TOXIC

I did a little experiment to see just how long and how many fish I could catch on 1, 5in Senko. Tally was 30.::That being said, I’m a stickler for proper rigging and that helps with the longevity of a Senko. First was Texas rigged weightless on a 4.0 ewg hook. After the head got ripped, I bit off about a 1/4 inch. After it got ripped enough again, I turned the Senko backwards and finally, I wacky rigged it. That’s just keeping it weightless. I could have bit off more and used it on a Ned or a dropshot or a jig trailer or any number of different ways. I don’t like to fish a Senko in a weightless rig more than a couple of ways because it destroys the action. I’ve told the story about a friend who flew in from Australia to fish with us on St Clair and he found my pile of discarded baits in the cup holder and caught fish all day on them.?

Before the Yamamoto buyout, you could also buy the skirt separate from the twin tail to customize them color wise. I’m not sure that option is still available.

That’s exactly why I don’t like braid for dropshotting. My brain starts smoking trying to figure out all of the information being transmitted. ?

I’m going to assume the UP water is still going to be cold. We are heading to St Clair this week and looking at 55-60 degree water temps. The UP water will be colder. That being said and to keep it simple, I would take a dropshot, Ned and jerkbait setups. As an extra, smaller swimbaits. Good luck! ?

Easy answer……..throw moving baits until you get the “feel”:back. Crankbait, spinnerbait, swimbait, chatterbait, etc., all leave very little guesswork as to when you get a bite. If you are fishing plastics, aside from punching, you are IMHO, overpowered and your setup isn’t helping you any.

I only Texas rig but wacky is very, very popular. Neither one has a water temp advantage. More likely it’s a cover issue. Throwing a wacky rigged Senko in weeds, wood or any other heavy cover is more likely to get you hung up or fouled due to the exposed hook. If I had to defend the water temperature theory, I would say that wacky works better in cold water due to the fact that colder water would decrease the action of a weightless Senko and wacky rigged, you have less of the hook in the bait making it more “free” to have more action.

It is a smallmouth slayer and ranks right up there with a tube in effectiveness. Normal way to rig is on a 1/4oz football head jig, hook exposed and worked just like a tube. I have used a screw in bullet weight and 4.0 Gamakatsu EWG hook Texas rigged to pitch at beds and punch.

Yamamoto Hula Twin Tailed grub for the win.

Amber increases visibility in low light conditions. Clear does not. Since polarization takes the glare off the water, you need a color additive to increase/enhance visibility.

Honestly? I use Bass Pro Excel mono. Why? Because it’s mono and it’s reasonably priced. Last time I checked, Johnny Morris hasn’t bought a fishing line manufacturing plant so one of the name brands already listed makes it for and then packages it for Bass Pro. Do I know which one? Nope. Nor do I care. It’s mono and it performs well. Just spooled up 6lb for Ned rig and 8lb for dropshot for my trip to St Clair next week.

Just a note to my post. My buddy with his front facing sonar monster puck up front on his ghost troller, the Grass Goat would not work. Per his research there is a product that would work but it is in the $200 range. ?

So sorry for your loss. We just went through it with our 2nd Weimaraner. The pain is real but be comforted by the pease of mind that comes with knowing you did the right thing at the right time. It’s the best comfort I have found.

I have one that is called The Grass Goat. Have run it in all kinds of vegetation. Kissimmee grass, eel grass, pads, water willow, millfoil, hydrilla, and a few more I’m sure. It has worked well.

For 25 of the 30 years we have lived on our 3 acres, I did a lot of mowing. I also cleared and maintained my forest section. It looked like a park and took me 2 years to clear. I added a small koi pond by stacking interlocking landscaping stones on a section of less steep cliff that my house is built on. Lined it with rubber pond material, installed a filtration system and a small waterfall. When I got detailed to Florida for 2 years, everything changed. Wife couldn’t handle the koi pond maintenance and the forest got somewhat reclaimed. We hired someone to mow the yard around the house. When I came back, I filled in the koi pond and put a swing there. Decided to let the forest go back to a natural state. I actually like it better and so does the wildlife. I gave away my lawn tractor and kept the landscaper?.

