Russ E

when I am in the boat I usually do not stop to eat a meal. often times just snack on venison sticks throughout the day, with a Powerade or bottle of water.

I agree. fishing has been tough for me lately. Luckily have not been skunked yet, but numbers and size have been low for a month. the lakes I have fished the last couple weeks are around 65 degrees. needs to drop another 5-10 degrees. with the current forecast, that may not happen for awhile.

I run the chatterbait a lot slower than I do a spinnerbait. Just fast enough to feel the blade thumping. On average I catch bigger fish on the chatterbait. It works good around weed beds. One thing I have learned when slow rolling a chatterbait, is you often do not feel a bite. All you notice is the blade stops thumping. If that happens I set the hook.

frogg toggs. after trying several other brands, they are the only ones that keep me cool in summer and they are not ridiculously expensive like some.

The chatterbait has replaced a spinnerbait in nearly every situation, for me, except fishing around wood. Then it is usually a combination of white and chartreuse.

20lb. sunline sniper.

Could never get into ice fishing. Fortunately where I live, fall lasts a little longer. Also I can bowhunt deer here through January, because of extended seasons and multiple doe tags. By February I can start hitting the power plant lakes. Even though february is still cold. It's better than sitting around the house.

If a lake has a lot of vegetation, the die off in fall can drive fish away. I have found bass in these type of lakes in the fall, In the back of coves that have a feeder creek. this brings in fresh water that attracts baitfish.

Looks like a creek chub. Trout streams in northern Iowa, where I grew up were loaded with them. They make great catfish bait.

In the kansas city area there are 3 that I know of. Wyandotte county lake and shawnee mission lake in Kansas requires a county boat and fishing permit. Smithville lake in Missouri requires a county permit for vehicle and boat. As a former Iowan I feel your pain. Never heard of county fishing permits until I moved here. Fortunately I bought all of the required permits.

in my own experiences muddy water tends to shut off the Smallmouth bite a lot more than the the largemouth. around here muddy water usually drives Largemouth shallow. Smallmouth seem to all but disappear, until water clears back up. that is on the Kansas lakes I fish. it may be different in Minnesota. If the water is muddy I would try something that makes noise like a chatterbait, spinnerbait, or crankbait. good luck

welcome

if you are having the late warm weather we are having, the fish are in a bit of a funk right now. water temp was 76 degrees today. seems like the summer patterns are not working anymore and the fall patterns have not started. finessed a few fish with the ned rig. and caught a couple slow rolling a chatterbait.

there are weekly tournaments circuits on a couple lakes near me. they found if you spread the winnings out to more places instead of, just a few places, they get a lot better turnout. both pay 1 place for every 5 entries.

my father in law had a 16 ft v bottom with a tiller steer 40hp on it. it did not have power tilt/trim. to get on plane with 3 people he had to manually put the motor on the lowest trim position. this made the boat push a lot of water and it did not go very fast. he put a hydrofoil on it. then he could trim the motor up a couple notches, but could still get on plane and go quite a bit faster

thanks

been wanting to make my own shakyheads, but have not found a mold I liked. do you have a good shakyhead mold suggestion?

unfortunately we now live in a society where people are often very sensitive, and take offense to nearly everything.. especially on social media where you don't have to face someone during a confrontation. if you were here last night that was a good example of someone being ultra sensitive and arguing about nothing for nearly 8 hours. I bet it would have never happened if it was a face to face confrontation. On social media, I generally try to keep my comments to myself, just so I don't have to deal with the nonsense. on the line of economy rods and reels. I own a few combos under $100.00. I also own several that are much more expensive. generally you get what you pay. more expensive rods are usually more sensitive and responsive.

i use megastrike pro series if fishing rocks or do nothing banks. if I am fishing around weeds or wood, I use Bagley shaky heads 1/8 oz. in less than 10ft of water. up to 1/4 oz in deeper water or in wind.

Well Batman, let us know if it attracts the riddler or the Joker. better yet, let us know if it catches fish. Curious to see how well it works.

If you added a vibrating jig and a finesse jig to your list, I would say yes. go to the top of this page and select videos then select jigs. there is a lot of information here on jig fishing.

heard good things about suffix. plan on trying it next time I change line.

I agree 8lb.mono is the max I use on spinning gear. Anymore and I go to braid or switch over to casting gear. While Stren works well, I personally have had better luck with Trilene XL on spinning gear.

congratulations.

A line conditioner, like kvd line and lure conditioner, works great. I use it on any reel that does not have braid