From the Sack…. An overlooked bait. For most of us, when we are on the water in pursuit of a largemouth or smallmouth bass, we are generally fishing in 10 to 12 feet of water or less, often only three feet. The Pro’s are not much different Watch the Saturday morning shows and nearly all of the time they are fishing shallow. Probably Denny Brauer and Tommy Biffle have their depth finders permanently set at 10 feet, anything deeper then that they don’t care about. One of the main reasons for that is that shallow fish are easier to locate and I believe they are also easier to catch. Very often you can visually see their potential hiding space without the aid of electronics. When we do try to fish deeper it is very often a half-hearted attempt with baits that were not meant to be fished in 25 feet of water or more. Tubes, as well as jigs, Carolina rigs and drop shot techniques will work well in a deep water environment but most anglers over look one of my favorite baits, a jigging spoon.

Jigging spoons are fairly popular for ice fishing but once the hard-water is gone so are the jigging spoons, but that in my opinion, is a big mistake. Jigging spoons will often put the other deep water techniques to shame. They will catch just about anything that swims, which sometimes can be a problem.

There is a variety of jigging spoons available but I use only two brands, a Hopkins and a Strata spoon, which is best described as a Bass Pro Shop generic version of a Hopkins at about half the price. For sizes, I typically carry ½, 5/8, and ¾ ounce baits. The deeper the water, the heavier the bait. The bait is a hammered spoon in silver or gold with and without a feathered hook, your choice. I like mine straight up, plain silver with a plain treble hook. I customize the baits slightly by adding a fairly large split ring to the nose and replacing the stock hooks with a premium hook. The split ring seems to improve the fluttering action of the bait when it’s in its free fall mode.

The jigging spoon works well because of its erratic action when it is falling and all the flash and vibration it puts out as it is falling. The other thing about a jigging spoon that I like is that it spends nearly all of its time in a high potential area. I believe that nearly all of the catchable fish are within a few feet of a structure or cover. A jigging spoon fished vertically is always within a couple of feet of the structure unlike a crankbait on a 100-foot cast that spends the first third of the cast trying to get to the bottom and the last third moving away from the bottom. The jigging spoon is always near the bottom and the fish.

I fish a jigging spoon on a 6 ½ foot baitcaster on 12 to 14 pound line, medium to medium heavy action. I prefer a baitcaster over spinning equipment because of the stiffness of the rod. I never bother to cast the lure I simply drop it over the side of the boat to the bottom, reel in a couple of inches of line and start jigging. It is very important to fish as vertical as possible. I am constantly on my trolling motor trying to maintain the vertical presentation. If the bait is not vertical two problems develop, one, you are much more prone to hang ups and secondly with the bait off to the side the bait doesn’t fall freely, thus reducing the flutter and the baits action.

To impart action to the bait I simply raise the spoon a couple of feet off the bottom with a sharp upward movement of my rod and then I slowly lower the rod back down trying to maintain light contact with the bait as it flutters back to the bottom, watching my line closely the entire time for any telltale twitches. I constantly vary the amount I raise the bait from about 1 foot to a maximum of about four feet. Very often I do not even feel the strike but the next upward sweep of the rod manages to set the hook into a fish that has taken the bait. The two biggest secrets to success are maintaining the vertical presentation and maintaining very slight contact with the bait while it is falling.

One other thing that is important is a good bow mounted depth finder. It’s nice to actually be able to see fish on the screen of your depth finder but more often then not I’m looking for any kind of structure on the bottom that may be hiding a fish. I‘ll stay right over that structure bouncing my bait on the bottom until I’m satisfied that nobody’s home. Some times you can actually watch your spoon hopping above the bottom on your depth finder.

There are two problems associated with jigging spoons. They are very prone to hanging up but if you’re careful you can usually shake them free if you’re fishing right over the top of the snag. Just lightly shake your rod and the weight of the spoon will often free the hooks even if they are hung up on wood. The other problem I alluded to earlier; may or may not be a problem for you, depending on your situation. As I said earlier, they will catch just about anything. You may be fishing for bass but the only thing you may be reeling in is walleye or perch or sheepshead or white bass. All of them will bite it. If I really wanted, needed, to catch a walleye on Oneida Lake or almost any lake for that matter, I would tie on a jigging spoon. Don’t let that discourage you, it works equally well on bass. Good luck, take the time to explore the deep stuff, it’s worth the effort.

