Leopard Frogs!

   

   I've spent a lot of time this year looking for Leopard Frogs. I've taken a special trip to Concord, MA in late June. Even more fun, but still unproductive, my friends Charles, Louise, and I staked out a spot in Middletown that they historically lived. Today we found the motherload. 

   I'd like to say that Leopard Frogs along with their cousins Pickerel Frogs are stupidly named. In nature, the fish Chain Pickerel is green as are all members of the pike family. Also, as we know Leopards are brown or at least brownish. However, to make life confusing, Pickerel Frogs are brown and Northern Leopard Frogs are usually green (usually). I can only assume Leopard Frogs were named first and when the scientist saw the spots he named them after leopards. This unfortunate fact makes me have to pause and think every time  I mention either species.

   Over the last year of herping I've seen Pickerel Frogs on many trips. Though the most I've ever seen at one time is five, I've probably seen them on over a dozen herping adventures. On the other hand, over the course of my life I've seen two Leopard Frogs. One of them was near the baseball field I played Little League when I was about twelve and the other was along the Hudson River when we visited Saratoga National Battlefield. I forget about both of these encounters and have mistakenly told multiple people that Northern Leopard Frogs would be a lifer. Ironically, I have seen a Southern Leopard Frog at a water spicket at a campground in North Carolina. 

   

   Today Laurie and I went to Concord to enjoy ranger programs at Minuteman National Historical Park. Going to the national wildlife refuge to kill forty five minutes was really an afterthought. It may been the best afterthought of my life. The chalkboard had a list of sightings one of them being "Spotted Leopard Frog" . Though the name was wrong, it did peak my interest that maybe, just maybe, we'd see a Leopard Frog.

   It didn't take long to find out. We crossed a little bridge over some flood water and I walked to a patch of grass on the other side. I startled three frogs in one step. Laurie also startled a frog. All four hopped into the weeds (three feet high Goldenrod, and other impenetrable brush). I didn't get a look at any of mine, but Laurie said hers looked green.

   Up the path we ran across a couple more jumping frogs. We identified them as Leopard Frogs!!! I was pumped and tried to catch them. They were so fast and can easily jump four or five feet. I missed them. Also, I forgot to get a photo before I tried to catch them! Dumbass.

   Luckily, I had a lot of opportunities. They were everywhere. The next frog that we found, Laurie smartly handed my camera back to me and I took some decent proof photos. Then I tried to catch them and missed again. I missed multiple more frogs multiple more times.

   After a half dozen unsuccessful attempts to catch a Leopard Frog we came across a small grassy patch along the trail as it came to a T intersection. The area was 20x20 feet. There were multiple frogs in the grass. I cornered one and he hopped a few times but I kept it out of the tall weeds. I could tell it tired after a few big hops. It got under some grass and as I figured out, it couldn't see me. I caught it and gently picked it up. We took some photos and we put it back down. In two hops it was at the waters edge. I caught one more frog and took some more photos but after that, despite wanting to catch every frog I saw, I left the rest alone.

 

 Since I didn't want to exaggerate this incredible day I asked Laurie how many Leopard Frogs we saw, we came up with the same number, somewhere around thirty! We also saw two huge Northern Water Snakes, a Garter Snake, and one Green Frog. Today was the most exciting day I've had herping in Massachusetts. We had so much fun. I'm still on an adrenaline high!

Seining Again

     Sunday my friend Charles kept a promise. He had told me all summer that we should go seining in August for tropical fish. The plan was to go seining when the water was the warmest to see what we could find. While this was going to be fun and exciting to me, I knew he was doing me a favor. He had spent the last six weeks seining everyday with kids at summer camp. His title at camp was Beach Naturalist so he was in the water everyday. I can't imagine he was nearly as excited to go as I was. It goes without saying that I am beyond grateful he kept his promise.

   Charles said I could invite a few people to go with us. The catch was there is only room for three cars. Being that we were seining on a weekend at a private beach we did have to keep the cars to that limit. So if you are reading this and you wished you could have went, I am very sorry I couldn't invite everyone I knew. I'm sure many birders would have been bored out of their mind, but I know many of you would have had as much fun playing in the water as I did. 

 

Windowpane Flounder

    Okay, now that I got my personal guilt out of the way...Laurie and I met Charles at the cabins at 8 am. To my surprise he had some tanks that had fish in them from seining with the camp kids. He had planned on letting them go the day before but decided to keep them overnight. Shortly after I got there Allison and the Bradleys pulled up followed by Jessica. We took photos of Charles's captive fish. I think the star of the show was a flounder I had never even heard of called a Windowpane Flounder.

