Paul Roberts

Here where I'm at, in N CO, the sun is too low in the sky this time of year for there to be any significant heating. Might gain a degree or two on the S-facing shorelines, but it can't penetrate. So, there really isn't a warm time of day. Bass can still be shoreline oriented though until, it seems, the first shoreline ice appears. At that time the core water temps are at 40F top to bottom, the surface skim at 32F (ice). By mid-winter core temps are at 38F. A real cold winter might see mid-water temps at 36, the bottom still at 38. There won't be any appreciable heating until late February/early March. That's winter here. Probably not a whole lot different where you are. Only way to know is start taking temps. So, go when you can. Warmer days make for more comfortable fishing. But the bass can be biting anytime.

There are so many good rods out there. It comes down to splitting hairs to me. Heck, they're all good. Tough thing is that there are so many choices now. I bought my first Helium quite a while back now (10yrs?), a 7ft M spin for Med soft plastics and drop-shot. It's "old" but I can't imagine gaining a heck of a lot by "upgrading" it. It weighs 3.4oz and is very sensitive, partly due to (old?) materials, partly to design. This summer I picked up two Berkley Series One rods for less than $100 ea. Can't come up with a single complaint. The 7ft H weighs 4.5oz. OK, one complaint: the ML spin is a bit soft in the tip. Nice rigid graphite, but a bit too thin out there. Not a deal breaker, but not... perfect! See what I mean? I think the issue will not be finding a rod that fits the bill, for a reasonable price, but... which one to choose?! And not suffer from the rod monkey. Guess that's why you are asking. I still remember when it was Conolon vs Siliflex! Nowadays rod shopping is like a paradise. But maybe too much of a good thing. Eeeny meeny?

Hmmmm. Like lynxcat, I consider knot slippage as knot failure. And fewer wraps can mean slippage; I discovered that ill shortcut on my own. Interestingly, line diameter does matter. The original Clinch Knot works just fine, even for big fish, if the line diameter is very fine (and presumably tied onto a fine wire hook eye). The Improved Clinch came out bc courser lines slipped. The Trilene Knot shouldn't slip regardless, with its 2 wraps. Does more wraps make the line stronger barring slippage? I suppose one way to test would be to test different # of wraps with the original Clinch Knot. Testing maybe three diff line diameters, keeping hook wire roughly proportional.

Well someone's got to defend The Truth! A stack of washers are the "stone age" tools here. A stack of washers is as dum as a stack of rocks. They are simply in the way, between you -the fisherman- and your fish. You should decide how much pressure to apply and when. Drags are totally completely unnecessary; A crutch to alleviate unfounded -and untested- fears. What you'll find when you backreel is that you almost never need to give more than a half-turn, or two, to a fish. The rod, your arm, and line stretch, do the majority of the give and take. If you haven't felt your line stretch, well... maybe your stack of washers has and isn't telling you. I've never understood watching a mindless stack of washers give line to fish that... frankly, don't deserve it! Lock em down, and discover The Truth about fighting fish; The rod does the vast majority of the work; The reel simply holds line. Those fish aren't as bad ass as your stack of washers would have you believe. And if one happens to be, a few turns of the rotor takes care of it. Want cheaper reels? Dump that stack of washers, springs, lubes, and whatever other unwarranted garbage is in there. Put that in your stack of washers and smoke it. There, I said it. I feel much better now.

Oh, that's too bad. I've liked every Shimano rod I've seen. (Except one. Think maybe someone was trying to kill too many birds with that one stick. Or someone snuck into the design shop one night. ) I was only able to fix that issue bc I had that particular rod and it was mighty fast and strong for a supposedly "Med" power rod. Most of the time I can't comment bc rods are difficult to describe and trouble could be with the caster or the reel settings. That one was a good bet. And, I know what you mean, not feeling some tension when working a lure. Hope you find an Expride with your name on it.

Congrats! That fish is pretty thin, esp for this time of year. If it was in more normal body condition, it would have broken 5lbs.

What's up with the Potomac?

Hi, Robert. Welcome back to fishing! And welcome to BR. This site has the best interface I've used: Easy to navigate, appropriately moderated, plenty of expertise, and good people. Gotta buy all new stuff huh? Bummer.

