Tokyo Tony

Anyone talk to RoLo? I've missed his informed posts the past six months.

I remember when I was a little kid, my brother and I went into an uncontrollable laughing fit when the waitress at a Chinese restaurant said "Pu Pu Platter". Those were the days.

I like it ;D

Nice video - looks like it was a good year

Man, that smallmouth is beautiful. Nice

Sounds like a successful day. Nice fish

You should probably see a chiropractor as soon as you can if the pain is bad enough to cause you to miss sleep. One thing you can try for now is sleeping on your back with a pillow or two under your knees. If you sleep on your side, a pillow between the thighs might help.

I know that sometimes you can throw 30 casts at a bass and get it to bite on the 30th cast, but I don't think it's because the 30th cast magically hit the "strike zone". In that case, I think you just p'd it off enough to make it hit. The articles I've read about strike zones give them a defined shape - wider directly ahead and above the fish, narrowing behind the eyes, and non-existent behind the fish. Speaking of strize zones implies that you have to get a bait within the fish's strike zone in order to catch it. How about when a fish is active, you land a senko 15 feet behind it, it turns around, swims up, and smashes it? You mean the fish's "strike zone" went 15 feet behind it? You don't have to put a bait in a fish's "strike zone" to catch it, and putting a bait in the fish's "strike zone" doesn't mean the fish will strike. That's a fact. And since that's true, what's the point of thinking in terms of these zones? We can all agree that sometimes bass are tougher to catch than at other times, and that big bass are harder to catch than small bass. Basically, we end up with the same thing at the end of the day whether or not we think of fish as having these strike zones. However, I just think it's misleading to think of bass behavior in terms of strike zones because it implies that you have to put a bait in the fish's strike zone to catch it, and if you do put the bait in that zone, that the fish will strike. I don't think that's true at all.

I don't buy the theory at all. Remember, that's what it is - a theory. A lot of people consider it the gospel. It presupposes a perspective of being able to see the bass in their environment and being able to drop baits on them, and I think trying to view bass fishing from that perspective can be counterproductive. We rarely, if ever, are able to know exactly where a bass is, and whether our bait is right in his face or two feet to his left. All we can do is make educated guesses and hope we get "lucky". (The more we practice - and learn - the luckier we get.) Further, it implies that at certain times and in certain situations, the bass all have small, large, or medium strike zones. Why can there not be some hungry fish with large strike zones and some other fish with small ones? Granted, there are times that the fish are off, and it's tough to catch them, but that doesn't mean that you have to put baits right in their faces to catch them. And it certainly doesn't mean that if you put a bait right in their "strike zone" that they'll eat it. As far as throwing many many casts to a certain piece of cover - it just doesn't seem to me that there could be a fish sitting there watching a bait go by many times, then all of a sudden as it hits the fish's "strike zone" he eats it. I think it's much more likely that a fish moved onto the cover during that time period, or that he finally got p'd off enough to eat it. In my opinion, thinking about fish as having tiny strike zones during cold fronts, for example, can be a turnoff for us because it makes it seem really really tough to catch fish when it doesn't actually have to be, and that mindset can result in a worse presentation on our part, and fewer fish.

Thanks guys It's just depressing to thing that the many hundreds of smallmouth in that pond are under a layer of ice, not to be caught again 'til April.

Don't poop your pants at the dinner table unless everyone has already eaten.

I almost always use a flouro leader with braid. Uni to uni is the best knot I've found when considering: 1. strength 2. small diameter 3. ease/quickness of tying.

I'll start. You might remember this from about a year ago when I first posted it. Two women sitting quietly next to each other...

Nice pictures guys

IMO, line is the most important factor, only if you're talking the difference between mono/flouro and braid. A $40 rod with Power Pro is more sensitive than a $400 rod with mono. Other than that, what they said 8-)

Let's see some of your winter pictures Icicles on my back porch... I was out doing a little Christmas shopping with my brother and we decided to stop by a nearby lake to see how thick the ice was. Well, there was no ice, somehow, so I fished for about 10 minutes which was all I could stand.

It's sad how some people take advantage of Cabela's customer service. I hear of people not respecting their equipment at all because they know they can just take it back and return it, no questions asked. Those people P me off. Regarding Cabela's running mom and pop stores out of business: it's called capitalism. Capitalism and the free market are what distinguish this country from all of the pathetic European nations with lazy, aging populations. How can you blame Cabela's for taking advantage of a tax break offered to them by towns and states? How is that their fault in any way? It would be irresponsible of them not to try to make the biggest profit possible. If you want to blame anyone, blame the towns and states that offer the tax breaks. The point is, it's a win-win situation. Further, I'm not sure about Cabela's, but I know that Bass Pro Shops was started by Mr. Morris in a corner of his dad's store, with one wall of lures and tackle. Through insanely hard work and intelligence, he created the BPS chain. Why should people be punished for intelligence, hard work, and copetence?

Keep up the hard work Bassboss I think the reason you might catch a little criticism is that often it's tough to know whether you're telling the truth or perhaps stretching it a bit - there is a lot of conflicting information. For example, if you're in school, how is it that you're able to post all day long? That aside, it's obvious that you're a good-natured and well-intentioned person, which is more than can be said of a lot of people in the world.

