Team9nine

^^ This ^^ All lines including fluorocarbon will float due to the surface tension of water if you simply place a piece in water. Once that surface tension is broke though is where you see the differences. 832 stays under (water) if pushed there, though some tests have shown it to actually sink slowly. Might depend upon pound test tested Other braids like PowerPro will keep popping back to the surface no matter how many times you push it under water. Mono is close to neautrally buoyant but will fall slowly, whereas fluoro definitely sinks, and at a faster rate than mono. -T9

Have been playing with the FG knot some since it first posted. Have had some mixed results from the standpoint of it not seeming to hold right with some of the braid leader connections I've tried. Haven't figured out if the smaller diameter lines I use are part of the problem or not. No problem with stuff like 30# braid and 17-20# fluoro. When I get a setup that holds though, it is solid. Going to keep playing with it more. For everything else there is the Alberto. I've basically been tying the FG at home right before a trip and leave it at that. If I have to retie a connection on the water, then the Alberto gets the call. It almost never fails. -T9

I use that knot all the time (I go 7 down and 6 back) with 3#, 5# and 8# braid going to 6# and 8# fluoro leaders without problems. Always double check the knot good after tying and before using, but otherwise, very rare to have it fail from unraveling/slipping in my experience. -T9

Not just a Florida or tannic water color. One of the better all around soft plastic colors made, IMO. Works real well on our local waters. Never leave home without it -T9

Shin was painting his with nail polish, and from the picture, it appears to be a more darker pearlized finish. That would be more similar to blood red in the Gopher lineup. Personally, I use "hot red" which I believe is a newer name for what used to be called fluorescent red. If I'm not using black or unpainted, then it's because I want something that stands out, and that is flo. red and chartreuse most times. Those 4 colors of jigheads comprise 80% of all my mushroom head jigs I use with MF. -T9

What you are starting to see is due to the fact that so many people all over the country are now throwing the Ned rig, and subsequently adapting it to their local waters and the way they traditionally fish, you get a variety of answers to questions like this. The posts above have pretty much touched on the differences though. Shakeyhead fishing is what Ned refers to as part of 'power finesse'. Ned writes, "The most important feature of the six retrieves revolves around the concept that we call no-feel. That means we cannot feel what the jig-and-soft-plastic combo is doing or where it is during the retrieve...Often newcomers to Midwest finesse tactics find the no-feel retrieve to be so disconcerting that they quickly give up and resort to using what we call power finesse tactics. In order to feel their baits, power finesse anglers work with 1/8-, 3/16-, and 1/4 –ounce jigs." A comment on "no-feel"; A good many of the Midwest finesse retrieves are based upon keeping the lure off the bottom and swimming through the water column. This is kind of opposite of shakeyhead fishing where you tend to keep the bait always returning to the bottom and feeling for that. The recent off-shoot of fishing Ned on deep, clear Ozark lakes tends to favor keeping the lure on the bottom and barely moving, utilizing the natural flotation of Elaztech combined with the stand-up ability of a mushroom head jig. However, on the more shallower and stained flatland impoundments where Ned developed/resurrected Midwest Finesse, shallow swimming in one form or another seems to be the more dominant (and original) presentation. Another new adaptation is the mushroom head weedguard so you can fish the Ned around weed and wood cover better, more similar to a shakeyhead. Again though, the original Midwest Finesse concept tended to avoid those lairs and instead focus on more overlooked "plain" or "nothing looking" banks where the open hook jighead gets the majority of use. -T9

Red is one of several colors Midwest Finesse anglers use, but it wasn't always that way. The red hue came about after Ned Kehde spent a day in the boat with Shin Fukae while Fukae was practicing on Beaver Lake for an FLW event. Shin went on to win that event, and Ned noticed that Fukae painted all his jigheads red using his wife's fingernail polish. He also used it to add red dots to many of his hard plastics (jerkbaits, etc). Shin is also responsible in part for the "shake" in many of the Midwest Finesse retrieves. There is also the fact that Elaztech doesn't take dye well, so using bright red, chartreuse, blue or other colored jigheads is our workaround for that. You can read more from Ned on the subject at: http://www.in-fisherman.com/bass/short-history-chartreuse-red-midwest-finesse-jigs/ -T9

