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Beat me to it. I have a couple of reel/rod combos that do that, and painter's tape is what I use, works great.

Oh good, maybe you might know, how much would one weigh that's about an inch longer and an inch wider?

Say it isn't so. Striped bass are the dumbest things that swim, besides you missed the boat. The late 90s to mid 2000s spoiled all the "rock" crowd. Guys without a clue were catching 50 and even 60 lb fish, or hundreds of fish per trip.

You might want to get to the airport early next time you are flying out of Norfolk. One of my VA over 10s came not too far from the South West terminal... ps: How is that rinky dink airfield an International Airport.

If they are the USA made ones, I'd be interested din the worm ones.

Bend and spin up some rooster tail type ones too. If you are just making a few for yourself, a round nose (or half round nose) pliers is all you need. If you plan to make a bunch, have OCD, or just like to play with tackle, The Twist Tech, and Cabelas are nice.

The 4 1/2 sluggo was one of my go to baits in up state NY. I threw it on 8 lb mono spinning. I'd cast it or pitched it all over the place. It shines in shallower water, as it sinks slower than the newer soft jerkbaits. I think it fell out of favor because it doesn't cast as well as some other similar baits. The striper guys started "eel rigging" the larger ones almost immediately, and they work great. It even spawned baits like Hogy, RonZ and others. I still have a bunch of the US made 2/0 "sluggo hooks" I use for a bunch of plastics. I like casting and let it sink, or a jerkbait retieve with long pauses.

Don't believe everything you read Springsteen. Shouldn't you be blackfishing? need crabs? Seriously, Yes bass can be caught during the winter. I like to fish a slow but erratic bait, rather than let baits soak, cause, well, its cold out. If Im fishing plastic (which I don't often), its going to be a do nothing plastic on a jighead. I'm still a fan of the scrub grub and similar baits, though you will "read" Ned is the only way to go right now. Baits is easy and short. Blade bait, jerkbait, inline spinner (or an underspin), lipless, square bill, and the aforementioned plastic. You want to either have some located fish, or go with someone who is experienced fishing the local water during the winter. It can be difficult to stay motivated without bites in the cold. On a plus side, in NJ, a pickerel (or even pike) might warm you up every so often. The trick is to catch a few, so that you develop confidence on the conditions and the baits.

Agreed, no need to repeat yourself. But that turpor (triple word score) in my experience happens at lower temps than the h2o usually gets to at this latitude for more than a couple of weeks (most years), I'd say 38º F ish. Exibit A, the guy above jerking aggressively and catching. Brother went ice fishing with some Eastern European "everything dies" types last winter in upstate New York, he sent me pictures of a wheelbarrow of 3-6 lb bass along with the pike and perch one would expect.

You normally need to travel to DE and attend Bass Community College to see such silliness.

All y'all from KY, TN, PA and other hicksvilles complaining about high taxes are in for a rude awakening if/when you move to a real high tax state/area. I grew up in NYC, so with just a couple of exceptions, everywhere seems cheap to me. There is a reason why the boonies are the boonies. The Taxachussetts guy does have a valid point though.

I use mono with braid when using treble lures, or when I fish around snakeheads and pickerel. Big Game or Ande. Bass aren't line shy, I routinely catch them in clear water with 20-40 lb leader. YMMV (but it won't)

I hate it when they scream the metric system...

If you're a mongoose, I just did the experiment, I get .20 to .60

The "gripe and frustration" is all of your doing. You are either doing this as a hobby, and hence it will costs you money (as it has), or its a business, and then ALL your decisions should be made based on making $, and never the twain shall meet. But what do I know, I've only been doing sporting goods for almost 4 decades...

I thought the same thing, something about (landing) net neutrality.... [would post picture of a gaff for effect if I could]

I think the hookset on some presentations, particularly moving baits does not involve a conscious decision once someone has fished for a while, much like playing a guitar, you just strum g. and, if hookset reaction time was the required skill to land fish, hockey goalies would own the AOY awards.

No, he uses it because he has OCD.

"Let me show you this reel, I had it made custom, all the settings go to 11. You know, maybe you are casting and casting, and with a regular reel, if you go to 10, then what?...This one goes to 11..."

Most fish and other organisms rely on the "start with insanely large numbers of embryos/larvae" as a strategy to ensure enough survival to perpetuate the species. This is not necessarily an indication of how many individuals of the largest specimens to be expected are around. It does make these older ones by virtue of the strategy less abundant, but in many cases, they reach threshold sizes or gates, where mortality decreases drastically in steps rather than linearly. Yes on the DD club.

Youtube is a viable option. It's really not too different than other mediums of outdoors presentation. Its still in its infancy, and most are individual or cottage enterprises, but it will surely evolve into something more substantial. It requires more time and effort than readily apparent to most viewers, but so do most things. Professional bass angler is not a good career choice for the vast majority.

So you were out yesterday loving life? I almost went, but bailed. The bite's been good.

I don't know who made them, but back in the late 60s, early 70s a Salty Dog was the lure of choice for weakfish (grey sea trout) in NY/NJ. It was basically a white sassy shad with a pink tail on a lead jig head. When the run was on, we'd catch a bunch of good ones each tide.

I don't know the size of "actual temperature", but I guess we could get into some laws of thermodynamics, take it to quantum, and then any nonsensical thing goes , and yes ambient temperature of course affects the metabolism of cold blooded organisms. Not disputing that, nor am I suggesting that bass will be more active at lower temperatures than their preferred range. It's exactly the response to the lowering temperatures during a short span of time in late fall and early winter that causes all the "is it time to hang it up" threads from folks doing the same things expecting similar results this time of year. Now once the water temperature ceases (or more precisely dramatically decreases its rate) to lower, then the fish will adopt a new "normal" of (decreased) activity, which will then be influenced positively by increases in temperature which will be dictated by spans of warmer weather if present. Of course all of this is further influenced by the size, depth, orientation and latitude of the body of water in question. There is a temperature where the metabolism of most fish will decrease to a level where they will enter a state of dormancy, but that is rarely reached in most places where you find bass. So what I am saying is that if I am fishing say 45º F water, its not because I think its a better idea than fishing in 60º-80º F water, I'm fishing in 45º F water because that is what is in front of me, and once faced with that fact It is more important whether the water was warmer or colder previously to that. I get the feeling we are looking at the same thing from a different perspective.

Yeah, I do it with the hook sandwiched between two stoppers so it sticks straight out. I do tie a uni under the bottom stop, I just don't like the idea of the hook slipping down , even though in most cases it wouldn't matter. a