WRB-2.0

The land of sky blue waters is where bugs live. SoCal very bugs to bother you at night the few we have don’t bite. Very few opportunities to fish at night 🤬 Tom

Look at a few to determine health, hook damage and what the bass is eating looking down its throat and odor. If the are beat up in that area move and look for another area less pressured Tom

When constructed the lakes you would have thought a aeration system would been part of planning. Tom

Add a size 14 treble hook stinger using mono line tied to the jig head eye. I would consider cutting off the jig hook at the bend and rely on the stinger hook. Tom

Healthy looking bass👍 Tom

You learn to set and trust your reels drag when fishing for powerful off shore big game fish. I am a believer in accurately setting my drag in the advent a bass makes a last second turn nothing breaks. I am right handed caster that changes over to my left hand holding the rod during retrieving lures, fighting bass and landing them using my right hand for the net or hand landing bass. My rods have a foregrip and I use it to hold the rod when landing bass. Sometimes with 8’ swimbait rods may slide my hand up the rod blank hand landing big bass. Tom

Back in the day we had Sportsman Shows that featured exhibition casters with various types of rods and reels. These men and women were amazing skilled casters performing tricks beyond imagination with precision accuracy. Jason Lucas was not only fishing editor for Sports Afield magazine, expert bass angler and author Jay was a professional exhibition caster. Todays pro bass anglers are skilled casters but not in the class of exhibition casters. Watch Dean Rojas casting frogs very skilled caster. Tom

For the sake of history Rebel Ring worm wasn’t the 1st “ring” worm but best known brand. My In-Fisherman article A Rare Chance for a World Record Jan 1985* on page 7 there is a photo of the Action worm dates back into the early 1970. Very complex tooling with rings and loops to trace air and sound. The Action worm is lost in the mist of history. Tom * anyone interested in the article PM your email to send to

Not a fan of casting a drop shot rig more then 30’, prefer the slip shot when casting over 30’. Lengthen the hook to weight length to about 24” I lieu of 8”-12”. 4.8 Flick Shake worm (watermelon candy) wacky hooked works good when cast horizontal on a drop shot. Tom

I was an alternate on the 1960 men’s gymnastics team until a car accident ended that. Back then you couldn’t earn more then $25 in any sport and be considered amateur athlete. US Gymnasts had to compete in 6 events no exceptions so teams were made up with average skilled based on all around score, not the best in any 1 or 2 events like todays teams. Pro’s playing team sports like basketball ruins the games imo, so watch only Olympic events with amateur athletes. Tom

Frank Pasalich 858/395.0198 50 ea custom colors @ $15. He also makes custom Reapers. Tom

US Bait Co makes Screamers is custom colors…stash found! Tom

Flutter Craft (now US Bait Co) Screamers are 3 1/2 “ ribbon tail but never where packaged with salt. Tom

Sluggo makes an excellent Scrounger trailer. Make sure you rig the Sluggo straight on the hook shank with fully exposed hook. Properly rigged the Scrounger/Sluggo should run with a tight wiggle not a whobble. Tom

Tying the San Diego Jam knot is easy if you add weight to a single hook. I use a cloths pin but any weight works to hold the hook down while making the downward wraps. I just hold the double line between my finger tips and swing the weighted hook or lure while wrapping the tag end down about 6 turns. The tag end goes though the open loop near the hook or lure eye then up through the loop by your finger tips, pull the end snag then the main line to slide the jam knot tight. Very simple and quick during fishing conditions. Palomar knot avoid twisting the open loop end when putting the hook through it. I snug the overhand loop before putting the hook though the wet the loop before pulling the tag end tight. You can use the tag end for drop shot weight if applicable. I use both knots for mono, copoly and FC lines. Tom

We tend to focus on knot strength as the important factor selecting line. There are other factors to consider not a obvious but very important; impact strength and abrasion resistance. Back in the 90’ Tectan mono a German line was becoming popular and I gave it try. Had good success fish during the day time making long cast catching jig. A friend invited me to partner for a night tournament. The 1st stop I broke off 3 big bass on the hook set using Tectan the problem was making shorter cast at night the line broke due to poor impact strength. I didn’t have any spare line and Joe only had 8 lb P-Line CXX so changed out the 17 lb Tectan to 8 lb CXX and no break offs all night. Sometimes we learn lessons the hard way. Tom

That is probably the comprehensive list of knot BS ever put together. Most important factor for line strength is diameter of the line rested and rate of applied force both missing and optimized by Berkley. If fluorocarbon line was anywhere near 100% knot strength only a few knots would be in use; clinch knot, Palomar knot and blood knot for leaders. FC line knots list is long more then anyone can remember! Tom

Yo-Zuri Hybrid 12# line is .013D vs the Top Knot .011D. If you break off Hybrid and not Top Knot there is something seriously wrong with the Fish n Fools knot basically a Uni Knot. A simple Palomar knot is stronger and more reliable easy knot to tie. set your drag at 4 lbs more then enough force for MH bass rods. Tom

The Daiwa reel you found is a good deal and reel. Compare resale value. Now find yourself a good rod👍 Tom

The bottle isn’t a spray it drops droplets onto the spooked line soaking the line. The solutions wets the line and stress relieved the tension by allowing the line to stay on the spool and not spring off. essential. For spinning reels and also for FC on casting reels. Mono line naturally wets unlike FC line that doesn’t. Wet line stays on the spool without spring off during the cast, especially important in hot days. KVD must be applied at least a day in advance whereas Tangke Free can be applied seconds in advance. Tom

Left hand reel don’t know if that is what you need? Tom

Tying hooks or lures? I haven’t used the clinch knot, improved clinch knot, Trilene knot decades. 20 lb Big Game is .018D. Live bait hook suggest the Perfection loop knot. Snap or swivel clips, hooks Palomar knot. Lures San Diego Jam knot. Tom

I have been using Tangle Free line conditioner for decades on mono, copoly and FC line. KVD isn’t formulated for mono, it’s designed to wet FC line. Tangle Free is now owned by DHT who bought Punisher. The 2 oz plastic bottle is convenient to put in your pocket and apply as needed a few times each outing. Tom

Look close out sales on Tackle Warehouse rods and reels that originally in $100+ price range you can put together a decent combo for $150. Take a look and let us know you found. American Legacy Fishing also sells discounted rods and reels plus offers 10% discount. Tom

Live bait trophy bass anglers double anchor for hours on known* big bass spots and wait until the bass become active feeders. I preferred making a milk run on several known* big bass spots rather be mobile then anchored down. The advantage of the anchored boat the bass are not alarmed by an approaching boat. My technique was to approach along the shore in lieu from mid lake to reduce spooking the bass plus making long casts. I would spend enough time to determine if anyone was home and return when they were. 28 casts to specific structure elements isn’t unusual targeting big bass. Tom