Our IDNR biologists have completed several lake surveys with population estimates of the number of potentially catchable bass (those >8"). In Lake Monroe, our largest reservoir with 10,750 ac., they estimated 22,797 bass. Surveys and modeling combined to give an estimate of 16,754 bass (>8") swimming around in Hardy Lake (741 ac.). Over at Sullivan Lake they estimated 12,243 bass roaming its waters (468 ac.). As a slightly different set of numbers, at Brookville Res.(5,260 ac.) , there are about 137 smallmouth bass per mile of shoreline, and another 307 largemouth in that same 1-mile stretch. You can do the math to get things like approx. bass/acre, or the number more commonly referred to in our surveys is catch per unit effort (CPUE), the number of a given fish species sampled (usually shocked) per unit of time, most always in #'s per hour. Our worst waters are single digits, but typically our lakes fall into two classes, a group at about 50 bass per hour, and another at about 150 bass per hour. -T9

Both should handle just fine on a spinning reel. Difference in my opinion would be fluorocarbon will be more sensitive, but you also won't be able to see the line for bites near as easy. Mono you can get in his vis colors for easy line watching, but likely won't be as sensitive. Should be a little bit stronger though (per given/equal rating) depending upon actual lines used. -T9

Had the same basic thing happen to me with Floroclear a couple years back fishing jigs on a baitcaster - two different spools of line - numerous unexplained breakoffs. I'll never purchase another spool of the stuff again Problem solved when the line disappeared from my reel and was replaced by something else...the fastest way to complete resolution for you IMHO. Have never had an issue with their 100% fluorocarbon or CXX though....not a P-line hater. -T9

Happens all the time on the waters I fish. As long as I don't actually "get sprayed" you just shake your head and fish on. It's always something now days. Pontoon boaters cutting across your casted lines while they smile and wave "Hi" because they have no clue what they just did. Speed boaters cutting you to the inside of points you're fishing instead of going around you. Wakeboats rolling by within 50 feet of you and sending you on a roller coaster ride, hoping you don't take water over the bow or stern. Tourney guys moving in on you or cutting you off when you're just halfway down the bank you have been fishing for the past 30 minutes. Other regular fishermen pulling up on you and dropping anchor next to you before you even get the fish they saw you catch released and back into the lake. It's endless... -T9

Easiest suggestion to relay through a forum is to simply spend some time fishing the various causeways on the lake. Always seems to be some bass around them. Other good areas are coves with flooded timber, or the one with the ramp where they release all the tourney bass -T9

You need to remind that guy you don't need to swing that hard when setting the hook with 'Ned' LOL -T9

When looking at formulations or products to kill poison ivy, check the active ingredients label. The chemical you want to see listed is Triclopyr. Frequently this is in combination with glyphosate (RoundUp) or some other proprietary compound. Doesn't really matter what the secondary compound is. Often products containing Triclopyr will be listed as heavy brush and vine killers, not just weed killers. Get the right stuff and kill it completely the first time. -T9

The Saturniid moths are rather large, and all very cool looking. That's a weird spot for her to be laying eggs. You should collect them and move them to a host plant, maybe try raising one or two yourself in a cage. They need lots of fresh leaves though. The caterpillars are just as big and cool as the moth (first pic). BTW, here is a Luna from my front porch last summer (2nd pic).

For reference, the first two pics are of a Cecropia moth, the next two are of a Ctenucha moth, and the last one is Pearly Wood Nymph Moth (Eudryas unio). -T9

Lots of variables, and our weather hasn't been the best this month, but the fish still have to eat. On the northern natural lakes, lots of times the bass will actually bury in the weeds this time of year. They're moving out to the deep weedline, but seem to hang in the thick of things for a while while recovering from spawning. Also check out large main lake flats on cloudy, windy days for activity. Down south in our reservoirs, lots of bass feeding on craws in the rocks right now. High, murky water from all the rain has the fish shallow more so than normal. Bite has been good though. -T9

