merc1997

tom i really have not left, but have too busy selling jigs that i have not had the time to keep up with the blogs. guess busy is good though. adding to your post, fall rate is also speed. we have horizontal speed, and we have drop speed. even when dragging a jig over rocks, the rate your are dragging, and when a jig falls off of a taller rock, the rate of decent equates to speed, and triggers strikes. of course, you and i both know that there are just periods of time that bass "go to sleep", and when this happens, you just can not get them to bite. i have had the blessing of watching bass in a giant aquarium, and have presented lures to them at different stages of activity. when active, it was quite easy to get them to bite most anything, and speed was not critical. when in neutral, they could still me made to strike some, when the right depth and speed was accomplished. but, when in that sleeping mode, not even live bait interested them. bo

i can assure that releasing bass back into a school with shut the bite down. case in point, when fishing a tournament one keeps the bass, and when on a good school, will continue to catch them. but, when fun fishing, how many times do you really whack them, and you are letting the bass go?? the bigger the bass, the more quickly they will shut down too. bo

i should add to what i have stated that bass can pretty much go to sleep at times, and when bass are in the sleeping mode, dynamite is about the only thing that will work. bo

active bass are much easier to catch than inactive bass. this is where depth and speed control will help you catch more bass. bass, even when in a neutral state can be made to reflexively strike at a lure that is being fished at the correct depth and speed. a very good read is buck perry's spoon plugging book. pay close attention to the section of depth and speed. of course buck trolled a lot using his spoon plugs, but that concept can be carried over to casting. it has really been amazing at how little of adjustment in speed was the difference in loading the boat and catching nothing. case in point. one night i was catching bass using a plastic worm and a 1/2 oz. sinker. my buddy was using the same thing, but was using a 7/16 sinker. he could not figure out why he was not getting any bites. after i made him switch to a 1/2 sinker, he immediately began getting bites. that small difference in speed made difference in getting bass to reflexively strike and not. keep in mind that wobble and vibration can be a perception of speed also. keep changing until you come up with the right combination. bo

i know that i am a bit late to the party here, but i will tell you what i have observed over the years here on our ozark lakes. unless, the water temps get really cold, bass will continue to eat. fishing pressure might make feeding more sporadic but bass are going to eat. bass will adapt and we have forced them to become more open water feeders. many bass never get near the bank or bottom, with the exception of spawing because we have forced them to from constant fishing pressure. here on table rock, our declining timber is another factor, as well as the brown sludge that is covering everything from pollution going into the lake. just as we humans look for a different restaurant that suites our needs better bass will also. bass will occasionally go dormant from an unusually cold winter. bo

the actual mechanical functions of an ewg hook are not great. first the line tie and hook point are in line with each other blocking the hook point until the eyelet is outside the mouth. if it does hook inside, it will be a flat angle that can tear out. next, the pull line of the hook is right under the barb, where a round bend hook the pull line is at the very bottom of the bend much further away from the barb. since, the pull line of the ewg is so close to the barb, when a hooked bass is swimming straight away from you the hook can be dislodge quite easily. most ewg hooks have too much flex in the throat due to the long sweeping curve. as soon as the throat of a hook flexes, the hook point is turning away from the line of pull with your hook set. the straighter that line is maintained, the easier hook penetration is. hooks that turn the hook point off center have the same problem. offset hook and sproat style hooks also have hooking issues also, the newer sproat style with the bigger keeper barbs, are magnifying the sproat's problems. there is a very detailed video on you tube that gives very easy demonstrations of all these hook problems, but i am not allowed to give you that info. i will just say that a 60 degree jig hook with a hitch hiker attached to the eyelet to attach your plastics to, would be a much better choice for texas rigging. bo

here is a bit of advice, or just my opinion. do not worry quite so much about distance. worry more about learning to fish as close as you can. fishing closer will add up to better hook sets, and more fish landed. learn to be accurate when the need arises, learn to flip and pitch, and practicing out in the back yard will help you get better too. bo

