WRB-2.0

The Musky wooden Jitter bug can still be found on wooden lure Webb sites. Need to replace the hook hangers with screw eyes, split rings and premium size 2/0 treble hooks*. The reason I suggested and still suggest the double buzz bait ( Picasso make a good one) is any top water treble hook lure will get snagged in underwater brush when a big bass dives with the lure. The buzzer is a single hook lure better in wooded areas or surface cover at night. Tom * Gammy Big Bait

The Magic worm comes in a 14 pack, has a different action on free fall through the water plus Roboworm quality and colors. Our local lakes have been pounded by Roboworms for decades and the Missle Magic worm is different enough the bass eat it. Tom

Mustad changed their hook material, design more like the Japanese’s added black nickel and advertised Ultra Point needle sharpe hooks to be competitive. Good hooks today. Tom

Need to post this in Marine Electronics forum. Tom

The Missle Baits Magic 6” worm by Roboworm has been this years surprised soft plastic…who knew? The Magic worm is fatter with a different wiggle, the Ed’s Orange is getting it done. Going BSF Karachi jerk bait is my go to lure. Still catching bass on everything else just no need to use the tried and true as often now. Tom

A true gentleman of the sport of pro bass fishing, always a delight to watch and listen to, we need more Shaw Grigby’s. Will miss you Shaw and enjoy life you earned it. Tom

Did you get a confirmation RMA ( Return Material Authorization)? If you have confirmation contact Daiwa Corp. Tom

Are you using braid with a leader? Dragging the weights you use will twist the line using a spinning reel. The weight may have a swivel imbedded to help but the drop shot soft plastic doesn’t let the line to the reel untwist, lets the weight roll. I believe the Slip Shot rig out performs casting and dragging a drop shot rig. Suggest choosing a bottom contact rod with the power for 1/2 oz nominal weight with XFast action. NRX+ Inshore 843S has the specs that work. Tom

Knife edge hooks like Owner and Tokar anglers exaggerate the hook damage. Gamakatsu are excellent hooks with a low profile barb and anglers complained the bass could through the hook easy. It’s BS imo. Both EagleClaw and Mustad owned the bass fish hook market with marginal hooks until the Japanese Gamakatsu, Owner changed the hook performance for the better. Eagle Claw’s Tokar is an effort to recover a lost market. Tom

How do you know bass don’t see blue? ask them! Tom

One solution is use small snaps like size 1 Owner Hyper weld and change lures quickly. The small snaps are very strong and light weight that don’t change the lure action, in fact improves the action on most minnow/jig, crank baits and spoons. Rods with the same line and similar power/action you only 1 in lieu of 3 or 4. I know it’s not copacetic for bass fishing but fishing outside school bass fishing is new to the majority of anglers. Instarted using size 2 Hyper Weld snaps a few year ago for crank baits and a back seater use the size 1 for jerk baits, walking dog surface lures, small swim jigs etc., save carrying more then 3 or 4 rod combos. Tom PS, the Pro Hyper weld snaps are black.

Black and red is the go to color jig on the San Joaquin (California) Delta. When I said orange it’s orange peel color and works great for Calico (salt water) bass, can’t catch a cold for fresh water bass! Tom

The ordinal photo shows the purple near the skirt tail end looking closely. Still don’t consider those skirts PB&J, looks good to me though! Tom

The right side jig is black living rubber with silicone black copper flake, nothing except black pb&j about that jig. if the bass where you fish don’t strike those try something else. Tom Very few colors don’t work for me, possibly orange. Tom

No Texas or Florida lakes is strange. 2 of the top 10 Bassmaster 100 are included; Santee Copper and St Lawrence River. As far as Bassmaster coming west it’s not the quality of the fishing the west coast doesn’t turn out an audience to support their events. Tom

