NorthTexasSwimbaiter

??? I can't speak for Andrew, as I have not fished with him, but in my experience, James is nothing short of wonderful. I know him to be a great guy who knows the lake like the back of his hand. Plus, I caught my first DD with him. As to the rest of C_R_TX's post, he's on the money. Cover is important, but structure is by far the most important factor. I'll bet most of the big fish will be offshore by the time you get there, so look for points with sharp breaks, road beds, submerged pond dams, and the like. It's worth graphing over a spot a few times before fishing it because there's no guarantee that fish will be on your chosen spot at any given time. Have a list of spots for that situation, and don't give a spot much more than 20 minutes. If the school's active, they'll feed. Know this: you WILL get hung. There's no avoiding it. Make sure to have a good plug knocker with you to get back your expensive baits. Even then, you'll only get your bait back so many times. Don't throw something you aren't willing to lose or go diving for. My two favorite big baits out there are huddlestons, both the 8" and 68, and flutter spoons. They sell the new GIANT flutter spoons at various places around the lake, and I mean to get one this weekend. My biggest limit on Fork came on a flutter spoon, so I'm excited to see what I can haul up with an 8" size. If you don't get the huge Nichols one, the Talon version is the best in my experience. I'm no guide or anything, but I hope that's a good starting point. If there's anything I can help with, I'll try to do my best.

What's the projected retail? I WANT one.

Where'd you find that split-handle Champ? That's a real cool rod. I don't think I have any "squaw fish" around me. They look real neat, though.

Going up north to do a little 'ski fishing this summer. Hope I can do half as well as you did. haha

When I imitate bluegill, 80% of the time, it's when they're on the top hitting bugs. As a result, I generally end up using topwater. I've got a floating JSJ gill that I do damage on. If I'm on a pond, though, bluegill baits work about every part of the water column. The Ultimate Bluegill works wonders when I'm bumping along the bottom. I've toyed around with the idea of getting a hardgill, but I think that may be tied or fourth priority at this point.

A couple of my staples are Gatorade, cliff bars, pistachios, hunter sticks (If I have em), Reese's cups, vodka, iodine and human flesh.

You certainly can use the titanium split rings, but I think they're rather redundant if you're on a boat, where you can have 8-10 different methods of lure retrieval. From the bank, where your choices are normally either go swimming (not a good idea where I live) or break the bait off, the titanium rings will save countless dollars, and potentially catch you more fish. Reason being: how many times have you been reluctant to throw a prized lure into nasty cover where a big fish is almost guaranteed to live because of a fear of losing your bait? These should allow you to cast with confidence and put your baits into the moster's turf. That said, whether or not it's a gimmick is up to you.

That's a real nice pike! Bigger than any I've caught.

I tried JT's Bay Game for a few minutes with a 250. The reel only had .013" diameter mono on it, so I was exceedingly careful with my casting. It cast very nicely for the wimpy amount of effort I put into the casting. I also used it for maybe a half hour without a strike, so I can't attest to the reel's drag smoothness or strength. Positives: • It cast pretty well for the low amount of force used in casting due to light line. • It was quite smooth on the retrieve. • The handle was nice and long, with large, comfortable knobs. • For swimbaits, it was a very compact reel, and was easily palmable. Negatives: • From what I understand, the Curado I's (and likely the Bay Game) start experiencing mechanical issues when heavily used (swimbaits). • Line capacity is questionable. I didn't have any issues with capacity during my stint with it, but I was doing short casts with .013" diameter line. • It will normally have to be imported. Shipping costs from Japan will add about $20 to the cost.

I had the privilege of meeting Velvick once at the Classic. He was a really nice guy who would be an absolute blast to fish with.

Very thoughtful answers by Randall and Garrett. I'll be utilizing that information a lot. Thanks, guys!

Hey, y'all It crossed my mind today that I hadn't asked people on SU about this. Over the years, I've caught a few big fish, but the biggest key to success has so far eluded me. I've noticed that most of my biggest fish have come at either dawn or dusk. However, I've also found a "mystery period" about an hour after sunrise where I catch a lot of big fish. I've developed a theory about it, but I wanted to run it by a few people to see if it's crazy. If anyone's not familiar with the term "total internal reflection", it's when light, instead of refracting into a new medium, like water, simply bounces off the surface because its angle isn't close enough to perpendicular. What I'm wondering is this: since I live in a relatively flat area, perhaps the sun only breaks the necessary angle for total internal reflection about an hour after legal sunrise. If my theory's correct, the bass, naturally seeking shade, will be relatively unaffected by this short window, while the more pelagic baitfish, like shad, will experience a temporary "light shock", such as when you walk outside after being in the movie theater. What I've been led to believe is that the bass take experience of this possible "second sunrise" and eat the stunned baitfish during this period, while they still have difficulty adjusting to higher light levels. If I'm crazy or my failure to account for atmospheric refraction changes the physics of the system, let me know. Or if you've experienced this same secondary feeding period, but have a different theory, I'm sure we'd all like to hear it. Your guess as to the cause is as good as mine. If you notice enhanced feeding in a different time of day, let us know when it is, and why you think they feed right then. Tight lines, Calvin

I just got my new model 250 in yesterday. I've heard a lot of complaints about it sinking really slowly, but I honestly wish it sank a bit slower. For the pattern I had in mind when buying it, I'll need it to stay in under 4 FOW, which will be difficult to do at the pace I want to fish it.

Brilliant idea.