WRB-2.0

When I was in Cabo picked up a hoody made by Sport-Tek at Minera’s Baja Tackle. Didn’t know of this brand and it’s exceptional SPF very light cool in hit tropical sun. Tom

The wooden Sammy I have is Balsa wood in Shad color pearl white with silver-gray back. The Balsa wood is very lively lure that is easy to work. Not much of a fan of the plastic models because they don’t attract strikes from bigger bass like the wooden does. Tom

The rarest car I owned was a ‘70 Camero RS Z28 w Z1 corvette fuel injected 370 hp engine, factory SST headers and flared aluminum fenders. They made 70 of these and wish I still had it! Met my current wife when I owned this car. It was the classic blues w/black, nag wheels, 4 speed Muncie, etc. Tom

Jigs; 7/16 iz hair jig, Puff Ball jig, 1/8 dart. Flashy Swimer. Soft plastics; finesse Roboworms, Flutter Craft screamers and Reapers, 5” Senko’s, Yamamoto Hula grubs and Twin Tail jig trailers, Jackall Flick Sake 4.8 worms. Kietech Fat swimmers. Hard lures; Custom 7A ghost, Zoner Hunter, Megabass medium diver (?), LC Pointer 98, Wooden Sammy, Micheal popper, Structure spoons / feathered trebles. Buzz bait. These allow me to target surface to the bottom while back seating, Tom

It’s your boat making you the captain giving you the last word. Consider offering a diving plane like Deep Six. Tom

Ultimate Angler announced no FFS world championship bass tournament at lake Guntersville Oct 5-11, 2025 Tom

1. Getting up at 0’ dark 30 and stretching to get my old bones ready to fish. 2. Arriving at the lake in the dark and 100 other bass boats are already in line. 3. Waiting in line for the lake to open and the wind picks up closing the lake. 4. Going to my favorite spot at sunrise to fine a guide boat catching bass on live bait. Our lakes are public and small but it bothers me to see a good spot get creamed by a guide. 5. Getting old and Selling my boat and depending on others to go bass fishing. Tom

I built my 1st car from a 49 Chevy that cost me $25. My neighbor was a hot rodder and knew what would work so we went around to junk yards looking for a ‘51 Caddy engine, 39’ La Salle stick transmission that bolted onto the caddy V8. He wanted a 4:11 rear differential and axle assembly from 56 Pontiac snd dual quads from 56 Eldesdo ut was nearer to 1959 when we put this car together. My 1st hot rod I named Mr. Magu. Fast cars were my thing back in high school and ended up driving A fuel alters up to A fuel dragsters until the late 60’s When my wife retired from teaching in 2005 she wanted a Porsche 911 until we couldn’t get out it! We settled on a MB C55 AMG and still have that car. Very fast street car faster then old iron. Tom

Standard round and sproat bend hooks are fairly consistent to chart sizes. Extra Wide gap no standard exist. Barlows has good data regarding sizes and wire diameter but it’s a crap shoot between Mfr’s. Tom

ALF (American Legacy/Fishing) has sales on rods & reels offering discount to new buyers. Dobyns offers sakes pricing for refurbished rods. Reels are a lot easier to ship then rods. I would avoid anything Abu Garcia offers in the budget price range. Also suggest you up your budget and buy fewer rods and reels, your time on the water is priceless. Tom

Search Digitaka or Japanese Tackle Tom

If you know what you are looking for Japan suppliers have some exceptional discounts on both rods and reels. There is threads on BR suggestion reliable suppliers. The BR Flea Market forum is a good source to find both rods and reels. Major Craft offers good quality rods. Tom

Don Iovino made Little Sluggers 3 1/2 but no longer making any soft plastics. You may be able to find them on eBay. Tom

The difference between a Stradic 3000 and Vanford 2500 regarding casting distance is marginal imo. IPT is faster with the 3000 and significantly heavier reel compared to Vanford. 7’ MF spinning rod should be able to cast 1/8 soft plastics without too much effort. Tom

It seems obvious that a bait casting combo would be preferred but there are other factors to consider using a spinning combo. The 1st consideration is line and lure size. Bass anglers use spinning primarily for line under .010D with 2500/3000 size reels and lures weighing less then 1/2 oz., with medium power rods. However. If the spinning reel is larger 5000/6000 size that can accommodate line .016D and lures over 1 1/2 oz and MH+ power rod, that changes the debate. The late Bill Murphy “In Pursuit of Giant Bass” often used a custom spinning rod with Cardinal 6 rear drag spinning reel and 15 lb mono line using unweighted live bait like crawdads or stitching plastic worms. The answer is match the tackle to the goal of catching giant bass. Tom

