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.

Thanks guys, I will have to get out there and try that .

I was bass fishing yesterday and the bite was pretty slow, blue bird skies and almost no wind. I could see gar swimming everyplace and could not get a bite by one to save my life. What can you throw at them to get a bite??? I once saw a tv show and they were catching gar on a fly rod but have no idea what they were useing for bait.

Very good idea, I never thought of that, I am going out tonight and will try that, Thanks.

Is there any way to put a weedguard on a jig that does not come with one already on it????

Same thing as what you said but I will go even slower than you are saying and throw 4 inch senko style worm or even a single tail grub but go totally weightless with them and I will fish painstakingly slow.

I totally agree with your view on this topic, I think that if you have the ability to find fish then the tackle to catch them is way over-rated. Don't get me wrong, quality is important, just buy quality that you can afford, don't go overboard charging a 500 dollar rod and reel set to a credit card, you can catch the same fish on a lot cheaper set up. A perfect example is my favorite rod and reel, a 7 foot BPS Graphite Series rod matched up with a Shimano Cariolis, all together a 100 dollar set-up.

I have the cocoons that fit over your glasses, I absolutely love them, they are a little bigger than I would like appearance wise but the performance of them makes up for the larger profile.

I haven't tried the burner spinnerbaits, I have been useing the War Eagle Screaming Eagle for fast retrieve(burning) situations and I absolutely love them, they stay down in the water and run true.

I have been fishing the BPS Graphite Series rods on all my baitcasters for 2 years now and they have performed flawlessly, especially at 34.99 each.

If you are serious about joining a club, our Monday night club league is still looking for a few more boats to join. Send me a message at my email and I will contact you with more info. bkbassman@live.com Brian Klok