tkunk

I'm trying to estimate how long my batteries should last on a fishing outing. I don't know much about boats, so I'm sorry if this is a dumb question. In addition to my cranking battery, I have three 100 amp hour deep cycle batteries. According to Minn Kota, my trolling motor's max amp draw is 46. If I run my trolling motor at max power, is it correct for me to expect my batteries to last (3 batteries)*(100 amp hours per battery)/(46 amps) = 6.5 hours? I'm not getting anywhere near six hours of battery life when I run my trolling motor at 25-50%, so I think there's something wrong.

Where I fish, the thermocline is around 35 feet. I know that I don't need to search for fish any deeper than that, so the thermocline eliminates a ton of water. Once turnover happens, bass can be at any depth, so they become much more difficult to find. Where I fish, the amount of possibly productive square miles probably increases by a factor of four. I typically start by fishing my favorite shallow spots. If I don't get anything, I target depths of 20-60 feet by cruising around at 10-20 MPH and looking for big clouds of bait or big marks on my graph. I only stop to fish if I actually see something. I'd love to hear of a more productive approach.

Green Bay. In Fall, after turnover, the smallies that live near me stop hanging out around structure, and they start chasing baitfish in open water. They can be just about anywhere in ~50 square miles of water, which makes finding them incredibly difficult.

For me, the main benefit of a bigger spool is improved casting distance. I could be wrong, but I also feel like the drag is smoother with bigger reels. Another thing to consider is that your reel needs to be the right weight for your rod. To maximize casting distance, I'd go with 4000's, but they're too heavy for my smallie rods, most of which are 7' M power. I've never been spooled while bass fishing. Ocean fishing is a different story, though. Saltwater fish can make some huge runs.

Nice fish! I sometimes do well with spinnerbaits when I fish shallow, wind-blown structure on very windy and wavy days, but I've never had much luck on days where the wind's blowing less than 10 MPH. It'd be great if I could start using spinnerbaits more often, because I could cover more water. A few questions, if you don't mind. What depth were you fishing? Do you have success with spinnerbaits when the smallies are in 15-25 fow? What were you doing for your retrieve? Maybe something like counting down for X seconds then burning the bait back as fast as possible?

I have accidentally caught them on Keitechs, but trolling jerkbaits like HJ 12's or Lucky Craft 128's work better if you're targeting pike (use a wire leader or 80+ lb fluoro leader, though). I typically aim for 2.0 MPH. Zig-zagging a bit helps because it makes your lures run at different speeds. There's a lot to learn about trolling, and I don't know much of it. This time of year, I typically start by trolling weed lines; inside turns with cabbage and deep water access are the best. If nothing bites, I'll troll rocky points and drop-offs. If that doesn't work, I'll follow the same pattern I followed for points and drop offs, but maybe 50 feet farther from shore. Usually, I get at least a few this way. The pigs tend to be farther from shore, near big schools of bait.

Mono is for shock absorption, which is good when you're moving at 3+ MPH and a big fish like a muskie hits a bait with treble hooks. I don't think any of this applies to what you're doing. I fish a big lake for smallies, and I sometimes troll swimbaits to find them. I always use braid with a fluoro leader. To troll, I cruise at about 1.0 about MPH, and cast off the back of the boat as far as I can. Usually, that's about 125 feet. If the lure is constantly ticking the bottom, I use a lighter head. I also hold the rod in my hand so that I can detect strikes and set the hook. That's about all there is to it.

Smallies will hit large lures, especially in water with low visibility. I grew up fishing a rocky, low-visibility river. Sometimes I still fish there with my kids. There, skirted jigs with crawdad trailers work great for bigger smallies. Jigging and swimming are both viable options for presentation. Dark colors work best. I use 3/8 to 1/2 oz jigs. Texas rigged lizards work well for smaller fish. Small crankbaits work really well, too, but it gets expensive to fish them from shore, because you're always losing them.

I use 4lb Fireline on my light swimbait rod. I've caught a bunch of 10+ lb sheepshead, some big catfish, and hundreds of smallies with it, and I'm pretty sure the braid's broken only once when it wasn't frayed from contacting zebra mussels. It's very strong if you can avoid dragging it across rocks, but I certainly wouldn't use it for tubes or anything that makes frequent bottom contact. I can also bomb 3/32 oz hair jigs a long distance, so I think it casts pretty well.

Go by weight if it's short and fat and length if it's long and skinny.

