Paul Roberts

Love the details. Congrats on a great experience. And a PB to boot.

Thanks Bassman. I'll be Ned'ing too.

Thanks, Will. It was fun. Sure beat the alternative! It helped that the water there is shallow enough that I was able to spot the wakes of a few followers. My next forays are into my Jungle Warfare pond from this summer -a truly dense mess of veges; Just to see if I can figure that one out in winter. Always avoided that, heading for my coverless "swimming pools" by the time we're flirting with ice-up. Won't the bass just bury in that remaining jungle of veges! I should be able to still find a few in the openings. But, can I punch some out of the junk... in 40F water? At least their gorgeous winter colors and markings will help balance the expected catch rate. Wish me luck.

Chunkin' up they are. Same here.

I've never seen a black-blotched bass, except for a bruising.

OK... update. And I'm not sponsored by anyone. This has been my experience, dealing with a finesse braid headache this winter. The 15lb (.008) J-Braid x8 also knotted itself, but not as much as the 10#. The issue was loose loops on the reel spool (spinning) tying into knots. The stuff is so soft, and the braiding somewhat loose. In fact, I noticed the "puffiness" of the braid would stick to the cold water roughened skin on my fingers! This was new braid, after a single day of fishing. I'm guessing the softness, coupled with its ability to adhere to itself, is the problem. Another reel had 27lb (.007) Gliss, and it handled just fine -great in fact. Loose loops never caused any problems. Guess I'm going to Gliss for my finesse fishing. I used 8lb Gliss (.004!) in my UL's the last two winters, without a problem. I'm guessing its smoothness just doesn't cause line touching line to adhere. I've heard complaints that people have had Gliss break. I'm guessing here that it may have to do with the break-rating. Although the rating may be accurate, I doubt 27# Gliss would be interchangeable with even 20# braids. It's so much finer that a little damage would very likely severely weaken it. Once again, I'd buy braids based on diameter, not rated break strength, keeping other properties in mind. Unless maybe they come up with some bullet-n-brush proof material in the future maybe, that still handles well. There is probably a limit to how fine a diameter one could go and still have a line be manageable. But who knows, the right rigidity, and slickness, might have us flipping with .001" 50lb lines! Kinda doubt it, though Just my 2cents, following some headaches on the water this winter season.

Thanks, BFS. Decided to go up in J-Braid diameter, to 15lb; A spool I already had. Just to try it out. I don't want to give a bad review of J-Braid on general. Again, 20# and 30# has been fine. Trying 15 now.

Well, I'm bringing this back up, rather than starting a new thread. Looking into finesse braids, for spinning gear. I've liked J-Braid (8-carrier) in 20 and 30# for non-finesse use. But, at 10# in a finesse rig, it's 8 too soft, self-knotting terribly. The problem just arose, this being that line's second season. I think it may have softened from wear, although it looks OK, maybe a bit fluffed up (not frayed). Although there are some real advantages to super-soft braids, some rigidity may be more important most of the time. And it should be economical, not up front necessarily, but down the road. I'm old enough now that 5yrs is a flash. I've used Gliss in 8# for UL, and it's been nice -so far. About to replace the J-Braid with Gliss 24# (.007) I already have. I'm thinking 832 is next up, if I need to change again. But, I am curious about the other stuff that's out there. What's "new" and what's it do?

Yes! What a great photo. That says it all. I think we all still smile like that when we're fishing -at least inside!

This has been documented before. It's probably more widespread than most might think. Both LM's and SM's. And some fish have been found starved with impacted stomachs. There's also the potential issue of the pthalates used to soften plastics. Some, at least, are known to cause reproductive harm, including "feminization" of male fish. "Feminization" was originally attributed to birth control pharmaceuticals that make it through wastewater treatment. But then it was discovered that other chemicals can do it too, like some pthalates. A bit disturbing was a recent study in the US, in which feminized LMB were found in inland waters, even smaller ones, well away from urban areas. I try my best not to lose soft plastics.

I'm still catching. Just trying to stay ahead of the final freeze. Although, as things chill down, I'm not making it easy on myself, choosing a dishpan water that's essentially a weedy flat. There are no deep spots, and precious little notable breaks in those weeds that carpet the bottom. But, I'm scoring a few. Guess where they are? Yes, in those precious little notable breaks in that carpet of weeds! And they are fattening up before my eyes as fall progresses. And getting more and more beautiful as winter comes on. My latest catches I've yet to get to the photos of, but they are more beautiful yet, getting those winter golden-bronze backs, metallic yellow bellies, and heavy dark markings. Worth the effort. That said, weather allowing, I think I'd be smart to shift to a water with a larger population, as we near ice-up. Just about there now. Hey, j bab, your post sounds darn familiar! See my Fall Transition report.

Wow. Congrats. Gorgeous fish. Great story too!

Plan B was to slow down, since they wouldn't chase. Best they would do is follow. Went to a belly-weighted soft jerk. And they would take it on the fall. I found that waking that bait would draw attention, the fall would seal the deal. Two were "big" fish for these ponds, a 19 and a 20.

Been too busy to post, so this one was a Mid-September outing to a heavily-vegetated dishpan-contoured gravel pit. Plan A was some good fall buzzbait and topwater action. But the powers-that-be had other plans. I hit it at the peak of the "Funky Soup" decomposition period following an intense weed die-off. ?Considered pulling out for another pond, but decided to stick it out. Stuffed Plan A, and... made lemonade. Glad I did!

Working fine for me today.

See WRB's post above. He describes some general differences between crappies and bluegills contexts -how the bass might "see" them. Again, just bc a chunk of wood or plastic is painted like a crappie doesn't mean it says "crappie" to the bass.

