james 14

I was going to ask this same question a few weeks ago but forgot. I was going to fish a tourney on a lake with a canal running to a small neighborhood pond with a fountain in the middle. This was going to be a mid-summer pattern so I was wondering if the increased oxygen and reduced light penetration would attract the fish. I imagine it'd be a situation where baitfish would school up and suspend underneath where the water was splashing overhead with bass sitting on the bottom, coming up occasionally to bust the school of baitfish. Depending on if the bass are active or not would determine whether you'd fish them on the bottom, through the middle or closer to the top. I probably wouldn't use a standard topwater bait since it'll likely get lost in the splashing overhead.

Once a bass gets down in the pads you're done. You've got to rip him out as quickly as possible. This holds true with any emergent vegetation...not just pads. I learned the hard way on a fish that about pulled me in the lake when I was flipping a grassline ealier this year. I lost her when she got in the grass. Since then I've turned my hooksets into an effort in pulling fish up to the surface and out of whatever they're in. I've already seen it pay off in my landing fish in situations where they used to get off. The bottom line, as mentioned above, is that you can't do this with 10lb mono and a medium action spinning rod. You may not have to go the route of using braid and heavy action rods but you certainly need to up your tackle a bit. Put braid on that spinning rod and use a leader to fit whatever situation you're fishing. A 20lb flouro leader with a 30lb braid mainline will give you much more control over those fish. You can even go straight braid depending on the water color, how deep in the pads you're fishing and how slow of a retrieve you're using.

I have trouble in the summer down here in FL on natural lakes with little to no offshore structure and water no deeper than 12-13ft. 95% of everyone on the lake will flip the grass line and this usually produces a few fish, however, there are many days where this fails miserably. Perhaps I'm not always doing it correctly or perhaps the fish want something else. It can get very tricky at times for sure, however, someone always manages a 20+ lb bag in a tournament. Either they ran into the one hole on the lake where you could flip up a huge bag or they're doing something else. Don't get me wrong I definitely have my good days but there's certainly room for improvement.

As mentioned above a shorter rod is great for making close, accurate casts. Without actually feeling and using the rod myself it'll be up to you to determine exactly what bait. I don't use medium action rods very often unless I'm using something with treble hooks or lighter wire hooks but, then again, I'm not using "high end" rods either. Where a shorter rod falls short, if you will, is in situations where you're making longer casts. It's harder the make the cast, harder to set the hook well (especially with lighter actions), and harder to handle the fish. Ultimately, however, you use what you got. Just don't expect a good hookset with a jig on a long cast.

50lb braid is fine and the reel is fine so long as it still works correctly. Spool it up and have fun. The tape idea is a good one to help with backlashes while practicing.

I'd just like to be in a bigger, faster boat. I could do SO much more if I had more than a 12ft jon with a 15hp motor. My partner and I are still leading AOY points for our little local club but the boat makes it tough. I really have to make a game plan for how we'll spend our time on the lake. We actually fish tourneys out of his boat which is all of 2ft longer with a 25hp motor. We don't go much faster and he doesn't like it when I hit the TM on high and he's not expecting it. One day he's gonna fall out the boat. He actually almost did in the last tourney but that wasn't my fault. With that in mind I can't really say how I would fair if I had all the goodies. It'd be interesting to see what might be if I had the ability to get around the lake more efficiently and had a more stable platform to work from...especially in the wind. It seems everytime I've gone out this year the weather forecast has been WAY off and I've been blown all over the dang lake. I think with the boat (which is coming in the next year) and certain ammenities (power pole, higher quality graph) I'd be pretty solid after a year or so. "Solid" doesn't mean I'm competing at the pro level but perhaps I'll be fairing well in the BWS or BFL circuits. My plan is to move on to those formats after a year or so of being able to work out a pattern more efficiently in a larger, faster boat.

I know we have the Classic and the Forrest Wood Cup but those are still specific to a particular tour and reserved mainly for professional anglers. I'd like to see one big tournament similar in format to what the USGA does in golf with qualifying events and exemptions for "professional" fishermen from all tours. This would put BASS, FLW, etc against each other along with the best amateurs who don't have the opportunity to fish on one of the big tours. I'm not sure who would be in charge of such a thing since bass fishing doesn't have an overall organization like the USGA. Thoughts?

Elaztec floats so you'll need to use a weight of some sort.

I was watching a video of a Bassmaster tourney from 07 or 08 and I noticed they had co-anglers at the time. I was wondering when they changed and what their reasoning was. I'm sure it was quite a controversy.

Never used it with flouro but it cinches down pretty easily so I imagine the risk of burning the line is very small so long as you wet it enough. It holds solid with braid so you don't have to worry about it slipping.

I've used 30lb braid on a baitcaster which is the same diameter as 8lb mono and more limber and had no problems. You'll just have to be very careful of backlashes. What 30lb braid can handle in terms of untangling line and having line loops slapping around inside the reel 8lb mono cannot. If you get a backlash be sure to carefully inspect the portion of the line that was inside the reel.

