WIGuide

I won't cancel because of win unless it's bordering on the edge of insanity. If I fished the great lakes, absolutely. The wind can make it a pain to fish, but it's usually worth fighting with it.

If it looked more like the fish on the bottom, then chances are it's a shad of some sort. When they actually move back has a lot of variables, but as the water starts to cool, start at the opening of pockets or creek and work your way back to find them.

3/8 to 1/2 black and blue jig (your brand here)

Welcome to the Forums Rick! I'm not sure if you can verify bottom hardness just by structure alone. However you can run through an area early in the spring before it gets too thick or late in the fall after the foil has died off. Mark the hard spots with side imaging, and then you know exactly where they are. The hard spots aren't going to change position from year to year like the grass can/will, so once you have them you can see where they line up with how the grass is growing at the time.

Nice muskies! They are pretty territorial fish, and will stay in one spot. Hopefully they keep cooperating for you!

Nicely done and organized. I wish some of the non-boaters I've fished with were this organized!

Although I agree with this statement, up here it only seems to apply to some of the larger northerns. Around me at least, you'll always find northerns shallow. Maybe it's due to the available cover and forage situation over here. It could be for a reason I don't know either. All I know is their habitats intersect A LOT around here. It's not uncommon to catch one species one cast, and the other the next. Great example of that comes from the ones pictured below...caught them about 15' apart Not to throw too many avocado's at this thread, but that's a good tip with the toothy critter wire. Do you tie it directly to your line, and if so what knot do you use?

Haha man I swear northerns have an eye for tungsten. However I think it's worth the few bite offs that do happen. The fact that you don't have some huge sinker out in front of everything I think helps it to look more natural, plus with it being denser it really helps transfer everything your feeling on the bottom. It's also a lot harder than lead so it doesn't deform. The only bullet/flippin' weights I use anymore that aren't tungsten are the really small ones where the benefits are not as great.

I usually tear my reels down every winter. Aside from that I'll only look at them if it's needing attention. With centrifugal brakes, the brake pipe usually needs a light coating of oil a few times throughout the year.

If you can give us some specs on the rods as far as length, power/action, weight ratings, that should allow us to better help you.

That's a nice rig man, congrats on the purchase!

I almost forgot about my run in last year with a blue heron. It was just chilling deep in a small cut looking for minnows. I didn't even see it until I threw my frog to the opening of the cut. It saw it hit the water and flew up and then saw me. Looked at the frog, then me, as I start trying to get it away from it. It keep flying closer, you could almost see it's thought process as it kept getting closer to the boat. Luckily, I succeeded in getting it away from him before he took a whack at it.

Rapala DT10's, Xcalibur XCS100's, and Cordell Super Spot are my top 3 producers.

Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Texas so far

I don't remember if it was a seagull or another type of bird, but last year at the state tournament I was throwing a Zara Spook in the morning when one swooped down and tried to grab it. I tried to pull it away but the bird had good aim for the most part. I hooked it around the leg with one of the trebles and pulled it in. Fishing was slow enough I contemplated putting it in the livewell and seeing if they'd let me weigh it in. I just got lucky that the hook didn't penetrate anything and only hooked around the leg. The year before in the state tourney, I managed to hit a duck while it was flying with a bait. The chances of that happening must have been astronautical as I wasn't aiming at it. I didn't hook that either but it dropped almost to the water before it regained control and corrected to get back on it's original flight plan. Quite a few years ago, I had a run in with a loon. I was fishing with my dad on a little lake and I had seen some loons around but they were staying out in the deeper water while we worked a weedline. All the sudden one popped up close to where I had casted and not wanting to catch it I started reeling in my rubber worm. The water was pretty clear there, and as I reeled in, you could see what looked like a minni missile behind it so I start cranking as fast as I can and the loon is gaining on it. Luckily, I got it back quick enough as the loon just dove down deeper and continued under the boat...now that would have been a fight!

I don't think there is a temp too hot for bass to be shallow. I'm in that boat that thinks there's at least some part of the population that is up shallow all the time. A few weeks ago we had a major heat wave in WI. It pushed water temps into the mid 90's which is incredibly hot for around here. I fished one afternoon/evening and caught most of my fish out of less than 3' of water. Only way to find out if they're shallow around you is to give it a try!

^ That one got me!

I've had that happen before on just regular orders. It seems sometimes they have issues getting things in stock. 2 years in a row their 25 days of xmas orders had taken over 6 months to fully deliver.

Why do you believe that's too big? If that's where you sit RPM wise the only way to know is to try it. It really depends on what gear ratio lu he has. I'm not sure how much the mercury ones vary, but I know I was at a tourney with my old 88 hp Johnson that ran a 20 pitch Raker and solo would turn a 22 Pitch Raker pretty well. Anyway, there was a guy at a tournament who had a 150 Johnson on a bigger boat was running a 19 pitch. Same comparison with my 130 running a 24 pitch and my dad's 225 running a 25. Those are two different brands, but it really depends on gear ratio as to what prop you turn.

St. Croix has the 7'10" heavy/mod in the LTB line. If it's anything like the 7'2" M/M you wouldn't be disappointed.

High performance and aluminum don't really go together. Sure there are some better than others, but stainless will always provide a better grip, better holeshot, and better top end as long as you actually have the correct prop. Your issue here isn't stainless vs. aluminum, it's more about two props that aren't the right prop for your setup and you like how one runs better. My advice is to find the correct stainless prop for your rig to give you the best performance. Before you go looking, you'll need to decide on your performance goals. If top end is your end goal, then you will sacrifice some holeshot and vise versa. Do some research and put in some time. Go to a marine dealership and take a look at their props. Many have an abundance of used props that others bought and found out weren't right for their setup, much like you did. Most dealerships will allow you to try these out to see if they're the right fit for you. Some will have new props you can try too. When testing, have your boat loaded how you normally would on a fishing trip. If you normally fish with a buddy, then get one to go out and test props with you. If you take your time and find the right prop, there's no doubt you'll be happy with it.

Take a look at the baits you're throwing and what their weights are and compare them to the blanks of the St. Croix M/XF and ML/XF spinning rods. Choose whichever covers your baits the best.

I use the hook keepers on my rods. I've never seen a reason to do anything else. I've never snapped a rod due to scratches from hooks on the hangers. You will eventually get some very small scratches but nothing crazy and if they really bug you, they can be fixed with a touch of clear nail polish.

^^This. There aren't many rods that won't last if taken care of correctly.

I don't know if it'll be easy, but it should loosen it up a bit.