Scott F

The men of the square table have the job to deem what is manly, and what is not manly in common male situations. We here, need to decide what is manly and what is not manly in common bass fishing situations. (I know some of you have trouble with being told what to do, but this is a joke, don't get worked up.) #1 Man who takes another man fishing to a spot where neither man catches fish, shall provide his guest enough beer to forget that any such fishing trip ever occurred. #2 A bass that has been hooked, reeled in, lipped, and released is considered a CATCH. Follows, jump offs, long distance releases, and touches do not count and NOBODY CARES. #3 No man shall photograph any bass estimated to be under 14" (and subsequently post it on all your favorite fishing forums). Just tell us about it- we believe you. #4 At no time is it ever permissable to use the term "rubber worm". #5 When a non-fisherman asks if you're catching anything, you shall always reply, "Nah, this lake sucks. Nuthin' in here 'cept carp." #6 When the boat plug is forgotten, a digital picture of the infraction with the boat owner shall be posted on the internet to thwart off repeating offenders. #7 No fish shall be reported as a 5 pounder unless the scale is pulled down to at least 3 pounds. #8 One shall never ask another fisherman where he caught his fish. If asked where one caught said bass, it is always acceptable to reply "In the mouth" That's enough from me, who's got more?

Those were largemouth? For smallmouth to spawn on grass flats, the grass would have to have decent space between the plants and have a gravelly/sandy bottom. The grass flats I was picturing in my head were densely packed on a soft bottom. I can't see smallies spawning on that type of area.

Where I fish for pre-spawn smallies, they spawn in water 2 to 4 feet deep. In the days before they start making nests, I find them suspended over deeper water just outside where the first drop off near the nesting area is. Your fish may be in the transition area but just not biting what you are throwing. I found them to be particular about what they'll hit. It may not be the case in your lake, but the pre-spawners in my lake do not want large baits. Small jerkbaits fished with long pauses absolutely kills them. The same jerkbait in a larger size was just ignored. It took us a while to zero in on the pattern, finding the right bait, but it has been very consistent over the last several years. There is probably a pattern that is right for your conditions, but if you haven't been using them, try some X-Raps or LC Pointers in different sizes and colors. If the water consistently rises and falls 5 to 7 feet in your lake, I'd probably not look for them in water any shallower. If they built a nest in 4 feet of water and the level dropped 5 feet, the spawn would be wiped out. If the fish are there, keep at it, you'll figure them out.

I've got a Lucky Craft Pointer that I've caught hundreds of fish on. I've had to replace the hooks because they break off after removing them from the lips of so many bass. It only took a few days of pre-spawn fishing to get them all.

They won't spawn in the grass. There should be an area where the rock switches over the the type of bottom where the grass grows. Also, I'd check the deep edge where the grass ends. How clear is the water? They could be spawning in water as much as 10 feet deep or deeper.

That's correct.

I use beetle spin spinners attached to jigs of different sizes all the time. I even made my own the are much larger that I use for pike and muskies.

In September, lake smallmouth will be tough to catch from shore, but they are easily caught from shore along rivers. Get a map and locate Aurora, Illinois, about 40 miles straight West of Chicago . The Fox River runs through Aurora. Go from Aurora to St. Charles along each side of the river there are a lot of shoreline access points. Near Kankakee IL, 60 miles South of Chicago, there is the Kankakee River State Park. Also a lot of shoreline access and a good place to find smallies. As in any river, look for eddies along the shore and you'll find smallmouth.

I'm pretty sure the company went out of business.

Why slow down? If you don't like fishing slow, and have a hard time doing it, don't. Fishing is supposed to be fun. Why do something you don't enjoy doing? I've got a friend who just can't slow down. When I'm in his boat, I don't even bring Senkos because I know he'll never go slow enough for me to catch a fish on one. He usually manages to put fish in the boat on every trip power fishing. That's the way he likes to fish, so that's what he does. There are going to be some days when going slow might be the better option, but there are nearly always some fish who'll chase baits.

You'll probably catch them by accident fishing for smallies in the river. Many of the same baits will catch both fish and they will occupy similar places in the river. Minnow imitating baits like Rapalas or a ball jig and twister tails are good choices that will work on everything. I've caught walleyes while smallmouth fishing on Senkos, inline spinners, and even topwater baits. I caught this one on a hula grub under a dock This one came on a #4 Mepps

I think you may be referring to the D-Barb tool that cut the hook while it was in a fishes mouth and had a magnet to catch the piece you cut off. They don't make them anymore.

