Scott F

I just got a Terrova and think it's great. As you already know, you can link the Minn Kota with some Humminbird models. The Terrova's remote has a display to show you your speed selection, how fast you're going and which spot lock you've chosen. The Motor Guide remote has no display. The Motor Guide's foot pedal is wireless while the Minn Kota is wired. No batteries to replace in the Minn Kota foot pedal. I doubt you could go wrong with either one. They are even priced the same. Few outfits even discount them. I think Minn Kota still has a rebate going on.

Back in September of 1997, I was on a fishing trip and we stopped at Rainy Lake outside of International Falls, MN. The guy I was with wanted to do some walleye fishing and because I know next to nothing about walleyes, we hired a guide to take us out for the day. We got back to the dock at Rainy Lake Houseboats where we met the guide and there was some talk that Al Lindner was around filming a show. My friend Frank and I paid our guide and were getting ready to go for a beer when a boat with Al Lindner was coming to the dock. We walked over and was waiting for them to tie up when a voice in Al's boat says "Hi ya Scott!" I could not imagine who in Al Lindner's boat knew who I was. Turns out, it was Billy Dougherty the owner of Rainy Lake Houseboats. I knew Billy because I'd rented houseboats there. So Al gets off the boat and we start chatting about what the walleyes were doing. I'd gottten an education from just getting off the water with a guide so I could carry on a conversation without looking completely clueless. Al was very friendly and genuinely interested in hearing about our day. After he posed for a picture we let him get back to his business. My friend Frank and I were walking near the boat ramp a few minutes later when a truck was pulling a boat up the ramp. We stopped to let him by, and he stopped, rolled down the window to speak with us. It was Al asking US more about walleye fishing! I was shocked and amused that one of the best fishermen on the planet was asking ME, about walleyes. I was very impressed by his down to earth and friendly attitude. I ran into Al again at an outdoor show and he stopped by the booth I was working for the Illinois Smallmouth Alliance and he again posed for pictures. I told him the story about meeting him before and how surprised I was he was asking me about walleye fishing. He said you can never tell when someone is going to give you a tip on a pattern. That was my brush with greatness. Me and Al at the outdoor show

The Minocqua area.

I've been going up there the same time every year for the last 10 years. I've never seen the bass spawn that early. On average, water temps the second week in May are just hitting 50. That last two years the ice did not go off the lakes until May 8. Historically, Memorial Day, or the last week in May is when the smallmouth are moving on the beds in Northern WI.

I'll be there for 2 weeks straight beginning May 9. From past experience and knowing what the water conditions are now, to me it looks like the smallies will be on their beds around the first of June and the largemouths maybe a week after? Of course that assumes normal temps between now and then. I should also mention that the lake I fish is big and deep and can be as much as a week behind other lakes that are smaller and shallower. I'll post about conditions and water temps while I'm up there. When exactly are you going and where are you staying?

Bleeding gills is not necessarily a kiss of death. I've caught several fish that have a piece of their gill hanging out. They must have been bleeding when the gill was torn, but they survived to be caught again.

I spend a two week vacation every year prespawn fishing everyday from 7am to 1 and then 3 to 9. We can always count on the best numbers from 9 to 1 in the morning. The morning bite gets better as the day progress' and the evening bite is never as good as the morning.

You know what you get when you cross a lawyer with the Godfather? You get an offer you can't understand.

That's why I use a pill box that has all my pills for each day of the week.

What's your GPA? To get into law school, you have to be at the top of your class no matter what courses you take. What's your guidance counselor have to say?

My sister is in human resources hires staff several hospitals. My wife was considering an online education and we asked my sister what the value of such an education was. At least with my sister and the staff needed in all positions in hospitals, someone with an online education would lose out to a person with an education from an accredited institution.

You do know that if you ad iPilot to a trolling motor that you lose the foot pedal. It will only operate with the hand operated remote control.

Every brand of motor can breakdown. Which company does not need a service department? My Mercury motor is 20 years old and has never needed service. If they are that bad, I probably would have had it in to be repaired many times by now.

Most of the prespawn fishing I do is for smallmouth and the number one bait prespawn lake smallies prefer is suspending jerkbaits by a very wide margin. Lots of baits will catch them, but I catch twice as many with a pointer as all the other baits combined.

Measure the distance from the top of the deck to the water line and add 12 inches. That's how Minn Kota tells you to choose the shaft length.

The iPilot has it's own built in GPS.

Getting old is not liking any music made in the last 20 years. It's needing "cheaters" to be able to read. It's groaning every time you get out of a chair.

You really think anybody with a top 5 draft pick would move down in the draft to get any of the 4 quarterbacks on Philly's roster?

Not mine.

Worry? I worry if my job will continue. I worry if my family is taken care of. I never worry about anything fishing related. As far as stick baits go, I only care if the stick bait slowly sinks. The only action I want is the erratic jerkbait action when I T rig. That's why I don't wacky rig.

A wind sock shows which way the wind is blowing at the airport. A drift sock slows down your boat when drifting with the wind.

Let's see some pictures of the CT lunkers!

I went from older Eagle models to the Elite 4 and was very happy with the Lowrance. The color screen is a huge improvement over the old B/W and it works very well even in shallow water where my old units always had problems. I like to see the depth, and water temp while I'm fishing from the bow so if I was getting just one right now, I'd put it up front.

If they can tell the difference between natural prey and an unnatural imitation, how is it we all catch them on imitations? Braid looks unnatural but hooks, metal blades, wires, plastic and wood are natural? Of all the unnatural stuff we throw at the fish, why is it that the line is what will turn the fish off?

A friend and I got out on my first outing of the year to LaSalle Lake, a cooling plant lake about 70 miles southwest of Chicago. I have fished there a few times and thought there might be a long line waiting to get in the gates when they open at 6. We got there about 5:20 and were the only ones there. Right at 6, another 6 or 8 cars with trailers pulled up. During my preparations, I forgot to charge up the starting battery for my motor and couldn't start the engine. After slight delay getting under way while I jump started the motor off the trolling motor battery, which were fully charged, we were off. Reports I've been getting about LaSalle were that numbers of fish have been off so far this year and our trip report was about the same. We had to work hard for bites but I did manage to get 2 hybrid stripers, a 19 incher and a 21. Those 2 fish were made the whole trip worth it. The first one just about pulled the rod spinning rod right out of my hand he hit the lipless crankbait so hard. The speed and power of those fish is incredible. The second came on a white spinner bait. I also got a nice 18 inch largemouth on a Rapala Shadow Rap jerkbait. All together, we had a dozen fish. 7 largemouth, 3 stripers, a smallmouth, and a small catfish. Water temps on the "hot" side were 80 degrees although we never got close to the actual discharge. The "cold" water side was 70 degrees. The 19 inch hybrid The 21 inch hybrid An 18 inch largemouth Today was the first trip with my new Minn Kota Terrova trolling motor. It takes a little bit getting used to the different controls than the old Power Drive motor, but the extra power, the remote control, the spot lock and auto Pilot are great features. I really like the new motor. It turns so much faster than the old motor and it stows much easier. The weather today started cold and clear with temps in the middle 30 and was in the middle 60’s when we quit just after 3. The winds were from 5 to 10 mph from the WSW.