Scott F

Since he did not say where he was going to fish, and I seldom see largemouth in any river I fish, I automatically assumed he was targeting smallmouth. They just had a kayak bass tournament near me last weekend. All smallmouth. I do now see from his alias that he's probably from North Carolina so you are probably correct.

During the summer, I avoid slack water areas. I'm always looking for the fastest current I can find. Warm water means low oxygen. Moving water, especially riffles or rapids, will have more oxygen and fish will stay near. If deeper water is nearby, it's even better. Keep your bait on the edges where the fast water runs by slow water. I don't like crank baits near current unless you are casting them straight downstream and slowly retrieving them back. Senkos, spinners, top waters, plastics will all work if you put them in the right places.

Well, not ALL bass under 16" in the lake. A slot is put in when here are too many little bass. The slot is to reduce the number, not eliminate the small fish.

Few people realize that in order for a slot limit regulation to work the way it was intended, you have to remove those fish on the short end of the slot. If you want to see what bass fishing would be like if everybody kept limits of bass, go to Wisconsin and fish for walleyes. Few people release walleyes. The limits on many if not most Wisconsin waters is 3 and the state must do heavy stocking to keep up with the demand. That, plus the native tribes are allowed to spear fish for walleyes in the spring, and that keeps the populations low.

Not.

Just about the only fishing I do during the summer and early fall is on small rivers. I float them in my personal pontoon. The fish are always shallow and easy to find because they are almost always found near current. No jet skies, no back up at the ramps, and seldom ever any other fishermen. Just good numbers of unpressured smallmouth.

Favorites; Weightless T-rig senkos, topwaters, prespawn jerkbaits Least favorites; Bed fishing Punching, or fishing in heavy weeds Deep water.

Momma might need a ladder to get in, but THIS is THE tow vehicle everybody should have!

Case Plastics, Jacks worm has a tapered end. They aren't the most beautifully poured baits but they work.

Granola bars.

10 pound braid.

I hope the women have a sense of humor. If not, you'll be posting about the harassment charges.

Go find a local DNR office and have a talk with one of the biologists who work there. Ask them about what they do and what their goals are. Volunteer to help them with some manual labor. If you have a fishing club, ask if they will do a presentation at one of your meetings about their bass management philosophies. Get your club members to volunteer their time to assist the DNR in one of their projects. You'll get a much better understanding of how things work. They'll also tell you about good places to fish you might not be aware of.

Second guessing the DNR seems to be something of a national pastime. Over the years I have met, done projects with and spoke with many DNR people including a former director of the DNR for my state (Illinois). To a man, all of them were true professionals with a passion for the outdoors. They have a huge responsibility, work for little money, with limited budgets, and limited resources. A lot of people have their own interests at heart and the DNR has to try to make a lot of different people happy. All in all, there is nobody else I'd trust to do the job than the people we are paying now. Politics always seem to get in the way of them doing their job, but my complaining about them doesn't help at all. I stay out of the way and trust them to do the best they can with what they have.

The easiest bow eye replacement would be bolted on. What is your problem with drilling holes to mount it?

I like braid over fluoro because it floats and is much easier to see the line twitch when you get a hit. Pinch down the barb on the hook to make hook removal MUCH easier even on fish that have swallowed the hook. Yeah, you might lose a fish or two, but it cuts down on the time it takes to release and, no barb penetrates easier so you get better hook sets.

Looks like a better way to use the trolling motor, but trying to get out and have to climb over the motor mount might be a challenge. I also like to bring in fish between the pontoons and that motor would be in the way.

How old is the boat and motor?

The easiest knot that will never fail is no knot at all. Have you tried not using a leader? You'll still catch fish.

I'm a pontoon guy. I live in the Southwestern part of the Chicagoland region, Joliet. I seldom use my 'toon on lakes, I float the rivers mostly. If you want to drive a ways, I can tell you about places to use your boat.

The bilge pumps should not draw current if they are turned off but SOMETHING is not working right or your batteries would not be draining so quickly. An automatic bilge pump that has a float switch stuck in the "on" position will be running with no water in the bilge. If you find a current draw when everything is supposed to be off, you'll have to pull fuses one at a time to narrow down your search.

Since your father-in-law is an electrician, get him to bring his amp meter and check the amperage draw at the battery with your electronics on and off. You may have another item drawing current all the time like a bilge pump or livewell pump. You could even have a short someplace that isn't bad enough to cause a fuse to blow, but enough to drain your battery.

I like braid because it floats. Many of the strikes I get I see because I see the line twitch or move. Sinking lines are harder to watch. You'll also be able to cast lighter lines farther than the lines that run to 50 pound test.

For under $100, you'd better look for used. Even good float tubes cost more than $100. In that price range, you are looking at boats that could not be called "good".

I'm a pontoon guy myself. There doesn't seem to be many 'toon guys here on Bass Resource. After looking at pictures of your boat, there doesn't seem to be any trolling motor mount on it and I don't see anything on ODC's web page that offers one. It looks like you may have to make one and have it welded to the rear deck plate. One big problems with motors on pontoons is that it is hard to operate the motor while it's mounted directly behind your seat. I have a motor I can use on mine but in the 12 years I've had pontoons, I've only used the motor a couple of times. I use mine mostly for floating rivers where motors aren't needed and are usually too shallow for them to operate anyway. I haven't done too many modifications to mine. I did change the seat base so I could use a seat from my big boat. I added a couple of Ram mounts so I could mount a depth finder (not shown) and a camera mount. Mine came with a trolling motor mount.