Turkey sandwich

I've been using the Trilene knot for years and have had no problems. It's strong, the tag rarely catches weeds, and is great with leaders since there's very little waste.

They shouldn't damage the guides. Most of my rods now have them and I've had very few leader knot problems.

As all jet skis should.

I'll be sure to send you the notes when I finally get around to it.

Braid is very manageable, casts a mile, and with a moderate or slower action rod, you can still keep trebles pinned pretty easily. It's rare that I don't use at least a short copolymer leader. Something like Hybrid can be a game changer if you fish around rocks, clam beds, zebra mussels, etc. The only situation that I might prefer straight braid is ripping lipless crank through weeds. Also, to prevent spending a ton of time wasting leaders or tieing, a good snap can be very helpful and will make changing baits a lot easier.

So to summarize: Cons: very fast water that may still be dangerous due to debris, extremely muddy water, displaced game species. Pros: fewer jet skis. Well, this sounds like a win.

They also target a multitude of species and aren't just trout or bonefish bums. I really need to book a trip with Clouser.

In addition to the immediate surface stuff, since we've gone fly tackle, a Deceiver or Clouser Minnow stripped just under the surface can be absolutely thrilling. They don't quite cast a mile like a Zara Spook, but once you get the hang of them, man, they're hard to beat.

This is awesome, and I'm definitely interested in the book. There's just something about listening to guys like Lefty Kreh and Bob Clouser talk about casting streamers that just seems akin to a conversation with Yoda... if only Yoda cursed a lot. Just the knowledge and passion that they have for fishing is unreal. This is kind of a reminder that I should probably book a guide trip with Bob Clouser while he's still around. Thank you for the post. This is awesome!

I don't fish many lakes quite like that, but when I do, and run into those kinds of conditions (They seem to happen a lot in lakes where alewives are primary forage, and the surface activity can be VERY misleading), the grub or swimbait can be a lifesaver. I do not own one, but this would also be a situation where if I did (and it's legal), I'd have an umbrella rig tied up. After the first day of those conditions, I'd also likely have a flask of whisky.

I use leaders more than 90% of the time and micro guides have caused me zero break offs and likely no measurable difference in casting performance. I suggest spending just a little time in improving your leader connections, because once they're at least decent, you'll notice virtually no disadvantage to micro guides and all of the advantages. buy the better tool that you like best (in this case, they're both good, just handle preference, really) and invest the time in the craft to use them better. Knot tieing costs you almost nothing, can be done off the water, and in an hour or two you won't care about knots hitting guides ever again.

Giant river fish just have too much working against them, in most places. There are some exceptions (St. Lawrence might be the best example). Anything over 4lbs in a river is an absolute monster.

cheers!

lots of good advice. Location of prey, oxygen content, shade, and ability to ambush are almost always big, but especially this time of year. There will always be shallow fish. Finding active, roaming schools can take a ton of work (especially if you don't have a ton of free time to spend on the water). I'm admittedly awful at finding active roaming schools. In addition to the time and work, if they're suspended and sitting on the thermocline mid day being lazy with no baitfish nearby, those might be the hardest fish in the lake to catch. Come this time of the year, most of my fish come beating shoreline shade lines, weed edges and pockets, and pinch points on lakes where there's current and ideally deep water access. Lots of fish can be caught this way, and they're usually pretty easy patterns to switch between without necessarily heading deep and fishing 20+ feet of water.

The Susquehanna is, generally at least, doing well. I don't really suggest using an indicator since high vis braid accomplishes the same thing pretty well. If you're going to fish on the swing, a grub on a 1/8 oz head, Need rig, or occasionally bounced wacky jig senko are good places to start. Any time you feel something, give it a small jig. It's the same thing you've done trout fishing, more or less (swinging streamers), just different tackle.

