Loop_Dad

But don't they look funny?

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x2 on get them quick and let them go quick camp. It shouldn't be a problem with ML.

Nice article, Tom! Is there any way you can show us the pic of the jigs you use? In winter months, most of what I do is jigs in deep. No boats allowed in the most of the lakes in my county in winter, so I have to cast far from shore. I used to use football a lot as I can feel the bottom better. But in lakes with lots of dead tree limbs on the bottom, good ol' Archy seems to work better for me with less snags. The most of Archy I see comes with heavy wire hook. I'm not sure if I am missing some fish because of that.

Bobber stop from Eagle craw works great for me on 65 lbs braid with 1oz tungsten.

That's an interesting technique that I will have to try sometime.

I had those when I was a boy back in late 70's. My guess is those were originally made to fish something other than bass(?). Probably Flat Fish was the original and other company made something similar (?) The original one was too expensive for me and I bought 'look-a-likes'. Used it like crank baits or minnow.

I'm armature too How do you 'sense it wasn't set well'? You don't. You find out the hook was not set well only after you lose a fish. However, sometimes I know I didn't give a good hook set the first time for various reasons, like maybe I lost balance as I set the hook. Then I'll sometimes give a proper hook set to fix that.

Not sure about action, but swivel can effect the sensitivity when you are working with slow presentation lures. It's like swivel working as a small weight pulling the middle of your line downward when you are trying to maintain the tension. Go with tiny swivel.

Man, I only have a couple different colors in each diving ranges, like 10 or so all together. This works for my wallet, my boat (small) and me. I don't know how you guys decide which one to throw when you have so many. If I had that many, I loose time deciding which one to throw.

X3. When you were using stretchy line, the good chunk of the pull you give to the rod tip was absorbed by the entire line and only a part of it was reaching the hook. Now you don't have that stretch, so you need to adjust accordingly to deliver the same pull at the hook. The best way is to go out and experiment to find out what technique works for you. Good luck.

Really? It's okay for me.

I just love twin tail grub.

One tip I have is to go cheap with your lures (without compromising the performance, that is). I used to make my own jigs and the cost of one jig with trailer went down to something like $1.25 a piece. If you are not afraid of loosing your lure, you get more fish.

I estimate the length of the fish to be 23". But it is a skinny fish. The fish weight calculator on this site says 6.9lb. However it is a skinny fish. Once I caught a skinny fish of 21" and the weight was way off. It was off by about 2lbs or 35%. And this fish look even skinner that that one. So I take 45% off 6.9 x 0.55 = 3.8 lbs Close?

There are folks who prefer heavier ones like me and there are others who don't care. But what the theory behind the companies making more smaller shallow cranks than bigger shallow crank? Could it be that they determined the shallow cranks don't need to be thrown far, therefor they don't need to be bigger? Or is it simply more fishermen buy smaller sizes, so they make smaller sizes? Which one is RC .05?

I am trying to build up my collection of crank baits. I like my crank baits in 1/2 oz size because of the ease of casting. I wanted to keep all my cranks in the similar sizes to keep it simple and to get away with one set up. However many shallower cranks come more in smaller size like 1/4-3/8 oz. This makes me wonder...Do folks usually buy smaller, 1/4 oz or 3/8 oz, cranks for shallow diver and heavier cranks for deep divers?

Are you saying they both stretch about the same, but you still feel more with flouro? I thought fluoro stretches far less than mono, because I feel more with fluoro.

NMarotta28, I hear you. I was sick of being a shore bound fisherman myself. I decided that I should get something now rather than later until I have enough money to buy a real bass boat. I considered, kayak, canoe, kayak-canoe hybrid, pontoon, float tube, inflatable, jon boat... I didn't want to get wet all the time. I wanted to be able to fish where there's some tidal current and some wind. I wanted to be able to take my daughter with me time to time, I wanted to be able to transport without trailer and I wanted to be safe, especially when I am taking my daughter. I wanted to be able to fish standing. I went with inflatable, Intex Mariner 4. It has inflatable keel so it should help with tracking compared with flat bottoms. The material they use on this is a lot more like the one from more expensive river raft (I think). I put 55 lbs trolling motor for a bit extra power. I carry two batteries for all day fishing. It came with a floor, but it was not hard enough to stand on and totally concentrate on fishing. So I put a hard floor made out of 1/2 plywood. It was a work for me because I don't have much space and tools to work with, but the difference was night and day! Now I can stand and fish no problem. I am very happy that I went for it. One negative is set up time. From the time I arrive at the marina to be on the water takes about 30 min. The cost was $250 for the boat, $350 for the trolling motor, $270 for two marine batteries and about $100 for the floor (plywood, paint screws and stuff), $60 for battery charger, $120 for marine radio, $100 for registration and maybe another $100 for small stuff. So the total is somewhere around $1300. This is a lot more than I originally imagined. Hope this helps.

Nearest BPS is 1 1/2 hrs away and I never seem to be able to get there. So I am willing to take a shot and order online. I am looking for some names and models. Near by stores either only had mesh type or regular type with too many pockets which I didn't like.

I'm in need of buying a new life jacket and will need to order online. I don't like the mesh shoulder type, because they are too bulky in stomach area. What life jacket do you like? I'm average built size L guy.

Thanks, folks. Now I have better understanding about IM rating.

aavery2, I see your point. I don't know if you have used both IM-7 rod and IM-8 rod yourself. If someone who got and/or used both rods said "it depends", then I'll read that as the difference in the blank is probably minimal. I'm also hoping to get some comment from some of you who might own IM-7 rod and IM-8 rod from same company with similar components.

How different is it between IM-8 and IM-7 blank? I'm used to IM-8 rods. Do I feel a big difference and will I hate IM-7? I'm considering a IM-7 rod because they have the length I want.

So I just started to wonder why it is okay, at least in my state, to have fishing tackles with lead sold, while other consumer products are not? Is that because the assumption is the little kids and pregnant women won't be near the fishing tackle? Or should I be worried about it for myself? Am I feeling tired recently because I spend too much time fishing? Are you folks doing something about lead handling?