WRB-2.0

55- 50 degrees is cold water. Tom

Advantage of age with decades of experience on the water and intuition to know where to cast. Disadvantage age with pain and loosing my ability to recall my experiences. Tom

Zoom spinnerbait trailer and cut to your desired length. Tom

My son I would give anything to fish with him. Tom

You are welcome to your opinion mine is different. Without the boat stern with something to prevent weather vaning in a side wind it will turn into the wind. I made a rudder to resolve this problem. Tom

No bait casting reel is backlash proof. You the operator prevents the spool from over running with proper rod and casting mechanics. The reel can only help to control the spool speed during the cast. My suggestion is start with one brand and learn to cast with this reel. IMO Shimano SLX A 70 (2024 model) with MGL spool is a good choice for everything you listed in bait casting except big swimbaits. Casting rods all around St Croix Victory VTC68MXF 6’8” medium crankbaits, top water, jerk baits. VTC72MH mod fast7’2” crank baits. VTC73MHF 7’3” fast bottom contact lures, swim jigs, etc. Spinning Shimano Vanford 2500 Rod Victory VTS68XMF 6’8” general finesse. Swimbait Shimano Cardiff 300A , Irod IQ783SB 7’8”. Line Berkley Big Game 10 lb top water and crank baits bottom contact. 15 lb Swimbit. Sunline Sniper 12lb casting, 8 lb spinning. I have been using both Daiwa and Shimano reels for decades, both are excellent. Shimano is easier to adjust for trouble free use. Tom PS, Daiwa Tatula rods with = specs.

You need to lob cast the bobber rig with about 3’ between the bobber and rod tip. This keeps the weighed end forward during the cast without tumbling. Tom

Your boat without the OB needs a rear rudder with the bow TM to keep the boat tracking straight.

Gold weedless spoons work good! Tom

30 lb Dacron braid is light weight and inexpensive backing line. Tom

I am an original B.A.S.S. Life Member and not a fan of Ray Scott! Ray’s original blind draw tournament concept was great and a game changer but to give Ray any creat for C& R is a mistake IMO. The Original limits were whatever the State regulation was, most were 15 some were 10, the 5 bass limit was do to livewell capacity. Before C& R was forced on B.A.S.S. church fish fries after the derbies was popular, Ray believed fishing couldn’t over harvest the lakes. It was public outcry that forced the change. Tom

Do you know why Orville Ball introduced Florida LMB in to San Diego CA lakes? It wasn’t to start giant LMB populations, it was to increase the average size LMB anglers caught per man hour to around 3 lbs. In this regard to the program failed, the FLMB proved to more difficult to catch dropping the fish per man rate. What did happen is history the FLMB grew bigger faster then Northern LMB in CA lakes starting the giant bass boom. Genetics matter! About the same time period C & R took off and fishing bass for food nearly stopped. Over population is a problem in smaller lakes along with over harvesting big bass that didn’t get released. Big bass need lots of high protein food to grow to become giants. This was proven beyond a doubt at lake Casitas when stocking Rainbow trout was stopped abruptly the Castias big bass population crashed because the prey was gone. Nothing else changed at Casitas but big bass that relied on a trout food starved without the planted trout. A new generation of LMB at Casitas is returning that grew up eating a variety of prey natural to the lake, not giants yet but they have the genetics we will see soon. Castiac the problem is Stripe bass accidentally introduced out competing LMB in a small environment proving the C & R theory vs prey source. Can’t see Castiac returning to produce giants until the Stripers are removed and that isn’t going to happen, I can’t see a new generation of bass anglers becoming catch and harvest any time soon! Tom

Years ago I had a small dog that would run after coyotes and get bitten before rescuing him. Several trips to the vet to his his scalp sewed back on a treat wounds. Dogs don’t know their own size until it’s too late. Coyotes usually avoid human contact but not always. Our neighbor was walking her dog on a leash when a coyote attacked the dog. Wild animals are unpredicable. Another friend had her King Charles dog picked up be a big owl and carried off while they tried to stop the owl. Coyotes conditioned to humans don’t fear us, in the wild they are very wary animals and know what a rifle is. Tom

^^^^Happy Thanksgiving RW^^^^ Tom

Urine bottles are inexpensive. Tom

A trick I do when Jig has stopped and sitting on bottom I lift the rod tip up about 45 degrees and shake the rod tip using the reel handle. The movement is a slight jiggle that put some life into the trailer and helps me slow down. Tom PS, PM your email to send a copy of Horizontal Jigging.

Today we have good lens choices, multifocal allows to see distance, intermediate and close for reading. The down side is halos on night lights. Had both done 12 years ago the choice was close or far, choose far and use readers. My vision was never as good as it was after cataract surgery. Last year developed a bubble under my right eye retina lucky to save the vision to 20-40. Enjoy your new vision, Happy Thanksgiving. Tom

Shallow Fat Rap SFR 7 SD has a wide wobble and excellent slow retrieve crank bait. Discontinued but keep your eye out for them. Tom

Can’t tell you what others are using but I use 12 lb Tatsu tied direct with a San Diego Jam knot, custom 6’10” ALX MH+F rod with 8:1 Tatula bait casting reel. I fish deep rocky structure lakes with sparse cover. 7/16 oz custom hair jig with pork rind trailers or same jig living rubber Puff Ball with Yamamoto twin tail trailer. I want the jig to stay near the bottom or on the bottom similar to slow stop and go swim jig when retrieving and falling on controlled slack after casting. Focus on strike detection most are very subtle, you can’t miss aggressive strikes. Tom

When that happens the unsuccessful angler should try a different or lure. Tom

Worked about 50% of the lakes because by the time the protocols were instituted Quagga mussels from the Colorado River water supplied lakes and before boaters were inspected for Clean & Dry the spores were already spread. Lot of finger pointing and claims water fowl were the problem. Tom

Tail spins date way back like Pedigo Spin Rite. Manns Little George was very popular back in the 80’s and his Big George plastic version worked good. The problem with tail spins was keeping bass hooked. I made a line through tail spin with a small skirt that works very good back in the 80’s. There are a few commercial line thru tails spins like Rinky Dink. In the Fall seasonal period a tail spin still works. Tom PS, have a few but misplaced the mold. PM for photo.

We have several packs of coyotes that visit our perimeter homes next to open areas. Coyotes hunt for all types of same animals and can easily jump 5’ fences with a 20 lb animal. We have golf courses that coyotes hunt every night for rabbits etc. Outdoor pets 20 lbs or less don’t last long. Big owls during the night and hawks during the also will carry off small pets. We have Bob Cats capable of killing pets larger then them. Large dogs can fight off a coyote but not a pack. The top predator is a mountain lion and we have them in our area but the big cats tend to avoid residential areas. A young mountain lion was collared near our home a year ago. Tom

Don’t need more strike detection the is good enough…. Tom

Powder coating also coats the hook eye creating a surface your line digs into clinching the knot tight weakening the line. Powder coating looks great but is harder than the lead so it chips hitting rocks. Enamel paint like Testors is functional doesn’t chip and you can keep it out of the hook eye. I only painted a few thousand jigs over 40 years using Testors, it works. Tom