Welcome to the forum! I'm not super familiar with any of the three models and have never personally owned a jet boat, but: For 2-3 people to stand and fish somewhat comfortably, the 18' would be much, much more comfortable. Also, you're going to lose horsepower from the engine to the jet, so the 30HP w/jetdrive might only be giving you 20hp. 20 hp isn't a whole lot of power for 3 guys and their gear in current.

Makes sense. It's a similar presentation to using a skip cast to imitated fleeing baitfish on the surface and that's been effective for years.

As the OP has not posted since 2015, I'm left to assume that he has not and has, in fact, been devoured by said muskrats.

Boom - a variety of Siebert Arky and Football head jigs (I'm absolutely loving the hooks on the Dredge series. The hook up percentage is incredible and they are a nightmare to shake. I have landed several 15-18" fish with their mouths hooked completely shut. The Arky Dredge with the recessed line tie helped to win me a tournament in June.), Whopper Plopper 90, grubs, wacky Senkos, TRD/Ned rig fished on the swing, 4-5"soft plastic sculpins fished on swinging football heads. I feel like my pitching from a kayak has improved a lot this year and that my technique dragging a football head has also gotten better. The Ned is new, and I'm finding that I'm picking up extra fish drifting either it or the wacky Senko that I'd otherwise miss. The Whopper Plopper has all but replaced buzz baits and has straight up outperformed walking baits in scenarios where previously I'd be throwing a Spook. Bust - frogs, crankbaits, spinnerbaits, walking baits, Yum Christie Craw. Outside of a few fish on DT 14 and XD6s, I've had almost zero crank bait success this year, which is really frustrating as they're normally my go-to for covering water. I also feel like I've caught some less-than-favorable conditions when I've had the opportunity to get out, be it high flows, chocolate milk, fronts etc. Still, even in lots of conditions that should have been very frog, walking bait, and spinnerbait friendly, they just never seemed to produce. Admittedly, I can definitely improve my frog technique. Not technique specific, but I can also get better at finding patterns faster, doing a better job eliminating water before getting on the water, having more patience fishing deep weed edges, and working on boat control with the kayak. The Christie Craw is the only bait that I bought where I'm really disappointed in it's performance/action versus my ability to use it.

So, there's a very real art to fishing bottom contact baits in rivers and it can be super frustrating to learn without actually seeing it done/being taught/having a ton of patience. It can also be one of the absolute best ways to catch quality fish in rivers. I grew up on rivers, still fish them regularly, and a large portion of the larger fish come on bottom contact baits. There's some good advice on here already and the search feature will give you a lot more info. Some other notes: 1. High vis braid makes strike detection much, much easier, helps to reduce stretch as the line bows in the current, and will improve casting distance. 2. Abrasion resistant leaders will keep you from cursing and re-tieing constantly. I like 12lb Yo-Zuri Hybrid. Other guys like CXX. Generally, copolymer or stiff FC is the way to go anywhere with rocks and nasty stuff. 3. Learning to fish on a drift or swing is important. It can be the difference between incredible success and total failure. The best resources on youtube are fly fishing videos usually discussing nymphing. Scott F is spot on. 4. To drag lures like football heads (a great tool in rivers), you're going to want to tie off, anchor safely, or wade because it's a slower presentation that's going to sit still or bounce slower on the bottom than swing freely in the current. Drifting will often pull them into snags much, much more often and become frustrating. 5. If you're going to fish C-rigs, I'm going to suggest using short leaders no more than maybe 8". Long leaders, in heavy current, tend to create really sloppy action, and in combination with the bow in the line from the current, can make everything about hooking up a nightmare. 6. You're going to snag sometimes, no matter what. Paddling upstream isn't fun, but it's just part of the process. The better you get at feeling the bottom, the better you'll get at avoiding snags and learning how to impart enough action on a drift to keep from hanging up and instead get strikes. 7. Not-So-Common-Sense - the speed of current, depth, and bottom make up should tell you what your lure/presentation options are. I don't care how good someone is with an Arky head jig, they're probably not going to have a whole lot of success dragging fast ripples. Similarly, a C-rig should not be your first choice for pitching shoreline laydowns. To learn this stuff, I wouldn't so much focus on catching huge fish, but practicing basic presentations. I also think grubs fished on ball head jigs, tubes, and finesse jigs like Bitsy Bugs are probably some of the easiest lures to learn to present in current.

