Scott F

I set the hook hard, but, it doesn't take a huge swing of the rod. It's just a firm, short, hook set. Because I don't have to move the rod tip very far I am seldom out of position where I can't get a good hook set. I can't explain more than it's just something I got a feel for from having used braid for so long. Obviously, those huge swinging hook sets would rip baits from the fish. I've never had that problem even though I don't use a leader for shock. Best advice I can give is to go out and catch a bunch of fish to develop your own feel for what works for you.

Lake Michigan.

For the most part, you won't find many fish holding in fast current. They will almost always be holding in slack water areas. Sometimes, those slack areas are on the bottom behind a rock or log where the fast water is moving over their heads. Usually, when the water is moving very fast from recent rains, they will be holding very tight to shoreline cover that blocks the fast currents like the base of a tree, a fallen log or a rock. These pockets might be very small and very shallow. You almost can't cast to them. If you are casting to them, it takes very accurate casts to land in the small spot and not on the bank or in tree branches. Even when you hit the spot perfectly, the fast current catches your line and pulls the bait out. You just about have to get right next to them and drop a jig down and dabble it right in front of their face. If your creek allows it, walk the bank quietly and drop your bait into these calm areas right next to shore. It can be very easy pickings.

I use braid 100% of the time on baitcasters and on spinning rods. Never use a leader either.

Take two pair of polarized glasses. Turn one 90 degrees from the other and look through both pair. No light should get through. I've done this with $10 glasses and $200 models. The cheap ones blocked the same amount of light as the big dollar models. If there was a difference in the quality of the polarization, I'd think it would be visible. You can use the same test to see if any pair of sunglasses is polarized. Just make sure one of the pairs is known to be polarized. If the light isn't blocked, the second pair are not polarized.

Up on a Wisconsin river, I've had sturgeon that were 6 feet long jump all the way out of the water just a few feet from me. Scared the crap out of me

We used suspending jerkbaits, Pointers and X-Raps. I was in the area for 2 weeks. The first week the water temps were in the low 40's and rose to very near 50 by the start of the second week. We got nothing until the surface water got to 50 degrees. Then they turned on like someone threw a switch. Water temps continued to rise to the middle 50's when the cold front came in. The bass had been schooled up on the points and were just starting to spread out along the shoreline preparing to spawn when the cold front hit. The only place we could catch them was on points. The jerkbaits did very well, so well we did not even try anything else.

I had nearly the same conditions a few weeks ago. Pre-spawn with post frontal conditions. The front had pushed the bass away from the spawning area, but there were still fish hungry and staging. We fished a rocky point that was hammered by the winds that was at the entrance to the cove.

If the river is normally pretty clear and now it's muddy, it will be tough. Smallies are most often sight feeders and when they have to adjust to suddenly dirty water they are hard to catch. All that rain will also make the river very fast and potentially dangerous. They may not be in the spots they used to be in. They will be tucked up in whatever slack water areas they can find that will probably be tight to the shore. If you are a boater, switch to a lake.

I know a lot of guys who are die hard smallmouth fly fishermen. I'm not one of them. I had a fly rod in my hand when I was 10, a few years before I ever saw a spinning rod. I used to have one in my boat all the time, but for me they are just a pain. There are too many situations where fly rods are just not the right tool for the job. I catch more and bigger smallies on my spin and casting gear.

I'm from the middle.

I used to fish in Manitoba a lot where barbless hooks are the law. Crankbaits, spinnerbaits, jigs, I still have and use a lot of lures with the barbs pinched down. Today, I still pinch down the barbs on my wide gap Senko hooks. I don't think Iost anymore fish than I did with barbs. In Canada, even if you lost a fish it was no big deal because you'd have another on the line in a few minutes. One advantage with the barbs pinched is that you get better hook sets because they penetrate so much more easily. With senkos, bass can inhale them and removing even deeply hooked bass is no problem with little to no damage to the fish.