I wouldn't worry about how it runs. My tourney partner and I have no problems on most days. He uses the double hook and I use an Owner 5/0 Beast with a Strike King 2/0 trailer hook.

Okay I tested this Shark Knot several times and, while it looked great at first, I don't like it at all now. It was weird to tie and difficult to get cinched down correctly. I'm pretty deft of hand so this shouldn't have been that big of a deal for me. I pulled it directly against a palomar in three different tests and it lost every time. It has a lot of wraps and loops to get lubed up and tightened down correctly. I'll play around with it a little more to see if I can get it to tighten down better but, for now, I can tie a palomar quicker and it holds much better.

As I suspected it didn't fair too well. The link you provided shows the clinch knot being used on the braid which isn't a good idea at all. I watched the braid slip at least 1/4" before the leader line broke. I also tried it by using the clinch on the leader side but it didn't work too well either. I pulled them directly against an Alberto tied at the other end of the leader. Snook, the way I tie my palomar I wet it enough so that it pulls tight while pulling both the main line and the tag end. It should provide little resistance and tighten down solidly. If not then it wasn't wet enough before tightening. Before I wrap the loop over I'm careful not to tighten the overhand knot down too much. If it's tight it creates more friction when you try to tighten the overall knot down at the end.

When I said the knot "failed" I meant that it broke. All knots will break at some point and in these instances the Alberto broke before the palomar. The tests above were with 15lb mono. I'm going to try again with the 8lb FC I'm planning on actually fishing with before taking it to the water.

Your hookset should be a combination of setting the hook and pulling the fish straight up out of the water. Reel down and yank him up out of there. Every fish under 3lbs or so will come right up in the boat and everything else will be turned and not allowed to getting into the grass. A lot of people (myself included) freak out on the strike and try to set the hook too quickly. Take the time to prepare for the hookset and you should have no problems if you're using braid and a heavy rod.

50lb braid, MH rod, fast tip, zero problems. I'm always anticipating a strike and rarely lose a fish...not on the strike...not on the fight. I also ALWAYS use a trailer hook.

Triple Surgeon's didn't hold for me. Even when I had the Alberto fail it still held about as well as the triple surgeon's. I even tried looping the surgeon's knot 5-6 times which created a quintuple surgeon's (or something like that). It made it only marginally better. Now, if you wanna talk loop knots...I used a triple surgeon's loop to beat a palomar and was much stronger than the rapala knot...and much easier to get right. The rapala knot screws up when I tighten it down at least half the time since it has two different knots that are tightening at once. I'm going to have to look up the J-knot to see if it's any easier. The Alberto isn't that hard to get right...but it does have to be right. The problem I have with it is the fact that the tag end faces the wrong way and will catch on the rod eyes. I tried to cut the tag really short but it made the knot weaker.

I had the 7' 10" MH before my buddy put his knee down on the tip and broke it. I loved the rod and would have one for just about everything if I could.

Different Walmarts carry different brands depending on where you're located. Most of them carry Trilene Big Game which is good stuff. I've found Spiderwire Super Mono there as well and it's also good stuff. I've been burned by Stren in the past so I can't suggest it.

I use straight braid for nearly all flipping. When you're flipping that means your either in or right next to the cover and you need to be able to manhandle the fish to keep them out of it. I played around with heavy FC for flipping and, while I didn't lose any fish as a result, I didn't catch anymore fish than with the braid and it was MUCH less manageable when you compare the limpness of braid to FC. This means I can get the bait through the grass easier and it falls more naturally. For your leader knot you need to go with the Alberto (modified Albright) as mentioned above. Check out my post on Braid-Leader Knot Test where I recently tested several leader knots. This is the only one that wouldn't break before the knot on the hook.

I used to use a surgeon's knot but wanted to test this Alberto knot I've heard about. I also tried a uni-uni just to see what it would do. I tied the leader knot and then tied a palomar to a ring which was hooked to something stationary, giving me something to pull against. I figured I would start by seeing if I could get the palomar to break first. If not, I would move on to testing the actual break strength using the line to lift objects of varying weights. I never had to get that far. The alberto knot beat the palomar everytime...several times. Since I always use a palomar on my hooks I am comfortable using the alberto for my leaders from now on. The surgeon's knot, which I had been using and had gotten to beat a palomar before in the past, lost everytime...as did the uni-uni. For the alberto you HAD to tie it exactly right. This meant wrapping the braid up and back down the leader loop with the same number of wraps both ways and it meant running the tag of the braid through the loop the same way it went in originally. If any of these things didn't occur correctly the knot failed. It wasn't hard to do but it definitely made a difference if it wasn't right.

I use the Mustad Triple Grips on my cranks and they hold up well to the braid. They even make a 1x version that is a heavier guage which could stand up to quite a bit of abuse I'm sure.

It doesn't matter because the map should show an outline of every parcel. The property may not even have an address. You should be able to click the parcel (depending on the setting) and it'll show all the info. If it's owned by an individual it'll show their name. If it's owned by the public it'll say something about the city, county, state or public agency which has control of it.

Ooh...DON'T get rid of the side bunks. Remove them for the restoration process...sure thing. But, put em' back on when you're done.