Scott F

It wasn’t one bass that changed my life, but one fishing trip. In 1965, when I was 10, I went on my first fishing road trip with my father. Dad didn’t take many vacations but every year, he’d go to the St Lawrence River for the opening of the smallmouth fishing season in upstate New York. In the past, dad had taken one of my older sisters but now it was my turn. We left home in Northwest Indiana on Friday night and drove all night through Michigan and then into Ontario Canada then crossing the bridge over the river back into New York, and the town where dad grew up. We arrived in the morning and went straight to the boathouse. We loaded our suitcases and gear in a wooden boat, and drove out to an island where my uncle was the caretaker of an island property with a big stone mansion. My uncle was waiting for us at the dock with a new Zebco rod and reel for me. We stayed in the house overlooking the river and the ocean going ships that passed by. We spent the next 5 days, fishing for smallmouth, my first ever time catching them, going to stock car races, taking boat rides and visiting the beautiful homes and islands in classic wooden Cris Craft boats. It was a magical experience. I couldn’t have been more thrilled if we’d gone to Disneyland. Dad and I made the trip together for the next several years. It was from these trips that I fell in love with the river and the rugged rocky islands of the Thousand Islands region. My dad passed away in 1981 and didn’t live to see how that trip affected my life. I became a life long smallmouth fisherman even being an officer in the Illinois Smallmouth Alliance. While I didn’t make it back to the St. Lawrence to fish, I did make dozens and dozens of road trips to fish for smallies (and other fish) all over Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, many other US states and several Canadian provinces. My love of the Northwoods began on that first trip to New York. Even my house is decorated to resemble an Northwoods lodge. That first trip was the single biggest event that influenced the majority of my adult life.

Unless I’m fishing multiple days in a row, staying at the same place and my boat staying in the water, I’m never pre- rigged. I seldom use more than 3 rigs in a day especially if I’m fishing small rivers out of my personal pontoon. At the end of a day, I cut off all my lures, put them away and wind up my line. I hate having hooks and lines getting tangled in other lines while traveling. Keeping the number of rods to a minimum means it only takes a couple of minutes to restring and tie on lures.

I’ve had 2. The first one happened back in 1959 when I was 4 years old. My family was at my aunts house. I saw a bowl of grapes on a table and put one in my mouth. Problem was they were made of wax, and I swallowed one. I was choking and no one knew what to do. (This was before anyone knew what the Heimlich Maneuver was) My cousin was a Boy Scout and used his training to dislodge the wax fruit which saved my life. He was written up in the paper and got an award from the President. The second time, I was in my boat with a friend. It was hot and neither of us were wearing life jackets. I started up the motor, pushed the throttle hard and before the boat got on plane and I could trim the motor up, one of my rods started falling out of the boat, as I reached for the rod, I loosened my grip on the wheel and it spun hard out of my hand. The boat turned hard right and we were both thrown out. Because I wasn’t wearing my life jacket, the kill switch didn’t shut the boat down. It was turning in a hard circle at nearly wide open throttle. Fortunately, we were thrown outside of the path of the boat. I’m not a strong swimmer but I was more concerned that my new Ranger was going to hit something than I was for my own safety. We were both picked up by other boaters and weren’t in the water long. Eventually, the boat ran out of gas and because we were a ways from shore, the boat didn’t hit anything. I learned a big lesson after that and NEVER ran the big motor without my life jacket and kill switch ever again.

I got one on a Rapala Super Shad Rap while musky fishing. Sorry for the blurry picture but I was more interested in getting my lure back than a good picture! He was as big as a garbage can lid. Got the lure back with my looong nose pliers.

I recently saw the Blue Rhino propane tank exchange only puts 15 pounds of propane in the 20lb tanks you get when you do an exchange. I verified this from Blue Rhino’s web page. This the first I found out about this. I assume all the companies operate this way to cheat people out of 25% of the lp they thought they paid for. Has anyone checked to see how much propane they get when doing a tank exchange? A 20lb tank should weigh 38lbs when filled. My local Ace Hardware actually refills and weighs the tanks so I’m only doing actual refills now instead of exchanging tanks.

Make sure whatever you buy is larger than what you think fits. Hiking, climbing over logs, and rocks will put strain on the seams of your waders. Seams are generally the first place your waders will leak. Speaking of leaks, there are only 2 kinds of waders. Those that leak, and those that are going to leak. Expensive waders will usually outlive cheap ones, but thorny bushes or barbed wire will tear through all of them. I like lightweight waders for all weather. If you got them large enough, you can always wear layers underneath to keep you warm in colder water. Waders also protect you from poison ivy when bushwhacking to get to your spot and a lot of the bad bacteria floating in “clean” water that can infect a scratch you got when you weren’t wearing your waders. Good boots with ankle support are a must especially if you wade in rocky rivers. It’s so easy to twist an ankle while wading. I prefer felt soles that are sewn on. Glued only soles will separate and start flopping around. If you go cheap on the boots, you’ll just have to replace them more often which will cost more in the long run.

I’ve been using straight 8lb braid with no leader and Ned rigs for years. For me, there aren’t many advantages to using a leader, the disadvantages are having to have extra line, tying an extra knot and having that knot go through the guides on my rod which drives me crazy. I fish for smallmouth in rocky lakes and rivers and have never had my line break from rubbing on rocks. If my Ned rig is in the rocks, it’s getting snagged and I have to break it off. The light braid casts farther and the smaller diameter has reduced drag and lets all lures run deeper than thicker mono or flouro does.

