Biglouie

A friend of mine is looking to buy a boat from Gander Mountain. I guess they do service on their own boats. Would you buy a boat from Gander Mountain or feel more comfortable buying one from an established marine dealer? Any suggestions/opinions welcome!

Just this past week I caught about a 16 inch smallmouth using a crankbait along the bottom of the river....but it was dead! It had a big floating rapala stuck to the outside of it's mouth. My crankbait hooked into the rapala and the fish. There was also some line attached to the rapala yet. I guess the fish must have broke someone else off then got itself stuck to the bottom of the river somehow and died. It looked to only be maybe a few days to a week old at the most.

fat Ika, no weight. Drag it across the top, let it fall in open pockets.

Wacky rigged Senko....too slow for me.

It would be hard to pick one. I'd like to fish with Roadwarrior cause he fishes the river for smallies, as I do here in Wisconsin. I think I would learn some techniques/presentations I could bring back to my home waters.

I've been fishing smallies on the river for several years. I don't have much experience fishing lakes for LM Bass mainly because there aren't a whole lot of Lakes nearby that have a decent LM population. This year I've been traveling to a few area lakes to target LM. It certainly is fun trying to figure these fish out and using different techniques etc. One thing I noticed is a 13-15 inch largemouth doesn't have a whole lot of fight in them. Seems like shortly after the hookset I've got them water skiing across the top of the lake. ON the other hand, a 13-15 smallie will give you some good runs and maybe even some aerial acrobatics! I never realized that the smallie was so much more of a fighting machine. I really enjoy fishing for LM and the different techniques, but give me a 15 inch smallie over a 15 inch large mouth any day! I understand many of you southerners don't have easy access to the smallie where I can travel 10 minutes to the river and have excellent fishing. I won't take it for granted!

thanks guys, I appreciate it. As far as the weight goes, do you prefer a bullet weight versus an egg sinker for different circumstances. Or is it mainly just a bullet weight?

I'm with Spencer, as long as my wife lets me! With 2 young kids, it seems like there is always something going on that forces me off the lake. I'd fish from dark to dark all weekend if I could. Might take a little cat nap in the boat in the afternoon sun. Can't do that much now that I have kids. So now I usually get out around 5ish am and tell my wife I'll be home by noon. Then I fish to about 1pm and she calls me on the cell phone and I tell her, I'm on my way home right now...and shoot over to the boat landing!

I'm not sure, Rolo's argument seems valid when I think about it too???? Why not try it both ways? I know Gamakatsu makes a heavier hook for braided line's, I think it's called something like super line hooks. They are heavier dutier than the standard hooks. Why not try both ways and let us know what happens.

so take the bullet weight on your t-rig and peg it 2-3 feet above the hook? I suppose you then just easily converted your t-rig to a c-rig. Guess I should have been more specific in the first post. Is the swivel in a C-rig of much importance?

I think I understand the difference between the two rigs, but why is the c-rigged so much better for fishing deep water? Couldn't you just t-rig with heavy bullet weight and peg it? Don't you achieve the same thing? I know when using the swivel and beed when c-rigging, you get a little clicking that is suppose to attract the bass, but other than that, any big difference I'm missing?

That might not be the glasses, that might be experience/training. I've been fishing with people who don't have polarized glasses. When I hand them mine and try to point something out on the bottom, they just can't seem to see it sometimes. I think you train your eyes to a point to see better into the water. Same thing with picking out deer in the field. I have a keen eye for spotting deer where some people just have a really hard time doing that.

I remember hearing an interesting bit of info on the moon phases once, maybe here? It went something like this...57% of all record book fish were caught during either the new or full moon phase (3 days before, day of, 3 days after). More interesting is that 46% of the days in a month fall in these "phases". Interpret that how you want.

Boy can those smallies through you for a loop. Saturday I fished the river. Targeted all the shallow water rocky structure where I usually get bit. Fished several areas for two hours without getting bit. Threw every bait I owned. Finally floated down stream where the river got a little deeper (4-5 feet) and started fishing the wood. There was a strong wind going in the same direction of the current that was really moving the water that day. The fish were tight up against the wood. Did really well. Next day went back and the wind had died almost completely. Figured the fish couldn't have gone to far. There was still current. Fished for an hour with the tube again and caught one walleye. I moved back up to the rocky shallow area of the river and again threw everything I had. Finally tied on a buzz bait and had a ton of action. A lot of little fish, but some nice ones mixed in too. Just another learning lesson on the river. Can't beleive how much they moved with the only change being the wind. Just gives me more confidence that the fish are still biting, just have to keep moving and tryying different presentations. It just assures me that I need to fish different areas and different baits until I find where the fish are and what they want.

Have been reading some posts on polarized glasses here. I've never been able to tell the difference between high end lenses and the $15-20 pairs from Walmart. Not that I've experimented a lot though. I would think that if you spend $100+ bucks on glasses they should help you see better into the water. Or are you paying for comfort, style, name brand etc? Are there really different levels of polairzation? I've probably owned 10 different pairs of polarized glasses ranging from $10-$75. The pair that I could see the best into the water with were a pair of amber tinted el cheapos. They were very uncomfortable to wear though. I put these glasses head to head so to speak with a friend who bragged about his $100 polarized glasses and he agreed that el cheapos let him see better into the water. So whats the deal here? Can someone explain to me. Thanks.

Fishing from shore...Horny toad across the tops of the lilly pads should do the trick.

Are you using an EWG hook? Try a larger size hook in EWG.

I'll be watching this post for answers too as I'm in the similar situation. Been having some luck fishing crankbaits near the same area they were bedding, just a few feet deeper. Make sure the crankbait gets down to the bottom and gets hung up or bounces off the bottom. Most hits come right after shaking the bait free or after it bounces off something.

This is a just an extension of a previous post on how big a "big bass" is in your area. Nice to look at it in a poll where you can see some numbers more clearly.

so we don't know if it was the bulb or the filter than? Seems wierd the boat would run so well wide open if the filter or bulb was the problem? Or maybe I just don't completely understand these beasts, which is probably the case. ;D

anyone ever cast for bass with the fly rod here? I have a friend new to the area who is a big fly rod enthusiast who wants to go out after bass. We have a good population of smallies on the river, no idea what type of lure/fly to suggest he throw? I do well on tubes, crankbaits and occasionally buzz baits. Any suggestions?

Friend of mine has a 1999 evinrude 115HP. We were out this weekend and the engine kept dying. The primer bulb would go soft and when you pumped it back up, it would go again. You could keep the boat going if you kept pumping the bulb. A couple times the oil light came on though too? What do you think? Could it be something as simple as getting the new bulb on it? It didn't have any obvious leaks?

quick update: Went with an Interstate because the one I had served me well. Also, there are interstate battery dealers all over this area so if I have problems, I can get service easily. It has a 30 month warranty I beleive too.

Do you need a special tool to get the prop off your trolling motor? I took the plastic wing nut off, but the prop still won't come off? I have a motorguide fx4000 43lb thrust. There is about a 1/4inch gap between the prop and the head of the trolling motor that weeds always get stuck in. I can see some weeds down inside there and want to take the prop off to clean them out. Is it normal to have a gap like that? Also, would the new hydrilla 3 blade prop work on my trolling motor? Sick of constantly cleaning the weeds off of it.

...fish something different. Black chatterbait maybe? Something the fish haven't seen 300 times already.