smalliebigs

Does flashy line attract fish?

Urban hick, I feel your pain. Last weekend, 1 good follow from cover and 4 hits from schoolers that just didn't hook up. Today, a 2 ticket follower and I am as frustrated as can be. Finally hook up on a 2 ticket fish and it pulls off. I guess I'm not getting any tickets, but hopefully I'm building up some karma for a PB or something.

If your phone has its speed-on for more than 4 posts, please consult your IT technician...

I used to love fishing deep structure. About all I did, and I could catch fish seemingly anytime after I found the key (maybe a specific bend/boulder/drop/etc.). They lived there, feeding or not. If they wouldn't chase up, I'd drag something on the rocks or top of the deep weeds. (begin venting) Now, on this stupid lake with no weeds and lots of structure the fish relate "near" the key stuff, but only get right on it if conditions are right and they are feeding. Everything has to be right, or they wind up feeding more randomly over the deep water, and I don't get to fish enough anymore to stay on top of the timing part of it. That means my window of predictability feels very very small, and I find myself spending too much time moving around or fishing for suspended fish. (venting over)

Cool. If we concede the fish is under 5 lbs, and thus only 1 ticket, can we just get a pic w/ the code and date since the exact weight doesn't matter? I hate having to stick a fish on a scale unless necessary. Too easy to drop them.

I think Joe hit on the key point. It is RELATIVE density. Yes, the waters maximum density is around 39. But the bait is also getting more dense as temp decreases, and its density is increasing at a faster rate than the water. Exact rate depends on structure/materials of the bait.

Suspense is killing me.

Can't wait to see that smelt.

Only hooks I've felt have cost me fish are the st36s smaller than size 2, which have bent out on some big bass and stripers. I won't use them anymore. For these hook sizes I've switched to some KVD hooks w/short shanks and haven't had any problems. They are a little thicker/stiffer than st36s but not as heavy as a ST41. I think they are listed as 1X, but maybe actually more like a 1.5X. They've been great for me on small swimbaits. For size 2 and bigger the st36s have done well for me. Occasionally they will start to bend out a little on stripers, but haven't cost me a fish yet. I have snapped some 36's, but only when unhooking a fish. Also use ST41's with no problems.

To Speed's point, I've also heard from somebody in the sunglass industry that there is practically no enforcement UV ratings on sunglasses, and that many cheap sunglasses are sold that don't truly offer the protection even though they have "UV protection" stickers. If you really want to protect your eyes in all cases, probably better to stick to plastic lenses, which are also cheaper than the glass lenses. When one of my Costas with the glass lenses got cracked, thankfully it wasn't by an errant bait while I was wearing them. Small pieces of glass are probably bad for your vision. My comment about margins/etc. is based on a convo I had with a guy who used to be CFO at a sunglass company. It is possible to get protection and performance without breaking the bank, but see if they provide more specific UV protection info or stick to a brand you can trust.

I have a severe migraine issue if I fish for more than a few hours in bright sunlight without decent glasses. Yes, I also make sure they have UV protection. Some sun glass manufacturers are able to make 60-80% margins based on their brand strength (which gets amplified at retail), some settle for a lot less and provide similar protection/performance at much lower cost.

Yeah, well, I used to say the same thing and have used Costas for 14 years. Cracked glass lenses on two sets of Costas the last two years. At $100 a pop to "repair" (they're just selling you a new pair at wholesale), that's other baits/equipment I'm not getting. I've decided to try some $30-50 glasses this year. Got 3 pairs (amber, yellow, blue mirror), and haven't noticed a difference in what I can see on the water. I expect the amber and yellow to hold up just as well (6 months so far), time will tell on the blue mirror (only 2 months so far on them). One brand I would not recommend is Native. Lens coating wears fast, and had a hinge break from very light use in the first year.

You let those trout play a little to see if anything tries to eat them? Ha. I've always wondered if a Hudd mod with some powerbait coming out the anal vent area would catch more bass where stocking is common. In addition to the previous baits mentioned, I do well in winter with a HPH very very slow rolled and a 7" TT retrieved with 2-3 slow handle turns mixed w/ half second pauses.

I've fished one day of an Oakley tournament each of the last two years. It is a great format, good payback (I'm fishing with "house money" again next year), and lots of fun knowing you only need 1 bite. Also done a smaller tournament. I actually prefer the smaller tournaments though. Less payback, but this year there were 250+ boats and over 400 anglers in the Oakley tourney and even on a big lake it was "crowded".

We need to put some sabermetrics on this ish. I propose a new variable that takes into account all variables, such as typical fish in the are, pressure, etc. It is simply: 1/2 X (Fish weight/10 + Fish Weight/State record) X (Surface areas of fresh water in state/yearly state fishing license sales). I will be called Girth Above Replace Bass, or GARB for short. Now, everybody go out and get you some GARB-age!!!! Or we could go with Girth Re-adjusted Average Bass, or GRABass for short. Who is going to win the next GRABass tournament?...

Great to see a good stick (and good guy) who's dedicated to the big fish game get one, especially when you can share it with your club buddies.

828 (Was going to say 1, but you said "between 1 and 1000")

Lots of bait makers on this site, and several have done random giveaways, waiting lists, talked about their baits, etc. I imagine many have donated baits that I don't even know about, but Randall is the only one I was aware of going through the "official" original process. I personally don't care how many baits any of the baitmakers have or haven't donated. Baitmakers can be just regular swimbaiters too, and if spamming or anything else becomes a problem, I trust those who run the site to handle it.

I've been using some Berkley "click shot" weights with some of my slow sink swimbaits. These are one piece weights that "click" around the line, not the 2 piece weights. I'm not even sure they are still sold. What is nice about them is I can attached/take off as many as I want from the line without untying the bait. I've been using them to fish get the baits down closer to suspended fish in open water and had some success. Haven't tried dragging them, don't know how well they do with snagging.

+1

HPH TT Hardgill