ROCbass

If you're willing to go for a little drive, DeWitt Recreation area in Batavia is pretty good. To get there take 33 west into Batavia and turn left on 5 (main street) and then right onto Cedar street. the park will be on your left. The lake is an old gravel quarry. there's a boat launch and a fishing pier close to the park entrance, and hiking trails around the perimeter of the lake. I caught my PB largemouth there fishing from the bank in a little bay on the backside of the lake.

A while back I read an article, I believe it was in In-Fisherman but it could have been another magazine, which stated that if you were absolutely unable to remove a hook from a fish's gullet the proper course of action was to cut the line, but to cut it 12-18 inches above the hook. The reasoning was that the drag in the water created by the long tag would pull the shank to one side and allow food to pass more easily. That being said, I agree with the others who have said that the hook should be removed if at all possible. I have never been unable to remove a swallowed hook from a bass since I learned the through the gill removal method. Leaving a longer tag on the hook might come in handy when dealing with deep hooked fish with smaller mouths, though.

Hi all, Its probably been over a year since I last logged in so I thought I'd drop in here to get re-acquainted. Been quite busy over the past year. Highlights include finishing grad school, moving from Rochester, NY to Columbia, SC, starting a new job, and getting married. All that stuff was great, but it didn't leave much time for fishing or the forums. I'm glad to be back now, though. Shane

I'm currently unemployed, but next week I start my summer job as a camp counselor/climbing wall and ropes course instructor for children with disabilities and in August I'll be a school psychologist intern.

I haven't fished it, but I was planning on this being my next spinning rod purchase. However, when I went to two different stores to check them out and could not find a single one that didn't have at least one crooked guide, i decided I would not be buying one anytime soon.

My dad told me about when he was kid and used to work on a farm, the farmer he worked for always wore a sweatshirt, no matter the weather. His reasoning was it actually kept him cooler and made it so he didn't sweat as much because the shirt absorbed the sweat and it that way it would stay on his body and keep him cool instead of constantly sweating and having it evaporate.

Someone should tell that eagle catch and release is better for the fishery.

The extent of my knowledge on this subject is a couple of psychology classes on sensation and perception so I'm no expert, but whether or not hearing loss would affect bone conduction depends on the cause of the loss. If it was caused by damage to the eardrum, inus, malleus, or stapes, bone conduction would not be affected in most cases from what I understand. These structures physically transmit vibrations in the air from the ear canal to the cochlea but are not involved in bone conduction, which is a direct link from the mastoid to the cochlea. If the cause of the loss is damage to the cochlea or the sensory neurons going from the ear to the part of the brain that processes sound, bone conduction might be affected. It is also possible that because of your hearing loss, the part of your brain which normally process auditory information is getting less of this and is occupying itself with other tasks to make up for the loss, such as processing tactile vibrations. This might cause you to perceive some of these vibrations as sounds. This is an interesting subject with lots of possibilities. I wish I had more than a rudimentary knowledge of how all the possible factors were interrelated.

It sounds like you're describing bone conduction, where the mastoid bone (bone on your skull right behind your ear) is vibrated, which vibrates the cochlea. If the strike is hard enough to travel through your arms and vibrate the mastoid bone, it's possible that you could hear the strike. Next time I go fishing I'll try to see if I notice this myself.

How old are the 33's you're using? It seems to me there are significant differences in quality depending on the vintage. My dad has some Zebco spincasters from the 80's and early 90's that are decent, well-made reels. On the other hand, I have one form the early 2000's that is very cheap feeling. Lots of play in the handle, drag isn't smooth, isn't smooth on the retrieve, plastic frame, etc. Maybe the newest ones are better than the one I have, but the ones my dad has from 20+ years ago beat the one I have that is less than half that old and has barely been used all day every day, and twice on Sunday.

Bump. Leaving Rochester for the Columbia area a week from today. Anyone willing to share some bank fishing spots? Don't think I'll have enough money to rent a boat anymore.

This is terrible news for his family and friends. There's a long thread on a Buffalo Bills forum I belong to where people are speculating that this may have been caused in part by head trauma suffered during his playing days. With more and more stories coming out about how much former players suffer and the league cracking down on helmet to helmet hits, it would not shock me if we are witnessing the beginning of the end of football as we know it. There are already discussions taking place about eliminating kickoffs from the game to further reduce violent collisions. It stinks because I and so many others love football, but it is becoming more and more clear that something must be done, especially if it comes out that Seau did indeed have trauma-induced brain abnormalities. RIP.

