Team9nine

Nope - Tim's right on this one. Once nylon absorbs water, it's amount of stretch, abrasion resistance and breaking strength all take a pretty good hit (15-50%)...but as you said, whatever works for each of us. All lines have negatives and trade-offs. Each of us places a different value system on those factors.

Can't stand him - won't watch...and he doesn't have a clue what structure is oh, and yes, I use a leader with braid about 80% of the time, both fluoro (mostly) and nylon, for a variety of reasons, none of which have anything to do with visibility.

At least on the original Pop-Rs, you always tied direct and shifted the knot down toward the bottom of the eye because you wanted to get the cupped face up in the air so it spit more than it "popped/blooped." Then guys started sanding their baits when the lure was "brought back" to remove the cupped bottom lip. Then the fancy versions came out like the Splash-It, Rico, etc. that were designed and built to give you the same action right out of the box.

At that depth, I'd try going vertical first if suspended. Maybe even a slow drift, or a spider-rig type setup.

I'm not sure you'll ever make 25' moving any speed with a 1/16 oz jig above a crawl. You'll probably need to up the jig head weight, or go with tandem 1/16 oz jigs. Lots of variables as you mentioned. Length only gets you so far before line drag overcomes jig weight.

If you're on Facebook, look up and message Walter Wynn, Jamoni Harper or Reginald Gibson. Any of them should be able to help you out. I believe the club is still active from what I can tell. Next time I talk with a friend who fishes with them sometimes I'll check.

Forecast models look like we're going solid water for the next two weeks before we get another warm spell. Several potential snowfalls in the coming week, too. Froze my butt off for thirty minutes tonight, but landed 3 including this one. I'll make it another couple weeks now

Got better than just open water - we've got open water with biting fish Only been the small stuff locally though, 3 acres or less. Have managed about 20 in three short trips. Single digits tonight will probably kill it again for a while.

If I ever have to use more than the single strand guards some customs are being built with, then I figure I need to use something other than "Ned" as the appropriate bait. To date, I've never even used the single strand guard heads and not really planning to, but carry some just in case. That's just me, though.

"Uncle" - Strike zone creates a nice visual for understanding potential bass behavior, but is otherwise relatively meaningless from a practical standpoint...but use whatever works for you as an angler.

I agree, but Zaleski's phrase is just a nice play on depth and speed control, and that ain't guessing. Strike Zone/Window just doesn't do anything for me, though I think Ralph Manns is great ?

Never heard of being able to purchase old episodes, and there are a bunch. However, Jerry did give out a DVD of the final episode with his book he released a couple years ago.

Strike zones sound great and are easy to visualize, but in most all cases, you're throwing to an area where you "hope" a fish is located, and where even if he is, you can't see his "strike zone" anyway, or how it relates to your lures path on your last cast, or even know if you went through "the zone" but he still didn't hit anyway. So they seem to have very limited practical purpose in my eyes. I much prefer to keep Zaleski's maxim, "close enough, for long enough" in mind instead. As for the rest, I gave up a long time ago telling fish what they will or will not do. Just too many of them that don't want to listen to me

It all sounds good when you read it in fishing articles, doesn't it

I'm guessing some of the answer lies within that statement. Standing out from the crowd is not always a good thing in Nature...

I was wondering lake ice status - that's a shame. Will still take a while. Any main lake open water as a teaser or is everything froze over?

Two warm weekends in a row and a little more rain today opened up one of the little lakes in my area after nearly 5 weeks of being frozen solid. Had to take advantage and at least make a few casts after the cold we've been dealing with this past month. Bonus when I managed 7 bass in about 75 minutes from a lake that was still frozen just yesterday. On the board in 2018, about 2 weeks earlier than last year! Looks like another lake in the area will be clear by tomorrow, so hoping for one more trip before we go cold again.

Since the adult genes never change, all those year classes you mention only end up as F1 or F1b's. You would never truly get 3rd, 4th, 5th generation, etc. until their respective offspring mated and created the next generation...kind of like if I had 3 kids every year with 3 different women A lot of gene spreading going on, but it's still only 2 generations of family until those kids have kids of their own.

Not a bad plan at all. I go with one rod on the bank and 4-6 on the boat, though I usually just use 2-3 most days. Less can be more

The ZX Jerkbait/Topwater rod is well underrated in my opinion, meaning it will handle more weight than it's rated for. I regularly use it for baits up to 5/8 oz without any issues which includes the heavier Megabass baits (110+1, FX, Magnum) along with Pointers up to the SP100. Only if going larger than that would I consider another rod. I actually use a lighter rated Megabass rod for normal 110/78 sized jerkbaits because the ZX leans so far to the stiff side.

I make a lot of shore trips for bass every year, probably about 40% of all my trips, and on nearly all occasions, this is my average tackle box and gear: If the weather is nice, I store everything here: And when the weather isn't, it goes here:

BR readers beware! Saturday night and the fluoro bashing has begun...

No problems here...That's exactly what I said - they'd have to be licensing the name Tiger Bass to legally be able to sell them under that monicker.

Southeastern Pond Management didn't create the Tiger Bass, American Sport Fish did (both are in AL). The company in your link is trying to capitalize on the name Tiger Bass by saying it generally references any NLMB/FLMB cross, of which they are incorrect. Tiger Bass is a registered trademark, so only the owners, or people licensing the name from the owners, could legally use the term for their sales. Check out the American Sport Fish website where they tell you they are the only hatchery licensed to produce and sell Tiger Bass. They also mention that the Perry bass is thought to be a northern/Florida intergrade (a hybrid cross), with which other experts agree.

We're starting to get terms defined multiple ways here (sound familiar?). "Tiger bass" is a trademarked name, and legally can only be used to refer to that companies specific bass. They specifically bred an aggressive strain of NLMB and then crossed with large (13#) FLMB to produce the Tiger bass, a fish with the aggressive characteristics of northerns and the growth potential of Florida's. They are basically a "designer" fish, and as such, they are different than what occurred in California, and your sepond reference is not 100% accurate.