Can't say. Best is to have the rod in hand. It's a pain to send rods back; Otherwise you could end up with another rod and still looking. Been there. Depends on the actual power and power distribution (taper/action) of the particular rod, along with your experience and expectations as a caster, and your specific use for the rod. I do not know how experienced a caster you are, and bring this up bc it may help some anglers who are wanting to buy rods sight unseen, and may find themselves struggling a bit with casting distance and accuracy. I had a conversation with an angler who owned a rod I happen to own (and like), and he was having some trouble with it. The rod is "rated" 1/4 to 3/4oz, F, but is pushing XF in my mind, with a rock solid wall of a butt -not a whole lot of mid-flex- making this a somewhat extreme example. He was relatively new to casting rigs and was having trouble with distance, accuracy, and backlashes with his 1/4oz jig-n-trailer (prob up to 3/8 total). Knowing the nature of that particular rod I felt like I understood the problem right away. It having so fast a taper, coming into power so quickly, made it rather critical to cast, esp with lighter lures, the tip loading and unloading so quickly. I suggested he keep that rod for heavier applications, and find one with a longer/slower taper. He did and reported back how happy he was with a different rod. His backlashing essentially disappeared and he was really enjoying his casting. “Wow! I thought it was me!” That said, I will use this rod with 1/4oz jigs just fine, but recognize, and adjust to, the critical nature of that taper. So, this is just a head’s up when buying rods sight unseen: Ratings can vary with rod company, or rod line. Best to have the rod in hand of course, but that’s not practical. You may need to adjust your casting to the nature of the rod, find it just fills a different purpose from what you intended, or be willing to send them back. I’m also apt to modify some rods I buy, by trimming —a potentially expensive learning curve there.

Great to hear, Tom. Always something knew to learn. I still don't use bright braids; Probably should.

The "1/4oz" RES actually weighs between 3/8 and a 1/2oz. The "1/2" actually weighs closer to 5/8. Same is true for the Rat-L-Trap, the "1/4" weighs 3/8, and the "1/2" weighs 5/8.

Ditto, all the above. My favorites: -Original Rapala, can be cranked down and twitched. Repeated twitching will keep it down (~2ft) but it must keep moving to stay down. I add some lead strips to some of them to slow the rise rate, allowing for slower horizontal speed, which can be critical in cold water. Other floating "minnow plugs" work too, and I've spent some time weighting several different ones over the years. -Been using the Rapala Shadow Rap Shad too, as BB86 mentions. It's got a short lip and is a slow-riser. I weight some of these too, to get a full suspender, important in really cold water where fish will not move for it. It does dive some ~3ft but keeping the rod tip up when popping it, keeps it up. -The little X-Rap 8cm. Separating this one bc it has a unique place in the X-Rap being the most weedless of jerks, the lip having a smooth transition from line tie into the body. The small 8cm (3") size takes good fish in cold water or in high visibility conditions. -"Twitch-Baits", like the Sub-Walk A-Jay mentions. I also like the Twitch-n Rap and the Sebile StickShadd. The latter comes in many configurations -several sizes and floating, suspending, and sinking- which is pretty thoughtful; I believe it was Patrick's overall favorite lure, so he's made something of a "tool kit" of it. He also has a new one called the Twitshad, which he's sent me but I haven't tried yet. Knowing Patrick, it's bound to be a good twitch-bait. Pick one or two and have at it! Every water is a little different in layout and you'll find your favorites, or make something work. It's not "the lure" but what it does and you can adjust that.

When I lived in NY, we had some serious ice most winters, although that's changed some over the decades. Now in CO, we might have a month or two of ice, but often ice-out comes in February. So, I have nearly year round open water opportunities here. And, yes, the bass can be caught all year long, with adjustments in expectations.

Agreed, there are some basics to presentation -shared by all presentations- that trigger bites. So, yeah, I can see your tack. There's a lot to be said in terms of being able to present, and being versatile in presentation. I too have places that few fish bc it just doesn't look "bassy", or lend itself to the presentations most anglers know. That's where the need for versatility rears its head. I find that such places are still a "location" though, that ask for certain presentation approaches. Location (and position), and C&C, determine my presentations. I may be really good at fishing a swim-jig (or other), but getting bites in certain locations can be like pulling teeth. My latest 2 fishing reports here, and video fishing journals, show a comparison of water body layouts, and the ease at which bites could be triggered. One water it was easy! The next, required something different.

