Junk Fisherman

I'd get the 75. That is 25% more horsepower over the 60. I will say that I bought a 175 over a 200 max on my boat and I have no regrets. I knew I wasn't a speed guy and that a couple more mi/hr on the top end wouldn't make a difference. Most of the time I cruise at 35 to 40 mi/hr.

I only get a little over 5 mi/hr with my 9.9 kicker but it is still better than using a TM only on our HP-restricted lakes. ? Josh- it just depends on the lakes you fish. We have several lakes here that are TM-only that a boat that you are thinking about would be great on. I had a 14'er for years with a 9.9 HP and caught a lot out of fish out of that boat. While a 24-volt TM would be best, getting a 55 lb thrust is plenty. The Maximizer feature on the Minn Kota motors allow for a lot of use on a charge. This is what I had on a 17' tin boat and I fished all sorts of TM-only lakes. I never completely ran it down and my heaviest days it went from the green to the yellow on charge. My 14'er had an old school 27 lb thrust motor. Are you getting a trailer? If so, you can keep your eye out for a used motor later on. Good luck.

I'd go white.

Never had a problem setting the hook with a tube and an exposed hook for smallmouth. And that goes back to when I used straight fluoro and it’s stretch rather the braid/fluoro that I use now. I do use the medium for a stupid tube for better hook sets.

All of my smallmouth fishing is on the Great Lakes. I am much more likely to catch a lake trout or brown trout than a largemouth. Actually, I have never even caught a largemouth on these bodies of water. I do fish some other places that are mixed.

I bounced around laker fishing on Saturday for 6 hours with only a fish on for about 10 seconds. At this point my bass season is done till March 1. Maybe if there is a warm stretch over Christmas I might take a trip to So IL and fish a cooling lake but that is improbable. I'll keep after the lakers if the highs are in the 40s and the wind is not too bad. But I am bringing in baits and starting to clean and organize.

I don't think people differentiate between smallmouth tackle and largemouth tackle but what is different is where you fish for them. It's not the strength of the fish that dictates what power rod I use but rather the cover I am fishing in and the lure I am using. All of my smallmouth fishing is in open water where I can play the fish. On the other hand, the largemouth I fish for are often in weeds, wood, or docks where I need the beefier rod for handling the fish. I use my medium action spinning rod more for largemouth because of where I'm fishing not what species I am fishing for.

I own 5 of their spinning rods and had several other spinning rods from them that I either sold or broke. Their 2 power is the ideal bass fishing finesse power. I do use a 1 power for light Neds and a 3 power for heavy tubes and stupid tubes but the 2 power is the most versatile IMO. In terms of their baitcasters, I use a 3 power for worming, senkos, light pitching, lighter swimbaits. The 4 is what I use for pitching plastics and 3/8 oz jigs. I use a 5 power for football head jigs, C-rigs, and frogs. I have only owned Champion XP and HP. Personally, I don't think the HP is worth an extra $100. I think the XP is the sweetspot with price and performance. I made the switch to Dobyns 5 or so years ago. I was using a Champion and an Avid using the same presentation and the Champion was much more sensitive overall. I now own 9 Dobyns and have sold all my Croixs.

Medium light action is ideal for lighter lures. I fish a lot of smallmouth and finesse overall and this is my arsenal: Light Action- Ned rig (1/15 and 1/10th) and hair jigs Medium Light- tubes (1/8 to 3/8), dropshot, Neko, spybaits, blade baits, shakey head, secondary Medium- cracking tubes (1/2 to 3/4), stupid tubes; I will use the medium for heavier blade baits and spybaits. I only used medium light rods for finesse for years until I started throwing a Ned rig and cracking a tube. I also use longer rods (7'4 to 7'9) so that helps fighting fish with lighter actions. While I have thrown a Ned with a medium light I prefer the casting distance of the light action rod. Obviously, a baitcaster is used for spinnerbaits, cranks, topwater, ect...

I would just be honest with him and tell him what you have in mind. Ask him to show you the general fishing areas and how to fish the seasonal patterns of the lake. It's doubtful he is going to show you his best spots anyways. I have done this with a couple guides before and they were great. One in particular, I hired to help me fish the smallmouth spawn up north since I had never done it before. He showed me everything to look for in terms of prespawn, spawners, and postspawn. Over the course of the day I asked him about the rest of the seasonal patterns. I learned soooo much from him that day. It increased my learning curve ten fold plus it was a fun day on the water. And the funny thing is, I rarely fish the spots he took me to that day.

