Dwight Hottle

Very informative Paul. I have almost always fished for those smallmouth suspended or on the move. My personal weakness has always been those smallies touching ground compared to the average bass fisherman who always target the bottom feeders. The smallmouth on the move have always been my easy Pickens.

Those channel cats are apex predators in my book. I have caught a few of them fishing lake Erie with jerkbaits for smallmouth. The first one I caught I thought I had the new state record smallie on until seeing her boatside. They are tough fighters & will chase just about any artificial lure. They are definitely a fun fish. Glad you got to enjoy one.

Topwater.

Remind me to give you a package of Gambler Big EZ to add to your list.

That's a very tough loss. Losing your dog is like losing your best friend. Maybe you can get a new dog when your ready.

Ilovehardbaits

Your pretty much spot on J. I find most bait balls starting in the 20-40 fow zone.

Roger not to go off topic but you are right about big pike seeking colder water & dissolved oxygen. A buddy & I were out fishing after dinner on a far northern Canadian lake. I was watching the depth finder from the back of the boat when I saw two large marks on bottom in 60-65 fow. I told Dave let's drop some jigs/reaper tails down & see if we could not catch those lake trout. I hooked one & imagine my surprise upon seeing it at the surface. Those lake trout turned out to be pike sitting on the bottom in 60 fow. Both were big teenagers.

Will maybe I should. I have never bought or fished a pointer 78.

That looks like Hugh's old boat. You are right about stick marsh.

Thanks. I did register the 11-2. I'm waiting for my goody package worth $150.00

You already are your just in self denial .

I have two & really like them. You can pick one up for $300 JDM.

Catt I know you are talking from practical experience. How are you going to deal with lake Erie which has depths over 100 feet? Where are you going to start there?

I did too. I had a complete set of spoonplugs in each size in two different colors. That concept allowed you to find bottom & learn depths without a graph. Occasionally I even caught a few fish using them.

WTG Goose.

Pics or it never happened.

Biggest bass on a swimbait went 9.25lbs Caught on a Tsunami 6" swim shad Lake Baccarac Mexico

If someone had bought me another drink I could have added to my original post.,

Females always have their mouths open with constant chatter and males have closed mouths with nothing to say. Females carry more weight per length than males. They have widely varying mood swings that males never exhibit. Females always swim in circles while males only swim from point to point. Females always fight harder because they hate to submitt while males give up when they know they are losing. No Mas. Females require the males to guard the nest while they are off primping. And most importantly females are always more photogenic than males.

Very good advice. If brand X motor service is not local or qualified, good luck when you have an issue. Better to choose the brand that is best supported in your area. I have only owned two motors a Yamaha 150 four stroke & a mercury 250 pro xs and they both gave me good service.

Most of the time it is think big or go home. Pointer 128, pointer 127 or pointer 100. I like big smithwicks & big rapala husky jerks. Also big rebels. Deep divers & shallow divers in any bait that makes both. That's not all of my favorites but does cover the majority.

I replaced them with owner ST36's. The Katsuage outbarbs are probably lighter in weight so you might have to make a weighting adjustment if it doesn't suspend right. Try it and find out.

That's almost to pretty to fish.

In case you did not see this pinned at the top of the page. http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/117976-open-challenge-to-all-fishermen-and-women/