wnybassman

This was a memorable day. Mid December, water temp around 35º and air temp in the teens. No wind. We start seeing something weird on the surface in a little shallower than we were fishing, and we were in 30 fow or so. Didn't take long to realize what it was. Ice was starting to form around us, even out in 30+ feet of water. This is a tube jig sitting on the ice. It was amazing how fast ice actually forms. It built thickness fast enough where the trolling motor was having a tougher time pulling the boat through it. 45 minutes later a breeze picked up and the ice was gone as fast as it formed. I now joke that not only do smallmouth bite up until ice-up, but also during ice-up We caught several fish that day, and for the next couple weeks.

Those Humminbird mounting brackets are known garbage. Mine kicks up any time I am in rougher water, but I refuse to put the third screw in because I don't want the bracket to break it if it wants to kick and it can't. Fortunately on my Ranger I only use the external one for the side imaging and I was able to mount it a little higher than normal because I don't need it in the water in anything more than idle speed. I did the Y cable for the shoot thru hull transducer which handles all my 2d sonar needs. If you are getting good images where its mounted now, you may want to look into an aftermarket bracket. I have seen some that have been made while visiting the couple different Humminbird forums out there.

Drag tubes and other soft plastics on jigheads along breaklines and over structure or Hop blade baits and jerk spoons over the same areas. There is no such thing as too cold either. About the time the weather is starting to get uncomfortable for you, is the right time for fall smallmouth. lol

I routinely do multiple hooksets, but mainly just fishing for smallmouth while dragging open hooked jigheads. Over the years I have discovered that smallmouth will sometimes clamp down so hard on your bait, that the initial hookset will not even move the bait in their mouth. The result of this is having the bait fly out of their mouth the first time they break the surface during the fight, all they are doing is opening their mouth. So for years I have been setting and resetting the hook during the early stages of the fight and have lost fewer fish because if it. If the fish becomes unbuttoned as a result of this multiple hook setting, you probably weren't going to land the fish in the first place. The power of their mouths proves itself over and over to me too. Just last month I landed a small 2 pound smallie on the Niagara River that only had the dropshot weight in its mouth. The first time it took air and opened its mouth, my net was already under it, so I caught it. This happens A LOT with tubes and football heads too. I always feel better about landing fish once they take air the first time, and I still have them on after that. I don't worry about largemouth so much, but find myself resetting if I think I flubbed up my first hookset. Seems like I do this mostly with frogs and T-rigs.

Hanging drywall at a house in Darien. Heard it first on the radio, then the homeowner brought in a small TV and we were glued to that for the rest of the day.

Get the net

"caught a few, nothing big, pretty slow now though" My stock reply while on the water no matter how I'm doing. lol

Probably a reaction between the different types of plastic. If you're trying to save money on o-rings, this is a good place to get them. $1.80 a 100 and shipping is reasonable. I ordered 600 and with the shipping it was less than $15 http://www.oringsandmore.com/servlet/the-463/Bulk--Rubber-Orings/Detail

Power trim and tilt? I had a Johnson one time that if the motor was trimmed all the way down while fishing it would flood itself out. Always had to keep it trimmed halfway up or better.

Dropshot some of these (http://maki-plastic.com/gpage3.html) Pricey, but quite durable for how small and soft they are. I routinely catch a couple dozen or more panfish on one bait.

The old Black Max round reels were one of the first reels designed to handle braid better with the triple XXX line wrapping system. Just a more aggressive/quicker line guide that overlaps the line better. Most of my reels I still use today are the 1600's, but not really for that reason.

So is that Joe Spicer's old boat? If so, I have rode in it and it is still the fastest I have ever been in a boat.

Just don't start any curses, that's all I've got to say

More importantly, who's boat is that? lol

Hey now, why does my picture keep showing up on Vanish bashing threads?? Yes, I use it in open water.................and heavy weeds.............and wood...............and rocks..............and just about everything. All but two rods have Vanish on them, and have for years My personal best on 4 pound Vanish. Yeah, the line sucks.