Scott F

I knew a guy who used to catch river smallmouth on McDonalds french fries.

My rain gear has neoprene at the wrists that keeps the water out of my sleeves.

I had an old Aqua-Vu camera several years ago. Here’s what I learned. #1. Every minute you are looking at a video screen, is a minute you aren’t fishing. #2. Unless the camera is very close to the bottom, all you will see on the screen, is nothing. #3. What looks like a cloud of bait on your depth finder, probably isn’t. #4. In stained water, just hard to see anything that is more than a foot away. #5. Laptop and phone screens are very hard to read in bright daylight. #6. In the end, it wasn’t nearly as helpful as I thought it was going to be.

I didn't have to look hard to find a picture of a red eye bass, but it looks like for me, red eyes were very common in spring, but I couldn't find a red eye in summer or fall pictures. Red eyes may just happen during the spawn. At least that's what I'm seeing.

Back issues are such a common problem, I’m sure we could have an entire forum just devoted to back problems. I’m continually amazed at how many different ways our backs can make our lives miserable. I started getting back spasms when I was a teenager and eventually had to retire early due to a ruptured disc. I consider myself lucky not to to be in constant pain. I hope everyone here finds relief in whatever way they can.

I’m just shy of my 65th birthday and I don’t know if I’ve ever spent much time thinking about what my dream career could have been. Back when I was around 21, I wanted to be a recording engineer/ record producer. I used to record local bands and run sound on some small tours of the Midwest. I saw that as my way into the recording studio. It didn’t take too long to see that I did not enjoy hanging around with the rockers I was meeting. After that I took a few different jobs doing the best I could at each until I landed in the job I eventually retired from. Turns out my dream job is the one I started after I left my last job...being retired. If I’d have know how great it was going to be, I’d have retired 40 years ago!

I’ve been trailering my boats for over 30 years. I’ve used a cover a total of 4 times. Not once in the last 14 years. The boat doesn’t get dirty. I leave the plug out so if it rains, the water drains out. Cover it while it’s parked. That’s where it will get dirty.

I hate trailering a boat with a non-custom made cover. They flap around and are difficult to secure tightly. The wind will destroy any cover that doesn’t fit tight. Straps tear off, and any pointy edge will tear a hole in it. It takes a while to put it on and off and if you remove it wet, you have to be sure to not roll it up until completely dry. A good, custom made cover, which can cost as much as your 14 footer is worth, is just not a good investment in your case.

I’ll be there both days, open to close, working the booth for The Illinois Smallmouth Alliance.

Fishing can be very good in Mazonia. If you are willing to carry/drag/wheel your kayak to some of the more difficult to get to lakes, you can do very well.

Best places in Illinois to kayak are rivers, which coincidentally also have smallies. The Kankakee, DuPage, Des Plaines, Fox, Green, Kaskaskia, Vermillion, Apple, Kishwaukee and Rock are the rivers, mostly in Northern Illinois, that I’m familiar with.

I’ll use clip ons or flip ups in the car, but for fishing, I like the Cocoons that fit over my glasses. I like the side shields they have that you don’t get with flip ups.

I just shipped a rod at a UPS store, a 7 footer, in a cardboard tube, and the cost was almost $35. It only went 200 miles away.

The way I see it, I don’t have a choice. Even if it does change the action in some way, I have to use a bite proof leader of some kind. Leaving lures in a fishes mouth isn’t acceptable. Tieable leaders is the best option I’ve found.

You may have reached the total max size limit depending on how much space your first photos took up.

I gave up on titanium wire years ago. Too brittle. I also use the knottable wire. I do it a bit different than A-Jay. His is probably the best, but I tie a small, oval, split ring to one end of the wire, and a loop knot on the other. I connect the loop end to the lure, and tie my line to the split ring. Tying the wire, whatever way you choose tricky. It’s easy to create a pig tail if you pull much on the main line instead of the tag. The wire isn’t cheap so you don’t want to waste a lot when tying. Took me a bit of practice and a fly tying vice to get them right.

You should be their spokesman. “Moxie, tastes like carbonated tar oil! Mmmmmm”

The rating on the rod has little to do with the weight of the fish, but more to do with the weight of the lure.

Any of those baits will catch pre-spawners. But if you want to keep up with me, on my lake, you better be fishing a suspending jerkbait.

I have to agree with Fishing Rhino. My new F150 gets twice the gas mileage of my first tow vehicle. Back up cameras that make hooking up my trailer a breeze and Apple Car Play lets me use my phone for in dash navigation and hundreds of hours of uninterrupted music are fantastic and not even a dream on cars or trucks from just a few years ago. Oil changes every 7500 miles. The technology has come so far and for the most part has made cars much more reliable with less maintenance than ever before. Yes they are now too complicated for back yard mechanics to work on, but the improvements outweigh the down sides.

In the Chicago - NW Indiana metro area, Bass Pro and Cabelas are about the only real choices.

My new F150 with a non- Ecoboost engine has the highest MPG sticker of any truck at 25 mpg highway. It will get 25 under perfect conditions but I get much less than that towing a boat that is less than 2000 lbs.

Being in Northern Illinois, there aren’t a lot of great fisheries that suit me. I do have a nice little smallmouth river 10-15 minutes away when it’s not blown out from all the rain. After that, my next two favorite spots are 5 to 6 hours away in Northern Wisconsin.

Early, Saturday afternoon is the peak time and the aisles will get pretty full. Friday is a good time, especially if you get there around 3. Much easier to find better parking too.

I assume you aren’t releasing these fish into a frying pan? If the fish are inhaling like that, you could switch to a single, barbless, hook. At least, if they inhale that, you can remove the hook faster with less damage to the fish. If you keep good pressure on them, you won’t lose many. Even if you do, if they are hitting that well, it won’t matter.