Scott F

I spend 2 weeks in Wisconsin fishing prespawn smallies every year. There is a particular Lucky Craft bait that for the last several years has out fished everything else. It is VERY difficult to find this bait. I can't find them in any tackle stores, I can only find them online and then only a couple of online stores stock them. I am also concerned that because of it's scarcity, the bait might get discontinued. The lake I fish also has pike and muskies. There is a good chance, to lose a lure or two to these toothy fish. In order to be sure that I am never without it, I now have 10 of them. It took me 2 years to locate them as the few places that carry them usually only have a couple in stock. I hope that 10 will be enough to last me a while.

While not a very popular bait, a friend of mine LOVES banjo minnows for pike. We used to try to see if the craziest lure you had in your box would catch a pike and they all did. Homer Simpson crankbaits, beer can crankbaits, even Dancing Eel lures caught pike.

If peacocks tear up tackle, the titanium baits are going to be a disapointment. Titanium wire won't get bent, but it is brittle and will break. We spent a lot of cash one year on titanium spinner baits to fish for pike. I don't think one of them came back from the trip intact. The pike just tore them up.

Pike will hit anything that moves. A guy that was on a fishing trip with me was brushing his teeth standing on the dock of our remote cabin on a fly-in lake. He was rinsing his toothbrush in the water and a pike came up and bit him on the hand!

You can fish them any way you like. I fish them with the weight on the outside with a hook like these. They snag a lot less.

I know a LOT of guys who catch a lot of fish who don't own a power boat and seldom bank fish. We are lucky enough to live near several rivers that are shallow enough to wade and contain smallmouth. They also use canoes and kayaks which can be bought without a lot of money. Any rivers near where you live?

I was catching fish one right after the other one time on Senkos. We were running low and tried the Gulp sinking minnow. We could see fish swim up to the bait, get close, them swim away. We switched back to the Senkos, and they attacked them again. I've been skeptical of Gulp ever since although I see many reports of guys doing well with it.

When I get a particularly hard strike, it signals to me that there are other fish in the area and this one was trying to get to my bait first. I always throw back to the same spot after I land the first fish and usually get more bites.

I like the Glacier Glove Outback Hat from Bass Pro. It's a lot like the Tilley hat but a lot cheaper.

I disagree with your opinion. Braid is not so buoyant that it has any effect on how deep lure will dive. I use suspending jerkbaits a lot on braid and if the line was so buoyant, it would not allow the baits to suspend which is not the case. On the contrary, the thinner line has considerably less resistance and allows lure to run MUCH deeper than mono or fluoro of comparable line strength. The larger the diameter a line is, the more resistance it has in the water shallower a lure will run. Also tests done several years ago show that the stretch of mono makes strike detection difficult especially on lines of less than 20 pound test. I'm like one of the other posters and find that there is no situation where I prefer mono or fluoro to braid.

Not to be too picky, but small largemouth are not called smallies. I assume you mean small largemouth because there are no smallies (smallmouth bass) in Florida.

If you are happy fishing with spinning reels and they get the job done for you, stay with them. I fish with spinning gear the majority of the time because I'm most often fishing open water with with light lures for smallies. When I need bigger, heavier lures, I switch to baitcasters. The only reason you'd need to change is if the spinning gear can't get the job done. Fishing should be fun so don't force yourself to use stuff you don't enjoy.

Your family doesn't have any photos of you where you aren't holding a fish.

I've got one that looks exactly like yours, mine is a 5000. No tricked out parts on mine, all stock.

Topwaters, buzzbaits, plastics, spinnerbaits, almost anything. In the summer time, no matter what you throw, as long as you are fishing near moving water, you'll catch fish.

X2. I don't know how deep your lures are getting with the mono, but the braid will get them quite a bit deeper.

Seeing that you are just fishing from a canoe, I think the Elite 4x would be a very good choice. It has a very good 2D sonar and thermometer. If you were able to cover a lot of water the GPS would be helpful, but with the canoe I think GPS would not be very useful. You can get by with one battery but a small rechargeable battery that only weighs a couple of pounds and will last for days on a charge would be a good option.

The first generation of superlines could be damaging to equipment but all of the recent lines are very slick and won't hurt your equipment at all. Except for my Musky rods, I don't use anything stronger than 20 pound test. I don't fish the really heavy cover very often so I don't have the need for 50 pound test. The lighter lines also improve casting distance.

I was fishing in Canada one time when a small water spout, like a dust devil on water, not big like a tornado, passed directly through the boat I was in. Just soaked me and my fishing partner.

For stocked trout, you can't beat Berkley Trout Bait. Stocked trout are raised on trout chow and aren't used to natural baits. A little chunk of trout bait on a hook under a bobber works as well as anything.

The Dragonfly costs 3 times what the Humminbird 561DI costs and 4 times what the 561 costs.

Considering he was trying to steal a prize worth $10,000 and the maximum penalty is 5 years in jail and a $10,000 fine, I think he got off pretty easy.

You're not bidding high enough!

I use 1 click bidding. Enter the maximum amount you'll pay 60 minutes before bidding ends and it automatically enters your bids in 1 dollar increments as needed until you win or your maximum bid is reached.

I sometimes do it over 20 feet of water for suspending fish. Or when I see fish busting shad on the surface anywhere on a lake. I fish them anywhere I think bass are. I also use them all summer long.