WRB-2.0

Picasso Bait Ball Flex Jr is compact light weight head and well made, the blades help to run shallower. The A-Rig you choose is very important. You can use jigs or CPS style worm hooks. Tom

Abrasion resistance correlate to hardness to the line outer surface and tensile strength properties. The problem has been trying retain lower memory and increase abrasion resistance. If the line is high memory with high abrasion resistance it becomes too stiff to manage on small diameter reel spools. The larger diameter the line is the more memory is retained tending to coil on a smaller diameter spool. Big Game is a Mono Nylon line with good physical properties average diameter per lb test and inexpensive. I used Big Game for decades before changing to Armilo Nylon. 25 lb / .019D Big Game coiled on my 300 size swimbait reels and resulted in res pooling line above every 5 outings. Changed to 25 lb / .016D Armilo about 6 years ago and only changed the line if it was damaged about every 3 years. FC tends to have lower knot, impact strength and abrasion resistance then mono lines. Tom

Monofilament means single or 1 filament. For decades all “mono” fishing lines were Nylon with UV additive to reduce sunlight degradation. Copolymer means 2 polymers, Nylon and a blend of Nylon mixed with polyester or polyurethane being the most common to improve strength and abrasion resistance. When Fluorocarbon line was introduced to differentiate Nylon monofilament line from other marketing promoted Fluorocarbon line stating it was invisible to fish. Yo-Zuri Hybrid is another manufacture technique called co-extrusion naming their line a Hybrid to separate it from Copolymer line. Yo -Zuri Hybrid is the largest diameter per lb test on the market. Sunline introduced a small diameter high strength Nylon monofilament line called Defier Armilo is one of the smallest diameter mono line on the market per lb test. Tom

You can smell odors from the mouth and vent to determine if the bass is eating crawdads. Tom

For the 3rd time, yes...22#/ .015D Armilo. 100% knot strength vs 75% with FC, higher abrasion resistance, small diameter and excellent casting performance with lower memory. Tom

^^^this^^^ Today we have Braid that sinks! Had zero issues keeping in contact with swimbaits or Glides using Armilo mono, the Hudds are heavy enough to keep in contact with the lure and glides and rat strikes are easy to detect. Tom

The road to the lake is washed out. It went from 41000 acre feet to 47000 acre feet since Jan 1st. 82,000 acre feet at full pool. Tom

I tried to explain the issue using small narrow spools with .018D line. Your reel holds 110 yards of .014D line at full spool. Using .018D line is a significant increase that impacts how much line can be put on your reel spool. Estimate is approximately 75 yards. After you cast 30 to 35 yards a short cast using swimbaits, you have about 40 yards of line in the spool or nearly 50% smaller spool diameter of line, it’s very small. When you turn the reel handle 1 full turn the IPT will drop 36” maximum IPT at full spool to 18” or less depending how full the is before casting. With each reel handle turn the lure speeds speeds the. More. Line recovered on the spool until it Reaches maximum IPT. The fact reel is strong enough to cast heavy lures isn’t the issue, it’s line capacity changing IPT as the lure is retrieved. For the reasons stated several times now smaller diameter line that is strong enough not to loose lures was suggested. Straight 40# Braid at .013D would work. My suggestion was Armilo 22# / 015D Mono. Your choice, try the .018D it’s inexpensive. Tom

806 is perfect! Tom

Thought the series was very interesting and supports a lot of my beliefs regarding bass behavior. Our California deep rocky structure lakes are nearly void of large flats we have isolated cover in deeper water out of the boating fishing zones. Clear is the exception being a large natural lake about 1/3 if the upper are is a large flat. I also believe big bass spawn in the same area year after year based on watching them and catching them from exactly the same spot. These bass stage in the same locations, spawn then disappear until the next season. Where do these big bass go? They mostly suspend over deep structure that create upwelling current attracting baitfish. A sanctuary that is now being exploded by FFS sonar and Live Scope technology. Tom

