• Added Slide Show for Spooling a Baitcaster

I uploaded all of the photos to my Myspace photo album. Then I created a slideshow using Slide.com. The slide show has been added to the post titled "Back To Basics: Spooling A Baitcaster" and I added some instructions to help visitors.

• Some Upcoming Posts, Star Ratings

I've been thinking about what else I could write about in the near future. My list already includes a look at Bandit 100 Series crankbaits, Revenge jigs, how to repair LFT Pig Claws, and a post on the Gander Mountain Guide Series rod. Those posts are currently works-in-progress. I do have two more photos I could post. One is of a cormorant and the other is of a leaning tree one of the hurricanes left behind.

I recently added the Pflueger Patriarch to my arsenal, so I may put up a post giving my first impressions. I swapped out the hooks on my Bandit cranks with Gammy EWG trebles and once I catch a few fish with them, I'll share my thoughts. With my recent post on buzzbait techniques, I thought it would be appropriate to discuss how to follow up after a missed strike on a buzzbait.

I'm not using the Blogger designed star ratings. Instead, I signed up with Outbrain and use theirs. There have been a few bugs. For instance, sometimes they do not load. Other times, the widget which lists the top rated posts does not load. I am a bit miffed that a few select posts have been victims of abuse. One user visits a post and in a matter of seconds, gives that post one star and moves on to another post. Most visitors don't even rate posts at all, so I'm not sure how helpful the ratings will be.

• Made some minor edits

I added a photo of a brush hog to the Zoom Brush Hogs post.

I added a photo of a swimblade to the Swimblade Commentary post and added the Related Posts links to the bottom of both swimblade blog entries.

I made some minor edits to the Pflueger Summit WLP review.

I also added a new label called baitcasters

• Fixed another typo

I do a lot of editing here, so it's very easy for my mouse to stray and accidentally mess something up in a post. From time to time, I recheck posts people visit frequently and notice a typo or mistake. I fix what I can find. Should you ever come across a typo, let me know by posting a comment under that particular post. I'll be sure to fix it. Even proofreading isn't always a fail-safe.

The typo I caught today was in my Shimano Callisto review. For some reason, a space did not get put in after a sentence. There wasn't even a period. Not sure how that one slipped by me, but as I said, I do a lot of periodic editing.

Thanks for your understanding.

• More posts coming, MD in the mail

Later this morning, a post is scheduled to show up on my blog. The Shallow Shad Rap is a fairly new lure in my tackle box, but I have used it enough to write a review. A few days ago, I posted a photo of an egret standing in a cypress tree. I have more photos on deck ready to be posted in the coming weeks. I took them on my last outing in the boat. I do have some video of eight to ten catfish swimming near the pier, but I'll have to compress it down to a smaller format. I'm new to video editing, so when I make a version that isn't pixelated too much, I will post it.

The Residency Match is in full swing right now and interview season is upon me. Forgive me for not posting as often as you might want, but my career has to come first. By the way, my degree is being sent out today in the mail from my medical school and I should have it before the end of the week. Looks like I will need to go out and buy a frame for it soon.

• And so it goes

It seems traffic is starting to slow down. Fall does that. I noticed the same trend last Fall. Perhaps many anglers have made the transition into hunting season. I have not been fishing since the 20th. The Residency Match is taking up most of my time right now and will continue to monopolize my attention for a while. Weather permitting, it looks like I might be able to go fishing some time late next week. I also have a few reviews/posts to work on that I have listed as upcoming. I have a few photo ideas, but the animals out there have chosen not to cooperate with me.

• Revised Stanley Ribbit Post

Over the past couple of months, I have been going back to read through some of my older posts to see if I can clean them up. My original post discussing the Stanley Ribbit Frog simply fell flat, so I rewrote it. I did not include photos in the original either and I am about to pull out the digital camera for just that very purpose. This version should read much better than the original and offer more to readers.

• New & Better Forum

The forum using Google Groups was getting on my nerves. I found out posts that are not active within 30 days are closed automatically which is outside of my control. There were other things I was simply unable to edit in the settings. I got rid of it just now and signed up at a site that even allows guests to post.

http://bassdem.lefora.com/forum/
That's the new address. The layout is much cleaner and offers much more.

We'll see how it goes. I don't expect many to join. At least you won't have to create a new username and password to participate. If you get a chance, head on over and see if you can add anything.

