NoBassPro

I'd recommend having a backup plan for the cranks then, and soft plastics would be my choice here. The one thing I will say is those deep clear lakes can be hard to fish, but sure do seem to hold some beauties when you can figure them out. Or get lucky. Whichever, I'll take either. This is an extreme example and an area protected from fishing, but I could google this pic. Anyway, when you can see something like this its usually time to rethink how to approach the fish. http://www.panoramio.com/photo/5853314

One of those days, huh?

I've only used circle hooks for catfish and halibut, I don't know how they'll do on fish with harder mouths. If you like to snell your hooks go with the octopus, otherwise the regular eye will give you a more direct pull on hookset. The regular O'Shaugnessy should work just fine IMO.

Octopus hooks come in both traditional and circle hook style. The difference between a convential circle hook and an octopus circle hook is the bend of the eye, the difference between the traditional octopus hook and the circle octopus hook is the bend of the point of the hook. Generally speaking, the circle style hooks don't require a hookset and are pretty good at hooking fish in the mouth with live bait rigs. I can't say which you would prefer, though

How clear of water? In those few lakes I fish where you can see the fish in 20' foot plus of water, cranks have never been that effective. And I love throwing cranks.

If it works out like the last little bit has worked out for me, you'll end up with so little time for fishing you won't care about a boat. To answer the OP's question, I downsized boats after having kids a few years ago. To make it simple, its a pain to launch larger boats on some of the smaller lakes and I was no longer able to travel every weekend. the fact that the employer I worked for went under has since made me carefully reevaluate every major purchase, but, in that time, a new boat has not been something I've considered. The couple months of unemployment and uncertainity had a major impact on how I view things, and once my kids are able to enjoy time on the water, it will be an influence on my next purchase. The italics are not for emphasis, but rather because I'm an idiot who doesn't know why they even began in this thread.

Looks like a great time!!

My honest 2 cents is the biggest problem with an ugly stik will be its extreme flexibilty. Even with light or ultralight tackle a little backbone is nice when you want to steer a fish, just need to it flex for cushion when they want to go. Hopefully you know what I mean. You shouldn't have any problems fishing downsized moving baits or topwaters with it, and sometimes those are just the ticket. JMO, but if you can learn to watch your line and rod tip, and I've always been in the habit of having my finger on the line with spinning tackle when I'm not reeling, you won't miss many bites even with more of the applications I consider finesse techniques. I don't believe your rod can telegraph anything that didn't cause movement somewhere.

I'm not KVD so I can't answer for him, but my guess is those baits offer the profile he wants.

You can catch most anything on it. Pretty much they work well for light baits and sparse cover. I fairly regularly get smallmouths up to about this size out of rivers on UL gear. Not huge, but they are a ton of fun. I wear a size 13 show, so I'm guessing this fish to be 3lbs. No need to limit yourself too much.

If you haven't tried it already, go at night. The number of people fishing goes down about ten fold, and my catch rate goes up about three fold. Same locations, same baits, same colors

That is true, and I don't believe they have come to an agreement yet. The SEC wants to get its hands on Rose Bowl money and the Big Ten isn't willing to give that up. At least that's what I've gotten out of the comments I've read.

I'd go with a decent flouro. At least back when I used spincasters as a kid, they had two types of line pick-up. Either a scalloped metal thing that would close over the spool when you engaged the reel or a pin that would stick out. Both designs caused a lot of abrasion problems with line from what I remember.

