Scott F

I just used it this morning. I don't know what you mean about "members". I was never a member, I just went to the site and uploaded pictures I want to post online. It is working fine right now.

I have a plug for my trolling motor and I put the same plug on my charger. I then can easily hook up the charger just by plugging in.

I use a website called Tinypic.com to reduce photos and give me a link to drop photos on other web sites. You can choose the resolution you want. It's also free.

I've got a 22 rifle that looks exactly like yours except it's a model 46D and doesn't have the barrel that unscrews. Years ago, we ran quite a few shot shells through it.

I did it with senkos on the river. The good part was, I started catching fish right away. I kept on using almost nothing but senkos for a few years.

Those H3Os were a problem. The interchangeable lens seem like a good idea but, you have to put your fingers all over the lens' to switch them out. Can't change them without getting fingerprints all over them. They also don't snap into place as easily as it looks. A couple of times, I switched the lens only to have one fall out. Almost lost it in a river. I was not happy with my purchase.

But how would you feel if someone posted about one of YOUR secret spots?

One topic that comes up frequently on other fishing forums that I don't recall seeing here has to do with posting specific fishing spots on an open forum. I see it done here but not very often. On a smallmouth forum where I am a moderator, we have rules prohibiting posting of exact locations. On our forums, most of our members fish small rivers and streams that could easily be hurt if a small river were hit by a lot of guys who just learned of a new hot spot. We saw a post about a warm water discharge where smallies would gather in the winter. The poster fished the spot, about the size of a pickup truck, frequently and almost never saw another angler. Soon after his post, there were as many as 8 guys fishing that same small spot on a Saturday morning. Guys who don't agree with our stance argue that there are no "secret" spots and that we should be helping our fellow anglers. That's a valid argument. But we are a conservation group and if we have to choose a side, we are going to side on protecting the fishery and respect those whose spots may not be secret, but may not be well know either. As a group, while we won't allow posts of exact locations on open forums, when we get together on the water, everyone shares information freely. Here on Bass Resource, there are a wide variety of fishermen who fish everything from small ponds to the Great Lakes. There are a lot of lurkers around just waiting to take the easy way of finding fish. Is it OK to get that information here? I'd like to hear opinions from the pond fisherman, the tournament guys and anybody else who has an opinion about having someone post the location of exact fishing spots. I can see both sides of the issue. I can't say one way is right or wrong but that it may depend on the type of fishery being discussed.

I always rig them Texas style. And, I will toss them in very fast current. I fish relatively shallow rivers, shallow enough to wade. In the summer, if you aren't working in or very close to fast water where the cooler, oxygenated, water is, you aren't catching fish. Slow slack water is hotter and has less oxygen so it doesn't hold fish in hot weather. In fast water, the bait won't sink very far. That's good because fast water, like in a riffle, isn't very deep and it's usually pretty rocky. If it sank too much you'd get snagged. Natural foods also don't sink very far in fast water either. The bass are used to looking up for their food going by in the current, which is right where your bait will be.

A consistent pattern I've seen on rivers is that the smallmouth will follow carp around. Carp dig up the bottom and the bass eat up what the carp disturb. So when I see carp, I look for smallies close by.

With plastics, I make some very light steel leaders using tie able wire. I tie one end directly to my hook, and the other to a split ring. I make them about 4 inches long. Tie able wire is tricky to use. It's expensive so you don't want to waste any, and it kinks and curls easily. It takes some practice to tie it without having it curl up on you. It does work. I got tired of having pike bite offs. The loss of tackle was bad enough, but I would have liked to land many of those that got away. I also am not comfortable leaving hooks in the face of fish.

By the way, you can get Photoshop Elements, which does everything you need to do to make that 2 pounder look like a 10, for as low as $60 if you get version 11. The new version, 12, is about $100. The most common use I see for Photoshop on the web is where guys will use it to blur or cover up the location of where they caught their fish.

Just to add, if you are going to add weight, it ruins the natural way the senko slowly sinks. Bass will sit facing into the current waiting for food to come to them. The senko seems perfect for this presentation just as it comes from the package. The weight of the bait will get it down on its own. You will also hang up a lot less with no added weight. You should consider pinching down the barb when fishing senkos in a river. They will swallow the bait quite often and the barbless hook will come easily and do the fish less harm.

The senko is a fantastic river bait! I fish rivers a lot and I'll use it more than anything else. A floating line like braid is a must for the way I fish them. Throw it upstream and let it drift down with the current. Keep reeling until there is a small amount of slack line. The floating line will lay on the surface and move with the current . When a bass picks up the bait, you'll see the line twitch on the surface, reel up, and set the hook. Don't cast downstream and pull back against the current. It will just stay on top. Don't use any weights, just let it drift. When it drifts down to your position, reel in and cast back up stream. In summer, just be sure to use it where there is current, especially along current breaks.

If you are constantly gut hooking fish, try pinching down the barb. You will seldom lose a fish and you'll be surprised at how easily you can remove the hook even when they take it deep.

I must be missing something. You say you have an accountant that I assume you are paying, but you come to a fishing web site for tax advise? Your accountant not returning your calls?

Lakes for pre-spawn fish, rivers the rest of the year. When the heat of summer drives bass deep in lakes, they are always shallow in the rivers I fish. The hotter the river water, the easier the fishing. Even through the fall, smallies are soooo much easier to get in rivers. Access in rivers isn't easier, but if you can float to them, you can get them.

No, no. It's hard to imagine a career I'd like less than being a pro angler. Getting to fish all the time sounds good, but I fish to relieve stress. The stress of having to put fish in the boat enough to win enough money to pay back your sponsors, to feed your family and stay on the road is more than I could handle. There are so few guys like KVD who make a good living fishing. Turning fishing into a stress filled job would ruin something I currently enjoy. No thanks.

Not everyone believes a leader is needed with braid. It depends on your situation. But for someone new to bass fishing, to keep things simple, try your braid without a leader for a while. If you have some issues that you think a leader would solve, try it later. The extra knot, and extra leader material will make things more complicated than they have to be for you right now.

Could they have been caught, dragged around on a stringer, then released?

Smallmouth in the clear lakes I fish like some natural colors and they also like bright colors like clown X-Raps. I'm not much of a follower of the "match the hatch" theory when bass fishing.

2 of the 4 pike I showed were in excess of 25 pounds. The others were smaller, they were not weighed. Although by Manitoba standards, 41 inches qualifies as a trophy. All 4 were between 41 and 46 inches. Just a small sample from my Canadian photo albums. I've been doing Canadian fly-in trips since the early 90's and concentrated on pike. Big pike are becoming exceedingly rare. Catching them consistently is more a matter of having enough money to pay for remote daily fly-ins from already expensive lodges. Finding a place that still has numbers of even 8 to 10 pound fish is pretty difficult. I'll take numbers of those fish over a few larger fish any time.

On the contrary, I have caught a great many large pike. I'll stand by my statement that the medium fish "They seems to have more energy than many (but not all) of the larger fish. Sometimes with bigger fish, they just quit fighting,

That size, around 8 pounds or so are the most fun to catch. They seems to have more energy than many (but not all) of the larger fish. Sometimes with bigger fish, they just quit fighting, until you get them near the boat or go to put your hand near their head to lift them out of the water.

Tens of thousands of bass have been caught on reels just like that over the last 40 years or more. No, it's not as light as some other reels, but it's not like its a 10 pound hammer. Use it, it will work fine.