WRB-2.0

I don’t consider a Stradic 1000 a UL reel, size 750 or 500. Fits this purpose. Line diameter .0040/ .0070 like Sunline Super Natural 4 lb. is .006 D Tom

Celebrate 🇺🇸the 4th of July, be safe! Tom

If you nose hook meaning the hook goes through the nose of the worm. Aaron Marten rigged a nose hook by inserting the hook point so it protruded slightly out the top of the worm nose. What you do is Tex-pose the short drop shot hook and that allows the with to fill the hook gap with plastic. Owner Down shot hook # 5133 size 2:0 for Roboworm works very good for weedless skin hooked soft plastics. You can could use this hook and expose the hook point. The standard “nose” hook using a size 1 Gamakatsu or Owner Mosqiuto hook works good. Tom

How do you rig the Roboworms? Nose hook or weedless hooked?? Tom

It’s a lot easier today to validate a catch then it was decades ago.Smart phones take excellent photos and digital scales are small and accurate. Being prepared helps a good deal. Read the IGFA rules, have a application form handy, a tape measure and certify your scale. IGFA just opened 2 new bass species for record consideration; Florida strain LMB and Alabama strain Spotted Bass for line classes. Tom

If you plan to fish alone in a small Jon boat make sure someone knows where you are and when you plan to return. Everything is different at night because your vision is poor eye dilated wide open reducing your depth of field, can’t judge distance. Cap light is good, white light draws bugs. Small flash light is helpful and legal running lights are a must. I tape a small flash light to my net handle to help land bass. Lures that don’t snag like T/rigged soft plastic worms and jigs are a go to at night. Try to keep rods to 2 so it’s uncluttered. Good Luck, Tom

Watermelon red flake was the color before green pumpkin. Out west greens were not popular until the hand pour green weenie became the go to color. Green weenie was what is now called watermelon with a cinnamon brown belly plus various flake colors. Green Weenie with black and blue flake is still a killer color when bass are targeting Bluegills. Tom

Don’t know about Zoom but Jackall Flip Shake 4.8 watermelon candy wacky rigged is a go to for me. Tom

Mono line is such crap that every top 25 LMB and my top 5 giant bass was caught using it! Tom

Float ‘n Fly. Tom

Common problem with wet cell deep cycle batteries, they require maintenance! The water is simply distilled nothing special. If the top of the plates are dry and exposed the battery is toast. Flow-Rite Controls has a good watering system. Simple filler rubber bulb made for this purpose works if you access the fill caps. Next battery should a AGM with zero maintenance. Tom

Best; Going bass fishing Worst; Not not going bass fishing Generally have an intuition where bass are located and catching them. I like using everything after trying jigs 1st. Fishing fast with crank baits is a last minute choice and kick myself for not trying sooner. Tom

Do you use braid or mono line? Depending on the reel mfr the difference between 2500 and 300 is line capacity only, a few the 3000 has slightly larger spool diameter. Larger diameter spool handles slightly larger line diameter. Line capacity is rarely a factor with bass fishing, Are the rods freshwater or inshore salt water? Make and models both rods and reels is helpful, Welcome to fresh water bass fishing! Tom

The advantage if a longer frog rod is keeping more line off the water and still be able to cast accurately plus work the frog. A moderate action rod cast lures easier. Hook setting at a distance using the rod only doesn’t move as much line as using the reel, combine both for solid hook sets. Tom

Heat above 105 f below freezing and UV affects mono line. If any line has damage from abrasion it should changed. I always liked to spool fresh line when tournament fishing or targeting big bass. Tom

Vibrations generated underwater travel fast and far, above water totally different story vibration/sound doesn’t travel unless can move water. Tom

Simple method to resolve this question is drop a hydrophone in the water! Tom

Sound made by line going through rod guides isn’t a vibration the transfers down line that is completely dampened by water. Tom

I go to AAA for needed documents when selling a used boat. Tom

Vertical jigging in 10-15’ of water the OP is discussing isn’t targeting suspended bass at 10-15’ over 30’ of water imo. Structure spoons etc the fall down the water column through the suspended bass is vertical jigging in my book. 10-15’ of water I am casting horizontal and retrieving lures through the bass. Tom

FFS-Live scope watching a bass from a distance react to your lure isn’t any different then sight or bed fishing watching a bass react to your lure. Behavior is knowing bass are on beds spawning or up shallow cruising. Sites like BR have shared years of bass fishing knowledge educating a new generation of bass anglers. With knowledge available coupled with FFS the learning curve has been greatly reduced. My generation have learned bass behavior by decades on the observing bass under every conceivable condition. Tom

Should last a few days at 50% TM power. If you run full power you would be better off getting 55 lb 12V TM and run at 50% normal conditions and have reserve power if windy. Tom

Do you plan to use sonar unit that requires a battery? I assume the TM is your primary propulsion that is transom mounted. You inflate the boat and load it up at the lake. So the battery weight is an issue putting it into and out of the boat each trip. Lithium is 1/2 the weight of lead acid and 3X the price, it’s a budget issue. Deep cycle Lithium battery needs it’s own charger when you buy the battery. LiFePo4 50 AH deep cycle marine battery is about $120-$160 price range. Weight about 13 lbs. AGM 60 AH $160, 45 lbs. for comparison. Tom

For old timers that started bass fishing as flashers, paper graphs, LCD’s, side scans, HD, 360 scans and todays FFS- live scope know? We know bass behavior far better then today scopers and can catch bass anywhere any time! Tom

Multiple thermoclines are common in lakes with power generation. Night explains the posted screen shot with plankton layers that often clutter out the screen. Tom