Marty

I used to use them a lot more. They come through the grass pretty well and attract fish. I don't recall the hook being very good. At any rate, I stopped using it as many more weedless topwaters came into the market.

I just pull out the line and adjust to what feels right to me. Like RW, I use a light drag, although I haven't measured it lately, but it's probably less than 25%. I always thought a light drag can offset some other problems.

If you mean drum on crankbaits, yes, I've caught numerous. My biggest was 7.5# on a lipless, either Trap or Spot, can't remember.

I would guess that a biologist from your local DNR office would be willing to talk to you and answer some questions.

I can think offhand of three possible explanations: 1) The fish wasn't there for 40 minutes, it just happened to move into that area. 2) The fish's mood may have changed. Their moods change between passive, neutral and aggressive, and one of those changes occurred during those five minutes. 3) The fish may just have reached a point of sufficient agitation after watching lures for 40 minutes. I'm not a particularly patient guy and don't spend a whole lot of time in one spot with no action.

Avid, I was unaware of impending surgery, but best wishes for a complete and speedy recovery.

I think he'll play again. After prison he'll get a suspension and after that I'd think someone would take a chance on him. He'd be only 30-31 and have potential. I can't see every single team shunning him.

Three categories: 1) For weedy water, weedless lures like hollow-bodied frogs and various soft plastics 2) Buzzbaits, for covering water in semi-weedy or open water 3) Lures with treble hooks for more open water. Poppers might be good for working in a small area where you can make small pops without moving the lure a lot. Jitterbugs and walking baits for covering more water. I tend to rely too much on the Jitterbug in this situation because I have so much confidence in it.

I have done a huge amount of shore fishing all of my fishing days plus I've gotten out in boats thanks to a couple of boat-owning friends. And this year I bought a canoe just to give me a little independence in getting out on the water. Shore fishing can be be incredibly rewarding or frustrating. I've never had the numbers shore fishing that I've had at times from a boat. But nine out of my ten biggest bass have come from shore. Maybe that means I just stink at boat fishing, but regardless, I'd hate to have not caught caught those fish.

I certainly can't tell you whether that's a good idea or not, only you can find out by actually doing it to see if it makes a difference. In most of my shore fishing waters, most fish are caught within a fairly close distance from shore. As far as what fish are way out there, I just block it out of my mind because I can't do much about it anyways. Maybe some knowledgeable people can tell you how much extra casting distance you are likely to attain with the longer rod and you can decide if that extra distance will reach to where you think the fish are. Good luck and let us know how you make out.

I use Firefox without that problem.

I move around a lot more than other people. However, if there is good-looking cover or structure I'll fish it thoroughly, otherwise I like to keep moving and cover a lot of water until something happens. If you do this enough on the same body of water you may very well learn about more productive spots whose characteristics were not visible to you. But my way may not be right for others. I see guys all the time staying in one spot for a long time, a spot that doesn't appear to offer anything more than other spots. My lack of patience makes that difficult. Another thing is not to rule out any baits, since almost all lures that work from boats work from the shore.

That's some nice-looking water you showed in the other thread. Fish as much as you can and read as much as you can. There is a wealth of information out there in many different forms. One that won't cost you any money is the Beginner's section here: http://www.bassresource.com/beginner/beginner.html

I agree with the above. There are so many things you can do when you're fishing submerged vegetation. Where you start will largely be an arbitrary decision since there are so many techniques. I'd start with something you have a lot of confidence in, then switch if it's not working.

Agree with bass109; they're fine if they come from good water. For many years carp was (maybe still is) a main ingredient in the popular food among Jewish people, gefilte fish.

That may very well be true, but it doesn't have to be. I have seen ponds that are overpopulated with 12-14" fish to the exclusion of decent numbers of bigger ones. You might try some large lures to see if that reduces the number of smaller fish and attracts bigger ones. Also keep at it through the fall as bigger fish are often accessible to bank fishermen at this time, as well as spring.

You're using good lures which bass readily take. Maybe you could try spending more time there if you can during low light periods using topwaters. Good luck.

There are two types of Speed Worms: the paddle tail and the Ultra-Vibe tail.

There are plenty of sites devoted to antique fishing tackle where you could probably get lots of information.

If you have access to a Gander, they should have it. Well, at least they do here.

I didn't check out any of the links, but my personal preference is for a 5'6" rod over a 5'. A glass rod should be fine. Catch a nice bluegill on a UL and you'll experience great sport.

Pike will readily take anything that's in your tackle box now. Topwaters, bottom crawlers and everything in-between. I'd give a tiny edge to spinnerbaits in shallower water and grubs on jigheads in deeper water. And like Torpedo said, use metal leaders, for your sake and the pike's sake. For you so you don't lose lures and for the pike so after it cuts the line it doesn't have to swim around with a mouthful of crankbait.

There might be a possibility of fish being suspended above your bait, or possibilities that they'd be on bottom or near the surface. Suspended fish are often thought to be hard to catch, but if they're in the mood, they'd likely hit your bait on the way down. As to more aggressive jerks and shorter pauses, try it and see what happens. On any given day it is not very predictable what they will do and trial-and-error is usually required.

Conventional wisdom would probably say that those white and clear colors should be used in clear water, bright conditions. But bass don't read the same books and they take all sorts of colors under all sorts of conditions. Just try your light colors and see if you can determine how they compare to the dark. I do know from personal experience that 021 is a great color, but read enough forums and you'll read about good results with all colors.