Marty

I use your latter method for both buzzbaits and spinnerbaits.

I'll offer up another alternative. It may very well be that the product quality is consistent and as good as anything else, but their marketing and promotional skills are below those of the more famous companies. It's not just fishing. I remember years ago a car got a terrible rating from Consumer Reports but was the top-selling car in America. That company knew how to sell.

I would suggest doing a search on fishing multitool or fishing multi tool. I just tried it quickly and it looked like numerous results popped up, but I didn't pay close attention to them.

Maybe a lot, it depends. I've caught a lot of bass on soft plastics without feeling anything. The only way I knew i had something was seeing the line move off to the side, so I had to watch the line very carefully. That's not so easy since I started using green braid, but that's another story.

1. I'll often opt for crankbaits when the water is weed-free enough to allow their use. 4. I'd chalk up your inability to get bites on these to using them in the wrong place at the wrong time. Even if you're not fishing by the book, you should be getting some bites on these lures if there's fish in the area. 7. That's the conventional wisdom (except for clear water it's not yellow but muted colors). However, the bass don't know the conventional wisdom and they strike colors all the time that defy that conventional wisdom. You can start out with the standard colors, but don't be afraid to change colors if need be. Over the years I've lots of strikes on muted cranks in heavily stained water and loud colors in clear water.

Not just buzzbaits that work in the daytime, it's other topwaters as well.

Regardless of whether you should use braid or not, you should not be experiencing that hookset problem. Many of us fished with mono for years, before there was such a thing as braid and managed to set the hook. I personally used 10# mono, either Trilene XL or Stren. I managed to do successful hooksets on some pretty good bass by western NY standards. Who knows, depending on what's happening now, you could be back at some future date saying you use braid and are having trouble with hooksets. By the way, you didn't say what kind of hookset trouble you're experiencing.

You've set some good goals. Good luck in meeting them.

I bought a canoe seven years ago and have not experienced hookset problems or lost fish any more or less than when fishing from a bass boat. Like the original poster, it's just a paddle and me.

I'm not gonna guess. It doesn't look like a conventional pike or pickerel. It does have a dark vertical bar under the eye which is a mark of the pickerel, but the mark isn't as dark as the field guide. Are pike known to exist in Alabama? A call to your DNR or e-mail with the picture attached should clear up the matter.

I'll take the opposing position. There are countless thousands of very young people, NCAA athletes or otherwise, who haven't put themselves in positions that Winston has. Eighteen is more than old enough to know right from wrong. Yes, many kids that age have done some things they regret but far more have their heads screwed on straight. Age doesn't excuse everything.

A chart would be very nice, but bass don't read the charts. They often take lures that conventional wisdom says they shouldn't. If you start with soft plastics, I'd start with some basic types, such as plastic worm, Senko-type, maybe a creature bait, and would get just a couple of proven colors, such as black, pumpkinseed and green pumpkin. I don't think it's necessary to match the hatch. Your lure needs to appeal to the fish's senses, not look exactly like something else. I used to fish a lot in a part of the Erie Canal with a heavy green stain where visibility was less than 18" at its clearest. Conventional wisdom would call for a loud bait in black or loud colors with a wide wobble. One of my best lures was Shad Rap, a non-rattling, narrow wobbling lure in muted colors, such as crayfish. I have no river experience so I can't say anything about the differences from lake fishing.

I bought a Pflueger President 6935 last year and have been very pleased. I can't make a comparison to the other two mentioned. What sort of problems are you having with your "beginner" reel and what is it?

Sports teams, pro or otherwise, cut a lot more slack to first-stringers than bench warmers. I have a good friend who's an FSU alum and he's disgusted with the way the school has handled Winston.

Corn is an excellent bait, just about the only bait I ever used. My preference is to use a bag of frozen corn from my supermarket. I never bothered chumming, but I'm in no position to comment on its effectiveness.