Scott F

Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, New York, and Florida plus theses Canadian provinces; Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan are by far my favorite states to bass fish. I always do much better there than I ever did fishing the southern impoundments. I did catch some bigger largemouths down south but the numbers were many times higher up in the Great Lake states plus smallmouths are much more plentiful up north. Canada is just in a different league. Walleye, pike and trout were the targets there, nothing in the states can compare.

I hate when that happens…..

In my lake boat, I almost never use an anchor. In my river boat, it got used all the time. I’d drift down stream and instead of flying by a good eddie or past a good spot, I’d drop the anchor. Being able to hold in place even in fast water was so important, I spent a lot of money on the best custom anchor system I could find.

#1. Ned rig. I’ve done very well with it in lakes and rivers. Senko style worms have been a favorite of mine for decades, but I never fish them wacky rigged. As fragile as Senkos are, I like having them T rigged. Hooked in 2 places to keep from losing them as quickly and I like the jerk bait action. I almost never use drop shots. I just don’t have the patience to fish them.

Watching the birds at our feeders is something my wife and I enjoy quite a bit. I can’t offer any insight on the disappearance of your birds but I know I’d be very disappointed if all our birds suddenly vanished. I think your situation is temporary. They’ll be back soon, at least those who normally spend the winter in your area.

If you’d like to learn how to fish the lower Wisconsin, I recommend doing a guided trip with Black Earth Angling.

I always filled the tip ends of my rod tubes with towels to keep the tips from bouncing around.

Back when I was first diagnosed, I’d gone to see the doctor because I was loosing weight, a pound a day. It was because of the diabetes.

I was diagnosed with type 2/diabetes over 10 years ago. It took a month before I could get in to see a dietitian. While I was waiting for the appointment, I used the internet for diet information. That was a BIG mistake. All the information I saw there was how to control it without medication. I’m a picky eater, not too fond of vegetables and I was freaked out! There was no way I could live happily on the diets that were suggested. You are still pre-diabetic. You can prevent the disease from getting worse if you lose weight (assuming you are overweight) exercise and cut back on the carb intake. I cut out as much sugar as I could, reduced the rice and pasta dinners and cut back on desserts. That, and medication kept my A1C in the low 6 range most of the time since I was diagnosed. Other than what I already listed, my life and diet has not been affected much at all. One big thing I learned is that everybody reacts differently to diabetes. One day, you can cheat on your diet and have a ton of sweets, and in the morning, your blood sugar will be low. Another day, you might not have any carbs at all and your sugars will be very high. It like bass fishing, diabetes doesn’t follow the “rules” all the time! As time goes on, it gets more difficult to keep the A1C low. Mine shot up and I went on a strict keto ( VERY low carb) diet and started exercising. I lost almost 50 lbs and dropped my A1C a full point in 6 months. The keto diet was too extreme for me to keep up with and over time, I put half the weight I lost back on. Keep in mind that you don’t have to go to the extreme to deal with diabetes. Medicine is an easy way to keep it in check but if you continue eating too many carbs, even the meds won’t work. Other things like heart disease are more serious for diabetics so you have to keep your blood pressure in check too. In a lot of ways, I’m healthier since getting diagnosed as I’m taking better care of myself than I would have if I didn’t get diabetes. You were diagnosed early, follow your doctor’s advice and you’ll live a very long time.

Blazer boats has a Facebook page. If you contact with them through there, I’m sure they can connect you with a dealer in your area. I bought mine from a dealer in Michigan who uses them because of how well they are built. There is a lot more structural support in their boats than anything I’ve seen from typical aluminum boats mainly because they are built for use on rivers.

Blazer boats out of Ellington MO, made the hull of my last aluminum boat. It started out as a bare hull, and was modified to suit my needs by a custom builder at a very reasonable price.

Are you talking about spinning or casting reels? I’m a huge fan of Quantum spinning reels. It’s the only brand of spinning reel I’ve owned for going on close to 40 years. I haven’t needed to replace a reel in a few years so my latest reels are early Smoke models that are still going strong. I just never have any issues with any of the Quantum reels I’ve owned.