Braided line is actually more susceptible to bite-offs than fluoro or mono. That's why musky guys always use fluoro or wire leaders. I think pike are fun to catch. I often fish for them intentionally. When I do, I use an 80 lb fluoro leader. As a bass fisherman, you just have to deal with pike. I lose tons of soft swimbaits and tubes to pike, which isn't a big deal. Maybe I'm lucky, but I rarely lose jerkbaits. I have a couple of Pointer 100s with more tooth marks than paint.

In my experience, pike really seem to like big skirted jigs with plastic trailers. Even small pike will inhale them. I don't know if using a heavy (50+ lb) fluoro leader will mess things up, but you might want to try one. Also, I don't know if you're using the Palomar knot, but when you use heavy lures, the tag end can slip through the knot, so you need to leave a much longer tag end than you normally would.

Wayne's advice is good. One thing I'd add is don't be afraid to use a very long leader (like 5') from your hook to your weight.

I keep my boat, which is also a Skeeter, at a marina. My tips: [1] A couple of times per month, I pull it out of the water and pressure wash it. [2] Make sure you keep it covered so that the sun doesn't fade the paint or mess with your screens. [3] Use side buoys, so that the dock doesn't scratch anything. [4] After it's super rainy, leave your compartments open so that everything can dry.

I don't think keeping the rod tip low helps much. I've stuck my rod tip 4' under the water (so people driving by don't see that I'm on fish) and they still jump. The best thing to do is start reeling as fast as you can when you feel them coming up to jump, and continue to reel when they're in the air. You can gain a lot of real estate when they're in the air.

Say you're picking up slack with you rod, and you feel tension. At this point, gently add some more tension with your rod. If the thing on the other end feels spongy or gives a little, it's a fish. If not, it's a rock. If you're not sure, set the hook.

Just like a swim bait: I cast it as far as I can, let it sink for awhile, and swim it back slowly. Bass guys hate trolling, but if you're fishing a big piece of structure, you can also troll it at around 1 mph. You can troll Keitechs and hard jerkbaits too. Smallies can be a huge pain to find, so cover water any way you can.

Smallies move around a lot, so it's important to cover a lot of water. My advice is to find a search bait that works, and fish as many different types of cover and different depths as possible until you discover a pattern. If you put the right bait in front of an active fish, you'll get bit. My favorite search baits are Keitech 2.8s, hard jerkbaits, flukes, tiny hair jigs, and spinnerbaits (if it's insanely windy). Also, in the summer, dawn and dusk are really good times, and the fish tend to be shallow.

A nice smallie jumped horizontally out of the middle of a big wave that was about to crash over my bow, landed somewhere behind me, and I lost her. She flew a long way. Maybe not the most interesting thing, but that was probably the smartest thing I've seen a fish do to get unhooked.

I pretty much only drop shot in rocky areas. After the cast, I let it sit for awhile. Then, I drag it to a rock, let it sit for awhile, drag it quickly to another rock, let it sit for awhile, etc. I'm not expecting to get bit while it's moving--I'm expecting to get bit when I'm letting it sit on slack line near a rock. Maybe I should add some stops between rocks.

When I get bit on a drop shot, 90% of the time it's [1] when the rig is sinking after the cast; [2] within a few seconds of the weight hitting the bottom after the cast; or [3] when I pop the sinker free of a snag. Because I seldom get bit on a retrieve where I don't get snagged, I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong. Typically, I'll pull the weight until I hit a sticky area, give it some slack, wait 5-10 seconds, then start pulling the weight again. Am I doing something wrong?

I fish for smallies Green Bay/Lake Michigan in Spring, Summer, and Fall. In Winter, I fish for largemouths in FL golf course ponds. I try to get to Okeechobee a couple of times a year, too. I've been fishing for bass forever, I've only owned a boat for about a year, so I have a lot to learn.

Just wanted to follow up. I followed MassYak85's advice about tying a bunch of extra overhand knots at the end, and everything's worked perfectly. I've had dozens of bad snags where I had to break the line and caught a bunch of good sized bass and some big pike and sheepshead, and the FG knot's never broken.

I fish the Green Bay/Sturgeon Bay area. I'm new to smallmouth fishing. As Spring progressed, I kept moving North to catch pre-spawn fish, and I was doing very well. Now, in the Southern areas, it's post-spawn, and I'm lucky if I can average one fish per hour. Mostly, I'm catching small males. I've tried many different baits and depths, and nothing seems to be working. I know where they spawned, and I know where they'll be in the Summer, so I feel like I should be able to catch more of them. Does anyone have any tips for locating/catching post-spawn fish? Maybe it's just not a good time to fish for them?

Awesome. Thanks!