TOXIC

In Michigan it’s illegal to power load and if you get caught you’ll get a ticket from the Minnow Marshall. I’ve seen a lot of ruined axles and leaf spring hangers from dropping off the end of the ramp. We fish a lot of rivers and storms can wash out the end of a ramp if it’s exposed. With a dual axle, you can get away with dropping the rear set off but it’s a fine line and you better know what you are doing.

Exactly. I don’t have an issue with line twist on my drop shot anymore than any other plastic. I also don’t like adding failure points to my setups. I don’t use a leader either for that same reason. I do however rig all of my dropshot baits Texas style on a #1 Gamakatsu EWG. Most all line twist is a result of poor rigging which causes the bait to spin. That being said, I will occasionally feed out a couple casts of line with nothing on it and retrieve it pinched between my fingers to get rid of any twist.

You have options. We fish a structure covered river that is notorious for stealing Ned rigs. Part of that is to be expected, it’s the nature of the beast. You can change the head style to a football or round head, you can change the hook style to an offset gap so you can rig it weedless, you can change the head weight to lighter or you can change your retrieve. Sometimes I use a steady retrieve, sometimes I hop it and sometimes I drag it. You’ll loose some no matter what you do.

Fishing Lake St Clair for a week straight for the last 20 years has taught us enough off shore fishing to have a masters degree.?

First, let me say overall the fishing industry at the management and sponsorship level is extremely small. I have seen it many times where the guy you pizzed off yesterday is your boss today. I’ve had it happen to me. It’s very easy to get a bad reputation when you jump from company to company for a better deal. The only ones who can somewhat get away with it are the touring pros. I could list all of my current/past sponsors and be totally comfortable with how my relationship with them either ended or continues. I can give you an examples of companies I was with for over 15 years and after they were sold the entire pro staff could never get a response from the new owners. Likewise I have been with companies who, when sold, trimmed pro staff dropping some touring pros but kept me on. Why? Because the name of the game is selling product and not predicated on how you finished in your fruit jar or club tournament on Saturday. There’s soooo much that goes into the sponsorship side of the industry that I could write pages from the lessons I have learned over the years.

I’ve given this tip before and will restate it again….If you are going to weight a Senko, save your $$ and buy the cheaper knockoffs. As for it ruining the action, without a doubt it does. In order for a Senko to have its trademark shimmy or wiggle as it falls, it has to be horizontal. Any nose weight or tail weight and it will not fall horizontal. You might still get some action if wacky rigged with a weight. Will weighting it still catch fish? Of course but you are playing to a different bite when you weight it.

Might help if we knew where you are located and where you fish.?

Up until last year on Okeechobee, in my 40+ years of fishing with a good portion guiding I lost a grand total of 2 rods over the side. On Okeechobee we decided to run the lake instead of the rim canal and the lake was rough, really rough. As the coangler, I had my standard 8 rods on the back deck strapped in. Because we run rough water a lot, we developed a tie down system for laying rods down on the deck. One of the straps broke and 5 of my combos went for a swim. The only reason I didn’t lose more was that some tangled up with a rattletrap that got stuck in the carpet. That one hurt. ?

When I went to Big Green, I was on my way to the Chain and since I had retired and my wife was flying in to Appleton, I planned to leave a week early and fish something new. I stayed at the Acorn Ridge Motel and it was great. My other option was Mille Lacs. Decided it was too far out of my travel path. Big Green was busy but I managed quite a few and some walleyes as well.

I will add to my post that it’s loads more fun to go to the multiple fishing flea markets when they pop up around here. Great deals and lots of attendees.

It might be a small town thing. My grandparents farm was in Morehead, Iowa which at the time was a town of 300. My Great Aunt/Uncle farmed in Castana, Iowa, my Great Grandparents farmed in Turin, Iowa. For a while I lived in Fremont, Iowa which is between Ottumwa and Oskaloosa. My place had an orchard and about a 1 acre garden. All my neighbors would get together on my place and “put up” all sorts of fruits and vegetables. They helped maintain the orchard and we all shared in the bounty. We also put up field corn then. Some of the farmers that don’t like to eat field corn call it pig corn.

I was born and raised in Nebraska and spent summers on my grandparents farm in Iowa. I’ve had corn about every way imaginable. My favorite is not sweet corn, it’s regular old field corn but it is only good for about 2 weeks during the growing season.

As a rule, the old Bass O Rama that used to be held at the Richmond Raceway that in its heyday, filled 3 huge buildings, slowly went downhill and finally moved to the fairgrounds in Doswell. I used to pull boats down for a local Ranger dealer and they ended up cutting way back because of the amount the venue charged for floor space. We also set up a booth for the guide service for a while. Fishing vendors got thin and there were more siding, pots and pans and sham wow salesmen there. Prices went up because of the booth space and you got better deals at bass pro and Cabelas during their spring classic sales. Local shops like Greentop also ran sales during the event. As a distraction for the winter blues it was ok but really no deals.

I have an old Zara Spook that has Zell Rowland’s name on the side that I think is wood. You might be able to find some on eBay.

I have a 2005 Ranger Z21 and I am the 3rd owner. 1st owner was an FLW Pro who owned it for the first year. It was then owned by a retired gentleman who unexpectedly passed away after 3 years. It then sat in his brothers lot for another 3 years. It has 490 hours on the big motor. It had low 300 when I bought it. For bass boats for sale purposes, I have heard that 100 hours a year is a good average.

