Nick

On those trolling motors, try to get one with a battery "maximizer" that uses a lot less energy. You'll save your batts. Check the TM box. Minn-Kota is proud of this feature and you'll see it prominently featured. I doubt youcan get one of these for $300. If you can let me know. You can usually get two day's fishing from one batt charge, with the "maximizer" feature, but go ahead and charge them if you can as soon as you get off the water.

If the hooks are still strong, just use a little steel wool or very fine sandpaper on them, then I'd coat them with a little Rust Remover. This liquid actually bonds to the metal to eradicate rust. Comes in a small bottle and dries pretty fast. Will darken the metal though, but who cares.

I would go with the Costa del Mars also. I wouldn't want to recommend a pair because everyone has different opinions on styles. One's head shape alo allows for different fit. Try to get those that do srap around your face petty snugly, but beware because a tighter fit also causes fogging problems. Personally, I like amber lenses for all around use. In low light and clouds they perform well, but others will recommend green or gray. You get what you pay for. If you are a pretty careful individual who can find his wallet and keys, and wristwatch and cell phone, I'd get a high quality pair.

I don't fish Illinois much, but I can tell you that in Southern Illinois, you have turtles that are very predatory. I got several strikes on a jig and pig combo, set the hook and came back with half of my pork rind cut off like someone was snipping them witha pair or scissors. These turtles have sharp teeth, but I have never, ever had this happen anywhere else. Northerns tend to leave bite marks on the sides of fish that look like the claws of a cat. Seagulls can really devastate a bass. They leave one major slice which can also kill even a good sized smallie. Herons too can spear some decent sized bass.

I fish worms pretty traditionally like most guys, but the best worm angler in the Ozarks has his own style and he's won many 1000's of $ doing it. He throws it past his target zone, lets it fall to the bottom. One there, 3-30 feet deep, he hops it twice and back to the boat it comes. It's very fast and he casts to specific targets. He doesn't drag it anywhere. Once in a great while he swims it for suspended bass. His two primary colors are strawberry in clear water and red shad in more colored waters. Usually 9-11 inches with a 1/4 - 3/8 oz. weight.

Seems like I've gone through years where I fished lots of whites and chartreuse blades and caught some really big bass, but the last couple of years I've gone to the more standard gold and silvers. I did start using the painted in colder murky waters around 53 - 65 degrees in spring for largemouth with great results several years ago, and still use white and char. any time I'm smallie fishing up northout of habit. Thanks for your feedback.

I really like Black/red and brown/orange in dirty water. Clearer waters have me throwing peanut butter and jelly or pumpkin colors, a little more muted in clear waters.

Agreed, it's fun to pass the sport on. On the other hand, we have some notorius "spot stealers" who follow other boats to their locations. I've fished with some guys and saw them fishing against me on some of my favorite locations late where I showed them where I dumped brush or rocks. That can happen so be careful with whom you share any secret locations.

How often and under what conditions you you throw painted blades on spinnerbaits? Let's talk water temps and clarity, and blade sizes and types of blades, and even time of day. Thanks.

I'm amazed that no one has mentioned War Eagle. Lots of Pro's throw them for a very good reason. $ earned!

If you like to tinker with baits, drill a small hole in the belly of a DD22 just large enough to put in some #4 birdshot. Add 12-14 of these and reseal the hole with epoxy. Now you have a DD with extra sound to attract more bass and more weight to get that extra 15 feet of distance which is sometimes pretty important. For even more depth, you can heat the bill in a pan of boiling water for about 20 seconds and bend the lip a little straighter up, but if you goof it up, you'll have some problems getting the most depth out of it. Also: use a round snap as well as the split ring for added wobble. Now, for the retrieve that makes many of us wince. Once you get the new weighted DD down, the extra weight will help the bait suspend better. You might want to try a sweeping retrieve using the reel to take up the slack line. Rod tip should be about even with your toes in the boat. About 5 cranks on a 6:3 to 1 ratio baitcaster after each pull should be suffiecient take up the slack. This is much easier on the wrists than the standard steady grind retrieve. Trick is to take up the slack quickly to have rod in position to set hooks. This method looks similar to dragging and sweeping a C rig. Many strikes come just as you are beginnng a new sweep so you're kind of setting the hook as you sweep anyway. Good fishing.

