J Francho

Hit in the head by a duck...now that is a heck of a way to go. These people live such miserable, disingenuous lives, that I almost feel sorry for them. Not really though. Their punishment will come in due time, and you can rest assured true happiness will never be theirs. Sorry your boat was stolen, and I hope it is returned. Looks like a great baot that would have provided tons of fun times.

Muscle memory. Its built through repetition. You can do (or undo) anything with practice. I play drums. I play them in the traditional right handed setup. When I was bored, and uninspired, I set them up backwards (to me) and relearned how to play. When I switched them back, I was no longer confined to one way of thinking about what was possible.

I'm talking full weed growth, ie nothing is coming through it, or moss covered areas. Swimming a jig through scattered weeds is good, but they don't work so well coming through a complete wall of vegetation or through the moss. I turn to weightless plastics to fish those areas. I try not to avoid any area that holds water as some of the nastiest places hold the best fish. WHo said you need to swim it through to get bit? All those weed are growing leaves at the surface to harness energy from the sunlight. It is actually fairly open just a few inches below the slop canopy, which is like a jungle habitat. This is what long and heavy power rods are for. If you can punch your bait through the mat, you'll be in for a treat. Go ahead and use your unweighted plastics where there are holes - this is an awesome technique. But where there is no hole, make one. Its just as awesome.

Well said. The biggest fear I had when I used to ride was all of the horrible drivers on the road. That is the biggest cause of accidents on motorcycles. The main reason I got rid of the bike was that it was becoming to dangerous to continue riding my motorcycle. South Florida is loaded with blind senior citzens, and very aggressive drivers. Not a good mix to throw any type of motorcycle into. I know what you mean. Yikes, some really should be getting a ride. Problem for them, is their kids may not make time to take them out to do what needs to be done. Back to what I originally said. I don't want to sound crude, and I should clarify - we all make mistakes. The margin of error with something like a high performance motorcycle is much smaller than, say with a cruiser. You need training and time in a controlled environment to really learn how to drive one of these machines. I personally won't, despite having driven other vehicles at very high speeds in track situations. Mostly because the consequences of ANY mistake come at a much higher price. In that sense I can see where Fisher was coming from. Hope that makes sense. I still say hate the driver, not the machine though.

Thanks for the grade. You know what they say, those that can, do. Those that can't, grade homework. If anything, what's funny about a study on plastic worms, is that he proved what anglers have known all along.

LOL, yeah right, he is personally responsible for the plastic worm craze. You are paranoid. Most of his findings contradict his own company's marketing hype. But you can believe what you want -- plastic worms don't work, LOL. And oh BTW, they make cranks too. But they probably have fixed the data behind recent color tests as well. Those results showed that the fish were more likely to bite a naturally colored crank over some funky color in high visibility, but you already know that's bunk.

You'll have to be more specific. Go to jig for what? Define the situation you'll be fishing with jigs soon.

black, black/blue 90% of the time will be fine.

Gross Paul, LOL. I'm not a fan of roe, unless its on my Sushi . Raul, its not crushed ice or salt, its sugar. A nice pic of my footprints on on beautiful beach covered in sugar. Getting back to fall fishing, though, the salmon are in. Headed down to the Genny for some fall fishing action. A pic of my buddy yesterday:

It sounds like its a driver issue, not a machine issue to me. "Crotch Rockets" drivers are bad, except in the case of the orphaned daughter, which its the bike's fault? A tragedy is a tragedy, regardless of the circumstances surrounding it. People do stupid things all the time with any number of things. This includes "crotch rockets." If we get rid of everything that's potentially dangerous, there will be nothing fun left for the rest of us that are responsible and safe. I imagine someone somewhere is thinking the same thing as you about a stupid bass boat. its all about perspective.

Cowboys fan here. Terrible game - I'm not impressed. I'll take the "W" though. Defense sucked in the 1st quarter, and then looked tuckered out by the 2nd. They merely performed satisfactory in the 3rd, and did come up big in the end. There's some work to do there. And Romo's drop in the end zone? He said it best after the game: "I sucked." Glad he owned up to it. You kind of have to like that way he goes about it. He did look relaxed in the pocket, but I'd like to see how o-line does against a team with a real defense before getting my hopes up for a playoff win.

Use a good grass jig and appropriate tackle, and this would be an excellent place to shore fish since most shore anglers will be thinking like you, and avoid this water. Big mistake if you're looking for a big fish.

