Scott F

It means it is not legal to fish for bass outside the dates listed. From another part of the regs; "It is illegal to attempt to catch fish for which the season is closed, even if you are going to release them." So if your friends are targeting bass though the ice, they are in violation.

in the last two weeks, I've made 2 trips to the Hennepin Canal about 100 miles west of Chicago, right off I-80 at Rt. 40. The canal where we fished, is dead straight, running east and west. It's about 30 feet wide on average and about 4 feet deep. The north shore line has a lot of overhanging trees. Each shore line has a solid, thick, weedline coming out 6 feet or so from the shore. There are some open pockets. Even though the center of the canal is relatively shallow, there isn't much vegetation. My first trip had overcast skies and it was close to raining. A whopper plopper 90 worked along the weed edge was my most effective bait. 4" senkos and a Ned rig got the rest of the dozen or so bass I got. Most fish were 13-16 inches. I went back this past Friday. It was overcast again but the high temperature never got above 60 and the wind was blowing straight down the channel at about 15mph in the hours between 6:30am and noon when we quit. It felt more like October than early August. My fishing partner got nearly all his fish on a 1/4oz rattle trap. I got mine on a Red Eye Shad, a Lucky Craft pointer and a ned rig. I spent too much time pounding the open pockets in the weedline with a frog but I was determined and finally landed one and had a couple of other blowups. All together, we had another 2 dozen which we thought wasn't too bad considering the cold front we were in. The Hennepin Canal has a 10hp limit but we only used the trolling motor to cover the mile or two we worked. Since we were in his boat both days, we were moving quickly as he likes to power fish and hates slowing down for jig or plastics. We may or may not have done better working the weedline and downed wood more slowly. I would have liked to give that a try.

Smallmouth, largemouth, spotted bass, rock bass, white crappie, black crappie, bluegill, red ear, green sunfish, warmouth, pumpkin seed, yellow perch, walleye, sauger, pike, musky, tiger musky, pickerel, carp, skipjack herring, lake trout, brown trout, brook trout, rainbow trout, steelhead, arctic grayling, bullhead, channel cat, striper, hybrid striped bass, white bass, yellow bass, coho salmon, chinook salmon and sheep head. If I can count, that looks like 35

Not lightning, http://www.snopes.com/lightning-striking-a-river/

Be honest. Just say just what you said here. There is no reason to be intimidated. Everybody started like you did and everyone learned from someone else. If someone looks down on you for trying to learn, you don't want to learn from them anyway. Most fishermen will be more than happy to help. Just relax and give them a chance. You'll see you were concerned for nothing.

This is why I don't fish for muskies. Wildcat lake near Boulder Junction is known for numbers of musky but not necessarily for big ones. I was up in Northern Wisconsin last fall with a friend who likes to musky fish. The first day, we fished Wildcat and we each got one small musky. The second day we switched up and went to another lake for bass. Using plastic worms and a bass sized spinner bait, on this "bass" lake, my friend got 3 muskies all over 40 inches. Stupid muskies.

I've got Terrovas on 2 different boats and haven't had a problem with either of them.

I've got Avid X and Avid spinning rods. Both 7' M fast. I can't tell the difference between them and my Premier rods for sensitivity. I use 10lb braid without leaders.

How certain are you that these fish are actually bass? All the fish you listed will come to the surface to feed on bugs. Except for the bass, none of those fish are likely to be caught on the lures you tried.

According to the USGS stream gauges, the water on your river is coming down but still very high and fast. No one I know fishes rivers during these kinds of conditions. If you do fish, stay on the bank and be very careful! https://waterdata.usgs.gov/pa/nwis/uv?site_no=03075070

The rivers in my area in Northern Illinois have been high and muddy for months. what we've been doing is staying home or fishing lakes. The fish generally find ways to get out of the current so they don't get moved to new territory. If you have to go out, find tributary creeks or streams where the water is clearer and not moving as fast. You could try flooded parking lots and areas where there is little to no flowing water. One of the main reasons we stay home, besides the fishing sucks, is that those flooded rivers are extremely dangerous.

For me, there is a downside to using leaders, which is why I don't use them. Having to keep leader line around, tying extra knots, and having that knot go through my guides on every cast is the downside. For the pros, I get that they have to try everything they can to put fish in the boat. If there is even a chance that using leaders, scent, electronic fish callers, shutting down depthfinders, or not using trolling motors will put even one more bass in the livewell, they have to do it. I'm not a pro. My lively hood does not depend on me landing every possible fish. I don't have to, and choose not to, go to extremes to catch bass. I do just fine not using leaders, or scent, or technique specific rods. I fish for fun and want to keep it as simple as I can. I seldom get skunked and I enjoy my time on the water. If whatever the pros do works for them, or works for you...go for it.

If you want an opinion concerning durability, call someone who services both brands. I did that several years a go when I was having my Motor Guide repaired. Taught me quite a bit and was a big influence on my purchase back then. All of the models that were available then are no longer made so the info I got then isn't relevant today.

Leader? I never use leaders.

MUCH better.

That one, is a Spro ball bearing swivel with split rings. There are several companies that offer ball bearing swivels. They all look almost identical. Usually, you can get them in chrome or black. If you want extra strength, get swivels with welded rings. When I was doing a lot of pike fishing, I was making my own leaders with BB swivels. Pike used to damage the split rings so I only used the welded ring versions.

If you are concerned about how well your swivels spin, replace the ones you are using with these;

What kind of swivels are you using? All sizes of ball bearing swivels spin pretty easily.

When fishing current with a plastic worm, depending on the depth, I use an unweighted senko, casting upstream and watch my floating braid, drift downstream. Keeping most, but not all of the slack out of my line, I don't need to feel the bait. When a fish picks up the bait, I'll see the floating line twitch to tell me I've got a bite. In my rivers, drifting a weight, will just get you snagged.

When you are cranking a reel, you are putting X amount of energy into turning the handle. The higher gear ratio reel brings the lure in faster. It takes more of that energy you supply to make the bait go faster, leaving less energy for pulling. If less of the energy supplied was used by slowing down the bait, there would be more energy available for pulling.

I've had my Ranger since 1988. Aside from replacing wheel bearings and winch strap, the trailer has been perfect. I'm still on the original light bulbs! If I were buying a new boat, and it wasn't a Ranger, I'd see if I could get a Ranger Trail trailer for it. My spare is in the same place as the original photo at the beginning of this thread but it is higher off the ground.

I'm using the built in transducer on my Terrova for connecting to my Garmin. I don't see much difference between the images on my bow mount from the images on my console unit using Garmin's transducer. If there are some slight differences, it doesn't matter to me. I'm looking mostly for depth, temp and how hard the bottom is. Both transducer units show what I'm looking for at a quality I'm happy with.

The only thing that matters is does the reel work? If it's working fine, there is no reason not to use it on any rod. Retire it when it stops functioning the way it is supposed to.

It was only two. Sometimes they just don't get hooks in them, sometimes, they just shake the bait loose and throw it. It happens. If it happened 6 times in a row, it might be different. Go back and get some more, keep steady pressure but don't horse them in. You'll land them.

You did not say, but can I assume you tried it with the remote and the foot pedal? What does the display on the remote show?