• Myspace Feedflare Not Working

The Feedflare at the bottom of every post and in my feed that allows people to add me on Myspace is not working. The developer who made this flare is not directly associated with Feedburner and so help is few and far between. I just removed the flare from my Feedburner settings, but Feedflare being the testy beast that it is may take a while to update the change.

• New Labels Post View

I've already made a few changes lately regarding Labels. I added a listing by frequency using a drop down menu while at the same time listing Labels alphabetically. I'm not sure if this is Label-overkill for my visitors or if it makes things easier for them to navigate. According to my StatCounter log, it has made a difference in whether or not someone clicks posts based on a Label.

I also have the Table of Contents set up, but I'm not sure how many actually use it. The TOC is worth using if you want to browse my blog without loading entire posts or new pages. I recommend using the TOC over any of my other Label links.

The new change I just made should help viewers in the long run. Normally when you click on a Label such as techniques, the page that loads will list all 22 posts including the post content. If there are more than a few posts for one label as in the case of the label techniques, it will be difficult for someone to browse through all of the posts. I modified my template code to only show the post titles and dates and leave out the post content. I'll pay attention to the StatCounter log to see if people visit more posts as a result. My goal is to help visitors find what they are looking for in a timely manner before they decide to resort back to a completely new Google search.

See Only Show Post Titiles @ Blogged Up!

• Revamped P-Line Halo Review; New Posts Coming

My P-Line Halo review was comprised of bits and pieces of my first impressions followed by sequential edits. I felt this was not the cleanest way to present things and thought perhaps that I should rewrite things with a little more continuity. I have done similar things with other reviews in the past, so this is nothing new.

I have several upcoming posts to write. I have just recently written up three posts. Two of them are not on the Upcoming Post list and the one which is should be posted shortly via Blogger's scheduled post feature. The post that should be along shortly is my Merc Motor Tip. The other two posts are on replacing a rod strap on the V-18 All-Fish and on the Lowrance X37TX blinking "-4.0°F." Both are scheduled to show up in the near future. That'll give me time to do other things and work on a few other posts as well.

• Updated LFT Plastics Post

I updated my post on Lake Fork Tackle plastics. I cross linked it with a few posts such as rigging the LFT Craw as a jig trailer and my Back To Basics T-rig post. I also added more to the section on the LFT Craw Tube after having used this lure more.

A Few LFT Pastics
LFT Craw, Craw Tube, Top Dog Lizard, & Pig Claw

• New Layout

Some time in the last few days when I was fumbling around with those star ratings, a new feature Blogger is working on, I messed something up. Upon viewing my page earlier today, I witnessed the background color change from its usual tan to gray. In addition, a few fonts looked different and my visited link color had changed. In a panic, I dove into my hard drive looking for my most recent backup template. I couldn't find them. I'm not sure what happened to my backups from last month. I made one the other day when I messed around with the star ratings, but that didn't fix the problem.

I saved all my widget data offline and went to work on a completely fresh Minima template. This time, however I planned on making three columns keeping the blog posts on the left and putting two smaller sidebar columns together on the right. I've seen it on other blogs and I really liked that appearance. I started a completely new blog to test those kinds of things out on from this point forward.

I don't have a lot of die hard fans, so I don't think too many people will be confused the next time they stop by. Everything is essentially still there in roughly the same location, just shifted to the right or left. I think this look is a lot cleaner. I'm scared to mess around with those star ratings again. I don't want to have to go through all of this one more time. Besides, the stars take a little while to load and I don't want anything extra that delays my load time.

• New Feature

Blogger In Draft has two new features that caught my eye. The first is Star Ratings. Below each post, a star rating should show up so visitors can rate my posts. I like the idea, however it can easily be abused. I tried inserting the code, but the ratings didn't show even after resetting the widgets as instructed on another site. I will wait for this add on to go public before trying it again.

The second feature is something I think many bloggers have been waiting for. It's an embedded comment form. The comments form can now be arranged below the post on the post page instead of on a second page making it much easier for visitors to post comments. So far it looks like it works. I made a test comment and somebody tried to spam twice, but I rejected their comments.

Since these features are still in draft, they may not work as expected. Let me know if the comments form confuses you or rubs you the wrong way.

• Now Subscribe To Comments

Visitors can now subscribe to the comments feed. Scroll down and find the AddToAny subscription widget and pick your feed manager of choice to subscribe.

