NBR

Shouldn't be too hard targeting the smallies. Lots of them and likely still be shallow. Get a map early and study carefully. There are many rocks lurkinh to eat a prop and/or a lower unit.

At my age the memory is a big question mark but I'll make a stab. I think it was Lake Semcoe north and east a bit from Toronto.

Prespawn, spawn and post spawn fish location is generally easy. When they start migrating to summer patterns it can get tough. A lake I fish from early May to early July has the fish shallow and easy to locate. Lots of hook ups and quality fish. After early July they just disappear. I go from 20, 30, 40 fish days to 5 or skunked. I think they suspend and feed on smelt in deeper water but I haven't been able to prove that. I just change lakes except for an occasional trip to work on a solution. It could be me but everyone I talk to agrees the lake is super tough in the summer. Locating the fish is a lot tougher than picking the right bait. Sometimes they are just negative which makes the postive days so memorable.

You will need some exra wide gap hooks for your Senko's or their knock-offs. Winni is one of he best smallmouth lakes I have ever fished any where and that includes from Dale Hollow to St. Claire, to Rainey. I second, third and fourth the guide. Go to www.winnipesaukee.com and you can find one. It could be one of your best fishing days ever.

It is a pain that happens every year!

Spinning by hand with new spool of line on the floor. After a few cranks check for twist and if there flip the line spool over. Bait casting with a Berkley Spooling Station. I agree that it can tend to pile up line in one position or another. I compensated by guiding the line with a finger. Then I found that the condition corrected itself when fishing. Advantages are only that it speeds up the process.

You would add a lot of weight. I think I'd leave well enough alone and look for a used boat in a year or two.

You don't say whether your boat trailer has brakes or not. I tow an older Astro 18FDX with a GMC Safari AWD mini van very well. My trailer has surge brakes and stopping is not a problem. The van is essintually a CK truck with a box for passengers. I get about 14MPG pulling the boat and 19mpg normal driving. Check the possible vehicles GVW rating.

I don't have a problem with them pushing a product; without it we could be watching reruns of as "The World Turns". I don't have a big need for them to weigh the fish but if they quit holding the fish up for the camera while they chit chat it woould be a lot better for the fish and they might have time to weigh more fish.

I was also going to say don't be overwhelmed with suggestions and buy a lot of stuff that is unnecessary. The articals here are good as are some of the TV shows. Remember that all the pros and TV shows are paid by sponsers so take what you read and see with a grain of salt. I've at this along time and have bought a lot of stuff based on what I saw or read. I caught fish on most of it but none of it was an incredible hait/line/reel/rod that always did better.

Right on Dwight. If you use a scale how could a 4.25 pounder be at least 5.

I was thinking more about the casts and retreives than catching fish.

The gas gauges in my boat show empty when they are really 1/2 full so I would just let them run out switch tanks repump the bulbs and restart. My mechanic suggested that this was not a good thing since as the wngine was coasting down it had no lubrication for a few revolutions!

Since moving to NH I have used my flipping stick for carolina rigging. The rod is a BPS at least 10 years old. This year I'm going to use braid for c-rigs and a mono or fluoroleader. Should I be conerned with guide wear on a rod this old? Thanks

You don't say what line you will use. Mono is more forgiving with a stiffer rod.

Ive spent thousands of hours fishing waters with pike and pikeral and unless I'm speciticall targeting pike I don't use a steel leader. I've been bit off a few times but not many. Last time of not buddie brough a 16# pike in with 8# mono. He released the fish and cut off a little line then back to fishing. I would not use a steel leader for bass under any cirsumstances. The weigh changes the sink rate and action too much.

Fasten the pump to a piece of stainless, bronze or brass and just set it in the bilge. Use stainless or brass screws and you can use the same [plate on the next pump!

Choices depend on the type of water. The lakes I fish are very clear, little or no vegetation and little wood. Our cover is rocks. I use mono for surface and some times spinner baits, braid with a mono or flourocarbon leader for C-Rigs and over the past few years I've been changing to flouro for every thing else. If I were to move where there was more vegitation I'd use more braid.

Free or not reels or rods don't break in the motel room or boat locker overnight. They break in use and then replacement out of storage or from the deck wastes the fishermans time. I have Qunatum, Daiwa, Shamano, Pflueger and BPS gear and frankly I don't see much difference in any of it. I've had a lot more rods ands reels retired from technology than failure.

Take a pair of pliers bend the hook back in shape make sure the point is not dulled and go back to fishing.

Spinner baits. They do hit hard and fight well for a short time then give up. Better than nothing but not much!

My Dad was a bird hunter not a fisherman when we moved to a small town. I must have been in ths fifth grade and that fishing stuff sounded good to me so I bought some lion, a few sinkers and hooks. I dug some worms and cut a willow stick on a small local stream bank and started fishing. By the next year Dad started to fish and through the years we had some great times together. While we fished bass most of the time we caught many varieties of pan fish, walleyes, pike, salmon, trout. He's been gone for several years now but I remember fishing with him like it was just yesterday. I do miss hime a lot.

We lived on a very nice lake when I was a lot younger and it was great. But now with my boat on a traler and a heated garage to keep it in I don't want to live on a lake. I can get to 5 or six different water bodies in 30 minutes or much less. The boat is dry, the equipment is safe 24/7 and I can do maintainance in the winter. This beats living on a lake.

My family are just not TV enthusiasts so we don't really care about HD. In fact I told them we didn't want it at any added costs.