Banor

Hey Maltese, The popular opinion seems to be doing the Erie drag and just doing drifts over key spots. What's your view on this? I am going to try and take the conventional structure fishing approach and try to pin point structure to just hold on and verticle fish it. Alot of guys say the dragging closely resembles the Gobie's natural movement down there. How do you feel about that? B

I was just south of that apartment complex/tower building. There's a rocky point with a little channel between the two rocky points. I was out from there quite a ways into 12 FOW. You know where the "fingers" are? I was just north of those but out a ways. Ya, I am loving this lake man. It will make me go broke with all the gas money in the truck and boat. B

From all I've read it's not sounding like you can go wrong if you fish the mile roads and clean water. B

I was supposed to use GPS?? 8-) Huh.. I never made the connection! ;D If you listen to everyone else about Clair, the fish move hourly anyway. So far I dont buy into that. I spent 6 hours dragging the same set of rock piles and caught a fish on every drift. My opinion may change as I fish this awesome lake more. B

As PB's go this one isnt huge but that will change as I fish St Clair more. For now it's a nice fish! Caught him off the mile roads in clean water about 12 FOW doing the Erie Drag. B

More Lure-Craft plastic, flake and dye. B

One thing I hate about this board is that you cant read a thread late or you are just adding a "ditto" to the post. There are just too many knowledgeable people on this board with good opinions! Is that a bad thing? Almost forgot.... ditto! B

I just read a couple of good comments about Powell on another board. I dont own any but I am thinking about trying one out. I can tell you from personal experience that Airrus rods are top notch and I would recommend them. Ken is a great guy (albeit busy) but a genuinely nice guy and will talk any time. The only down side to Airrus is they are so good and popular that he has a hard time keeping them in the warehouse. Of course that's only a downside if you need a rod in a hurry, but a good sign that he makes a quality product and has repeat customers. I also picked up 4 B&R Outlaw rods which are touted as American made. These are nice rods and man his 7 foot medium rod is a dream matched up with a shimano MG50 for senkos. After throwing a senko on this combo I will never tie anything else on it. The B&R rods are a flat rate 99.00 until June then they go up to like 120.00. All rods are the same price. Hope this helps, B

I would disagree with all the advice. I would say it is your reel settings. I dont birds nest (backlash) at all with Power Pro and I have been known to cast with all the above mentioned methods purposefully and accidentally The key with any line and reel is to set them up correctly as pointed out several times by Reel Mech. I think it's sticky'd up top too. B

I swore up and down I'd never own a reel that had anything other than a dial. I now own all Shimano's and like KU I set my on 3 in 3 out. When I know it's going to be a windy day I'll set 4 out the night before. B

In practice I will run and gun the first day for sure and sometimes the second day. By the time I get to the lake I already have water elminated and the high percentage areas chosen. I will "run and gun" those areas until I narrow down a pattern. Once I have a pattern I will slow down and disect. By tournament day I may have a "milk run" set up but that is not a "run and gun". I am primarily a soft plastics guy so I wont employ run and gun during tournaments but I will milk run and slowly fish my areas. You cant effectively fish soft plastics running and gunning IMO. To answer your question... how you fish is how you fish. It's not anyone's perrogative to tell you different. If you fish slow and are productive then by all means do it! I will say that unless the fish are VERY active you are not going to be as productive running and gunning.... but again, that is just one man's personal opinion. Your mileage may vary. B

I'll probably just do Selfridge since I am familiar with it. Well my game plan (and it is still two days away) is to be there at the crack of dawn. There's always the chance that I could get mad at the alarm clock and permanently hit the snooze button. B

Sweet, I dont have to use up one of my few disagreements with RW on this one B

I pour my own and my go to color is the baby bass color tipped with spike it. I'm with Triton21 - anything watermelon/greenish tipped with Chartruese Spike It. Matches up with a bluegill's tail color. I absolutely crush them with this combination. Mostly wacky rigged but this year I'm going to try texas rigging weightless skin hooked for the weedless presentation. Wacky rig just doesnt come through weeds very well and I really like to drop a senko into pockets. Skipping them under overhangs is definately great advice. Skipping a 4 inch under docks is very productive as well. B

Just got mine in the mail yesterday. Male bluegill. I spent a good half hour just holding it and feeling the texture and carressing it. Am I disturbed? Do I need counselling? I dont have time for more meetings. B