   There were other fish in the tank including Sheepshead Minnow, Northern Pufferfish, Winter Flounder, and a couple of small Jacks. Charles had an observation tank where we could safely photograph fish without hurting them. The tank is in the shape of a slender V. The fish get stuck in the tank making photos easy. The fish can breathe because they are in water. Still, we all tried to take quick photos before getting the fish back into the bigger tanks. After we were done taking our photos we brought the fish down to the water to be released.

   Once at the water we started our own seine. Charles took the deep end and I the shallow end. We walked about twenty yards and Charles swung in like a hinge. We caught Silversides and Kingfish. I had never seen a Northern Kingfish and only heard of them when Charles told me they were catching a lot. We kept the largest Kingfish and Silverside for photos. Then we let the rest go. 

   The next sweep Marge took her turn. Same thing, Charles took the deep end and swung around. This went on five more times each of us getting a turn. Every time we caught the same fish  Silversides and Northern Kingfish. We did catch a couple hermit crabs and jellyfish but no other species of fish. Making it all that much more of a bonus Charles had kept his other finds.

 

Winter Flounder

   We brought the fish back up to the cabin and took photos of them. Allison tried to figure out the species of Hermit Crab. Luckily, Marge brought a small pad and wrote down the names of the fish we were taking photos of. We all took our turns taking photos of fish and when we were done we released our Silverside and Kingfish to the protection of Neptune.

   I'm quite sure Charles was disappointed by the lack of species we got. He said there was a good chance we could catch baby Barracuda and many other tropical fish. It just wasn't panning out that way this year for whatever reason. Still, for those of us that never seine, it was a fantastic morning. I thought the field trip would take us two hours but we didn't leave the beach until noon. I think all of the participants had a great time doing something we never get to do. I personally got many lifers. The Windowpane Flounder and Kingfish were lifers. I may have caught Winter Flounder as a child but I wouldn't have known the difference from them or Fluke so they it to was a lifer. Once I get positive IDs from Marge's post the similar Jack's will be added to my list.

 

Northern Pufferfish

  If there is one thing I have learned this summer it's this: I know a lot about the gamefish I catch but when it comes to little fish there is so much to learn. In both fresh and saltwater there are so many species I not only know nothing about but never even heard of. The other thing is there will be a seine on either my Christmas list or one bought before then!

Thank you again Charles!!

Many more photos below

Striped Sea Robin

a jack, maybe Pompano

Butterfish

Allison seining

Jessica doing the same

Our fearless leader, Charles

Northern Kingfish

Freetown State Forest

   

   In an attempt to conserve funds, I haven't done much of anything that involves long drives. I did work the last two weeks at the Newport Folk and Jazz Festivals putting in over forty hours each week. Glad to have made some money. While you may not want to read much about my health, this post begins that way...

   Over the last few months my sugar levels have been pretty much perfect. Because I was so active, whenever I took my blood sugar levels it was always within the healthy range. With exercise and my medication, it really didn't seem to matter what I ate, my sugar levels were great. It was to the point that if asked how I was doing, I'd say that with my meds, I was pretty much cured. Yes, I know that you always have diabetes once you have it. Still, my numbers have been great. I am very fortunate that I can control my blood sugar levels with exercise. However, there is a Ying to every yang. This also means that if I am not active my blood sugar levels go up.

   I realized this a couple of nights ago. Over the past week my blood sugar levels were high. Of course I made some changes to my diet. I don't eat French fries every night anyway, but over the past few days I have been VERY mindful of carbs. Yet, my blood sugar levels, while not off the charts were higher than I'd like. Certainly higher than they should be eating very cautiously. Then it hit me, I haven't been nearly as active over the last month (other than working the festivals) as I had the previous six months. So with that in mind I decided to go for an extended bike ride today.

   I understand that reading two paragraphs on my diabetes is not why you came to my blog. But there may be people reading my blog that do have "Tracy Morgan Disease". It is quite possible one of them can't get their numbers down with meds and diet alone. Hopefully this post inspires them. 

