Junk Fisherman

Tough question. I love catching and fighting smallmouth in the clear Great Lakes more than largemouth fishing. Seeing a 3 pound smallmouth jump a foot out of the water is spectacular. I'd estimate that 80% of my bass over 4 lbs have been smallmouth from the Great Lakes even though I have fished more often for largemouth so smallmouth get the edge for me there. But on the other hand, I enjoy fishing for largemouth more. Pitching laydowns, skipping docks, frog fishing, fishing the edge of lily pads are all more enjoyable than dropshotting or throwing a tube for smallies. So to answer the question- if I could only fish one for the rest of my life it would be smallmouth.

Within the last month I have been cracking a 1/2 tube and snapping a Stupid Tube and have had several breakoffs with the knot. I am using braid with an 8 lb fluoro. Don't laugh but I have been using the Trilene Knot for years and it has never let me down until now but this is also the first time I have been aggressively snapping my bait up off the bottom for an extended amount of time. The knot is just not holding up. So I am looking for suggestions as to the best knot to hold up to this kind of abuse. Next time I go out I'll use a Palomar but I wonder if there is anything else I should consider. Any advice is appreciated.

I've used Abrazx and it was fine. I fish the Great Lakes and that water is so clear that you want to use the lightest leader possible. Some people say 8 lbs is too much.

So who uses Gamma as leader line with braid? I am thinking there is no reason to use the Touch since you're not going to be casting it rather using it for a 10' leader. Looking at line diameter, the 6 lb Gamma is comparable to 8-10 lb in other brands. Any insight as to what you use is appreciated.

Agreed. White, silver, gray or black- nothing will clash with any of those colors. I have a blue and silver boat so nothing red or green. I'll probably do another silver since my wife dislikes white.

I found this to be the case as well and made sure to let it land naturally after realizing this. Thanks everyone else for the responses. Good stuff.

What is your favorite and what combo do you use it on? Based on the recommendation of the smallmouth guru around me, I use Wolf's Big Dude blade bait from Wisconsin. 7' rod ml action with 10 lb braid and an 8lb fluoro leader. I threw one quite a bit over the weekend and preferred the 7' rod over a 7'6' I often got the hooks tangled. Any tips on correcting that?

I agree 100%. Get the ML.

For a big fish that won't look at anything I will go to a big jig. I've done that twice for big smallies (4.8 and a 5.1) I'll also try to get the line to hit their back. That seems to tick them off. The most consistent bait I have found for bedding smallmouth is a Zoom Dropshot worm which is comparable to a crosstail worm. I'll also cycle through a Ned Rig, Hula stick with a 1/10th jig so it hits the bottom quickly and I can drag it through the bed, or a wacky 4" Senko. Another month or so....

If you have this rod, what is its best application in your opinion? I am considering it for frogs, football head jigs, heavy cover pitching and 1 oz or so swimbaits and scroungers. What do you think?

Depends where I am at. Lake Michigan around Chicago- nothing from the north or east. Even very light winds will result in rollers. Not that I can't fish them but I don't enjoy it and would rather go somewhere else. 15 mi/hr winds out of the west or south is my max on that big water. Everywhere else- I won't go if it is much over 20 mi/hr. It also depends how it will be at daylight. I'll still go if there are lighter winds forecast in the morning then building to 25+ at midday. I'll just get off the water sooner. But I have learned over the years that sometimes those 25+ mi/hr winds never come. Plus, I have had some good days fishing fast moving baits in high winds.

Sorry to hear that. I get Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Michigan online without a problem.

Jerkbaits- it just doesn't feel right to me.

I know how that goes. Last spring my Hbird 859 crapped out when I upgraded the software. (ticked me off since I followed their procedure exactly. It was $250 or so for Humminbird just for them to look at it.) Anyways, I planned on just getting a $500ish 7" DI Helix to replace it. After shopping and comparing, I ended up getting the Helix 10 SI/DI for nearly 3x times the cost.

I bought a Just Encase deck box this winter to put between my console seats for more storage. ($300). Took a chunk out of my skeg and roughed up my prop last year. It was the first time I ever hit anything in nearly 20 years of boating. $175 for the prop and I still need to get the skeg repaired. It is not affecting the performance but I hate the way it looks.

I want to get on the Dupage this year with my kayak. Used to wade the Kank a lot but got away from it. If any of you guys have a nice entry spot for the Dupage, I'd really appreciate it.

I ordered some too thanks to this thread.

8-10 lb braid with a 8 lb FC leader. The 8-10 lb braid will cast something light like a Ned rig farther than the 20 lb braid I used to use. I also use straight 7 lb Gamma Touch fluorocarbon on one of my reels. That is some fantastic line with its blend of castability and strength. Going to use that for more application this year other than swimbaits.

That is gorgeous. Is that your 2nd new Caracal or I am thinking of someone else?

If I am taking a nonboater fishing friend out, I think the least he can do is pay the launch fee which can be $20 around here. Sure, I was probably going out regardless but he wasn't going out at all unless he jumped in my boat. I never worry about boat gas or my gas to get to the lake. In my club I always undercharge the nonboaters. Some guys add in every toll and their oil and fuel additives. I am just happy to share most of the expenses since I wouldn't be going away for so many weekends if it wasn't for the nonboater.

I agree. These guys are fooling themselves if they feel there is little advantage to fishing out of a bassboat compared to a kayak.

I doubt the Caracal handles big waves as well as my X-190 but after running my X-190 for 3 seasons, there has only been 1 time where I was actually in big waves that really made me happy to be in a deep V. I simply go somewhere else if the wind is coming out of the wrong direction or launch in an area sheltered from the wind. But on the other hand, there are numerous times when I would prefer to be in a boat closer to the water for skipping docks or pitching shorelines. My X-190 is a good boat and does everything I thought it would do but I think a Caracal would be a better fit for me. But I'll wait till some come on the used market in 5 years or so.

I highly doubt there are no crawfish in the lake. There was a shallow, weedy lake in southern Michigan and one year in the spring I helped reel in and clear out a debris cover for a cottage owner. The cover sat on the bottom for about 40' and it went out about 15'. It was used to collect all the leaves that would accumulate on the shoreline so as to preserve a nice sandy beach for the cottage owners. Oh my- the amount of crawfish that were in this small section of shoreline was staggering. I never really thought of the lake as a crawfish lake and figured the bass just eat bluegill but this made me realize how much they eat crawfish. I used to swim in this area all the time and was always looking at the bottom of this clear lake and never saw anything. To get back to your question, there's crawfish there and you don't even realize it. Those suckers are not always easy to see.

One of my major goals this year is to improve the number of reaction strikes I get and changing up retrieves on lures when they are not producing. Too often I use the same retrieve for a bait and never deviate regardless as to the results. So as the title says, what are your favorite retrieves that get reaction strikes or are there any odd retrieves that you find working that you are willing to share? Thanks for any advice.

Very good goal.