For practice I'll just launch close to the areas I want to investigate. I'll put in down in Trenton if I'm actually going to practice Erie areas. I'm just more curious about the long runs for tournament day. I also want to make the run atleast once or twice prior to the tournament so I know my limitations. I dont like to leave anything to chance. Ya, if you see me stop by. I'll be out both friday and saturday. I never mind a friendly angler stopping at my boat for a chat. I'm not one of those possessive water types. Squid, Joshimoto was telling me about the "Golden Mile" or "Miracle Mile" or something like that. They might be talking about that. Supposedly there's a spot where the tuna boats and barges go through that is sea wall on both sides and no matter what the conditions the waves dont go any certain direction, they criss cross and get really rough. You apparantly want to go slow and keep your bow up in the air or you'll be in trouble. That sound familiar? B

I owned last year's Energy PT's. I now own all Shimano's. I have to disagree with you. They are in a different class. I will keep my Shimano's. Just one man's humble opinion though... I've said it before... one man's junk is another man's treasure. Only one person has to decide. B

There is no such thing. The higher the quality you buy the easier your experience will be and less likely you will get frustrated - provided you follow the instructions on how to set up your baitcaster. I think those are sticky'd up above somewhere. I'm not saying toss 300 bucks out, but I am saying you want a medium pricing point minimum - if you can afford it. RW gives you excellent advice. Check the flea market for good Curado's. You cant go wrong with a curado for a starter reel. If you cant afford that price point I would recommend the green Extreme baitcasters from BPS (50 to 60 bucks I believe). I have had a couple in the past and they served me very well. Well enough that I keep them as my backup reels now that I have all shimano's. If I break a reel, I'm comfortable enough with them that they will step up and do the job for me. B B

I am pretty unorthodox so I will have to disagree with everyone. With the products out there these days there are plenty of baitcasting combos that can handle weightless plastics and light line just as well as spinning. Now I have to say that I do not own a spinning combo, I've had more frustration with them than I care to admit. I use 100% baitcasters. I've fished along side plenty of guys who use spinning though. I can tell you that I fish weightless senkos and flukes A LOT and I use a lighter combo with a 50MG reel and have zero problems (even in wind) with them. My weightless rod is spooled with 6 lb Yozuri Hybrid and casts like a dream. I can chuck those senkos a long way, even in the wind. If it gets too windy to throw weightless it wont matter what you are throwing them with, there are alot more productive presentations than a weightless plastic IMHO on very windy days. I think the days are gone of equating finesse with spinning gear. This will have to be one of the very few times I disagree with RW I will have to agree that for the beginning baitcast user, weightless presentations are not the way to go. I'd stick with your spinning if that's what you are experienced with. I think you would be wise to purchase a quality baitcaster and use it for heavier presentations to gain experience. I think you'll be surprised once you become an avid baitcast user how much you dont miss your spinning gear. After you get over the professional overruns ;D B

I'll be in a burgandy/silver Triton TR21 w/ 225hp Opti on it. I think I'll launch at Selfridge unless you have a better idea of a decent launch that will put me closer to the River so I can check Erie out too. Just out of curiosity how far is Pelee Islands from the Selfridge Launch? Where would you suggest filling up if my gas tank werent big enough to sustain the trip? Are there any no wake zones on the river between Clair and Erie? That's probably a really stupid question but I have no idea what the protocol is on the River (I've never been there). Any tips/hints for safety and quick passage? B

Kids these days just do not appreciate the outdoors enough. I do not want to let him grow up like that! He's going to be my NBAA partner this year Earnings will be split 80/20 in my favor of course ;D B

One thing I forgot to mention... the grandpa's and grandma's were bedding in the deeper water. 6 to 8 foot. The problem was it that the water was very choppy so that was hard to find and hold on the bed. I saw one 5 to 6 lb'r cruising a bed and locked on but when I pitched to it a stinking 11 inch largie grabbed my brush hog and I couldnt relocate the bed. I was PO'd! B

I only posted pics of the ones he caught I didnt want to steal the youngster's 10 minutes of fame on the net!! We caught about 20 keepers. We cruised the shoreline, anywhere the sand/pebbles were visible we looked for bedders and cruisers. (which is nearly the entire shoreline on Wamplers). We didnt concentrate on any one area, I just kept the TM on 50% and stopped when we spotted one. I think we circled the lake twice just with the TM. ;D I figurd RW would like the smallie pics! B

Something else to consider is your drag setting. Drag too tight with a stiff rod will break line quite often. I use 8# almost exclusively and do not break off very often. When I do it's because of mental errors such as not retying frequently enough. I use palomar knots exclusively also. B

And... while the old man is still searching for another bed...