volzfan59

I love river smallmouth fishing! I've had plenty of success fishing up and down stream, although I agree with "roadwarrior" and say upstream is a little better. Most of the time I cast upstream and work my life downstream with the current. As for lures, Rapala X-Raps, Strike Kind Bitsy Tubes, Ned rigs get most use for me. I also use Bandit Footloose cranks and either Strike King Bitsy Jigs or Z-Man TRD Jigs from time to time. Sorry for the edit, just saw your last post. For trout, get some 2 or 4 pound test and a ultra light or light rod and a hand full of Rooster Tails, Joe's Flies, Mepp's, etc and have some fun!

I have a 2015 Ascend 128t and love it! It is heavy, no getting around that. Due to arthritis, I trailer mine so no big deal. I actually made mine even heavier. Added a motor mount, 45 lb. thrust Minn Kota t/m and a Micro Pole to it. Plus a small wheel chair type 12 volt battery. Mounted the battery in the front hatch to help distribute the weight. I'm thinking about purchasing an Ascend H-12 next and doing the same mods. I would post pictures but I'm not good at that stuff. I would be glad to send some if you'll message me your phone number.

Color is a confidence thing. For me, green pumpkin works absolutely everywhere. Zoom's "cotton candy" Fat Albert's and Lizards work well for me on Norris. Sometimes I'll dip the tails in chartreuse. Several of my friends use green pumpkin/ red flake on Douglas. If your throwing Fluke type baits, "Log Catcher" is 100 % correct, natural shad colors are the ticket.

The FLW pro's have to qualify thru the opens to make it to the Elite's like everyone else. Then they could qualify for the Classic. Thrift, Morgan, Rose and Dudley have all said that they prefer to stay FLW. They would rather be a big fish in a small pond.

One of, if not the best "house brand" crankbaits made. I've been using them for years and like "PAbasser927" said, "they catch fish!". I've never had one that didn't run true right out of the box, quality hooks and oval split rings. Good deal at full price, great deal when on sale. When I was still at BPS, I used to recommend them to customers that balked at the price of Rapala, Lucky Craft, etc. Much better than the BPS branded cranks.

Good to know, thanks for the post and recommendation!

"Looking45" is right, all BPS stores pulled the baits the morning after the lawsuit was filed. I was still working there then. Funny thing, normally when something is pulled, we could slip in, kind of under the radar, a buy whatever bait it was. As I had read about the lawsuit already, I thought that I would grab a few. The registers were already programmed not to sell them. That never happened before. To answer your question, I've never seen a real Huddleston so I really don't know.

Yes, very good for Smallmouth Bass! I've never been, but have read a ton about both places. I friend has been to the Boundry Waters twice that I know of. A float plane flew him and his party from Ely, MN out to a certain location. At the location, the outfitter had canoes stationed with enough supplies (camping and food) for seven days. They brought their own fishing equipment. The group floats back to a prearranged pick up point. Greg told me that by day five or six, he was sick of catching Smallies and Walleye. I called b/S but he swore that it was true.

Boundary waters and the upper Mississippi.

I like tinkering with things, currently making a new kayak trailer. I'm into home improvement, antiques, reading (fishing stuff). Really big into late model stock car racing, dirt or asphalt. Used to race myself years ago, before our second son was born.

Poor guy drowned on Chickamauga Lake near Chattanooga, TN today. Witnesses said that he flipped kayak and never resurfaced. Wasn't wearing his pfd.

I use the Strike King Bitsy Tubes all the time. One of my go to baits in the river.

Glaucus, I agree with you. I can't wait to take that craw to the Holston or French Broad Rivers! Smallies beware.

I'm not hating on co-anglers in the least, sorry if anyone took it that way. I was going to fish the B.A.S.S. Southern Opens this year as a co-angler. My father in law's lung cancer took a turn for the worse in December 2017 so I thought it best to support my wife and in-laws. He passed in late January 2018, my wife took it really hard so I know that I made the right decision. Hopefully I can do it next season. I'm just of the opinion that on the pro/ tour level, there only needs to be one guy fishing out of a boat.

