TOXIC

That’s bait shop price.😱

@TnRiver46 yes, it was a crazy bite. I was throwing a SPRO Little John in the clear water and as I retrieved it, a school of white bass all that size were chasing it to the boat. We had a multiple species trip with smallmouth, largemouth, white bass, walleye, drum, yellow perch, pike, musky, rock bass, and even a few sun fish/bluegill/pumpkinseed.

Personally, I don’t use live bait. When I was guiding, I would use shiners for Crappie trips since the catch rate went up, I had inexperienced anglers and they were keeping the fish for table fare. I see the guides on Headwaters in Florida spend a lot of time with shiners for bass. Client pays for the bait at $35 a dozen and a good starting number is 6-10 dozen for a half day trip. My theory is all these guides gather in the same spots and turn them into feeding stations for the bass. The bass aren’t smart enough to become live bait shy. My theory was proven when one of the guides posted he caught a largemouth that has 3 circle hooks in its mouth.

They do make pontoons set up for fishing with sit down chairs on the front deck, trolling motors and livewells. There are guides here in Virginia that run pontoons rigged with outriggers and rod holders trolling for striper. They also have huge baitwell tanks. We rent a pontoon in Wisconsin and a couple of my nieces husbands fish off it. Not me. I did submarine one once when too many were sitting up front and I crossed a big wake. 😂😎

Just posted in the Smallmouth forum.

Grab a cup of Joe, sit back and I’ll tell you about our trip to Lake St Clair in Michigan for this year. We were there 05/17-05/25. We stayed on Harsens island in the same cottage we have used the last 4 years. It’s on a canal in the St Clair river with Canada meeting us halfway across. This year we had 6 anglers, my self and my regular fishing partner that I have gone up with for the last 21 years in a 2022 Ranger Z520L with a 250 mercury 4 stroke, a friend who lives in Maryland and is a DC fire Chief who has gone the last 9 years and his nephew who was a first timer from Massachusetts in a 2023 Ranger Z520L with a 250 Evenrude and finally our last boat of first timers were a Fireman from Pennsylvania and another friend of ours who has gone on some of our Florida trips from West Virginia in an early 2000’s Bullet 21 foot custom built hull with a Mercury 300 race modified motor. I had major concerns with this boat taking on St Clair but luckily we had pretty good weather and his biggest concern was keeping that motor fueled up. He did run out of gas one day. On to the fishing……We missed the first big wave of spawners due to a long warm streak 3 weeks before we got there. Then the cold weather moved back in and pushed late first wave spawners back a bit. We got there during a warming trend and a full moon. We hit the stragglers from the first wave post spawn, the second wave just moving in for pre spawn and bedding fish. We actively try to stay off the community holes and catching fish that have been previously caught. During the entire trip our boat only caught 5 that had previously been caught. Considering all 3 of our boats with 6 anglers caught on average 50-60 fish per angler, per day, I was satisfied with that. We did take the newbies to Big Muscamoot and Little Muscamoot to show them what smallmouth beds looked (we had a slew GPS marked) like and to teach them some bed fishing techniques but we didn’t stay there for long. We also took them to one of our more secret spots off the Middle Channel that you would never find unless you were looking for it. This spot produced some largemouth, smallmouth and even musky/pike. Areas we fished….Big and Little Muscamoot, the wreck in front of Metro Beach, Metro, Mile Roads, Anchor Bay, Selfridge, mouth of the Salt river, the St Clair River for Walleye and in front of the 400 Club. None of these are special or secret but it’s more of a spot on a spot that we’ve learned on our many trips. Takeaways….It was a total blast watching the first timers experience this lake for the first time. Granted, they had some serious experience putting them in great locations with us being very familiar but after reading and hearing all of our stories over the years, it finally hit home how magical this place is. They also gained a higher level of respect for me and my fishing partner after following us to the St Clair River and watching us jump up on deck in 3 foot rollers and jig for Walleye in 7 knot current. They never even took of their pfd’s and headed off to calmer bays. Couple of downsides that we saw this year. First, one of the prime spawning areas is Little Muscamoot. The water averages 1-3 feet. It’s fairly easy to spot beds in the crystal clear water and the locals complain about “tourist” fishermen going in there and ravaging bedding smallmouth. While we somewhat agree and try to stay out of there unless forced in by weather plus we try to fish for “roamers” more than bedded fish, if we do go in there. Locals have -0- room to talk after what we saw this year. Since it is so shallow, Little Muscamoot warms quicker and has become a bay for party boats and weekend raft offs. We saw so many red solo cups, beer cans, soda cans, vape pens and other assorted trash laying on the bottom it was disgusting. What was even more saddening was the smallmouth beds that were trampled and totally destroyed from people walking on them. For those that don’t know, smallmouth reuse existing beds from previous years in addition to making new ones. Second downside and my last negative is not so much a gripe as it is a frustration. When we pull up on a spot, we try to stay a respectable distance from other fishermen. Since we had 3 boats fishing together, it was almost guaranteed that we were going to get encroached on but……we had multiple instances where we would catch a fish and immediately there were 4 or 5 boats within a cast length of us. We even had boats come off plane and settle 30 feet from us and we had guys motoring through at idle who would stop and drop the trolling motor if they saw us catch a fish. We warned the first timers this would happen and to keep their cool but it was frustrating. We had a little grass bed from years past marked out in front of the 400 Club on the Mile Roads. There were 3 boats in there when we pulled up with our 3. 6 boats on a spot on the weekend is like a beacon to bent pole fishermen and I’m not kidding you, we counted, there were almost 100 boats in that area when we decided to leave. It was the weekend if that is any consolation. Even with those gripes Lake St Clair is a very special place that we will return to every year as long as we are able. I’ll post some pics just of me since I don’t like to put up other people.

