Team9nine

I always preferred to TR them with a traditional bullet weight when I used them, too. Works just fine that way.

The old original Eagle Claw Shaw Grigsby HP hooks, I’m guessing. Built around a Kahle-style hook before the EWG hook got so popular. Packs came with a neat insert weight featuring an open ring that made internal rigging easy. Now days, those same weights could easily double as a “free rig” alternative. Hook and clip worked well, especially on thinner plastics. Clip could be a little difficult to close on thick bodied tubes when using the weights. Also, once the tube head got torn up a bit, rigging with the clip could become difficult in some instances, but it took a while to happen, as the clip held the hook and bait securely together.

Straight from a Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept. paper on livewell mortality that mentioned this issue (early 2000s). You rarely hear this concern raised these days, but if that was Gene G. on the podcast, that would explain him mentioning the subject.

Possibly fish something that can be burned back faster at the depth they're hanging - crankbait, heavy Trap, large hair jig, etc.. Often, as the water warms up, you have to increase the retrieve speed considerably at times to generate bites. Trolling can often be better than casting this time of year for that exact reason if you're into that type thing. Bill Murphy had an entire chapter on this in his book.

A few things I’ve learned over the years with braid on spinning outfits; not all reels/spools handle the same line the same way - some reels are just better at line management. Also, not all braid line brands work equally on the same outfit - some lines are just better handling lines. So playing with a couple different setups, both line and rod/reel in the beginning can be helpful until you find a good working combination. On the knot issue, generally speaking, direct connect knots (to your lure) are generally stronger than line-to-line knots, which is why it is common to have the leader knot break first in many instances. The balance is to either tie a stronger leader knot (FG, Alberto, ‘J’ knot, etc.), or a slightly weaker connecting knot to your lure. In some instances, the rate of pulling a snagged bait seems to make a difference - slow and steadily increasing pressure until something gives seems to offer the best outcome versus a faster or hard jerk to get something to break…FWIW.

Never been on the water, but within 5 minutes of the ramp for many years. Only negative is the convenience of a quick trip gets mighty comfortable, and you might find yourself rarely wanting to pull the boat somewhere else. After a few years, the same lake can become a bit boring if patterns repeat consistently - same old, same old. But that convenience to go on short notice or even for just an hour or two with boat mobility 😎

So you found 2 guys out of 102 that aren’t watching their screen 😉

Alberto is stronger, and is one I use regularly. Not a fan of the double uni, but some really good sticks use it and catch really big fish ( @A-Jay , among others) so if you can tie it well and like it - use it. I’m fairly convinced that if you have your drag set properly, the connecting knot used is largely irrelevant, because pressure never builds up enough for it to come into play.

Wasn’t quite that bad, but pulled into the parking lot yesterday of a local lake and saw a small aluminum tracker with a 10hp engine with 4 big screen Garmins (12s and/or 16s?); two on the console and two on the front deck - looked almost as ridiculous. Just shook my head and chuckled. They left before I could snap a pic.

Interesting that the convo took a sudden turn with many praising or defending the BASS ‘whistleblower,’ saying they (the org) would just cover up or keep everything under wraps if they could.

Sadly, the title should be changed to ‘Just another week in professional fishing.” Nice thread now 10 pages deep about the latest BASS controversy/drama on another site. Seems both organizations have been suffering all year with everything going on. Sport needs a major overhaul…or a long ‘time out’ 🤔

Sometimes they engulf the whole thing; sometimes they don’t. Other times they reject and engulf more than once.

Guilty - usually when it fails to start, that’s my first clue 🤭

Bass aren’t perfect predators. So many variables at play that could make for a missed or partial strike. A certain percentage of strikes will fail. A bait is usually a moving target - often randomly. Sometimes it moves right as they get ready to strike. Add in visual hindrances, cover, retrieve speed, fish disposition, and on and on. Missed or partial strikes usually aren’t intentional, but they happen.

Finally got back out for a few hours after several very hot and humid days, along with over 4” of rain. Found a few keepers moved out into 15’-20’ of water, including my second smallie from a res that you almost never hear of one being caught from. Just a Menderchuck reject, but a cool catch for me.

