nmatthes

I am tentatively planning a trip to Lake St. Clair to fish for smallmouth, one of the first two weeks of October. Usually fish mille lacs but just moved to indiana, hopefully they are similar! Solo trip as of now, if interested shoot me a message.

Feels to me as you are junk fishing, I could be wrong though. Throwing differing baits depending on the environment you are immediately faced with in front of you and there is nothing wrong with that. If you are fishing from shore this is probably your most productive strategy and trying to pattern fish may not be the most helpful. Patterning fish could look a million different ways. Here is an example: You show up to a lake and know fish will be chasing bait fish early morning and you chose to throw topwater baits along your most most productive shore lines. Choosing specific shore lines based on past experiences and trip logs that you know have active fish on them. If the sun is out, this particular lake has standing timber and you have figured out the fish chase bait in the standing timber in 20 ft of water, so you choose specific spots with standing timber and 20ft of water. If cloudy you know the fish will stay a little shallower and hand out of hard spots and rock, chasing these fish with crank baits is most productive. Patterning = Planning ahead in my mind. If I get on a pattern then I know exactly the next 3-5 spots I am going to fish if I am at a lake I know well. Versus the opposite which is free wheeling it and saying ohhh this spot looks good lets see if it is productive.

I would say start with location. Can you answer - Why you are catching fish, where you are catching them at that time of the day/season? Where are the fish doing at a certain point in the day? Once you can answer that, then start to look for finer details.

Iowa lakes have been man made so anything that is structure and natural to the bottom of the lake has been silted in. Most natural lakes you would be looking for channel swings, hard spots, creek channels, etc. I would find isolated cover and fish it. Most lakes in Iowa have DNR made cover that most people without fish finders do not know about. I would start by finding isolated structure and then go from there.

In my experience they are! and especially if they are not suspending on bait. That's why I was curious if you had any luck.

Definitely thermocline. Any luck catching the suspended fish?

If you get to Iowa/have relatives in iowa? There are two really nice old town canoes on craigslist for free right now. Just an option!

They will love it, thanks!

The High School Bass Club I am in charge of would love a donation!

Not charged correctly. That tells me the batteries are almost fully depleted. Something is funky. Hard to pinpoint what it is without being there and seeing the setup, etc.

You had 10.63 directly at the battery?

If money is not a factor both of those nets beat this net but if you are on a budget this is the best net for the money hands down

Yes you lose voltage as the battery is used. You need to charge your batteries as soon as possible after you stop using your batteries. Do you think your batteries are fully charged? If you think they are fully charged but you only have 29 volts, you have a problem with your charger.

Whats your budget?

Caught another Iowa giant 7 lbs 5 oz.

Best advice I can give is only bring two or three rods setup for off shore fishing and only do that until you find success. It may suck and it may be tough fishing but it will be rewarding and you will learn a ton.

Correct me if I am wrong but aren't they fishing the opens to try and qualify for the classic? The FLW super tournament was added later in the year and would provide them no benefits other than a slightly larger check than the opens. The opens on the other hand would provide a check and qualification to the classic. Could be completely off base but this was my rationale.

Hopping a big worm off the bottom is one of my favorite summer patterns/techniques. Also good for fishing standing timber.

Depending on your mechanical knowledge and/or what you are willing to spend. I would present him the facts of what's wrong with the boat and how much it is going to get it fixed at a shop. If you can do it yourself all the better. Then haggle the price from there. If he wont move off of $4200 then let it sit for awhile. If someone else buys it, then so be it, other deals to be had out there. Get the boat at a price you think you are stealing it for and go from there.

Idk what you settings look like, but on my bird if I get return from the top of the water column/surface, I will turn down my sensitivity.

Those are fish! Drop down a bait and let em have it!

Be aware, you are in the sellers season not the buyers season, so have cash on hand and be ready to buy when a good deal pops up. Good deals will be available as people become strapped for cash during this high unemployment spike. Be ready!

Ill be the first to post a try at it. Here is my attempt. Copperhead Brown head and bucktail used for the hair.

Jigs........Jigs

Anyone know of or heard of a water temp for Mille Lacs? thanks!