Hi

A colleague is shortly to visit the States (in July) and is taking along his son who wants to do some fishing for Black Bass (large-mouth & small-mouth).

He has a short baitcaster set-up but would like to know, please, what line strengths he should use and which lures are best.

Can anyone help and advise, please?

Cheers

DG

[ 16. April 2004, 07:48 AM: Message edited by: The Diamond Geezer ]

Newt ?

10lb line no wire trace needed as none of the fish seemed to have teeth!
The most succesful lure seemed to be the one they wanted on the day!.I know the statement seems daft but one day they would only touch a spinner and the next worms/nightcrawlers where most definetly the top menu for the day.
Two days later the rubber worms coloured black produced the goods,they wouldn't even look at the other colours, fishing don't you just love it?
Keith

10-12 lb line is a good, all around choice.

For the rest, easier to make sense if you give a general idea where they will be.

hiya dg, 10lb braid (powerpro is very good) with a 20lb fluro leader will handle anything your friend is likely to catch.

as for lures, best thing would be for him to ask in the local tackleshop, as keith finn says, will depend on what they want on the day, a selection of lures and worms can be got quite cheap from basspro shops.

if you/he wants any specific lures, send me a message and i will make a few enquireys for ya.

ray.

Thanks guys .... the line BS seems a tad on the low side ..but what do I know! I thought Largemouth were tough hard-fighting beggars living in underwater snags!

quote:

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Originally posted by Newt:

10-12 lb line is a good, all around choice.

For the rest, easier to make sense if you give a general idea where they will be.

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Newt,

Since your post, I've checked with my colleague and they're going to be in Minnesota, Cass County, ... within striking distance of several lakes including Cass Lake, Leech Lake & Winnibigoshish Lake.

Hope this helps.

Looking forward to your recommendation of the best lures

Thanks

DG

[ 16. April 2004, 12:48 PM: Message edited by: The Diamond Geezer ]

quote:

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Originally posted by Keith Finn:

10lb line no wire trace needed as none of the fish seemed to have teeth!

Keith

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Thanks Keith ... aren't there any muskies out there? I thought they had teeth just like our pike

DG

I've had this discussion about line 'strengths' before on bassresource.com and to some extent I was surprised about how little the average bass angler in the US understands the nature of braid compared with mono and what the real benefits of braid are. Perhaps its because there is a much larger choice of mone lines and a lot of hard sell about the qualities of mono and fluoro line and their ability to become 'invisible' in water. I dont want to move too far away from the thread but whilst the refraction index of some lines would appear to be so remarkably close to water to suggest that they are 'invisible', they are if seen from below as a fish would do, clearly visible against the sky and the dimples that the line produces on the water surface are also clearly visible. Trouties discovered this a long time ago. Thus the claims mades by the line manufacturers are sometimes wildy inaccurate.

Back to the point. Choice of line is not always about breaking strain and the argument I had with some bass fishermen (not all) was based on their view that the best feature of braid is its lower diameter when comparing breaking strains. Hence you can use 10lb braid at a third of the diameter of mono. What they hadn't figured out however, was that the real benefit of braid is that when working heavy cover you can use the same diameter as your regular mono and have the safety margin of a breaking strain nearly three times higher. If you're flippin' lures into weed lines and tree stumps 10lb braid is going to break like cotton the moment it runs across an obstacle, quite simply because its too thin. Even for open water fishing 20lb braid is not too heavy, its still finer than 10lb mono. I would also recommend dispensing with the fluoro and tying direct to the lure. It won't reduce catches and it allows one less vulnerable knot between you and the lure.

Preferred holiday bass rig? Take a medium weight spinning rod and reel (or multiplier outfit if you prefer)with 20lb PowerPro braid straight through. When you arrive, go to your nearest BassPro shop or Walmart and pick up a bargain pack of softbaits, lure hooks, small sinkers and you're ready to catch bass. The most important thing you can do in advance is to get onto a bass forum try http://www.bassresource.com and ask for advice about the area you intend to fish. If you intend to fish for a few days or more then get a guide for the first day or half day and see how its done. It'll save a lot of time trying to figure out the water.

[ 16. April 2004, 02:03 PM: Message edited by: argyll ]

Well what can I say!!!!!!!!Seems that the guys who developed braids and all the other gear for fishing for their own native species for god knows how many years know nothing about them!

I know who I would listen too...no matter how strange it apeared !

Newt over to you mate!

For those that dont know Northern Pike and Muskies are not in all waters in the States.in fact when you take into account the size of the US and put it into perspective very few!!

Any way no need for your mate to worry about tackle,if he has any sense he will use a local guide who will supply all the equipment required and hopefully if he has been taught all about it by an English angler show you how as well!

God Im sorry Newt but the arrogance of my fellow country men never fails to amaze me!

Budgie - not a problem my friend.

in Minnesota

Pike, walleye, and musky then (teeth) in addition to nice size perch, and good numbers of both largemouth and smallmouth bass.

After a look at a couple of maps, I'm thinking they will want to hire a good guide with a good boat. In that case, suggestions from the guide are the best idea. Smallmouth bass, for instance, like very specific sorts of structure (rock rubble and fairly deep usually) and these are decent size lakes so it would take quite a while to learn them on your own.

I've fished in that general area before and my suggestion to them would be some river fishing (again, with a guide). The rivers up there are well worth seeing and fishing.