See you on the water ….. Sack

From the Sack…. At the club championship, our "Classic", that age-old question came up again of how good are we? After all, isn’t that one of the main reasons we fish tournaments, to compete, to find out who’s best? But, what about us vs. the Pro’s? Are the "Pro’s" that much better then us? I hate to disappoint anyone but the answer is a resounding YES, and the difference between us and them is far greater then most of us want to believe. The difference is more like the difference between our under hand toss of a whiffleball during a backyard picnic game and that of a fastball thrown by Roger Clemens.

Usually when this comparison is made its right after the Pro’s had just fished on a local lake. Let’s see, the winning Pro averaged 15 pounds over four days. Why just last year in the local club tournament you had 15.7 pounds. You’re even better then him, but maybe we’re not comparing apples and apples. You fish this lake about seven times a year over the last 15 years, that’s 105 visits to the lake. The Pro had never seen the lake before, fished it for three days before the tournament and then had to compete against 100+ Pro’s for water rights not the 12 boats in our little club tournament. It would seem as though those sunglasses you wear, the amber tinted ones, are quickly changing to a rose color if you really think you can play with the big boys.

The Pro’s are professionals, most of them average more then 250 days on the water a year, that’s probably at least 6 to 8 times more often then most of us. In a lot less then 10 years time they will have gained more experience then we will have in a lifetime. Not to mention that they tend to hang out with the right people for enhancing their fishing knowledge, if you know what I mean. That’s tough to compete against.

So what makes the Pro’s so much better? The amount of time spent on the water certainly goes a long way in explaining their performance but it is probably more then just that. I think that they are simply fishing machines; tinkering with their baits, fine tuning their lure presentation and always enhancing their skill level and knowledge. My best friend Mack, who is my mentor on bass fishing knowledge, once had the opportunity to fish with a Pro many years ago. My friend posed the same question to him, about why he was so much "better". The Pro simply said that the difference is in the Pro’s ability to find the fish, if you can’t find ‘em, you can’t catch ‘em.

Kevin VanDam has a different point of view. He has said that the biggest difference between the Pro and their amateur non-boater partner’s is in their casting ability, their lure presentation. I received a valuable lesson on the importance of lure presentation about 15 years ago. Ron Davis, a good friend of Mack’s, had just won the tournament we were in. It was spring time and on Lake Wylie at that time of year, Ron won just about every tournament. Mack had fished the same lure as Ron most of the day but with little luck. After a little arm twisting, Ron agreed to go back on the lake to give us a little demonstration of how he fished that lure, a Rogue. Ron was casting the lure up next to the bank just like Mack had been all day, but the secret was that the lure would not make a splash when it hit the water. Ron caught three fish in less then 15 minutes and missed one other. After dropping Ron off at the dock, we returned to the cove that Ron had just demonstrated his technique, so that I could try to duplicate it. Mack let me take the bow and I had the same lure as Ron had on. I tried for 1 ½ hours before I gave up; I never caught a fish, not even one hit. I simply couldn’t throw the bait right next to the bank without making a splash. Mack took over and caught one almost immediately. I had been fishing with a baitcaster for years at that time, but I still couldn’t make the type of cast that was required to catch fish. Fifteen years later I still struggle to make the cast that Ron could easily make 9 times out of 10. Without the ability to present the lure as Ron could, that magic bait was useless.

All the Pro’s can make casts like this one and others with out hesitation. If you have never followed a Pro fishing you are really missing out. In 2004, I went to the Bassmaster Classic on Lake Wylie with Mack to watch the Pro’s on the water. On the first day, we watched Tommy Biffle work a series of boat docks not far from the area that Takahiro Omori two days later would win the Classic. We watched Biffle for about 45 minutes; it was the most amazing demonstration of fishing skill that I have ever seen.

If my memory serves me correctly, there were two docks, possibly three that extended out into the lake about 60 feet, with posts about every 10 feet. Tommy maneuvered his boat up and down the docks pitching a jig to each and every post on the dock. His rod and reel barely left his side and his right hand never left the handle of his reel. He was like a statue; his left hand only moved a few inches to make each pitch, hopped the jig twice and then reeled it in and made another pitch. The jig never made a splash when it entered the water and it was never out of a possible strike zone more then a couple of seconds between casts. Lastly, his boat was never out of position. He was a fishing machine.

