tstraub

I have a regular net on my boat and my father in law has a rubber one on his. The rubber one is really nice. I've never had a hook get caught in it. I can't say that I convinced enough to run out and replace mine yet but I'm happy to pick up his when I can. Maybe if I used more treble hook lures, but I'm more of a soft plastic kind of guy so the regular net isn't an issues for me very often.

I fished Summit lake for about 3 hours yesterday. The wind made boat control tough but we managed to find a few less windy spots and pulled in 6 bass between the 3 of us. All were caught on soft plastics near wood structure. Over all we had a good time and I caught a fish on my newest garage sale special combo, a 7 ft Brent Chapman casting combo. Still had the tags on it got it for $20

Thanks for your reply. I took it out in the yard and made a few casts. It did cast really well considering it's been laying in the barn for a decade or so. I'll check on new drag washers. I really don't think I'll use it much but it's just kind of cool looking.

My father-in-law dug this old reel out of the barn and gave it to me. I was planning on cleaning it up trying to put it into service. I know it's old and there are plenty of better reels out the and I have more than enough modern reels to use. But I happen to have a matching fightin' rod not being used so I thought this could be a cool project combo. Anyhow the reel has a regular start drag adjuster and an additional knob between the handle and the start drag. Turning either adjuster seems to affect the drag setting but not in any predictable way. It always feels to lose or locked down. I imagine a good deep clean will help out. But I really not sure how you're supposed to set the drag on this reel. Does anybody have any experience with one of these old reels?

Over the years I have had several different sunglasses that work with my glasses. I've tried the cheap clip on kind and the large glasses that fit over your glasses. Those work well enough for the money but are far from great. I've also done contact lenses and regular sunglasses. I never really liked the contacts. My favorite pair was a good pair of perception sunglasses. They were very expensive but my wife's insurance at the time covered them so no out of pocket to me. That pair is now several percriptions old and no longer works with my eyes. Currently I have my everyday glasses that have built in magnets to hold on a matching sunglasses. They work well enough. And the cost for the sunglasses was not to much more than regular glasses would have been.

Its a small private lake at Lakeview campground. We have a seasonal site so I consider it my "home lake" It were I do probably 90% of my fishing. His secret is to get a rod rigged wit a pumpkinseed power worm and wade out to this tiny little island just past the beach. you stand on that island and cast out as far into deep water as you can then drag it back real slow. It might take a while but if you're patient and you keep at it long enough you'll catch a good one. LOL

We did get a little fishing in between the storms this weekend. The fish we found were shallow most were taken with soft plastics thrown into about a foot of water and worked down a dropoff into 6-8 foot of water. My youngest got a new PB 17 inch largemouth. Now he is a expert and likes to share all of his secrets of how to catch big fish lol

Every foot controlled bow mount motor I've used is capable of turning at least 360 degrees because they don't have a reverse speed like tiller operated motors. To back up you just turn all the way left or right until the motor is pointing backwards. So I don't know why you would need to modify anything. If you have room and the boat is rated for the extra weight of motor and battery. I've never seen anyone do it but I don't see a reason it would not work.

I would check the clearance section at your local Walmart sometimes you can get real good deals there. I scored a quantum signature KVD for about $15 a few months ago it's 6'6 MH with micro guides and retails for $99 I probably would not give full retail for it but at $15 it's great. Others have found falcons and Abu rods dirt cheap. If you can't find a killer deal. A Berkeley cherrewood HD or lightning shock will get the job done for you. Ugly sticks are ok for the price as well but personally I would go with a cherywood over an ugly stick.

My casting reels all get cleaned and lubed in the spring and any time something feels or sounds to be off. My spinning reels are mostly used by the wife and kids so I tend to neglect them, and only service them if somebody complains about them.

I went up to the campground this weekend and the bite was on. We got over 50 bass,everything from 8-18 inches, all on soft plastics. The hot bait was a 7 inch pumpkinseed power worm. The kids also got a bunch of bluegills on wax worms under a float. it was a great time and i almost skipped it because the weather forecast called for storms. We did get a lot of wind and a bit of rain for a short time but I glad I decided to go it was well worth it.

Josh, I do most of my fishing at our seasonal campsite on bar lake outside of Rochester, but do enjoy hitting the local rivers when I get a chance. I probably fish the Wabash the most it is by far the muddiest water but it does hold fish and its the closest to me so it's sort of my go to river. This season has been difficult fishing si I have been trying to look for other waters. of the closests rivers I would say the eel river looks the clearest I don't know about pollution but the water looks clear compared to the others. I fished it this past weekend from a few different public acces points and came up skunked the access points looked like the might produce fish when the river is up but last weekend it was low enough that I could see the bottom in about 75% of the water I could reach with my lures and I didn't see any fish, not even small bait fish or anything jumping out of the water. I went ahead and cast to what looked like the deepest parts. no idea how deep the water was just i could not see the bottom so it had to be deeper than the surrounding water. Mississinewa is clearer than the Wabash and does hold fish but you have to get there early or it's elbow to elbow with the other fisherman and I'm constantly getting snagged on old broken off lines in the water. The Tippecanoe north of Rochester a bit of a drive but it's beautiful water I've only fished it twice from a jonboat both times so I don't have a clue about bank fishing. The two times we fished it we took off from different ramps and didn't really fish any water really thoroughly it was more of a lets cover water and try to figure out this river. We caught largemouth,smallies, and rock bass my fater in law and I were mostly throwing texas rigged worms. My son threw everything in the tackle box and broke off several times the finally settled on a bitsy bug jig. Ya just can't tell kids to stick with what is working. Oh well, I guess he'll figure it out for himself with time. Anyway we had enough fun on the Tippecanoe that my father in law is working on getting the boat numbered so we can put a motor on it and fish that river more efficiently.

