Steve K

I have fished out there only a few times but the ones I have caught came on the Poor Boys Erie Darter Jr. Natural Gobie color on a 1/4oz. football head jig. Some other good colors are Mango Magic, Copper Candy Steiger's Ice and Plenzer Melon. Just remember to match the color to the water color or weather. And fish them really slow with short 2-4in hops. I know a guy who fishes from shore a lot and catches quite a few on white senkos on a drop shot rig.

Dead sticking works for overly pressured fish. I have seen and heard of way too many nice smallies get caught doing this not to try it. It just takes patients.

PB: 22" 7lbs. Door County, Wisconsin

Cross tail shads by Jackall work great in Wisconsin waters also Poor Boy's Erie Darter Jr's.

I fish mine on a darter or mushroom head jig with a Kalins Lunker grub. Cast it out far! Let it hit bottom and slowley crawl it back. We have a lot of snaggy areas so I don't stop it. For what ever reason this works well for me.

Smallies and Largies are in spawn mode in Madison as of last Sunday. Water temps 63-64.

Fished the opener this year with great results. Fished the flats and any rocky structure in 4-7fow. We used grubs, tubes and jerkbaits but had minimal success. But they would pound a 3-4in red tail chubs drifted with a tinny splitshot. Best fish for the weekend was a 6lb 14oz. PIG that my buddy caught. But I only have my photos. I personaly caught a 5lber and a 5lb 4oz. Both fish were 20in. Small for the trip but never the less a giant in anyones book! Plus a bonus 29in Walleye trolling the shipping channel. Water temps were 52-56 in cloudy rainy, windy, sunny conditions. We saw it all that weekend!

Anyone not using their coupon that could help me out? I am trying to purchase some items and would like to save a few bucks if possible. Thanks!

Bass Pro carries an exclusive line of KVD Signature, Strike King spinnerbaits that you can get in 1/4oz. But other than that I am not sure about compact ones. I just use the 3/8oz. and 1/2oz. models in his line up.

The smaller ones (3"?) work great here in IL, IN and WI. There's a a guide in Indiana that smokes quaility smallies on these through out the year. He is sponsored by Poorboy I think. He even has his own color. Which is a combo of two colors that already excist. I personaly have done well on the goby color and ones that look like small perch with gold and orange sparkles in them. These baits are hard to find locally now so I buy them from another site.com. They carry most colors. http://www.captsteiger.com/

In my neck of the woods a 7lb smallie would be a hole lot easier to obtain than a 10lb largie. I know personaly of 4 smallies over seven caught on the Door County peninsula. It's amazing to even think of a 4.5-5lb smallie is an average fish during the pre-spawn peroid up there. A big largemouth up here is one that is over 7lbs. a 10... they would give you the key to the city!

I tried them last season and found that they produced well for smallies but I can't say that they out produced my Kaylin's. I'll need to fish them more this year. Can't wait for the candy colors!

Nice Bass bigfishbk86 love that spot in your first photo! This one in my avatar came off a spot in the same area. I have always caught bigger fish there.

Were I fish we use a lot of live bait and the rods I have favored are in the 7-7'4ft ML spinning category. The length helps get the line and bait farther away from the boat and the ML still has a good back bone when you hook into a monster cat or in most cases a northern pike. I personal like 2 rods: St. Croix, Mojo Bass, Drop Shot (6'9ML) Use it for for casting splitshot rigs, and for dragging or drifting I like my Quantum KVD Tour Signature Spinning 7'4M. This rod has a really soft tip and a solid back bone with a comfortable length. Both of these are paired with Quantum Energy PTi30's with 8-10lb P-Line fluorocarbon.

This one is my PB from Sturgeon Bay, WI – May 2009 . My partner and I almost died when she surfaced. It was the typical story... the snag that moved. Caught one day before open season. 22in estimated at 6.75 - 7lbs, full spawn.