Depends on what exact setup you're using (bait and jig head). If you are using a TRD with a ShroomZ jig head, they have a very annoying habit of getting pushed up the hook shank and kinking on the barb. Sometimes with enough maneuvering you can realign, but frequently you have to rip the bait off and rerig. Doesn't hurt anything, just annoying. With most other heads and baits (like a Gopher with a 1/2 ZinkerZ), if you look real close you'll see the kinking is caused by the slightest bit of plastic getting stuck by the hook further down the bait. In this case, a simple reverse of the extra snagged plastic back off the hook will set things straight quick. As for correct initial positioning, it's just like any other soft plastic on a jig or hook. Size it up first to see where the point should exit then insert and try and get it right. Use things like weld lines on the bait to help with this. As mentioned, some MF anglers have no qualms with a "kinky" worm, while others are pretty obsessed about straightness. I fall in the latter camp. -T9

I don't think it matters much. I primarily use Shimano and Daiwa, but also have Pflueger, Cabela's and Okuma spinning reels, and can't say that I notice any difference in how they handle braid - and I use Power Pro a lot. The recommendation is simply there because Shimano owns Power Pro, so naturally they're going to try and promote or recommend their counterparts, because two sales are better than one -T9

I like to think there is a happy middle ground with fish pics. If your arm is 100% extended and /or you try and push the fish off as larger than it is, then shame on you. However, if you caught a nice fish and just want it to look like a nice fish in the pic, I have no problem with doing what you can to make the shot look good. Certainly things like lighting, angles, holding the fish a little bit in front of you, etc., can all make the difference between a good pic and just another fish pic. For me, the worst fish pics are on the extreme ends of the spectrum - either holding it out as far as possible and close to the camera, or trying those selfies where the fish ends up behind you or tucked tight to your belly so it makes a 5 lber. look like a 2.5 compared to your body size. After all, we take fish pics to show off the fish, not the scenery, background or necessarily the angler holding the fish -T9

Can happen no matter what bait you use. A certain small percentage of every fish we catch will simply not make it for a variety of reasons. I can tell you that I've been fishing MF/Ned for over 3 years and have caught thousands of bass with the setup and have never had one swallow the bait, and can only ever remember one fish that didn't make it because of the way it was hooked. I wouldn't worry too much about it. -T9

Wheeler fished both last year's BASSfest as well as this years BASSmaster Classic. He does fish the B.A.S.S. Opens, and that was how he got the invite to BASSfest. Since he won BASSfest, he then got the Classic slot that was given to the winner. Outside of that, he is considered an FLW Pro for the moment. Martens last year on the regular FLW Tour was in 2006, though he did fish the 4 Tour Opens back in 2011. No other FLW events since then. He has almost $600,000 in FLW winnings to his credit though from back when many of the B.A.S.S. guys fished both circuits. Ehrler just switched to the Elites this past year via his B.A.S.S. Opens standings. As for favorite FLW pros, mine would be Wheeler, Fukae, Nixon, Morgan and Alex Davis. Also like to follow how Mark Daniels is performing this year (Circuit Breaker). -T9

Wouldn't surprise me at some point to see someone pull it out. Kind of foolish not to given the rules. I can assure you one of the Select anglers this year will at least have them onboard during competition -T9

Sorry about that - I removed that part of my post. Probably a good reason why the older versions 'performed' like a St. Croix though

I used to work for Galyan's, and while I didn't care for their newer IM8 line of rods, they had an IM7 Performance Series rod that sold for $40 that I'd rate as one of the best moving bait rods ever built for the money. I thought they were so good I bought 8 of them back in the early 2000s when they clearanced them out ($20) for the new models. The newer models were fast action and higher graphite content, while the older models were more moderate with lower modulus graphite. To this day I still have all 8 rods and they have never had a single issue over all those years, and they have literally caught thousands of bass over that time frame, and made thousands of more casts beyond that. We were always under the impression that the older models were made by St. Croix, and at the time, they did mimic the Premiere line of rods rather nicely. Can't say who might have made the newer versions, which looks like the one you posted. I've reads that the Carbomax line of rods was introduced in 2005, and the newer line of Galyan's rods came out around 2001/2002, well before the Carbomax if that is the case. Actually, Galyan's was bought out back in 2004, which also preceded the Carbomax lineup. -T9