I fished the Wabash last weekend and came up skunked. The water was very muddy. Not that the Wabash every runs clear but last weekend it was like chocolate milk. I fished mostly plastics and my son was crankbaits and spinner baits. He had one possible hit on a crankbait but didn't get a hook in the fish. Other than that it was uneventful. A few weeks ago we took a jon boat down the Tippecanoe river the water was running clear and the bite was on. We caught smallmouth, walleye, and rock bass. Everywhere we dropped anchor we caught fish. Unfortunately the boating part of the trip was horrible. We we had to pull the boat out and carry it several times. We drug it up steep slick banks, threw mud that we sank to our knees, and threw poison ivy several times it was one heck of a trip.

I usually close my eyes, turn my head and set the hook. Sometimes you get the fish sometimes you get hit in the side of the head with the lure. It's probably not the best method for everyone but it works for me.

I have a blackout 7'0 MH/XF. My father in law has a mojo bass 7' M/F that I have fished a few times. We both use these rods primarily for weighted T-rigged worms. They are both great rods. The boat rarely leaves the pier without both rods on board. I can't say that I prefer one over the other it's just not a fair comparison because they are different power and actions. His mojo is a bit better with lighter lures but that's what I would expect out of a M/F rod my blackout drives the hooks home with less effort like you would expect a MH/XF rod to do. They are both plenty sensitive, light weight, and comfortable to fish. I would recommend either one.

We dropped a 12 ft Jon boat in the Tippecanoe river North of Rochester. We took turns rowing and dragging the boat about a mile or so upstream then we threw the anchors and fished for a while before pulling anchors and fixing l floating to the next spot that looked good and fishing it. We spent about 4 hours fishing that one mile stretch. We ended up catching a small mess of rock bass, smallmouth, and largemouth. It was a great time but a lot of work.

I used to think that I didn't care what type of handle was on a rod if the deal was right either was fine. A few weeks ago I picked up an older St Croix legend for an insanely low price ($10) the minute I touched that full cork grip I feel in love. That rod is 20 years old and the cork still looks and feels better than any new rod I've ever owned. The only damage on it is where the previous owner used the for grip as a hook keeper. EVA or cheap cork is still OK for the price but there is something about quality cork that just feels right.

I agree with the others if you want a faster reel the Best solution is to buy a faster reel. If a new reel is not in the budget then make sure you fill the spool on your mettle all the way to the top to get the most inches per turn out of your 6.3:1 ratio.

I use 10-15# big game on most of my casting gear it does cast like a skinny on the first cast or two but once it's wet it softens up and handles very well. I change it every spring and never had any problems doing it that way. My gear is stored in a non temperature controlled environment all week long. Then left outside on the boat or leaning against the camper under an awning so some shade and protection from rain but not much for the weekend. It still seems to hold up all season for me.

You found my secret rig that I broke off last time I was fishing. Tie it on one of your rods and hang on!!! LOL Tyler

I'm no expert but it looks like a young largemouth to me. I've never seen a largemouth in the Wabash but I have caught them at the Mississinewa spillway a fish would only have to swim a few miles to enter the Wabash from there so I can't imagine that there are no largemouth in the Wabash just far less largemouth than smallmouth.

I see he also holds it out to make it look bigger for the camera, smart kid

The lake is a 22 acre spring feed with a creek flowing out that I assume connects to a river system somewhere (at least during floods). I assume it connects to a river because of the large numbers of carp and gar I see swimming around. Fishing pressure is low except on holidays. Probably because it's out on the middle of nowhere and they charge a fee to fish unless you are also camping so there are not many people that come just to fish. I've never tried a chatterbait mostly do to my lack of success with spinner baits. I just figured that they were similar enough baits that if spinner baits were not the answer why buy a chatterbait. I guess I could pick up a few and give then a shot.

I've never measured my casts either but 30-40 yards sounds about right to me. Some days with the right lure and the wind at my back I feel I can reach out much further. Other days with different lure and wind I struggle to get 1/2 that. I just make a few casts and if I'm off by a few yards I'll adjust the brakes. If I'm off by several yards I adjust the boat.

I got out at first light without any of the kids and a plan to fish hard since I didn't have anyone but me to worry about. I threw the tackle box at them for about an hour and a half without a bite. Then I picked up my Ned rig rod and had a fish on the second or third cast. It was a dink but at least it fit the skunk off. I continued with the Ned for about an hour and only hooked one more fish which I got tangled in the anchor rope and lost him at the side of the boat. Seems to be a tough bite so far today.