mi_basser

If you want to keep the "playoff" system the way it is they should invert the schedule every other year so Skeet and the guys who do well out west are fishing their strong waters in the playoff and guys like KVD are fishing their appearingly "weaker" waters then. I don't like the playoff either way but having the playoff in the south/southeast isn't fair to the guys who are the stronger western fisherman.

Congrats to Kevin, I *** his ability. Just think if he ever figured out how to catch fish west of the Mississippi River he would be totally unstoppable. He never seems to do well in California and the "Big Bass" fisheries of Texas.

When running a fluorocarbon leader, what is the common length that you use???? I am just starting to get into running some fluoro leaders on some of my braid rods. I am currently playing around with some around 18-24 inches. Is that sufficient???

I think you have to consider Burt, Mullet, Leelanau, Lake Charlevoix, and even Grand Traverse Bay as some of the best. I'm sure there are some more northern Michigan lakes I am missing, but you can't go wrong fishing for smallies in any of these.

One thing I use is I keep all my soft plastics in the original bag and then I use the soft side 6-pack coolers to keep them in. The bags that the soft plastics come in fit perfectly and I arrange them by what they are(worms, craws, tubes, etc.).

I would absolutely fish the landing area for "retreads". Especially if there are docks in the area, I have caught a lot of fish that swim to the first holding area(docks, weeds, whatever it may be) and lay low until they relax and are ready to eat again. A lot of fish won't eat again for a couple days, but it is definitely worth hitting real quick. I always skip the first 3 or 4 docks on each side of a landing and let that tell me whether or not to keep going with that pattern or to move elsewhere.

A buddy and I have a trip planned up to Lake Charlevoix for the second weekend in June. Does anyone know the water temps up there right now. Hoping to run into the smallmouth spawn but not sure if it is going to work out for us. Thanks for any input.

Every crankbait in my box has Mustad Triple Grips on them, in my opinion the best, most reliable trebles on the market.

I was at BPS yesterday and looking at the same exact thing and the salesman there who I was talking to suggested the "Carbonlite" rod. I checked it out and wow, what sensitivity and talk about a very light rod. I believe this to be a very nice rod, can't wait to get out on the water with it.

I really like burning a spinnerbait anytime the water is over 60 degrees and sunny skies. As far as what kind, I like the war eagle screaming eagle double willow blade. They seem to stay down in the water no matter how fast you retrieve them.

Thanks guys, I will see if I can't catch a couple of good ones tomorrow.

Looking for some good info about Gull Lake in SW Michigan(kalamazoo area), I have fished it quite a lot with no real success, I have tried deep, shallow, and under docks. My best success has come under docks on senkos, I just can't get the deep fish to bite, I can see them on the electronics but can't get them to bite, any suggestions??????

I live in the southwest michigan area(otsego to be exact) and I fish a lot of the kalamazoo lakes. I am in a league that fishes most of the more popular kalamazoo/portage lakes. Any specific questions shoot me a message and I will try and help. As far as Paw Paw lake goes, there is a website "southwestmichiganbass" and the guy who runs that site absolutely tears up Paw Paw Lake, check it out.

I am not actually from the NW Indiana area but am from the SW Michigan area. I frequent the website "southwestmichiganbass" web site quite often and there are some guys from your area on there. I hope that helps you out.