On the last day of the tournament, I got to see another demonstration of fishing skill at a professional level, this time by Randy Blaukat. He was fishing a shallow running crankbait along the bank; using a right handed baitcasting reel but casting left handed. He caught several fish in a short time span as he moved down the bank. Our boat was less then 150 feet from Randy’s boat. I had a pair of 8 x 30 binoculars that I was using to try to determine more about the bait that Randy was using. I couldn’t do it even with the aid of the binoculars. When the crankbait Randy was using was nearly back to the boat, he would already start moving his rod backwards to make his next cast. His rod would flex back and forth similar to a fly fisherman casting a fly. As his lure approached the boat his rod bowed forward, then sprung backwards when the lure broke the surface, then forward again as the next cast was executed. The lure was out of the water for a split second before it was back in the water again. Another fishing machine, no wasted time, no wasted motion.

Still think you’re as good as a Pro? I guess I’m from Missouri on this one, you have to show me. Go to a lake you have never fished before and beat up on those guys and I’ll start to listen. Do it at several lakes and I’ll really start to listen. Graduate to the Pro’s and I’ll be proud to say I knew you back when. Lastly, when you have done all this, come back and show me how to make that cast with a Rogue, and I’ll be pleased to ask you for your autograph.

 

The Pro’s are coming back to Oneida next July. Take a day to watch them fish; you will get to see some fishing machines! Just remember give them plenty of room, they are at work and don’t fish their areas during the tournament, that’s like taking bread off of their table. Also, don’t offer any information; it could result in their disqualification.

See you on the water ….. Sack

Dear Sack,

Many years ago when I was growing up my Dad taught me how to fish. He used only four-pound test line for almost everything; occasionally, going up to eight-pound test. He said there was no need to go any heavier. What’s with these guys on TV, fishing with 15, 20 even 40-pound test line? Am I a wimp for using 8-pound test or are they just a bunch of gorillas?

Signed am I a man or a mouse

Dear Man or Mouse,

Although us Yankees probably don’t want to admit it, bass fishing has most of its roots in the south. The fish grow bigger there; that 5-pounder you caught last year in New York that had everyone talking, would barely turn a head in Alabama, not to mention Florida or Texas. On my first trip to North Carolina, I fished for three days and didn’t catch much of anything. On the last day, there was a weigh-in taking place for a small local tournament. Small down there means about 60 boats. I convinced my mentor that we should check out the weigh-in to see how other fisherman were doing; I was convinced that they were not going to do very well. As we were packing up the boat the PA system blared out, 3 alive, 11 pounds even. "See Mack, I told you they wouldn’t catch much," he just looked at me and said, "don’t worry someone will have a sack full, they always do." A couple of more weights were announced before we made it over to the weigh-in; all were small with just a couple of fish, re-affirming my belief that nobody would have much. About the time we reached the weigh-in it was announced 10 fish, 33.78 pounds. This was followed by several other good catches, and then came the killer, 10 fish, 39.6 pounds. I couldn’t believe it, we had fished three days and we hadn’t caught ten fish much less almost forty pounds, time to go home with my tail between my legs. I could end the story there but there’s more. On Monday my partner called me with the final results, 10 fish, 59.95 pounds. Welcome to springtime fishing, southern style!

Fishing is different in the south and the techniques developed there are different, but those methods have adopted well above the Mason-Dixon Line. Southern bass grow bigger and the cover is heavier, hence the need for heavy lines. Here are some of the other reasons that heavier lines are used by the Pro’s.

1.   Many of the baits used by the professional angler employ 2/0, 3/0 even 5/0 hooks or larger. In addition to the size of the hooks, the points are often buried in plastic, Texas rigged, so that they will not get hung up in wood and brush piles. When a fish bites on one of these baits, the fisherman has to drive that large hook through a chunk of plastic and into the fish’s mouth. That requires a strong low-stretch line and a stout rod.

The heavier the line, the lower the amount of stretch for a given force. This means that if you set the hook with 10 pound monofilament and with an equal amount of strength you make the same hookset with 20 pound monofilament, the 20 pound test line will stretch less and transfer more energy to the actual setting of the hook. Of course all of this changes if you use one of the super braid lines which have very little to no stretch.