Oddly, I tend to correlate the size of my frogs with the size of the waterbody. No good explanation why - just a general rule of thumb I follow. So the Pad Crasher Jr. was my favorite when fishing the smaller HOA ponds I frequented, but I use more traditional or larger sizes when I get on larger reservoirs (hundreds or thousands of acres). I downsize equipment slightly, too. I run 40# braid to a M/MH F/XF shorter rod 6’10”-7’0” for the Jr sized baits, and run 50#-65# braid and 7’0”- 7’4” length MH/H rods for the std./larger sized baits.

Proven? Maybe anecdotally, but I would think it is the rare exception instead of the norm, possibly a learned behavior unique to a specific fishery. Hard to prove anything out in the field, but in the lab, you get some more defined answers that would suggest a more benign answer than an intentional stun or slap when talking about largemouth bass. For example, in the case of frog fishing: Jimmy (Fish Code Studios) has some of the best slow motion videos with scientific analysis behind them. Worth taking a few minutes and browsing the old video list (there's not a ton of them, and all are short).

Not sure about Einstein, relativity and fishing, but I’ve used this great Lindner algebraic equation often over the years: F+L+P=S 😎

For me, Neds out fish tubes 100:1 because I never throw tubes 😛 In reality, I think the two probably fish about the same for most people. Any losses with either probably boil down to personal equipment setups and style among anglers.

This is what the late Ron Lindner posted several years back. I’d change a couple of those faces. So many you could make an argument for, but I’d lean toward’s Ron’s original list of influential persons: Buck Perry Carl Lowrance Bill Binkelman - though he might have to be taken off if this is strictly a “bass” mountain - lol Al Lindner …and I’d have to debate with myself long and hard about not substituting Rick Clunn in there for one of those other names - perhaps Bill’s? I can also see the argument for Ray Scott, though my personal thoughts are that he caused as much long term damage to the sport that offsets the fact that he largely created/defined an entire industry (professional/competitive bass angling) and organization (B.A.S.S.) we still belong to, follow and uphold largely unchanged to this day.

Not many people do any more, and that’s fine. I’ve also adopted your longer leader approach (usually 15’-18’) with spinning on my bass outfits. Took a little bit of playing with connecting knots because of the line wanting to catch that knot lying on the spool, but I’ve mostly got that worked out now.

Have always paid ramp fees on many of the lakes/reservoirs I’ve fished both in IN and now SC. Closest IN reservoir was a city lake, but over 1,000 acres and hp restricted. Annual launch pass was ~$55 last year. Here in SC, the 4 closest reservoirs are all city owned water supply lakes. Believe all are hp restricted to some degree. I have to buy two different boating permits to fish all 4 which totaled around $100, plus pay a $5 fishing permit fee at 2 of those. Only thing stocked at these lakes is grass carp as best I can tell. There are other similar lakes within half an hour or so of me, but those would require another permit or two, $100 each or $175 for both. They are further away, so I wouldn’t fish there enough to get my monies worth - so no go there.

There are still quite a few of those places out there as you can tell by many of the reports on the site, but none are close to me, and I’ve become much less a fan of long trips as I get older 😉

I’ve never met/caught a bass I didn’t like 😉 Been the ultimate “numbers” guy for most of my life, but have slightly shifted to a better appreciation for a quality bass bite these days, so I’d say I’m up to a “3” at this point. On the crappie front, I shifted from a “1” to an “8” or a “9” almost overnight last year. If I found a local lake that supported such a shift in bass, I might move higher up the scale.

Have fished a time or two over the years on lakes under similar circumstances. From what I recall, they always corded off the section of the lake where the search was being held and where they believe the body(ies) are located, so while a bit eerie, I wasn't too worried about running across one of them. It was a much more common thing to hear of finding a body in our major river flowing through a large metro area, and I was always more concerned about accidentally hooking or finding someone out there than on the lakes. Have had a friend or two that that happened to. Not sure how well I'd handle that