Been here a long time now. Came here years ago. Stayed on in part bc of the excellent interface, and moderators.The site just plain works, and continues to get better. Not to mention the many fine folks on here over the years.

Man, not sure I can. I see the variables as shifting. If I had to, I'd go: Location (that's where they live, or feed) Timing (that's when they respond to conditions & circumstances) Type (gotta get down or in) Presentation (gotta get em to bite) Color I have a hard time even putting on the list. Not bc I know, but bc I don't know.

Continued with my bank fishing drought-stricken ponds. Found similar aggressive feeding behavior, but today’s pond was different in layout, resulting in a very different response in those aggressively hunting bass to my lures —namely super-spooky and picky fish. This pond has no small confined deeper spots to concentrate the fish. And no cover to speak of, esp no hard cover, to create spots-on-the-spot to concentrate my casts. But bluegills were pressed onto the shallow gradually sloping banks, with aggressive hunting bass just beyond; A carnage zone set-up, right?? I started with roughly imitative feeding-type lures (swim-jig and swimbait) that are Go-To’s when bass are aggressively targeting prey fishes. But getting the lure to the fish without spooking them was only the first barrier. Then the open clear water with no cover had those bass unconvinced that these lures were "prey", evidenced by follows and rejections, and short strikes. Upon close inspection, the bass simply did not see the lures as "prey". It was pretty frustrating. Lures traveling through open water —where the fish can observe them for some distance— are sure to give off inappropriate cues. Quite simply, lures can look pretty stupid, in fact, most of the time. Lures need to do something special to draw committed strikes. So… I did something special, or used a lure that could do something special in those conditions: Take advantage of the most obvious "ambush point" I had at my disposal —the surface film. I waked/bulged a spinnerbait just under the surface and those same “picky” bass turned into committed biters, just like that. I ended up with 10 fish: One on the swim-jig, one on the swimbait, and 8 on the SB in almost as many casts. Cool to see. Bank Full Drought! Ooooooo.... Whack!

Sounds good to me! Love fishing jerks.

Yeah... It's the explainer in me.

Gotta stop looking for "rules". Probabilities is more like it. What science is making clear is that it's not about answers as much as more refined questions. Yeah, it's tough to wrap our predatory brains around. At least it is for me. Wish I could keep up with this conversation, I just can't clear the time to even see those videos through. Too much on my plate. ? Priorities.

Thanks for posting this, Tommy. And I think your assessment is dead on. Loss of vegetation is not a new thing, and it's been studied. Responses by bass are not to up and die. They stay but relate to other objects, and/or suspend. Suspended bass can be tough, in part bc of their demeanor, the visibility of lures, but also bc many anglers just aren't adept at knowing where in the water column their lures are. One study, on Lake Seminole, showed bass stayed put and suspended and used wood cover. Local anglers complained about the fishing in the treatment areas. What was really interesting were the results of a tournament following the treatment, in which Shinichi Fukae (I believe it was) either won or placed high, fishing in the treatment area, using finesse gear. He knew exactly where his lures were in the water column. The biologist being interviewed is hypothesizing that fishing pressure, esp boat and sonar noise, is a culprit. I doubt it's a major one. Will be interesting to see what data they take, whether it solves the dilemma or not.

I’m liking the changes, clean and easy to see on my phone. The navigation bar is awesome.

First, so sorry to hear about the loss of your father. I'm glad you have something healthy to help clear your mind. Not everyone does. I've had hooked bass do this too: rock crevices, wood, vegetation, and even a muskrat hole once. Bass, LM's esp, are known to dive for bottom cover when spooked, which has given them the reputation for being difficult to sample by seine netting, they ducking under the leadline. Researchers often use fishing to catch them. Most often I suppose, hooked bass try to go for deeper water. I don't see them diving purposely into holes very often, but they do go for dense weed cover when it's handy, and almost always try to duck under my float tube, esp on bright days. Maybe those pipes are exposed more than they usually are, from weeds dying back? The water is clearer, or... just luck?

I hear you, although I haven't experienced the loss of a child. Our memories are meant to be shared, especially so with our closest loved ones. I know this is not in the same league, but your sharing here is enormously appreciated. You've developed a legacy here that has been, and remains, of tremendous value to an awful lot of people. BTW: I second Glenn's advice above.