Did you know that most nylon monofilaments will stretch around 20% before they break? Keep that in mind the next time you make one of those 100+ foot casts. To stretch the line to the breaking point on a 100-foot cast it will first have to be stretched for 20 feet. Oh yeah, did I mention that while the line is being stretched it is also absorbing energy, this means that the monster hookset that you just used will probably be about as damaging as that of a 5-weight fly rod using a 3/0 hook.

I’m getting too technical and also away from my subject of why Pro’s use high strength yarns; let’s get back in line on line! A couple years after my first introduction to southern bass fishing I was once again back in North Carolina. My mentor and I were fishing in a tournament on Lake Wylie. I was using the bait that Herb Reed invented, a Slugo. I had read about the bait in a national magazine and wanted to give it a try. I was fishing the bait on a 5½-foot pistol grip baitcasting rod with 10-pound test line. That day I lost enough fish on that rig to have probably won the tournament or at least placed in the money, something I rarely do, but that day, my partner and I were on them. The only problem was I couldn’t get the hook into the fish and in the heat of battle I couldn’t figure out why.

 A few weeks later in Florida I found out why I couldn’t land any of those fish. I was on a family vacation and I got to spend half a day on a lake with a guide. When I met the guide I asked how we were going to be fishing. He said we would be fishing with Slugos; I just shuddered at the thought. I told him about my experiences I had just a few weeks prior, he said not to worry; I wouldn’t have a problem. He handed me a 7 ½-foot baitcaster with 20-pound test line. I caught 11 largemouth straight before I finally lost one; quite a difference from my experience with 10-pound test and a short pistol grip rod. The extra leverage of the longer rod and the lower stretch of the higher strength line made all the difference.

2.  A high percentage of Southern waters are man-made lakes, especially those north of Florida. The water clarity in many of these waters is close to the color of coffee a large portion of the year. Consequently, fishermen are not overly concerned about the fish seeing the line like many anglers that fish in the ultra-clear waters of the northeast.

3.  Up north, about the heaviest cover you will encounter are some dense weeds. In the south, nearly all of the major lakes are man-made and many of them have very few weeds. In place of that, the primary cover is wood in the form of laydown logs, stumps, and brush piles. Nearly every boat dock with a rod holder on it will have at least one and usually several brush piles within a short cast of the dock. If a fish takes you into one of those pieces of cover and you don’t have strong line, the game is over.

Lake Wylie on the South Carolina - North Carolina border, where the 2004 Bassmaster Classic was held, is a major largemouth bass factory. I have fished it many times and I have yet to take a weed off a bait while fishing on that impoundment. When fishing in heavily wooded cover you have to get the fish away from the wood before he has a chance to bury up in it. You can’t do that very well with 6-pound test and a spinning rod. The hard hookset you see the Pro’s make on TV has a dual purpose, one to drive the hook home and two, to get the fish out of the cover and heading towards the boat. This can’t be done with light line and a limber rod.

4.  Lastly, the guys who rely on fishing for a living get paid to put fish in the boat. Allowing them to swim around only increases the chance of the fish getting off. Playing a fish, as we may know it, is not an option for the professional angler. As a rule, only when a Pro fisherman is using a bait equipped with treble hooks will he take the time to slowly bring the fish to the boat.

Remember, the Pro’s you see on TV are playing a different game then you and I. Tiger Woods can hit a wedge probably 150 yards if he had too, that doesn’t mean you are going to take out a wedge when it’s 150-yards across a lake to the green. Play your own game; just try to understand the differences in the options you have to choose from and what they could mean to you. I personally have come to like high strength lines for some applications, but for other things I’m back to 8-pound test and a light spinning rod. The choice is up to you but if that guy in the front of the boat continues to beat your brains out, maybe you better re-think your approach.

Hope you catch a sack full,

Sack

From the Sack …. What’s my line?

About forty years ago I worked part-time in a sporting goods department in a discount store. One of my best friends worked there, along with his Dad. My friend’s Father was a big man with an even bigger heart. He was frugal, always looking for a way to either save or make a buck. I guess that’s why I was surprised one day when he told me about the new tires he bought; they were top of the line, very expensive for the time. When I questioned him about this he replied that those tires were the only thing between him and the road so he figured they should be good ones. Forty years have passed but I still recall him telling me this and the lesson that went with it; sometimes you need to spend the money when high performance is needed. Good thinking, the same theory should apply to your fishing line; it’s the only thing between you and your fish. Unfortunately, many of us over look this fact, if not when we buy the line, when we go to use it.

