Sphynx

There aren't many lures I'd go after, but it's not easy getting replacements on the truck, and whopper plopper fish hold a special place in my life, it was still worth it

I'm a truck driver, I don't have ready access to a washer and dryer, so it was much preferable to just have to towel off and not get a funky set of clothes stinking up the truck lol

Generally speaking I like to use the hook that is as small as I can get away with, which means the thickness of a given soft plastic makes a bigger difference than you think, as far as a one hook system? No chance on that, an EWG is designed for a specific application, so is a bait holder, or an offset round bend, I suppose you could try to use them for other things, but they aren't going to give very satisfying results.

I can pack an unbelievable amount of gear in my fishpond vest, it's the Wasatch if memory serves, the one with the integrated backpack.

It wasn't warm lol

Well this morning was an interesting outing, got my whopper plopper caught on a dock, nobody around, so I got in the old birthday suit and went and got it, of course a boat puts in next to me as I finally got the d**n thing loose, "Early for a dip ain't it man?" I warned them that I wasn't wearing anything, was told "Oh stop, your joking" and I'm pretty sure I blinded the old fella, lesson learned lol, anybody else ever done anything they aren't too proud of or extreme to retrieve a favorite lure? (Whopper plopper in monkey butt in the 90 size for those curious)

Lost a lot of brothers in my life, usually one every couple of years, they aren't my children, but it always hurts bad, the advice to take things one day at a time is good counsel, the pain will never disappear entirely, but it will become manageable, my sympathies to you and your, you will be in my prayers today

If I'm fishing in the salad, I usually don't bother about a leader, that is a nuisance I reserve for clear water where the fish are actually going to see my presentation, when you pull in as much or more veggies with every catch as the fish weighs I don't feel it really matters

The same reason they hit a block of wood with hooks on it, they are extremely aggressive feeders and that in combination with a healthy dose of curiosity leads to bad results for them, and lots of fun for us.

That's what she said...

I will often use a 7'MF spinning rod because as a bank beater I don't really have the luxury of taking many rods, if I happen to have my trout rods with me I'll usually use one of them, 7'L and 7'UL respectively, the L is spooled with 6lb nanofil, and the UL has 4lb, definitely more sensitive than the 7'MF, but I don't think it's enough of an advantage for me to consider it worth packing the extra rod just for it.

The first lesson learned by a young private, and likely many other government employees, is "hurry up and wait" because your going to spend the vast majority of your career doing exactly that.

Well, they say patience is a virtue when discussing fishing, perhaps Glenn is simply seeing who is and who is not in possession of that virtue...lol

Interesting question, you bring up us giving fish too much credit for intelligence, and a lot of times your right, some days I spend so much time trying to outsmart them that I think I'd be better served by shutting up and tossing in a lure and just enjoying my day...of course there's days I don't think hard enough and screw myself too, guess that's why we spend a lifetime chasing these fish though

You'll be able to fish into Feb with a hooded sweatshirt most years, sometimes you might need a slightly heavier jacket, but the fishing is year round in that area

I dunno, I fished in MN a lot last year, I would say the fish up there are plenty sizable...and even though the records for LMB/SMB currently are in the 8's, they could go higher, you won't know until you go catch one that big, not trying at all is a surefire way to not get a DD...

It should never come as a surprise that for profit companies act in a manner biased towards profit...they are there to sell a product, not to do the best thing for you or the fish necessarily.

Fly rods is often a pair, but my vest can hold one in a tube for me, 99.9 times out of 100 those are both 9' rods, one in a 5wt and the other an 8wt, this allows me to fish for whichever species is more interested in feeding at the time, 8wt for bass/pike etc, 5wt for panfish and trout; very rarely if I am fishing a river I KNOW is feeding on a specific dry fly hatch I'll take an 8'6" 4wt instead of the 5, but usually it's more trouble than it's worth changing them. For conventional gear, usually a medium or lighter spinning setup, I have a couple of Shakespeare rods, one in L and one in UL that can work for trout or small bass and panfish, I am still working on an appropriate system to carry two rods in this category, but so far the best bet has been to go with a 7' MF spinning combo and watch line and get closer than I otherwise would, that rod doesn't cast my spinners and stuff very well because they are far too light to load the rod effectively.

Yeah, hard pass on Googan branded gear from me, I am sure it works just fine, but I can't see anything they do that a comparable offering from a more reasonably priced competitor can't do just as well or better, can't get mad that they are living their best version of the American dream and from the looks of things making money hand over fist doing it, but I won't be spending my money with them.

The fish in Henry Hagg out in Oregon are known to spawn a second time in the late summer/fall, could be the same thing in your case.

As far as I am concerned the biggest advantage of artificial lures is that you are able to ignore the environmental considerations that live bait requires, toss a combo in the back seat of the truck, and a 3700 plano of tackle and it's always there, you don't have to catch it, or feed it, oxygen is no question, it just allows you to fish more often in more situations. I don't know that I would say that I agree that lures or live bait are more effective, it depends on the day and what mood the fish are in, I have had days where minnows or live crawfish absolutely kill them, and then also days where I wouldn't have put down a crankbait or a swimjig of one kind or another for any money, or days where a t-rigged craw imitation or a jig are nearly cast-per-catch techniques...I can say that the satisfaction I get from tricking fish with artificial lures is far more gratifying than live bait has ever done for me.

Yeah, in Washington state lol, I am a trucker for a living, so I tend to get around

You ever see anybody skipping frogs up under those overhanging trees? Walking or popping would be a decent option.

I find things like a vile craw from biospawn to be effective, but you could also toss something like a brush hog, or anything that gives off lots of thump, a paddletail swim bait might work, you mentioned high pressure, are we talking like trout pond day of stocking pressure, or just a steady flow of a handful of people tossing baits to high percentage spots from the easy to get to bank areas?

Buzz bait in the morning, generally if the area is high pressure you can do a couple of things, you can go finesse, this is usually what people will recommend when things get tough, but sometimes a place is pressured by folks smart enough to figure out the "go small" thing, so you can do something entirely unconventional and go enormous, because very few people are going to do that, you can also tinker with baits and try to fish them in places that fish wouldn't usually see them, like trying to peg a smaller sinker against a square bill and making it dive a bit deeper, or fishing a frog where it wouldn't usually be fished, when the "usually successful" tactics aren't working, you have absolutely nothing to lose by doing something wild and crazy, you never know, you might just invent the next big thing in fishing.