I don't follow FLW much, but I think it was a good move to drop the Co-Anglers. The top tier PRO's should be the only one fishing out of the boat, in my opinion. The Co-Anglers can fish in the Opens, Costa, BFL levels. "TennesseeBoy", FLW had a cheater several years back. Tony something? A lot of forums called him "Angler X". While he wasn't prosecuted, nor did he admit to anything, he'll never fish an FLW or B.A.S.S. event again.

WRB, that's because the new owners of Bass Cat kept Rick Pierce around to run the company. His dad built the company, Rick helped him run it. I remember reading when the new people purchased Bass Cat, they said that nothing would change at BCB. I guess they were serious. Sloanezp, 38 Super Fan, there aren't many Legend boats around the Knoxville, TN area either. From what I have heard, they are excellent boats however. I think I've seen a total of two. I agree with "12poundbass", it's crazy how people hate all things Johnny Morris. As mad I am about the whole "club" card thing, mad enough to quit my job, I still have the utmost respect for the guy. I don't personally believe in credit cards and refused to pimp them to customers, so I left. He built his business up from a closet in the back of his father's liquor store to what it is today. His charitable and conservation giving are huge.

I pretty much just use Rooster Tails in 1/16, 1/8 and sometimes 1/4 oz. I always use a gold blade model, favorite being a black body with gold metal flake. I can only get them at Walmart around here. A good friend turned me on to the Joe's Flies. They are starting to be my go to.

Grub_man is right, always try a reel out while in store. While still at BPS, I can't tell you how many times that I let a customer see a reel to purchase, only for it to not be smooth, make noise, etc. I had this happen with all brands. Take it back if possible.

I had the Coleman Crawdad version of this boat, they are similar. The older Crawdad's were rated for 10 HP and single hulled, that's what I had. The Sun Dolphin American 12, Pelican Intruder 12 and later models of the Crawdad are rated for 6 HP and are double hulled. Sadly, the Crawdad is no longer in production as far as I know. Mine was a great boat, especially for rivers, creeks and rocky areas, pretty much indestructible. They feel a little tippy when standing, although I never flipped mine. Another down side, limited space for tackle and rods. I'm actually thinking about buying another one. As far as comparing to an aluminum boat and assuming we're talking the same price point, it would be a riveted boat. The obvious thing is no rivets to leak.

I just stumbled across your question after doing a search on Sun Dolphin American 12's. I'm thinking about buying one myself to float small rivers. To your question, I've never owned an American 12. However, my first boat was a Coleman Crawdad 12. They are very similar boats although the Crawdad used to be rated for 10 HP, the American 12 is rated for a six. I never had any problems standing, casting, flipping, etc. Don't get me wrong, at 36" bottom, it feels a little tippy. That said, I never flipped mine or fell out of it. If you feel like you need to be higher, you could always stand on the molded seats. I wouldn't recommend it though, the center of gravity would shift and you might come out of your boat. I wish that I still had my Crawdad, you can't hurt those things. I hope that this helps.

Like A-Jay did, my youngest son is making a career in the Coast Guard. Been in for over nine years now. My oldest son, his wife and my two grandchildren live here in Knoxville. I am at my happiest, at peace, when both of my boy's, both daughters in law and grandchildren are all here in the house together. Doesn't happen much, but when it does it's loud, it's crazy, it's funny around here. I just sit back and soak it in!

Thanks Toxic and J. Francho, I really appreciate it. The new gig is pretty sweet it's gonna offer any chance of time off for fishing. MrFrost, That's how it used to be at my store before the Cabela's purchase. Front end staff handled the credit card stuff, the department folks handled customer service in their respective departments. Now all associate's are required to push them. I agree with you about Sully's experience, at my old store the customer service associate's, and management, did everything possible to help with returns.

I'm in the jig camp too. I've caught exactly one smallmouth and, of all things, a drum on a jig. The smallie is my PB, but that's it. I use good jigs, and good equipment. I've even tried the "only take jigs" tactic. A friend recently suggested that I fish it more like a Carolina rig instead of hooping it?

Went to Academy, the H20's were pretty well picked over. I did manage to 20 cranks, 10 baits 2 each. Thanks for the heads up.

I had a 18' G3 tunnel hull CC that I used in the rivers. Great rig! The only thing I didn't like was the rod storage. The tubes were molded in the console. Ended up selling it.