The bait casting reel drag is a mechanical clutch designed to slip to prevent breaking line or the rod. The Belleville washer is conical shape with the outside diameter face down or using 2 conical washer one is face down the other face up so they don’t nest. If you flatten out a conical washer it can turn inside out or loose its temper and remain a flat washer. If you lock down the drag so the clutch doesn’t slip you can damage the disk and washers. You pay money to have a state of the art drag system that slips evenly throughout the pressure applied. You want to spool the spool from spinning clamp your thumb down on the spool. Bass don’t run very far or fast, the will turn under pressure, it’s their nature to make fast turns, very difficult to over power a big bass with MH or H bass rods. Loosening the drag increases the mechanism functional life to operate smoothly. Replacing drag disk isn’t expensive just a few dollars from Smooth Drags and if you lock down your drag suggest changing the disk annually. A MH bass rod bottoms out about 5 lbs drag force, 7 lbs for Heavy bass rods no reason the lock down your drags. Tom

Without a model to copy it’s a guess bye golly issue. Being from Arizona the color you described could be Mojave smoke with red flake jig popular back in the day. Tom

1st try backing your trailer down a foot or so until the boat just begins to float then snug up to the front roller. When you pull the trailer out check to see if still tilted. If it is the back roller on the tilted side needs to be lower until level. As noted above the center rollers shouldn’t be holding up the boat. Sometime your wench stand has moved forward, check where the rear roller is under the stern, should be just under the rear. Aluminum boats are forgiving regarding hooks in bottom, but bunks are safer to use in that regard. Also the extra wide roller attachment is well worth it. Tom

When I was a youngster working with my older brother on a boat landing dragon fly nymphs ( Darner) would climb on the side wooden docks and catch them to sell for bait. Everything eats Darner nymphs that were about 1 3/4” to 2” long. Trout anglers were my best customers. I put the nymphs is wet moss in a discarded meal worm container customer discarded in the rental boats. Paid for my bass plugs with the nymph sales. If you have big dragon flies you have Darner nymphs, they live around wett wood or under rocks, look like today’s Ned worm with legs. Tom

The advantage of braid with weightless Senko’s is the braid floats and acts as a strike indicator, plus it cuts through milfoil. FC line sinks and will be invisible to see as a strike indicator. It’s my personal belief bass anglers in general use line far stronger than needed to control bass to land them. 10 lb or 12 lb mono line floats and strong enough to control any bass you will hook. Suggest using a line color you can see easily using Senko’s. Tom

Thanks👍 Surf fishing we use a dropper rig.

Caught my 2nd biggest giant bass using a tuned 4500C reel w/10 lb Trilene XT mono line 7/16 oz hair jig after casting over 120’ ; 18.6 lbs at lake Casitas back in 1981. All we did to tune the reels was polish the gears, level wind and pawl and use light reel oils. Tom PS, the OP’s reel looks new out of box!

The round Ambassador reels were they go to bass reel for decades before Lew’s low profile BB1 hit the market. The 5 series number Ambassador 2500C, 4500C and 5500C, are right hand push button spool release, the 6 series thumb bar release. They were heavy compared to today low profile reels but had star drag and free spool and can be tuned to cast long distance with smaller lures using the 2500C reels. The level wind doesn’t disengage on the original Ambassadors and built by Swiss before 2000 vintage, excellent reels! The OP’s reel appears to be post 2000 vintage based on the Shimano handle design. Tom

Suggest starting with BR Flea Market forum. Tom

Sand flea? Is that the same we call sand crabs in the west coast? California has strict regional laws for harvesting live bait for fresh water fishing, need to check your specific regulations. Transporting live bait or game fish is illegal. Using a cast net is illegal for fresh water fish. Generally you can use up to a 40” diameter dip net to catch live Shad to be used in the lake they were netted. Bluegill are allowed in the Colorado River for Catfish bait, no where else. Crawdads can be used where caught, not transported. No restrictions on worms including night crawlers. Very few or no live bait shops in business today for bass fishing use. Tom PS, the Quagga and now Golden mussel infestation killed the fresh water live bait business in California.