There are several manufacturers with crappie finishes out there. I have a few; One happens to be a favorite, but not bc it has a crappie finish. I think the lure finish/color is relatively unimportant compared to the overall context in which a bass, or group of bass, happen to find vulnerable crappie prey. In many cases a BG, Shad, or even a chartreuse bait could suffice. In some instances, hot pink can be a killer. In other words, I don't think bass would see a crappie-colored bait as a crappie, unless it was in proper context. Those contexts are what we fishers work so hard to find. Tough to do in a world that exists pretty much out of our sight. Now... once the proper context is found, and the presentation parameters defined (dialed in), then maybe a finish that mimics the exact prey (keeping lighting in mind, as fish are chameleons, lures are not) could help. But... (once again!) that's a tall order and one that might be as apt to be covered with a certain "bluegill"-colored bait as any "crappie"-colored bait. Crossed in cyperspace! ^^Downright pithy. ?

I can see that it could work, sometimes, but it sounds risky -for the fish esp. I've often gone barbless with soft plastics bc of their penchant for swallowing the darn thing if given much time. I guess if you were right on the take, and the fish didn't start to move off at much of an angle to you, and you were in a situation where you had enough strikes you didn't mind dropping a few. The only experience I've had with this kind of thing is practicing something I came to call "torque-reeling". Just reel, no pumping the rod, no angle changes, just reel. Discovered it with single-action fly reels, with a 1:1 ratio on schooly stripers during a 100-fish night. Found I could set, then just reel, bringing the fish straight in, very rapidly. Fish are hydro-foils, so where the head goes, the tail must follow. If they don't turn -you don't freak them out- you can crank them straight in. Trick is not to move the rod at all; That's the "steady pressure". Problem was I then had a green fish at arm's length! This was also part of how I landed BIG trout on "1lb" (2kg class) Trilene years ago, a stunt I don't recommend, for the fish's health. It was however a fascinating lesson in what being tethered to a neutrally buoyant hydrofoil is all about. But... before the hook-set... sounds risky.

I was. Natural born fisherman. :))

Gee, must be nice to have a pedestal seat. :)) I like your two motors too. But I already have two. You can see them up front there.

Like others, I use a hair band, affixed to the rod shaft just above the handle (hook in the first guide frame). I also started wrapping the line (above the hook) around the shaft a few times, hooking it onto the guides. This keeps that line tight against the shaft, keeping adjacent rod tips from getting snarled beneath. Simple, and saves minor headaches.

Yes! And... the vulnerability of big fat bass tends to bring them back for more. It's true, that big bass are more vulnerable through the coldwater period; At least around here. I suspect several things are at work: -The results of vegetation die-back, and/or turnover, essentially rearranges their homes, exposing fish, making prey fishes vulnerable to bass, and bass vulnerable to anglers. -Repro tissues develop in the fall. By October here, those bellies are already swollen. -Fat deposition appears to increase, commensurate with the repro tissues that require it, as well the ability to make it through the winter, esp in the N. -Thus, bass begin to get FAT. They may not be much longer than they were a month or so earlier, but they sure look it! -Big, fat, bass are vulnerable, to varying degrees of course, across the entire coldwater period which stretches from the fall transition through the spawn, esp so during fall and prespawn "binge-feeding" periods. Working on that video (the Fall Transition end of it) right now.

Interesting. Not sure what it means. But I can certainly speculate. An example might be fish learning to avoid lures. It's already known that fish do learn to avoid certain lures. And every fish doesn't have to be stuck by it either. They appear to learn by observing other fish. Now... it could be that such info might be able to be passed on to future generations, without selective culling; That is, removing fish from the population once it's been caught, leaving only "naive" fish in the population. This has long been a practice in English trout streams, where trout caught are killed so that they don't become too difficult to catch. This finding does make one wonder about the extent to which segments of fish populations could learn to avoid lures. Interesting that brown trout as a species -the trout of those English trout streams- have been angled for a LOT longer than our American salmonids have. And, they of all trout, have the well-deserved reputation as the most difficult of trout to dupe on flies. From my time working in a trout hatchery, I came to know browns as having other deep-seated behavioral habits that also contribute to their apparent aversion to angling. I'd always wondered about this. This finding could also be in the running for explaining how it is that certain hot lures go gangbusters when first introduced to naive fish. Only to wind up in the dark corners of our tackle boxes, so many years later. Thanks for posting this @txchaser.

Ah, Glenn... no one will believe you without a photo! And hey... are you pulling a Mike Long on us? Winning hands down by deceitful means? :)) I was thinking the same thing as Glenn, worst case scenarios. Ugh... brings up all kinds of horror stories. Anyway, I've skewered bass and bluegill fingerlings, but never fry! I think my smallest catches were nipped off the bottom while fly-fishing for trout -tiny trout, darters, fingernail clams, and even mayfly nymphs! I take some credit for them due to my hook-sharpening diligence/obsession. But, then these fish were fouled. So... we should be talking "fair-caught" bass here. No pulling a Mike Long here. If you say you were using a white zooplankton imitation on a sharpened treble hook... Hmmmm... I know such catches always bring a chuckle, but they don't stick in memory. I have one I closed a video with, that I guessed was around 9cm, bc of the 13cm Rapala it had tried to pick on.

I'm bringing this one back up, bc I've come to terms with my Stealth. I clicked on all 4 of those brake tabs on the spool shaft, and... simply don't over-power the cast. My older reels seem to need some oomph, and my newer ones don't, but they can handle it. The Stealth casts well, with a gentle stroke. And my thumb is right there. It's a bit noisy (but so is my Daiwa CT) when all those shaft tabs are engaged. Less so when I go easy with it.