mj

alright thanks. we'll see how it goes

I'm leaving today for a trip to northern minnesota where I'll do a lot of fishing for smallmouths. I figured they'd be deep this time of year moslty and i was planning on fishing mostly mid lake humps anywhere from 8-30 ft deep. the problem is I dont know how to go about locating the fish. what kind of baits and techniques should be used to locate the active fish down deep? I was thinking of trolling deep diving crankbaits or dragging tubes or jigs but i wasnt sure. thanks!

wow nice find!

If you have a cabelas nearby go there. they have their IM7 tourney trail rods on sale 2 for 1. they're normally 60-70 each and great rods to begin with for the price range. they arent top of the line or anything, but they good solid rods and have good feel as well, which kinda matches the ambassedeurs (solid, long lasting). I have 3 of these. A 7'H, 7'MH and a 7'6" ML spinning rod and I can feel all the subtle ticks and bites that I can when fishing with rods 2-3x the price. And they come in all shapes and sizes so you should be able to find what you're looking for.

that definately happens a lot. on all different sizes of water too.

dwhite's advice was very solid. oh, and check with your state regulations. it may be illegal to fish 2 lures on the same line (it is here in Minnesota or i'd try the jig thing too)

check out mine... I have a 15 ft '86 tuffy backtroller with a 40 horsepower suzuki motor that starts every time. the boat is fiberglass and is in great shape. I just replaced the rotted floor this year. It has a newer evinrude trolling motor, eagle 240 fismark, 35 lb electric anchor winch, nice big livewell, rod storage, 2 batteries.. its a fishing machine. Its perfectly sized for 1-3 people with 3 seats, but 4 is about the max. It flies for an older 40hp and the fiberglass makes for a smooth ride. I have been looking for a newer boat upgrade for a while, but i'm not sure if I'm willing to sell it just yet. PM me if you are interested and I'll try to get some pics up. by the way i'm in minnesota..

Alright thanks for the help everyone. I havent decided what I'll do yet, but i'll let you know how it works out.

Between those 2 I would go with the yamaha although both are good choices. The Yamaha v-max is nice for a 2 stroke, and although many people dont like 4 strokes, yamaha makes one of the best as well.

Alright, so I know when tou make a crankbait you typically weight it underneath by the front hooks. I was just wondering on jointed cranks if you need to weight both sections or just the front.. My guess was it would just be the front but I just wanted to confirm.. thanks!

A big fat zero for me too. but Minnesota's pretty tough that way. the state record is just over 8. If it was changed to fish over 4 lbs I would have quite a few... :

I have heard the best things about yamahas and hondas mostly, and mercurys are good too (almost every brand carries mercs) I had a freind with an older stratos and an Evinrude... '90 i think(?) and he had quite a few problems with it. (of course his boat SANK too.. but thats a story for another day) I have always thought of Evinrudes to me kind of lacking in the reliability department, but that may be just me. As for the new ones, I have not heard any bad things..but then again the only things I have heard at all are the advertisements...

Thanks for the help. The reel i was using had a 6.3:1 retrieve speed so it was plenty fast. The fishing was tough, which is why I was using the jerkbait to begin with. I went back today with a heavy c rig and the same light weight gear for my jerkbait. i tried the carolina first, but with no success so I switched back to the jerkbait and got a few dinks that were no problem to just reel in quickly. the last fish I hooked in to was a little bigger, but he hit it in one of the thinner weeded spots and wasnt a problem.

thanks for the tips. I have some heavier combos with braid, but for this lighter jerk there was just no way to cast it far enough. Ill try some other lures though. Also, the fact that I was fishing from shore was really the main problem. If i had been in a boat I definately would have at least drifted in there to pull it out.

Alright, so the other day I went to my local lake to shore fish. This small Minnesota lake is soooooo weedy that it is almost impossible to fish with anything but texas rigged soft jerkbaits or weedless frogs and buzzbaits. After catching nothing by buzz or frog, I resorted to a jerkbait on a ML spinning rod with 8 lb line, because that was the only way to cast it far enough to get into water where the weeds didnt come all the way to the surface. On my first cast a nice bass exploded on it, but I wasnt too ready and missed it. on the next cast I managed to hook one about 30 yards from shore, and it immediately got down into the weeds. Im not sure what you would call this kind of vegetation, but its the kind of stuff that you can always easily pull a snag out of normally, and with nasty scum on the surface. Once the fish was in the weeds and nicely tangled up, the waiting game began. My gear was too light to pull him up and out, so all I could do was sit there, letting up on the tension and giving him just enough slack to work himself free, and then pulling steadilly to try to work him out. I would repeat this process until the fish decided to wiggle out of a tangle. Of course once he was free again he would head right back down and managed to get stuck 4 different times. Is there a better way to do this? because working him through those 30 yards took just short of 2 hours! And heres the kicker: After searching for this sure lunker in a massive ball of vegetation, all I could manage to find was an exhausted 2 lb largemouth. I could never really tell how big it was because the actual time I spent reeling was about 2 minutes, but I was just wondering if anyone could give me some tips for maybe being able to work out fish tangled in thick cover a little quicker. It was nice to at least get a fish out of the fight, but when my bait was so hot its hard to look back and not think about how much prime time was wasted on this one fish, because afterwards it was 10:45 and pitch black. thanks- matt