There are a wealth of lines out their in the marketplace but basically they break down into three categories, nylon monofilament, fluorocarbons, and braids. Each has unique properties that give it desirable characteristics for certain applications. The old standby, nylon monofilament, is the best all around line, but for some applications the other two choices may be better. For some applications, fluorocarbon or braids are practically useless. Use care in selecting your line and you should always be pleased with its performance.

Of the three choices the nylon monofilament has the greatest amount of stretch and the least amount of sensitivity, but that also means it has the greatest amount of forgiveness. Battle a fish on this old standby and it’s forgiveness will help you land that fish when it makes that last second surge close to the boat; stretching instead of breaking. Use it in one of the small diameters versions and your crankbaits will run a little deeper. It is a soft and subtle line, great for casting with very little memory. It’s a great line for fishing topwaters because the line tends to sink very slowly so it does not have a negative impact on the lure’s action. Fish a zara spook with fluorocarbon and you will immediately notice a difference. Fluorocarbon line sinks. Pause a spook for a few seconds with a fluorocarbon line and when you start your retrieve back up the spook simply won’t react correctly for the first few twitches.

Although not a good topwater line, fluorocarbons excel in other areas. They are more sensitive then monofilaments and they are nearly invisible in the water. It is the ideal line for fishing tubes and grubs. Crankbaits will run deeper and you can feel better what’s going on at the other end of the line. Floating worms and soft plastic jerk baits work great on this line. On the negative side, fluorocarbons have a greater memory then nylon monofilament which can lead to casting problems especially with spinning reels with 10 pound test line or higher.

The last choice is the super sensitive braids. Of the three line choices, this is the most specialized. This line has sensitivity like no other. Don’t believe it; cast a Carolina rigged worm with a ¾ ounce across a rocky point with braided line and you will be able to feel every boulder, rock and pebble in the path of your retrieve. Because of the low stretch of this line, not only will you be able to feel everything you will also be able to get an incredible hookset, even on the longest of casts. It’s also the preferred line of the pro’s for flipping and pitching into heavy vegetation not just because of its sensitivity, but because the line will actually cut through the green stuff rather then getting all tangled up. For the same reasons, it’s a great line for fishing frogs over mats of grass. The low stretch - high strength enables you to muscle fish out of the heaviest of cover.

 

See you on the water, Sack

Dedicated to A. J. Sanger - Thanks for the memories

From the Sack …. It’s not a matter of luck.

How many times has this happened to you? You return to the marina after an enjoyable day on the water, someone yells out, "did you have any luck?" Or you’re going fishing the next day, your neighbor finds out and shouts across the yard, "Good luck tomorrow!" For serious bass fishermen, fishing should not be a matter of luck.

For the casual fisherman, the person who occasionally sits on the bank of a small pond, lake or stream, drowning a worm or taking a minnow for a swim, luck does matter. He enjoys fishing just about as much as any other fisherman but at his pace. He’s there to relax, perhaps catch a fish or two, and enjoy the day. He’s not interested in understanding the nature of his quarry, he’s not going to change baits because clouds have moved in and he’s not going to toss a lure at that disturbance in the water next to the lily pads. He’s going to relax and enjoy the day. This person generally relies heavily on luck. The serious angler never depends on luck. He depends on his knowledge and skills to catch his fish. While others may believe his successes are just luck, he knows luck had very little to do with it.

So if you want to improve your luck don’t go looking for a four leaf clover or start storing horseshoes in your livewell; start practicing your casting skills daily. There’s no substitute for time on the water, but we often can’t get there. Just because we can’t get to the water doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be practicing. Just a few minutes a day, every day, will make a huge difference on the water. Practice flipping and pitching until you can consistently gently place a bait on a paper plate. Turn a 5-gallon pail on its side and practice casting into it as if you were trying to skip a bait underneath a dock.

Can you cast a bait forty feet, tight to the bank; land it right next to some stick ups with barely a splash? That lucky guy, the one that always seems to beat you, probably can. You need to practice presenting your bait until you can consistently make it enter the water with barely a splash. When you have mastered a splashless entry, then start practicing it along with placing the bait tight to cover. Remember, that lucky guy, the one everyone jokingly calls Mr. Lunker, he’s probably already mastered this; you’ve got to catch up before you can pass him by.