I agree with JFrancho on this as far as being willing to pay a little more for a rod with a replacement policy. However, if the rod is supposedly costing more up front and you still need to pay $75 for the replacement, it makes me wonder how much of a savings there would really be on the MSRP if the policy wasn't included in the initial price, as it seems like most of the cost of the replacement would be included in the $75 (I'm talking manufacturing cost here, not retail price. I realize that even if they're giving out replacements at cost, they're not making money on the replacement). Also, I want to know what the heck he or the previous owner did to that Avid for it to have a cracked reel seat, no tip top and several broken guides. Did your wife get mad and try to recreate the ugly stick garbage disposal commercial? I'm surprised a rod in that condition didn't have any blank damage that caused breakage.

Maybe I misread the OP, but I didn't get the impression it was a sliding treble, but that the treble and the dropshot weight were basically fixed together on the line, almost like a jig but not actually molded to the hook shank. I'm not sure if that changes your opinion any or not, nor does it matter to me if it does. You certainly are entitled to you opinion, and if you don't like the rig then don't fish it. I just don't see how it could be considered snagging, at least by the letter of the law here in NY, if the fish picks it up in its mouth. As far as asking an ECO about the rig, I have never run into one while fishing, so I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for a response to that, lol. I will say that even though I disagree with you in that I don't think there's anything wrong with the rig when fished the way the OP described, I do think that it would be enough to make an ECO suspicious, and probably wouldn't fish it myself for that reason.

I don't see how any of those regs would apply here. By this definition, snatching is taking fish with hooks when not attracted by bait or artificial lure. If the fish went over and picked it up, it was attracted by it. Either the weight, or the hook itself would be considered the lure in this case IMO. It's the same as dropping a bare hook in the water and having a bluegill hit it, which I see happen all the time. Also, he wasn't repeatedly jerking his rod attempting to snag the fish, so that doesn't fit either. All the stuff about where and when you can and can't ****** is irrelevant if he wasn't in NY. Finally, I don't have the reg book in front of me but IIRC last box is a specific regulation about the trout/salmon spawning run. Any jig over 1/8 ounce, or a keel weighted swimbait hook would fit the definition of a hook with added weight in that case, but it doesn't apply to bass fishing.

I'm sure there's plenty of these "jokers" who complain about having to put up with the fishermen out there too. Some people like water powersports, others like fishing. There's even a few of us out there who like both. As long as everyone is respectful of each other, there's no reason we can't all share the water while enjoying it in our own way. I realize that not everyone is respectful of others on the water at all times, but fisherman can be just as guilty of that as the pleasureboat/jetski/waterski/tubing crowds.

I wonder if the guy on the left was able to stay on

Unfortunately the amount of bass I've caught this year is the same as the amount of times I've been fishing this year, and it's less than 1. Hoping to get out once school winds down

Don't forget the soda entrepreneur nephew, Fay Gogh.

If that's the case I understand it, and I realize that whatever went down is between those individuals and Glenn. On the other hand, if there is a a reason why I shouldn't support a certain business I would like to know, especially when it is a former sponsor. To have them be a sponsor one day and 'blacklisted' the next without an explanation has the appearance of sour grapes as a result of them pulling sponsorship. In any case, I'm glad that isn't what's happening even if it might look that way from the outside. edited to add: Glenn posted as I was typing, confirming my suspicions on why more info isn't shared with the members. I guess I'll just know who to stay away from by if I can see their name when someone types it or not.

My buddy has a willow tree right next to the dock at his cottage that fell into the water a few years ago. I was standing on the dock pitching a t-rig at the tree when I made bad cast over a limb 3-4 feet off the water. After going over the limb and dropping into the water, I felt a hit on my t-rig and set the hook on maybe a 10" fish. The thing came flying up out of the water and my hook stuck into the limb my line was over and held the fish there! I had to have my buddy hold my rod while I climbed out onto the tree to release the fish and get my t-rig back.

for durability, I would think good old fashioned pork is tough to beat.

can't see the link without joining their forum.

Mmm, chick-fil-a... I'll definitely be stopping there a time or two when I'm in South Carolina in a couple weeks.

Lately after holding the door for someone or doing some other small good deed, I've noticed myself saying 'mhmm' or 'yup' when they say thank you. The more I think about it, the more it bothers me that I do this, so I've started making a conscious effort to actually say you're welcome. Some may think that it's not a big deal because you already did something nice for the person, but it just seems to me that if they have the decency to say thank you (it amazes me how many people don't but that's another topic), then I should at least be able to say you're welcome instead of muttering some non-word half syllable. So my question today is, how do you respond when someone says thank you, and what do think is an appropriate/sufficient response?