billmac

I certainly don't hate smallmouth, that's crazy. But after catching primarily smallmouth throughout my whole life, thousands of them, I don't get as much of a thrill out of it. Having said that, now that I have a bass boat and access to bigger waters, the prospect of catching some 4lb+ smallmouth is pretty exciting.

Hopefully I'll get to spend a few hours on Schroon Lake this Saturday. Weather looks to be fair. While I will target the normal bass and pike, I know there are lake trout and landlocked salmon in the lake. Do these require special equipment? I'm not going to go too far out of my way to catch them, but I'd give it a shot if they can be caught with normal bass gear.

The BASS collegiate tourney on the St. Lawrence in June broke the previous 3-day weigh in record by 1000 lbs (with 50 fewer boats). The average bag weight was 20 lbs. On day 1 a 20 lb bag was good for 84th place. By day three the angler's fingers were shredded from all the bass they were catching. The all time record BASS weigh in crowd was set in Waddington (pop: 952) at the St. Lawrence tourney in 2013. When BASS first started coming to the St. Lawrence in the late 70s, the pros discovered an incredible largemouth fishery that the locals largely didn't even know was there, and it was soon considered to be one of the top largemouth fisheries in the country. That fishery is still there, although smallmouth get all the attention now because they are consistently bigger fish.

I grew up on a stretch of river. When I was a kid I fished nearly every day throughout the summer. Tons of smallmouth, lots of walleye, and the occasional musky. Never caught or even saw a pike. Never. I think I read somewhere that since pike spawn earlier than musky, pike fry will eat musky fry and that's why they are often not in the same places. I don't know how true it is.

I already have an old v-hull type rowboat. Are they suitable for conversion, or does it need to be a jon boat?

Nice

I don't know if I'll ever get around to it, but I love watching jon boat to bass boat conversions, and I think it would be a blast to do one, maybe with my son. Is there a rule of thumb in terms of the type of jon boat that is suitable for this kind of thing? Does the conversion render them stable for standing?

This brings up another question: How do you rig up in places where there a lot of pike (assuming you aren't fishing for pike)? Bass don't like steel leaders, but I don't like losing 5 to 10 dollar lures to bite offs. Do you just risk it, or take precautions? I also don't like the idea of leaving a live fish with a hook in its jaw (or gullet). Even braid is no guarantee against pike teeth.

Gotcha. Thanks.

What does the temp matter?

Thanks.

I've got a Minn Kota Edge 40.

Scott, are they usually mounted behind the skeg?

I'm thinking of getting something like a Garmin Striker to mount on my bow. I have an 88 Cajun Maverick. What are my options for placing the transducer? It seems like mounting it on the trolling motor is asking for trouble. It's not unheard of for me to scrape the bottom if I'm not paying attention or perhaps fighting a fish. Is there a safer place?

If you are on the water for 4 or 5 hrs, it automatic the best way to go? I don't know how much of a drain a livewell pump can be.

My old 88 Cajun Maverick (my first bass boat) has a livewell in the stern and a small baitwell in the bow. It looks like they each have an input pipe, and of course an overflow hole and a drain. The livewell pump switch is in the front, and it has two settings, on, and automatic. I've never used it. I'm mostly an C&R guy. But if I do, what should I do? I'm assuming it simply circulates fresh water into the well. It doesn't appear to have an aerator. What does "automatic" do, circulate occasionally, whereas on circulates continuously?

It's important that you use a lure that isn't designed to just sink to the bottom and lay there. That's key.

It takes work, but if you keep at it you can master it. It involves casting a yellow mister twister meeney spin into the wind and getting a nasty backlash. Let the bait sink to the bottom while you pick out the backlash. I was worried about getting tangled in the trolling motor, so I reeled in over the backlash and pulled in a smallmouth. I cast out again to get at the backlash, finally got it picked out, and reeled in a nice (26" or so) northern pike. I think this one will probably catch on.

Oddly, it seemed to work fine today. Oh well.

My recent old bass boat purchase included a Lowrance Hook 7 fish finder. Every time I start the unit, it comes up so dark I can barely see it. I've had to reset the unit back to default settings (no big deal in itself). But the next time I start it up, it's dark again. Any ideas?

Saying "this is what I do" isn't the same as "this is what everyone should do". So he doesn't hunt and has reasons. That's fine. I don't hunt anymore either. It's not as much fun as fishing and I find it harder to kill things personally as I get older. I'm not saying that is the attitude everyone should have.

Although I will target specific species, I just like to catch fish. If all I can find is a big school of horned dace or 4 inch bluegill, I'll put on a tiny hook and have some fun. I don't think there's a fish that I wouldn't try to catch, except perhaps eels. Anyone else?

I've caught all of these in jig and spinner combos, but if I was actually targeting muskies I probably wouldn't use one because I'd be looking for a bigger bait.

The only fish I've seen thrown up on the bank here in northern NY are bowfin, and there aren't many waters that contain them. Perhaps some shiners too. We get some big shiners. Walleye can be challenging to catch, but I wouldn't call them fun. They are delicious and that's the draw. Bass are fun, but they don't taste good and are wormy up here. Pike are explosive and fun to catch, but they are a pain to clean. Good eating though. The trouble with pike is the bite offs unless you are using leaders. Musky are a once in a lifetime fish for most.

I attached a fluoro leader to 10lb spiderwire braid on my spinning rod using a double uni-knot. My son used it yesterday and got a hit on a spinnerbait, and the fluoro knot broke at the leader splice. I did wet the knot when tying it. I have Carbon Fire rods. I don't believe they officially have microguides, but, at least to me, I think the guides are quite small and I can definitely feel the "tick" when I cast. So now I'm concerned that I can't use a leader on these rods. So rather than strip off all the braid, I'm thinking of doing another splice, but putting on perhaps 50 yards of fluoro, something beyond what I'm likely to cast. Does that make sense? I've read that fluoro can be a problem on spinning tackle.