Scott F

Is normally clearer or have recent rains caused it to become dirty?

If you are trying to use 40lb fluoro to keep from getting bit off, you might be surprised when you keep losing lures. Musky guys use 100 to 140lb fluoro leaders and there is still no guarantee cause they can still cut that line.

No, that's from a small river in Illinois.

Laying them on the ground may not be a huge problem but it certainly is not good for them either.

The number of largemouth in Wisconsin is a secret that those of us who fish for them wish to keep secret!

I just had to mention this misconception. Of the approximately 1,500 larger lakes in Wisconsin, over 1,400 of them contain largemouth. Only around 300 have smallmouth in them. There are no threadfin shad in Wisconsin but there are gizzard shad.

If the bass are spawning, they aren't feeding and won't be for a little while. The males will be protecting the nests and the females will be recuperating from spawning. Things should be picking up soon as the post spawn period ends and they start feeding again.

Except for the high end reels being lighter than they used to be, there really haven't been that many improvements to spinning gear in the last 10 years to make the reels you have obsolete. Unless you wore them out I'd use what you have. I use nothing but light braid on my spinning reels for smallmouth. Most of the waters I fish are clear so I like long casts. My line of choice for the last several years has been 8lb Fireline. But I have started using Suffix 832 recently. The lightest I can get that in is 10lb.

I have not heard of many who don't like 832. If you don't like that stuff, there probably isn't a braid that you will like. I use 832 in 20lb on casting gear and 10lb on my spinning gear. What didn't you like about it?

I do a lot of wade fishing and carry this fly box for my hooks, small jigs, and other terminal tackle. You can remove the dividers to customize it for your stuff. It's small enough to fit in the side pocket of most gear bags. It's a Plano model 1070-00 Compact jig and fly box.

I use braid with no leader and I don't rip the hooks out. I don't use a huge hook set and I don't lock down my drag. It works for me.

I want to know how you keep 30 rods that are all strung up with lures from getting tangled up. Even with rod socks, trying to find the rod you want, getting it out, removing the rod sock and putting back the rod you are no longer using would have to take as much time as tying on a new bait. How does that work?

My fishing club, being mostly river fishermen, regularly participate in river clean-ups. A few of us went to a clean-up sponsored by a group in an upscale community. When we introduced ourselves to the organizers, they were surprised to see us, they thought we (fishermen) were the cause of the problem. At the end of the day, one of the most common items we collected were plastic bags of dog poop. Apparently, the residents of this upscale neighborhood would pick up the waste when their neighbors could see them and when out of site, throw the bags in the river! Doesn't matter how much they earn, people can be ignorant.

I live close to the Plano factory and visit their outlet store when I can. I get 3600 and 3700 size boxes of various styles for $1.50 to $3 each. So I use a lot of those. I never carry tons of tackle even on long trips. I keep all my lures in 3700 boxes. Each box has one style of baits, When I go fishing, I fill empty 3600 boxes with what I plan on using on that outing so I don't have to bring 50 of each bait. I have tackle bags that hold 4 to 8, of the 3600 size boxes. The main problem with this system is If I don't empty the 3600's back to the 3700's, my lures get so scattered in so many boxes, I can't find anything.

Forgetting about claiming a world record for the moment, I want to see what this guy can do. Even if he never grows one that exceeds 23 pounds, he may add to the knowledge base on what it takes for bass to grow larger than they do now. He might learn some new techniques that could help state biologists manage their fisheries for more trophies.

If you are interested in what the OP is up to with this, go to his profile.

I feel the same way except I won't fish for bedding bass.

The way you cast can also make a difference. If you cast using your right hand, hold the rod with the spool up. Rotate your wrist 90 degrees to the left so the handle is now pointing up. Now when you cast, your wrist will give you more power like if you were throwing a baseball instead of just using your arm. Works the same way if you are left handed, its just that the reel handle will point down instead.

Really? That's your joke? To get people to fall for it, it has to sound at least a little bit real.

I'm sure it's true, I hope you know I was just having fun.

I think this 8 year old girl has some chops also. http://www.wimp.com/girlshreds/

Did you hear it on the internet? If you did, it must be true.

Does this help?

If the same unit works fine on your friends boat, you have a bad connection on the power line somewhere.First to be safe, disconnect your battery.The battery is fully charged and good right? Follow the power lead from the unit back to the power source and redo each connection. If that doesn't fix it, do the same thing for the ground wire. Also make sure your fuse holder is not damaged. I don't know what kind of set up you have, is there a fuse panel or circuit breaker panel? If it STILL does not work, reconnect the power lead to another spot on the fuse panel that you know works.

Do you really think that a bass inhaling a bait uses so much force that it will stretch the line? I don't know that a shop vac could do that. A bass hitting a moving crankbait does not inhale it, he swims up to it and takes it in his mouth. Many years ago a book was written by a guy who tested lures to find out exactly how deep they ran. The only line available at the time was mono. They pulled baits and ran a boat with a depth finder over the bait to see how deep they ran. When they were testing 10 and 14 pound lines, they could see fish hit the lures on the graph but the guy holding the rod never felt a thing. With heavier lines that did not stretch as easily, the guy holding the rod felt the hit almost every time.