Off topic but thought I share my background as a aerospace engineer. The company I was Director of Engineering for going on 45 years before retiring is a mfr of parts made primarily from aluminum alloys followed by composites materials. As a result very familiar with materials and processes. Chaired SAE committees and several patents. I say this to for some credibility. We had a plating facility that had to meet Cal OSHA regulations along with all the mfg regulations. GE, 3M and DuPont were all material suppliers we used in mfg our products including Telflon. The waste products never exceeded drinking water regulations for California’s stringent levels. Easy to point at mfr’s for pollution and some are guilty but not all. We have close friends in NorCal who are 4th generation farmers. I add this to show how our government regulations are ruining this country. 2018 the family farmers had to drill 150’ deeper wells at a cost of 350K for 5 wells. The following year the State outlawed diesel well pumps and required the pumps to electric motors, they complied. 2020 the monthly cost to run the electric pumps after installing wiring was $4,500 a month. 2021 The PG&E designed a solar panel array that required removing a walnut orchard. The solar system worked to lower the cost during pumping but... the local power lines couldn't handle the excess power being generated to pay back the solar cost. The rural community can’t afford to upgrade the power lines. To this day the 4th generation farmer family is loosing money and maybe forced to sell as they are no longer profitable. Beware this will be repeated across rural America. Apologize for the rant, eat fish you catch unless the waterway is posted against it, Peace, Tom

DuPont, GE plastics, 3M haven’t mfr’s PFA products for the past 20 years. Nearly all mfg is now moved to Brazil and Eastern Europe. You all like Fluorocarbon fishing line, don’t touch it. Tom

Key words CNN and US Environmental Protection Agency. If you cook using non stick pans you gonna die, cast iron only! Guess what you are gonna die anyway by trying to live on this planet that produces 80-90% of pollution. Eat fresh fish it’s a good food source. Tom

1. Rod builder/ mrf has excellent customer service and warranty with point name of contact to call and talk to. 2. Bottom contact rods must be light weight state of the art rod planks made in the USA, perfectly balanced using state of the art guides and reel seat. If you can pick up and handle the off the self rod do it. Tom

Uptoms Customs is still in business (?) check with Last Chance Tackle In Hemet. Tom

She was snagged on top of her head with white jig on a bed. Witnesses could clearly see the white jig when she was brought into the boat and reported the infraction while Dottie was being weighed. Dottie was released as a result and not submitted for record status. It’s shame. Tom

Dottie was 25.1 lbs officially weighed by a biologist, biggest LMB ever caught! Tom

I don’t usually recommend Bassmaster articles however dedicating 6 pages is worth reading. Reels discussed are; DaiwaTatula SV 70 Daiwa Steez SV 70 Shimano Curado BFS Shimano Alderbarran BSF Shimano Scorpion BSF Abu Limited LX992Z KastKing Kestrel Rods; Shimano Curado 6’10 Glass Shimano 7’2” ML Dobyns BSF Sierra 6’5” light to 7’4” Light Tom

Hands down Owner #5133 Down Shot Hook! Tom

Exalted, I will try to let that sarcasm pass. My point is this winding .018D mono or copoly onto a small diameter narrow spool creates high pressure causing the line to take set. This is the reason filler spools are larger diameter to reduce line coil memory. If you buy in bulk and change the mono- copoly line often the memory coiling issue is reduced. Being a user of Berkley Big Game line for 20 years I changed it often using 4500C reel with larger and wider spool the 200K and Daiwa HTIA’s 103& 105 reels very similar spool size 200K’s. Never used either of those reels for swimbaits, too small spools and preferred Calcutta 250 & 300 reels using 20 lb Big Game. When I started using Armilo 25#/.016D Mono it was a game changer. Stronger, higher abrasion resistance with very low memory and excellent casting performance. You might want to try it. Tom

Are the engines original, hours? Jack plates with hot foot? Look at the transom for stress cracks and have a mechanic check the engines compression and condition. Look for bolts that the paint has been chipped to indicate it’s been taken apart. Prop is stainless without any damage. Trailer brakes and wheels, tires should older then 8 year. Look for any rust on the trailer. Everything being equal the BassCat is a solid hand built hull vs Javelin production line hull that is lighter weight not dry ride. My concern is more about the OB condition. Both are EFI and different displacement 2.5L, 200 and 3.0L 225. The design changed in 1996 as I recall. Tom

California most of the lakes are closed do to severe debris in the water and roads washed out. Dirty cold water isn’t worth going. Imo. Wait a week and things settle down and open back up. Tom

The current Bassmaster mag, pages 48-53 is a good article on BSF reels, rods, line and lures. Tom

The problems started when hatchery raised sterile triploid Rainbow trout was stopped by court order to study the impact on native Steelhead populations. The DFG had to spend their budget studying all the waterways that had a history of Steelhead populations. This effort lasted about 8 years reducing budgets and raising hatchery trout put on hold or reduced. The Whitney hatchery had a breakout of whirling disease shutting it down a few years. Today Fillmore and Whitney are back in operation but with reduce production do to cutbacks in funding. Tom

Huddleston Deluxe makes a Golden Shiner color in several different soft swimbaits. Tom