TOXIC

I have a friend that fished the Elite Series and now fishes FLW (needs to re-qualify) and he runs a Zuke. He likes it but as has been said their gearing is different and they are finicky about props.

Since I am going to walk off all the line I spool on a spinning reel, it really doesn't matter how I put it on. Baitcasters are much more forgiving so all I am looking for is something that will hold and feed the line. For me the pic shows what I use and it doubles as a great line storage option instead of having loose spools laying around.

First....If you don't have a Water Pressure Gauge, get one. The easiest way to tell when you are over trimmed is the loss of water pressure. Good way to pop a motor. Second is just a rule of thumb and that is your rooster tail should be no higher than your motor cowling. There are exceptions to this rule but for the most part it holds true. Third is to maintain control. Most of the performance hulls on boats that exceed 75mph will walk at some point in the power band. You need to learn how to control it. You also need to pay attention to your RPM's and what is max for your motor. Over rev and stand a good chance of blowing it up. You control RPM's with trim and prop selection. You will notice when over trimmed your steering will be severely hampered. Trying to squeeze the last few mph out of a motor puts you at the edge of all these factors and you really need to decide if it is worth the risk. The "Go-Fast" boats have all sorts of tricks like low water pickups, cavitating props and are set up to run in the upper limits. Even though I have a 250 horse motor, I prefer to spend the majority of my time well within the comfort zone and will only air it out once in a while and when conditions permit, to make sure I have blown all the carbon out of the motor. Anybody who has a boat that runs over 80 will tell you things happen fast and bad things can happen very easily.

When on the water I assume NO ONE knows the rules and has been said, keep your head on a swivel. Sad to say, defensive boating is what we all need to observe.

I posted the USCG rules in another post but you need to use your common sense. If you are on a lake at night with other boat traffic I would use the full spectrum of lights both nav and anchor. Easily purchased and battery powered. Although night fishing is a very productive technique, I rarely do it because I have a 21 foot boat and all of the waters I fish are heavily used public waters. I do occasionally night fish when I am in Wisconsin but the parade of pontoons out on their nightly booze cruises is very annoying. For those that do kayak, make sure you are withing USCG guidelines. My brother in law is a big night fisherman and for Christmas one year I bought him a full set of nav lights for his yak. A sailing vessel, or one under oars, of less than 7 meters in length shall if practical exhibit red and green sidelights, and a stern light visible from at least one mile away. However if she does not, she can have ready at hand an electric torch or lighted lantern showing a white light which shall be exhibited in sufficient time to prevent collision.

All of Brittle is shore accessible for the most part and that's where the heads like to congregate. Do they still rent jon boats? I know they used to.

Nice feesh in anybody's book!!

To label a lake "hard to fish" I think it needs to be an on-going issue. All lakes can be hard to fish at some point or another but to really be considered a tough lake, it needs to be hard to fish on a consistent basis. The lakes I am going to in Wisconsin next week are hard to fish and have been that way for the last 5 years. Why??? Because they decided to kill off all of the aquatic grass growth and the fishing tanked. It is slowly coming back (the fishing) but it is still "tough." There usually is an issue you have to negotiate to catch fish on a tough lake. The key is finding out what makes it tough.

Waupaca, King Chain of lakes. Been going for 22 years. Rent a cottage on Sunset Lake. Have rented on McCrossen and Dake through the years. Mostly pontoon lakes and used to have AWSOME fishing but they decided to spray the grass and the fishing tanked. There are some Lake Trout in there but I have never caught one. I have caught Largies, Smallies and all of the different panfish as well as a Tiger Musky, regular Musky and Pike. It has come back in the last few years but nothing like it used to be. I always find them but it's been much more of a challenge. That's ok though, I've got a week to figure them out. I used to fish Winniconnie and the Fox River every year up there as well but the gentleman I used to take out sadly passed away last year so I'll just stay on the chain.

I grew up on these. http://www.joetessplace.com/

Good balanced view. If you listen to the rod makers you need a different combo for every different bait you fish. While I do have rod action preferences for different techniques, there is a LOT of carryover and multi use scenarios you can use your rods for.

Just be advised that you will go through more baits with this rigging as your line will cut any excess plastic in front of the hook eye and cause your bait to tear when you do hook up. My preference is to try and get the nose of the plastic just over the hook eye and control the action by where I insert the hookpoint when I initially rig it. Can't argue with success but just pointing out it will cost you some baits.

