Scott F

The lake I go to is a fantastic for smallmouth and largemouth. It gets almost no pressure (except for me) in the spring and I'd like to keep it that way so I won't be advertising it on an open forum on the internet. Sorry.

I've got 4 more weeks to wait for my pre-spawn smallie trip to Northern Wisconsin which will last 2 full weeks. Prime time and I intend to take full advantage.

My casting distance drops quite a lot with braids over 10 on my spinning reel. I don't fish much heavy cover either. 10 pound braid handles everything I do, I haven't ever found a reason to go heavier.

With that boat, I would use the trolling motor to get to the location, and use the oars for positioning. Park yourself up wind from where you want to fish, and drift with the wind. You can turn yourself by pushing or pulling on an oar to keep you facing the right direction.

These are the kind I use. I dock my boat for a week or two at a time when I stay at a cabin. They work well.

OK. That I can understand.

You've posted this before but I could not find anything online that talks about FC and drag. Can you tell me where I can find information on this?

The average Fluoro line stretches around 10%. The best FC lines still stretch about 6.5%. Here is a link to a site that has done tests on FC lines. Braid stretches about .5% http://tackletour.com/reviewfluorocarbon2.html

Spring Lake North is loaded with 25-30 inch muskies. There are some bigger ones as well. it's not unusual to get 10 in a day. It's very shallow, less than 4 feet deep. In the summer, it is so weed choked, you almost can't fish it. Best times are the spring and fall.

Yeah, I get the moon's gravitational effect on something as large as an ocean. Even then, there are still tides outside of the full moon even though they might be smaller. In a lake even as big as Lake Michigan or Superior, the tides are so small that they are barely measurable. In a normal lake the effect is a lot smaller. Your boat has more of a gravitational pull on a bass than the moon does. Again the gravitational pull of the moon is always present and the difference of that pull between the moon phases on a body of water smaller than an ocean is beyond miniscule. Another thing. If the spawn was influenced by the full moon, how is it that the spawn on the lakes does not all happen at the same time? In the lakes I fish during pre-spawn in Northern Wisconsin, some lakes being smaller and shallower are ALWAYS a week or so ahead of the larger deeper lakes. The main difference being the water temperature. If the moon has any effect on fish, the most pronounced time when the moon's pull is the strongest/weakest is when the moon is directly overhead or when it is on the other side of the earth. This lends itself to the solunar tables that predict the best and worst times to fish.

Explain how a purely visual phenomenom can affect the spawn. The only difference between a full moon and a new moon is the light that is reflected off of it. If it is cloudy will the full moon start the spawn?

I'm surprised no one here brought up the full moon. I never believed the moon had any effect on the spawn but I've seen other discussions where they thought the bass spawned on the full moon.

With water temps just barely at 50, I'd say you are doing well. As the water warms, you'll do even better. when the bass actually get on the beds and start spawning, they won't be feeding and things will get tougher again. All bass don't spawn so it won't be impossible. In the meantime, keep checking eddys and slower water just off the main current which is where they will make beds and where they will be found during prespawn. Fishing the breaklines between the fast and slow water will always produce.

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/12401-senko-faq-%C2%A0look-here-first/

Because you can see them so easily in the water, they are good for times when you want to be able to see your bait and see when fish hit it. When the bait disappears, you got one.

I fish very clear water with braid and no leader. The most important part of my presentation is long casts. Me and my boat discourage more bites than anything. It's almost unusual if I get a hit anywhere near the boat. I often see the fish following, but they turn away once they get close. Most of my hits come from out at the end of a long cast. It's another reason I use braid. The lack of stretch gives me good hook sets even from far away.

I wonder if Raider ever gets invited to weddings?

Floating Rapalas work good if you don't mind getting holes in the baits from the teeth. I try to avoid multiple treble hook lures just because they can be difficult to remove especially for a novice pike fisherman who does not want his fingers cut up. Better make sure you have a set of jaw spreaders for opening up their mouths. when you catch one, grab it by the back of the head from the top to keep your fingers from his teeth.

That jig is too heavy for your fly rod. You need a spinning rod. But, I'm sure there a lot of guys here who'll say to throw it with a baitcaster.

I've got a Lowrance 4x and an Elite 5x and I can't imagine how much more user friendly any unit could be. I find both of them very easy to use. I'm not a fan of down imaging and made sure not to have it on either of the units I bought, and I've never seen a Garmin but the Lowrance units work better than any other sonar units I've had in the last 25 years.

I'm in a smallmouth (non-tournament) club here in Illinois. The majority of our 400 members are stream fishermen. The most common size bait used is 1/8 ounce (or smaller) jig with a tube or grub. By far, the spinning rod is the tool of choice. We have a lot more fly fishermen than we have guys who use baitcasters most of the time. Now with the internet and more exposure to alternative methods, the number of guys who use baitcasters is growing. I'd been using bigger baitcasting rods and Ambassadeur reels for pike and muskie for years which were just too big to throw the baits I use for smallies. For bass of both types I always used spinning gear until the last few years when I started using more baitcasters but I had to buy new gear to handle the smaller baits. I still use spinning gear a lot more than I use a BC. Other guys I know just don't see the need for baitcasters as the spinning gear gets the job done for the fish we're getting and where we're getting them from.

Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and he buys a silly hat!

Especially if the pike are small, be sure to use a steel leader. The teeth on smaller pike are close together and work like a saw to slice through your line. They are not very accurate and miss when hitting baits so they will often miss the lure and just hit your line. They also go nuts and shake violently which will tear up your baits and kink up your leaders. Typical spinner baits will work but those that have the "R" bend where you tie your line will be a problem. Your leader will ride up and you'll be fighting the fish with them pulling on the blades and hardware. If you can find spinner baits with a closed loop, they'll work better. Early in the year, smaller baits will work better than large ones. Like largemouth, they like weeds so if there are weeds, weedless spoons like a Johnson Silver Minnow are good with a 3 or 4 inch twister tail as a trailer. A #4 or 5 Mepps will just slay them. The pike will bend them up, but they straighten up easily.

The most memorable lake I know, I've never fished, but the scenery is spectacular, Lake Superior. This is the Splitrock Lighthouse Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore Near Copper Harbor, MI

Game wardens are police officers. They go through the same training and have the same ability to enforce all of the laws including the ability to search your property for wild life violations.