Funny you post that. My buddy who’s boat I am towing with his hitch uses one on his truck and removes it every time. Kind of a pain needing a wrench every time but it works as advertised. I think I am going to start removing mine because I bought a plain hitch pin yesterday to replace the locking one and it can be stolen easily when I am not towing.

Haha. As usual I have everything from sun shirts, buffs and shorts to hoodies, 100mph suit and long Johns packed. 20 years has not been wasted on me.?

Hoping they are still pre spawn when we are there. Unless you guys get some tropical weather between now and the 20th it should be good timing for us. Last year we were early by a week from our normal date and got lucky there was a week of unusually warm weather before we got there, a week of super warm weather the week we were there and then it snowed the week after we left. Crazy!

There’s a little known traffic law here in Virginia that makes it a ticketable offense to leave it in. I never take mine out. As for busted shins, Gator Guards makes a rubber shin protector for hitches. Works well. You can see it on mine.

If you’ve ever seen where a tow vehicle hits something or gets in an accident with a boat in tow, 99% of the time the boat is separated from the trailer. Sorry to say not even chains will hold most boats on the trailer. Now to keep it from bouncing or sliding, you’re good to go with a heavy duty strap(s).

Just a heads up to do a little receiver hitch check once in a while. Getting ready to head out for Lake St Clair in a couple of weeks and will be pulling my buddies 2020 Ranger. I have pulled it to Florida but we discovered that my drop doesn’t keep this boat as level as it should. My 2005 Ranger sits perfectly level. EzLoader now makes Ranger trailers so that may be the difference. Anyway, we are going to use the receiver off of his truck for this trip so I needed to remove mine. I had a locking Masterlock hitch pin that had been on since 2016 and I knew it was going to be a little gummed up even though it had a rubber cover over the key slot. Boy was I right. I soaked the key slot and internals with WD40 but it was a no go. I had 2 options. Get out the sawzall and cut the stainless pin or get out the drill and drill out the lock. I chose the latter and it drilled out fairly easily. I also took the opportunity to spray rust converter in the hitch and on my draw bar and follow up with some bed liner. I’ve seen pictures of draw bars that look fine on the outside and have totally rusted away inside the receiver. Going forward, I think I am going to go with the old style lynch pin instead of the locking style. Especially since most of my buddies tell me that a locking pin can be popped off in 10 seconds with a wrench if you know what you are doing. Just a word to the wise to check your receiver!

Just wanted to give a shout out to a company I have no affiliation with but offers a great service at a good price and delivers! For some reason I only had one key to my factory installed aluminum tonneau cover on my truck. I know I had a spare and was looking for it to put on my spare set of truck keys. Whenever we take the truck on a fishing trip, I always make sure my buddy has my spare set of truck keys. We are off to lake St Clair in a couple of weeks and I decided to replace my lost one plus another for good measure. I could have probably gone to Home Depot, Lowes or the local hardware store and got a replacement made since I had one but I went ahead and ordered on line. Keys got here in 2 days and worked great. They carry keys for a lot of products. Office equipment, tool boxes, and more. They will not do car or house keys though. I didn’t ask if they do boat locker keys but I wouldn’t be surprised if they do.

If I remember correctly, the Detroit River is the first to turn on for walleye with the St Clair river following later correct? The cold water coming out of Huron slowing the spawn down?

We have in the past. Went up the St Clair river all the way to Lake Huron jigging for them with limited success. We have a guy who lives on the island that is a walleye master and he usually stops by whatever cottage we are in for dinner most every night. As payback, he gives us enough walleye fillets for a good feed. That’s not to say that if we get into a good mess of Walters while smallmouth fishing, we don’t fill the live wells! We got into a school one year that for the entire week, we could go to a spot at the end of the day and catch a limit with SPRO Little John cranks. We did it for 2 dinners. Rods ready to go. I have really paired down the last couple of years.

I’m not that much “in the know” but they would have a long way to go to match Pure Fishing. It’s more like a successful outdoor company expanding in the most logical way. Possibly gives me a chance to try out Bill Lewis cranks vs the SPRO I have used up to this point. I have always used a couple of Rattle Traps that have a unique color but once again, I was a devoted Aruku Shad user.

GSM Outdoors, the recent purchaser of Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits just added another iconic brand to its stable. https://www.theoutdoorwire.com/releases/12661544-868e-4cae-b404-437c96c2581d