UPSmallie

I usually fish 15 lb fluoro for everything and have never had a break-off yet. When specifically fishing for pike I would just tie a 12 inch wire leader to this. 8 lb test is risky imo. I think 10 lb is the lightest I would go for pike. If you want to fish crappie after you are done pike fishing, just tie a 6-8 lb leader to your mainline if line visibility is an issue. Best of luck

Thanks guys. Must have hit the window just right because I came back not even a week later and didn't see a single bass.

Figured I'd join the party. Never have caught a smallmouth before with this red of fins. Only a 2.5 lber but exquisite coloration none the less.

Just saw this recently. I started fishing on my own probably at the age of about 13. Never had a dad, Grandpa, or friend to take me fishing so it all really just started at the local kid's trout pond. First time I ever fished, I showed up with a Walmart rod for $10 and didn't have a clue what I was doing. It was one of the happiest days of my life when my dad purchased that rod for me. Out of frustration of never knowing what to do, I quit fishing for some time. A year or two later and my Uncle downstate took my brother and I fishing for bluegill and crappie at a local lake. Hooked into at least a 2 lb bass that shook the hook, but the seed had been planted. From that point on I read and I mean READ everything I could get my hands on pertaining to fishing. 1970s books at the local library, fishing articles, snippets here and there, everything. A lot of things didn't necessarily translate to where I was fishing, but after a while things started to sink in. I showed up the following summer and slayed those stocked trout with nightcrawlers and corn. I learned how to use pliers, scissors, splitshot, things were looking up. All those hours of reading about fishing started paying off. It wasn't until my Junior year in high school until I caught a truly wild fish in the form of a Pink Salmon. Year after year I kept getting better and the fish kept coming. There's not a strong population of bass where I live, but every now and then I am blessed enough to catch one. I would say that today I am 100% of a different fisherman than I was 7 years ago. Being self-taught is hard because there is a steep learning curve, but if you are observant on the water, things will start clicking and fish will start biting. Fish On Everybody.

If you have a smartphone buy Navionics U.S. Boating app for $10. Works with or without wifi/service anywhere you go. Marking way-points on this has led to successful follow-up fishing trips for me. Would definitely recommend to anyone.

Just this morning I rigged up a 4.3 inch swing impact fat on a swimbait hook texas-rigged with a 3/8 oz bullet sinker above it. Worked perfectly gliding through the weeds and didn't get hung up once. Even landed a nice pike on it Weightless would be fine, but I added the sinker to give extra casting distance.

Very nice! I've been working on my GoPro videos as well lately and here's two basic tips I can give you 1. When it's pouring rain and you are outside fishing with your GoPro, from time to time swipe the camera lense with your fingers to clear off rain droplets. Usually I do this every 15 minutes or so after I've reeled in my lure. Your fingers won't scratch or smudge the lense and you won't be kicking yourself when you look back at your footage and notice 50% of the camera screen was covered by a giant raindrop. Had that happen on my PB smallmouth (Ouch!) 2. I, too, started with a chest mount. It does work great, but if you are ever sitting while fishing, be prepared for lots and lots of knee footage. I bought a head-strap mount and haven't had any complaints. Even if I'm not sitting, I like the general 'eye-view' camera angle it gives me. A lot of the fun is just looking back on past footage and reliving the excitement you experienced while landing the fish. Best of luck this season.

Yes, this! In mid to late July, the Atlantic Salmon up here hammer the Hex Mayfly hatch. You can see them jumping everywhere. They won't bite a thing unless it's a fly or a smelt streamer. One of these days I'm going to buy an Orvis 8-weight and give the whole fly fishing thing a go.

Thanks guys and yes, definitely.

Speaking of PB's haha. Way to go man!

Thanks guys and definitely @Dwight Hottle If you give it just the right action the fish go nuts for it.

Thanks guys! Definitely a great feeling. Good luck @12poundbass you really just have to keep grinding and putting time on the water and things will start working out.

Caught my first ever Master Angler fish May 1st in the form of a 25.0 inch splake. The entry requirement was 25.0 inches so I literally just met the minimum. Wanted to wait until I got the patch in the mail as confirmation and yesterday it came! Apparently it's one master angler catch per person per fish species per year. So I can get more Master Angler patches, they just have to be Master Angler catches of different species for this year. Fish On

Thanks man! Thought you'd like the Rapala catch For $6.75 it's getting the job done.