 

Miles of dirt roads

 Today I decided to explore the Freetown State Forest. The forest is in the towns of Freetown and Fall River. It is a couple miles off of the section of Rt 24 between I-195 and I-495. Freetown State Forest (FSF from now on) is part of a large protected area called the Southeastern MA Bioreserve. This huge 16,000 acre greenspace is managed by many agencies from Mass Wildlife, City of Fall River, The Trusties of the Reservation and others. I only explored a small section of the bioreserve today. The FSF is large enough. There are many types of trails ranging from hiking, bridal, and even motorcycle. I stayed on dirt roads today. There were more than enough miles of dirt roads to tire my legs out.

   When I first pulled into the parking lot ( the forest is free) at headquarters I got a map of the forest. I then sat at a picnic table and studied it for a few minutes. I decided on a route. There are numerous trails and it would have been very easy to get lost. To counter this, I planned on stopping at every intersection so I knew exactly where I was. 

 

There are over 30 manmade watering
holes for wildlife throughout the forest.

 There was a lot of different habitat. For sure the rangers use fire in the form of prescribed burns to manage the forest. I saw multiple places where it was obvious that fire was used. In most of these places the underbrush was a lush green. Some of the larger trees were not affected by fire at all while the bushes below were charred and dead. I think the burned areas will make a nice home for a multitude of species including Eastern Box Turtles.

   I went in the afternoon and didn't see too much wildlife. By far, the most common animal was a butterfly with blue on the wings. I didn't stop to see if it was a Red Spotted Purple or one of its cousins. They were at every puddle or muddy area on the road. For bird life, the highlight was a singing Hermit Thrush. They are a common species, but I rarely hear them sing. 

  Though I would expect it much busier on weekends, I only saw two other people on the dirt roads. The main parking lot was pretty full of cars. There is a splash pool for kids to play in that looked to be very popular. There are at least fifteen picnic tables however I didn't see anyone using them today. I'm sure that is a different story on weekends. Once I got away from the main parking lot, I had the forest to myself except for one person per hour.

 

Monument dedicated
to the CCC

    I rode my bike extremely slowly (looking for wildlife) for a couple of hours. I really don't know how many miles I did. Maybe 6-8? Other than the very few hills, I didn't get any real cardio in. However, my legs tell another story. They are a little sore. Most of the roads were rough and I had many potholes and protruding (and loose) stones to negotiate. I'm sure I would have seen more wildlife if I walked with binoculars instead of rode my bike without them. However, my goal was exercise and see as much scenery as I could. Next time I go back I'll check out other parts of the SE MA Bioreserve. Such a cool area within a thirty five minute drive and I've never explored it.

    

Underbrush recovering nicely after a
prescribed burn.

Michael Tougias Presentation

 

Google Image of Michael Tougias

    For years I have wanted to go to a presentation by author Michael Tougias. When I was young I used to read his column in the Sun Chronicle (our local newspaper) every week. His articles were not so much about fishing as they were other outdoor pursuits such as daytrips, state parks, and canoeing local rivers. Though thirty years ago, I vividly remember reading his piece every week and learning about new places in the area.

   Somehow I got wind of Michael's books. He wrote multiple books about the area. He lives in Mendon, MA.  Back then his books were about local history or nature. I bought a book about King Philip's War. King Philip was the son of the famous Massasoit that befriended the Puritans. By King Philip's time the colonists were busy stealing the land from the natives and spreading disease decimating the native population. King Philip (whose real name was Metacomet) lead a war against the colonists. Per capita it was the bloodiest war in American history. Both sides were responsible for some despicable atrocities. 

   Another book that I bought is called "Exploring the Hidden Charles". The book is about the Charles River. It breaks the river down into sections starting in the town of Franklin all the way to where it dumps into Boston Harbor at the Museum of Science. In each section is information about entering tributaries, scenery, and most importantly access points. I took multiple scouting trips to sections of the Charles with my book and notes looking for places to fish. Because of this book I caught Yellow Bullheads in Sherborn and fished for carp in Needham. 

  Later on Michael decided to expand to a more national audience. He found a niche in extreme survival. He found stories where people survived all kinds of historical disasters. He has also dabbled in young adult books. Some of these are more stripped down reader friendly versions of his more detailed disaster books. These books certainly expanded his readership. To date, Michael Tougias was written thirty books. 

