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I have found that the Trilene to be the worst… Scott
Scott, I tried the trilene 15lb flouro…thought it ‘decent’ but still had more memory and I thought the line diameter was too much.
I now use 10 pound Trilene flouro for cranking and weightless plastics…at that pound test, it’s just about like Trilene XL (to me the standard in fishability for a line)…
zoom horny toad. rigged with a Mustad UltraPoint MegaBite 5/0…glass bead on the line ahead of the bait…hook brough up between the legs (not run through the bait) and skinned…fish on braid…
and don’t be afraid to dead-stick around grass clumps…watermelon candy (for bluegill imitator)…black…or junebug/chartreuse…
spent some time working on this last year…like BF said, the two types of frogs are ‘floaters’ and ‘buzzers’ … and there are times when fish definitely prefer one over the other. If you try enough brands, you may also notice that they’ll prefer one brand over another from time to time.
Rigging is critical…and when done right can give you strike/hook ratios rivaling plastic worms…
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I too have seen these pictures many times. Does anyone know the truth?
FDR
If you ‘snopes’ it…it’s about 43 pounds…and a European pike…which, based on body type (very, very thick) it typical for those salmonid eating dudes…over there.
figured that most folks here would be fans of powerpro.
For those of you that have indicated PowerPro as your braid of choice, have you tried Suffix? If so, what were the relative negatives…
Am asking as I’ve used Suffix for a couple of years now…really like it for specific applications …and have been so pleased with it that I’ve never tried Power Pro…
Just wondering what I’m missing?
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…like to hear from the DNR, see historical and recent test netting and shocking results.
fact based decision making? 
pretty slow here Saturday after the front moved through and the storm the night before…had to resort to flipping tubes in submerged willows…was able to wrestle two outof three out of the brush…
Followed a guy around the lake who was tossing a frog…had lots of blowups…very few hook ups…
would I be out of line to suggest that visors make it much easier to ‘flame on’? (sorry BF, it’s just one of the things I always think of when I see your avatar … super hero stuff and all that… 
)
those venom tubes look great! they (Big Shots) sure are some high priced plastics though… whoah although, probably in line with Senkos…
Thanks BF…looking forward to going after a few of these…
Hisser, hard to tell from the site…he 3.5 and 4 inch tubes real thick?
thanks very much for the response/assist…
Is it worse with flouro? 
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I think they were used though….they all had water spots on them.
you must have gotten the tank tested products… now, if they had teeth marks, you would have gotten the ones that work … 
sorry…just freakin’ out a bit…it’s March 10 and we still don’t have the decent beginnings of open water… 
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It was pretty cool.
what I think is pretty cool is listening to folks discuss the why’s and how’s of techniques over the ‘what’s’…
Good questions, great observations…
okay…from the guy in the back of the classroom…
regarding seasons: does this mean you can’t fish for them? or you just can’t creel them?
how close is this bait getting to the old rapala fat rap?
Gulp hasn’t worked that well for me. Not sure why, I know lots of folks who swear by it. But for me, I don’t see it improving my catch ratios over zoom, culprit, Strike King and Yamamoto plastic products.
I do know that they guys in my club that toss gulp also get a lot of catfish bites…
It’s good to see folks thinking rationally about the objectives and alternatives…may also take a while to find the right folks to champion the cause…but I’m guessing if you all go in with the right info you’lll find a way to get it done…
It’s a whole lot easier to re-direct a 300 lb lineman than stop him dead in his tracks…or the 800 lb gorilla that is the ‘government’…
That said, those same folks in the gummint who are raising the roadblocks may well be the most valuable resource in helping you to determine best route…find the path to enlist them as a resource…not the enemy..
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If they stick with the one gallon of water to pound of fish, most older bass boats couldn’t be used in a permitted tournament. The oxygenator or even bottled air wouldn’t mitigate this. I have a oxygenator in my boat and it does a good job, but it doesn’t take the place of fresh water. All that should be required is a functioning livewell system and the knowledge of how to use it.
