UWBass

Shimano Sienna is $29.99 and feels comparable to even a $60 or $80 reel in my opinion!!

Hamby, I've fished this lake before, hundreds of times actually. In fact, I have a cottage right on the tip of Maple Point . I've caught plenty of bass before right off the pier throwing a lipless crank or spinnerbait. Also, the islands are HOT in the fall, particularly Devils and Dead Island, especially if there is some wind pushing over the rocks. You'll likely catch some bonus eyes throwing a crank too. Don't be afraid to try a standard jig-grub, hopping it over the rocks or swimming on top of the weeds. Also good for bonus fish. The inlet and outlet also ALWAYS hold fish...

I catch plenty of walleyes here in WI on lipless crankbaits. Tons of walleyes are caught in the weeds as well. I don't think it's strange to see them there - fish will go where the food is! And Josh, even if the walleye is fat and full of spawn, it doesn't mean it will be successful in spawning in the lake. You need a myriad of the right conditions for a walleye to spawn successfully. They will still go through the spawning act but it will often be fruitless, and the eggs won't hatch or develop right.

I live on a lake in Wisconsin that produces a ton of BIG channel cats (as well as a major smallie factory) and you catch lots of big cats over 30" on a dropshot rig with 6 lb. line. I've caught a lot of big cats fishing for gills as well with slipbobbers and ultralights. Biggest caught on the DS was 35" or so (estimate to be 17 lbs or so), and the biggest on my bobber rig was a 38" behemoth that was loaded with spawn, (guessed her to be in the 23-24 lb. range). I actually caught that one with 3 lb. mono! Took a while.. Biggest fish I have ever seen landed on an ultralight was a 47", 46. 2 lb flathead catfish my buddy caught while fishing the river for walleyes this spring - 4 lb. line. That was awesome.

I'm a college angler at the University of Wisconsin and I feel the same way as a lot of these others guys do. First off, we're piggybacking with the Everstarts, which had 300+ anglers flogging the water for the past week and the off-limits areas are huge, and total available fishing area is relatively "tiny" compared to the Everstart boundaries (whole lake usually). Most of our tournaments with the FLW series are held in southern locales (due to warmer weather, and year-round seasons) but those are a 9+ hr drive for us in WI, plus an "off limits" practice period the week before the event. With school and work, we just can't drive down there and practice easily, especially those of us in clubs that have to pay their own way in gas and everything. Not to mention having these tourneys on huge, sprawling lakes that we've never fished before, and aren't anything even remotely similar to what we find in the north (we don't have giant reservoirs in WI). Plus it seems like every dang tourney, there's something funky going on with the water or weather (water dropped over 6 ft. in three days before KY lake tourney in early april, 41 degree water at LOZ etc.). To top it all off, you only get a 6 hour fishing day - you don't even get a full 8 hrs, which in these early spring tourneys would be monumental with letting the water warm up a degree or two more. So to recap my lengthy sob story, we're driving 10 hrs each way to fish six hours on a giant lake we've never been to before, usually in cold water conditions and on the heels of a major tournament with 150 boats. Rough rough rough. I know, I know. Everybody has to face the same conditions, and that's part of fishing and what separates the good from the bad, but man, it kinda sucks. Not to mention your boater isn't allowed to say a peep about any locations or likely lures that have been working. I can do all the internet research in the world and still bomb. Frustrating when you know you're a good fisherman and can clean house on the lakes back home, but fizzle and bring in two, one, or none fishing the supposed "best" lakes in the country. I'm happy that they give us this opportunity to fish in a "big" tournament, but not a fan of the way it is run. To add one more tidbit to my saga, they have a rule stipulating that you MUST be an active student to participate, meaning that if you are a senior and are to graduate in May, you are ineligible for any tournaments that summer or fall. FLW finally listened to us northern boys and is hosting an FLW college tourney on the Wolf River Chain in Wisconsin this June, but alas, I graduate in a few short weeks, and will not be able to fish on water I grew up on, and actually know how to fish Oh well!!!