Why subscribe to comments?

If you make a comment and would like to keep track of any additional responses from other visitors or myself, subscribe. You'll be able to instantly get up to date information on responses and also to new comments. Let me know if you're using it.

• Upcoming Posts Are Done & Scheduled

Four upcoming posts have been written already and are scheduled via Blogger in the following order.
Local Tackle, Spooling Tip, Split Shotting, Bass Weight Calculations

If you haven't noticed, I'm getting close to 200 posts. By the end of this week, I will have 202 posts. I'm not planning anything to celebrate having 200 posts. I don't think it's that big of a deal. It just means I need to start coming up with more things to write about. Easier said than done it seems.

Enjoy!

• Subscriber jump?

Somehow the number of subscribers on my blog jumped from 26 to 40 over a few hours. I'm not sure how that happened. I know I added the addtoany subscription button to my page. Now Feedburner is reporting 25 subscribers again. There was only one "uncommon use" listed and that came from Blogcatalog, which isn't the least bit uncommon. I did notice the Technorati search bot was visiting a little more frequent. All I can figure is that addtoany somehow triggered a feeding frenzy, pardon the pun.

• Some Fixes & Changes

I fixed a couple of things and am about to add something new. First off, I noticed my comments links were messed up. When one comment was posted, it still said "1 Comments" plural, not "1 Comment" as it should. Fixed that. My Recent Comments feed script is hosted off-site by a third party and it stopped working today. I said forget all that and found code to actually do it myself. So now my Recent Comments actually look better and I'm listing the seven most recent instead of five.

Blogger has just introduced a new add-on for Blog Rolls or Blog Link Lists. I'm going to give it a try and see how it looks.

• Revamped Pflueger Summit Review

I went back through and revised my review of the Pflueger Summit WLP baitcaster. I've taken the sequential edits from the bottom of the review and integrated them so that there is a little more continuity to the review. I've also reworded the review to reflect the high speed reel playing field at the time I purchased the reel and put it into context of the current offerings from Pflueger, including the new Patriarch and the Cetina LP. I still have to add a few links, but for some reason, the Pflueger web site is timing out on me.

• Updated H2O Xpress Post

I updated the post about the Academy H2O Xpress baitcasting reels after going to Academy today and looking at two of them. They had the Mettle and the Manic on display as a combo, so I inspected the reels up close and personal. I found that the line capacity is 12#/120yd for both reels. I also had the impression that the reels felt a little on the cheap side. They honestly reminded me of toys. Anyway, I edited the post to reflect my new findings. I still don't know how much drag power they are packing. Visit the blog to read more about the H2O branded reels. There are several comments from visitors as well.

• Some Posts To Look Forward To

I've already written them and published them using Blogger's new feature which allows posts to automatically get posted at the future date and time I specify. The Mepp's Aglia post is done. I've had that one on my list for a while. It was hard for me to write and I don't think I had much to offer in the end. Have a look when it comes through.

After that, I have two posts coming with a Back To Basics theme. One is on rigging the Texas rig and the other is on spooling a baitcaster. The T-rig post will also explain how to properly rig a ribbontail worm along the seam and offer a few extra tips as well. Later on this week, expect to see the moisture tip post and a post on rigging a frog. Apparently visitors to the blog have been looking for a how-to on rigging a frog and not so much a review on frogs, but they landed on my frog posts anyway.

This new feature will hopefully give me some time during the week to do other things. Keeping up every day isn't the easiest thing to do.

Tight lines.

• New Group/Forum!

I decided to open up a whole new can of worms. I started a group on Google Groups so that visitors and readers can ask questions, contact me, and share their own tips. Go to the link below and join.

http://groups.google.com/group/bassdems-bass-fishing-group

• Working on posts; Cross Lake posts

I've got almost all I need to start writing my post on the Hula Popper. I only need to take a couple of pictures. I also need to start taking pictures for the Tracker speedometer fix post. The other upcoming posts are going to require some of the same things, but I have yet to start on any of them. I've also come up with a few new ideas for posts. Based on a couple of Google searches, I will discuss trailer hooks, some Zebco spincast tips, and rigging frog hooks. I'll keep paying attention to where visitors are coming from and hopefully help future visitors by providing the info they need without a lot of fuss.