the best fishing tool you have is your brain. catching the bass is the easiest part of the job. the hardest is locating them. spend time learning seasonal patterns for the waters you fish. learn the food base and food chain for those waters. this will help you eliminate a lot of water and key in on areas that are holding the bass. wrb, a member here has a calendar he developed called the cosmic clock. for those just starting out bassing, it is a great aid. i think tom posted on this thread and gave the best advice you can go by. bass are always going to be around food. lure selection can also be kept pretty simple. there is not any magic lure, but we do have some very effective fishing tools. in my opinion, the jig is at the top of the list. it can be fished skirted with trailer, or naked with any plastic. it can be fished from top to bottom, and swam, coasted, dragged, or jigged. depth and speed are the two most crucial factors in enticing strikes out of bass. as tom stated, active bass are easier to catch. in between those active periods are when fishing at the right depth and speed will elicit reaction bites. time on the water will help hone your skills and thought process. good luck. bo

i believe that bass really do not travel far unless necessary because of food or water quality. we here stories all the time about how fish will travel back to where they were caught. well, if that were true, then all the bass that are caught on the upper end of table rock and are hauled down to the dam area to be weighed in would travel all the way back to the upper end, and we would still have a great bass population on the upper end. but, that just does not happen. another case in point is the fact that over a four or five year period, a buddy of mine and i caught and transported keepers size small mouth from the lower end of table rock and released them around the big m area of the lake, where there just was never any small mouth caught. now, it is common place to catch small mouth in this area. pretty good chance that all those brownies that we brought back to the upper end stayed, and that is why there a brownie population on the upper end now. bo

listen to what tom posted, and learn seasonal patterns. understanding and learning where the food source is a great help in determining where to be fishing. also, remember that any lake that stratifies will have a turn over. while an area of the lake is turning over, catching can be very difficult. bo

go to the hardware store and buy you a quality mill file. it will sharpen any hook out there. i have used one for years. bo

i might have some input on your situation since i have been through the entire process of patents and trademarks. to begin with a patent, you have to decide if you have something to patent. is it a function or just a design? if it is a function, you will have to research to see if there has or is already protection on what you believe to be patentable. trademark wise, what is there about the image that is unique? as far as taking the idea to another manufacture, you need a signed legal document that states they will not produce or disclose, and that can be very "ify". i have things all over the fishing industry that are mine and have never been paid for or recognized to be the originator. patents are expensive, and you need to weigh the cost of that against being able to ever bring that idea to market. if you do not have any idea how to manufacture your idea, you need to start learning how to do it, to be able to make a determination as to what that cost might be, and whether the finished product will arrive at a sellable price point. i have a number of patents and trademarks so , i have a bit of knowledge of what i am talking about. and several of those are to do with fishing products. bo bo

i fish a lot at night on the area ozark lakes. during the spring, in particular the moon of march, the bass a lot of times seem to be breathing air, they are so shallow. i know for a fact that kicking the trolling motor on and off will spook bass off the bank. i leave the troller on constant, and adjust the speed so that i am just creeping along at a pace i can keep up with fishing. stealth is a necessity for catching big bass consistently as this time of the year. in fact, your lure had better not be making any noise on entry. even when the bass move deeper, i still try to maintain a constant troller so i am not kicking it off and on all the time. i see many people run their trollers at highers speeds and are constantly kicking the motor off and on. i just personally have experienced that does not help the catching. another thing to remember is when the boat movement is constanly changing speed, it makes it that much more difficult to accurately fish your bait. you are going at it really fast, and then the boat is blowing around with the wind. this makes it very difficult to discern those nothing bites from a big bass. bo

i have broke off a bass, and caught it again on the very next cast, with my hook still in it. the line cut on the hook set, so there was not a fight. goes to show the peta people that bass do not feel the hook, just react to the pressure. bo

times 2. you need to look up tom's cosmic clock calendar. it will help you understand the seasonal patterns much better. bo