No arguments…but shouldn’t that also be a part of the ‘price of admission’ to compete?
this likely has absolutely nothing to do with your situation Cade. But I’m wondering if some of Mike Auten’s approaches to fishing mid-lake structure on Kentucky might apply? Specifically, the one about: he keeps going back to the same spots…sooner or later, the fish he wants will move up on them and bite…
Perhaps the size issue you indicate may be timing related?
As for posting less, that’s a shame.
I know the proposal indicates hard-ship to the competitive angler. However, is anyone saying that the DNR is ‘wrong’ in promoting best practices to enable successful catch and release?
In other words, has the need for ego driven competition overcome any focus on conservation…which used to be a huge part of BASS…and the driving force from ‘stringers’ to livewells. Would this simply not be the next logical step?
Last question: using something like the ‘Oxygenator’ a relatively cheap piece of equipment, what O2 levels in PPM are possible? I’ll check and get back on that…
now is later…
Just got off the phone with Denny over at http://www.keepfishalive.com might be an option worth exploring.
It’s interesting to me to note that the DNR isn’t trying to stop anything…seems to me they’re just asking folks to do what ought to be done anyway… the DNR down here doesn’t require this stuff…however, knowing what I’m trying to do as a sportsman, I’ve installed one in my boat. Even though I use the livewell about 1 time a year.
It’s an insurance policy for when I get that state record and need to be able to get her weighed and back to the water healthy…
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how much livewell space does a person need?
Thanks, Bill
It’s not intended to address the question of how much livewell a person needs…it’s intended to address the issue of how much water a fish needs.
But there would seem to be a potential work-around. A simple ‘add-on’ with an Oxygenator (puts micro bubbles into the water) would seem an easy fix…couple this with livewell water temp management and the occasional flush/re-fresh to remove the nitrogen build-ups and it would seem to be a ‘reasonable’ approach…plus, if it were me, I’d put a requirement in that each boat had to have a power pump out livewell…and it be functioning…
IF I were a DNR guy focussed on the welfare of the fish, this is the best I could ask…
and if I were a DNR guy, I’d be glad that all you tournament guys aren’t asking me what my mortality rates are from my DNR population surveys… 
Not trying to knock anyone/any group…but there has to be a work around…and in my mind, the only way to get the DNR types to listen is to figure out how they see tournaments being ‘overly’ detrimental to their objectives…
But stuff like that takes data and a willingness to share/partner. I know tournament anglers, as avid conservationists, are not the hold up…what’s keeping the DNR from joining you all at the table?
Sounds like there’s ‘an undisclosed party/agenda’ in this…and that the decision maker will be the Secretary…
Any opportunities (do you know folks, like Senators etc) that might be able to influence the outcome?
By the way, when you say botched study, I may have missed the earlier thread on this, but how/what happened?
Too, there’s an article in this months Infisherman on tournaments and fish handling…given the procilivity of InFisherman to base their stuff on scientific studies, is there an opportunity to give them a shout, review/identify the study cited and possibly, possibly, see if they have any thoughts on strategies/resources?
Just a thought…
thanks Todd…I found some 14 inchers there last year…getting them on 4-inch finesse worms at 10-14 foot depths…
Going to try some other areas as well and see if I can figure out where those 18+ inch fish hang out and what they want…(probably a few off the dam as well)…
thanks. wake baits mean something entirely different on the West Coast… 
like a Depps Buzzjet…
Cade, tell me more of this ‘wake bait’ you speak of…I am intrigued…
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just make sure you count to 3 before setting the hook or you will rip the bait right out of her mouth.
I always thought that ‘bump’ I feel when they take the jig/worm/senko is the bait hitting the back of their mouth…so I’ve set the hook immediately…with great success…
If they’re not taking it ‘fully’ and more tentative, that’s when I really like to use crayfish scents…used to love the old ‘Riverside RealCraw’…now, since I can no longer get it…have moved to smelly jelly product…
another topwater not to ignore: Heddon baby torpedoes…and 1/4 oz Rebel PopR’s…
So many lures, so many bass…so little time…not enough money…