I have also started including a link to the Cross Lake label/tag at the top of every fishing report I post for Cross Lake. I noticed several visitors from Google were searching for Cross Lake reports and ended up landing on posts from December and February. They didn't bother clicking on the labels to see if any more recent reports had been posted. Just another example illustrating how my target audience is not all that familiar with the concept of a blog. No wonder forums are the method of choice for reaching this crowd. Any thoughts? What would make these kinds of visitors make an extra effort to click around a bit? It's almost like having to place a jig right in front of a bass before it decides to make the effort to eat it. Part of the problem appears to be related to Google's indexing or the lack thereof. Part of my reasoning behind including the Cross Lake/Shreveport, Louisiana info at the top of my reports is because Google has indexed similar posts in the past and ignored others. That's another obstacle I'm trying to overcome. After all, the Google search is my bread and butter for this blog.

• Edited Terminator T2 Post

I edited the post reviewing the Terminator T2 spinnerbait today. After using the lure off the pier over the last couple of days, I gained new appreciation for its capabilities. I noticed changes in casting accuracy as well as a significant amount of thump from the blades.
Read more...

Remember, my edits always get placed at the bottom of every post and are marked by a heading in bold print.

• Catching up

I have to do some catching up folks. I have a lot to unpack. I was able to wet a line this evening and had a couple of gar chase a frog. I also had a few taps on a Senko from what felt like crappie striking quick and vanishing into thin air. I have some In Fishermen magazines to read through that have been sitting in a stack of mail. I'm also making sure my fantasy fishing for BASS is all lined up before the tourney starts in the morning. I'm going to check my line and make sure I have all the tackle I need for the time being. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

• Justified Font

I did a little tinkering and decided to align all text in my posts with justification. Let me know if the justified font reads any easier or even whether or not it looks better. There are only a few caveats related to using the justify tag. I've already discovered one post affected by one of those glitches. Still, after some tinkering, I was able to also figure out how to get links in my posts underlined without manually underlining them during editing. That will save me some time.

That is all.

• Updated Gamma Edge FC; Solunar Charts

Tackletour has published a rather brief review of Gamma Edge Fluorocarbon.
http://www.tackletour.com/reviewgammaedgefc.html

I edited my review to include some of the findings in this new article. I can't say I had the same experiences they did, but since they have already done a good shootout comparing various fluorocarbon lines, they have to be pretty knowledgeable on the subject. Have a read. See what you think now.

In Fishermen has yet to publish new solunar calendars on their site. It's still April and they do have that one up. I would love for them to go ahead and put up the new monthly calendars so I can update my links for you guys.

• Upcoming April & May Posts

I still won't be home for a while and that itch to fish is driving me nuts, especially after watching the amazing stringers from the Lake Falcon BASS tournament. I won't have my gear at my side to write a few future posts I have in mind. I do have a few topics I can go ahead and write before then. I'll go ahead and give you the spoiler info so you know what I'll be posting over the next couple of weeks.

A few upcoming posts are not all that interesting, but also very useful in their own way. Besides posts on lures such as the Terminator T2 spinnerbait, Arbogast Hula Popper, and Mepps Aglia, I will also add some tips that will help you out this Summer. Soon the topwater bite will be in full swing. Not all of us fish from boats, but the same topwater techniques bank fishermen use can still work when fishing from a boat. I'll mainly be talking about working a buzzbait parallel to the bank. Next I thought I'd mention that those little silicone packets that come packaged inside any number of products to prevent moisture can also be used for the same purpose in tackle boxes. I've also mentioned the speedometer fix in my Bass Tracker V18 post, but it's a common issue with the sensor that really does deserve its own post. Finally, I'll post the (length x length x girth)/1200 bass weight calculation for those who don't know it yet, although you can find that formula everywhere these days.

• Alphabetical Labels

The labels on the left side of my blog were listed by frequency and visitors would occasionally click on a few of them to read more. However, I feel that listing my labels alphabetically may be more suitable for my target audience than a list by frequency. I still list labels by frequency further down on the left, but listing tags in alphabetical order makes it a lot easier to find what you're looking for. I'm already noticing a few more clicks in my site log thanks to this change. Like every other new idea I've had for my blog, we'll see how it goes.

I'm still not completely satisfied with my fonts. One day I might change my layout to a white background with a cleaner look. The problem is, MSIE 6.0 makes everything look ugly.