with your medium action rod, i would first suggest using jigs with a smaller hook, or better yet spool on some braid. with fairly stained water, line should not be an issue. fishing no more than 6' deep, a 3/8 jig or lighter will do the job in most cases. fish the jig much the same as you would a plastic worm. a jig can also be swam much like a spinner bait, especially in these shallow water depths. as far as color, black and blue always works well in stained water. brown and orange, and black and chartreuse are also good options in stained water. hope this might help. bo

i see nothing wrong with your trailer. as for me, when fishing a jig, i always hang the trailer on the hook. you will get much more action out of your trailer, and it will give the trailer the opportunity to stay floating up. when hanging, you would probably need to cut off part of the trailer at times. as always, let the bass tell you if they want it. bo

my go to lure is always a jig. a jig and pork will, in my opinion, more consistently catch big bass than any other lure. bo

spinner baits, like any fishing tool, have their place. there are definitely times that a spinner bait is the right tool to throw. when bass are foraging on shad, which our fall season is a great time, spinner baits many times would be a good choice. of course, as with any other lure we might choose to try, we have to be throwing it in front of bass to have a chance at catching them. getting a good handle on seasonal patterns will help eliminate water. tom young has produced a very useful tool called a cosmic clock. i would suggest looking that up and study it. it will help any of us with seasonal patterns. bo

holding the rod in front of the reel has many advantages. first, by holding the rod in front of the reel, you have much better feel of feedback coming through the rod. next, you can lay the line on the underneath side of your thumb. this is the most sensitive area on a hand, in particular men. the last thing is you will have a much better hook set because you now have weight behind the hand and this gives you more leverage and speed on the hook set. you will also be able to put more power on the rod in controlling a big bass. hope this will help. bo

if you change your method of cleaning and begin cutting through the guts cutting through rib bones, you will not like the taste. cutting through the guts of any fish is a no-no when it comes to the taste of the meat. once you cut into the guts, there will always be that "fishy" taste to the meat. i have proven this fact to many friends over the years. electic knives will work, but do not cut through the ribs. go around them. bo

you definitely need to be fishing where there are a number of DD's to work with. but, just from my observation of the bulk of the fisherman, it is more of an accident of any of them catching a bass that big. if one will ever notice, that there are always a handful of bassers that consistently catch what would be considered big bass for your area. there are several reasons for that. big bass are a completely different critter than your average bass. you have to spend time fishing an area to find that little prime piece of cover that a really big bass is going to use. there are few bassers in todays day and time that will fish slow enough to ctach a big one even if there is one in the area. the reason for this is watching the "pros" and coffee shop talk. tom young has caught numerous dd's. yes, he lives in an area where they do exist that size. but, ask him how much differently he fishes for them. you can not pull up to a place, make half a dozen casts and then you are off the the next hot spot, and ever think you have a real chance of catching a really big bass. bo

well, guess what you are doing then when you fight a fish in through any type of cover??? that is right, you are rubbing slime coat off. are you going to quit fishing??? neither am i. i will agree that we all need to take care of our fish. i do not know about taking pics on the carpet, but there are just times that a fish is going to get on the floor of the boat. i have bad wrists and hand, and i have to settle the fish down between my legs to get enough grip to dislodge the hook. some of us just can not be as perfect as you would like us to be. bo

my next question would be, when you got your rig back in, was the hook out of the senko? and, where you using a slip sinker?? believe it or not, bass will hit your slip sinker, and that will be the only thing in their mouth. i have actually landed a few over the years, and that was all that was in their mouth, and they had clamped down on it so tight that even on the hook set, it did not pop the sinker out of their mouth. next thing that comes to mind is that ewg hooks are very bad of dislodging theirself when bass swim away from you. the pull line on a ewg hook is right under the barb. when a bass swims away from you the hook will pop out of the bass quite quickly many times. that is why i never use a hook with a khale type bend. bo

one of the best bassers ever born by the name of glen andrews had a very good saying about your delema. he stated, "you will find bait without bass, but you will never find bass without bait." with that said, it is possible that you have located a bunch of shad that for whatever reason there just is not any bass around yet. bo