Went fishing this morning and to say the least, I was, and still am, shocked with the results. I went to a favorite Lake Huron pier to try and catch another splake (lake trout/brook trout mix) and came away with two lunker PB's under my belt. Started fishing a Rapala Husky Jerk Glass minnow ghost size 12 that I'd painted white nail polish down the sides to mimic a smelt. This lure, along with two splitshots above it has accounted for some nice splake catches recently. Not even 15 minutes in and I hook and land a 4.05 lb 20 inch largemouth on it! Crazy, since largemouth are practically unheard of to be found in this region, let alone area off of Lake Huron! The rain starts to pour in buckets about an hour later. The water that was once crystal clear glass, is now broken up from the upheaval of waves, wind, and rain. I quickly hook and land a 9.5 inch splake on the 6.25 inch lure. A few casts later and I hook into the fish of a lifetime (for me at least). The brute takes me for a ride, but after about a minute I glide him into my umbrella net trap below me and hoist him onto the pier. Previously, my PB smallmouth was 3.24 lbs. This smallmouth that I just caught weighs 4.67 lbs and measures 20 inches as well. All fish caught were lowered back down into the water to fight another day. My guess is that these bass were cruising the shallows in search of areas to start forming beds for the spawn. In probably a week and a half to two weeks, I bet they will all return back to the deeper waters of Lake Huron after spawning. The next chance I get I'll have to come back to fish for these beauties. Fish On

Couldn't have said it better myself

Hire someone to trap them on your property. Them, muskrats, and beavers all contribute to erosion. We've hired a local trapper in the past and he has cleared out numerous beavers and dozens of muskrat. If you can see one, then there are over a dozen close by that you aren't seeing.

Lol I was just wondering that. Best of luck man

This exact question has been screwing me over for the last year or so. No offense to anyone, but here's what has happened. (Yes I am ranting) Last summer while fishing, I see an Atlantic Salmon chasing minnows in the fast current up close to shore. I dig through my box of spinners tie one on and chuck it out. It gets snagged up several times and is a big pain to try and free up. It snags up once more, so instead of burying the hook into whatever is holding me up, I try and free the spinner. As my luck would have it, the Atlantic Salmon jumped out of the water with my spinner in its mouth and spit it right back to me. Determined, I kept fishing and set the hook several times on any bump or holdup. I lost two spinners at roughly $12 total retail price that afternoon. Fast forward to the fall while steelhead fishing. I hook up on a 5-6 lber but forget to set the hook because the fish never slams my lure. There's just dead-weight on the end all of a sudden. The fish pops off, but that could have been prevented. I'm alert after this and set the hook on some more underwater debris and loose another handful of spinners. This time more expensive ones than the others I had lost. Jump to yesterday while steelhead fishing on a day off. I'm fishing two spawn sacs with splitshot on bottom and bobber fishing a spawn sac on my third rod. There's so much debris and sticks that are clogged in that river that it's near impossible to tell a snag from a fish. I set the hook on so many sticks that day whether it be bobber fishing or bottom-fishing, that my spawn sacs were getting completely demolished. Again, not good, since I have a limited amount of spawn sacs. At this time, a 5-6 lb steelhead began feeding on aquatic insects, jumping out of the water and making splashy rises near my spawn sacs. I started getting light taps on my bottom-spawn, but the fish wouldn't fully commit. I decided to reel in one of my spawn sacs off the bottom to check it and then recast it. Whenever reeling in spawn from the bottom, my spawn sacs would get temporarily snagged on all of the underwater debris. I started to reel in the spawn sac about four inches and then it got snagged up into a thick snag. No problem. I gently raised my rod tip and started to maneuver my rod into a position where I could pop my spawn sac loose. All of a sudden my line started shooting about two feet to the right. Frantically I reel down and am just about to set the hook on a slab steelhead, when my bottom-rig and spawn sac come shooting back to me. Looking back, I wouldn't have done it any differently since I'd already lost countless spawn sacs to underwater structure setting the hook, and wouldn't willingly continue doing so. Sometimes you just don't know. To answer your question, setting the hook can sometimes be as simple as feeling a bite. As you gain more experience it should start to become more distinguishable, but as mentioned above, sometimes you never will know before it's too late. But hey, if everything was a guarantee, it wouldn't be called fishing. Best of luck on the water this season.

As others have said, definitely add a soft plastic trailer. Replace the store bought one with say a keitech and you'll be good to go.

I just use an umbrella net trap you can buy from amazon for roughly $12. It's much cheaper than a drop net and with a long enough rope you are good to go. Have landed two bigger steelhead, dozens of pink salmon, and a handful of splake using this method. The only downside is that the hooks sometimes get stuck in the mesh so you will have to cut your lures out from time to time. I'll probably replace my net once the water freezes over again. You could also buy a telescopic net, but those too cost quite a bit.

This could definitely work. Sadly I learned two days ago why they are called jerkbaits and not crankbaits. Accidentally cranked a Husky Jerk I was fishing off of a submerged log jam and the bill broke off. Ouch. Maybe I can find a way to use it as a topwater bait now.

I think a lot of guys work hard to obtain their set skills and techniques for specific kinds of fishing. It may take months, years maybe, before they can find a consistently producing pattern. The learning curve usually takes a while to learn on your own. Is it wrong to keep some of your acquired information to yourself? No. With that said, I always give helpful hints or small details to those asking. I never share a specific honey-hole with others, besides close friends, but I'll often share what type of lure I used to catch the fish on. To each his own, but yes I would agree that there are more than enough people these days who want an instant answer of how and where that trophy fish was caught.

Nice fish! Looks like a solid day to me

Definitely! Where I live there are tons of smallmouth 10-15 inches in size. There's a steady pike and muskie population as well, so this would a great bait to throw around. Would not fish it without a steel leader though.