• I am still writing

I'm still working on a couple of new posts. I'm currently trying to make the adjustment to Michigan, so things related to my blog are a little delayed. I'm still unpacking and fixing up my living arrangements.

• Edited My Line Post

I edited the post on My Line. I forgot to mention what other lines I'll be trying out in the future. I also need to remember that people need to know I'm using my line on casting reels, not spinning reels.

• Edited Brush Hogs & P-Line Halo

I edited the post on brush hogs after using them with a Gamakatsu Jobee Pro hook. I also edited the P-Line Halo post because someone posted a comment about their experience with the line on a spinning reel. Fluorocarbon on spinning reels has a steeper learning curve and a few members on the BPS forums actually are talking about fluoro on spinning reels in a new thread.

• Font & Color Overhaul

I decided to test the readability of my page by changing the font and a few colors. I'm not sure what it looks like on IE, but let me know if there are any issues. Not all of us have 20/20 vision and some colors do blend well while others clash horribly. I got the feeling my previous font and color scheme was a little hard to read. Of course, I'm a Firefox and Safari user, so what I see isn't necessarily what you see. Visit the blog and come back here to post some feedback.

Thanks

• Movin' on up

My ranking on Hitsunlimited.com has shot up into the top 50. I'm ranked number 47 at the moment. I was bouncing back and forth between the 90's and the 70's, but after my two latest posts, my hits have more than doubled. Gotta love Google searches. I don't know how much longer people will be doing searches on either of the two topics, but I know the popularity won't last forever. However, after Saturday's 185 unique visitors and Sunday's 227 unique visitors, I would have thought someone would have been tempted to comment. I had a comment on the H2O reel, but that was about it. I'm beginning to get the feeling that many of them don't even know what RSS is or how to subscribe to any feed. It's a tough group to figure out. At least I've stumbled upon one way to get them to visit in droves. Hopefully it will get me a few more repeat visitors. Is the concept of a blog too technologically involved for this kind of visitor?

• Edited Rattle Traps Post

I noticed two recent searches on rattle traps. They were looking for which line to use as well as which knot to tie. I dug around the net for a while looking for answers. The edit is located at the bottom of the post. Hopefully that will help out those folks wondering about either question. I could not find a definitive answer for the knot question, but still wrote in my findings.

• Updated Gamma Copolymer Review

I updated the Gamma Copolymer review. I purchased some 20lb of the copolymer and have used it enough to share some thoughts. As always, the edit is at the bottom of the post.

• As the season picks up

As the bass fishing season picks up this Spring, I am wondering if my blog will receive more visitors. Unless you're into ice fishing, most bass fishermen have packed up their gear and put it into storage over the Winter. As it warms up, they'll be out and about buying new gear and looking things up online more often. I'll have to wait and see. March and April are going to be busy months for me though. I won't be posting nearly as often because I will hopefully have two rotations wrapping up my med school requirements.

• I am working, I really am

I am working on a few posts. Unfortunately, I came down with a nasty cold after flying back from Detroit a week ago. The weather over the next week isn't all that perfect, but if I start feeling better, I may wet a line. I've got graduation and residency on my mind as well. I'm working on the posts on knots and fish handling. I might head to Academy when the coughing settles down. Got a $15 gift card to burn.

• Updated P-Line Halo

I updated my P-Line Halo review today. I fished off the pier for a while and eventually snagged in a cypress limb. I tried to yank free and the line broke. I've had the same line spooled on for a while, so I know more about the stuff and figured now would be a good time to write more on the review.

• Myspace

I broke down and joined Myspace yesterday. Just another way to shamelessly promote my blog. Not sure it'll do anything but infuriate a lot of southerners.

http://www.myspace.com/iamabassfisherman

• Scenic Photos

I have a new digital camera. I am thinking about using it to take photos of nature on the lake. We've got lots of cypress, birds, plant life, and sometimes very nice sunsets off the water if you catch it at the right moment. The only thing is Blogger has a space limit of 1024MB for images and over time, photos like this could take up quite a bit of space. I might use Photobucket. Then I could use the photo slide show widget Blogger has. The pics won't be huge and would be presented more appropriately in a separate blog and not crammed in with the fishing blog. I could organize them using labels and still post them in the fishing blog to keep things simple.

Not sure where I'll go with this idea, but I'm throwing it out there since photography is pretty commonplace in the world of blogging.