I wish I had saved all the old Heddon catalogs from the 60's. You wouldn't believe the craftmanship and the prices! Meadow Mouse, Wounded Spooks, Lucky 13, Sonics, Tiny Torpedo, River Runts et al. Garcia also used to have a yummy fishing annual with unbelievable pics and details of all their reels when they were the only ones with baitcasters. I'll bet you could find a good history of the Heddon Company somewhere in cyberspace.

Are you sure that there's a viable population of bass in there? If there is I think I would try the buzzbait at night over the tops of them if you can reach them from shore. On dark lakes, I really like the fire and ice Culprit color, too.

Do not do this with flourocarbon. The line may snap at the level wind mechanism. Snapping the line (what I call this approach) is only marginally effective and likely to bury the hooks more in a snag. Use a lure retriever instead. Spark plugs on a heavy paper clip work pretty good when slid down the line and jangled at the point of the snag. Or invest in a real lure retriever tied to trot line. Some people call the bow and arrow letting the tip of the rod slide down to the lure on a tight line as the angler holds onto the line ahead of the reel.. This puts your reel underwater and can damage your rod tip also when it strikes the lure or snag. Again, I don't recommend it , but I've seen baits saved with it.

Paca's are so lively they look like a bat flapping it's wings, but the wings are so delicate. One perch bite and a wing falls off. Some people do fall in love with them. Very frustrating for me, however. The worms have good colors, but I prefer mine not quite as hard and a little more salty. Haven't tried the Action Cat or frog.

Yes, I think the only thing that kept KVD from the very top is about five more years of experience. Putting Dance so far up the ladder mystified me. It's not like he quit tourney fishing two years ago. Road Warrior, I know he's from Memphis, but come on. He and Roland should get the choreogrpahy award for "staged" fishing.

Low Budget is on the right track. Pradco took over Heddon, Cordell, Smithwick, and others companies several years ago. Originally. the Zara was called the Zaragossa, supposedly for the way the girls moved on a street by the same name in a southern town, (perhaps New Orleans). The Zaragossa was made of wood, but when Heddon began making plastic baits their code name for plastic was " spook" regardless of the lure. (This was told to me by a fellow whose private collection rivaled today's Bass Pro.) So the first plastic line Zara became known as the Zara Spook probably back about 60 years now. The Excaliber series came out about 10 years ago about the time Pradco took over. Maybe the hooks and colors are diferent or better. Don't know for sure. Nothing is simple anymore.

With the longer hooks on today's spinnerbaits, I rarely use a trailer. More trouble than they are worth for me, especially in heavy cover. Live bait, no way. Trailers, if they help achieve a purpose of allowing you to retrieve slower to keep the bait up higher, or you just feel that a big silhouette is preferable. I've seen lots of folks who just have no confidence in anything but live bait. Better go fish with someone who is good at this craft to convince you that artificials can be oh so deadly!

The aftermath of any heavy rain is real good for a short time if the creeks are running in fresh water. I will be on a float stream tomorrow in eastern MO because the big boys come out to play when the river's on the rise. In lakes, the bass aren't so quick to bite all day long like they do in moving water, and the bluebird skies and high pressure may put a damper on things. Still look for colored water in any creek arms to start with. But heck, get out and enjoy! You can't catch any sitting on the couch!

Yes, do get a drift sock and maybe two! They are absolutely the only way to slow down a boat in big waves like those found in the Great Lakes. Trolling motors can become nearly useless up there.

Anything bigger than a popsicle stick that floats is worth at least $40. I would call yours a great deal.

Why?

Sorry, but I'm not familiar with your products. Nick

Pithin worms in timbered reservoirs is pretty standard stuff. I pitch ahead 25-30 feet of the boat and let the worm fall on a fairly tight line along the sides of standing timber near creek of river channels. Water is pretty stained so I go to 9-10 inch worm in ribbon tail. Usually the wieght is pretty light at 3/16 to 1/4. I am targeting 3-8 feet deep. Usually don't impart anything but the glide and fall of the worm with rod tip at albout 11. Keep the boat moving to cover lots of water.

Taught school then retired with a good benefit package and COLA at 49. Now I fish and rub my wife's feet after she comes back from her job! Saved enough along the way to put the kids in college. Thanks goodness for the bountiful stock market of the 90's. Next week I'll be slamming some good smallies in Wisconsin before I return to the work of tournament fishing here at home in MO.