I hardly use anything under 7' anymore and haven't bought any 7'ers in several years. The longer rods cast farther and give you move leverage when fighting fish. This is particularly important with spinning rods. I prefer to use a lighter spinning rod with a longer length. The longer rod gives more control when fighting a bigger fish and the lighter action improves sensitivity with lighter lures. For example a 7' light Dobyns was too light for my 1/16th oz Ned rigs but the lighter action is perfect with a 7'4" light Dobyns. I use a 7'9" medium light action Dobyns rods for 3"-4" thin swimbaits. The longer length helps with long casts yet I have no problems with 5 lb smallmouth. I have successfully handled big carp and trout with the rod. That extra length really helps.

I have come to the point where I enjoy seeing a rod/reel combo or the bait someone is using more than a 4 lb bass picture. I definitely enjoy someone posting their TW order more than a fish. Thanks.

TW got me for $150 or so. Gamma Edge 6 and 10 for leaders. Gamma Touch 7 lb for small swimbaits Fins 50 lb braid YGK Soul braid 14 lb A bunch of X Zone Slammers and a couple bags of Berkley Max Scent dropshot baits. So not real exciting but I did pick up a Daiwa Steez rod a couple weeks ago and I'll pick up a Tatula when the shirt promotion is launched in the spring.

Nothing major comes to mind. I drove all the way to northern Wisconsin for a fishing trip only to find out it had just been put on my county's quarantine list. So I drove back home so I was there less than 24 hours and wouldn't have needed a 14 day quarantine. A) Wish I had read all my work emails before I left. b) Wish I hadn't woken up so early that I was reading my work emails at 4:00 AM before leaving for the lake C) Wish I had gone to Michigan instead which wasn't on the list. D) Wish I had just stayed there because it was ridiculous that Wisconsin was on the list since my county had 10,000 cases at the time while the county I was visiting had 80 cases. Overall, I had a very good season.

Smallmouth (most common lures) 1. Dropshot 2. 4” swimbait on a jighead 3. Ned rig 4. Tube 5. Jerkbait The season makes a huge difference though. Hairjigs, blade baits, A-rigs, spybaits, and topwater all plays roles during different times of the season.

No tube?

Maybe but it works very well for what I use it for.

I don't believe in any of that stuff.

This is the time of year I go hiking in the woods looking for rutting bucks if it is too cold to fish. Our forest preserves have some massive bucks. Hoping the weather warms up and I can sneak a day next weekend and then take a 2-day trip over Thanksgiving.

Junk However, the pressured lakes I fish make it finesse often. I only really find myself power fishing when the conditions call for it such as a front moving in, overcast low pressure, or windy conditions. Most of the time I am fishing a finesse rig, pitching plastics, or dragging something slow in deep water.

Don't be hating on Flouroclear-lol. It's great line if you use it for the right application. 15 lb Flouroclear for chatterbaits, 10 lb for jerkbaits, and 25 lb on my A-rig reel. The line is cheap and just floats off the spool when it is fresh. I don't use it for anything that I am working on the bottom since it is not very abrasion-resistant. Overall, I have been a big P-Line user over the years from CXX to their original Fluorocarbon to still using their Flouroclear. But I have switched over to Gamma since it is more abrasion-resistant which is vital to my smallie fishing. To answer the OP's questions: P-Line, Berkley 100% Flourocarbon, the different Seaguar versions, and Gamma flouroocarbons have all been very good to me. I used CXX 6 lb on spinning reels for a few seasons a long time ago and that was strong, durable line. Their 8 lb flourocarbon was always good to me as well. Another option is Big Game. That is still my line of choice for topwater and I will use 10-12 lb on my crankbait rig in a pinch. It is cheap and reliable.

You fishing from a kayak on the Des Plaines?

Tier 1- Easily the most important. 1) Location, location, location! You can't catch fish if there are none around. I'd much rather be in the right spot with the wrong bait than the wrong spot with the right bait. Tier 2- As long as you are in the right spot. 2) Timing (not seasonality)- When fish turn on you can catch them in a lot of different ways. Tier 3- all of these are similar in importance. The bait type usually dictates the presentation style and to some degree color. 3) Bait presentation 4) Bait type 5) Bait color

Hit up Newton last weekend for the beautiful weather we had Friday and Saturday. There wasn't a cloud in the sky all day Friday and not until midday Saturday. That high pressure really killed the bite for me. It was pretty tough and my most consistent bite was catching small bass in the shallows which is definitely not what I came to Newton for. I did catch a 18" bass pitching a laydown with a craw and did find a productive bank that gave me a lot of fish on finesse and 3 in the 17" range but that was it for 2 full days of fishing. Still great to get out and enjoy the incredible weather.