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.

Nice paint on the yellow perch!

Putting the boat away tomorrow morning but going to fish the rivers for some late smallies until I can't feel my fingers anymore. Then the holidays get in the way.

Gotta love those Wisconsin Bass! Nobody fishes for them like they do for the Walleyes up there. That is a monster Bass for that area of WI. Congrats!

Fished Saturday on the big gin bottle. Started the day catching my bait - 3-5in perch with a minnow and mini-mite. Started fishing the 14-20ft drops near points with Carolina rigged perch with nothing to show. Found a large bait ball near the narrows about a football field long. Marked some way points and started fishing. The only fish for the day worth mentioning was this 20in 4lb even smallie that came suspended over 40fow. Put up one heck of a fight! Released after photo. The last few trips I cant seem to get them going on artificials but they will hammer the baby perch and suckers. Makes me mad because I have spent thousands of dollars in tackle to fish for bass and all I can catch them on is $.50 worth of a hook and a cheep weight! Threw cranks, drop shots, tubes, finesse jigs, The water temp was still in the mid 50's at 54 and the water is so clear now you can see down 15+ feet or more. Just stinks when you only get two fish for an 8+ hour day and I have maybe one more time out with the boat this year. She goes to sleep Thanksgiving weekend. Then its off to the local rivers for more frustrating days. Anyway thanks for all the reports everyone has been posting lately. I really enjoy reading them and learning. Keep them coming!

Nice photos everyone, Here is my Yankee bass boat: 2001 Lund 1775 Pro-V SE (17'3"), 2001 135 Mercury Optimax, 2001 Yamaha T8 Kicker, MK Max 101, Lowrance HDS 5 in front, LCX-25c on dash.

Jim3h, I use a bunch of Quantum products including the 150 Smoke and the PT Vi. The reals are great! But I do like the Energy PT way better than the Smoke. They just seem to be built more solid and cast a little better IMO. If you fish a lot of windy conditions the Energy is the best real I think that can cast a light crankbait into the wind. Try that with a Smoke and Poof birds nest. The Energy's are discontinued and therfore the Smoke has replaced them. You can find all the details and specs on these reels and Quantums, Bass Pro or ***'s websites. I am thinking of trading my Smokes for Energy's over the winter if I can find them for a good deal. As for the Curado's... I have never used any Shimano baitcasters so I have no opinion to share. Hope this helps.

7/10 Not a fan of the Steez product line. Plus, they're above my pay scale! I have never heard of the rod sorry. Mine Rod: QTC705f - Quantum Superlite PT (Spinning) Reel: TE30PTIB - Quantum Tour PT Line: P-Line Flouro (6-8lb.) I love this rod for small finesse lures, live bait rigging and drop shots. Plus they are very light and are very sensitive. For a medium action rod I have been really surprised on how much power there is to this rod. The reel is a little on the heavy side for my liking but can't wait for the new smoke series spinning reels come out.

Is there a way to change the contour lines from light to dark (Black) on the Navionics chips? I have a hard time seeing the contours lines. I have played with all the settings and can't find any of the options that say background color or contour line color change. I use it in night mode to see them better but then the sonar feature is in night time mode as well and I'm not a fan of that option. Thanks.

Yep, spring 2009. Thanks!

I have used the P-Line brand for years. Great line. I would recommend it to anyone.