I am with Tom 100% on this. My dropshot spinning reel is spooled with 6-8lb mono......period. I wouldn't be against using fluro but in my experience it doesn't behave well on spinning rods. Most line twist is due to the way your bait is rigged. If it spins when you retrieve it, there will be twist no doubt. It is also a problem when you oversize the bait. I never bought into the braid + leader craze for the same reasons. More failure points. I have caught 5lb + smallies on this setup for 15 years on Lake St Clair and plenty of bass here in Virginia. Since the bait is above the weight in a dropshot presentation I don't need any additional sensitivity with quality gear. I'm sure Ill be catching a lot of dropshot fish next week on my annual trip to Wisconsin and their clear water. And the only bait I have ever tied a swivel to is a C-Rig. Call me old skool.

Depends on the motor. My Mercury had one built into the fuel system and was located on the side of the motor. Mercury specifically advises not to add any additional filters. My Yamaha has an oil filter size water seperator built into the fuel lines and mounted in the bilge. It's an annual change out. I am getting ready to go to Wisconsin on an annual fishing trip and just did the filter change on my motor. There was a little water in the separator (but not enough to set off the alarm) and one of the filters, so we did a fuel sample and it came out good.

I use simple green on some things but NEVER on my seats or vinyl parts. It's actually a product that Ranger specifically states not to use.

I have an engineer buddy who firmly believes that all additives are snake-oil. He studies all of the MSDS sheets and debunks every one including the most popular. With that being said, I still run Yamaha Ring Free to help with the carbon and Sta-bil when the boat is going to sit. Non corn gas is just not available to me and I run mid grade to help with detonation. Keeping in mind that if your fuel phase separates, there is no miracle in a can that can reverse that and you are going to have to get it out of your tank. Key is to not let that happen.

I am heading out Friday to Wisconsin and a chain of lakes that have "ski" lakes and "no-wake" lakes. Best of both worlds. Of course, the ski lakes are some of the better fishing lakes but they can't start until 10:30am. That gives me time to fish my spots before they get started and then either brave the wakes or move to a no-wake lake. I do like that set-up.

I throw a Yamamoto DShad a LOT. It is one of my go to baits. I have rigged it many different ways but weightless is the most deadly for me. Depending on how I want the bait to act, the key is where you insert the hook in the nose for a weightless Texas Rigged bait. Straight in the center will give you a flat level fall. to the top and the bait will dive when you twitch it, to the bottom and the bait will climb on the twitch. Likewise left or right of center will move the bait sideways. There are a lot of minor adjustments in between those that I mentioned that will dictate the baits movement.

I rep for Quantum but don't comment here because of the site rules. I use a lot of the Smoke series rods and reels both baitcasters and spinning. I have had -0- problems with them. I have had some complaints on the KVD cranking rods, nothing a little epoxy didn't fix though.

There are a lot of methods that some will claim eliminate twist. The ONLY sure fire way I have ever found is to spool your reel, then walk off the line in your driveway or yard and spool it back up. You can do it on the water if you are in a boat but you have to move the boat pretty far to get all of the line off.

That's why the smiley face. It's all good. For the record, I don't intentionally kill or eat largemouth or smallmouth but I respect those who do under the established size and creel limits. We all have a choice within the established laws and regulations.

We just hashed this out in another "keep or kill" thread. I got villianized by some for killing snakehead at the request of Virginia VDGIF. Here you have the option to return the fish to the water alive or dead but if you decided to keep one it has to be dead. You cannot put a live snakehead in your livewell. VDGIF would rather you kill, keep or not. Anglers are required to report snakeheads kept but are not required to kill them if caught and immediately released. Snakeheads must be dead if in possession (contained in live well, cooler, etc.) However, the Department asks that all snakeheads be killed if possible. If an angler wishes to keep a legally caught northern snakehead, the fish must be killed to be in possession, and the angler must call the hotline or other VDGIF contact and report the angler’s last name, date of catch, location of catch, and size. Kill the fish by: removing the head, separating the gill arches from the body, or removing the internal organs and put it on ice as quickly as possible.

Sometimes bigger is not better. Common problem if you upsize the struts is that if you don't close and lock your lids they will open in rough water or when you hit wakes.

First thing....Try to keep them from launching. That's why you see the pro's ski them across the top of the water if they can. Keeps the fish from getting the tail leverage to jump or shake their head. Also depends on what you have hooked them with. Some presentations are more prone to coming unbuttoned when they jump.

When I lived in Florida I thought it was fun teasing a small gator with my buzzbait. Right up until it decided to follow it into my boat!!