It wouldn’t be a problem fo me. Cut its horns, wipe its butt, and throw it on a plate. I’m good.😂

We had a guy on our St Clair trip who is a pizza connoisseur. He has a portable pizza oven and another at his house that he imported from Italy. He made us traditional Detroit style pizza this year, makes his own dough, sauce, etc. A real treat.

Are you replacing your troller? If it’s a 24 volt motor and you hook it up to 36 you are going to fry it. Or am I missing something?

As of right now, a SPRO Little John In Cell Mate. I have a whole bunch of Buckeye cranks to try and see if they can unseat the SPRO’s.

Just got home. I’ll do a post soon. This was a numbers year. Due to the early stretch of warm weather, we pretty much missed the first wave of big girls but we got into numbers and averaged 50-75 fish each a day and there were 6 of us fishing. Best was a little over 5lbs and we probably caught 10 in that weight class for the week. Great trip and we took 3 guys who had never been. They were in shock by the end of the week. 😂

We take portable fuel cells to Michigan because we are on an island and unless you want to pay out the nose for marina gas, we would have to load the boats back on the trailers and take the ferry back across to go to a gas station. We have done the old style 5 gallon plastic cells, the new style plastic cells and since both styles suck to try and fill while inside the boat, I have settled on a 14 gallon portable that I put in the back of my truck, fill before we get on the ferry, wheel it out on the dock and use a battery powered transfer pump to fill the boat. Even the guys who use the 5 gallon cells use a pump. If I had need for that much fuel usage at home I would use the cell but I don’t so it gets emptied out after the trip and stored until the next year.

The old saying “You want to get to know someone, spend a day with them in the boat” is really true. I have a bunch of friends that I can fish with but I only have a couple fishing “partners”. One is my old tournament partner who was also with me in the guide service but he lives a ways away and is an avid waterfowl hunter so we don’t get out nearly as much. The other is a guy I have fished with for the last 20 years. We have developed a tried and true system that maximizes our catch rates. It helps that we are very good friends and we also take fishing trips together. We are leaving for St Clair this Friday. My wife has -0- desire to spend the day in the boat never has, never will and that’s ok.

Keep using them. Cheap insurance and peace of mind.

Just realized Yamamoto has discontinued the bubblegum color in the ShadShape. That’s disappointing. It’s one of my best spring smallmouth colors. Luckily I have a pretty large supply. I will begin conservation efforts on those😂

I have a full selection of Yamamoto DShads. Never leave home without them. I fish them many different ways.

Or the second wave of spawners. Ideal for us because we can catch them in pre spawn, spawn and post spawn. We have spots that are off shore and in some pretty isolated spots that get overlooked by the masses.

Congrats! Right behind you. Going up the 17th-25th.

Did you really think I could let this one pass….🤣😂

I had a very slight vibration braking from hiway speeds.when we examined the pads and rotors, both were as expected from age and wear. Could have probably gone another 25-30k but I wasn’t happy with the stopping power from the oem setup. These weren’t bad to change out. The ones on my 3/4 ton HD were a bear. And another tip from experience, break them in by the book. Do exactly as they instruct. It sets the bar for the lifespan of the setup.

For me each lake or river I fish has its own “box”. Take St Clair for example. We’ve been going every year for the last 20 years. Will be leaving on the 17th for our 21st year. There are some baits that are proven producers to some extent every year. BUT….it always seems that one bait will stand out every year and we have to rotate through our box to find which one it is. One year it was a Senko, one year it was a DShad deadsticked, one year it was SPRO Little John crankbaits, one year it was jerk baits, one year it was dropshots, one year it was the Ned rig, one year due to conditions it was something I came up with called the “Wong Rig” named after lady bass pro Judy Wong. Now add to the mix that there are many options of plastics that can go on Ned’s and dropshots for example. Pro Senko, Shad Shape Worm, California Roll, etc., then add in all of the different plastic colors, some of which have proven to be better than others and you have a lot of considerations. All of these are “in the box” and it usually takes a couple days to refine what’s going to work, along with spattering in new baits and techniques to see if they are worthy to be added to the box. That box is different on every body of water I fish.

GSM is really putting a lot of brands into its product line AND they are expanding those lines offerings as well. Just look at what they’ve done with Yamamoto and the number of new offerings from them. Their current fishing lineup: Yamamoto Baits Steelshad Bill Lewis Buckeye Big Bite Cuda Bucca Brand Frog Factory Phenix Rods Dobyns Rods Mid America Rod Company

Been using an artificial chamois, like the “Absorber” for as long as they have been made. Always carried a couple of extras in my boat for summer clients on guide trips.

2016 Silverado, 5.3, 1/2 ton. I pull 2 boats all over the east coast. A 21 foot Ranger dual axle and a 20 foot Ranger dual axle. Decided to upgrade my brakes at 75k. It’s got 91k on it now. I went with the Powerstop pads and slotted rotors. I have been very happy with them. Less dust and waaaay better stopping power from my oem setup. I also flushed the brake fluid at the same time. I would highly recommend you do that as well. I had a brake line failure on my last truck a 2004, 3/4 ton from the line rusting from the inside out. Almost put the truck and trailer in the Potomac river.

I see your problem, no spinning rigs with DShad, Ned, or dropshot. 😉