WRB-2.0

Update? Tom

Good news👍 Tom

ALF had ads running for Phenix and Dobyns rods I tried to buy the Phenix rod but couldn’t get anyone to reply by phone or email, that was 2 weeks ago. Now I know why. They need to update their contact info informing they are out of business! The ALF site is still up and running! Tom

You can’t get them to answer thier phone or email, makes sense they closed. Tom

Getting started using current history usually works but then bass change during the day doing something different when leave. Do you start where you left off or start what you did yesterday? Tom

It’s a puzzle we try to put together every outing. But knowing where they should be helps to eliminate where they are not. To me the 1st piece of the puzzle is where is the bait the bass are eating and how deep. The 2nd is what seasonal period are the bass in now . The seasonal period are the straight edges of puzzle that make up the frame, sort that 1st. The prey source makes up the picture of the puzzle sort those by color before trying to put together. Katie what seasonal period are your bass in? What prey are they targeting? Without a sonar unit you can look at the water surface or a few feet down, you can’t determine how deep without trail and error and that is how you are doing it. Tom

Giant LMB/State records are rare fish everywhere so few and far between. Consider the Florida State record is 17.27 lbs with unofficial bass 20.13 lbs. Texas State record is 18.18 lbs.in 1991 caught by a Crappie fisherman. California State record LMB is 21 lbs 12 oz. caught 1991. Unofficial bass 22.01 and 25.01 lbs. ( Dottie) Florida, Texas and California have hundreds of bass lakes but only a few can produce Giant LMB. As noted every lake with bass population can produce a big bass, just not a giant bass. Tom

The prime seasonal periods to catch giant bass is pre spawn and spawn. The big girls are eating more getting ready to fast during the egg laying phase of the spawn. Pre spawn giant bass are still wary and aware of danger but they want to eat prey making them vulnerable to being caught then any other seasonal period. When on or near a bed the big girls are in a protect mode and will attack and kill egg eating predators. They don’t eat at this time so hook setting needs to be very fast. I caught all my giant bass during pre spawn and unknowingly a possible bed fish not targeted. I make a long cast using jigs and if the jig landed in or near a bed the big bass would strike and it’s possible I got a hook set. I have targeted bed bass in the past but never found a Giant on a bed. caught several DD bass under 15 lbs during summer period day and night but no giants. Very few DD size during fall or winter with the exception of trout swimbait bass that are targeting planted trout at time period. Catch lots of jig bass during fall and winter but no DD size. No idea why, could be they are focused on trout not crawdads. Put odds in your favor by knowing when, where and what the primary prey source is at that time. Good luck, Tom

Lakes go through 2 turn overs the ice out and fall, both shut down fishing until the ecosystem settles down another factor to consider. Bass are cold blooded animals and metabolism slows as the water gets cold. The bass willingness to chase down lures increases with warmer water. Proven lures like very slow moving jerk baits, long pauses between jerking the lure, jigs and worms crawled along structure and slower swimming wake baits work good as the water transitions from cold to around 50 degrees. 50-55 degrees is pre spawn and the bass are aggressive feeders. Tom

When I was fishing off shore big game fish tuna and marlin the spiral wraps became a thing to try. The problem back then was the guide frame and foot wasn’t designed for sideway line loading for the transition guides. Under high speed power fish running the side guides would loosen and that killed spiral wraps at that time. I personally dislike spiral wrap rods because you can’t lay the rids down on the deck without guides hitting each other. Just my 2 cents. Tom

Looking back the 1st thing to do is define a Giant LMB? For sake of argument a Giant bass is the top 1 % in size in the State where you fish or close to record size LMB. My personal bar was 15 lbs where I fish in SoCal. 13 lbs is a good bar for every where else Florida LMB are in the population, and around 2 lbs under the state record NLMB. In other words Giant bass! Every State has a LMB record except Alaska. So Giants live where you fish. How do you go about catching a Giant bass where you fish? Tom

Not familiar with BPS current Fish Eagle, in past they were Fenwick rods. Tom

Judging from the specs the Aldebaran 50 is very similar to the BFS reel in line capacity if not equal. Judge line capacity by line diameter not # test. I would guess about 50 yards of .010d line. Tom

The rod material like graphite vs glass vs graphite glass composite all have very different diameters in the lower 1/3 of the rod. No subjective method without putting a reel and line through the rod guides and lifting dead weight*. You can look at the lure weights suggested; generally 1/4 oz to 3/4 oz is medium power and 3/8 oz to 1 oz is MH power. If the rod with reel and line can lift 3 lbs it’s Medium, 4 lbs is MH. Tom * one pint of water weighs 1 lb.

The whole fishing line definitions can be confusing. Monofilament line means a single filament. fluorocarbon line is a single filament line but not called Monofilament, that term is reserved for Nylon single filament line. CoPolymer should be a blend of 2 polymers. The most common being Nylon and polyester. CoExtruded line is a monofilament line with Fluorocarbon line extruded onto the core monofilament in the form of a jacket. Yo-Zuri Hybrid line is the correct terminology it’s not a blend of 2 polymers. Marketing and companies trying to group line into 2 categories in lieu of 3 or more creates the confusion. Tom

Bill Murphy before he passed away from skin cancer was working on what he called the last frontier “off shore suspended” bass. Bill knew they were out there from his time working with tracking studies. A big group of big bass suspended off shore in over 300’ deep water. Nothing detectable to determine why these bass grouped up in that location but they did. Tracking showed big bass would leave and others join the group. Bill caught a few of these big bass trolling a home made trout lure through the group. Bill said he was on a break though to locate other groups of big bass on various lakes and share this frontier but never got the chance to finish his study. FFS would have been a magic tool for Murphy! Trolling is deadly targeting off shore suspended bass, a technique that worked for decades before tournament fishing outlawed it. Tom

How things change in 2 years! Small Micheal popper, trout Yo-Zuri popper, Shad Wooden Sammy, Shad Zip ‘n Ziggy, baby bass Megabass Karashi, shad All 3/16-1/4 oz except 1/2 oz Sammy. BFS now👍 Tom

Luke Clausen joins NPFL. Tom

Huddleston Swim bait rod is spiral wrapped, one of the few over the counter fresh water rods. Tom

Have a receipt to pork rind for trailers, pm your email if interested. Tom

Lay downs are usually perpendicular from shoreline trunk near shore. It’s good to visualize what you are casting into and giving the bass an escape root pulling against the line pressure. Doing this almost always works our good. If the bass can only run deeper into branches the end result isn’t good. Sideways to the tree trunk is better than parallel. Tom

Better choices, no reason to be running cranks today like Norman lures on sale. Tom

Morgan stated he can’t make any money fishing MLF saying FFS pushed over rail. Tom

^^^this^^^ plus heating can destroy the nickel plating inviting corrosion into the stress cracks. Tom

The Ark Limited Edition BFS reel is a bargain at $150 performs over is price point. Tom