Scott F

I like Mepps over other in-line spinners because they DON’T twist my line. If a spinner is causing line twist, it’s a defective bait. with properly running spinners only the blade spins, not the entire lure. My favorites are the silver blade, number 3 or 4, plain. They are just killer for river smallmouth.

I’m one who uses nothing but braided line with no leaders and never “rip lips” on my hook sets or when reeling in a fish. Never saw a need to use moderate rods even with crank baits. I don’t lock down my drag, I let the drag do its job. I’m also not a slop fisherman. I’m mostly open water, spinning gear kinda guy. I just don’t have any problems pulling lures out of a fishes mouth. I guess years of experience just helps knowing how hard I can pull back without losing a fish

I’ve had 2 boats dedicated to river fishing. The first one I bought used and it came with a 12 volt Terrova. In stronger current the boat would barely move at all. I replaced that boat and had a 24 volt Terrova on the new one. Huge difference in being able to pull the bigger boat in faster current. If you are working on the boat for use in a river, even more important to me was a good anchor system. I needed that more than the bigger trolling motor. Finding a good spot on the river and not being able to hold yourself there with an anchor is very frustrating. The anchor system on the new boat was probably overkill, but the old boat’s anchor didn’t even slow me down in fast current. During high water situations, fish pull up tight to the shore in eddie’s along the bank. I’d sit in the fast water and cast to the eddy. A strong trolling motor can hold against the current but the anchor is a lot less work. I used an electric winch to raise and lower the heavy chain anchor. THAT was the best accessory I had.

You might try that pearl painted bait on another body of water or during a different time of the year and it might turn them on….or not.

Wanna get in the middle of a fight? Go on a musky forum and start talking about records. There has been a lot of shenanigans going on with record muskies for decades. Just post a picture of a really big fish and claim the size. You will be called every kind of liar, poacher or child molester. Lots of jealousy when talking big fish.

Surface water temps are still in the 30’s. I’d say the best is the end of the month when water temps will be as warm as they get during the month.

Those beautiful, scantily clad women are the same women you see when fishing except that the photos have been photoshopped, and filtered so much their own mothers wouldn’t recognize them.

Friends of mine who know the rivers they fish really well are reporting some good catches in the afternoon on days when the sun is out. If your rivers don’t have dams, they are starting the move from their wintering areas toward smaller rivers. IF you can hang out where the larger river joins a smaller stream, you should be able intersect those migrating bass.

Weightless, T rigged Senkos and Ned rigs are what I throw at docks. I can easily skip them, or just work the edges if I can’t go underneath.

I knew a guy who bought a vacation home on a lake. He complained to me that he seldom got to fish when he was there. He spent so much of his vacation doing maintenance on the house, cleaning, painting, cutting grass, yard work, and fixing stuff, that it left little time or energy to fish. Even when he did take the time to go fishing, he felt guilty about avoiding the work that needed to be done. I’m sure a lot depends on how good a shape the house is in and how much time you get to spend there.

In the spring, many of my most productive spots are mid-lake submerged islands and rock bars that aren’t easy to find without my GPS mapping and sonar. Using those tools, I can pull up directly on the spot on the spot and follow the edge of the rock hump even on days when the waves and weather don’t let me see into the water. Could I do it without the electronics? Yes, I did it that way for years, but it took so much longer and wasn’t nearly as productive.

My F150 doesn’t have any running boards. I’m 6’3, and I slide into my truck easily without them. A running board can actually make it harder for me. My short wife who doesn’t ride in the truck often could use a boost to get in, but I’m not adding any.

I used to fish with a guy who never liked to slow down. We usually fished out of his boat. When I’d say I’d like to fish slower, he’d do it for 5 minutes or so, then flip the trolling motor back on high. He’d avoid getting anywhere near a downed tree saying, “oh, there’s nothing on wood right now”. We’d take my boat once in a while, but he’d complain constantly about everything when I was driving. I just started saying no whenever he called to go fishing. It’s too bad too. He is a very good fisherman, just not very flexible.

I’ve had a full beard for around 35 years. I originally grew it because I didn’t like shaving every day, and I wasn’t happy with the company I worked for. Management didn’t like guys having them, but they couldn’t make you shave. Sooooo…I grew one as a passive aggressive way to thumb my nose at my boss. My wife liked it, so I kept it.

I had a replica made of a smallmouth about 15 years ago. I unfortunately can’t remember the name of the guy who made it. He’d won several awards for his work. It still looks as if it could swim right off the stand it’s on. Do some research before you choose the artist to do yours. DO NOT pick a guy based on internet photos. Photos can’t show all the details of a well made mount.

Whatever cordless tool you get, because batteries are not interchangeable between brands, that’s the brand you almost have to stay with so you can use the same batteries and charger for all your tools. I don’t use my tools for work, but I’ve been using DeWalt cordless tools. They are available almost everywhere, prices are reasonable and they just work.

I fish during pre-spawn, but once the fish are actually spawning and on the beds, I don’t target bass at all. It’s not that I am too concerned about messing up the spawn but spawning bass aren’t feeding. I don’t enjoy harassing fish on their beds or protecting the nest. I don’t eat bass at any time of the year.

For many years, I had a friend who custom built all my rods for me. After he stopped building rods, I went with all St. Croix. I use those almost exclusively because they are good rods and I often fish in the Park Falls WI region so if I ever break a rod, I can take it to the factory store where they will replace it on the spot and I don’t have to have anything shipped.

“Alien Love Child” Eric Johnson

I used to frequent that site quite a bit but got tired of the negativity.

I used to work for a big corporation and after 30 years, I’d worked up to having 6 weeks of paid vacation. My local manager used to HATE that I got that much time off and always gave me a hard time when I took my vacations even though he approved each week when I turned in my requests at the beginning of the year.

I understand that on ships, sometimes poisonous spiders would come on board hiding in bunches of bananas so captains stopped allowing bananas on board.

In my experience, while a steady retrieve of a jerk bait will certainly catch fish, the jerk, pause retrieve will out fish it by a wide margin especially in the cooler water during the spring.

I’ve always thought that Maui Jim’s, Oakleys and other high end sunglasses are vastly overpriced and have never proven their value to me. I wear progressive prescription glasses and use clip on polarized sunglasses for driving and cocoon polarized sunglasses that fit over my normal glasses for fishing, saving me hundreds of dollars.

I never read Bassmaster magazine. It’s also not the only time it’s happened in a boat I was in. We have learned not to leave open tackle boxes in the boat.