WRB-2.0

No cancer what a relief get well soon. Tom

Make sure the line is going through the guide ring not frame. Tom

8 to 10’ something is seriously wrong! 1) make sure the line is threaded through each guide ring and not the guide frame. 2) make sure the bail is open all the way and line comes off the with ease. 3) unwind all the line onto another reel so the spool is empty. Determine what line you used ie; diameter or pound test. 4) Respool using line under .010 diameter until it spool is filled about 1/8 to 1/16 from the rim. Spooling line use a pencil for an axle and make sure the line comes off the bottom of the filler spool. Run the line through a folded wet towel to maintain correct tension on the when spooling. Problem should be solved. Tom

Siebert Outdoors our site sponsor makes custom and OTC jig of every type you could possibly want. Tom

Feb 1995, pages 144-147, easy to email a copy. Tom

St Louis MO DNR requires lakes to be stocked with Green Sunfish for bass forage. Everyone talks about Bluegill as bass forage but they are too spiny to swallow whereas green sunfish are preferred prey fish for LMB. This is why green pumpkin color is popular it’s close to green sunfish coloration. Berkley Chigger craw green pumpkin black flake is a good jig trailer for this reason, plus it swims like a fish. Tom

I wrote a In-Fisherman article “Horizontal Jigging” that details how to fish jigs for your PB bass. PM your email and will send you a copy. Tom

When discussing PB size bass or true giants the biggest bass in the lake are outliers. These rare bass don’t follow what the majority do, march to their own drummer so to speak. What they in common to other big bass is the need to eat prey efficiently without wasting energy chasing prey. Location is everything followed by timing. No short cuts just a lot of time on the water. Don’t over look your own intuition! During my engineering career solved lots of problems showering somehow the warm water stimulated my thought process. Also dreaming during sleep your subconscious mind is working overtime to solve problems. I have had dreams that were vivid that showed me where giant would be located the next morning. Waiting in line for the lake to open looking at the lake from an overlook a spot comes to mind factoring in everything in front of you. Sometimes it worked! Tom

Knowledge of big bass pre spawn habits takes time studying and reading. Where I fish the lakes are man made highland or hill land type reservoirs that spent a lifetime fishing. Pre Spawn starts after the bass leave thier winter holding areas as the core temps start to warm activating the need to spawn. Females are the biggest bass and my target to catch. Male bass leave the females earlier to stakeout bed sites. The areas where pre spawn bass group are called staging and located where prey source is abundant but not far from the spawning areas. Think major points and secondary points as starting places. Tom PS, read Bill Murphy’s book In Pursuit of Giant Bass. Tom

Depends on the anglers ability to promote products. Speaking at trade shows paid travel expenses and tournament entry fees etc , it’s a full time job with lots of pressure to succeed. Tom

Praying 🙏🏻 for you be Tommy. Tom

Support from sponsors is essential along with the ability to promote the products. Fully rigged boats are part of a good sponsor package. Support from the family is also very important. It’s a tough life getting a good reputation to attract sponsorship without it very few can survive the out of pocket expenses! Tom

Welcome back to bass fishing and BR. Remember happy wife happy life👍 Tom

Fishing blind by hoping bass will be where think looks good is a crap shoot. Take some and check out a good map with 1’ elevation if possible. Determine what the seasonal period is the bass are on not what month it is! Survey the marina you launch the boat at and look at water color and temperature, depth any bait fish or bass are at. Now look at the map again after factoring in the information in front of you and go to the high percentage areas based on seasonal period. The easiest seasonal period is the spawn bass are always located is wind protected areas in water between 2’ to 6’ back of coves etc. When water temps are warming from 60 degrees to around 65 degrees. If the water is still colder from the winter period less than 50 degrees the will not be in spawn cycle. Above 55 to 58 degrees warming the bass are pre spawn and located in staging areas deeper water adjacent to moving into spawning areas. You can determine all this in the marina and the maps before deciding where to start fishing. Water during the summer warm water period or post spawn the bass can be everywhere with a wide variety of prey to eat. You start near the pre spawn major points and work into creek arms looking for ambush zones and cove. Fall go further back into creek arms looking for schooled bait fish. That is how I fish all highland and boil land bass lakes. Sonar is you friend use it! Tom

When comparing Fluorocarbon lines look at the diameter per pound test. Seagar and Sunline are identical vs most other being 10% to 20% larger diameter to achieve equal knot strength. Very important the line diameters are equal to determine casting and strength performance! Best value IMO is Sunline Sniper and best overall performance Seagar Tatsu and Sunline Shooter, also higher price. Tom

DC voltage drops significantly if the wire size is too small due to resistance. AC voltage not affected as much. Always used 6 gage wire for the battery to TM for decades SOP. surprised the Bass boat doesn’t have 6 gage primary TM wire from batteries to the bow. Tom

Absolutely correct about power / action ratings between rod mfrs, no standard it’s personal preference. Today I use Major Craft Iovino Splash-It 6’8” MF casting rod for all my utility top water lures, lt T-rigs, square bills and medium divers between 1/4 - 1/2 oz. Suggest looking at MF top water rods they seem to have fast flexible tips and cast the 1/4-1/2 oz lures with ease and enough flex / bounce to feel lure movement well. Tom

If you want casting distance with medium size swimbaits save yourself a lot of time and anguish get a swimbait rod designed for this purpose. I used IROD IRG 783SB successfully for years fishing 1 1/2- 2 1/4 oz swimbaits. Tried Okuma GS swimbait rods before changing to the specific IROD above. Today it’s a gen 111 $150. Tom

You shouldn’t hose off your reels with water pressure, spray is all that is needed. Ideally spray rinse with distilled water and spray with WD-40 it’s a water displacement that helps to prevent corrosion. Wipe dry with a clean cloth done. Same treatment with your rod guides and reel seat. In reference to Shimano Calcutta reels they are made for salt water use but the above cleaning prevent corrosion to any damaged or bare aluminum surfaces. Tom

I would bench shoot a box of ammo getting ready for hunting season in the 70’s. Looks like the Creedmore and .26 Nosler has taken over the 6.5mm hunting popularity for flat trajectory and killing power for Deer to Elk. Agree the .270 win is a good all around choice. Tom

I had 2 rifles for hunting big game is the USA. .264 Win Mag and .300 Win Mag. The .264 was flatter shooting for must all shooting and the .300 for long range with more knock power or bigger animals. Don’t know why the .264 disappeared? It was very accurate with more power* then .270, perfect for our western mule deer. Down side of the .300 win was recoil, kill anything in North America. Tom *130 gr velocity was faster at 200 yard then .270 at muzzle. 165 gr .300 win velocity was faster at 200 yds the 30-06 at muzzle. Both sighted 1” high at 100 yards only dropped 3” or 2” below the bullseye at 300 yards. Put the cross hairs On the kill spot done no guessing. Tom

You cast the 1 1/4 oz 6” swimbaits being discussed with MHF rod but setting the hook into a basses mouth full of soft plastic is questionable. The line thru Cull Shad is your best choice. If you need weedless then the 6” Cull Shad w/ Owner Beast hook 1/4 oz, 6/0. suggest buying both. Tom

Dobyns DX742CSGHD 7’4” M/F, 3/16-5/8 oz. Look for sales at ALF. Tom

The hook is perpendicular to the twin tail like rigging a jig hook but wacky rigged using a o-ring and nail weight inserted into the flat skirt nose end. Also C-rigged with off set 3/0 hook. Tom

Good information👍