tyrius.

You're probably setting the hook too soon. If you set the hook as soon as you see the fish hit it then you're probably pulling the bait away from him. You have to give him a second to get it fully in his mouth and then slam it home.

I don't worry about it. I mainly fish with greens and browns. If a certain "shade" of green or brown is on sale, then I buy that one. Fingerling bass are probably another significant forage item.

Also, make sure that you're tieing a good quality knot.

The pretenders and copy cats don't impress me either. ;D

Not true. Just think about this logically for a mintue: The fish lives in water, their mouths are submerged in water, water dilutes acid, therefore any acid that would be in the fish's mouth would be quickly diluted and rendered ineffective. It is logically impossible for the inside of a fish's mouth to be more acidic than the water that they live in. The fish will likely shake the lure free the crank will then float to the surface and some other angler may find it on shore or floating in the middle of the lake and wonder how it got there.

An added caveat to the theory is that prior to going out with that one lure the angler should know enough about it to know where and when he/she will be most successful in using that lure. That would be the time to go out with only that lure. Using a jig in a small farm pond can be a lesson in frustration. I grew up fishing that type of water and hated jigs. I now fish a pond that has a big area of chunk rock on the bottom and love fishing jigs there. The other ponds that do not have this hard bottom are covered in weeds and jig fishing just doesn't work at those places.

So does the iphone.

Phelps is sponsored by one manufacturer. The guy who beat him wore another manufacturer's suit, which Phelps couldn't wear because of his sponsorship deal. Kind of strange that Phelps or his manager is complaining now that his suit isn't the top of the line while during the Olympics he was using his suit as much as he could because it was then the top of the line. These new suits provide MASSIVE benefits to the swimmer, so much so that if you're not wearing one then you're not going to win. The comparison to sprinters is only slightly valid. Just think about how much more drag the swimmers must overcome going through water than sprinters going through air. The benefits for the sprinter are not going to be as much as to the swimmer.

A given body of water can be underfished resulting in stunted populations. These fish are basically constantly be starving and fighting over every possible food source. I've fished farm ponds that I could catch fish nearly every single cast. These were all short stunted fish that hit everything that could fit in their mouths because they were constantly hungry. Is this a "healthy" fish population? I would say no. In instances such as this harvesting fish is beneficial to the entire population. Releasing fish back into this pond is actually harming the overall population.

The hook may have been blocking him from actually swallowing his food so he could've been VERY hungry. Next time try the through the gill technique that has been posted here numerous times. http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1128002349/22#22

The more 1lb bass that are in that water the more competition the fish in the year class have and therefore they will have less forage and not grow as big. If you want the fish to grow to their maximum size then the competition needs to be minimized so that the remaining bass can reach their maximum size.

Phelps' body is freakishly odd and every oddity helps his swimming. He's got huge feet, double jointed knees/ankles, long arms, short torso (all compared to the average person). Me as an average guy could not ever hope to beat him even if I trained MORE than he did. Other Olympic athletes train just as hard as Phelps, but he has the natural ability/body shape to dominate them.

This doesn't qualify? I go heavier looking for a faster rate of fall or the ability to increase my retrieve speed while staying at a given depth. You also didn't mention anything about changing trailer type/size/etc to effect ROF.

I wasn't disagreeing with you. I was just trying to put in words what convinced me that EWG's have a flaw in their design. I won't be buying anymore EWG hooks because of this. I'll use my current stockpile for thick plastics (when other hooks won't work) and buy other styles. But, it all still boils down to how often do you think you'll be setting the hook straight on and if you feel that that amount requires you to use different types of hooks. That is a personal decision that each individual makes on their own. However, the potential for missed hooksets with EWG remains.

I find it important to think about things logically and see how things actually work prior to making a determination on which is better. After another post on this same topic I tried an "experiment". I tied on a sinker and an EWG hook. Then closed my fingers over the sinker like a bass closing their mouth over the bait. Slowly pulled the line out of my fingers. If I pulled it straight out then the hook point doesn't "engage". However, if I pulled at an angle the point will try and stick my fingers. This is the logical result because an EWG hook has the point in line with the eye so if the hookset is pulling straight out of the basses mouth the point will follow the eye of hook straight out of the bass's mouth. The angle is necessary to allow the point of the hook to come in contact with the bass's mouth. Once it does that a sharp hook will penetrate with ease. The question then becomes: How many times are you going to be setting the hook straight in line with the fish's mouth?

I start as light as possible but if I know that fish should be there and I'm not getting bit I will go heavier while varying the retrieve in order to see if they want something faster/more erratic.

Haven't even touched my clubs since I got back into fishing. I fished all the time when I was kid but then didn't fish at all in college and got away from it. Couple years ago my parents paid for a salmon charter on lake MI and the fishing has been on since then, while dust falls on my clubs. I never was very good at golf either.

Do you find any benefit in using the lower geared reels when deep cranking or retrieving heavier lures? I agree that you shouldn't see a major difference between ratios when fighting fish, but I'd think that when retrieving deep cranks and such you'd feel the difference.

They don't cost enough ;D The main issue is that some bad hooks get through their QA process. The good ones are plenty sharp.

Could be because spinnerbaits and plugs have weight on them that allow the fish to "throw" the bait.

Why would a fish's mouth have acid in it? Acid is diluted by water and the fish is constantly completely surrounded by water which would dilute any acid in a fish's mouth. There may be acid in the stomach, but not the mouth. If the fish swallows the hook then use the technique the J Francho posted. The rusting away theory is decades old and not applicable to today's steel hooks. They simply do not rust in any meaningful time frame. Also, rusted hook posted earlier was either foul hooked as J Francho said or partially passed and subjected to digestion which would have started the breakdown of the hook. Also, you really have no idea how long it was there and how it affected that fish. In summary follow the link J Francho provided and you should be able to remove each and every gut hook. the fish will be MUCH better offf if you do.

When looking at line recovery, the same cranking speed (handle revolutions) will get the lure moving at identical speeds. The gear ratios will change how "difficult" that particular retrieve feels, but won't affect the retrieve speed.

So you make all the same mistakes that your parents made? : And if that had happened, do you think that ANYONE would even know about it (except for the worker and the girl)? How many times does someone trip and fall and just continue on? I'd say that the second question is far and away the average.

I'd just be jealous of those with a boat. Doesn't look like I'd be able to cast far enough from shore to reach it!!!

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