Occasionally someone will get lucky and win a tournament or maybe land the biggest fish. If it happens more then once it probably isn’t luck. Its luck that has been created by hard work; knowledge learned through time on the water and practice, practice, practice. Remember, good fishing is not a matter of luck.

So, the next time someone asks you if have had any luck, I hope you answer them this way. "Nope, I didn’t have much luck at all, but I did manage to land a nice limit of smallmouths through the use of the skills and knowledge I have gained from many years of fishing." "Those fish put me in second place in the tournament." "Now, the guy who came in first, the guy that beat me, he was lucky!"

See you on the water, Sack

Dear Sack,

I’m new to bass fishing. My friend, who is trying to educate me, recently said that he spent the whole weekend tuning baits or something like that. He fishes in tournaments all the time, I do not. What does he mean by tuning his baits and do I need to tune mine? Please explain.

Signed Tuneless in Taberg

 

Dear Tuneless,

Tuning baits is something that all serious anglers do. By tuning a bait you are trying to get the ultimate performance out of the bait that the lure designer tried to build into the lure. All lures may require tuning at some time or another, but generally the term "tuning a bait" is usually referenced to crankbaits or spinnerbaits. If a bait is out of tune it means it is not performing as design. In the case of a crankbait, the lure is either running to the left or right rather then coming straight back to the boat. Also a crankbait if it is not tuned correctly will not reach the depth it is designed for. Out of tune spinnerbaits are different, the lure will come straight back to the boat but the lure will be lying on its side or in severe cases the spinnerbait could be rotating in circles. You may still be able to catch fish on poorly tuned bait but it will not catch as many fish as a lure that is in tune.

Tuning a bait is a relatively easy thing to do once you get the hang of it. Often it takes just one or two adjustments to get it right but sometimes it becomes an impossibility. For lures that can’t be tuned, find a "friend" you don’t really like and give him a present that he will remember you forever for.

Tuning is a simple process. Make a long cast with a crankbait over flat calm water. Reel it back at a normal retrieve speed. Carefully watch to see if the lure wants to track to the left or the right. If it does, you need to bend the line tie on the bait in the opposite direction that the bait ran. If the bait runs towards the left, hold the lure facing straight towards you. Bend the eye of the bait to the right, opposite of the path it took running back to the boat. Cast the lure back out and retrieve it back again, make additional adjustments as necessary. If the bait continues to track poorly check to make sure the split ring is not causing the problem. If that doesn’t solve the problem, start looking for that friend I mentioned earlier.

Spinnerbaits have a lot more tuning options, the easiest of which is simply to slowdown the retrieve speed. The only problem with this is that a lot of the time when the retrieve speed is reduced so is the catch rate; this is especially the case in clear water. There are a number of other options besides just slowing the retrieve speed; just like a crankbait, tuning a spinnerbait is a relatively easy process. The first thing to do is to check to see that the arm of the spinnerbait with the blades is directly over the hook. If it is not in alignment, adjust the position of the blades by twisting the wire frame of the bait until the blades are centered over the hook. Try the lure again, retrieving it at a fast speed.

If the bait continues to want to lie on its side, try readjusting the wire frame again, by twisting the frame in the opposite direction that the lure wants to rotate. Still no success, try to reduce the amount of angle between the arm with the blades and the arm with the hook and skirt. This reduces the drag created by the lure in the water which helps the lure to run more upright.

If that still doesn’t solve the problem, there are still a couple of things you can try. If you reduce the size of the trailing blade of the bait it will reduce the resistance of the bait in the water which should allow it to run upright. Spinnerbaits on a store shelf look more impressive if they are equipped with a large size blade; hence they sell better. Manufacturers know this so they tend to equip their spinnerbaits with oversize blades that work just great at a slow to moderate speed but when you speed then up, over on their side they go. Down sizing the blade by a size can often make a huge difference in the speed you can retrieve a spinnerbait at.

About the last thing that can be tried is to reduce the size of the spinnerbait skirt by thinning the number of the rubber strands making up the skirt. This again helps with reducing the resistance of the bait as it comes through the water. This may finally solve the problem and if it doesn’t, call that friend of yours; you know the one that has all those untuned specials.

Good luck from the Sack