strange, man. I've had quite a few St Croix rods over the years, and never ran into those problems. Still, St. Croix's customer service is second to none and if there's a problem, they'll resolve it with you favorably. As for the Avid and Avid X series rods, tons of guys here fish them (myself included) and most consider them the benchmark for what a $200-$250 rod should be. And they've maintained that level of quality and consistency for decades. If you end up with Avid/Avid X series rods that you have problems with either A) you rival Charlie Brown in the bad luck category, or B ) they simply don't fit your taste and you'll find lots of guys on here willing to take them off of your hands.

Boxing has it's problems, and I agree with a lot of what's already been stated. The thing is, the sport is far from dead just because it isn't major American news the way it once was. It's still a huge sport through the rest of the world, despite it being a mess thanks to promoters, having 5 different major governing bodies, etc. As for talent - there's a TON of talent right now. Andre Ward and Kovalev just had two amazing fights. Klitschko, at 40 something, just looked better than ever in a loss to Joshua less than two months ago. I missed most of the Broner/Garcia fight last night to watch the UFC card, but both are talented fighters. Garcia is technically really, really good, and Broner is just a phenomenal athlete. GGG v Canelo is going to be a fireworks fight since both hit hard, set up power punches off the jab, and neither are particularly great defensive fighters. I would be shocked and disappointed if this goes the distance. Lomachenko is incredibly talented and a beautiful defensive fighter that sets up KOs with movement/angles and by taking his opponents off balance. Guillermo Rigondeaux also does these things, and he's a southpaw. If this match happens, it could be the best technical boxing match in years - and someone will probably get knocked out. If you aren't familiar with Guillermo Rigondeaux, hit up youtube - he's the best defensive southpaw since Whitaker and his movement is good enough to get Lomachenko out of position. Also, his story about defecting from Cuba is incredible. If you aren't watching him, you're missing one of the best boxers of this, or potentially any generation. He's sorta a southpaw version of Lomachenko that Lomachenko is currently running from. As for the Mayweather v McGregor thing... I don't expect a great boxing match, and we can all talk about why it's a mess. HOWEVER, at this point, anything that brings more mainstream attention to boxing is a great thing. What's likely is that an all-time top 10 boxer ends up knocking out probably the best self-promoting fighter any of us have ever seen. It creates a lot of talk and a lot of attention. What's important is that boxing actually do something positive with that attention.

If I want something a little more subtle than the bigger, noisier topwater stuff, I usually switch up to a Skitterpop or X Pop. The Skitterpop is awesomely versatile in that you can pop it a bunch of different ways, and it walks reasonably well. Conditions dictate everything, but poppers are really under-used these days and they flat out catch fish when bigger, louder presentations are just a little too much.

A long MH rod makes throwing the deep running and oversized baits a lot easier. As for preferences, I like Fat Free Shad, Rapala DT, and SK XD series like most of the other guys. I've picked up a few of the new Berkley crankbaits, and while I haven't fished them much, I do like what I've seen of them. Colors are going to vary a lot depending upon water clarity and forage. Clear water - mimic forage or white. Low light or discolored water- very dark colors or very bright colors.

90lbs and a 4.5 average for smallmouth is absurd. This is something you'd expect on a Gonzo largemouth lake like Falcon. One or two days is one thing... But 4 days of those kinds of fish is madness. And not just 90lbs of smallmouth, 90lbs of river smallmouth. I could see 90lbs maybe coming from the Great Lakes, but finding fish that big, that consistently in a river fishery is even more impressive.