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The mental aspect of fishing, of hunting, is genetic, beyond any doubt. Innately, we look for causation, for patterns, we try to predict animal behavior. All valuable for the survival of our genes

But it's 9 cents!

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/163970-southern-california-vacation-hawgs/ A post about SoCal private lake fishing, and access to Casitas is limited due to Quagga mussels so it is almost private.

Seems like a fly rod from a boat could cover more water, deliver more time during which your small bait is in the prime strike zone. Of course, would work best during those few times when bass are chasing/stalking small fry or polly wogs or baby frogs up into shallow water/grass. What I mean - while drifting down the bank, paralleling the bank, you don't have to reel all the way back in and re-cast, too often miss casting, landing short or long or too hard. With the fly rod your distance is set, the line is out, you back cast and then settle your light bait onto exactly the next spot on the forecast. The bait is sized to the forage and has a new/different look too. Then hand retrieve through the prime water, and recast, again just right, without having to rewind line, to the next spot. Efficient. What am I missing?

They come up on sale; last year I got two at $59 each. Good rods for the money.

Figures. Stupid bankers.

I've got several hook hones and hook files scattered in my Plano boxes; I also snap up my wife's cast off diamond nail files.

Most reels retrieve 2 to 3 feet per crank, depending on how much line is on the spool. Let your bait out a few feet and crank it in, note how many feet per crank. Next, let the bait drop to the bottom and do two things, count the seconds down and then count the cranks back up. Do the arithmetic and you have a good idea of your bait/line combo's rate of drop. Now, for example, suppose your moving along a bank or rock wall, you cast to that area and count it down and you have an idea of the likely depth as you move along.

Around schools, I imagine that my bait gets hit when it happens to be moving authentically within/around the ball. That's hard and unlikely. My experience is that the hits come when a bait ball is breaking against the surface and bait are scattering. That moment is when my bait may appear authentic, a bait panicked away from the ball. The fluttering spoon, or a fly lined un-weighted slow sinking small swim bait, may look like a wounded bait, falling out of the school. The rip and flutter spoon may look like that but it also may simply trigger a reaction bite.

My experience, bank fishing, is that they can feel/hear your footfall. There are spots/cover where I know fish are always there, but I have to sneak up and stay low and throw a side arm, soft entry, cast. You could say that I'm catching out of the same group of fish and training them.

Stealth matters. That's the best reason for long casts. Sharp light gauge hooks help. Sometimes I get lucky with a long cast, reaching back across a cove, to water we covered five or ten minutes before. WRB's point, the reel set, is well taken.

The trick is that these rigs, on a slow retrieve, bounce along on the nose with the tail high, almost vertical; it looks as if the worm is face down, feeding. The weight is in the nose and the eye of the hook, being 1.25 or 1.5 inches from the nose, tends to pull the worm up onto its nose. Even a salty sinking worm will tend to stand up but a floating worm has better presentation, more vertical, less tilt off to either side. So . . . I sort my worms, not only by color and size but also by whether they float or sink. WRB is referring to Iovino's S120 color, "Honeycomb." Here's a picture of the rig: http://www.iovino.com/nailworm

Evolution has something to do with it. Maybe that explains why moon phase matters when fishing in waters not subject to tidal flows. For land locked fish, behavior that is vestigial. I wonder now about moon phase and pelagic, open ocean/non coastal, predator fish - where the effect of tide presumably is less consequential in terms of the movement and location of prey.

Seems as if many fish circle, or at least half circle, whatever cover is adjacent, whenever they eat. They don't just run, they make some kind of turn around whatever obstacle/hide/cover is nearby.

I'll eat those that die in the live well and I've noticed that the thin part of a LMB fillet, from near the belly, is the most likely part to taste muddy. Doesn't seem to be so with every fish though. I'm not sure about it, so has anyone else noticed this? I think it also helps to take care when gutting, make sure that the intestines/organs aren't cut before they are separated from the fish.