I think George Welcome's explanation makes perfect sense, at least if you're fighting fish correctly. There's a lot more strain on your cranking hand with baitcasting reels than with spinning, and a lot more strain on your rod-holding hand with spinning reels. Why not put the greater amount of strain in your stronger/more coordinate hand/arm? I understand if you don't feel comfortable reeling with your right hand because you grew up with spinning gear. In that case, the benefits of reeling a baitcaster lefty probably outweigh the disadvantages. Personally, I would feel very uncomfortable using a lefty baitcaster, just as I would feel uncomfortable using a righty spinning reel.

This is a smallmouth I caught in October in New Hampshire, fishing from shore with one of my dogs, Buddy. Buddy loves fishing, and he's finally learned not to jump in the water and chase after my lure every cast. When it's a slow day, he'll sit there, looking at me, out at the water, back at me, waiting, judging. I always apologize to him for not catching more fish, and urge him to have some patience. I walked around the lake to one of my better spots. There's a nice rock I can stand on that gives me about 150 degrees of fan casting area. To the left are reeds, shallow rocks, with a grassy bottom. Straight out it's a little deeper with bigger boulders and scattered grass. To the right are a couple sunken tree trunks that always hold a couple fish, and just right of that are more reeds. It's the perfect area for a topwater presentation, and I don't think I've ever not picked up a few smallies in this spot. I was completing my fan casting from left to right without much luck, just a small one that hit straight out. I was saving the best area for last. I made a long cast of about 50 or 60 yards with a LC Gunfish (those things cast like bullets), just right of the sunken trunks, just left of the reeds. I was walking the bait for maybe seven or eight twitches when all of a sudden this fish just exploded on the lure and came almost clean out of the water. She immediately turned, took a quick zip of drag, then headed 90 degrees to my right, directly towards the reeds. I was too far away from her, and didn't have a good enough angle, to prevent her from going where she intended, so I tried to force her to the surface and skid her in. She did not feel like doing that. She went right into the reeds, and the floating leaves, and for about 30 seconds, I couldn't even make her budge. I put my left hand on the spool and pulled harder than I felt comfortable doing, probably within a few pounds of the breaking point of my M IMX, and finally she and the reeds and the leaves started to give. After another few seconds of her head shakes and generally p'd off behavior, I lipped her with my scale/gripper. She ended up right around two pounds - nothing huge, but about as big as one can expect from this pond while fishing from shore. All I know is that she had great instincts, and although she's no beast, it's a fish and a fight I'll remember until I'm six feet under. She had beautiful, dark markings, and I think Buddy would agree.

Ehh, not a big fan of kayaks. My personal reasons for preferring a one-seater canoe: You can store more crap, and not worry about anything falling out of it. Canoes seem all-around more stable, although the one in your link does look pretty stable. You stay drier in canoes, both with the wave factor and while paddling. It's much easier to mount a trolling motor on a canoe. It will be easier to strap a one-seater canoe to my car than a kayak. I don't want to get a kayak rack, although I know it is possible to strap one down without a rack.

By the way, these canoes used to be "Quest" company. Now they've changed, but it's the exact same canoe. This spring I plan on getting the one-seater so I can take it to remote places by myself. Can't wait 8-)

Their customer service really is unparalleled. I have many stories about their service. I often wonder how they can make the returns, refunds, etc., without losing money. I guess the benefits of satisfied customers and word of mouth outweigh the short-term losses they eat. I bought a Carrot Stix casting rod, used it for a week or two, and simply didn't like it that much. I brought it back, said that there was nothing wrong with it, but that I just wasn't a huge fan and would like to exchange it for a different rod. They said, "Go pick out the rod you'd like and come back to the desk. No problem." I ended up with a Crucial, which I prefer to the Stix, but I broke the tip in my car door a couple months later. Brought it back, explained that it wasn't faulty, that it was my fault, and I heard Shimano had a great warrantee that I could pay $15 and get a new one. They said no problem, and just let me exchange it for a new rod, no charge, no receipt. That's one of the reasons I've been a Cabela's customer my entire life (since I was about 8), and why I prefer them to Bass Pro.

Arctic Cat - I have that EXACT canoe ;D I'll start with the good - it's extremely stable, and you have plenty of space to fish two people very comfortably. My brother and I fish out of it all the time, and both of us can stand and fish comfortably. However, we have been fishing canoes since we were little kids, so we do have good canoe balance. I can see if you fish with someone with poor balance or with a very tall person, that you couldn't both stand. However, it is very stable for a canoe. It holds pretty well in the wind because it's pretty heavy for a canoe, and it tracks well with a trolling motor. Weight load isn't an issue - I think you could load it with coolers of water and it would be fine. For the most part, I love it. A couple problems, however. First, the back bottom is very thin plastic, and due to very slight dragging, I actually got a couple tiny holes. I have been using duct tape to keep them shut, but I do have waterproof epoxy and some other stuff to fix it permanently. Lastly, the material is obviously pretty cheap (hence the price of the canoe). It bends too easily, which poses a bit of a problem when strapping it on your car. When you cinch your straps down tight, the canoe kind of bends, so you have to find a happy medium. If you have any specific questions, ask away. For the price, you really can't beat this canoe though. I highly recommend it.

I liked the #6 when I used it on my spinning rod, but I thought the #12 was very wiry and unmanageable on my casting gear. Of course, if you spray it with KVD Line & Lure the night before, it's perfectly manageable.