Marty

36" + = fun 30 and under = to quote another member slime dart. Can't argue there since 36" would break the world record. ;D

You could use it as a rough guideline, but I wouldn't take it overly seriously. For example, they include topwater plugs at 65°, but apparently exclude poppers since they say at 70° you can add poppers and buzzbaits. That doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Like any other time, concentrate on locating the fish, then figure out what it takes to get them to bite.

John beat me to the question. I've used Regals exclusively for 10+ years, using the 2500 size for bass fishing. I've had mono up to 12# on them. With much bigger line you might be better off with baitcasting.

I just caught the last 7-8 minutes or so but I'm glad to have seen the end of what certainly ranks as one of the most significant upsets in recent memory. That puts a lot more teams into the mix and will be fun to follow.

My walleye fishing has been in non-typical walleye waters, i.e., the Erie Canal. They readily took a wide variety of crankbaits, which I fished 90% of the time, and also took grubs on jigheads. As an aside, the bass there loved Wally Divers, so I'd take with a grain of salt any thoughts of species-specific lures.

I am not particularly computer-knowledgeable, but next time it happens, don't maximize it with the button. Rather, drag it to full size by the corners and see if it remembers the new size.

I have no knowledge as to how a wake bait should be tuned, but the first thing I'd try is to tune it like a regular crankbait. You didn't say how you tuned it, but with a crankbait you bend (not twist) the line tie in the opposite direction from where the bait is running. If repeated adjustments don't fix the problem, then it's probably defective. I'm not at all surprised to hear a Norman lure is out of tune. The only Norman lure I ever used regularly was a Deep Baby N. A great lure but those needed tuning much more than any other bait I owned.

I've been using Pop'n Frogs on and off for years. I don't use them as much as I used to, but a couple of years ago I caught a few three-pounders on them in October.

Impossible to answer, but a definite possibility. Everyone has different selections. I wouldn't bet the ranch on the store carrying it, so if the store isn't close to you I'd call first rather than make a special trip.

As far as my personal experience, the topwater lures that I use, which include buzzbaits, have been effective down to surface temperatures of around 55°.

I'm pretty much in agreement. I carry either three or four rod-reel combos and a tackle bag with four 3600 boxes. For both hard and soft baits I carry no more than two colors, generally a darker and lighter color, and sometimes fell that's one color too many. I've always felt that if a fish is willing hit a lure, then it would have been willing to hit any number of lures that would have been in the same place at the same time. Thus I have no need or desire to carry a huge assortment. Besides, the more lures I carry the harder it would be for me to decide what to use. My partner's the opposite; he's a one-man tackle store, a manufacturer's dream. ;D

I think something like that is impossible to predict. You need to try a bunch of different things, such as locations, depths, time of day, lure speed and a variety of lures. Unfortunately, I'm all too familiar with small ponds and slow bites. Good luck.

They're a pain in any weather if you're lazy like me. But there have to be tradeoffs when talking about storing a large number of baits.

Very nice indeed. I don't know where Chaumont is.

I don't know about the "best." I used to use the smallest Kastmaster spoons, then I started using tiny crankbaits, mostly Rapala Mini Fat Raps and some of the smallest Countdowns. But I really think just about any small lure that they can take with those little mouths could be effective.

Very nice pike. Not at all surprising that it was caught on a spinnerbait.

I agree with Fishing Rhino that it doesn't necessarily mean it was the Senko. That fish might have just been attracted by the action of a wacky-rigged bait and any number of soft plastics that had been offered at the same time probably would have caught that fish.

It's obviously a business decision to eliminate trigger reels; not enough people care for them. I used to use them and had no problems. I think the problem with hooksets is hugely overstated. Backplay occurs when there is no resistance to the handle. Since my hand was always on the handle, there was resistance, thus no backplay on hooksets or elsewhere. If someone likes trigger reels for whatever reasons, I see no reason for them not to use them because of fears of losing fish.

If he's the best college player, then the Bills won't get him. They didn't get where they're at by smart drafting.

I was never able to completely prevent hook tangles with short shank hooks. I use #6. Maybe to prevent all tangles you'd need #8 or maybe a #6 and #8. Another alternative is to use just one hook, maybe a #4 or #2.

Unfortunately, the Bills are looking pretty good for that "honor." >

I've seen numerous columns of his on cnn.com.

Have you fished this pond often enough to get a pretty good feel for it? Murky water in and of itself should not preclude good fishing. For many years I frequently fished an extremely murky section of the Erie Canal with success. 95% of my fishing was done with crankbaits and the rest with grubs on jigheads. If this is a decent pond you ought to be able to catch fish on a variety of lures, fished based on the cover and other conditions. Those Erie Canal fish (bass, walleye and pike) hit plenty of lures that were "wrong" for murky water, such as quiet and muted colored lures. Nevertheless, you might want to use lures that conventional wisdom says should be good in murky water. I'd start with rattling crankbaits, thumping spinnerbaits and noisy topwaters.

I say go for it! Thousands of fish have been caught by anglers doing something unconventional, "thinking outside the box", so to speak.

I never cared for Chatterbait's components, including hooks. My personal experience is that things work out OK if using a standard, straight spinnerbait trailer. But curly tails and other styles get wrapped around in the trailer hook.