fin

A carp sounds like a belly-flop, a bass sounds like a scoop. I don't think I've ever seen a bass come all the way out of the water that wasn't on the end of a hook. I'm sure it must happen though.

Wait... is this right? I thought he was a lot older. He must have got an early start. How old were you for your first double digit, @WRB? Happy Birthday, youngster.

My log has pulled me out of slumps countless times. It amazes me how poorly I remember things. It's not that I forget a lot, it's that the memories are inaccurate. It's easy to get confused on the exact time of year that particular things are effective.

I think that’s a good logical strategy some parts of the year, or until you figure out a pattern. I personally wouldn't do that this part of the year, I do that more in the winter. It doesn’t have to be the three types you mentioned, it can be like one bait that’s noisy, one that’s flashy, one that’s subtle, etc. But I like to use 3 for some reason, and generally I use one for each part of the water column.

I agree that, in general, it’s best to scoot if an area is not producing and you don’t know what’s going on in the rest of the lake. And I’m happy to see the boats zipping by my favorite spots. 😉 I'm not sure I understand the subject of the post, but it's got closed minds in the title and I think it's about following general rules instead of analyzing each situation. There are several visual clues to the situation I described, but most boaters are moving too quickly to pick up on them. That’s why I mentioned the exception to the @Pat Brown rule. From your perspective, waiting for a 15-30 minute interval probably sounds crazy, but on a lake where 95%+ of the people walk away skunked after hours of fishing, it’s not so crazy. Maybe it’s crazy to fish there at all. I can’t argue with that. 😂

It’s not just a “confidence bait” if you consistently catch more fish with it than anything else, is it? I hate throwing the same thing all the time, but I hate not catching fish too. I’m happiest when I can try something new or different each day, and if that doesn’t work, then I fall back to the proven lures. But when fishing is as tough as it is right now, trying something different is mostly just wasting time. Not always true. The pattern I'm seeing right now is bass feeding on shad at a certain location. They come in 15-30 minute intervals and it's totally dead in between. I'm bank fishing and watch boats pass the spot all the time, casting a couple times at the bank as they pass through. If they'd study the structure of the lake and actually look at their sonar instead of just beating the banks, they'd have more success. Or at least that's the way it seems to this landlubber. 😆

It varies by state, apparently. I just recently learned that in my state, if a neighbor's tree falls in my yard, I am responsible, unless I had lodged some kind of previous complaint about the tree, or if the neighbor knew it was a hazard. Sounds like great fodder for lawyers.

You might want to check with your doc about whether you should be out in that night air for long periods.

Walmart does some strange pricing things. I've seen labels on the shelf for a certain size of pants that were a fraction of the cost of all the others on the shelf. It's like clearance, but it's not. It's more like Easter eggs.

Like that old commercial says, "When you can't breathe, nothing else matters". Guy down the street from me had pneumonia, and disappeared for months. Next time I saw him, he was using a walker to get around and I didn't even recognize him. A couple years later now, and he's getting around like he used to, but he lost a long time. I got the pneumonia vaccine last year, after seeing what happened to that guy. It's almost vaccine time again, a couple months from now.

This is probably the time of year noodling was invented.

I rarely carry a knife, but when I do, it’s this Beretta, because it is super lightweight. I think it’s one of the largest pocket knives I have at five inches, and almost as light as some of the smaller ones at 2.9 oz. I’ve got about 10 more pocket knives I’ve found over the years around the lake, also a bunch of folding utility knives. Of those, the Milwaukee is by far the best. My most recent find was a switchblade. That thing must be made of lead. It’s 7.9 oz. I don’t know how someone could have dropped that much weight and not noticed it. Maybe it was intentional lol. I carry nail clippers on an elastic string clipped to my pocket for mono and I keep Cuda scissors in my backpack for braid. I also keep an x-acto blade in my tackle.

How would you find out if the state stocked it?

There was a post here within the past couple of years where someone lost a whole Plano type box full of RES like this. His were stored in the compartment in the side of his boat, if I remember correctly, so they weren't exposed directly to the sun, but were basically sitting in an oven. Bugs me I can't find that old post.

I used it for years, and like you, I would have occasional failures. And like you, sometimes it would fail when I tested it after tying. There was probably some little subtle thing that I was doing differently every now and then, but I could never figure out what it was. I tried the San Diego Jam and never had those type of issues since I’ve been using it. I can’t recommend it highly enough. I use it on mono. I think most knots have little subtleties that make a difference, things that you can do wrong. Even the SDJ can be stressed if you don’t do it right, but I’ve never had one fail right after tying like the Improved Clinch knot.

It probably runs on its side because it's 1/8 oz. The skirt may be too big or the blade(s) may be too big. A trailer probably won't help. Seems like it would, but it would have to be small, heavy and streamlined (no curly tails, ribs, etc.) You could put a pinch weight on the front of the hook. I don't care for light spinnerbaits. You can go small without going light.

When my fingers get so wrinkled I can't tie a knot.

I’d be concerned about the line in the car. I never leave mine in the car, because I once had a problem with fluorocarbon line breaking unexpectedly at the worst times. I don’t really do any maintenance to my rods until something breaks. I disassemble my [spinning] reels down all the way to lube every few months, and try to do minor oiling once a month. I make notes in my fishing log when I do maintenance. Some of the ball bearings, for example, can only be reached by tearing the reel all the way down. Without oil, it’s going to eventually fail. The cheaper reels are going to eventually fail after a certain amount of use regardless. I think a lot of people just treat reels as somewhat disposable. They oil what’s easy to get to, and when it eventually starts malfunctioning, they put it in a drawer and buy a new one. It's not a crazy philosophy. You can get quality name (Shimano Daiwa, etc) spinning reels in the $30-40 range that can last for years without major maintenance, depending on the amount of use and abuse. You can find parts diagrams/schematics online for almost every reel. You’ve got to have the right tools. If you bugger up screw heads, you could be doing more damage than good.

I just went 7 days without catching a fish. Yesterday I watched that video. This morning I caught a four pound largemouth. Just sayin’.

I can’t say for certain whether I’ve ever had one that big on the line, but I can definitely relate to sitting there with the broken line in a daze. You got to see it up close and touch it. That counts for something.

A particular spincaster may cast further than a particular spinning reel, but I don’t think it can be attributed solely to the fact that it is a spincaster. It’s going to be due to another factor, like spool diameter, line type/diameter, rod, etc. Line coming out of a spincaster is facing slightly more resistance than a spinning reel since the line is brushing against two parts that it doesn’t brush against on a spinning reel - the front cover assembly and the spinner head assembly. I think all other things being equal, a spincaster is not going to be able to cast as far as a spinning reel.

This worked for me several times, but not every time. It's still better than having to hit the "home" button or scrolling up every time.

10# hi viz braid with 10# mono leader. I've tried 15# and 20# and lost a lot of casting distance. The only time my PowerPro 10# breaks is on snags, and 99% of the time the leader breaks first.

Sounds like a cookie maybe? Interesting. I guess they don't want people sharing the code. Copying the link when you right-click on "activate discount" might work.

I've seen them around $30-something on sale.