   Michael Tougias does multiple speaking presentations based on his books. Last night he spoke at Seekonk Library. I put it on my calendar and was getting excited as the day approached.  Last night's presentation was called "The Finest Hour". It was about a Coast Guard Rescue off of the Cape Cod Coast in 1952. There was a terrible winter storm so powerful that two oil tankers split in half about twenty miles from each other. The Coast Guard rescued most of the seamen but there were some deaths. The book was made into a feature movie by Disney. Two of the actors in the movie were Casey Affleck and Chris Pine.

   The presentation lasted almost an hour and was excellent. I hadn't read this book or seen the movie. So everything I heard was history I didn't know anything about. The meeting room was completely full and Michael was very happy with the turnout. After the presentation and Q &A was over Michael sold books in the back of the room. He signed the books and answered some more questions. 

   Seeing a Michael Tougias presentation was something I have wanted to do for decades (as usual I dragged Laurie along). It was definitely on my bucket list. He is doing a presentation in Middleboro, MA on October 2. The talk will be about King Philip's War. I plan on going to that. To find out when he is speaking go to his Facebook page and scroll down. You can go to his website to buy books and other info (I don't know why he doesn't have his speaking engagements on his website). The presentations are free. He obviously does them in hopes of selling some his books. None the less, a very enjoyable hour. 

https://www.michaeltougias.com/

Fishing Tackle Part 2 Buying the right stuff

   In part one I covered the mistakes I made buying gear for freshwater bass. I also went over how little you really need to catch fish. The key is to find lures that you are confident in. Confidence is brought on by success. In this post I plan to explain to you how how I took what I learned and applied it to other types of fishing. Though Largemouth and Smallmouth (collectively known as Black Bass) are the number one gamefish in North America I feel I covered that topic enough in the last post.

   Striped Bass are the number one species on the East Coast and trout are located in just about every state. I fish for these species a lot. I catch fish and do not need to carry around a sixty five pound tackle box to do it. More on stripers after the trout.

   Before I go on, I have to tell you how awful some of the fishing departments are in some stores. I can't tell you how many times I've gone to Dick's hoping for a specific lure only to walk out empty. This even happens at Bass Pro Shops to me so I do have to buy much of my tackle online.

   My trout box fits into my pocket. It is six inches long and about 3.5 inches wide. It has compartments. each compartment for the following; Rooster Tails, Kastmasters, Sinking Minnow, flies, Terminal Tackle (split shot, swivels)

  I carry four Rooster Tails. I have a White Coachdog and Yellow Coachdog in sizes 1/8 and 1/16 ounce. I have not fallen for the hype that I need every color of Roostertail. When they go on sale I buy two or three of each size and store them in a shoebox. I also don't use Mepps or any other brand. I'm not going to waste money when I have lures that work for me.

   Spoons- I carry a silver and a gold Kastmaster in 1/8 size. When there is a sale I'll stock up like I do with spinners. 

I take a small sinking Rapala in the color silver. Again, other colors and brands probably work, but I', sticking with what works.

   I take flies along for the casting bubble/fly combo. Since flies are cheap, I do take a small assortment. I could easily get by with using Wooly Buggers size 10 in either black or olive. For years I only used those two colors. However, I've thrown in a Size 12 Hares Ear and a big gaudy Royal Coachman for fun.

Along with the lures I bring a couple of clear casting bubbles and six pound Vanish for leaders for the bubbly/fly combo. I am sure (for example) Thomas Buoyant work just fine as does Little Cleo, but I do not need anymore gear just to "experiment"

Surf Bag-

   Fishing gear for stripers is big business for tackle shops from Maryland to Maine. Thousands of jobs and millions of dollars are spent on Striped Bass. To the credit of the shops, the gear sold at them is specific to their location. Cape Cod Canal shops sell to a different crowd than those in New Jersey. The baitfish is different, the canal has huge powerful tides, and much of NJ fishing is off of beaches and jetties as opposed to a seven mile long river with rock banks on both sides. 

   However, you would be surprised at how many different places I need to shop to buy the gear needed for New England. Like my trout box, I try to keep the amount of gear I need to a minimum. Stripers are not hatchery raised and can swim thousands of miles a year. I can find them on sandy beaches, rocky ledges, or the aforementioned canal. I use the same strategy as I do for Smallmouth. I try to cover each life zone.

  The topwater fishing for bass and blues is fun. I carry a couple "walk the dog" type lures such as Rebel Jumping Minnow and two poppers. Both poppers are homemade and painted white. The difference is, one of them only has one hook on the tail in case I run into blitzing blues. This way I only have to take a nasty blue off of one single hook

For the middle layer I carry a Cordell Redfin and a Daiwa SP Minnow. 

