Ham

I've likely got some Mann's 15 plus and 10 plus that I would be happy to sell.

I don't know that he has hurt ALL the fish in the Big M area, but I think he has named them all.

In my opinion, Fluro requires more of a load to cause that stretch though (it doesn't stretch under the light tug of a fish so it acts like a no stretch line in that situation) and because it doesn't float up (I've seen mono bowing upwards towards the surface and I think the fluro goes to the bait with a slight downward belly), I think you have a straighter line to the bait. Regardless of the particulars, I KNOW fluro is a lot more sensitive than mono or copoly. I had a day with two identical jigs, on equivalent rods with equivalent diameter lines. I could feel the bites on the fluro rod; I could not feel the bites on the mono rod. I caught 22 fish that day. It was 20 on fluro and 2 on mono so I think you can feel more bites with it. Because iof the extra expense, I didn't want fluro to be better, it just is. I didn't want to spend the extra money for it, but it is a better product and I want to fish with the better product. I feel like I get better hooksets with fluro than mono too , but that is harder to explain. I seem to get to the fish quicker (less belly in the line?) and I can feel the fish load in the rod before the fluro starts to stretch a little. Fluro is said to be a lot less visible to the fish. I really don't care about this in my bass fishing. I do care about it for my fly fishing leader material. I use fluro for leader material on my nymphs and a non fluro for my dry fly offerings. I've yet to have anyone explain why I should be using fluro for leader material on my braid or nanofil spinning rod setups. I've said I am not concerned about visibility. I don't think that abrasion resistence is gonna be great on those light lines (6.8, 10 lb) anyway. The short length of leader renders a lack of stretch in the leader less important that the stretch in a main line. To me, fluro is picky about how it is tied(more prone to knot failure), it is more expensive than a quality mono or copoly, and has a larger diameter than equal strength mono which affects how the finesse bait behaves. So someone PLEASE make the case for fluro as that bass leader. I can see in the future me setting up a Ned rod with 6 lb Invis X for windy days. I would do it now , but money is a little tight.

No "hate" from me. I am what I am. I like getting bit. I like catching fish. I've caught some big fish and I'll probably catch a few more. I'll just have to work my way thru thousands of smaller fish to get to them. I'm ok with that.

The others went out of business because they had more money going out than coming in. it might have ben necessary to raise the prices a bit. I have never ished the Little Red, but I wish them success. I imagine it is a lot of hard work on narrow margins.

The Fat head ate a tube!

We need to have a Ned Symposium some at someplace with a nice buffet. We could talk line preferences, rigging issues, retrieve options, etc. while we eat a TON. In a perfect world full of 15 inchers, a Zinker chunk would last a very long time indeed. In Ham's world where small fish and panfish bite the bait that shall not be named with an insane frequency, I have to re-glue, repair, and replace tails far more often than I want to.

And then there are the lithium batteries. Lighter and with a different (better?) discharge curve. They maintian full power until >90 % discharged. They require special charging systems. They cost more than a grandchild, but outlast a grandchild's innocence (7-10 years ?). I'm pretty convinced that the lithium batteries or the place we will all end up, I'd just like to stay on the sidelines until the price comes down and they work a few more of the bugs out. Sad to say, but I'm only in the Bass Cat 15 or so days a year. Doing the math if I bought three batteries at today's prices and they lasted me 7 years, I'd still be spending 30 dolars a trip on the cost of the batteries. I can not justify that.

Thank you for the explanation. I have seen the results of water level changes and a band of dead Zebra mussels, but not to that extent before. Wow! Are you breaking off more cranks and rigs? The cranks might at least float up where you can recover them. The mid to lower lake is not as thickly infested, but I am still having break offs from them.

Get as freaky with the details as you want to Wally. There are real differences between the different fluorocarbon lines on the market. I have direct experience with three as a main fishing line and a few others as leader material. FOR ME, I'm going to use Seaguar Abras X on my baitcasters. I started with Seaguar Inviz X which had less body, but not enough abrasion resistance. I have also used and been happy with the Berkley 100% Fluro. Very supple and plenty of abrasion resistant. I use it in 10 lb for jerkbaits. BUT, better fishermen than me, swear by the Invis X in light pound test on spinning. Is 6 lb test and I know folks that have had bad experiences with the Abraz X and the Berkley 100%. All those experiences are anecdotal and not scientific, but still valid in my mind. I'm trying to say, fishing preferences are very subjective and very difficult to scientifically measure, but valid none the less. as an aside, great sale on Seaguar at Tackle Warehouse right now. If you were wanting to try a different flurocarbon.

It doesn't help that the Live Target HFC is $13.50 each either.

That stinks about your batteries. I'm glad you caught a few fish. Looking at the LRCOE app, it seems like they have been pulling BSL down about 0.40 foot a day. I'm a little confused by the water mark on the rocks in the second photo down.

A what?

you down with OCD? Yeah, you know me!

Paging Richy

It's gonna become really uncommon to do that on Bull. I had 3 more Zebra mussel breakoffs last Thursday. Bite, start to come tight, then nothing.

I have a hand held GPS that will tell me elevation, but you would have to make a trip there to check it out.

It wouldn't need to be. IF he can get a sea level measurement of that area where the brush was flooded, AND he can get a current lake level then he can know when water will be in the bushes without having to drive and look. Right?

I'm not a pro at google earth, but is it possible to look at a google earth map of that area and get a surface level reading (feet above sea level) and then match that to lake level.

Super Dave counting rocks again. Definitely, three minutes to Wapner.

Wow, who hit Al with the truth serum?

I'd be good with them holding it until next March and then get the lake back up in the 667 range. Another awesome spawn. They have been running max water down the White for a week or more out of Bull Shoals Dam. Honestly, I was hoping that would stop one of these days

I love Bull Shoals. I'm not sure it works to our long term advantage to keep telling more ppl their favorite lake sucks and that they should fish our favorite lake. I can't help myself either, but I kick myself later sometimes.

Nice crappie

Lol, Super Dave. What my lake does have is millions of smallies. I'm going to go try and catch 100 of them Thursday.