Scott F

That has not been my experience. In cold water, my pauses often run 30 seconds and they don’t float up. BTW, mine are Lucky Craft Pointers, not Daiwa.

I use almost nothing but Lucky Craft Pointers for my springtime jerkbait fishing when the water temps are between 45-60 degrees. On a 10 day fishing trip, I’ll have one on my line about 90% of the time. Using 10lb braided line, I rarely if ever have a Pointer that floats on me. Occasionally I’ll throw a Rapala Shadow Rap that has a slow rise on the pause which it is designed to do. The reason I primarily use Pointers is because of how well they suspend.

I don’t believe braid spooks bass. All line is visible no matter what the advertisement says. I’m sure fish can see the line but they don’t have enough brain power to reason out that because there is line, that they shouldn’t eat the bait. If they were that smart, you’d think that the hooks hanging from that hunk of plastic, wood or metal might keep them from eating too. I’ve caught literally thousands of large and smallmouth bass in very clear water and I’ve never used a leader.

I could be wrong about what the locals mean, but on the Great Lakes, reading the wind is more about not being on the water when the wind is blowing toward the shore due to high waves and dangerous boating conditions.

Wisconsin River in…..Wisconsin.

The fall and early spring when the water and air are colder are when you are most likely to contact the biggest smallmouth in any creek or river. In creeks that flow into larger rivers without any dams, they may migrate to the larger flows for the winter. Time on the water is about the only way to find out if your creek can support and grow large bass and when and where you might find them.

You’ll probably be just fine but be aware. Some rods rated for 1oz would have no problem with 1.5oz or might be stressed with 3/4oz. It all depends on the rod. Just take it easy at first before you start bombing your casts.

The rivers I fish get as deep as 10-12 feet, but the water where I catch smallies is almost always less than 3-4 feet. Many times less than 1 foot. That’s a big reason why they jump. They can’t go deep, so they go up. Grass is often an issue, but I don’t use in-line spinners in the grass

I’m a river smallmouth guy too. One of my favorite, shallow river, smallmouth baits is a Mepps spinner. I get more bites throwing them than all my other baits combined. Small spinners get even more bites but the fish can get very small. My big problem was that the #4 Mepps while it got bites from big fish frequently, it also gets thrown back at me nearly every time the fish jumps. I thought it might be due to poor hooks. I cut off the factory treble, added a split ring and put on a premium hook. Next fish, jumped and threw the lure. This year, on my annual, week long, river fishing trip, I didn’t even bring a #4 to keep me from being tempted to even throw one which I knew would break my heart the first time a big one jumped and tossed it back to me. I did however bring some smaller spinners for experimenting. As I knew they would, small, 1/4oz Rooster Tails got bites but half were too small to be even called dinks. I did bring a couple of #3 Mepps which got me good numbers of both small and larger fish but the best news was that only a small percentage of jumpers got away. The rest of my gear, medium light, fast, spinning gear with 10lb braid and no leader remained the same as when I was throwing the larger Mepps. My conclusion is that the heavier baits provided more leverage and the larger hooks didn’t penetrate as deeply giving the fish an easier time to shake the bait free. I’m also a Whopper Plopper fan but haven’t had any issues with big smallmouth shaking those free on me.

I've got a 17' Ranger and I've been using one like this for a long time. Only about $65. Springfield Quick Change Tire Jack

Not an animal, but I hit a wheel and tire laying in the road this past spring while towing one of my boats to a guy who was going to sell the boat for me. There was a car ahead of me that dodged the wheel at the last second which gave me almost no time to react. It took out both tires on the driver side of my truck and the fender on the trailer was broken off. Between the tires and the tow, I was out $600.

Honestly, I don’t remember. I’m guessing they were 1/4 oz. I was fishing a river. I’d cast downstream toward eddies below rocks that were breaking the current. I’d hold the spoon in the current and just let it wobble in the breakline. I’m not a big believer in using specific colors especially in rivers where fish generally don’t have time to analyze a bait. It’s either eat or let it go.

I’ve caught a few big brookies in my day. These two were caught on small, Little Cleo spoons.

I’ve got an 88 Ranger. I’m the original owner.

The drive to my fishing spots are 5-7 hours away. No, I don’t think about fishing the entire time.

If you can see the bass that turn away, they can also see you. In small streams, stealth is very important. They not only see you, they can feel your footsteps. Do you fish from shore, wade or float? Stand back and cast toward the rip-rap from as far away as possible.

I’m not a rod builder but if it was a clean break and did not splinter the ends, the best (only?) way to repair it is to add a ferrule and make it a two piece rod. Look on YouTube for how to do the repair. You could pay a rod builder to fix it, but I’d guess the cost would be comparable to what you paid for the rod.

I’m curious as to how you put a transom mount TM on the bow. You’ll have more issues running the TM and depth finders off the same battery than you would running two depth finders on one battery. If you have the option with your units, switch the sonar frequency on one of them so they don’t interfere with each other.

Are the hooks sharp? I use 10lb braid, medium and medium light action spinning gear and have not noticed any problems keeping fish hooked up.

I almost never keep plastic baits in their original bags except for Zman Elaztech baits. I have several plastics that are 30 years old and some that are 50 years old with no sign of deterioration..

Are you wading or floating? If you are fishing during the summer, look for spots on the creeks where the current is moving. Slow or still water can hold some fish but if it’s near fast water, there is a much better chance you will have some action. If you are floating and get to slower, deeper sections, don’t spend a lot of time. When you get to the riffles, that’s where you want to stop and cover water thoroughly. Fish the “push” water right above the riffle, the shallow, fast water and any deeper water close to the fast current. Jigs and cranks will get hung up a lot in these areas so if you fish those, you’ll waste a lot of time trying to get them back or retying. Walking through the spot to get your bait back will spook anything hanging out there. Unweighted senko type baits fished T rigged won’t hang up much. In-line spinners retrieved quickly will cover a lot of water and will catch anything that swims there. The shape of the plastic bait is almost irrelevant. Getting it in the right spot is what matters.

I’ve seen videos of bass striking prey with their mouths closed to stun it, then they turn it around eat it.

I've been carrying this jack for many years. Very easy to use.

I don't often fish tournament waters but I've run into my share tournament anglers (bass & musky) who've intruded on my space basically telling me to get out of their way as they were in a tournament. I remember leaving one spot where the musky guy got very close so I made the biggest wake possible with my motor trimmed up as I left. One of the many reasons I'm not a fan of fishing tournaments.

That’s why it’s not wise to make assumptions……