I fish Northern Wisconsin too. I just got back from a 2 week stay. The 4 inch is my first choice. I fish them on 8 pound Fireline, weightless, & T-rigged. You get much longer casts on lighter line. Too me, weighting them ruins the best feature of Senkos, the slow fall. When you hide the point of the hook, you can drag them across the lily pads without them hanging up. Right now, the largemouth are hanging around all that fallen timber waiting for you to toss them one of those Senkos. The smallies are also hanging around docks and in the shallows working on their beds. Perfect Senko time. Too bad smallmouth are murder on real Senkos. One pack should last you a couple of hours but you'll have 20 or 30 fish to show for it.

Senkos, topwaters, wakebaits, spinnerbaits, in-line spinners, swim jigs, buzzbaits.

I keep hearing this but have never heard an explanation how moving the bail by hand has any effect on line twist. As far as I can tell it doesn't. If you close the bail by hand and make sure there are no loose loops of line in front of the spool, you can prevent wind knots. If you have an explanation how closing the bail by hand gets rid of line twist, PLEASE post it here.

I was just South of Hurley for the last 2 weeks and I never saw 18 inches of snow. Or heard of any accumulation. On the 12th of May, there was about 1/4 to 1/2 inch that was on my boat in the morning but was gone by 9 am. Water temps got near 50 a week later and the smallies started showing up in large schools. Several times we'd find them on a point or some non-descript area and get them on every cast. We got around 70 out of one school alone. Almost none of them would have been considered dinks either. They were almost all 14 to 18 inches. If you weren't on a school, you didn't get any. The water warmed to the middle 50's and stopped going up. The smallies continued to hit, but the largemouth bite never got going. We caught 3 times more muskies fishing for bass than we caught rock bass! Normally, you can't keep the rockies off your hook. This year, only 1 in two weeks. Nearly all the smallies we caught, and most of the largemouth came on suspending jerkbaits like Lucky Craft Pointers and X-Raps

I'm lucky enough to live near the Plano factory in Plano IL., and they have an outlet store that sells them for $1.50 to $3.00 each. The stock of heavily discounted boxes changes frequently so you don't always find exactly the model you are looking for, but if you go often enough, you can.

Introducing non-native species into new environments is never a good idea. You never know how it's going to upset the balance with the other species that are present. Even when it's a species that you like, they might eat the forage that the other native fish need to survive or they may dominate the areas where other fish spawn. They may introduce new diseases that the local fish have no way of fighting and could wipe out an entire population. It's best not to fool with mother nature.

I use 20 pound braid on my baitcasters and have never had any digging in issues. When I'm in pike water and want to use Pointers, I use steel leaders made from 20 pound test tie-able wire. I tie a small loop in one end and tie a small oval split ring on the other. These are the lightest leaders I can find. I fish my jerkbaits on a spinning reel with 8 pound fireline for smallies. It does cause my jerkbaits to sink, slowly, but it'a a trade off I'm willing to make. I won't use 50 pound flouro leaders or 50 pound braid to fish jerkbaits, it just does not cast as far as light line does with those baits.

I love listening to music but when fishing, the only music I want to hear is my drag singing.

I use them when fishing for pike in the weeds. I find pork rind trailers kill the action. I use a 3 or 4 inch twister tail instead.

I'm still looking for some reference material that discuss' drag and fishing line. Where do I find this information that you have found?

Line does not twist on it's own. Unless the bait is spinning, it's probably not the bait. You may have put some twist in the line while spooling it. Assuming you are fishing from a boat, let a full cast or more out behind the boat with no lure while slowing trollling along. Hold the line between two fingers while reeling it back in. The line twist will be gone. Spinning reels just twist line, mono and fluoro don't like being twisted and give you problems.

I've been searching the web for more information on the drag coefficient of braided and fluoro lines and can't find anything except in terms of line diameter. Can you point me to the source of your info on the drag of fishing lines?

If she married you, she's got to be smart enough and coordinated enough to use a spinning reel. Don't waste money on a spincast. If my wife can use a spinning reel and a baitcaster, yours will have no trouble with spinning. If you're going to buy fishing gear, get a halfway decent spinning combo.