Scott F

I always replaced my trolling motor batteries at 4 years old with ones I bought at Walmart

Those are not ball bearing. Ball bearing swivels are a lot more expensive

Make sure the blade on the spinner is actually spinning and not the entire lure. If the lure is holding and not spinning, you shouldn’t need a swivel at all.

Do you have any numbness in your little finger and up the side of your hand? A doctor will have you see a neurologist and they’ll test for a pinched nerve. I had cubital tunnel syndrome. Which was a pinched nerve in my elbow. I needed surgery to relocate the nerve. Totally fine now, but wore a partial cast for at least a month.

A fisherman’s confidence in a bait, a line, or a presentation is one of the most important factors in his success. If you have no confidence in what you’re throwing, you won’t stick with it long before you switch back to something you’ve had success with in the past. If you believe bass won’t bite lures as well with braided line, or the wrong color or is missing a claw, you probably won’t do as well as others who are using that stuff with confidence.

Mix 2 tablespoons of borax with 1 cup sugar, and one cup water. Soak cotton balls in the solution. Place the cotton balls where the ants are seen. They are attracted to the sugar and will carry the borax back to the nest where it will kill them all.

Spinning reels twist line. It’s just the way they work, peeling line off the reel when casting, the winding it back on. It’s not any different that dealing with an extension cord or a garden hose. Some line twist is just the way it is. Before replacing badly twisted line, when in the boat, motor slowly along and let out line with no lure attached. Let out more than a full cast length and troll that for a minute or two. Reel the line back in pinching it between your fingers and the line twist will be removed.

Spending more money on a newer boat that is basically the same as the boat you have doesn’t make any sense to me. If you are needing more room, a faster boat or a boat that can handle bigger water, that makes more sense. Spending money to improve what you have, a better trolling motor, better depth finders or even a bigger 4 stroke motor is something that will make your boating experience better. More time on the water with your current boat will tell you what improvements are really needed. If it’s just that you want something newer and shinier I’d say relax and let that feeling pass, unless you have too much money that’s burning a hole in your pocket.

Thanks for saying that. I’ll be around.

Haven’t seen this issue come up in a while. Years ago, this was a common thread on fishing forums. People called the reels Shimbindo’s due to this exact problem.

If it’s mono, I’d say it’s probably not any good.i had some line that was about 15 years old and it was very brittle. I used it as backing for braided line. I never let line get so low that I run into the backing so there wasn’t any chance it would actually come into play. As backing it was fine so it didn’t go to waste.

I’ve had bass boats, jon boats and small, personal watercraft. I’ve never chosen my gear based on the boat, I choose what gear to use based on the fish I’m after and the lures I plan to use.

Not replacing it. I’m done with long drives to fish. Upkeep on a boat I’m not using is just too expensive and it was taking up space in my garage. I still have a couple of personal pontoons if I need to get a line wet. I’ll be getting rid of most of my fishing tackle. Giving it away to friends and family that I know will get some use out of it.

Needing a snow blower that size is the price you have to pay to live in a place with the quality of the smallmouth you have in your area.

They say the two happiest days in a man’s life are when he buys a boat, and sells a boat. Today should be a happy day for me, but it’s kinda sad instead. I sold my boat today, one I’ve had for 38 years. Pretty much everything I learned about bass fishing in lakes happened in that boat. I’ve trailered to 10 states and one Canadian province. The fiberglass is faded, the gel coat has a few dings, the batteries needed to be replaced and the carburetors are in need of some service. The new owner is going to be dealing with that. He and his family can make some memories with it now. I doubt he’ll ever has as much fun in it as I’ve had. Bye old friend.

When using braided line, there’s no reason to “cross their eyes”. Massive hook sets are needed with nylon lines that stretch. Big bass are just very good at throwing the hook. It happens. Big smallmouth are very, very good at it. What happens after you land a fish? You measure it, take a photo and throw it back right? Do you really need more pictures of fish? Are you going home hungry without that fish? Are you fishing tournaments where prizes are involved? Does it really matter exactly how big a fish is? You had your fun getting bit and fighting the fish, weren’t you going to let it go anyway? A quick release is better for the fish. Less harm from handling and being out of the water longer than he’d like to be. We are used to being disappointed by the one that got away, but is that actually a bad thing? If it’s about bragging rights, let’s be honest. Very very few people (if any) care about how many or how big the fish you catch are. Be happy you are getting bites. If a big ones gets off too soon, shake it off and get your bait back out there and get another one.

I have found that being able to match fishing styles with your boat partner can be important to you both having an enjoyable time. If he is running the trolling motor on high all the time and will only power fish, and you like to slow down to drag a worm, it’s not a good match. Have a talk ahead of time to set realistic expectations.

My wife and I look at these storms in a different way than we did a week ago. It’s like after you been in a car wreck and you are anxious about getting in a car again. My wife has been obsessing about the potential storm happening today. It’s hard not to be a bit nervous.

Actually repair costs are minimal. My wife and I were able to clear the downed trees ourselves and we reassembled the fence. Altogether it will only have cost a couple hundred dollars. No need to get insurance involved. My next door neighbor has some damage to his roof and fence. His costs will be in the thousands. We were extremely fortunate. The tornado missed most of our small town. No one was injured and only two or three houses took a direct hit. The strongest part of the storm went through open corn fields.

Here’s a shot of the tornado as it went through my town. I live directly behind that grocery store. Apparently it was a EF3

Big storms have been coming through Illinois and Indiana the last few days. Last night, a tornado passed through the northern edge of my town of Kouts,IN. It came within about 300 yards of my home. Fortunately, my house was spared of any damage, but I lost 2 trees. One was a weeping tree that luckily fell away from the house and the other was an apple tree. The fence surrounding my back yard was about 50% damaged. The vinyl fence pieces were scattered but we found most of them. It shouldn’t take me too long to reassemble them. Locating missing and damaged parts will be the biggest challenge. My wife and I are both fine and we survived without injury except for being without power for 13 hours. We are very lucky that the trees and fence were the only casualties.

The BP refinery in Whiting IN, is operating with replacement workers while a lock out is in effect and has been since March.

Everyone knows why prices have gone up……

We filled up at Sam’s Club this morning for $3.92 and was surprised at the lines. When we drove past other stations I saw why Sam’s was so busy, every other station was at $5!

Living in Illinois, until I started fishing rivers, there just weren’t a lot of places to fish close to home. Most of the fishing I did in the last 40 years involved quite a lot of travel. I’m 71 now and driving 6-7 hours each way to fish has very little appeal anymore. With back issues that limit how many hours I can sit in a boat or even wade, I can easily say that my prime fishing days are behind me. If I lived on a lake and could go out for an hour or two or three at a time, I’d still be fishing, but for me, packing up and driving for hours just to fish for a short time just isn’t worth it.