If that's the case, instead of moving the fish away from you toward the camera, all you have to do is zoom in or move the camera closer to the fish. You can fill the frame with the fish without distorting the size relative to the size of everything else in the picture.

It has nothing to do with being a professional photographer. Holding the fish in a natural position next to your body is one thing. Pushing the fish at arms length toward the camera is not normal and for the most part is done intentionally to make the fish look bigger than what it really was. I was looking for a guide on a web site who had hundreds of fish pictures. EVERY one was held with the fish as close to the camera as it could be. To me, it's all I see when I look at pictures like that. Ruins what could have been a nice shot.

Larry Dahlberg and David Swanson called themselves Total Fishheads and released a CD called "My Bait Died" Here's a short sample. http://www.huntforbigfish.com/mp3/deadbaitblues.mp3

Most everybody takes pictures of their catches but one thing that bothers me is why so many feel the need to push the fish toward the camera in order to make it appear bigger than it really is. If you catch a nice one, distorting the picture that way to me, is just like having the fish "grow" when you tell someone how big it was. Is it really necessary to make that fish look 3 feet long, when it's already a very nice fish?

They may be a regional bait, but by far the best blade bait I've used is the Zip lure. The guy who originally made them, now has basically the same bait called the Big Dude. Either one, is killer. They have great action. I have some old Silver Buddies, Cicadas, Heddon Sonars and a Bass Pro blade baits, but none of them catch as many fish as the Big Dudes/Zip Lure. The white bass and hybrid stripers really like them.

Man is that an old joke. It was old when Cheech and Chong did it 40 years ago.

How many guys take fishing vacations without the wife and kids? Or if you do take family members, you still spend an entire week fishing all day, every day. I've been lucky enough to take 2 to 4 weeks of fishing trips every year for the last 30 years. For me, nothing is more fun than spending a week in a lakeside cabin with a group of die hard fishermen doing nothing but fishing, eating and sleeping. Right now, I'm counting down the days till my first trip of the year to Northern Wisconsin for two weeks of pre-spawn smallie and largemouth fishing. My wife used to take half the trips with me, but she no longer goes. It's getting difficult to find other guys who have the time and money to take a week or longer fishing trip anymore. I can no longer afford the fly-in Canadian trips I used to take. In the last 10 years, the price of a fly-in trip has doubled and my income has stayed flat. What kind of trips are you going on this year?

The ink in the sharpie will not stick to the line, but it will come off and stick on your reel, your hands and you.

What is the issue? Most of the fishing community on these forums don't live in Wisconsin so they don't have to follow Wisconsin's regs. In most other states, bass season doesn't close so they can fish year round. Is there someone who has posted here who said they were fishing Wisconsin waters for bass during the closed season? If they did I missed it. Please provide a link to one of those posts.

If you read the WI regulations, there are areas that do not have closed seasons. The Mississippi River, sections of the Wisconsin river, Lake Michigan and it's tributaries are open year round. There are hundreds of special regulations. Read the regulations.

The crank bait looks like a Yo-Zuri Snap Bean and the tail spinner lure is a Wahoo Wing Ding

You might be a Redneck if: -Your fishpond used to be your hot tub. -You’re raising one species of fish as food for another. - When you talk about great mullet fishermen, Granny's name always comes up. - You've ever eaten out of a minnow bucket. - Your wife would rather fish off a bridge than shop for clothes. - You've been to the emergency room more than three times to have a fishhook removed. - Your house catches on fire and you run back in to save the fish mounted on the wall. - Your favorite cologne is Deep Woods Off. - You think "megabytes" means a good day of fishing. - You go fishing with a generator and copper wire. - You fly fish with real flies. - You enjoy playing with bait more than you like to fish. - You can buy live bait and cold beer at your barbershop.

I bought one of the best I could find at the time, a Daiwa Goldcast, for my wife when she started fishing. It was pretty worthless from the start as the drag was totally unreliable. I'd set it, then when she had a fish on, she'd be winding and winding and the drag would just slip. She could not reel in a fish more than 2 pounds because the drag just did not work. I switched her over to spinning gear and she had no trouble. They still sell the same reel today, but I don't know if the drag works any better. I sure would not want one for serious bass fishing.