Since I'm 99% certain this is Portage Lake, it is officially considered a drowned river mouth. The lake itself is 2110 acres. I do know the large yellow perch here will migrate in and out to L Michigan seasonally, pike, alewives, smallmouth, and walleye might. They do other places up and down the shoreline. The weedline will be at around 16'. I'm going to attach a map, one other area to check out is the 20' hole on the SW side, those little areas can be excellent, particularly if it is surrounded by weeds. I haven't been on the lake in awhile, but I believe it is mainly the NW side that is rocky. You can likely get some smaller pike targeting the weeds and weed edges, there are some nice ones in here as well and they won't necessarily relate to structure. My standard approach on lakes like this for bass is to start with a spinnerbait or crankbait along and thru the weeds, then try the rocks. White spinnerbaits and bluegill, white, or perch colored cranks are my first choices. I don't slow down until I have to. http://www.dnr.state.mi.us/SPATIALDATALIBRARY/PDF_MAPS/INLAND_LAKE_MAPS/MANISTEE/PORTAGE_LAKE.PDF

I know they aren't saltwater fish or anything, and I'm sure you sling 6 oz baits with medium action spinning gear, but the reasons for heavy gear for musky are the size of the baits and amount of pull they have on retrieve or troll, the large hooks, and, the fact you will get an occasional bone jarring strike trolling lk st clair style 5 mph with a 10 ft lead in the prop wash. The fish themselves are no less hardy than a pike or bass ime.

The c4's are junk for heavy duty applications and I'm not a fan of the cheap red one's either. The only other musky reels I have fished with are the calcutta's, they are smoother, but not worth the extra $100 or so imo.

So here's my Father's Day story. My dad calls me up this afternoon, says my grandfather totaled his car and is in bad shape, can't remember a thing. The way it was described to me I thought he had a stroke or something. So, a little later after my wife asking me which hospital he is in, I call my grandfather. He's in his 90's and still lives on his own in the Upper Peninsula, his place is not really the place to be if you aren't somewhat independent. Anyway, here's the story I get from him. He was backing out of his driveway and apparently started to turn too late, he doesn't really remember the part between starting to turn and ending up upside down. At the end of his drive is a very steep hill. So, basically, he backed out a little too far and ended up rolling his car down a steep hill. The not remembering the chaos part is perfectly normal. He sounded strong and healthy, was kind of laughing about it, I think it took him back to his younger years. It was actually the best I've heard him sound in a few years, and was a good father's day gift for me. At my house, my oldest boy(3) decided he was no longer scared of my boat and my 1 yo and 3 yo were fighting over a crankbait I received. All in all, one of the best father's days yet.

There's the thing. You can't win them all, and if it works like other pay to play sports, even most of the pros run at a break even rate, with their livings dependent on sponsors. So, even if you can compete with a KVD fishing, you also have to compete with his professionalism and sales ability to make it as a pro. That being said, I honestly believe most of the pros could beat a fair number of the people on here, myself included, if all they had was a zebco snoopy pole and a dugout canoe to fish from. Fishing itself I believe to be simple, its the things you can't always put words to that often make the difference.

Its not a bass bait, but a suick Its ugly, simple, and you have to impart all the action to it.

What part of this was supposed to be helpful?

I know some people that swear by the ugly stick for trolling, I believe they are pretty reasonable. For reels, I don't think you will be happy with anything cheaper than a abu garcia c3. You probably aren't going to get musky gear that really works well for other species imo.

I've got a BPS microlite I've had for about 10 years thats done everything I've asked of it. Its landed a number of panfish, trout and smallmouth. I've got a shimano of some sort on it that I purchased around the same time. I think the rod runs around $40, probably the best "value rod" I've ever purchased. I don't know of any reels in that price range I can recommend.

Is that portage lake? If so look for the suspended baitfish out deeper and try trolling crankbaits for pike. If you get a musky out of there count yourself very lucky.

I will also add I believe the most important consideration is the blades. Size, shape, color and thickness all matter to me. I know some people will swear by downsizing at times, I have never had much luck with smaller baits. The baits in the 1/2 oz range with size 4-5 blades are my bread and butter as far as spinnerbaits go.

I have done well with any of the major brands. IMO the cheapo wal-mart special types have thin blades and wire that just don't work as well. 2. Whatever you feel will work. White, white chartreuse, and random baits I put replacement jig colored skirts on all work well for me. 3. I prefer willow to colorado, but blade type will be determined by the water, fish and depth. 4. Most times I prefer double, depends on depth and cover mainly 5. yes