Nice_Bass

Jig or a senko. Bluff ends you don't need to do anything but pitch and let it drop of the first and second steps into deep water and do it again after that.

headed out today. my head hurts from last night...Go Cubs! sitting in a tree should help...just hope I am not shaky if I draw on one.

hot weather and humidity have been keeping them pretty still so far. was out last night for what seems like the first time it has been in the 40's and saw about 7 in 1.5hrs. couple basket racks and does. They were all very vocal and all very close. Bucks were loners running their lines so seems like solid prerut here although we should be almost a month out from rut still. did not bring my climber out and just my "lawn chair". was really fun being so close on the ground to them (10 yards).

My fall so far this year. Too hot to hunt and too windy to fish. I have been working a lot and that's about it.

Just make sure to match your speed and arrow weight to what you are shooting as you will need pretty heavy penetration with a hog. Broad heads are what you will want to shoot so that is correct. Honestly a decent budget on a bow is going to vary on how much money you make in a year lol. You can get a pretty decent set up out the door for 600 but I would put another couple hundred into it at least. What do I NEED other than the bow and the arrows? do get the essentials like good trigger, peep sight, stabilizer, etc so you can make a good clean shot- for the sight I like only one or two pins ...get more and it will just clutter you up I think. Save money and go a couple times with just those basics and you will find you don't really need much else...except a good sharp knife and a range finder to practice with as well as hunt with...

Kershaw scrambler. it cuts any thing I need on a daily basis and have even used to finish off and gut a deer.

interesting yote story. To me, it sounds like you have a transient coyote meeting your resident pack which would be why a healthy animal is that close to your family home...it was safer there than with the local pack nearby (but was caught between a rock and a hard place)... That, or this may be a newly displaced juvenile from that pack still sticking to the outskirts of the rest of the animals. I think most of what we hear on deer predation is mostly anecdotal at best from what I have looked into however during fawning I think there will be more of an avoidance by deer to coyotes than any other time of the year. Obviously we are not in that stage right now. My guess is you are correct with the pasture mowed as there may be better cover with mast offerings.

I like savage but have not shot that particular rifle. I am sure it will work out great. Sure glass is expensive but for eastern woods hunting honestly most folks are way over scoped already. I am on board with quality scopes though...no denying you get what you pay for.

good info I just find everyone stress size and matching the hatch way too often here. Year round a 10inch worm catches fish. chasing pelagic fish or fish that eat pelagic fish I like to match so long as we are in that zone of open water. Schooling fish really do seem to like specific sizes of fish. Fishing near shoreline structure or cover I honestly don't care if I match or not. I know the various sizes of shad, gills, etc. and if one happens by an ambush predator they will not get measured first prior to being eaten. Anecdotal stuff on all sides here of course and I don't really think there is a wrong answer.

waytoslow and waynep fishing is easy but maximizing your boat and electronics use is a bit easier if you have an expert with you once to learn.

being in the industry now 10 years a quick bit of advice... get the lo everything you can as quick as you can. Most of the things we ask for we also disagree with, however we no longer get to win many arguments with regulation or underwriters. Its quite an overly complicated process and nothing like buying a car, etc. which some folks always think it should be easy as (not relating this to you).

at this point I already have a lifetime supply of DD22's. If I ever run out...I will buy more DD22's even if they are made on Mars.

I hate unwritten ethics of fishing as much as I hate unwritten rules of baseball. There is nothing ethically wrong with keeping your legal limit of bass for food. Plain and simple. the only thing that would be ethically wrong with keeping your limit would be if you are not going to be able to eat it or filet it properly and create a waste of the resource. Honestly in my opinion we keep bass at a higher pedestal than they most likely deserve simply because of the sport that we have placed upon their heads.... Personally I keep my fish keeping right in line with you as well though...and I do keep bass from time to time. Don't fish weedy lakes much so my bass always taste pretty much bland quite frankly.

