Scott F

I fish to get away from the daily pressures of life. I am never more relaxed than when I'm fishing. No stress, no pressure.

Rain gear is no place to try and save money. If you save money and wind up wet, was it worth it? Gore-Tex is the way to go. I also have to have bib type pants. Regular elastic waist pants don't cut it. When you bend over and your jacket rides up, water runs down your back without bibs. I always use uninsulated rain gear. I get the rain clothes big enough to layer clothes underneath if I need warmth.

The length of the warranty does not indicate the quality of a product. Warranties are set up by the marketing department to help sell more stuff. Longer warranties cost the company more money that they either make up by including it in the cost or by increasing sales. I've had the same Ranger boat for 25 years and never needed service on the boat in or out of warranty.

Here's a thought, try it without a leader.

Not a brookie. This is what a brook trout looks like. Could be a young coho salmon or a rainbow. coho salmon

In the "old days", all spinnerbaits had the closed loop. Now, as you noticed, few do. I've tried all the methods of adding tubing to keep the lure from sliding up but I found that they all get torn up when you get a number of fish on them. Pike are really bad for tearing up baits. My solution is that I buy all my spinner baits from a guy who makes them for me. I also like single spin baits with Colorado blades that are nearly as hard to find as baits with closed loops and he makes those as well. They cost the same, and I get exactly what I want.

What do you care more about? Getting a couple more bass, or not losing more baits? Depending on the leaders you use, the action of the baits will change. Suspending baits won't suspend any more. I was having pike bite my senkos off frequently. Besides losing baits, I was concerned that the pike had baits stuck in their mouths. I also wanted to land more of the pike I was losing so I started using VERY light wire leaders. I know my catches of bass dropped some when the leader made the senkos sink a lot faster, but I wrote it off as the cost of the compromise.

Here in the Chicago area, we skipped fall and went straight to winter. It was snowing here today.

Up north when the water is in that temperature range, I do well on fast moving spinnerbaits and lipless crankbaits . Hard jerkbaits also were working well.

I doubt the lack of black crankbaits has anything to do with their ability to catch fish, but I'm sure that the manufacturers think they won't catch many fishermen.

Just got back from a week in Northern Wisconsin. Water temps were in the high 50's and the largemouth were very active on shallow weedy flats on natural lakes. Spinner baits and jerkbaits took fish consistently all week.

I've tried to photograph it before but a picture cannot do justice to the mount. It just can't show the detail you can see when you look at the fish close up in the light. The paint the artist used has a light gold dust that looks exactly like the scales on a real fish.

The way programming works these days is that some one who produces a fishing show has to buy a time slot from a network. He then has to find enough sponsors to foot the bill. There has to be enough money to pay for the air time, production costs and some income for the the owner of the show. The networks have no risk at all. If the show has a bad time slot, it's because the shows owner would not (or could not) pay for a better time slot.

That's too bad. It's a shame you've never seen a replica done by a professional who knows what he's doing. I've got one. if you lived near me I could show it to you. You'd have a different opinion.

If you saw a replica that looked fake or did not look like the fish that was caught, blame the guy who made the mount, not the process. Just because a mount was made with the actual skin of the fish, does not mean it's going to look right. All mounts, skin or replicas have to be painted. If the taxidermist is not a good artist, no mount will look good. Plus if the guy who does your skin mount takes any shortcuts, in a few years, it's going to look bad.

I use regular Fireline and like it a lot on my spinning reels. I have never noticed the color coming off on my equipment but it does come off on my fingers if I hold the line while filling the spool. All braids will lose their color it's just the nature of the material that dyes don't stick to it very well. It doesn't bother me at all.

Here is a link to help you. http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/84971-gallery-tutorials/

I once caught and landed the same northern pike 3 times on 3 consecutive casts. I caught him the first time while standing on shore. When I released him, he stayed just a few feet from where I was standing. I cast out and when I was retrieving the lure, the pike shot out and I saw him hit my bait again. After I released him, I watched him hit my lure a third time. If I hadn't felt sorry for him and left the spot, I might have caught him again.

I often use light line and jerkbaits with 2 sets of treble hooks. Lipping a bass with a mouthful of trebles is not always a good idea. Smaller bass get swung in the boat but I don't want a bigger bass to break my light line and swim away with a bait stuck in his mouth not to mention I'm not crazy about losing $18 crankbaits. I use a Frabill Conservation series 20 x 23 inch knotless. It's a perfect size for bass, and I've landed big walleye and pike with no problems. I wish I'd gotten the rubber net instead. The Frabill Conservation is a very high quality net but the treble hooks do get tangled in the small holes of the net which can be a pain to deal with.

Several years ago I was fishing Rainy Lake out of International Falls, MN. It was September and because neither my friend or myself know much about walleyes, we hired a guide to take us out. Right after we got done, we were standing on the dock and a boat came in with Al Lindner who was filming a TV show. We went up to speak to him and he was very, very nice. Exactly the way he is on television. We spoke with him for a few minutes, had our picture taken with him and left him to finish his business. A little while later, we were walking across the parking lot when a truck pulling a boat came along side us and rolled down the window. It was Al wanting to ask US about walleye fishing that day. It was hilarious to me because I know so little about walleyes and here was Al Lindner asking ME about walleyes. At least after being with a guide all day I was able to talk to him without looking too clueless.

I assume from your mention of creek channels, this pattern is on a reservoir. What kind of water temperatures are you looking at?

Fish the breakline between the fast water and the slow water. Fish will sit on that edge facing the current waiting for food to be swept by.

E87 is 87% ethanol and is not the same as fuel with only 10% ethanol. Using regular gas with 10% ethanol will be fine. I use it about half the year when I can't get the good stuff. As far as I know, no marine engines are designed to use flex fuels (E87) I wouldn't put it in my boat.

Take a ride on Rt. 41 West out of town. You'll see bunches of them along ditch on the side of the road.

I used to use them but I prefer Mepps spinners better.