For the lower layer near the bottom I carry bucktail jigs from 3/8- 1 1/2 ounce. I find myself using the half ounce most of the time. I carry jigheads of 3/8 and 1/2 an ounce for use of soft plastics. The plastics are Zoom Flukes in albino color, Queen Cocahoes in a pearl color. I take along three and four inch shad bodies in black back. Notice I don't have multiple colors for each lure. Lastly I use white colored grubs as a trailer on my bucktail jigs. Sometimes I'll use the grub on a plain jighead when stripers are fussy. This has saved my bacon in the past.

  Along with the lures, I carry leaders that I make at home. So I need to buy swivels, leader material, and Cros Loc snaps. I carry a couple wooden egg floats, a headlamp, and a pair of pliers.

   You can clearly see that my bag is not overstuffed. I don't waste money on multiple colors of soft plastics or for that matter plugs. My bag is homemade and can't believe anyone would pay a couple hundred dollars for a surf bag. 

   At the beginning of this chapter about surf fishing I did say that striper gear is not the same everywhere. This is true in New England. What you have just read is my RI bag. However, what I take to the Cape Cod Canal is totally different. Since the main baitfish is mackerel and much bigger than the bay anchovies of RI my gear is much bigger. To the canal I bring one box that fits in my backpack that I wear while riding my bike. In the box are a couple SP Minnows, a slow sinking Sebile Swimmer, a popper I painted blue mackerel, a big pencil popper, big jigheads, and green mackerel soft plastic. I d bring a few smaller jigs in case I run across small bait and schoolies.

Much of this stuff can be bought at local tackle shops and at Bass Pro. However, not all of it. I need to change out the weak hooks of the SP Minnows and Jumpin Minnows. I buy strong saltwater hooks along with big unpainted jigheads at NJ Tackle. They also supply wire and split rings for making poppers and wiring my wooden eggs.

   At home I do have boxes of spare saltwater gear. However, unlike my Tupperware bin full of freshwater soft plastics, it will eventually get used assuming I live long enough. The reason, when I find a good deal or Bass Pro has a sale, I buy in bulk. Every year Bass Pro has their Fishing Spectacular in March. Zoom Flukes always go on sale. So I buy a few bags to replace ones I used the prior year. I try to keep ten bags on hand. 

  A few years ago, they had a nice sale n saltwater jigheads. I bought five or more bags of each. I'm still living off of them. The same is said of four inch white grubs. I bought so many that when I need to restock my surf bag I just go into my spare room and pull some out. 

   I hate paying for shipping so when I bought my stuff from NJ Tackle, I made a big order. I still have unopened bags of multiple sizes of treble hooks, split rings, wire, and one ounce jigheads. The same goes for my fly gear. When I buy flies I spend enough so I don't have to pay for shipping. So I do have more flies than I'll need but I'd rather spend money on flies that I own than shipping.

I could go on and on about each species I fish for but I'm hoping you have the idea not to spend money on lures you don't need. I promise if you think ahead, buy smart, use sales and online companies to your advantage, you can save money and space. You'll catch more fish because you'll use lures you have confidence in. Don't get sucked into the illusion you need every color of every size lure. This is what the manufacturer's want you t believe. It is their job to sell their product. It is not your job to buy all of their gear. It is your job t catch fish. 

 

Photo Upgrade- Stilt Sandpiper

 I went to Charlestown yesterday and birded with my friend Scott. There were a lot of shorebirds but they were almost all Semi-palmated Sandpipers. The best bird there was a Stilt Sandpiper. They are a fairly rare shorebird. I've only seen them about four times. I got some decent photos of the ones yesterday. It came much closer than the others I've seen.  

Fishing Tackle-Part 1- Learning the hard way by spending too much money

   Here is one of the most important tips I can give you when it comes to fishing tackle. Most fishing gear is designed to catch fishermen not fish. Read that again because it is important. Companies that produce fishing gear spend a lot of time, money, and effort to convince you that you need to buy their stuff. Ask yourself this, is there any possible way you could possibly need forty colors of plastic worms? Do you need fifteen colors of crankbaits in three different sizes?

Lets start with the biggest money maker in the United States...largemouth bass. For the purpose of this post I looked up how much is spent on largemouth bass fishing alone. The answer...1.25 BILLION. Now, that number includes things such as vacations, fishing guides, tackle shops, etc... This post is going to concentrate on fishing tackle. 