I spent years looking for fall smallmouth on the lakes of northern Wisconsin in the fall where I catch loads of prespawn bass in the spring, with but with little to no luck during fall. I was using information I got from reading all I could from In-Fisherman books and magazines. My big mistake was being up there too early in the fall season. I was there in early October while the fall colors were at their peak. Turns out the In-Fisherman’s definition of fall was much closer to early winter than my assumption that fall was when the leaves turn color. I preferred fishing when the weather was just cool, but the bass apparently got catchable when daily temps were closer to freezing than I was comfortable with.

That’s true about braid getting into the front treble. You just have to make sure the lure lands softly. If you stop the line before the lure hits the water, the lure bounces back and will catch the line. I’d still rather deal the occasional fouled lure than mess around with tying braid to floro leaders.

You can see the date of manufacture by the serial #. The first letter of the serial number stands for the year: A = 2001; B = 2002; C = 2003; D = 2004; E = 2005; F = 2006; G = 2007; and so on. The second letter of the Serial Number stands for the month: A = Jan; B = Feb; C = Mar; D = Apr; E = May; F = Jun; G = Jul: H = Aug; I = Sep; J = Oct; K = Nov; L = Dec The remaining numbers are for St. Croix's internal use.

I have a 2019 F150 with a 6 cylinder(no turbo). I tow a 17ft fiberglass bass boat with it. I don’t notice much difference towing with the 6 vs the old 5l V8. I’m also not a speed demon. Pushing hard on the accelerator killed my gas mileage in the V8 and does the same in the V6. The old V8 got 19 mpg on the highway not towing, and 16 with the boat behind. The V6 gets 25 on the highway and only 18 with the boat. Bigger drop in mileage withe the 6, but 90% of my driving isn’t towing so I like getting the better mileage the 6 gets than the 8 all the days I’m not towing.

The Frabil Conservation Series net I bought was the worst net I ever used. It always took too long to get the fish out. Even single hooks would get stuck. Never use one when fishing with trebles! Very expensive too. Rubber nets are heavier and they have shallow baskets, not good for longer fish like pike, muskies or good sized walleye. Cradles are terrible for landing a big fish with a treble hook bait. You lead the fish in and if one of the hooks catches at the front edge, the game is over. You now can’t get the rest of the fish in the net. It’s definitely a two person job using a cradle. No matter what you choose, there are trade offs. I’m using the rubber net as I use both single hook and lures with trebles for bass. Fish and lures come out easily and the bass sized ones are not so heavy that I can’t use it with only hand. I don’t use nets at all for pike and muskies. I learned how to hand land even big ones without getting my hands cut up.

If it had been a direct short, the burning would have happened where the short circuit was. My opinion is that the alligator clips were the problem. A poor connection between the wire and the clip and between the clip and the battery connection. Alligator clips are fine for low amp draws like on a meter, but a much more solid connection needs to be made especially at the battery

If you lookup find starlink, you can type in your location and get information regarding the best times to see the satellites.

You won’t like my answer at all but I have done a lot of fishing with suspending jerkbaits for prespawn smallmouth. I use spinning rods and straight braid exclusively. I’ve found that light, thin braided lines allow the jerkbait to dive a bit deeper. On the clear lakes I fish, smallmouth nest a bit deeper. Also, I find that the stretch of mono and flouro lines soften the action I impart to the lure compared to braid. Because the bait doesn’t get to the bottom, and doesn’t get into the rocks, abrasion resistance isn’t an issue. The jerkbaits I use are on the lighter side and cast easily with spinning gear.

20 lb, Sufix 832 on my baitcasters is all I use.

Another great course right on Lake Vermilion is the Wilderness at Fortune Bay, fishing, golf and gambling all at one place.

I’m one who believes that visibility doesn’t matter. I don’t think bass have the ability to figure out that because they can see the line that they should avoid the bait. If they were that intelligent, why can’t they figure out that that hunk of wood or plastic with 2 or 3 hooks hanging from it isn't real food? If someone isn’t getting bites, why is line visibility the reason and not one of the other dozen possible reasons for not catching?

One of the finest wildlife artists is Al Agnew. He’s done many of the covers of Bass Pro catalogs. I own several smallmouth prints of his. Here’s a couple of his bass paintings. He has dozens of different fish and animal prints for sale.

Did you watch the videos within the link you provided?