1. The distance I have to travel to get to my preferred bodies of water. I never used to mind driving long distances to go fish, but as I got older, I have less and less patience to drive an entire day each way to get to my favorite places. I moved 3 years ago and I’m no longer close to some great smallie rivers. 2. Bad weather. After driving hundreds of miles, I hate having to sit and wait out passing storms or even worse, all day rains. 3. The expense. Gas, tolls, lodging, non-resident fishing license . 4. Not catching. Well….duh! 5. Tournaments. I don’t feel the need to turn fishing into a competition, and don’t care if others do….as long as they don’t do it on the water I’m trying to fish. I’ve had nothing but negative experiences with tournament anglers. I seldom have problems with crowded fishing spots because of where I prefer to fish.

Pretty much any rod made this century, except possibly the cheapest ones, should be just fine.

Fish are more interested in what looks edible than what color it is. White is pretty visible in the water and stands out against most of what you find in the water. Because they can see it easily, they can come from a distance to get it. I’ve always done well with white for most species regardless of what bait the water may have.

Bass don’t have the brain power to reason, to figure out that fishing line should be avoided. If they are that smart, how come they can’t figure out hunks of wood or plastic aren’t real food? I’ve been using straight braid in clear water for many years and have caught a lot of bass.

My 2019 Ford F150 has had 4 oil changes so far and I’m halfway towards my fifth. I’ve only got 23,000 miles on the truck. I’ve been changing at 5,000 miles, which happens after about a year of driving. I always use the anniversary date of buying the truck to get my oil changed.

Rubber nets are much easier to get fish and hooks out of. The trade off is rubber nets typically have smaller bags and are heavier. Hooks will still catch, but it’s seconds to remove the hook from a rubber net compared to minutes it took me to untangle the lure from the conservation series Frabil.

Kids, who were raised by good parents, and have made poor decisions is nothing new. It’s been happening for thousands of years.

The way that photo was taken, a house cat would look as big as a full grown lion.

I live about 100 miles from the path of totality in Indiana. My wife and I are going to take the drive to a more rural part of the state which shouldn’t be too busy. Being retired, we aren’t doing much so it’s something to do. It’s not likely I’ll be around to see another one.

I don’t want to criticize but holding a big fish and letting it hang while you take a photo isn’t helping the fish either. Use two hands and hold it horizontally. Lessens the chance of doing any damage to his internal organs.

I did a fair amount of spring fishing but almost always before bass were actually on beds. Once the bass are actually spawning they aren’t feeding so they are more difficult for me to catch. I always found post spawn to be tough too. That’s when I put the rods away and go play golf until after they are done. When I was wading, it was too easy to just walk through a bed that I couldn’t see. Just better for the bass if I left them alone for a while.

I generally do best and use jerkbaits mostly in water temps from the low 50’s to mid 60’s. In the colder range is when I find very long pauses to work. Pauses that can go over 30 seconds. I found that out when I cast out, cranked down, jerked the bait, then got distracted for a minute or so. When I reeled up, I had a fish, tried a long pause on the next cast and got another one. Anytime I’m not getting hits on my normal jerk-short pause, I start increasing the length of pause time. Doesn’t work all the time, but it’s part of my arsenal.

I use Lucky Craft and Rapala X-Rap jerkbaits and have never had one that floated or sank right out of the box. I’ve had to replace hooks that broke from bending them while removing them from a fish. If the replacement hook was bigger than the factory hooks, the bait would sink instead of suspend but other than that, I never saw or noticed the baits action being altered.

Everyone you ever met will come knocking at your door with suggestions on how they’ll help you spend it.

You do realize that before you can deposit your winnings, the government will collect their share first. Even with $500,000,000, I think you can still afford even a newer boat.

I fish the Menominee River on the Wisconsin/Michigan border that has quite a few sturgeon. We frequently see them while floating in shallow water often right next to or under our kayaks. It can be quite unnerving as these 6 foot long fish will jump clean out of the water unexpectedly sometimes right next to the boat. I’ve never fished for them and I’m unaware of the regulations. But, a big glob of night crawlers fished on the bottom with heavy tackle is what is normally used. Friends of mine have hooked into smaller 3’-4’ fish on spinning tackle and it took over 45 minutes to get them in.

Here’s a tip for ponds that get muddy after a rain. Many will have a place where the water is flowing in. Sometimes it’s a creek, or there may be a culvert where the water is coming in. Fish at that inlet. If there is a culvert, throw a lure inside it. That water runoff will be a huge attractant. There may be some current, but work that area hard. Jigs, worms, spinnerbaits whatever lure you can work in that spot.

Remote or foot pedal, they are both electric steer on the Terrova. If I’m fishing, I’m using the foot pedal on the Terrova 100% of the time. Holding a rod in one hand, the other hand is on the reel. Taking a hand off the reel and looking at the remote isn’t something I’ll do. If I’m not fishing and not in the front seat, I’ll often still use the long wire on the foot pedal to operate from the center or back of the boat. I only occasionally use the remote and never if I’m on the front deck.