You can back the boat into the slip and tie down using 4 ropes bow and stern with large bumpers fastened to the slip sides. The tie downs need enough slack to prevent ripping the cleats out yet prevent hitting the slip sides. 3-4’ waves makes this very difficult. 3/8 rope is too small use 1/2” or 3/4”, if a tie breaks you screwed. Calling your lake patrol is the best bet! Good luck getting rid of the lake lice. Tom

Big difference between Daiwa Tatula 70 and Shimano SLX 70 spool width and line capacity. The Daiwa T Wing takes up space narrowing the spool compared to Shimano. Something to consider. Tom

Agree line should evaluated by it’s diameter! Suggest looking the definition of thickness vs diameter my pet peeve. Line is round and measured by its diameter. A sheet of paper is flat and measured by it’s thickness. Off my soap box. Good article and a factor to consider when selecting lures for various presentation. Tom

Line stretches when force exceeds its yield strength and nearly all single filament fishing line has between 30% to 35% yield to it’s tensile strength. You are correct it takes about 3 1/2 lbs to reach the yield strength of 10# single filament including Nylon, Nylon blends or copolymers and fluorocarbon. So set your reel drag at 1/3 the line tensile Strength you will experience very little no line stretch. Coefficient of drag going through water is higher with Nylon line then Fluorocarbon line plus Nylon is lighter weight and tends to float whereas fluorocarbon is heavier and tend to sink. Mono then has a convex upward bow in the between the rod tip when lures sink or dive. FC line has the opposite concave downward bow but still a bow. To experience the force of line drag cutting through water run just the line without a lure about 100’ behind your boat at the fast walking speed then make a slow side turn so the line in the wake tried to straighten the bow out created by the turn. Going straight you have pressure on the rod bending it. Making the turn the pressure increases because the line is to cutting through more water. Do the same with FC the pressure is less because the coefficient of drag is less. What you feel as stretch is the bow straightening out. Fishing for very fast swimming fish they create a big bow in fact you have your drag set and the fish pulling off line running a different direction then line is coming off the bent rod. This common with very fast fish. bass are not fast straight line swimmers and tend to change direction but still fast enough to create line bow underwater, as you put more force on the fish the straightens out. If you exceed the line yield strength starts to stretch until it reaches it’s ultimate strength and fails. Nylon mono is more elastic then FC therefore doesn’t yield and stay stretched FC doesn’t recover from yielding stays stretched and weakened. Test where force is applied over minutes all single filament line will yield from time over force or cold flow as all plastics do this unless reinforced with high strength fibers. Totally confused? Try tying 10’ if mono line to an infinite mass that doesn’t move. Apply pressure with a scale until you feel the line stretch getting longer the 10’. The force will be about 30%/35% of the line strength. No lure can create that force. Tom

This is a 4 year old thread the OP hasn’t replied.

Disagree on everything stated about stretch. The perception that mono/copoly/FC lines stretch under 1/3rd the line strength occurs from line drag going through water the line isn’t getting any longer! Braid has zero vibration feed back when slack, visual movement you can see. If you want to take pulling force off braid to leader knot use long enough leader so it goes onto the reel spool when the bass is reachable, about 15’. Tom

I used Big Game for 30+ years and caught 4 of my 5 giant bass listed on 10# & 12#. The only exception was my 1st giant 18.6 lb was using Trilene 12 # XT, so yes BG is good mono. Replaced BG with Armilo when using $$$ swimbait with 25.# /.016D Armilo and never broke off a swimbiat. I use 11%/ .011D Armilo for crank baits, top water etc, excellent casting line👍 Tom

Wrong Armilo is smaller dia and very consistent size throughout the spool of line with exceptional knot strength. Tom

It ‘s your hook set not moving the hook! Tom

Plain jigs: Santone weedless football is compact uses Gamakatsu hook or Dobyns standard length / Gamakatsu #604 hook. Both 3/0 in 1/2 oz. Dressed or plain jig @ TW Tom PS, 1/2oz isn’t finesse to me. Tom