Odd thing is it is the correct prop for the boat and engine and going up to a 21 pitch I believe will be too much with prop slip almost at 18% and 19 sits at 8%. Alum prop is an 18 pitch. I will say...I run a tracker 175 so I will never be the fastest boat on the water or high performance...just looking for a good ride at this point until the new boat is picked out in about another 5 years or so. I am actually thinking it could be a difference in the hubs as I have two different versions and I somewhat recall reading years ago one may carry more vibration reduction than another. I don't expect that lol...that being said, may be a hub, or may be wrong prop but 21 pitch too much. I do have a 75hp but may have the ecu flashed this winter to a 115 which will put the pitch closer to 23 or 25 I believe. 8% by my math anyhow and seems like it is right in range. May need to find a 20p if it is out there. I have a laser II as well in 19 on 75hp. 40.2mph

"Took him for a walk" (when fishing a worm or jig and you lift on the rod a few extra times as it swims to make sure it is on prior to setting the hook). its not exactly a term of endearment as you should have set the hook already...but we have all done it!

83 is not all that warm and with similar temps around here this is how it stands. If you want to catch the biggest fish and it can be a good or bad day. Stick to fishing deep. If you want to catch more fish, fish shallow.

Sorry...I corrected above. My aluminum prop only turns 5200 and redline is closer to 5600. My ss prop could go above 6000 as I have had it to around 5800 with throttle left. Turning 5600 with SS my speed is about 1-2 mph less than turning 5200 aluminum prop does...and ss runs a lot more rough on it as well. I have been thinking I need to pitch up on the SS prop to get more out of it however no local prop shops in the area for me to really try out...and when I ordered this a couple years ago I was hoping it would work well. I may not do anything at all as the boat is 6 years old and I may have the ecu chip flashed and if I do that I would need a much higher pitch prop for the 115hp range. I will take a look at the aluminum props you recommend. Honestly, I just don't think these lower hp engines turn SS all that well.

Changed out my SS prop on 75opti back to the original aluminum prop for a trip I knew I would be make a lot of long runs. My SS prop redlines too easy and I have not been able to get up to top speed because of it. anyhow, my aluminum prop only gets to about 5200 but my god does my entire engine run so much better. Out of the hole just a bit slower but smoother at top speeds and 100x better at idle. I think I may be selling my SS prop and see if I can pitch up to get RPMs lower or just sell it and get a different aluminum prop that will run at higher rpm's than what I am getting now. Goal is 5500-5600 I believe. any "high performance" aluminum props I should be looking at that run well on these lower HP engines?

Not an Illinois report...but oh well. Spent Thursday through Sunday at lake of the Ozarks and was determined to fish for only big fish. Did not catch a fish over 19 inches though. not really great fishing although I was able to catch a limit every morning by around 9 (just a small limit). I don't think I have caught a fish over 6.5 this year so I may need to rethink going back down there until next year. Fishing was tough though in that I had wife and daughter and did not get to fish a single afternoon/evening as we were doing other activities- tubing, eating, drinking. Not sure how the fishing was around here last week but when the storms were coming through (only about 50 miles from the lake but never at the lake) the bite pretty much shut down. On top of that Ameren screwed up and let too much water out and then they shut down pulling any water for 2 days. that really screws the bite up bad.

well...I guess it is time for me to get crucified. I honestly don't like any of the rage tail stuff except the big cut tail worm. To me the rest of the stuff is over hyped. and to really nail me to a cross... Hardgills are a bit overrated IMHO as well... not to say they don't work just not so much more effective than other baits to create such an odd S&D whirlwind they create. (however no...I am not selling the hardgills...the SK stuff is free to whoever goes to my house!).

yeah you should be fine. The braid spinning on the reel was a different issue altogether and can happen without any backing with braid (although....it has never happened to me as I really don't use braid much).

Going to be fishing LOZ this week/weekend and will be fishing quite a bit of channels/points/bluff ends when they are running current and docks when not... I am sure to catch a few on the bluff ends and always look forward to the fight.

why did you have to change the line and was it noisy prior to you changing that line? honestly I have cast my whole outfits into the water or dropped them in and grabbed them a couple times and at most all I did was laugh. while they are not built for submersion they are just fine in fresh water. long story short no need to do too much imo...just make sure to dry it out and maybe a bit of oil/grease of what you would do with your basic maintained.

What are my chances...? a hell of a lot better this weekend when I drive over to Missouri!

interesting. not sure if this will be valid or not on a motor guide but will have to take a look this evening. thank you.