Scott F

One of the finest wildlife artists is Al Agnew. He’s done many of the covers of Bass Pro catalogs. I own several smallmouth prints of his. Here’s a couple of his bass paintings. He has dozens of different fish and animal prints for sale.

Did you watch the videos within the link you provided?

My dad was a pilot in a B-24 bomber. I heard from my mother that he lost a lot of good friends during the war and wouldn’t talk about his experiences. He was a quiet guy and never had a lot to say. He was a hunter, fisherman and golfer. He tried teaching me basketball but his knowledge from playing back in the 30’s wasn’t helpful to me, but he did make a pretty fair golfer out of me. He was the one responsible for me becoming a smallmouth addict. Dad passed away 42 years ago at the age of 57.

What does the first full moon have to do with it? That could be on September 1 or the 29th or any day in between.

Mid-October through the middle to end of November is when most of the big fish are caught in Northern Illinois. September is still mostly summer patterns. The water temperatures must be dipping down to the low to mid 50’s for the big fish to come out and feed.

First thing you must do, is close the fishes mouth. You are correct though, the numbers don’t appear to line up. I’d get another tape measure to verify which numbers on the board (if either) are right.

Has your doctor tested your magnesium levels? I’ve been getting fewer and much less severe cramps since I started taking over the counter magnesium supplements as recommended by my doctor.

Worried about 19” being the biggest? That’s a fantastic fish! I’m in a smallmouth club where guys dream of finding fish that size! You’ve got a treasure of a river that produces fish that size especially for a small river. I’d like to fish a place where those 19 inchers don’t qualify as a goodun’!

As a general rule, the biggest bass in a small size river will be found near the deepest water. It might only be 3’ deep if the rest of the river is only a foot. In small rivers a 19” fish is probably close to as big as they get, especially in northern states where the growing season is short.

Set the meter for DC voltage. Attach one lead to your battery negative. Attach the other lead to the red wire. If you read 0 volts, the red wire is either negative, or not connected to a power source. If 0 volts, Take a resistance reading between the battery negative and the red wire. O ohms means for sure it’s a negative lead. If you read battery voltage, then it’s a positive wire.

Hi! I’m in Northwest Indiana too! Welcome!

I hooked a fish on a Senko that I thought was a pike because it bit me off. I retied, this time with a wire leader and threw back to the spot where I’d lost the fish. I got another bite, this time it was a largemouth and to my surprise, it had my senko from the bite off still in his jaw.

In a lake, crank baits cover water very well. In a river, in-line spinners, spinner baits, Ned rigs and swim baits all can cover water very well. You can run them shallow or deep, with or against the current. If you want to control the depth, you vary the speed of the retrieve.

I know that there are guys who love cranks in rivers, but I’m not one of them. Too many places where crank baits just don’t work. The rivers I fish usually have too much shallow water or are too rocky for the bait to come through without getting snagged. Current also makes the baits not run and vibrate the way they should. There are too many other baits that work better in variable conditions.

I’ve targeted almost every species of freshwater water there is. Arctic char, grayling, lake trout, pike, walleye, LM and SM bass, stripers, catfish and multiple kinds of panfish. I can use a fly rod a baitcaster or spinning gear in lakes, rivers or streams. I don’t consider myself an expert at any of those, but tell me where we’re going and what swims there and I’ll go in my closet and pull out baits that I know I can throw and catch fish.

There are other fisheries that could also be considered but due to limited access and size are difficult to fish like Rainy Lake and Lake Huron in Canada

“Boneless” chicken wings are almost never actually wing meat. I used to get wings frequently until the prices jumped up 500%

If the battery is not in top shape and the voltage starts to drop, the amp draw will rise. Because at 52 amps you are already near the circuit breaker limit , it wouldn’t take much of a voltage drop to trip the breaker.

I once caught the same, small northern pike 3 times on consecutive casts! I caught him in a small pool between rapids on a small river connecting two lakes. I was walking the bank when I got him the first time. I released him at my feet and he just stayed there. As I reeled in my next cast, he raced out and grabbed the lure a second time. After he did it the third time, I felt sorry for him and walked away from the spot. He must have been starving.

Lake Erie is great but you need a boat capable of handling rough water. It’s too bad you can’t make it up to the Northwoods where smallmouth are plentiful and not heavily pressured like the impoundments around the Tennessee valley.

Here’s a tackle store worth checking out. Bonita Springs near Naples.

Did a float on a Wisconsin river last week. I’d never really had any success with swim baits in the past, but it was my most successful lure. The bass were hanging out on mid-river drop offs with moving water. There was virtually no top water bite and nothing biting shallow near the banks. Here’s a few of my better fish.

Live leeches on a hook with some split shot is another excellent choice for live bait

Don’t tell warm water fly fishermen that stonefly imitations won’t work. I’ve done very well on plastic hellgrammites on light jig heads.

My response is usually to leave the area, but not without first raising my motor a bit and taking off past them creating the biggest wake and most disturbing noise I can.