of death with bass held in livewells or weigh in bags. 3% post mortality rate is a common value for tournaments and I believe it's closer to 10% over all average. The problem is perception; if the bass swims off after being weighed and released it's considered a live healthy bass and unfortunately post mortality means bass die within 24 hours after being released and that is hard to determine without holding the bass in a tank to study. Tom

Drop shot is usually fished straight down on light tackle using light wire hooks. The hook set should match the hook size, rod power and line size. Reel set and rod lift or sweep puts maximum force to the hook point without tearing the hook out of the basses mouth. If your drop shot hook is a heavy wire and rigged so the point is in the worm body, then a snap set to drive the hook point through the soft plastic works. Several factors to consider; nose hooked, exposed hook point with light wire super sharp hook requires little pressure to penetrate the basses lip and this is how most anglers rig a drop shot. Tom

What I found that increased my buzz bait success was changing to a double side by side 1/2 oz model. This design creates far more surface disturbance at a slower speed and appeals to big bass. I use 2 colors; all black and chartreuse/pearl white with plain aluminum blades. I also use a trailer with buzzers, usually a 4" fluke super same color as the skirt super glued to the hook, no stinger hook to tangle up. I start using a buzzer from early pre spawn surface water temps about 55 degrees until let fall water temps about 55 degrees. Prefer Super Spooks or Sammy's when the water is colder or the bass want a slower forward moving lure. I see no reason to use more than the 2 color combination with a buzzer. Tom

Well you say your are a trout fisherman and now want to try bass fishing, shouldn't be too difficult to get started. To catch trout consistantly you had to know where the trout were located and what the trout were feeding on, same with bass. If you were a fly fisherman, then you had fly rods, line, flies that worked well where you fished; 5 weight balanced rod, floating weight forward fly line with tapered 2 lb triplet for those dry flies or a weight forward sinking line for those nymphs; specialized rods, feels, line and lure for properly presenting the lure to the fish...same with bass. If you are a spinning outfit trouter that fishes trout lures or bait, the rod, reel, line is specific for that type of lure or bait fishing...same with bass. To catch bass with any lure you need to know where the bass are located and select lures that work well in those locations. Bass are not trout, bass eat trout! So if the lake you fish has a trout population, then a trout looking lure can be a good choice. Largemouth bass have a big mouth and will eat almost anything that may fit in their mouth, lots of lure choices. Bass, unlike trout, are warm water fish, actually in the sunfish family, so bass prefer water that is near 70 degrees with good dissolved oxygen levels, water temperature governs where the bass will be located, year around, basic bass behavior. Unfortunately water temps vary seasonally, so the bass change locations to find comfortable water conditions with prey available. Bass are always near their food source, so take some time and deternine what the bass are eating and at what depth the bass are located., then choose a lure the bass are looking for. Crank baits or diving lures appeal to active feeding bass and bass are only active about 10% of the time and crank baits work well only in open water areas with few weeds, not yor highest % lure choice. Crank baits are used to cover a lot of water fast, you can troll them effectively. The higher % lures are those that appeal to bass feeding nearer to the bottom like soft plastic worms, that can be fished nearly everywhere with a wider variety of tackle options. To keep your tackle choices simple would be to focus on soft plastics like Plastic worms, Senko's and Fat Ikas, you only need a hook that works well for those lures and rod, reel, line combination that can be a spinning or casting outfit is medium heavy standard bass action; 6 1/2' to 7' with 10 to 14 lb FC line. You can start with green pumpkin with black and red flakes, 2/0 Owner weedless Senko style hook. Tom

PM your email address and I will send you some basic bass behavior information that should help you more than specific tackle. Tom