Scott F

A jig covers a lot of different baits. A 1/16 oz ball head jig, 1 oz skirted jig, bladed jigs, shakey heads, Ned Rigs, or the jig on a swim bait to name a few. Jerk baits can be hard baits that float or suspend. Or they can be soft plastic Senkos, or flukes. Which baits are you referring to?

The gloves are not good. The problem is if you aren't wearing it when you need it, it's not easy to put it on while you are holding a rod, and fighting a fish.

Sorry, my Magic 8 Ball that forecasts the weather isn't working right now. I fish Northern Wisconsin for prespawn smallies every year but I take a 2 week vacation to make sure I don't miss out on prime time entirely in case the weather doesn't cooperate.

Don't pay attention to the calendar. The fish don't. Just because it's been cold doesn't mean much. We could go from winter right into summer and the bass could spawn earlier than usual. If it stays cold, they might spawn later. It really doesn't matter unless you've made vacations plans. You can only fish the conditions you face day to day. Just like every year, they'll spawn when conditions are right.

If you catch a bass on a crankbait with 2 or 3 treble hooks, reaching in to lip them could result in one of those hooks sticking in your hand. Nets help get them in the boat without hooking yourself. If you ever catch a pike, pickeral, or a walleye, lipping them isn't a good idea. A net will help. If you use light lines and expensive baits, a net will get bigger fish in the boat without risking breaking a line or losing the bait and the fish. Hoisting big bass with your rod can damage your rods. Nets are often a good idea.

Minnesota is a big state. Ice out in the southernmost part of the state can be weeks ahead of ice out in Ely. Besides, only Mother Nature knows when the ice is going out.

I bought a new boat and it was sitting in my garage since before Thanksgiving before it got it's maiden voyage last Thursday. It sits in front of my other boat and next to my wife's car while my truck stays in the driveway.

The shaft on my Ranger trailer hub is welded to the axle. The hub, bearings and seals come off as a group, but the tapered axle shaft stays on the trailer.

This is where an unweighted senko type plastic works very well. Bass are used to looking up for food floating down a river and senkos do this very well without sinking too quickly and getting snagged in the rocks.

Big bass are nice to catch but I'm all about the hit. The more hits I get in a day, the more I like it. Fishing for river smallies, big fish are mixed in with the dinks so for me, so they all count. A 13 inch river smallmouth fights harder than a much larger largemouth so I'm happy to get all sizes. I don't fish tournaments and I don't fish for food so size means little to me. It's why I don't even own a scale. I like catching a fish every few minutes. If I go three or four hours without a bite, I'm not happy. There are a LOT of fishermen who fish for panfish like bluegills, perch white bass and crappie in the northern states and get a lot of enjoyment from their baskets of small fish. It's like golfers. There are very few who shoot in the 70's regularly and they would never be happy not breaking 100. But most golfers never shoot low scores, never win tournaments but still find the game to be fun.

I can't compare them to any of the ones you've listed. Quantum's are the only spinning reels I've used in many, many years. I found reels I liked and never saw a reason to change.

Quantum Smoke.

There are companies around that change out lower units to convert engines to jet drives and they sell the lower units they remove. Google "outboard to prop conversion". You may get lucky and find somebody there who can help.

Lunker City Slug-Go's come in a 6 inch, 7.5 inch 9 and 12 inch version. Their Fin-S Fish also comes in big sizes too. 5.75, 7 or 10 inch versions

When braided super lines first came out, Kevlar was the material that the lines were made of. Those lines were abrasive. None of the super lines (braid) today will hurt even older rods.

I had a very similar situation. After working for 36 years as a service technician, my back gave out on the first day of my vacation in July 2016. I was 61 at the time and I never went back to work. I had short term disability insurance but the company policy wouldn't approve my long term disability benefit but I was approved for Social Security disability. Retirement is great. Aside from the back issues, my only other problem is my face hurts from smiling so much! I've had issues where standing for long periods was painful so a seat in the front of the boat has been needed for a while. You've worked for a long time, it's time to enjoy yourself. Congratulations on being retired!

I’d say any boat with a trailer you find in your price range is going to need a lot of work to make it safe. Batteries, a trolling motor, life jackets, titles, registrations, trailer plates and taxes will take a big bite out of your budget. Old, cheap used boats will probably have old trailers that need tires and bearings, the boat will be leaky and often have rotten transoms. Do youself a favor. If money is an issue, don’t waste it on something that will be a money pit. Wait until you can afford to spend two or three times your initial $1000 budget so you’ll have something more reliable and safe for your family. If you have the talent, you can get a used boat in you price range that you can rebuild into a bass boat but it will take a lot of time to get it into shape.

I float a river that has sturgeon (and big smallmouth) in it. They will randomly jump out of the water even without being hooked. A few times they have jumped right next to my boat unexpectedly and scared the crap out of me. They don't do that until they are at least 4 feet long and when they do, they come entirely out of the water just like in the video. Even just floating over them in 2 feet of water will startle you. I had a guy in my boat last year that thought I was pulling his leg when I told him about the jumping sturgeon. When one jumped right next to the boat he let out a scream like a little girl, funniest thing I've seen in a long time!

Join a fishing club and make friends with the best fishermen in the club. I've been in a few clubs, (none were tournament clubs) and learned more from fishing and hanging out with good fishermen than I ever learned from all the magazines, books and videos combined. It doesn't matter how good you think you are already, you will get even better after fishing with other good fishermen.

It’s kind of like the “What’s the best” rod, reel, line etc. posts. What works best for me and the type of fishing I like to do is probably not what’s best for the guy asking the question. There are so many ways to skin this cat that most guys have to just dive in and go fishing to figure out what they like best.

Leaders are not required when using braid. I've been using braid for a very long time and have never used a leader.

I used to have 2 Lowrance units. I upgraded one of them to a Garmin. I was so impressed, I replaced the other Lowrance with another Garmin.

Slot limit rules mean you have to release fish in the slot whatever slot limit is. If the slot reg says 15-21 inches, you are supposed to keep fish under the slot, and release fish that fall within the slot, not the other way around.