   We have all been to Bass Pro Shops and there are aisles and aisles of gear aimed at Largemouth Bass. I am not one to talk. I was seduced by the lure of needing all sorts of gear. One example was after watching a fishing show I went out and bought multiple sizes and shapes of purple plastic worms.  My reasoning was that I could experiment and figure out which sizes worked during each "application". Maybe the curly tailed worm might be more affective in muddy water. Maybe the short straight worm would work better next to cover. You know what, I still have most of those same unopened bags of different purple worms in my storage box! I fell for the advertising.

   My tackle box for bass fishing must weigh well over forty pounds. It is loaded with dozens of topwater lures, crankbaits, jerkbaits and spinnerbaits. I have tons of soft plastic worms, lizards, grubs, tubes, and flukes all in at least five or more colors.

    When I went to New Hampshire in May and July I did really well fishing for Smallmouth Bass.  I took a box of lures I thought I would actually use with me. So I selected the lures out of my forty pound box that would fit into a plastic storage box. I did very well fishing for Smallies. My worst day I caught six fish. I had two days were I caught twenty eight, and twenty respectively. The rest of the days I caught over six but less than twenty. By any standard, fishing was very good. You know how many lures I caught fish on...three. I used my Zara Puppy for topwater fishing and a jighead for bouncing off of the bottom. On the jig I used two different color grubs. They were a four inch purple grub and a four inch Kalin's green pumpkin. That's it. I caught around a hundred Smallmouth Bass on three lures. Most of the hundreds of lures I own stayed at home while I was on vacation. And even eighty percent of the stuff in the box stayed in the box!

   So, the question becomes, what should you buy. If you are a bass fishermen that started out as a kid, then you probably don't need anymore gear. But for the sake of argument here is how you should break down what you need. Look at a how you would break down the pond. You need a few lures for each layer. You need topwater lures, lures for the middle layer and lures for the bottom. I love topwater fishing and by far my favorite topwater lure is a Zara Puppy. Other good ones are Jitterbugs, PopR, SkitterPops. Middle layer lures would be jerkbaits and spinnerbaits. Also very popular are Senko Worms fished like a darting/dying baitfish.  Bottom lures would be crankbaits. Also needed would be plastic worms, grubs, jigheads and worm hooks. This sounds like a lot, but I assure you, you do not need the amount of gear in my box. Get yourself two or three lures for each level of the water. Get a couple grubs you feel confident in. Get a light and dark colored worm such as Tequila Sunrise and salt and pepper. 

Don't get caught up in all of the combinations of blades and colors of spinnerbaits. Get a white spinnerbait and a white/chart one in either 3/8 or 1/2 ounce. A combination of a suspending jerkbait and one that floats at rest will fill your needs. 

  What about colors? I usually go with baitfish colors for hardbaits. I do have perch colored crankbaits and even Fire Tiger. But overall, two or three colors is plenty for each level of the lake. I am positive, you do not need purple worms of five different shapes and sizes. 

   I once heard a fisherman say to bring five lures with you for a day of fishing. He promised "you will catch fish". You will learn how to use them because you will concentrate harder than if you change lures every five casts. You will also build confidence in the lures.  I believe this fishermen was right. If I take my favorite five lures covering the water column with me fishing, I know I'm going to catch fish. As I said, I only used three lures fishing for smallies. 

  On the other hand, I once heard a fisherman say "they are only hitting motor oil colored worms today". Ignore an idiot that says that. And worse, don't be the idiot that goes out and buys motor oil colored worms because someone said they work. Lets look at this logically. Bass are a fish with a simple brain. Last I checked there isn't any natural prey called "motor oil worm". So the bass will not be "keying on" that particular lure and they won't hit anything else. Sure, that color worm may be working for that guy. It is a color he feels confident in. But I promise, the bass will hit other lures/colors also. A lethargic bass may not be willing to chase a spinnerbait but if you drop a Senko in front of a bass, even if it is not hungry, it's going to suck it in. 

   There is probably more gear designed for bass fishing than all of the other fish species in the US. The companies that make it want you to believe you need every color of every size. Do not fall for it. The advertising is designed to catch you. You will want more, but as I said, if you go fishing with five lures you feel confident in, you will catch fish. 

   Part 2 of this post will be about taking lessons I've learned from buying bass gear and applying them to other species.