Scott F

If fish Senkos from my first trips on the water in Spring until my last outings in the fall.

I don't watch many fishing shows especially tournament fishing except for MLF. Nowadays, we call a small fish a "non-scorable" bass.

I like fishing light lines, with light rods, and smallish lures. I prefer smallies and the water where they live. Dragging fish out of heavy weeds, skiing them back to the boat with with baitcasters isn’t the way I like to fish.

Yes. The smallmouth won’t be holding in current. Especially in cold water. You need to be looking for eddies and the break lines associated with them. Don’t expect topwaters to work either until the water is over 60 or so.

The Big Dude is my favorite too. I use them for white bass and hybrid stripers on a spinning rod. I use 10lb braid but without a leader. I found if I try and stop the lure before it hits the water, it will foul almost every time. It has to land naturally and then it rarely fouls.

Before you start spending, determine where and what and how you are going to fish, then purchase gear for those situations. No use buying gear suggested here for situations you might never see.

My motor will turn over without the kill switch, but it won’t start. By not “turning over”, do you mean when you turn the key, nothing happens?

Suspending jerk baits that are missing a hook, will not suspend. They’ll rise up. If that’s ok with you, then go for it.

Not all gauges on all rivers provide temperature readings. The rivers that the original poster fishes don’t show temps on the USGS site.

I’ve used parasite clips too. My problem with them is that I use very thin light braid. My line would slip through the gap in the wire of the clip. A bass would come up, shake his head, and the 40 cent clip would go flying. The swivels will stay on, and keep the bait from balling up on the hook. You do add some extra weight making the bait fall differently, which may be good or bad depending on the attitude of the bass. Not having to readjust your bait after every cast means you can spend more time fishing. The swivel or parasite clip keeps your baits from getting destroyed quite as fast. Just another option to try that you may, or may not like.

I've got one I never use anymore. I'll give it to you. Let me know when you'll be fishing the "Duper" and I'll meet up with you.

I hope this helps. Thread the swivel on your line before you tie to your hook. Nose hook the bait. Before you hook the middle part of the bait, put the tip of the hook through the other end of the swivel, then finish hooking the bait.

Today, Friday, I made a trip to central Illinois for a muskie/largemouth outing. Upper 50's air temp, 50 degree water temps, little to no breeze, overcast skies. Conditions like these are generally favorable for muskies and largemouth, but, fishing was less than great. I did get my first bass of the year, a 15 inch largemouth on a white spinnerbait with a single, Colorado blade. My fishing buddy got a VERY small musky, and 3 "non-scoreable" bass. Even if we didn't see many fish, there were a lot of birds on or near the water. 2 eagles, several swans, white pelicans, geese, coots, a few species of ducks, and the trees were filled with song birds. I wish I'd remembered to bring my camera with the zoom lens. I only had my iPhone so the picture of the swan had to be enlarged more than I'd have liked.

I have the Avid X and like everything about it except for the micro guides. If you are a braid w/leader fisherman, the leader knots, even well tied ones, will hang up. Or, if you fish in areas that have cottonwood trees, the small eyes have problems when that cotton builds up on your line.

You better check with your physics teacher about this. I don’t think you’ve got this right. Put some water in a bucket. Swing the bucket from a rope the way a Ferris wheel turns. If you were right, the water wouldn’t stay in the bucket. Centrifugal force works in all directions.

Why can't you take it back to a Bass Pro shop near Chicago, like the Bolingbrook store?

Every depth finder can be made portable with a little DIY effort. Is there only one boat you'll be using it on, or do you plan on using on rentals or more than one boat?

It takes a fair amount of cranking before a diving crankbait gets all the way down to its maximum depth. As you get it closer to you, it rises up. So, the farther you can cast, the longer it stays at it's maximum running depth.

None of my rods are dedicated to any one bait or technique. I prefer my rods to multi-task. My boats aren't big enough to have the decks covered with rods that only serve one purpose.

Rivers can be MUCH easier and they can be much harder. Too many variables to make a blanket statement. The main difference in fishing is the current. For me, I like shallow rivers where the fish are shallow all year long. Most lures will work in rivers but because of the current, baits like crankbaits won’t always work the same. Before I go any farther, just what kind of river do you plan on fishing?

Another question to ask is are the bass that are there the right size for their age? Is there enough forage for the fish that are there to grow to a big fish, or do they die of old age first?

I’m sure fish can see ALL fishing lines, even those that are supposed to be invisible. The question is, does it matter? Do they have the mental ability to reason? To reason that because there is something attached to what is food, Then they shouldn’t eat it? If they are that smart, then they should also be smart enough not to eat hunks of plastic with hooks hanging from it. If YOU think it matters, and don’t have confidence that a visible line will still catch fish, stick with what you THINK will work best.

I’d go Saturday.....then go back again on Sunday.

I just checked. Out of 185 items in the fishing/boating section of the bargain cave, only 6 were not listed as sale prices.

I'm fortunate in that I vacation in Northern Wisconsin not far from the St Croix factory. I've dropped off broken rods and had them hand me a new one on the spot. A friend brought his old Premier with a loose handle in and they repaired it while we waited, no charge. I've got one to go back right now. I can wait till May to get it replaced when I go back.