I think you need to define the structure and cover the shore spots you want to fish. A jig is merely a hook with a weight attached, and there are literally dozens of different jig styles, each suited to solving a particular problem with fishing specific cover and structure. A bare hook stand up jig will do you no good in a weedy, mud bottom pond. Just as a 1/2 oz. grass jig is not appropriate for a rocky dropoff. A weedless Arkie jig will always be a great choice when fishing timber, regardless what you're fishing from. Catch my drift? Define the water, and your jig choice will be made for you. Knowing what jig to fish in that water is where we can help.

This is what I do in the winter. Air temp was a balmy 35°F 1/19/2008 Back to the topic, I am as excited to fish for bass in fall as any other time of year.

My primary casting arm is my right. Go figure, I'm right handed . Whether the handle is on the right or left is based on the type of fishing. For all spinning applications, I use a left hand retrieve. When I cast, I take may left hand off the handle, and grip the butt end of the rod for both control and/or leverage. For most horizontal casting applications, I use a right hand retrieve. I palm the reel with my left hand. When I make a cast, I generally simply move my right hand from the handle to the reel seat holding the rod like a gun, with my thumb on the spool release. I will feather the spool with either thumb, since all my reels have lots of access to the spool - a requirement for all baitcasters I buy. If I need power for the cast, I can simply move my left hand to the butt of the rod for greater leverage, though this something reserved for cranks or casting spoons and plugs for salmon and trout. For flipping and pitching, grass spoons, and frogs I prefer a left hand retrieve. I use a flipping reel with the spool release at the top of the reel, instead of the usual thumbar. Mine are Daiwa TD-X HSDL. Shimano has the Castaic which works the same way. This way I can palm the reel with my right hand and cast without moving it out of this position. I can also reengage the reel with my right thumb with is important when fishing jigs, since many of the bites come on the fall. All in all, this setup offers the capability for hair trigger hooksets. For frogs and spoons, I just find it easier to work the baits using this same rig, something learned through usage more than preference. Now its SOP for these baits. I think whatever you do, if you do it enough, it becomes confortable and then becomes muscle memory. Whatever you choose, go for comfort first, then functionality since I think you'll do something more frequently if its comfortable. My opinions on what "the proper" rig is means nothing if you don't like the way it feels.

Dr. Jones from Pure Fishing has done experiments on tanked bass and his results show that a plastic worm is the only bait that bass consistently "forget" about. He was quick to point out that that notion is pure anthropomorphism, but the results are there nonetheless.

I'm with Russ here - its a percentage game. My biggest bass this year have come on a variety of baits, and catching them had more to do with location, structure, and cover dictating the bait I used. that said, a 10" Power Worm is my favorite "big bass bait." LOL.

Bomber Square A Sub Wart Mann's -1 Rap DT Flat

If I get poison ivy on my torso, it quickly spreads to my respiratory system, and without any medical treatment makes breathing hard. The last bad case involved both steroid shots and cold wraps over topical treatment. It took two weeks to clear up and I looked the elephant man from all the swelling in my face. I never did locate the P.I., but I suspect some moron down the road was burning it. I recently had a bit on my ankle, but I paid close attention, and it cleared up in a few days. the Dawn treatment does work pretty well, and though the Calamine doesn't seem to do anything to treat it, it does sooth the itch.

Less twist and memory; line will last you years; no stretch; greater break strength/diameter; etc. Same advantages as heavier braid. I use 10/2# Power Pro on ML spinning gear for bass, and on longer, slower rods for Great Lakes steelhead. Since most good spinning reels have an identical spare spool, you can spool that up with your favorite nylon mono or fluorocarbon line to switch when braid isn't appropriate.

He is often quoted as using a 7' Heavy/fast action rod with mono for EVERYTHING. He recently tried FC and a slightly lighter power rod, at the urging of KVD. He used this to catch SMB on mid to deep cranks. It isn't likely that Clunn has anything weighing 1/4 oz. in his tackle bag, LOL. He's generally a big bait guy.

Cordells, Bill Lewis', LC, and Rattlin' Raps have all been fine baits for me.

Pegged T-rig in grass for LMB or fished deep on a football jig for smallies. Excellent bait.

In my book, its not a Texas rig without a weight.

Daiwas. Shimanos. Forget the rest. All three stores sell them .