For a motor that old, you probably will be better off going to a custom canvass shop who makes boat covers, etc., and have one made. If you want a cover that can be left on while running the motor make sure you tell the shop that.

We are in Waupaca, King Chain of Lakes.

Well, I fit into the “used to do” category. I used to do all the work on my 93 Wrangler 4.0 High Output until it got to the point I found that if I handed a little piece of plastic with VISA written on it, the work got done faster and better. That Jeep now has 415,000 miles on it and my 25 year old daughter will not give it up. She learned to drive in it (5 speed manual) took it to college and now has it on her farm. First vehicle I bought brand new. On my black 3/4 ton I changed the brakes and rotors and man what a job with those heavy duty rotors. My toy car a 2002 Lexus SC 430 V8 hardtop convertible needs valve cover gaskets and has been collecting dust in the garage since I retired. My current truck, a 2016 High Country 1/2 ton Silverado is going to need brakes soon and my buddy talked me into us doing them and a brake fluid flush.

Just to highlight that there are some game and fish laws excluding electronics, I worked the grand opening of a Cabela’s in Oregon and one of the products I represented was a high dollar Burris laser rifle scope. It is a $3,000+ piece of equipment that laser rangefinds your target and after you enter all pertinent information into the scope like grain of bullet, etc. it will account and adjust windage and terrain and put the crosshairs dead on the target animal for very long shots. This scope is used for mountain targets like elk, antelope and goats where super long shots are necessary. Once I got there, I found out the Oregon outlaws laser rangefinders which effectively outlawed the scope.

I have fished “nearby” bodies of water like winniconnie, big green and the fox river with a lot of success but when you are staying on a chain of lakes for a family function, it’s hard to justify going off to other lakes. I will admit that the fact I have to deal with my boat by dropping it at the marina, storing my trailer because the cottage we rent is at the end of a long single tree lined lane and has a long curvy driveway with no turn around and then having to get dropped off at the marina to get the boat and bring it to the cottage dock is time consuming and a lot of extra work keeps me hesitant to pull it 2 days up and 2 days back just for terrible fishing. If I want to fish other lakes, I have to repeat the process all over.

Funny story, when the hybrid/electric vehicle craze started here in Virginia, politicians wanted to give the industry a boost so they allowed them to use the HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lanes on Route 66 going into DC. We regular commuters started calling it the Prius Lane and sales were through the roof. Funny thing was that the Prius’s are designed for city driving and when on the highway it operates more in gas mode. Add to that it took about 5 years for the same politicians to revoke the HOV status and left the owners fuming.

Just the opposite on the lakes I’m talking about. They used to be the most beautiful blue because of the marl bottom and crystal clear water. By killing all of the aquatic vegetation the water has clouded and the bottom is cover in dying vegetation. Add in all of the boating and the water is constantly stirred up and close to muddy. With the vegetation the survival rate for fry is gone. Night time fishing is the only option and I’m a good enough fisherman that if they could be caught during the day I would be able to at least boat a few but it has become very difficult. There’s no positive to the transformation of these lakes that for the longest time flew totally under the radar.

?? Not a high brow event for this part of the country. ? We live in the middle of Virginia’s equestrian industry. Great Meadow in addition to hosting their most famous event the “Gold Cup” steeplechase, has a summer season of Friday night show jumpers and Saturday night twilight polo. My 24 year old daughter has been an equestrian since she was 4 and now manages a boarding barn and has 7 horses of her own so we have been involved for a number of years.

I guess it’s because my wife’s father (RIP) was raised on the lake. His parents owned the hardware store in town and while he was alive we all met there on the lakes for a history tour every year. He showed me a place on one of the lakes that a boat sunk 100 years ago and I was actually able to go back with my bass boat electronics and find it. We have watched as historic structures like the “ice house” that held ice blocks originally, was torn down and replaced with a lake house that just looks out of place. I’ll never say it’s my place to control how the lakes are managed but I wish more were concerned about the history and less about the entertainment value. Let’s face it, the only loser in this situation are the fishermen and women and those few who wish the lakes remained frozen in time. Cottage owners make big bucks selling off family cottages, the towns and county profit from the tourist dollars, taxes and the local businesses like marinas, restaurants, bars, construction companies and all other public services get big $$ from weekend dwellers and tourists. I guess maybe I’m getting to that age where the past has more importance. My Facebook memories pop up about this time every year and I can watch the slow decline of the fishing over the last 10 years.

Decision process for yesterday….Where do we want to fish? First choice is the Rappahonock River but due to recent rains, it’s like Yoo-Hoo right now. Second choice was a new lake for us, a 500 acre electric only lake that my buddy felt confident his 4 lithium batteries could handle but due to the fact it’s somewhat primitive and we have not seen the ramp, we opted out of that. Final choice was the Potomac. Always good fish coming out of the river but the key is staying current on their location, being able to run around to find them and having good tides. All of which were in question when we launched. We found the morning bite to be good, a lot of small fish due to the fact we haven’t put our time in on the water. It was a fair day and we caught Bass, Perch, Catfish and had a blast catching Northern Snakeheads. Caught them on poppers and chatterbaits mostly and they ranged from 6-9lbs. Short day for me as I had to get home and help my wife put together a tailgate party sponsored by the non-profit she is the Executive Director of. Twighlight Polo at Great Meadows.